After the evacuation by the 3rd Legion, most of the border towns were all abandoned except for a few heavily garrisoned cities. The Abyss Outbreak and the incursion by the Veronica Witch Dynasty caught the Xerith army by surprise and even though their response was swift and sharp, it still took time for the other legion corps to arrive in the Southern border. As such many of these towns were left abandoned and filled with dead and decaying bodies of their former residences gnawed on by their new residents, Abyss monsters.
One of these abandoned towns was the home town of Aiden and William, Lexington. After Saint Bartholomew and his convoy left, it didn't take much longer for the defending army to leave, leaving the town unguarded and infested with Abyss creatures.
But it seemed like there are new players in town for all the Abyss creature who called the place home were slaughtered and their parts harvested by armed men. These men weren't soldiers or militias but mercenaries, one of the most hated and loved profession in Yesenia. As for who had employed them, it was none other than the Peach Association, an offshoot branch of the Cult of Succubus.
…
The headmistress, Lucienne and Edith along with a few of their attendants and a bunch of mercenaries entered the Church of Craven where Aiden's baptism took place. The headmistress was at the head of the crowd and seemed like she was the one who had led the group into the church. After coming near the huge crater in the ground where the very first monsters of Abyss came out, she stopped in her track.
"This is where Caitlyn's trail goes cold. I think this is the place where she was killed." The headmistress muttered in her childish tone but to the other people present there, everyone felt a chill down their spine. All of them knew how much the headmistress cared about her subordinate and the death of one of them is big enough for her to take drastic measures to punish the perpetrators.
Edith came forward and scanned the ground, which for some reason was charred black and said frowningly, "It's all so weird. All other places are filled with dead bodies and 'evidences' of mass-slaughter but in this church, other than a few drops of blood here and there everything just vanishes. Even though this is the one of the first few places to be attacked by the Abyss creatures."
"Yes." Said the headmistress as she bent down and picked what seemed to be charred ash and said, "and not only that but this. Ash. I suspect a very high intensity flame burned everything down, even bones and the stone floor of the church."
"Not only the ground but the ceiling too." Lucienne said as she pointed upwards, "Isn't it strange that even though all other buildings have broken under the quake, this building has magically not done so. When I looked closely with my
"What could've done something like this? An Abyss monster?" asked a middle-aged guy who looked like the leader of the mercenaries.
"No chance at all. Abyss monsters are too dumb to do something like this." Edith said, shaking her head.
"A sentient can do something like that." Interjected the headmistress all of a sudden.
"A sentient creature?" asked the mercenary leader confused but the headmistress shook her and ignored his question. "No, that can't be. If a sentient creature did come out then we would've created a huge problem for the whole of Yesenia. But the only other thing which can wield a fire this hot will be… the devils and demons under Amon, the ones under Flame Division of our Great Dark Lord, the higher-ranking soldiers of Fire Emperor of the Heavenly Yuan continent or…"
"Or whom?" asked Lucienne suspiciously.
Headmistress looked pained for a while before saying, "Seraphim, high-ranking Seraphim or Senior Angels who specialize in fire and flames. And I feel that they are the one who did this."
"Why's that so?" asked the mercenary leader with interest and Edith answered him, "If high-ranking devils came here then we would've known it a long time ago, more so if they were from Our Great Dark Lord's army. The Fire Nation wouldn't send their elites here for no reason and even if one was here, that person would've saved the other innocent people trapped in the jaws of death too. Given their selfless personality and battle-crazy nature, they wouldn't bat an eye before jumping into this big hole and slaughtering every Abyss creature. This leaves only the Seraphim and given the nature of all damned Angels, it fits the situation perfectly.
"But why would they even come here?" asked the mercenary leader.
"Rebirth of a High-Angel or something similar." Answered the headmistress and turned towards Lucienne and said, "I can't think of any other reason why the Seraphim would come here other than that. There's no treasure to protect, no Saint or Foreseer or important Cathedral, nothing. I don't see a reason except that but that's so highly… unlikely. Do you have anything, Lucienne?"
