Carissa blinked in surprise, for the first time noticing how remarkably handsome and reassuring her martial uncle seemed.


    A map was spread out before them, and one by one, the heads leaned in to get a closer look. The map showed awork of tunnels, crisscrossing like a spider''s web, but there were only four points of entry. Two on the east, one to the west, and another to the south. The northern entrance, near Stone Vige, had no tunnel at all.


    Which meant the only way in was through the northern path, where there were no tunnels.


    However, saying there were only four entrances wasn''t entirely urate. While the mountain had many entrances, the tunnels themselves only had four exits. No matter where they entered the mountain, they would eventually have to exit through one of these four points.


    Before anyone could fully take in the map, Everettid down a second one, sliding his hand across it until his finger came to rest on a marked symbol.


    "These viges all have tunnels. There are 13 viges in total. Take a good look and memorize them quickly. We''ll split into teams to guard the four exits while we wait for them. As for the viges, we''ll send others to investigate.


    Carissa felt the weariness lift from her shoulders. She gave her uncle a thumbs-up, her eyes brimming with ttery. "Sage Everett, you''re amazing! You came here and immediately broke the deadlock. I want to be on your team."


    Everett nced at her with a raised brow. "I won''t be going."


    Was he supposed to go when they were only escorting two people out? What did he bring the apprentices for, then?


    Carissa quickly adjusted, still smiling brightly. "Right, of course. You don''t need to go, but... can you really be sure he''s just waiting to explore the tunnels? Aren''t you worried he might be in danger?"


    Everett turned the question back on her. "In all the days you''ve been running through the mountains, have you seen an orchid with missing petals?"


    Everyone who had been searching the mountains shook their heads. They had only found two orchid carvings, both intact.


    "Not finding a broken blossom means there''s been no injury and no danger," Everett continued. "If there''s been no injury and he hasn''te down, then there''s only one exnation: he''s found something. It''s something worth watching for, and that something requires waiting. The only thing to do is wait for food supplies to be delivered."


    Once he was done analyzing the situation, Everett scolded Kyle and Carissa. "What''s the use of these brains of yours? How could you not figure something so simple out?"


    "We did think of it," Kyle replied. "We just couldn''t be sure. Plus, we''re still unfamiliar with this area. We were worried something unexpected might happen, and we wouldn''t know about it..."


    "Something unexpected?" Everett rolled his eyes. "Are ghosts going to pop up from the mountain and kidnap them?"


    Kyle awkwardly wanted to push Carissa forward to handle this, but she was already hugging Winona and had escaped the situation.


    The four tunnel entrances were all extremely well-hidden.


    One of them, to the south, was located right by Tiberius''s vi outside the city-Fernbrook Vi.


    So, the key task was to keep an eye on that area. If they were smuggling supplies through the tunnels, many people would have to enter Fernbrook Vi. Even if the food supplies had been sent in early, they would need enough people to manage the transport.


    If the food supplies were being sent from Fernbrook Vi, they could arrest Tiberius when returning to the capital.


    After Everettid down the two maps, everyone''s minds settled.


    The n was quickly rearranged. The apprentices from Meadow Ridge who had arrived with Everett would take turns guarding Fernbrook Vi.


    Sure enough, in the past couple of days, people had started entering the vi, but none hade out. Since they began watching, over 50 to 60 people had entered.


    From their looks, they seemed like ordinaryborers-thick arms and robust, muscr bodies.


    Carissa suspected they were long-term workers responsible for transporting the food supplies. Once they reached their destination, someone else would take over. In the end, they would never know where the food supplies were being sent.