One hour later.
Dhana and I came back to the meeting room.
A bunch of people were gathered there. Mostly from the younger generation. The building we were in was actually carved from the mountain, instead of being built. It could be considered an intricate part of the mountain and the meeting room was the deepest and in turn most secure place.
While roaming the mountain, I couldnt summon the spirits and use fusion magic, without alerting the guards, however, my beast taming does the trick.
I called for very small animals and made temporary contracts with them and it didnt take much effort.
In the guise of playing with them, I managed to touch them and imprint the contract.
Of course, I am sure the knights were bewildered. Even if they reported back to the Duke, they couldn't do much.
After all, I am sure they werent able to decipher the magic I used.
Once back in the meeting room, Dhana walked around interacting with the Duke's family members as she tried to get a gauge of them.
I sat in a corner and closed my eyes as if I was meditating. In reality, I was surveilling the mountain and making the animals like some rats, pigeons and other birds enter the city to spread out.
At that moment, in my mind, I could see multiple point of views from these animals. It was like looking different movies in multiple screens at the same time.
Except, I dont have to visually process it as the information was being relayed to my brain directly.
I made sure that I didnt attract any suspicions. Dhana who knew what I was doing helped with that as well.
While I was guiding the animals under my control, I found a secluded waterfall through a bird. It was a very small water wall. However, it covered a cave.
What attracted my attention was that Ardra was sneaking into the cave.
He appeared anxious and frustrated. He looked around as if trying to make sure that no one was looking at him. He sneaked into the cave. The bird quietly flew along with him through the small gap.
Ardra looked at the bird. It would be stupid of a knight of his caliber to not notice the sound of fluttering wings in such a close vicinity. He scrutinized the bird just for a moment, but ignored it.
Through the bird, I examined the insides of the cave. There were some broken stone hammers as well as some training equipment.
It looked like his private training room.
Ardra took out a scroll and laid it down on the ground. He bit his finger and started drawing some runic inscriptions. After that, a small energy orb flew out of the scroll.
"The pictures published in the gazette are not of some strays left behind. I talked to a couple of people who witnessed the person directly. The description matched. It was definitely him.
The seal didn't work.
That person is coming to Kurma City and as you might have already known, my father already contacted the King. The general is getting involved. If he is strong enough to destroy a ninth-circled powerhouse, we need to be careful.
Contact the backer. We might need the reinforcements."
He spoke hurriedly and slammed the orb into the runic inscription on the scroll.
Some energy fluctuations happened. It was not normal mana, but spatial energy. The inscription glowed for a few moments and an orb with a different color flew out.
"I will contact them, but I doubt you will need any reinforcements right now. But try to get more information from the people who found him. Your father reported that he was doing some ritual kind of thing in the mountain ranges. We need more details to report to those people.
Try to get as much information as you can."
The orb disintegrated.
The voice was neutral and unrecognizable. For some reason, I couldn't even comprehend if it belonged to a man or a woman. But a deep frown appeared on my face.
Ardra pursed his lips conjured another orb through the scroll and spoke.
"We should have been more careful with this. They said the seal would be perfect, but it didn't work. You and I both know what that seal had to hold back. If this person is here, what about the things that were sealed along with him?"
The orb merged once again before the scroll delivered another orb, clearly a message from the opposite party.
"Stop thinking and just do as I say. Whatever happens will happen and don't even blabber what you shouldn't speak of in your stupid anxiety. There is nothing behind that seal. How many times do I have to tell you, that it was just a children's folktale? If something that ferocious was really sealed, then why are there no signs of it? It should have already shown.
And I am sure, we can handle him too.
We all know how much Anta has declined. I heard there was a banquet going on before the killing. Don't you think it sounds similar to a plan both of us know very well? That was all there was to it.
We were a bit negligent and learned our lesson.
I will talk to those people and they will handle him, if the three Dukes and a General cannot handle him that it is.
Now don't contact me, until I tell you to."
The orb disintegrated.
Ardra sat down on the ground with a dejected expression as he held his head.
I opened my eyes from my meditative state back in the meeting room and hurriedly looked for Dhana.
"We need to talk."
I whispered in her ears.
Looking at my serious expression, she nodded and both of us came to the balcony.
I looked around and asked.
"Any protection from eavesdroppers?"
Dhana took out a glass pearl that created an invisible barrier around us.
"Something is up with Ardra…"
I went on to explain what I heard, while still keeping an eye on the people inside. The information was too sensitive and there was no way that I could let it leak to someone that I could not trust.
