After that small talk, both of them turned silent and just ate their meal.
The atmosphere started turning awkward. But Philip is the only one who is feeling the awkwardness, there is nothing that is bothering Sirona as she ate her meal in the same manner.
But once again, she suddenly halted her actions and asked.
"You are Sam's friend, right?"
"Yeah. Now that you spoke of him, he also mentioned you before, how do you know him?"
"We met once in this restaurant. I wanted the Formation Simulator that he got from Murali's inheritance."
"Oh." From her expression Philip understood he wouldn't get any details, so he didn't ask her any further.
"I want to meet Sam."
Philip suddenly turned alert.
Sirona might be his cousin from childhood, but he doesn't know how she is as a person now. He is not sure if he can take her to Sam at this moment.
"He cannot meet anyone; he is not feeling well," Philip replied lightly with the intention of brushing off the topic.
"What happened to him?"
"Haven't you heard of the news about him?"
"I heard that he went on a secret mission."
"Secret Mission? Who said that?"
"A guy from thunder god temple. He has been staying in his place for a while."
"Arman?"
Sirona thought for a bit and nodded. "I think so."
Philip was confused about why would Arman do such a thing.
From what Sam said, Arman is the one who sold them off to the Beast faction time and again. So, why would he coverup their matter of going to the beast faction?
Apart from this, he also noticed that something is wrong with Sirona's speech. She is not beating around the bush or trying to get some info from him or anything.
She is straightforward. Too straightforward in fact and he felt that this situation is weird.
He wanted to see if he was the one thinking like that or if is really true, so he asked again.
"So, why did Arman tell you this?"
"I asked him."
"You asked him? But why?"
"Because he is from the thunder god temple."
Philip confirmed that it is really her. The way Sirona conversed is too mechanical. He started wondering what she has gone through after they are separated in the Usaine Sect.
Philip stayed silent for a while and asked.
"Why are you in conflict with Usiane Sect? I heard that you created heavy losses for the sect."
"They wanted to kill me."
"Why would they do that? You seemed to have been selected because they are quite confident that you would turn out a genius.
They even invested a lot in you. Why would they suddenly want to kill you?"
"Because they said I am out of control."
"Just that?" Philip felt more and more confused as he listened to Sirona. She is not giving any details in the conversation.
He shook his head and didn't want to think about Usaine Sect anymore as he asked.
"Why do you want to meet Sam?"
"I need to ask him something."
"What is that?"
"He said that once I take the formation simulator, they wouldn't believe that I didn't bring the shadow sword. So, he said that I would need to be careful and cautious about what I do and speak.
I listened to the conversation of the sect head and they don't believe me, they even wanted to kill me, so I escaped.
I want to know how Sam knew about this."
"Sam told you all that?"
He felt like he understood the situation a little bit more now. Particularly, about Sirona's behavior. She seemed to be an intelligent and logical thinker, but what she lacks is common wisdom.
While he wondered why would Sam initiate a conversation with a girl like that, at the same time, he felt like these two would fit right in. Since Sam and that girl both wouldn't talk much and only gives answers with the minimum words possible, these two would be a sight to behold in a situation.
But Sam jokes around sometimes and he curses when he is frustrated, but he couldn't see any emotions on her face. Except for the time when he said that he is Little Stick, he didn't see any sort of emotion no matter what they discussed.
Even the time when she talked about the sect wanting to kill her, she didn't show the slightest hints of anger or frustration.
He felt like, it is extremely difficult to understand her.
"When can I meet Sam?" She asked again after noticing his silence.
"I don't know. Maybe a little over a month. At least that's what the healer said."
"Oh, I will see you later."
Sirona left the place after the talk.
Meanwhile, in a hotel where Arman is staying, he is rolling over his bed in frustration.
He has been in this room since the time he learned about Sam's arrival.
He doesn't know what to do at this moment.
He got the news that the whole world is in the war now. He doesn't want to go back to the thunder god temple at this moment, because it is definitely not safe for him. He has too many rivals in the thunder god temple and the wartime the restrictions would be a bit loose.
At the same time, the news of Sam's return must have reached the thunder god temple. Now, they wouldn't even think of offending him.
Because, the people who offended a major power and came out of it alive could be counted on one hand, but Sam tore down a Major power, killed half of its manpower, and still came back.
So, Arman decided that he would leave this place only after he was sure to find out the solution.
While Arman is thinking, he felt like it is not a big deal and some thoughts came out.
If Sam is really well and good, then isn't it easy for him to come and find him particularly when he was in this territory. Most importantly, Arman somehow tried to enter the network and there is no way Sam wouldn't know it.
Arman suddenly had a wild thought, he felt like Sam could be in a state, where he doesn't have any way to move. He might be in a coma recovering, otherwise, someone could have already come for him.
To test his theory, he felt like he needs to do something.
As soon as the thoughts came to his mind, Arman left the hotel.
After he left, someone entered the room and he carefully removed the Incense that was put in the room.
Days passed.
Arc is receiving the news about the war that was going on through thunder god's temple.
As for the progress within the country, there have not been any attacks for now and they caught three out of four people who are still in the nation. Two of them didn't have any info and the fourth one is putting up a great resistance for the technique they are using for extracting memories.
His mental state is too strong for them to get.
It has already been a few weeks and now it is only a month away from Sam's recovery.
Right now, Philip is in a meeting with Arc in Sam's city. He came here to see if Sam has improved a bit or not.
After learning the situation, they are having chat about the workings of the network and such.
Suddenly, Arc got a call.
"Sir, we got the info that we need on the last person."
"Who is he?" Arc is visibly excited.
"The last person's duty is actually not to spread the followers and such. He has a completely different and role and that is to break the network internally.
He works in a hotel in Sam's city and he seems to be the manager there. He seemed to be in possession of Devil guided Incense."
"Which hotel?"
"The one nearest to Sam's tower."
Arc and Philip immediately made their move and ran towards the hotel.
By the time they went there, the manager seemed to have been waiting for them. He doesn't seem surprised at all at their presence.
"I already told them, that it is impossible to deal with this nation discreetly, they didn't listen to me. Now, we got caught sooner than they estimated."
Arc caught hold of him and the first thing he did is check the amount of incense he has in his spatial ring.
"What did you use this incense for?"
"Oh, that? It works wonders by the way. At first, I tried to make that guy Arman who is trying to get his hands on the network, the leader of the network temporarily.
It actually worked. All the factions almost conducted their meetings here and it was easy to manipulate them.
But the plan failed miserably because you guys came back faster than I thought.
You know what, but I used that Incense a week ago. And the effects should be seen today."
