[Moments Ago]
"This city reeks of the art of evil" Lauria, the apostle muttered to herself.
She walked in the busy city alongside the commander, whose name was Gerund.
Prior to their entry into the city, she held a short meeting with the twelve Knights whom had she brought with her.
"We'll be splitting up from this moment forth," she said to them.
"It will be less conspicuous this way, and we'll have a better chance of not alerting the perpetrator as well as cover more ground." She added.
"I see"
"That is true"
"As expected of the apostle of the gods"
The knights murmured amongst one another as they sang her praise.
This, however, did not make her happy, rather, it irritated her even more.
"Silence heathens." She commanded.
There was immediate silence in the area.
"We split in groups of twos. However my group shall be comprised of three. I'll be with the commander and one other knight." She said.
After she made this statement, they divided themselves accordingly, making five teams of two and one team of three, making six teams in total.
"We meet here in three hours. Scout the area before then and be prompt." She declared.
"Yes ma'am" They said in unison.
"Depart!"
They all left at the sound of her voice, leaving her, Commander Gerund and Imperial Knight Lester behind.
"We should be on our way as well" She said, leaving for the city to enact justice by the will of the gods.
Now in the city, the first thing she noticed was the presence of an imbalance and anomaly in the natural order ordained by the gods This malfunction she sensed could only he caused by one thing, hex.
"Just as the reports say. The enemy is a practitioner of the evil arts. A slave beyond redemption." She said to herself.
Lauria also observed the state of the city and overheard the conversations of the inhabitants, though she didn't want to.
"Filthy heathens" She mumbled.
They talked about something she couldn't ignore, so she decided to pay closer attention to their words, despite her personal reservations about it.
"Did you also feel it? The entire city trembled last night" One of them said.
"I didn't just feel it, I saw the explosion ftom my home. It was just right there" One said, pointing straight to the south of the city
"The light filled the entire city and for a moment you would think it was day!" He added.
"Do you think this is a sign from the gods?! What could it mean?" Yet another asked.
"You're all fortunate. It looks like I missed out on quite a lot. I just returned here this morning after completing the delivery of my goods to the neighboring town. Ah, I'm so jealous" Another of them said.
"But did you see what happened afterward?" He continued.
"No. No one could even get close to the area of effect or anywhere around it. We all watched from a distance"
"Ah, I see. How regrettable" He lamented.
Lauria frowned and decided she had heard enough. She quickly walked away from the place and headed to the direction one of the people pointed at.
"W-Wait up-" The Commander said, surprised by her sudden increase in pace and tried to catch up with her. The other imperial knight was also surprised, but he dared not speak.
Lauria ignored the two of them and kept with her pace, engaged in deep thought.
"The light was most likely Flora's doing. To think she gathered that much attention and still ended up losing? How unbefitting an apostle" She said to herself.
Before long she arrived at the destination she was headed to, the site of the battle which took Flora's life.
"This is..." Lauria gasped with a look of slight surprise on her face.
"There's so much here. So much perversion. A very high density of the evil art is present here. The perpetrator was definitely here" She muttered as she payed close attention to the vast destruction around her.
She saw a massive scar on the ground which filled the entire area. Buildings and structures all around were in shambles, no surprise there.
"She caused this much destruction and commotion, yet she was taken down?!" Lauria wondered, clenching her fists.
"Just how little did she learn at the Sanctuary?!"
"For her, one blessed with the grace of light, to be defeated by a being of darkness? How ironic. But don't you lose heart wherever you may be Flora. For this senior of yours will make sure the person responsible for this pays the price." She furrowed her brows.
"Scour the area, see what you can find." She said.
After a thorough investigation of the grounds, one of the knights, found something and beckoned to the apostle to determine its worth to their current mission.
"This is ..." Lauria said, noticing the brand around the knives and chain she saw on the floor.
"Where did you find this?" She asked the knight suddenly.
