Elina and I were snuggled inside a heavy blanket while wearing very thick clothes. We had woolen hats on and gloves on. In our hands were mugs with very warm tea.
"Why do you want them alive?" I asked Elina as we sipped the tea.
"They will be useful ingredients in a spell I know." she said calmly. She took small sips of the tea every second. Her face was paler than usual because of the coldness.
The lower part of her ear that stuck from the hat was bright red. There was a slight blush on her cheeks as her hand trembled a little. She looked as beautiful as always.
Her icy blue gaze matched the temperature perfectly.
"Ingredients for a spell? Is it a taboo spell?" I asked with a frown.
"Yeah. It's a sacrificial spell related to the blood god." She was still calm, even after spewing such an insane thing.
Spells that involve sacrificing humans are taboo across the continent. You would be hunted by any and every force if you were to be found performing such a thing.
"Is that why you asked to come to our sanctuary?" I asked. She turned to me and smiled softly. She put down the mug of tea on a desk and stood up.
'Yes." she replied. She walked away and gestured for me to follow.
I put down my mug and put the hood of my fur coat over my head.
We were currently in a place that looked like a cave. The walls were made of pure stone that was grayish blue. Since it is a cave, it naturally had no light.
There were currently a bunch of lamps powered by magic stones all over the place. This is what lit the place up. The light blue color of the lamps went well with the cave.
We walked down the narrow and winding cave and entered a room much bigger than the last one we were in.
"Watch." Elina said she took out a container of red liquid from her coat pockets. The glass container had black markings on the bottom of it.
I recognized it as an enchantment we use to keep items warm.
The liquid slushed around as she moved. I could clearly see that the consistency was thicker than water but not too thick. The color also made it obvious. It was blood.
She opened the lid of the container and crouched on the ground.
She dipped her index and middle finger in the jar and coated them in the blood. She took her fingers out after dipping them halfway.
Sshhh!
She then started to draw something on the ground. Blood would freeze seconds after it touched the ground. It would give it a crystalline look.
The reason why it's so cold here is because we are currently inside a mountain. A mountain on the mountain range that begins at the northern border of the empire.
This is a place the Vornix clan's founder built during a war a couple hundred years back. The place was supposed to be a sanctuary meant to hide the family in case we lost a war or were ever persecuted by unbeatable enemies.
This place is our last resort if we need to hide ourselves from the world for a long time.
"Done." Elina said after a couple of minutes. She had emptied the small jar.
I stared at her the entire time she was drawing. A detailed hexagram with other geometric shapes embedded within it. At the center of the circle was the words "Blood God Varnus" written in cursive.
Everything was drawn with perfectly straight lines and perfectly curved circles. I never knew that Elina was this artistically gifted. with how much control she has over her strokes, she should learn how to paint.
She drew the circle in such a flawless manner that I couldn't help but worry.
"How many times have you drawn this to be so good at it?" I was asking a lot of questions recently.
There was no helping it given how Elina had so much information about the future nestled in her head.
I wanted to be able to understand and know what she's been through. Wanted to know now as my heart was knawing at me for being unable to feel what she felt and bear her responsibility with her. unfortunately, I can only wait for her to open up at her own pace.
"It's actually the first time I'm drawing it. I remember how it looks so I there's no way I would make a mistake?" she said proudly.
She looked at me with eager eyes. I knew what she wanted from me.
I smiled and said "What excellent memory and how skilled you are with your hands. I bet I couldn't find someone like you anywhere else. I don't think I would be able to do it so smoothly on my first try. "
"Hmm, hmm." Elina nodded in approval when she heard this. Her smile had a tinge of excitement in it, something I rarely see.
Despite her usual air of confidence, Elina is someone who has always had an inferiority complex.
Ever since the first day, we met as children, she could feel that I was smarter, had a better memory, and was more mature than her. even my talent in cultivation is much higher. I am even great with the sword.
But, she never lets this get her down. From the day we first met, she has always tried her best to find things she is good at. For example, whenever I ran out of ideas on how to torment the city, she would always come up with new ones.
In fact, destabilizing the sewer system was her idea. When it comes to causing trouble, I am truly inferior.
So whenever she finds something she is much better than me at, she always likes it if I praise her for it.
"When are they bringing them over?" she asked with giddiness in her voice. She must really be excited about the sacrificial ritual.
"My friend said they would be done in a couple of minutes." I said while pulling out a palm-sized silver brick.
On it, there were words etched. These words would come into existence and then slowly disappear. This is an artifact that allows for long-distance written communication via enchantment.
i double checked the last message that said they would be done very soon and nodded.
"Did you check if all the barrier spells are still working?" Elina asked while approaching me.
Since it was cold, she snuggled as close to me as possible.
