Genius Mage in a Cultivation World

"It seems we are not the only ones hurrying here to investigate what happened," Markus said, glancing at a huge crowd of people waiting in a long queue in front of the Inn's doors.

"This place… I never thought I would get to enter the city of Celestials…" Al replied, completely ignoring what Markus said. Being one of the most prominent figures in future history didn't make him a different man. And being able to see a city proper for the very first time in his life without trying to torch it down, had to be a huge shock for him.

"Then I have some bad news,' Markus announced, shaking his head in defeat.

"What happened?" Al instantly prepared himself for the worst.

'Just as expected,' Markus thought to himself as he smiled lightly. 'If I were to just tell him the news right away, he would pay any attention, huh?'

"Most likely, the best that we can count on, is a bit of straw in the stables." Markus shook his head.  "And even that might be hard to come by. How about we just see whatever there is to see deeper in the city before leaving for the plains?"  Markus suggested while looking around.

The city itself was somewhere in the middle of the scale from a rundown and dying town and a thriving metropolis. From the looks of things, it was about the size of any other random city from the times before modern medicine and technology became a thing.

"You are the leader here, sire," Al replied in a jokingly manner before his face suddenly turned serious. "But honestly speaking, I think I will feel better sleeping outside this place." Al didn't even need to tell this. From what Markus could tell from the limited time he knew the man personally, he used to hold his head high, as if wanting to look ahead of everyone else. But ever since their small group reached the area near the city, Al's complexion continued to suffer.

"I think this would be a better choice too," Markus replied, holding the same stance as Al, although for greatly different reasons.

'If we stay in the city, it will be hard to control who is going in and who is going out,' Markus thought just as a sudden commotion nearby forced his eyes to look over.

"I'm telling you! That's what I heard there! If you want to go look for them in the fucking staging ground, feel free!"

Barely twenty meters away, a group of warriors suddenly split into two. As if voicing the complaints of everyone that was backing them, two young men argued with each other.

"Can't you see how big the reward is?" The other party stomped his feet before attacking. "As long as we catch just the two of them, we won't need to work a single day for the next few years!" The man shouted, before pointing his hand at the people standing firmly behind him. "Do you really believe that a group of two could fight against our entire clan?"

'There is something wrong with them,' Markus suddenly noticed, putting a stop to his walk and gesturing at Al and Lessen to do the same. And after just a few moments of observing, the saint managed to pinpoint just what was bothering him about those commotion-starting fellows.

'They are all fake!' Markus thought to himself when the debate right beside him finally started to reach its conclusion. It was easy to notice it once one would focus on the tone of the people and how they accented their words.

"Fine, but what about those mercenaries they hired? I know they managed to only get a single one here, but the news from the warcamp claims that they left for the desert with over twenty men in total!" The reluctant character of the scene suddenly brought up yet another, juicy piece of information, instantly swaying the mood of the crow that was watching the commotion to his side.

'So they don't want people to go to the desert, huh?' Given how it seemed that the reluctant guy would triumph in the debate, Markus made a mental note before smiling and turning around. Yet, just as he was to make a single step, the proactive party counter-attacked.

"Those two are already condemned as a threat to civilization . No matter where they go and what they do, the entire world will be after them." The young man made a short pause before allowing a huge, smug smile on his face. "Do you really think that mercenaries will fight for him if we tell them about this? Heck, the second prince went out of his way and obtained a warrant for those mercs, allowing them to wash their sin by helping to catch those two fuckers!"

'It feels like I'm in the exposition part of some poorly written novel,' Markus thought before shaking his head in a silent defeat. "Well, that works for me." He said, before suddenly pushing forward.

"Shut up, both of you," Markus ordered, suddenly becoming a third party in the war of the words. "I know what are you doing and why are you doing that. I'm interested, so tell me where the fuck did those two go before I get bored with your farce." Markus didn't even bother to check if Al and Lessen followed him.

From the suddenly widened eyes of the public, it was clear that it was the massive posture of Al that intimidated them.

"Excuse me?" At the same time, both of the actors spoke up. Then, they rapidly looked at each other, before moving their eyes on Markus.

"Do I really need to spell it out loud?" Markus said, gently raising one of his eyebrows. "But sure, if you insist, then it's not a problem to me," he added before either of the actors could respond in any way.

"First, you guys are coming here, exactly where people are bound to gather. Then, you start your little show, while making sure to address all the doubts that potential mercenaries have," Markus started. With each of his words, the panic grew bigger and bigger on the faces of the actors, all the way to the point where the reluctant one jumped forward, attempting to cover Markus' mouth…

Something unwise, given Al's and Lessen's presences.

"Sit," AL didn't even need to try. He simply stepped forward, caught the extended hand of the actor, before snapping it. "Hey, he attacked you. Should I kill him?" he asked, still holding on to the wrist of the unlucky actor.

"He is asking if he should kill you for an attempt to attack me," Markus was kind enough to translate from the future common language to the ancient.

"Sir, please…" The poor man begged for mercy.

"What's the prize and where did they go?" Markus asked. He had not a shred of doubt that this entire commotion was all orchestrated to hire even more people into searching for Layn's whereabouts. And he was quite sure of it because the same thing happened back in their own time.

There was one instance when Layn's limits were broken. A huge thing happened that brought him beyond any mercy or salvation. Unwilling to bring his friends into his own problematic mess, he decided to leave the party for several months back then.

"Where will we find you once it's all over?" Markus could still remember the exact wording of both the question he asked back then and the answer he received.

"You don't need to worry about it. Once you enter the province, everybody will be talking about me."

This amount of confidence was unusual for Layn. Even though he never had the problems holding his own weight, he wasn't arrogant. In fact, this word itself had no meaning in regards to the archmage, as he never took his authority as a judging factor in any matter he would be set on deciding.

'It's just like when we went to look for him back then,' Markus thought to himself, recalling those unpleasant memories. 'I just hope I won't find him in the same state as we did then,' his lips curved down, turning his sad memories into a wicked expression.

An expression that scared the shit out of the two actors in front of him.

"Sir, the reward is five grade two stones for each of them… But they need to be brought here alive. As for the direction," the actor hesitated for a moment, but a single look at his pained compatriot later all his doubts were gone. "Sir, they went to the staging grounds in the south. From what we managed to learn in the two weeks since they left, is that they gathered a small number of mercenaries before heading off to the desert."

Markus nodded to Al. Only then did the chief of the Gener tribe released the wrist of the other actor.

"Tell me, was there anything peculiar about the way they choose those mercenaries?" A suspicion appeared in Markus's mind. He knew Layn pretty well,  meaning, he could picture several reasons for the archmage to go to a place as separated from the rest of the world as desert.

And each of those possibilities was worse than the other.

"Peculiarity? Hmm…" The actor asked before starting to think hard about something. "Sir, I hope you won't find any grudge for that… But the mercenaries they picked… They were mostly weak." The actor swallowed a gulp of saliva before adding.. "It's my personal opinion, but they were picked… as if that bastard was looking for something only he was capable of seeing in those people."