Landria proceeded to push this big mass of rock away and what was revealed was a strange-looking man-sized hole on the ground.
Landria's eyebrows furrowed as he stared at the hole. It was really deep and the rays of light from above could not penetrate to the end but the hole also didn't just extend straight down.
It was sloppy so, one would be able to prevent themselves from falling straight down to the bottom if they decided to enter.
"It could lead to the lair of a creature," Landria thought out loud.
The best course of action was to act like he never saw this and leave the vicinity but then Landria noticed plants growing on the sides of the wall within the hole.
"Isn't that a Sander stalk?" He voiced out in surprise as he noticed this plant that was used to make potions that could recover mana.
It had a blue circular leaf at the top with a purplish stalk.
He only saw one stalk of it which wasn't enough to create a mana recovery potion but that didn't make it any less valuable. Other plants beside the Sander Stalk were protruding from the sides of the wall but Landria was unable to identify the others.
Landria decided to head down subtly into the hole and pluck this particular plant.
Upon making his way in, due to how sloppy the hole was, he started sliding downwards.
Landria quickly held onto the side of a rough wall to stop his descent. His face twitched a little as the medicinal scent of the air within the hole drifted into his nose.
Landria noticed his frame was blocking the rays of light entering from the opening of the hole behind so he conjured small flames at the tip of his index finger.
He was able to see better as he slowly released his grasp from the wall.
Shhhhsshshhh~
He slid down further, towards the area where he had spotted the Sander Stalk.
He grabbed onto a piece of stone protruding from the side of the wall, the instant he arrived in front of the plant.
The scent of the plant drifted into his nostrils as he stared at it giving him a twinkling feeling within.
"No doubt about it, this is a Sander stalk," Landria said while grabbing the bottom of its stalk area and proceeding to pull it out.
He wasted no time in placing it in one of the pouches strapped to his waist area and decided to leave.
However, Landria was a bit curious so he paused his movement and looked further down the hole.
His flames only illuminated the hole to a small distance so he decided to make a bigger fire and throw it down.
Fwhiii~
The circular flame dropped further into the hole, illuminating more of it as it descended.
Landria's eyes widened as he spotted many more Sander Stalks growing out of the walls, the more the hole extended.
The small circular flame he threw down, landed on the ground ahead and died out. That still wasn't the end of the hole but it made contact with the ground due to its sloppiness.
"There's still so much more?" Landria couldn't deny the greed he felt at this moment.
If these Sander Stalks were used to create mana recovery potions, he wouldn't need to worry about using up his mana in a battle since a single gulp could recover all his lost mana.
However, he also couldn't deny the bad feeling he was getting as he stared deeper into the hole. Greediness was a major cause of misfortune after all.
Who knew the trouble he might get himself into if he didn't leave the hole right now. Although he still couldn't sense the presence of any magical creature down there, he was still a little skeptical.
Landria turned around and decided to leave but then he paused his movements again.
"Twenty stalks should be enough to produce three batches of potion... I'll take just this much and leave," He voiced out with a decisive expression before turning back around.
He let go of the small rock he was holding onto and slid down further into the hole.
*************
Within a room that was similar to the size of an entire house, a teenage boy with curly chestnut-colored hair sat on the massive bed with droopy eyes.
He seemed lost in space as his eyes remained fixated on the left side of the room which only had an artistic portrait of a two-headed beast hanging on it. The room had several artistic figures on the wall and even the ceiling was so high that one could tell, this wasn't your typical home.
There were expensive-looking designs all over the place.
The room looked quite scattered with clothes, books, and other weird items sprawled all over the floor. The teenage boy happened to be clad in a burgundy type of robe whose material looked exquisite and had a golden gem emblem sewn to the back.
It was unknown how many hours had passed as he kept staring into space but suddenly there was a knock at the door.
Kom! Kom!
The sound brought him out of his reverie as he stared in that particular direction where the door was located.
However, he remained seated in a place like he hadn't heard the sound.
Kom! Kom!
The knock was heard again but he still didn't move an inch. He just sat there and stared in the direction of the door.
"Young lord, I'll drop your breakfast in front, please make sure you eat," A feminine voice was heard from outside the door.
What came next was a small sound of metallic collision and then distant footsteps.
Everywhere became silent a few moments later. The teenage boy remained seated in place for about twenty minutes more before he moved towards the door area.
He opened the door and found a tray of food placed in front of the threshold. Just as he wanted to take a step forward a figure came into view from the left.
It was a beautiful woman with chestnut-colored long braids reaching her lower back. She was clad in a red and black garment with golden buttons and flowery embroidery. Her look was nothing short of majestic.
"Uh? Mother," The teenage boy voiced out with a low and depressed tone before deciding to close his room door.
Before he could do that, she managed to stop the door from closing with her left foot.
"Phastus, do you wish to remain this way forever?" She voiced out with a worried tone.
"Yes, let me be mother," Phastus responded with his eyes dropping even more.
"Good grace it's been three months already, you snap out of this now because none of this will bring him back to life," Phastus mother stated with a pitiful glare.
"All thanks to you mother, all thanks to you. You gave the verdict, you gave the order for me to be locked in my room so that I would not intervene, you showed no mercy in executing him and his little sister as well as their mother even though they were not involved in the incident, perhaps I also have to remind you that Father and Uncle Flandor were best of friends yet you went and executed him and his entire household after his passing..." Phastus was seething with anger and sadness all mixed together as he spoke.
"Maybe he should have thought about the consequences of his actions before he murdered your father in cold blood!" Her voice was almost raised into a high-pitched scream as she stated.
"He didn't kill father, he would never do something like that. You and all the court members must be fools to believe he would murder someone he had been protecting all his life only to get caught and be slaughtered along with the rest of his family. What would be the motive behind that?" Phastus retorted with a tone of anger.
"Quiet! You shall not speak to your mother that way!" Phastus's mother voiced out with a strong tone.