"There's no one there" Mane did a brief scan of the true throne room and affirmed that it was empty. Still, he was cautious. He slowly opened the door, leaving a gap big enough to fit a small adult. He quickly went through it and scanned the place again just to be safe.
"You can come in" Mane looked a little more relaxed after scanning the place one more time. Selina and Frederick followed him through the gap in the door, not specifically in that order. Frederick got through pretty easily. Selina found it a bit difficult though. She was a teenager alright, but she was also a girl. Girls grew up much faster than boys. So although she was about 16 years old, she as very curvy. With all her 'assets', it was a bit challenging for her to get through. And Frederick wasn't helping either. He was staring at the scene with relish.
*smack*
"Stop being an idiot and help her" Mane rebuked Frederick and opened the door a bit a wider so that Selina could get through. The longer Mane interacted with Frederick, the more respect he lost for this Student Council President.
"Thanks" she quickly extended her thanks for his help and turned to Frederick.
*smack*
"Ouch" Frederick rubbed his sore forehead. She hit the same spot Mane hit only a few seconds ago. "Be quiet. We don't know if there is anyone here" Selina shushed him and walked past with a happy expression. Mane had already checked and confirmed that the place was empty. However, Frederick didn't dare refute her words. It wasn't because he was afraid of her, but because he knew she wasn't alright. She had never been bothered by his longing gazes. She was bothered when she was 'glanced' by others, but she had never been bothered by him. She always ignored his stares. But this time she had hit him for it. Frederick knew her well. He knew she wasn't fine.
"Is she okay?" Mane also realized that something was wrong. The two boys were walking behind Selina. He didn't know Selina as well as Frederick did but he was concerned. After all, she had just witnessed her first true mass murder. Plus Mane wasn't kind about it. He didn't kill them as cleanly as he had been doing before. This time limbs were severed and guts were spilled out. She saw things she had never seen.
"She's a bit shaken up but she'd be fine" Frederick replied. Selina wasn't a weak damsel. She was very strong, even stronger than him. And she learned very quickly, far faster than him. She was stronger than Mane was giving her credit for. And Frederick knew this because he knew her well. She was mentally strong, but many didn't know it.
"Besides you made things easier by killing everyone we met en route" Frederick continued. Mane's eyelids twitched at Frederick's words. He was able to tell that the older teen was mocking him.
"If you smack me again I won't fix stuff for you again" Frederick quickly spoke up before Mane could hit him. Mane looked frustrated. "You're good" he said bitterly. If Frederick hadn't said anything Mane would have hit him. Mane reckoned Frederick wasn't fine either. He had killed his first human after all. But he could care less about him now that the boy had taken away Mane's smacking privileges.
"Let's split up and search the place" Mane ordered and parted from Frederick. Frederick nodded and run to Selina. He was going to search the place with her. Mane moved to the left, and Frederick and Selina went towards the right. Since Mane was able to scan areas, Frederick thought it would be best if he searched the other end with Selina.
"There's a door here" Frederick shouted after about ten minutes of searching the place.
"Where?" Mane whispered once he was close enough. "Sorry" Frederick apologized in a much lower tone than before. He realized his error after he shouted the first time. Although Mane had scanned the place and confirmed that there weren't any enemies here, he had been too careless. If there was a hidden door, then it probably led to a room. And maybe there were people in that room. So carelessly exclaiming wasn't the right decision.
"It's alright. There's nobody there" Mane shook his head. He had just scanned the space behind the door and found out that there was no one there. Plus, he was being overly cautious by whispering. After all, if this room was unguarded it was even more unlikely for the hidden room to be guarded. After all, the Master didn't seem like one to share his secrets with his subordinates.
*creak*
Mane opened the door slowly and realized that it was indeed as small as his scan suggested. There were very few things in the room. Apart from a large, covered-up mirror and a small shelf filled with strange looking devices, there was nothing else here.
"He is very cautious indeed" Mane fisted the air in frustration. A small boom accompanied his actions.
"Who's being loud now" Selina didn't miss the chance to chide him. Mane blushed slightly at her words but quickly hid his embarrassment.
"There's basically nothing here" Frederick shared Mane's frustrations. The fate of the Northern Empire was in their hands. If they couldn't find the device that allowed people to receive blessings then their mission was basically a waste of time. They would have been better off being on the frontlines, fighting against the enemies.
"The enemy would never leave you without a way out. There is always something. The true question is: Can you see what it is?" Mane suddenly recalled his mother's words. He also remembered asking his mother whether she was worried he would fail to which she replied, "No. You have a lot of weapons at your disposal"
"The true question is if we can see what it is. And mother said I have several weapons at my disposal" he mumbled in realization. "Masters" he called out to his teachers with his thoughts. They had been silent all this while so that he wouldn't lose his focus.
"There is something I'm missing here" Mane sent his thoughts to them. "Please, is there anything out of the ordinary in this room?" Mane asked his teachers.
"You finally couldn't bear it huh?" 6th was pleased Mane had asked for their help. They were so bored just watching what was happening without being involved in anything.
"Stop teasing" 2nd quickly supported Mane and shut 6th up. "The artefact that supports blessings doesn't need to be pulled out for each blessing. Otherwise everyone would know that the power they have isn't really from this Master. And it would weaken his prestige. Those kind of artefacts are connected to their masters via a link, and works like a godhead." 1st said what he knew about the blessing artefact.
"So you mean it doesn't have to be anywhere near him?" Mane furrowed his brows in thought.
"Not necessarily. It is unlikely that he'd leave something that vital out in the open because it is not something you can carry around." 1st continued.
"So you mean it's a large device?" Mane suddenly realized what 1st was trying to say. "So it isn't like he wouldn't want to carry it on him. Rather he cannot carry it on him" Mane was enlightened
"Exactly. After all, the safest place it would be is beside him" 1st confirmed Mane's thoughts
"That means it must be hidden here" Mane was calmer after speaking to his masters. It was ignorance on his part to come looking for a device he had no real knowledge of. He should have asked his mother about the size of the artefact before coming so he could identify it. He had foolishly thought that since Frederick was with him, he could just ignore all those little details.
"This is why you aren't good for espionage work" 6th teased. Mane couldn't argue with him because he was embarrassed.
"You know what to do" 1st said and went silent. Mane nodded and left the mindscape.
"What are you doing?" Frederick asked in puzzlement because Mane started knocking on the walls. "Isn't it strange that the entire palace is made up of that strange material that makes earth wielding so difficult, yet the walls here are normal?" Mane posed a question to them instead.
"Wait a minute! You're trying to find out if there's something hidden" Selina quickly realized what was going on. She immediately went to the other side of the room and began knocking on the walls. Frederick caught on just as quickly and joined in. They wanted to find out if any of the walls were hollow.
"Here. This side of the wall is hollow" Mane quickly found the strange part of the wall. He placed his hand on it and earth wielded it out of the way.
"Bingo" Mane smiled when he saw the large device hidden behind it. It flashed occasionally with a blue light and was almost eight feet tall. Mane was confident that was the device because the first thing he asked after seeing it was if that was it. 1st was the only one who had seen it before so he was the right person to ask. "It is" was 1st's answer.
"Do you think you can tweak it Fred?" Mane asked after Frederick had analysed the device for a while. Luckily, Frederick's answer was extremely positive.
"Piece of cake"