Chapter 2
Welcome to Viraim City
"Everyone is equal, I won't let anyone change my mind even if it's the Emperor himself"
-Zaneal ruthergard
The famous Zaneal Ruthergard made his way to Viraim City along with his other two companions to finish a special mission. The letter reached them a few days ago. He still remembers how the letter without sender reached their Specter Headquarters causing some uproar amongst them. Because of that, Spectre took a longer decision on who will be sent to this mission. It's such a shame that none of them wanted to Volunteer except for his team. Though the sender remained unknown, Zane decided to pursue this mission further. This letter is written neatly with detailed observation of the robes group around the Inn and the duke mansion. They had the same criteria which symbolized the disciples of Ruvian. He decided those two locations will be his main focus of investigation. Besides, he had something to settle with Disciples Ruvian, there is no way he will miss this opportunity. "Hey Leader, thinking about something else?" His dull brown eyes turned to the red haired male beside him. He stared at him oddly for a moment after noticing how his white mage robes colors were contrast to his red fiery hair. "It's nothing that concerns you Agio. Beside your robes..is that unusual?" Agio laughed loudly when his team leader stared at him oddly. He noticed how his robes quite contrast to his eyes and hair color. Probably it will make him stand out the most from the crowds. "Oh you just noticed now ? You need to pay more attention to your team, Captain" Zaneal silent for a moment before he shrugged slightly. "Yeah, maybe" the fire mage frowned, seeing his indifferent attitude towards him and whined at Neva who rode her horse there beside him. "Ouch Neva, did you hear that ? Our captain is very cold. I will freeze if I stay too long beside him..save me please!" The girl with long dark blue hair only turned her head away as if she didn't hear him. "Oh my, how worse is it to be surrounded by such cold people" Zaneal and Neva replied at the same time with annoyed expressions on his faces "Shut it fire boy". Both of them seemed surprised to know they said the exact same words at the same time. However, Agio's smile widened as he rode his horse happily between them. "Oh! What sights to behold! It's unfortunate how they forbid romance between teammates. Aww such a shame" Hearing that both of them grow tense for a moment before letting out a long tiring sigh. "So captain, what's about this….Viraim City ? I read the archive but I found it a little bit odd about...their family. Did you think there will be a hidden scandal?"
"Perhaps, but we won't dig too deep into their personal relationship unless they had connections with that group and talking about them, we finally arrived." His leader's monotone voice made him shake his head. He never changes, despite how much hardship they went through together, he still always is the stoic hero of the days, Zaneal Ruthergard. Climbing down from his horse, Zaneal sees the magnificent gate of Viraim City. It's totally different from the news, they said Viraim City is an old-fashioned town, even though their gate looks old but what he saw right now is different. Everything seems new or perhaps the duke made it so. He wondered, did the duke have special guests lately? Ah, no matter. He needs to finish his mission quickly. There is a reason why Zaneal only brings Agio and Neva. Agio excels in advanced battle magic with fire as his main element. He can always support him during his fight and maintain the distance. Neva is a healer, not only to heal injuries but also to heal paralyze effect and Manipulation magic. She's quite sharp when it's come to analyzing skills and observation. Her insights have always been helpful for him to analyze the situation before he takes the initiative.
Although he is quite famous for his heroic tales, he has never been in this city before. He read some articles about the City. It was built along the banks of a mighty river and is a truly modest trade center. Surrounded by thick walls, the city always has two patrol guards in front of the gate. The Duke raised the tax three times more than usual for unknown reasons, it angered the citizens how he put his personal matters before the others. Other than that, he read some news about Layra Reinhardt, the Duke's son who inherited golden eyes from the Duke's father. There were still more but he decided to not read it and leave it later. As they climbed down from their horse, the patrol guard's eyes widened when they saw him. They instantly recognised him as Zane ruthergard of Spectre. News about him was spread throughout the continent. It's quite easy to recognize him. He had black hair with heavy gray eyes set graciously within his sockets. A scar reaching grimly just under the right eyebrow, running towards the right side of his lips and ending on his right nostril leaves a terrible memory of his battle past. "I'm here for investigation" his voice made the guards flinch and opened the door immediately. "Woa! I guess that's the power of our leader, you don't don't have to show your ID cards!" Agio grinned and walked inside the city first leaving a frowning Zane on the gate. "You need to stop that expression and smile more. That way, maybe you will get an apprentice soon" Thinking about that, only gives him a headache. The Last, soon to be apprentice, were running away after they saw him fight Heoda. He still remembered how terrified they were, when they saw him tainted with the blood of his enemies.
"Not sure about that, but I will try my best. We will stick to the plan. Neva and Agio investigate the Inn. I will head to the Duke Mansion directly" Both of them were quick to nod, and leave to do their part. Making his way to the Duke Mansion, he sensed a few traces of black mist all around the place. A small smile formed on his face, oh he glad he volunteered for this mission. The disciples of ruvian still remain here in this city. He wasn't sure what they are after but, he will make sure to pay for his scars.
