-???-
"So, you believe that you have found the location of the book?" Heiran asked with a calm voice. The room he was located in, was a slightly dark room that had a big round table with all kinds of scrolls and books, as well as a big map of the entire continent.
"Yes sir. We have located the magical signature of the book in the residential districts of Crystalia City. The book is most likely there, as well as the illegal retainer. What is your plan sir?" One of the hooded men pointed at the location of Crystalia City which was at the western side of the map.
"I'll go personally, together with a couple of Sin agents. The book has to be taken back quickly, before someone realises the true power inside it. Also we have to check whose retainer is that and move accordingly to protocol. Any questions?" Heiran then exppained the basics of his plan to his underlings. The hooded underlings shook their heads and then Heiran started to speak again:
"Sixteen and Fifteen, you are coming with me. Make preparations and rendezvous in 1 hour at the Pisces Gate. Understood?" At that moment, two of the hooded figures nodded before Heiran said "Dismissed" and everyone, except Heran, left this meeting room.
As Heiran was alone, he looked at the map coldly and said to himself with a quiet voice:
"Crystalia City..."
...
In the meantime, Soren and co were at Aureus' room and were having more casual conversations about all kinds of topics. Ever since Aureus dropped his act, he had, pretty much, stopped working and was now slacking off with his daughter and the two guests. The four of them hadn't noticed the time was passing by quickly and after a little while, Diana joins into the room with a different but more casual set of clothes, specifically it was just a reddish night gown.
"Honey. Welcome back. So, how did it go?" Aureus asked while the two of them were hugging each other.
"We have sorted things out. The carriage has been fixed, the garbage is in the trash bin and I have already taken my shower to get rid of my fatigue. So, what's up you getting chumny with the kid?" Diana explained with a happy voice, albeit having a cold expression on her before looking at Soren with a serious expression as she asked.
"Come on Honey. Don't be like that. Can't I have one day where I get to relax, instead of being drowned with work?" Aureus asked with a sad expression on his face.
"The problem is not you having a break. The problem is that you are getting friendly with this guy." Diana pointed at Soren angrily while looking at ger husband with an unsatified expression.
"Come on honey, don't be like that. He us a guest and of course, it's my duty to "entertain" him. And..." Aureus tried to calm down his wife by making excuses but she didn't buy any of them and before long, the two of them started bickering like a couple of children for who is going to have the last biscuit. Kana couldn't hold back her laughter for long beofre she started laughing and Soren and Lavenza followed up as well with their laughter. Of course Diana and Aureus hadn't noticed the three of them were laughing, so they continued bickering like undisturbed.
"Your parents seem to fight a lot with each other." Soren decided to start a conversation wuth Kana as she was watching her parents.
"Oh this is nothing, compared to the usual stuff." Kana answered back with a smile on Soren's comment.
"Usual stuff?" Soren couldn't help but ask curiously about that. He had seen his fair share of fighting between his mom and dad, but it wasn't like they fought each other every day or every other day.
"It can range from the usual swearing to pretty much blowing up half the mansion and the garden." Kana answered in a casual manner.
"You parents are in a league of their own." Soren was left soeechless. A fight between these two that ended up blowing half of this huge mansion and the garden. He couldn't even imagine what kind topic could cause this kind of stuff. But as he was watching, he remembered something about nobles and the commoners and decided to ask:
"Say, do you mind telling me why the nobles and the commoners don't look each other eye to eye?"
"Uhhh... What?" Kana was confused with Soren's expression.
"I'm asking why nobles look at the commoners like they are filth or non existent." Soren decided to change the wording of the question to make it more understandable.
"I know what you mean. Let me ask you this. Would you care if a stranger died in front of you?"
"Uhhh... I don't think so? I mean, if-"
"That's why. No one cares about strangers or their business. Nobles are like a closed-off community and anything that tries to breach the walls of their community, will be met with hostility. So anything that involves the commoners, it is pretty much non-exustant for the nobles and vice versa. Just try not to think much about it, that's all." Kana explained with a serious expression as she was looking towards the window. Soren just looked away for a but as he was thinking about Kana's explanation. He wondered if the reason the entire situation with the fake assassination went that way because the nobles truly didn't care about commoners, shouldn't they care about their own lives and try to help at least.
