Chapter 414: Invitation to Tea
Just like the Truth Union, Secret Rite Tower wasn't a governmental organization.
In the whole of Norzin, no one besides the Central District's central administration could become governmental.
However, the central administration had a rather supportive stance toward organizations like Secret Rite Tower and the Truth Union. As long as their actions were beneficial to Norzin's development and they were willing to lend their aid to the central administration at any time, such organizations were allowed to exist.
This bit also completely revealed the current decline of the Central District's central administration.
A transcendent individual had the right to decide their own path. If they passed a test that was comparable to hell, or were born into a noble family, they could work at the central administration and protect Norzin as a transcendent being.
Of course, if one was aligned with the goals of the Truth Union and Secret Rite Tower, they could also choose to join such organizations.
Secret Rite Tower was the largest organization apart from the central administration, with a public-facing stance of using the dedication of knights to protect their home, Norzin.
Greg wasn't born a noble. Legend had it that the central administration's assessment hadn't been carried out for centuries, and the central administration had long been corrupted by nobles. Thus, the young, outstanding Greg had planned to join Secret Rite Tower from the beginning. His goal was also to gain that glorious and ancient title of Knight.
Greg quickly went through Vivian's information. It was human nature to pry, and he originally wanted to see what went on between Vivian and Joseph and tried to find if there were any love secrets between the two.
But then he saw — missing data?
Secret Rite Tower was officially recognized as the largest organization in Norzin, with a large number of personnel and a massive system. Every single mission, every single day would be precisely recorded by someone. So, how could there be missing information?
Moreover, this is clearly a duty schedule that I went through before...
Greg frowned in confusion and leaned slumped back against the soft leather sofa, but he didn't relax at all.
Could it be that Great Radiant Knight Vivian had also once investigated the cause of Great Radiant Knight Darya's death?
Someone had specifically deleted that duty roster!
Greg felt as if he was merely discovering the tip of the iceberg. Feeling persistent, he tried his best to recall the duty schedule he had gone through on that day some ten years ago.
His hands were on the keyboard as the blue glow of the screen illuminated his face. As a Great Radiant Knight now, his level of authority was significantly high. Thus, he tried his best to recall from his memory the contents of those documents he had sorted out back then.
I remember that there was a Logistics Division personnel by the name of Reid who was on shift.
Greg immediately searched upon recalling Reid's name. A somewhat common and familiar face immediately appeared on the screen, but in the column besides the photos read the word—deceased.
Greg gulped. Logistics Division personnel weren't supposed to be on the frontlines, so how could he have died so easily.
Greg seized upon the clue and rapidly searched for Logistics Division personnel who had either died or left their jobs in the past ten years.
There were a total of 10 that died and 17 resignations.
And surprisingly, of those that had sacrificed themselves, all of them died ten years ago!
Greg's eyes widened as he searched the schedule from back then once more, simulating the results—all of them had died.
The ten Logistics Division personnel who had died all participated in the mission where Darya had sacrificed herself. The records show that the reason for Darya's sacrifice was due to a shortage of Logistic Division staff, but these ten members had all been present for that mission.
Greg's finger trembled as he typed on the keyboard.
This wasn't a coincidence; it was the work of someone. Another similarity of these ten Logistics Division personnel was that those with families were recorded as martyrs that had sacrificed themselves and their families compensated, whereas those who were single without family on record were said to have died abnormal deaths.
As Greg tried to investigate the causes of their deaths, he found that a lot of information was missing or incomplete. For example, one who was said to have died of lung disease had no proof from a doctor, nor hospital records of the patient's admission.
These ten people had been made to die, and they were all righteous Secret Rite Tower knights, murdered. There wouldn't be anyone that would have wanted to kill them, so there could only be one reason for their deaths.
Greg placed his cursor over the photo ID of a red-haired woman—Great Radiant Knight Darya.
The enemy could only have been inside Secret Rite Tower, which meant Darya had found out some grave secret or had a reason where she had no choice but to die. And to make sure she died without loose ends, these ten Logistics Division knights were killed off as well.
Greg's hands went limp. There was actually someone within Secret Rite Tower that could kill a Great Radiant Knight without anyone none the wiser.
Wait a minute. Everything is recorded whenever I look at information, just like how it worked with intelligence reports and how Vivan's searches have a history. Have my actions also been discovered?
This is bad... Greg mouthed silently to himself as he prepared to shut off the computer and head home to think of a plan.
Knock knock knock.
Three rasping knocks came for his door, causing goosebumps to break out all over Greg's skin.
He glanced at the clock on his desk showing that it was just a little after 4.30 a.m., which was way past the usual Secret Rite Tower working hours.
Pandemonium-rank Greg slowly stood up and quickly typed out some words to another Indomitable Sacred Flame, Knight Melissa.
But as expected, the message was intercepted.
Aren't these guys a little too fast? No wonder nobody has discovered the cause of Great Radiant Knight Darya's death for so many years.
Frowning, Greg got up from his chair and walked to the door. He opened it and saw a man with sparse hair standing outside, the latter half a head taller than Greg.
Greg glanced at the badge on his chest, which seemed to depict a bound man as if he were caught.
This was a division directly under the Council of Elders.
Greg couldn't help but smile bitterly. He had still been guessing who within Secret Rite Tower had the power to kill a Great Radiant Knight. Now, he didn't even need to think to know the answer.
"Is anything the matter?" Greg asked even though he knew what was coming.
The man glanced down the empty corridor and smiled. "The Council of Elders wishes to see you. For some tea."
"Does this mean that the abnormal death of Great Radiant Knight Darya is related to the Council of Elders?"
"What are you talking about? I'm just here on the Council of Elder's orders and I don't know anything else," the man said calmly, as if he were a robot.
Greg glanced back at the glowing computer screen. From the moment he began investigating the cause of Great Radiant Knight Darya's death to question the deaths of Logistics Division personnel, he had begun to suspect that Darya's death was related to internal affairs of Secret Rite Tower. It hadn't even been half an hour since he began his investigation, and someone was already knocking on the door.
Greg took a deep breath. The mysterious Council of Elders within Secret Rite Tower, whom he had only ever seen once on the day he was knighted as a Great Radiant Knight.
How he wished that this invitation was just to tell him that it was all a misunderstanding, and there was a reasonable reason for Darya's death...