"A-Ah, I found it buried under the piles of dirt and rubble, so I decided to show you.
"Good. I recognize this symbol. It is the sign of the Imperius Auction House." She said.
"Auction house?" The Commander asked, in confusion.
"What does that have to with our current investigation?" He asked Lauria.
"It has everything to do with it, dimwit. By finding this clue we've tied the involvement of the auction house, whether directly or indirectly. Seeing as how we are currently in need of information, thanks to these very small pieces of weapons and the insignia on the chain, we have enough concrete evidence to investigate the Imperius" She said.
"I-I see. That makes sense" Commander Gerund said, rethinking his words.
"As long as you know. Now then, as much as I do not want to do something as debasing as entering into an auction hall, we must fulfill the will of the gods "She said.
"Let's head there now"
She went ahead hurriedly, walking away from the wreckage of a scene.
When she finally got to the entrance of Imperius, what she met there was enough to add validity to her suspicion.
"There is also a strong trace of the forbidden art here. I was right to think Imperius had a hand in the entire incident with Flora. They may even be the ones behind it." She whispered.
Something strange, however, was the sign which read "We are Closed" in front of the entrance.
"Closed? During the day? Impossible. Unless..." She thought aloud.
Realizing her prey might get away, she quickly kicked the entrance door open, causing a loud bang. She crashed onto the reception hall, prepared to have to battle her for, or any stallers he had.
However, she didn't meet any of such. What she saw, to her surprise, was a messy hall, and panicked staffs trying to arrange and fix the place up.
They were surprised by her sudden entry and looked shaken by her appearance. She didn't have time to be concerned for their feelings or businesses. After confirming the staff were not a threat, she furthered to ask them one question.
"Where is the man in charge?!"
The staff pointed to his office, however, upon getting there he was nowhere to be found. She immediately knew something was amiss and decided to pursue her target.
"He must have somehow known I was on his trail, but how? This man is definitely formidable. To be able to evade me this way. Just who is he?" She asked herself.
But, realizing that the time she allocated to everyone was nearing an end, she decided to return to their agreed rendezvous point.
"Tch" She let out in frustration.
After meeting up with everyone, she asked for their reports. Most of them were useless and irrelevant squabbles. Fortunately, one of them had important intel.
"I heard ftom someone that they saw the grandmaster's house completely surrounded by the soldiers from the royal military forces." The imperial knight said.
"What? Even the royal family is involved in this? How deep do this person's connections run? To think he was this notorious." She mumbled.
"We have to make our move quickly then. He is to be rightfully judged by the apostles, no one else may claim prize of him" She said.
"So, what do we do now?" Commander Gerund asked.
"Someone as shrewd as he is will always have a secret place of escape. If we ignore his house and instead locate his secret exit, then we will be able to corner him, leading to our victory." She said thoughtfully.
"But how do we find his secret escape route? It's hidden for a reason. That will make it hard to locate the exit." Gerund protested.
"Be silent" She commanded.
"You test my patience heathen. We apostles are blessed with extrasensory perception by the gods, allowing us to sense, locate and determine, to an extent, the properties that make up this world. Therefore, if i concentrate, I should be able to locate any hidden structure built in my vicinity" She said.
"I-I apologize for doubting your capabilities. Please forgive me" Gerund said to her nervously.
She huffed and shook her head slowly.
"You're all the same, you heathens. I'm hardly surprised anymore." She sighed.
"Now then, let us get going. We haven't all the time in the world"
And so they left, in search for the grandmaster's hidden path. They found the path and pursued the trail leading to the exit. But, upon getting there they were too late. Two groups in conflict had begun to claim share of an enemy that wasn't theirs to have.
"Halt!" She shouted.
Bringing forth her sword, Lauria raised it high and it shone a white light, drawing the attention of the parties to her.
"No one is getting in the way of the judgement if the gods. No one!" She said within herself.
Anyone who tried to get in her way, would be destroyed!