[System] You have unlocked the title [Perfect Meditation]
[System] You have unlocked the title [Intense Concentration]
Isaac didn't care about these notifications.
Well after Rebecca and Artiel's chase in the sanctuary, Isaac was focused on the red interface in front of him.
- "Edit area" suddenly announced Isaac.
Immediately, an interface appeared in front of him with a topological map of the surroundings as well as the garden in red. Isaac then drew a new red zone at the indicated position of the entities.
- "Set Attack on hostility only of area 2 to true" he added after creating the new area.
A beep sound resonated, indicating that the first command has been executed. "Attack on hostility only" is a parameter that Isaac added when changing the rune of logic in the garden. Once activated, the golems will then go into passive mode and only attack when they are attacked.
With the area mapped out and the setting updated, Isaac assigned five artillery golems and dispatched them immediately.
On the edge of the cliff, five golems suddenly leaped into the void before activating their wind runes and heading off in a direction forming a line in the sky.
Once that was done, Isaac set off. Far faster than the golems, he caught up with them and passed them.
All along the way, Isaac did not stop thinking and studying the possible situations. In the event of an attack, he had the golems to counterattack, but in the event of a hostage-taking, there was little he could do.
If he had to cast a spell too powerful, he would hurt both enemies and his apprentices. Once he got close enough, Isaac focused some of his mana towards his eyes to increase his viewing distance.
Isaac could see a hill in the distance where nobody could be seen. The grass seemed charred in one spot and a crater was visible suggesting that a fight probably took place there.
A few meters from the top of the hill, arrows stuck in the ground were visible. Without waiting, the elf redoubled speed and arrived above the scene before slowing down and approaching smoothly.
"What has happened ?" he wondered.
Once he got three feet above the ground, Isaac stopped and looked around. The ground was stained with blood in one place which worried him. He didn't know who this blood belonged to, but it looked quite old considering its almost black color and parched appearance.
The fact that there was no corpse reassured Isaac slightly. If Rebecca or Artiel were dead, their attackers probably wouldn't have recovered their bodies. At least that was what he hoped for.
Several seconds passed during which Isaac reflected before the golems appeared and landed heavily on the ground, forming a circle about fifty meters in diameter.
After a brief moment of reflection, Isaac looked up and floated a little higher before inhaling. The spellbook suddenly slipped out of his sleeve and opened to a blank page.
Then, Isaac concentrated his mana in his vocal cords before diffusing it into his voice.
- "You who have been beaten and bruised, take this gift that I am giving you and light up yourself" he intoned all around him.
Immediately, an inscription appeared on the blank page and registered itself while around, a wave of charged mana swept the surroundings for about thirty meters.
The grass and plants absorbed excess mana from the air before glowing. All over the hill, the grass grew bright, standing out even under the sun in the sky.
Coming down from the hill, the luminous grass was becoming more and more scarce until footsteps started to form.
Traces of boots or shoes were visible. The crushed grass was damaged by the weight of whoever had stood there reacting to Isaac's command.
He hadn't tested it yet, but giving orders to plants as he did with animals and humans was a logical conclusion.
However, applying such a technique to tracing was new to him and he was not sure if he would succeed. After all, he had never needed to trace people. As soon as the spell was confirmed, he increased the area of influence to fifty yards before noticing footsteps coming and going.
Horse footsteps more exactly. There were a lot of them but Isaac didn't know how to count how many horses there were. Seeing no other tracks leading in a different direction, Isaac decided to follow.
- "Return" he ordered the golems before flying 3 meters more above the ground, periodically casting the same spell he had recorded in his grimoire.
Immediately, the golems abandoned the area and returned to the shrine.
Once done, Isaac was getting ready to leave when something caught his eye. There was a small, normal-looking stone on the grass.
He would never have noticed it if it weren't for its strange behavior: It seemed to be absorbing the mana that Isaac had released.
"What…" he thought as he took the stone before his eyes widened. "Rebecca!"
Without wasting time, Isaac activated the stone and went through the entire information it had stored in time-lapse. He was not to waste time and therefore decided to start with the last recording.
The vision of his two tied-up apprentices then appeared in his mind, making him clench his fists. Around twenty horsemen were visible, but Isaac was most attracted by the presence of one in particular.
"Raphael Cortez," thought Isaac, frowning.
Once the recording went through, he placed the stone in a small pocket in his sleeve.
"Erivia…" he thought, his eyes dark.
Isaac then proceeded to fly for a while, periodically casting tracing spells so as not to lose track of the horses' traces.
He had lost the sense of time. All he wanted was to find his apprentices. The resulting anxiety and stress were palpable in his denser and more vibrant aura.
The sun was setting and he was starting to lose hope as time passed until the ramparts were visible in the distance. More importantly, the tracks seemed to be heading there.
