Chapter 57: Acting
Before Jimmy could respond, Charles raised his forefinger, placed it on his mouth, and continued,
"I saw him talking to someone through a strange metal box in the woods and he seemed to be plotting something. And that plot might have something to do with you."
"What do you mean?" Jimmy instantly became alert as he heard the final sentence and looked around cautiously.
"He seems to be searching for someone named 'Charles'. He then told his employer that he couldn't even confirm if the Holem's Crown is with you or not." He stopped for a moment to notice Jimmy's facial expression and soon asked curiously,
"What is this Holem's Crown?"
In the meantime, the current Jimmy's head went blank for a moment. Runeth, aka the Holem's Crown, suddenly became vigilant and soon connected the dots. As soon as Jimmy noticed the situation, he calmed his mind and said with a nod,
"You really helped me this time, Miss Edith. If not for your earlier warning, I would be still being in a clueless state without even knowing the imminent danger."
"Ah! I forget to mention that he also said something like 'Chaos Wanderer' is waiting in the Unexplored Forest to take care of you." Charles said calmly, causing Jimmy's body to stiffen up for a second.
Noticing his stiff smile, Charles turned his face solemn and asked in a quiet tone,
"Is there anything serious? Do you need my help, Jimmy Holmes?"
Doubt appeared in Jimmy's mind as he heard those words.
'Why is she helping me now? Is she also after me?' He took a step back and stared at the black-haired woman in full of wariness. Although his mind became a mess after he became an artifact and caused him to make silly mistakes, he was still a 30,000-year-old soul!
Noticing his wariness, Charles let out a heavy sigh and added,
"I also need your help to deal with our employer, Jimmy. I killed his family member and I'm pretty sure that he already knew that I was the one who killed Addie Baker. When the time comes, Daniel might attack me using some unreasonable excuse and would try to kill me."
Upon hearing those words, Jimmy paused for a second and soon nodded in understanding. He felt that Edith was really telling the truth and completely believed her story. Truthfully, the 'Mark of Imagination' played a crucial role here and intervened with Jimmy's imaginations!
"I see, that explains everything. Don't worry, Miss Edith. Once I take care of that guy, I will help you dealt with Daniel." Jimmy said with a reassuring tone.
A skeptical look appeared on Charles's face as he stared at Jimmy for a moment and proposed an idea,
"Why not take care of both matters at once? When we enter the Unexplored Forest, we can sneak out during the night camping and walk on our own. Then, we don't have to waste our energy on them, right?"
"It's impossible. The dangers hidden in the Unexplored Forest are not something a Rank-1 and Rank-2 member can deal with. We might die in just a few minutes."
Charles wore a surprised expression on his face and soon said,
"If we want to stay alive, we need to protect each other. If Daniel made a move against me, you must intervene and stand beside me like a protective lover." He paused for a second and soon asked with a seductive smile,
"Can you do it?"
Noticing the woman's seductive acting, Jimmy chuckled inside while nodding his head and then spoke.
"Same goes for you. When Luke tries to attack me, you must protect me. You know, I'm a Rank-1 Mystic with no defensive artifact and I'm not strong enough to face Rank-2 member's attacks."
"Deal, but we must sign an official contract. Otherwise, we won't trust each other completely." Charles added.
Upon hearing the word 'Contract', Jimmy stared at her for ten seconds and then sighed.
He knew that Edith was not a threat to him, so he nodded his head and agreed.
"We will sign the contract when the dusk arrives. There are too many eyes watching us now." He said before turning around and then went towards his gang members.
Meanwhile, Charles made a fake blush on his face, covered his mouth to look like he was embarrassed, and went in a different direction while giggling.
Upon seeing the blushing, embarrassed face, Richard almost went berserk and stared at Jimmy like he was his mortal enemy.
After resting for another 30 minutes at Night River's bank, the group once again set out and moved towards the gloomy forest. Unlike the past few days, they also encountered some mutated wolves and rabbits on their way and moved even slower. Once again, the dusk arrived as three red moons peeked at them from the east and shrouded the forest in dark-red color.
Around 9 'o'clock, Jimmy exited his tent after saying an excuse to Henry and went near Edith's tent. He then glanced around cautiously to check if someone was monitoring him and entered inside before closing the zipper. Meanwhile, Charles, in Edith's appearance, sat in a cross-legged position and nodded at him.