In the end, Soren could only give up on thinking about that and decided to take his mind off from that topic and look for anything else that could be used as a topic. After a bit, he found the paper that Soren ripped and then that paper then got itself fixed back. Once he picked it up and started reading, he noticed that this piece of paper was showing his titles only, but it didn't show them all.
'Undead Hunter (Apprentice), Survivor, Swordmaster (Apprentice/ +5 STR/AGL/RFL), Hunter (Apprentice), World Traveler'
Those were the titles that appeared in the shewt of paper in front of him, but he wondered the reason for the difference in the titles between the titles that the system showed and the titles on the sheet of paper. The fact that the lifebound companions and that weird title didn't appear and instead, the World Traveler title had appeared, that definitely showed that it was a major red flag for him. For now though, he couldn't make the questions for the system yet, because he had more pressing matters to take care of.
"Say, you wouldn't happen to have a map of the entire world laying around, would you?" Soren decided to Kana while was picking a book to read.
"A map... There are a few maps in my dad's desk, but if you want to have access to them, you need to get permission from him and to get permission from him..." Kan paused for a moment to look at the bickering couple before she said:
"Well, you will have jump into the lion's den. I believe you should be able to separate the two of them, but if all else fails, you can always try to ask again in the future. Anyways, I have to go now. Take care and don't die." After that quick explanation, Kana then moved and opened the door to leave.
"Wait aren't you-" But the moment Soren was going to ask, Kana instantly closed the door and had left the room. Now Soren was left alone with Lavenza, who was asleep on one of the chairs and Soren had no idea when she fell asleep and a bickering couple whose voices could be easily heard throughout the entire mansion. He felt that he was just third wheel in this entire situation. Before, when Kana was in the room, he had someone to kill some time with, but now, aside from maybe getting some information, he had absolutely no reason to stay and he was also tired from today's events.
After thinking for a bit, Soren decided that it's better to call it a day and come for information later. It's highly possible that he will be called here again in tbe future, so Soren didn't have to be in a rush to get information from them. Also the fact that Lavenza had fallen asleep showed that not only her, but Soren himself had accumulated a lot of fatigue from this part week, even if they got to rest in Leana's hideout.
After making his decision, Soren decided to pick up Lavenza gently without waking her up and held her with his left hand. After picking her up, he decided to go to the bickering couple and try to ask for permission to leave.
"Ummm... Excuse me, but, may I please leave? The two of us are tired and..." Soren tried to ask them, but the two of them didn't even see him approaching and they certainly didn't hear him talking.
"Fine, then I will have to bid you farewell. After that failed attempt, Soren decided to just leave the study without even trying to bother with them.
After leaving the study, he saw that there was a butler waiting outside the door and the butler asked Soren:
"Is the Master available right now?"
"Mr.Aureus? He is bickering with his wife right now and they don't seem like they will be stopping anytime soon." Soren explained while rubbing his forehead a bit.
"I see. Thank you for the update. When the two masters are like that, we know from experience that they will not stop their fight for a while." The butler exclaimed.
"Is it possible for me to leave? I have already finished my business with Mr.Aureus, but once his wife entered, I thought to wait until they finished so I could excuse myself, but they didn't seem that they would finish their fight anytime soon and so, I decided to guve them my farewells and left." Soren decided to explain the situation and hope that he could get the green light to leave.
"Hmmm... There shouldn't be any problem. If you have already finished your business, then there shouldn't be any problems, according to the protocol. Let me just send an message to one of the carriages and it will wait for you at the main entrance." The butler explained with a calm and thoughtful expression.
"Thank you very much sir." Soren spoke gratefully.
"You are welcome sir. Is there anything else you wish to ask?"
"Hmmm... Can you provide me with directions towards the exit?" Soren asked after thinking for a bit.
"Take the stairs that are on the end of the corridor and once you reach the first floor, go left and keep going that way until you reach the entrance hall." The butler explained in full detail.
"Thank you sir again. Farewell."
"Take care sir." At that point, the butler and Soren split up and went towards their own ways.