Lucienne also frowned and thought for quite some time before shaking her head, "My mind is blank, headmistress. The Seraphim and their master Senior Angels are too mysterious for us to figure their motives but if they did move out, then that means this church and the baptism that was taking place here has something to do with the Heaven's Will. Things are getting more and more complicated.
Not to mention Lily and her pregnancy. When she heard of the Abyss Outbreak happening in Lexington, she nearly collapsed. Her health has been deteriorating for the past two months and if we can't find her other children, we might risk her baby's health along with her. Death is even an option in this situation." She sighed but the headmistress replied forcefully.
"No!" she said with strength, "We can't let Lily die at any cost. What kind of sisters would we be if we can't even save our most youngest sister? It doesn't matter to me what price we have to pay, even if we have to abort the child, Lily must live."
"But the child is of great importance to Lord Larz. We can't forget that he's a higher up of our Great Dark Lord's Army. If we anger him not only us but other sisters would also be affected." Argued Lucienne in a pained tone. In reality, she too didn't want to see Lily die or suffer meaninglessly at any cost but the fate of her and her child is directly linked with their survival and they couldn't take any chances on that.
The headmistress was silent for some time before sighing and said in a determined tone, "Find her children at all cost. Neither she nor I want to see those innocent children be sold as commodities by some dubious slave merchant or be enlisted in some shady bandit army or anything. They are talented fellows, especially the one named Aiden. As for Lily, let me talk with lord Larz. If the child is of import to him and his lineage then he would definitely save Lily's life."
"As you wish, headmistress. We would do everything in hand and heart to find those children." Edith and Lucienne bowed slightly and said loyally. This was one of the few reasons why they loved their headmistress from the bottom of their hearts. Her kindness, even for a succubus lady was enormous and her subordinates can't help but follow her with all their faith.
"Anyway, let's get out of here. We must get a move on or else those bloody bastards of the Beelzebub would catch up to us. We dealt a heavy blow to their economy and power. Mark get your men ready and loaded. No slacking and definitely no fun, do you get it?"
"Absolutely!" the mercenary leader, Mark nodded his head solidly before rushing outside to gather his men. After that, it didn't take them more than half-an-hour to wrap everything and dash out of Lexington to their next destination.
…
Evening, the same day in Vanessa, Xerith capital.
Aiden and Alice dressed themselves in their most noble attire, their faces masked, hands gloved and shoes tightly tied. Alice had even worn her battle armor which she had worn during the meeting with the Queen and armed herself with her trusty rapier, Zealous Needle.
A few hundred meters infront of their residence was a Royal carriage which the Queen had arranged for Aiden's travel along with a few fine horses. Unfortunately, since for the past few weeks, Aiden had been cooped up in his residence with all of his study and training he had almost no use for the carriage. Only when Meleas or Carmel had some errands to run did they use the carriage.
Aiden entered the carriage and sat opposite to Alice on the back seat.
"To the Kauffman House, Henry." Said Alice to the carriage driver, an old man in his late forties. He was the only human who was allowed this close to the residence and the reason why he was allowed was because he was blind.
This came as a surprise to Aiden when he found that he was a driver of a carriage even though he was blind from a young age. As to how he is able to do it, it's because he was able to see the world through the eyes of his horses with the help of a unique skill,
"As you wish mistress. By the way, is the young Lord with you today?" he asked weakly.
Aiden smiled and replied, "I sure am, Henry. How's your health?"
"I'm as good as an ox but the beasts are a little jittery from the cold. Hyah! Vanessan Mountain ranges do more than just protect Vanessa from the Northern border, Young Lord." He said as the carriage started to slowly move at first before picking up pace towards the Kauffman House.
"Haha! Well, why don't you try sleeping with your horses? I'm sure your horses would like the company and the warmth!"
"My my! Young Lord, the beasts are beasts and in night, they become extraordinary. It's in everyone's interest to not meddle in their fun time. Haha!"
