"Huh?" Richard stared at little Iris with a blank expression on his face. "What do you mean?"
He took a glance at Elora and asked again, "What is she talking about?"
"I have no idea," Elora raised her shoulders. She was as confused as he was.
She went on a knee before Iris and would have rubbed her emerald hair, if every strand wasn't standing taut like needles. It was akin to the same reaction a cat's fur would make when being startled by something.
Just that in this case, Iris was overwhelmed by fear. The fear of the churning chaos she saw in Richard's soul.
Iris Hemlock, though not officially proclaimed, was a Soul Gazer, a sub path that fell under the Cognitive Mage Path. As the name implied, a Soul Gazer could peer into someone's soul and consciousness. This allowed them to perform a variety of things. A Soul Gazer at the Spellcaster tier could check the quantity and quality of mana in a person. Those at higher tiers could bend and manipulate the constituents of their soul and that of others.
Iris became a Mage at the age of seven. Due to the toxicity in her family, she was deep into depression. The awakening of her ability was chaotic. She killed her parents in the process and would have been killed, if the Princess hadn't saved her.
She was currently a Murmurer and had gotten accosted with most of her tier limited abilities.
That was why it was a common practice for her to peer into a stranger's soul, to decide if they could be trusted or not.
She couldn't describe what she saw in Richard's soul. It was too turbulent and it dispelled a deathly aura.
"Iris, you have to say something," Elora said for the third time and Iris finally heard.
Her taut hair wobbled back to its original texture. The blackness in her eyes receded and her green irises came back. She staggered back but quickly found her footing.
She could no longer look at the puzzled Richard. She hugged Elora tightly and stuttered, "He has something extremely powerful and chaotic within him. I could feel my soul wither from looking into his."
"Hey, hey, calm down," Elora comforted, rubbing down Iris's hair. "Are you really sure about what you saw? Richard is a simple Invoker with very little mana. I don't think he has something like that within him."
"What?" Iris stopped shaking and disengaged from the hug. She summoned courage to take a quick glance at Richard, before retracting her eyes back to the worried Elora, "But I could see an immense amount of mana within him. It was like an endless well of flourishing mana."
'Okay, it's either this girl is crazy or there's a lot I don't know about myself,' Richard reasoned inwardly. 'How could she have seen chaos within me if I'm not a Chaos Invoker? No one has been for over a century, according to what I can remember from Chad's memories.'
He had decided to call the former Richard Chad to make things simple.
He dove back into his thoughts.
'And an endless well of mana within me?' he scoffed. 'Yeah, she's definitely crazy.'
"Well, this is weird," he finally voiced out, rubbing the back of his neck.
"I'm really sorry about this," Elora apologized to him as she rubbed Iris's cheek. "As a Soul Gazer, she had to look into your soul to know if she could trust you. But she's still young and has peered into the souls of many people. She must have had a mix up somewhere."
"I hope so," Richard sighed, staring at Iris. He couldn't stop thinking about what she said though. He only answered to take her young mind off it.
"Are you okay now?" Elora asked Iris, who nodded solemnly.
Elora stood up and took her hand, "Let's go in before someone sees me."
They entered the bungalow and Richard clamped his hands against his ears. The subtle noise he was hearing outside amplified by threefold as he stepped foot in the living room.
It was probably due to him being an Invoker, or maybe the children were just too loud. Like he had estimated earlier, there were ten children in the living room, excluding Iris.
They were also much younger. The oldest among them was seven years old.
Putting one and two together, Richard was able to come up with a rough theory about the house and children. They were probably orphans or disposed off by their parents. Elora took compassion and rescued them.
He could also tell that she built this place because of how grand the furniture was. There were also a lot of toys.
As though Elora was listening to his thoughts, she started, "This is a shelter I made for them. Iris was the first. She killed her abusive parents at the wake of her Mage Path. She was about to be killed when I stepped in and took her away. Then she told me about her little brother. I rescued him too and built this place for them. The other children came along with time."
Richard wasn't surprised but impressed, "You're like their mother."
Elora chuckled, "Something like that. I'll tell you more about it when we get back."
"Right. What did we come here for again?" Richard asked.
"A change of clothes," she answered, raising the skirt of her gown. "I can't move stealthily in this, I also want to shield my face from the men."
Richard simply nodded and took a seat. Elora and Iris walked into the corridor that led to the rooms.
Richard wanted to dive back into his thoughts, but the children suddenly stopped playing and surrounded him, bombarding him with questions.
He groaned in exasperation, "Elora please don't spend an eternity changing your clothes."
She and Iris walked into the living room about seven minutes later. Elora was clad in a black T shirt and a pair of black leather trousers. Her feet were choked in a fine pair of brown furry boots. Her blonde hair was tied into a bun.
Richard was no doubt mesmerized by her appearance. He had never noticed her fine tapered waist, and her firm and moderately sized bosoms. The fancy gown she wore everyday hid her alluring body.
Pulling a five year old girl away from his neck, he stood up and faced her with dazzled eyes, "You look..." he paused, thinking of the right word to use. He didn't want to sound like a pervert. He finally came to a conclusion and said, "Different."
She smiled, throwing a brown knee length coat over her shoulders, "I feel so liberated in casual clothing. If only father would let me wear them at the palace."
Richard's eyelids dropped as she covered herself with the coat. Just when he was enjoying the view.
"Well, you should be free to wear what you choose after you graduate," he said as he opened the door.
Looking at Richard wearily, Iris pulled Elora close and whispered, "Be careful."
"Don't worry. He's a good friend," Elora rubbed Iris's head.
'We're friends now?' Richard asked inwardly. They were never this close until yesterday.
Elora bade the children goodbye and exited the house. Richard followed suite and closed the door.
"After graduation, I'd be more constricted in the palace. I'd be taught by different women on marriage and all that, while waiting for the man my parents would choose as my husband," Elora said, replying Richard's earlier statement.
"I..." Richard was at a loss for words. He eventually decided to remain silent as they advanced toward the Academy. He didn't want to say the wrong thing and spoil their newly established friendship.
They made their way around the Academy and entered the woods. The silence between them continued for metres until they spotted the clearing ahead.
The shady men were sharpening knives, while one of them read something aloud from a leather parchment. Using his very little mana, Richard sang softly. He eavesdropped and could pick out a few phrases and words.
"What is he saying?" Elora asked in a whisper, putting on a black mask that covered the lower part of her face. She then draped the coat's hood over her head.
Richard hummed, "I can't hear everything, but it's a plan on how to abduct you."
Elora scoffed, "Bunch of incognizant fools."
Feeling a strain on his body, Richard quickly stopped his magic and stepped back, exhaling heavily.
"Try not to overwork yourself," Elora advised, rubbing his shoulder.
'This is stupid. I only listened in for less than a minute and I'm exhausted already? And I only used one attack on Lucas. Well, I buffed him, but what does it matter? I need to find a way to increase my mana,' he steeled his resolve internally.
Just then, the men froze like statues. The one reading from the parchment had his mouth half open. One of them froze while bending over to pick a stick. It was as though they had been paused.
As though that wasn't weird enough, a subtle gust of wind blew in and they vanished along with it.
Richard and Elora's eyes shrunk.
Then they heard multiple crunches from behind them, along with bass chuckles.
The two of them turned around like rusted clocks and their eyes fell on the men they were supposedly spying on.
'So much for the element of surprise,' Richard muttered inwardly.