"Before we sign the contract, you can use this artifact on me and see if what I said is true or false." Charles said in a calm tone while taking out the 'Pupil-Less Eye' artifact from her space ring and gave it to Jimmy. In truth, he knew that tricking the artifact was not an easy matter. To make the artifact completely believe his words, he had to distract that artifact for some time. To his surprise, Luke gave him a big opportunity.
While Charles was in muse, Jimmy caught the weird eye with his hand and checked it with his soul power. After confirming that this artifact was real, he nodded his head and cast the shadow mark on Charles. A cloud of dark smoke came out from the pupil-less eye artifact and soon marked on his wrist area. Before Jimmy could ask about this artifact, Charles smiled lightly and said,
"I got this artifact as loot by killing Addie and am still clueless about its effective range. Once I started to follow Luke, maintain a 100-meter distance and follow after me. Even if I got found out by Luke, you will have an easier time escaping." After saying those caring words, he stood up and signaled him to get ready.
Meanwhile, Luke walked out of his tent, glanced around the surroundings, and went into the dark, gloomy forest. After two minutes, Charles and Jimmy also walked out of the tent and stealthily followed Luke's foot trails. After walking for few steps, Jimmy stopped for a whole minute to maintain some distance between him and Edith and entered the gloomy woods.
Meanwhile, Emilia, in her grey robe, sat up in her tent and squinted her eyes.
"What is he scheming with Jimmy? Moreover, when did they get so close?" She wore a skeptical look on her face and then started muttering a weird incantation. After a long chant, she closed her eyes for a second and ended her chant.
A second later, two pitch-black illusionary eyes appeared above her tent and moved towards the dark red sky. After reaching a certain height, those two eyes multiplied into hundreds of black eyes and monitored Luke's movement from the sky!
Unaware of these things, Luke entered deep into the forest and soon found a suitable location for making contact with 'His Highness.'
After a minute of searching, he found a large bush area and went near to it. He then hung his bow near the tree branch, squatted down, and took out the communicated box.
Like the last time, he made a short chant after making a small circle around it and then waited for the other party to respond. Today, it took more than five minutes for the other party to respond.
"Anything important?" The same monotonous voice came from the other side. Luke felt that 'His Highness' was in bad mood, so he spoke hurriedly.
"Yes, Your Highness. Jimmy seems to be acting weirdly today. He talked more than usual with a girl named Edith and that girl even started flirting with him often. I have a feeling that something suspicious is going on." Luke's words surprised everyone.
Charles, hiding 20 meters away from him behind the tree, widened his jade eyes and soon turned his face solemnly.
'Damn, he is monitoring Jimmy like a legendary stalker.' He soon shook his head silently and then started listening to the other party's words.
"Try probe her mind when you enter the Unexplored Forest and see if you can get some information. As long as Jimmy didn't try to run away from this mission, you can just watch him from the sides and act like you are just an escort guard. We need to lead him directly to the 35th Chaos Rift and seal him there for a day with Chaos Wanderer's help. Otherwise, my plan will go boom in a second."
"Acknowledged, Your Highness. I will follow your words." Luke nodded his head and said in a zealous tone.
"Alright then, I will be out for a while to search for that sneaky rat, so don't try to contact me often." After saying those words, the monotonous voice cut off the connection from the other side.
Letting out a deep sigh, Luke stood up with a solemn look on his face and then stored the metal box into his void pouch. After that, he took the bow from the nearby tree branch and moved towards the camping area.
In the meantime, Charles moved in a different direction and led Jimmy to the opposite side. He knew that Jimmy had no stealth skill, so he acted on his own and brought Jimmy to a different area. After few minutes of roaming in the woods, both circled the camp area and walked out of the woods from another direction. After that, both went into his tent and closed it.
"Do you believe my words now?" Charles whispered in a solemn tone as he sat on the mat. Meanwhile, Jimmy also sat down and started to thinking deeply.
After recalling the earlier scene for more than a minute, Jimmy wore a gloomy look on his face and nodded thoughtfully. To put it more simply, the Holem's Crown sensed the presence of 'Fate Divine Power' earlier in the communication box and completely believed his words.
'He is the one who kidnapped those three [Historians] to put a blame on Jimmy. No, he did that to make Charles meet me earlier.' He already knew that some powerful Mystic was eyeing for him, but he didn't expect the person already chose to walk on the path of Divine!
'Thankfully, this Edith girl has a backer and that person also seems to be walking on the path of Divine.' He quickly organized his thought and nodded.
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