Time passed quickly while talking with Henry. Aiden liked the company of such a frank and loyal human once every while and couldn't get enough of those jokes, he always comes up with. Jokes which only humans would understand by the way.
Soon they reached the Kauffman House which was located in another side of the Inner City. The metal gates were thrown open for Aiden's carriage and a huge patch of lush garden filled with flowers and fruit trees came in Aiden's sight.
He was amazed by the wide garden, his childish-self coming out but he hid it quickly. Following a small stone road, the carriage stopped right infront of the main entrance of the Kauffman House where the head butler along with his entourage of maids and servants were waiting. There was even a member of the Kauffman family with him.
Aiden opened the door and stepped down from his carriage followed by Alice but the moment he stepped down, a shrill voice bombarded his ears. "Still a little low on your etiquettes, it seems Sir Allen Tyrrell." Said the only member of the Kauffman family who was standing beside the head butler.
Allen was the name that had been granted to Aiden by the Queen when he became the next-in-line of the Tyrrell family in the North. It was also by this name that he had been introduced to all other Kaisers and in official documents.
Aiden turned to look at the person who said it and found that he was a young man in his twenties. He had a haughty look on his face, like many other nobles and wore a fine indigo colored shirt with golden-red embroidery. His long green hair, the signature hair color of the Kauffman family is green, meant that the person infront of him was one from the main branch and not just some side branch.
"I'm here to talk with the head of the Kauffman House, Mariam Kauffman." Aiden looked up at the person, he was still five-years old physically even if his mind had the maturity of a far older and powerful Angel.
The man frowned lightly and said with even more arrogance, "My father, Steven Kauffman is the real head of the Kauffman house. If you want to talk with someone, you talk with my father."
"But I only came here to talk with Madam Mariam." Aiden as he turned towards the butler but the man's haughtiness increased every single second.
"I said the head of the family is my father. Steven Kauffman. If you don't want to talk to him then you're no longer welcomed here." He puffed his chest up proudly but Aiden only smiled inside his mask.
"Is that so…" he said with a light tinge of amusement in his tone. Beside him, Alice slightly unsheathe her sword and terrible pressure spread from her. "Try 'not' welcome me…" he said but right then the butler, who was silent all along interjected.
"Master Aaron, please don't bully the Young Lord." Said the head butler as he interjected between Aiden and Aaron. He smiled apologetically at Aiden and said, "My apologies for such a bad reception, Young Lord—"
"Your Highness." Interrupted Aiden, "You mortals seem to not know your places recently. Is it the comfy of the noble life getting your bones soft or have you forgotten that you serve under the Heavens and the Pantheon of Gods and Goddesses? Even the Queen of Xerith talks more respectfully to me than you lot." He said with a slight laugh and to his statement a few veins popped on the faces of both the head butler and Aaron.
"You piece of—"
"Mind your manners, Young Master!" the head butler silenced Aaron in a single shout before turning to Aiden and saying in a respectful tone trying his hardest not to sound angry.
"Please follow me to Her Highness' room, Your Highness."
"Mhm-hmm! That's more like it!" Aiden said nodding his head as he entered the mansion with Alice by his side.
They followed the butler silently as he took them round and round the huge mansion before finally stopping infront of a Derwood door. He turned towards Aiden and said, "Please wait here for a moment while I inform Her Highness of your arrival, Sir—"
"Your Highness." Aiden said, almost teasingly.
The butler stopped short and breathed in a few deep breaths before nodding his head, "Yes, Your Highness." He said and then entered the room. Aiden and Alice had to wait for a good ten minutes before the butler returned and said in a more calm tone, "Please enter, Your Highness. Her Highness is waiting for you."
Aiden nodded his head and went towards the door but right before passing the head butler he whispered in his teasing tone, "Vented properly, heh!"
"You!" the butler turned around furiously only to see the number '1' mask of Alice staring down coldly at him.
"Watch it." she said coldly as she indicated towards her rapier before following Aiden.
…