Particularly, not the Kurma family.
At that point, i don't really know how much of the Kurma family was in on with Ardra and whoever he was being backed by.
Dhana held her forehead in frustration.
"An intercontinental communication scroll, information directly from the royal family… whoever it was, its someone with abnormal status. Big enough to snap us in half."
For Dhana, the communication scroll might have been a bigger shock. Because she can fathom someone having ears in the royal family because she knew several people who did.
However, the communication scroll was not an easy thing to attain.
As you might have observed by now, communication was not exactly one of the things that we advanced much in.
Trust me, you don't know how good you have it with these advanced modes of communication.
At that time, we did have some communication devices that helped us communicate within a range of a few kilometers. A big city could be considered a fair limit.
For intercity communication, the mage association branch of the city and the noble household in charge of the city will have intercity communication arrays.
And the range of that depends on their noble rank or the importance of the city for the association.
For a Duke household, they can contact any city in the kingdom.
As for a scroll, which is a portable communication method, that is only accessible to people of certain strength and power.
I as a sixth circle mage didn't have one.
The one Ardra used was an intercontinental scroll, not even the scroll that works within the country.
That's hard to make and acquire.
So, I could understand her frustration and fear.
"There is definitely something big going on and if they have that much power and trying to bury it under wraps, it will be troublesome."
"We need to contact the mage association, bureau, and the King," Dhana said in frustration. Frustrated because she knew, it was impossible to contact Duke Kurma on our back.
"Even if we did, we don't know who is in on this scheme. We don't even know the detailed information behind this. All we know is that a man ridiculously strong is on our back, he was supposed to be sealed, and it was supposed to have been done by Ardra and his accomplices and now he was here.
As for the things about the folktale and stuff…. Even if the other party brushed it off, I have a bad feeling."
Our conversation came to a stalemate. We didn't know what to do at that point. I really wish that we could just leave, but we cannot.
"Let's try to be a bit direct. We will ask if we can contact the local branches. Do you have anyone trustworthy at the mage association headquarters?" Dhana asked.
"I do, but I don't think that he has enough authority to keep a message hidden."
"That's a bit troublesome. Then let's try from the bureau side. I will try to send a coded message that only Duke Paras can understand.
Since the information of this threat reached the royal family, I am sure the King must have contacted Duke Paras by now.
I don't know about anyone else, but I am sure the Duke is clean. We can trust him."
I nodded in agreement and was about to speak something, but…
"What are you guys doing here?"
A voice was heard and I almost jumped off that balcony. Dhana stowed away the pearl and looked at the person with a frown.
It was Ardra. He held two crystal goblets as he approached us with a smile.
"Hello young master Ardra."
I greeted.
"Didn't mean to startle you guys. But you seemed to be in such a deep discussion, that I couldn't hear anything. What's happening?"
"Nothing of your concern young master. Just some work-related issues. Now that we are 'staying' as the 'guests' of the Kurma family with no way to contact others, we are a bit stressed about our duties." Dhana replied and she stressed the words Guests and Staying.
Clearly indicating her displeasure.
Ardra's smile froze for a second before he passed over the two goblets to us.
"Please accept my apology. I am sure that you can understand though. My father can be a hardhead, but he has the best interests of the situation in mind. You two are the only ones who knew the information about the suspect besides my father. We cannot let you go before the situation is resolved."
"That's the point. We don't even know what the situation is, how are we supposed to assist with the resolution of it? We need to report this to our higher-ups and take appropriate measures. We need to understand what that culprit wants and then there is…." Dhana abruptly halted and shut her mouth.
I tried my best to hide the smirk that almost crept up on my face.
Dhana was casting a hook and it seemed like it worked.
Ardra's expression became grim.
"You were about to say something." He urged subtly.
Dhana sighed and shook her head.
"Your father forbade us to reveal it. If we can't even send a message to our branch indicating that we are safe and there was no harm to our life, then I am sure that this information is not safe to be revealed to you."
"I…" Ardra became a bit agitated and wanted to say something, but Dhana and I just walked past him.
For the next few hours, we sat in a corner without minding Ardra. He tried to talk a couple of times, but we didn't let him.
While things were like this, I became more and more anxious. Maybe to alleviate it on cue, a loud roar was heard from the sky outside the building.
*ROAR*
*SWOOSH*
*CAW*
The Dukes and the General are here.