*This chapter and subsequent ones would be from Igor's POV*
"so who is next on the list". Barbara asked.
"What list"? I replied.
"The list to find all five of us or to say three ". Barbara said.
"Whoever fate leads us to ". I said shrugging my shoulders.
"So you guys have just been aimlessly searching for us without any plans per se"? Barbara said with a puzzled expression.
"Putting it like that makes us look like unserious fellows " i replied.
"Well your lack of plan makes you look like one ". She replied.
"Anyways, i happen to know where another one of us is". She continued.
"Really"! Seraph who had been quiet for a while said stunned. "Who is it ".
"It's Larmore, Larmore Aetheria, he is also in our tribes group ". Barbara said.
"Is it the man who signed last ". I asked.
"No, the man who signed first and has green hair and eyes ". She replied.
"Well that makes our work a little less stressful ". I said, "let go ".
* * *
We trekked just a few meters to the place Barbara was leading us to. While the people there are like us, they seem a little bit erm... solemn, they don't look very lively at all. Their eyes were like piercing daggers ready to stab us at any time.
"Erm Barbara, this place has a little bit of heavy atmosphere are you sure this is where we are going". Seraph said a bit concerned.
"Trust me, I feel it too, the people here have always been like this even before the magic plague, this place has a lot of crime rate and it skyrocketed after the plague". Barbara said.
"Some people say that the count owes an harrowing amount of debt, unable to pay them the people had to suffer for the foolishness of their leader ".
"Oh less i forget, the person we are meeting is the ruler of here, Count Larmore Aetheria". Barbara continued saying.
I remembered that man say he is in huge debt and has lost everything, selling his soul to the devil might bring a better change. But the way i see things...err nothing's changed for the better, this place looks so depressing and hell dangerous.
But I still can't believe that man is a ruler of a place, even people of high caliber when push to the brink of the wall they do the unthinkable.
Some time later, we reached a fenced mansion_ or semi fenced, part of the fence walls have been torn down, and the mansion was not in the best of shape either, many parts the walls have fallen and there was a lot of graffiti art drawings. The windows were broken and their glass panes were very dusty. The front door was not in a good shape either. The gate outside was bent inward, it gave a certain clue.
Protesters, the people of this county were probably fed up with the way things are, and with their new bodies they decide to challenge the authority. With the state of the building that we are looking at, it will be very weird to see someone living in it, talk less of a noble.
"Urm Barbara, are you sure this is where we are going, like who in the right mind would be living in a house of this terrible condition". I protested.
"Yes, and also, Larmore is a count, you wouldn't expect to see a count still staying in a place that has been pulverized, he would have been long gone ". Seraph said to back me up.
"Uh, did i forget to tell you that he is in a huge debt ". Barbara said.
"And how does that matter, nobles love their lives than nothing else, he would have gone at the slightest sight of danger ". I counter replied.
"I don't think Larmore is like that plus, you can feel an energy here can't you, let's enter the building ". Barbara said walking towards the front door of the building.
I and Seraph looked at each other seemingly confused but she was right we can feel a familiar energy from the mansion.
We entered the house, it was desolate and lifeless, the part of the building that was still standing were darkened as if fire smeared them, the soot on them were heavy. The floor were just as darkened as the walls. The furnitures were destroyed to splinters and most were burned to ashes.
'it seems the protest was not your typical chanting stand outside the gate type, rather this was outright looting'.
We checked the ground floor of the mansion we found nothing, so we decide to go upstairs.
"Barbara are you really sure someone is living here? The building looks like it will collapse any minute ". Seraph said a little nervous.
"I heard rumors that a huge protest took place here but i didn't expect a large scale destruction of the Aetheria mansion". Barbara said.
"So you just want to check out the house, how battered it is "? I asked.
"Well i heard that count Larmore did not leave the house when the rest of the family and the servants left, i was hoping he would be in one of the rooms or in a safe place underground ". Barbara replied.
I looked at her with the side of my eye, wanting to say something but I noticed two things. First, there was room which was different from the rest of the house. The room really looks out of place, like it was speared from the destruction the rest of the mansion suffered.
Second, the familiar energy seems to be coming from the said room so I pointed it out for us to check.
I tried opening the door, twisting the door handle many times but it wouldn't budge. Seraph tried using a different approach by knocking and saying greetings but no answer.
"Tch, both of you step aside, if opening through normal means doesn't work we'll force it open, Open sesame". A blue aura from Barbara's hands opened the door forcefully, knocking it backwards.
She walked into the room confidently, i and Seraph were beyond shocked, while we might have been three star and four stars respectively, i don't think either of us have practiced magic well, talk less of casting them perfectly without flaw.
We soon Snapped out of our daze when a voice that is not of Barbara's sounded from the room, very hoarse.
"Who are you three and what are you doing here".