"I did but let's just make sure." I put away the silver brick and take out a bar metal. It is a similar grayish blue color to the mountain walls.
On it, the following was written:
Anti-Detection Barrier : Operational
Anti-Interference Barrier : Operational
Anti Mysterious Ability Barrier : Operational
Anti-Aura Fluctuiation Barrier : Operational
Anti-Teleportation Barrier : Operational
Our ancestors had spent quite a lot of rare materials and sourced very rare spells to build 5 very capable barriers. If the family wanted to hide from anyone during emergencies, they needed stuff like this to prevent being found.
Out of all the barriers, the Anti Mysterious Ability Barrier is the most important.
It prevents people with strange super abilities from finding us. Like Aunt Jenny's ability that helps her detect abnormalities in human bodies, there are other people who randomly gain strange abilities.
The abilities come in many forms and uses. There are many records of abilities that can be used to track or locate individuals with minimal information needed. This would spell doom for most people but not us.
Given how dangerous these abilities might be, sorcerers from thousands of years ago made spells that negate such abilities.
"Perfect. I don't know what you're worried about. With all these barriers not even those weirdos would be able to find what happened here." Elina said.
She was trying to reassure me that her absurd action wouldn't be revealed to the world. Normally, I would assault anyone who mentioned using human sacrifices but this is Elina.
I wasn't going to stop her if she wanted to do something like this. It's not like we were going to sacrifice innocents after all. These were people who were planning to kill her. There was no mercy to be shown.
I didn't know what the ritual would provide for Elina but at least those bastards could prove to be of some use for her.
"Ahh..." I sighed. "That's not what I'm worried about. This ritual has to do with the blood god. Are we not enemies with his followers?"
As much as didn't mind what she was doing, I had to be wary of the blood cult and the go behind them.
"About that, I don't know why but the godess said that there isn't a problem with that." Elina shrugged her shoulder. The look in her eyes said that she was being honest.
Before I could say anything, Elina's expression quickly dampened.
"The goddess said she wouldn't mind explaining it if she could inhabit me again." she said solemnly.
I clenched my fists. I was going to ask Elina to ask the goddess why that was but It seemed that this wasn't going to happen. The whimsical goddess was just looking to play with our emotions.
"Ha, whatever. She doesn't need to come down. I'll believe her." I said with exasperation.
I didn't enjoy the very presence of the goddess. I didn't want to give her an excuse to jump down.
If she didn't want to tell us why it wouldn't be a problem, there was nothing I could do about it. The goddess must know that we weren't going to say yes to let her descend for such a trivial matter.
This means that she has her reasons for not wanting to tell us. Even though I don't like her, I recognize her status as a god. She must have a legitimate reason for why she does things, no matter how whimsical she is.
"Hey! We are ready. Can you let us in?" A voice sounded from my pocket.
I pulled out a white orb that was glowing with a blue light. It is a communication artifact made specifically with sound. The one speaking through it was whom I had trusted to kidnap all the relatives involved in the attacks on Elina.
It seems he had completed the task.
"Are they on top of the circle?" I talked back into the device.
"Yes." said the voice of the young man.
"Alright then." I took out another device. this one was the shape of a disc. It had a singular switch embedded in it.
"In three, two, one." I counted down and then flicked the switch. The disc vibrated and hummed for a couple of seconds before stopping.
"All good on your end?" I asked.
"Yeah. All good here. All of them are gone." he replied.
"Alright then. Thank you." I thanked my friend for his help.
"No problem my friend. I still owe you." He's right. he does still owe me a couple of favors. even what he did right now was a big favor.
Still what I had done for him was much larger than just kidnapping a couple of people from all over the empire in a single day.
"Let's meet soon. My sister's birthday is in a couple of months. How about you visit then?" he suggested.
"We can meet earlier than that. I'm getting married in 2 months. You're invited." I told him. It had already been decided by our parents.
After the emperor's birthday, we would return and prepare in full swing for the wedding.
Both Elina and I were quite anxious as we weren't sure what new problems might pop up. We wanted to get this done as soon as possible. A date had been decided and I was already preparing invitations.
As for the proposal, I did that years ago. It was a small and private proposal that was held before I left for the SSS.
"Wow! Really! Thats great! Can I bring my sister and some other family members?" He sounded genuinely happy for me. There was excitement in his voice.
"Sure. Let's talk about it later. I am kind of in a rush." I said.
"Okay. talk to you later buddy." He said his goodbyes and I cut the call quickly. Unlike him, I had a lot to do. There would be plenty of time to talk soon.
I quickly connected a call to the people back at the estate.
"Did you get them?" I asked as soon as the call connected.
"Yes, young master." A slightly old and feminine voice replied.