The duke's mansion was quite lavish. From outside he can see how much the duke treasures his mansion. The gatekeeper seems to expect him to come, they even greet him and keep their head down. He feels annoyed by such exaggerated treatment by the Duke. Instead of going in, he turned his attention to the garden instead. "Tell the duke, I will be in the garden. Meet me as soon as possible and do not follow me" He wasted no time waiting for a reply and moved to the garden where the thickest mist had gathered. Contrast to the dark aura that surrounded the place, the garden in front of him is quite beautiful. A lush field of grass, accompanied by colorful flowers of various kinds. A pond is built in the middle, filled with Koi fish. There are a few benches near the garden with high wood quality. He can see the glass house from a far. Everything was arranged so perfectly. His eyes softened when he saw so many colorful flowers. Perhaps he should've taken Neva here with him. She will be happy to see such colorful flowers like this.
Leaned on the bench, he grew impatient to wait for the duke. Perhaps he should've taken a look around himself and see if there's any clue left. Following the black mist, he saw a large training ground with so many weapons on the sides. There are two kids in the middle holding swords and shields. The kids on the left had brown short hair with tanned skin. The other one is the blonde-haired kid with fair skin wearing lavish clothes. Their clothing is too much of a contrast to each other. He saw two Elite guards behind the blonde-haired kids, doing nothing but observing from outside the battle ground.
'That must be the Duke children. It seems they are going to fight soon' the two of them make no sounds or move. They were cautious and didn't even take the first step until the brown-haired kid leaped to the other kid and swung his sword down to his shoulder to injure him. 'He's fast but that's not enough' Zane hid his presence and watched from the shadows. He wanted to know more about the duke's children. The rumors he heard, he had an illegitimate child who mostly stayed at home due to his sickness. He wasn't sure which one was the illegitimate child but both of them looked healthy to him. As the leader of the alpha team, both of them were quite talented. The brown hair kid might not be that strong but he is fast and precise. The other kid knows how to counter and block nicely. Ah, he almost forgot about the duke. He needs to get going now. So far, he only found traces. Hopefully, Agio and Neva found something more useful than what he found.
When he comes out of his hiding place to see those kids, a shadow swallows one of the elite Knights who were standing right behind the blonde haired kid. His eyes widened when the person's physical body turned into black mist. The other Elite guards fall to his knees. "What is that?!" The blonde haired kid raised his sword and took a closer look. However, a strong gripped pulled him away from getting close to that shadow and throw him to opposite direction. Another elite guards who were too shock to move getting pulled by the shadow and crumble into black mist. Taking a deep breath Zaneal turn to the blonde hair kid with anger on his face "Are you asking to die?! Never get close to something you didn't understand kiddo!" His face grow redder as he get up quickly and yelled to him "so what ? How dare you treat me like that! I'm erath ruthergard, the sole heir of this household. I'm not a kid, I'm a sixteen years old teenager. you better behave or mph-" the brown hair kid cover his mouth so he won't talk more. He look at him apologetically "I'm sorry, Erath is always like that, I'm Layra Reinhardt. It's been a pleasure to meet you sir Spectre'' in contrast to their appearance, Layra had a more humble personality and wicked thinking. If he thinks Zaneal won't notice then he was so wrong. He could see the hidden intention beneath those beautiful eyes. "Layra and Erath, I see now. so you are the illegitimate son that everyone talking about" He could see Layra let go of Erath slowly before a forced smile made its way to his face When Erath about to say something more, both Layra and Erath eyes widened to see something terrifying behind Zane. Wondering what they saw, he turn around to see the black mist from earlier form into something, Heoda. This is the first time he saw this directly. In his many years of experience, the disciples of ruvian always hide the truth about the creation of Heoda. To think they can create Heoda from the person- does that mean Heoda is not a Summoning creature but it was a human ? Zaneal bracelets glow bright and turn into a great sword that is bigger than his size. No wonder people called him a beast from Spectre. To think a human like him is able to carry such a large great sword with two times his size is more than extraordinary.
"T-that…" Erath back away in fear after seeing the real Heoda. "It's about to start. Go inside the mansion and hide. Who knows how many Heoda will appear in this place. Ah, how about this. Survive till everything over and I might take you as my apprentice" He could see layra expressions brightened hearing his proposal but not with Erath who looking at him up and down before showing an expressions of disgust. "Leave now" He won't remind them to leave again. He always called those who were younger than them a kid no matter how old they were. That is how he is interacting with people around him minus his teammates. He just have too much respect for his team to call then that. his hands at the sky and shot out a magical waves so his team could sense it and come immediately if they hadn't encounter the same problem.
Unlike any regular Hedoa, this one is different: the tail formed a sharp metallic thirst shape with dark red color. Their claws were two times sharper and they had a bigger body than before. With those kids running away, he can focus more on Heoda. Strangely enough, when he is about to slash the creature, it evades his attack with incredible speed and goes after the kid. "Do you think I will stand silent and let it happen?" Zane swung his great sword towards the creature and slammed it to the nearby wall making a loud crash in the process. Satisfied, Zaneal about to end the crashed Heoda only to find out another one appeared right behind him.
"This will be interesting. Let our bloody fight begin!"