Outside the dungeon, the security team members anxiously awaited the dungeon gate's fluctuation.
Only the SS-Rank hunter remained in the sky, observing the proceedings with a frown.
The sudden anomaly baffled him, causing grave concern since he was unable to figure out anything regarding it despite his extensive experience.
Luckily, the wait didn't last long.
Five hours since his arrival here, the dungeon gate fluctuated, teleporting three figures outside.
The SS-Rank hunter's eyes narrowed as he quickly identified them, but his expression hardened in the next second.
His emotional turmoil caused an unconscious release of his mana pressure, which barely harmed anyone and only pressurized them.
"What happened inside the dungeon?" he asked in an overbearing tone.
He had already accounted for Caera's condition and the absence of Jash when he inquired, controlling his mana.
Just before Emma or Kesha could open their mouths, another ripple appeared on the blue-green-purple gate, teleporting Jash out.
Immediately, the tense atmosphere calmed as he appeared mostly fine with minor flesh wounds.
Even Caera's injuries weren't much, allowing just a few days of rest to heal her up, if not for her unconscious state.
That was the root cause of the SS-Rank hunter's presumptuous behavior, which calmed down soon as he floated down to show himself.
As soon as Jash regained his bearings after being surprised due to the thick mana pressure, he squinted his eyes.
"Tell me about this so-called anomaly," Jash asked, intrigued about it, but turned to face Caera, "Emma, Kesh, you both make sure Caera is fine."
Seeing them nod, he turned back to the SS-Rank hunter and calmly said, "Start."
It was an astonishing sight to witness a F-Rank hunter remain calm in front of an SS-Rank hunter despite their obvious hierarchy.
There were even times when sensitive lower ranked hunters fainted due to the overwhelming mana pressure high ranked hunters conveyed.
It was something akin to a trait that couldn't be hidden unless one actively pursued such a path, like an assassin, thief, rogue, or some other.
"As you wish, Young Master," the SS-Rank hunter replied despite his surprise.
"I was returning to the main estate when I felt a disturbance in the mana and got a notification of a dungeon defect, so I immediately arrived here."
"Wait," Jash interrupted him and requested, "Do mom and dad already know? And what's your name and position?"
Understanding the point, the SS-Rank hunter nodded. "Yes, the Master and Lady are both aware of it."
"To answer your second question, my name is Theodore and I am one of the three Security Heads."
"Oh? So you are the third one I have never met!" Jash felt that it made sense and gestured for Theodore to continue.
He began without any pause, "As soon as I arrived, I noticed the gate was a mix of three colors, but it was much more nuanced than now."
Following his gesture, Jash finally took a good look at the blue gate he had entered the dungeon through, only to frown in confusion.
"What is this? Since when did gates become a mixture of colors?" he asked in bewilderment.
Unfortunately, he got no response as everyone present shared his bewilderment.
"That I do not know, Young Master. But the gate simply prohibited any entry from F-Rank to Integration-Rank, excluding myself," Theodore concluded.
'Hmm. Could this be the effect because of my past life?' Jash thought and tried to put it into practice.
He turned to face Theodore, "Try sending those hunters inside again. See if it's still restricted."
Theodore nodded, instantaneously pointing out the ones to try entering, but to his surprise, the same scenario repeated itself.
"What?" Theodore couldn't help but exclaim in utter confusion.
Meanwhile, Jash secretly nodded to himself, 'As expected.'
Without waiting, he tried to enter the dungeon... and got repelled.
'What...? This makes no sense!' he was left utterly confused by the strange occurrence.
According to him, it should have allowed him entry, but it didn't.
'Wait a second,' he thought as if a sudden idea came to him. 'Could it be because the sword hilt is not with me?'
That was all he could come up with. Unfortunately, he couldn't test it now as Caera remained unconscious.
"Anyway, Theodore," Jash called him out suddenly, ordering, "Prohibit anyone from entering the premises around the dungeon. Not that anyone can enter the dungeon itself."
Theodore nodded and left to make proper procedures to seal the area, ordering the security team to evacuate the people in close-by regions, if any.
The hunters consisting of the security team were trained with the sole purpose to guard the Ramille Family and protect their interests.
Thus, Theodore obeyed Jash despite being much more powerful than Jash.
Usually, only Carcel could order them around as he was the Family Head and held the Duke title.
Sera too could order them, but her orders would remain secondary to the Family Head's in case of a conflicting order.
After all, all of them were people who were bound by a mana oath contract from a young age.
Since they were mostly orphans with no backing, they had no surname and only served the Ramille Family without the slightest thought of betrayal.
Simply because mana oaths couldn't be broken due to their complexity and would alert Carcel the moment one of them even had a thought of betrayal.
That's why only High Nobility and other people of equivalent status were even allowed to bound people with Mana Oaths in the first place.
These were different from how Cornelius bound Andrew to keep quiet about Jash. That was a mana contract.
Both of them functioned on mana but differed significantly in their principles. Mana Contracts did have loopholes and punishments instead of limitations.
Mana oaths alerted the other party but didn't force execute punishments, just limiting their ability to divulge.
All these complex machinations were developed because slavery was not allowed in this world.
No matter who it was or how much power they wielded, if it became known that such a person dabbled in slavery, nothing else mattered anymore.
They would face heavy criticism from the masses as well as other major powers to the point of even destroying such despicable people.
It all started hundreds of years ago when other races appeared in their world as slavery became the norm amongst other races and their own.
During the initial years of distrust within races, nothing changed before the only female ruler ascended the throne of Solarnelle Empire.
She brought about many reforms, and banning slavery was just one of them.
But the major role was forming a Council of Races consisting of all the major power holders in the world.
It was a requirement to enact certain rules and regulations for everyone to follow, or the world would become nothing but a thug's world.
Well, she was hailed as the second coming of Adonis Solarnelle, so there was no end to her achievements and glory.
'What was her name again?' Jash asked himself as he recalled the information regarding the security team and got distracted.
"Whatever, who cares. I don't even know if that's the truth or not," Jash mumbled to himself as he was already at his destination.
A car.
After all, they were heading home despite Caera's unconscious state, as the Ramille couple had summoned them after receiving an account of everything.