Immediately, Isaac changed direction and took a vertical flight to gain a few hundred meters of altitude before stopping and facing the city below him.
A few lamps and torches were starting to light up all over the place as night broke. The soldiers prepared to close the doors for the night as the last caravans entered the compound.
Isaac remained for a while floating in the air without noise or a sound. He was watching the townspeople unaware of what was above them.
- "Don't worry. I'll be there soon" he finally said aloud, breaking the silence.
After a few seconds, he placed his hand in front of him and inhaled.
- "Search: Rebecca"
It was black. Rebecca didn't know how much time had passed but all she knew was that they had returned to Erivia before a bag was placed on her face.
Artiel wasn't in the best of shape either. They hadn't been treated very well on their return trip. The slightest movement hurt them.
Around them, people seemed to be talking.
Suddenly, the bags on their heads were removed before everyone was pushed into a common cell. The door closed and then got locked.
The prison they were in was cold, dark, and silent. The only source of surrounding light came from the torch hanging on the opposite wall.
Artiel didn't take long to get used to the low light and quickly spotted his surroundings. Rebecca was behind him, a little lost and tired. At the back of the cell, Iracuz was thoughtful and was biting his fingernail deeply in thought when a hand suddenly came to take his neck and press him against the wall.
The young man widened his eyes as he looked at Artiel, his assailant, and began to choke.
- "Artiel!" shouted Rebecca. "What are you doing ?!"
- "Are you still planning to cover him? It's because of him that we're here" Artiel resumed immediately without looking back.
- "I…" began the young woman without knowing what to say more. She decided to shut up. Artiel was not wrong and she felt resentment against Iracuz.
Seeing that Rebecca was not going to intervene, Artiel slightly loosened his grip on Iracuz's neck to let him breathe.
- "You are going to explain this mess to us or I swear to you that your last days in this world will not be beautiful" he threatened.
Iracuz began to cough and caught his breath before his cough turned into a light laugh.
- "What makes you laugh like that?" Artiel asked.
- "Nothing…" he said before directing his gaze to Rebecca who turned her face away. "I didn't do anything," he then resumed.
- "Do you think we'll believe you ?!" Artiel retorted.
- "No. But you asked me a question, I answered it. Now what you do with my answer is up to you" answered the young man calmly.
They didn't know what to do with such a response. Should they believe it? For the moment, the question was secondary. They had to find a way to leave.
- "So what happened?" asked the young woman, who turned her gaze to Iracuz.
- "I was betrayed," he replied.
The two teenagers arched their eyebrows slightly. Seeing that they were not convinced, Iracuz continued.
- "I don't know who, but someone sold the wick. They tried to capture me but I managed to escape…"
- "Talk about escaping. Look where you are" Artiel retorted.
- "Do you have an idea to get out of here?" said Rebecca.
- "We can't," Iracuz replied immediately. "You are largely not strong enough" he resumed.
Rebecca was sure she could probably break down the dungeon doors. Nonetheless, Iracuz scored a point. Even if they managed to leave the dungeon, they would not have left the castle or the city.
The gates of the dungeon would probably require a class three spell on their own, which would exhaust the young woman. They didn't have a lot of alternatives.
- "If you think I betrayed you, you should kill me right away" Iracuz suddenly resumed.
Artiel sighed and stayed still for a moment. He didn't know what to do, he had never been trained for this sort of thing. Undecided, he turned to the young woman who was just as lost as him.
Reluctantly, he then released Iracuz.
- "I do not see why they would have screwed you in the cell with us if you really had sold us" he answered. "But that doesn't change the fact that it's because of you that we're here, so find a solution," he added.
Iracuz started rubbing his redneck with a hand mark and coughed lightly before catching his normal breath. He nodded positively.
- "At present, the others are surely preparing an escape plan" replied Iracuz. "We just have to wait."
This did not completely reassure the two apprentices, but they didn't have much more so they were satisfied with it. Everyone then sat down on the ground and then a heavy silence fell into the cell.
Several floors above, Raphael, Yves Leatrix, and a rather tall young man in metal armor were present in an office.
- "Are you sure it is a servant of the Archmage?" asked the Governor.
- "Yes Monsignor, I saw it with my own eyes," Raphael replied.
- "The young man accompanying her?"
- "A bodyguard or a soldier probably"
The Governor sank into reflection. His initial plans were to wait for reinforcements from the Viscount to storm the sanctuary. He didn't expect the Archmage to send agents.
What had they gathered as information? Fortunately, the cavalry had captured them before they arrived at the sanctuary.
- "I do not think she is a simple servant" continued the third man in a deep voice.
- "Why then Franck?" resumed Yves, curious.
- "She knows how to use magic," he replied.
It was true that a mage, no matter how simple, could not be a simple servant. She had to be of some value to her master, and that gave them an advantage.
