A month later.
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"Father, were you looking for me?" Lucas entered his father's office.
"Yes, I just received a letter from the King himself. He wants to host a ball to celebrate his daughter, the second princess, Amelia Marzell's birthday," the Head of the Harren Family replied, handing a letter to his son. The letter bore the stamp of the royal family.
"When?" Lucas asked after receiving the letter. Unaware that the princess' birthday was approaching, he realized he needed to find out more about it to avoid inadvertently offending the princess or others due to his ignorance.
"Next month, we can travel to the capital under the guise of attending the ball," his father suggested. Without needing further explanation, Lucas understood his father's intentions. By using the birthday celebration of the second princess as a pretext, they could search for the Lightstone.
"When will we depart? A week before the ball?" Lucas inquired.
His father nodded. "Yes, we will arrive a week in advance. This will give us the opportunity to explore the capital under the guise of sightseeing or shopping for gifts," he explained.
After leaving the office, Lucas pondered over his father's words. He hadn't anticipated the opportunity to visit the capital so soon and had the Lightstone as his soon-to-be second stone.
But first, he needed to learn more about this second princess. If he remembered correctly, she was a ten-year-old girl, the third child of the royal family and the youngest among them. The last time he saw her was when she was five years old. She had black hair and violet eyes. That was the extent of his recollection, as he only met her once and never interacted with her.
Lucas then searched through his records and located the book about the royal family, which had been published a year ago. According to the book, Princess Amelia had grown into a beautiful girl with a positive attitude. After all, what kind of author would write anything negative about the royal family unless they were willing to risk their lives?
'Nothing useful,' he thought. At this rate, he decided he would simply purchase the most common yet expensive gift for her that was suitable for her age.
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*****
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Three weeks later.
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Gate Zone of Fereen City, the Capital.
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"Wow!" Liliya exclaimed in amazement as they arrived at the gate zone of Fereen City.
"The capital is huge! Much larger than the magic city!" she remarked.
It would have been disappointing if the capital was not that large. In reality, the capital was four times larger than Lousiva City, boasting the largest population concentration. The capital was divided into five distinct zones, separated by walls. The first zone was the royal castle, the highly guarded residence of the royal family. The second zone comprised the noble and merchant districts, where the wealthy residents lived and gathered—the area where they intended to stay. The third zone was the commoner district, as indicated by its name. The fourth zone housed the gate area, along with farms and other agricultural facilities. The fifth zone was where the flora and fauna were being taken care of to preserve nature.
Every wall of the city was heavily fortified, both physically and magically. Even the gate zone was heavily guarded in comparison to the gates in Mertall or Lousiva. It was evident that the majority of soldiers stationed there had at least tier 4 as their lowest rank.
As they approached the third wall that led to the commoner district, Lucas noticed that the wall was adorned with party decorations. Upon entering the district, he observed that the whole streets were adorned and vibrant with activity. It appeared that the entire city was gearing up to celebrate the princess' birthday, despite most of them knowing very little about her.
Lucas glanced in the direction of where the Lightstone was situated. It pointed toward the deeper part of the city, thankfully away from the royal family's residence. He hoped the stone was available in a shop, as that would make it easy for him to purchase it.
Upon arriving at their mansion, situated in the noble district, they were immediately greeted by the servants of the mansion. Stepping out of the carriage, he glanced at the two other carriages that had arrived with them. One of the carriages carried his father and other siblings, while the second carriage transported their belongings. The entire Harren family was present, including his second brother, Eric, who was still studying in the academy.
Speaking of Eric, Lucas recalled his field training at Mount Ortaz. When Eric came back home, he complained about the peculiarities he had encountered at Ortaz. Usually, after the rampage season, there would be numerous monster corpses scattered about, but they only discovered a small number of them. What if they had been consumed? While possible, it would still leave some evidence, yet there was no trace at all that time. In the end, Eric and his classmates were unable to benefit from the corpses.
"Lucas," his father called out as they entered the mansion. He added, "To the office."
Lucas nodded in acknowledgment. After quickly stowing his belongings in his room, he made his way to the mansion's office, where his parents were already seated.
"Is it nearby?" His father inquired, settling onto the sofa beside his wife.
"Yes, we just need to head further down this way and then turn right," Lucas replied.
"Hmm…. That could be problematic." His father tapped the table several times. "It is highly likely that the stone is located in one of the nobles' houses. We'll be fortunate if the house is unprotected and unoccupied, as we could then enter easily and retrieve the stone swiftly."
"Shall we conduct a brief survey?" And so the father and son proceeded toward the house where the Lightstone was believed to be located.
"The stone is not in the house, at least not on the surface or upper floors; instead, it appears to be in the underground or the basement," Lucas informed his father after taking a closer look.
"This is Lieberde House," his father remarked, noting the sigil on the gate of the house. "They are close friends of Poldansius. Another lead as to where the other stones might be."
"Lieberde ...." Lucas mumbled. "Aren't they former nobility?"
He remembered that Lieberde lost its noble status long ago due to the entire family contracting an incurable disease and accumulating substantial debt in attempts to cure it. With no cure in sight, the entire Lieberde lineage perished. Speculation arose that it wasn't a disease but rather a malevolent curse that had befallen them.
"So nobody has claimed this mansion?" he asked.
"No, they believe that the mansion is also cursed, and out of respect for the Lieberde family, the royal family has left it untouched," his father explained. "This implies we can enter the mansion without facing significant repercussions."
Lucas scrutinized the mansion with EO and, so far, had observed no signs of anything unusual about it. There were no active magic spells, curses, or any magical protections evident—it was completely unprotected. This led him to question the extent of the respect the royal family purportedly held for the Lieberde family.
"Father, where is Lieberde's main house located?"
"To the west, and I see your point. It's probable that one of the stones is located in Lierbede's main house. But for now, let's proceed inside."