With hostages, the negotiations could take a completely different turn and the Governor understood that very well. With a nod of his head, he approved of his son's words.
- "We will wait for the reinforcements. If the Archmage comes to retrieve them, then we will know that they are of great value to him and we can use them as hostages" announced the Governor with a small smile on the corner of his lips.
Things had gone better than expected.
Although their capture was a fluke of luck, the Archmage had made a bad move by dispatching such inexperienced agents. Just by their combat and strategy skills, it was certain that they had not witnessed real battles.
He was satisfied. But just as he was about to send them away, someone knocked on the door.
- "Come in," announced the Governor.
Immediately the butler opened the door and bowed forward.
- "Sir, a priest of the Church of the Sun wishes to speak to you. This is an urgent matter" he declared immediately.
- "I'm busy, tell him to come by later" cut Yves.
- "He made me understand that it was a royal missive, Monsignor," replied the butler.
The atmosphere in the room cooled immediately. Among the many things that the Church of the Sun did, one of the most important was communication.
Unlike the intelligence network developed by the Magus, the Church of the Sun uses a wish to convey a message through their artifacts.
With a church in almost every medium and large city in the kingdom, their communication network was a medium used largely by the nobles to send important and urgent messages or to communicate in real-time.
A royal missive, on the other hand, is a message sent by an official with the King's seal. The Governor suddenly stood up.
- "Call him. You two, get out" declared Yves.
Franck and Raphaël were quick to leave the office as soon as possible before a priest entered. It was an elderly man with white hair and pale skin. He wore flat white clothes and had in his hands a blue globe about thirty centimeters in diameter.
Once the doors were closed, the priest wasted no time in greeting and activated the ball. Immediately, golden letters started appearing one by one, displaying a rather short text that the priest hastened to read in a solemn tone.
- "Royal missive dated today 18th day of the lunar calendar sent on behalf of His Majesty Kylis Lubeyllis. On the 23rd day of the lunar calendar, the city of Erivia will receive the visit of the Magus of the court, Zachary Kol, who will supervise the management of the situation relating to the sanctuary of Fray'r. By royal decree, the Magus is given the superior authority of the King for the duration of his expedition. His orders must be considered as orders coming directly from His Majesty the King. This decree takes effect immediately" he said before pausing.
A few seconds passed before a second letter appeared in the ball.
- "Royal missive dating today 18th day of the lunar calendar sent in the name of His Excellency the Magus of the court. Any action against the sanctuary or the Archmage presumed seen in the latter must be suspended until further notice. This order takes effect immediately "he finished before deactivating the ball.
Yves clenched his fists then nodded positively, indicating to the priest that he had received the message.
Without waiting, the priest turned around then left the room, opening the doors and leaving the castle. Franck and Raphaël came back, followed closely by the butler with a paper and a quill.
The butler stepped forward and put the paper on the desk in front of the Governor, then waited.
For his part, Yves was sitting in his seat, not knowing what to do with this news. Travel between the capital and the border took an average of ten or even twenty days. If the Magus left the capital today, five days would probably not be enough.
Also, the Governor suspected that the King had not sent him a missive in advance. Probably to take him by surprise which did not reassure him.
- "The Magus will arrive in five days" he announced.
Reactions were mixed. Yves was worried but above all disappointed. Franck was perplexed and worried about the arrival of a member of the upper aristocracy. As for Raphael, he was in heaven. The enemy Archmage had no chance of winning.
- "How long will it take for the Vicomte's men to arrive? Perhaps we can launch the assault first?" asked Franck, who understood his father's position very well.
He knew for a fact that an opportunity like this did not arise every day. Wealth, magic. The ruins were sought even by the greatest rulers.
- "Five days too, forget it. If we make a single movement, it will be the Magus who will be on our back. There is only one reason why he would come in person" retorted Yves.
Immediately, Franck straightened up. Magic. The only thing that could bring an Archmage out of its nest. There was nothing they could do except waiting. In any case, this was if they forgot the presence of the two hostages.
Yves continued to think for a few moments before picking up his quill and starting to write on parchment, transcribing the contents of the royal missive.
Once done, the Governor looked up at his son.
- "Pass the city on alert, I want the ramparts to be permanently guarded, all comings and goings to be carefully monitored" he announced.
Immediately, Franck nodded.
- "Go," said the Governor.
The Commander strode out of the room and closed the doors in his path. Only Raphael, the butler, and Yves remained.
- "Question them. Extract all the information you can from the prisoners by any means necessary" he announced.
Raphael nodded before bowing, then left the room, in turn, leaving the governor and his butler alone in the room. Yves leaned back deep in his seat then sighed for a long time.
All these events were not good for his health. Nevertheless, he had no complaints. It had been ages since he had so much adrenaline in his blood and it reminded him of his youth.
- "Here is an adventure worthy of a novel protagonist" he announced with a big smile decorating his face.