The elder guardian listened attentively to Ryker's tale, his expression unreadable. After Ryker finished recounting the events at the Mana vein, the elder fell silent for a moment. The silence stretched on, making Ryker nervous as he waited for the elder's response.
Finally, the elder spoke, his voice soft but commanding. "You have failed in your mission, young Ryker, although from your explanation the one who defeated you was definitely too strong for you to defeat, it still doesn't change the fact that you failed the mission.This is unacceptable." Even though the elder was saying all of these with an authoritative tone, internally, it was chaos. 'Who is this being? Could he be from the main continent?'
Ryker bowed his head in shame, knowing that he had disappointed this elder of his and the entire faction. "I am sorry, great elder. I will do whatever it takes to make amends for my failure."
The elder regarded Ryker with a piercing gaze. "You have shown courage and determination in your actions, but that is not enough. You must prove yourself worthy to be forgiven". 'there's no use thinking about all that. I might as well just check it out and see for myself'
"Great elder, what must I do?" Ryker was certain that whatever his grandfather would request of him would not be anything easy. But, he was prepared for anything.
The elder smiles amiably and responds "you don't have to do much. Just lead the way to the mana vein."
Ryker felt a chill run down his spine. This elder's smile was frightening! But, he didn't think much of the request because he felt that it was normal for the elder not to know where the mine was located since he wasn't the one who discovered it's existence but one of the faction's disciples. Though every faction member who isn't directly close to the elder, unlike Ryker, thinks however, that the elder was the one who found the mine. The elder had made it so and the faction members and his family members were blinded by his strength so they did not even think that his actions were wrong. Two days after the disciple reported the existence of the mine to the faction's council, where each information was shared before reaching the ears of the elder after much consideration on the information's importance, he was declared dead. The cause of his death is still unknown till date. 'Why did I suddenly think of that just now?' he asks himself then immediately clears his mind from any such thoughts.
"No problem grandfather, we'll leave when you're ready" he responds.
The sly fox, knew that Ryker would agree to anything and everything he says at this moment because he was filled with guilt so, he wouldn't have even think of considering the little details.
"No need to wait, the earlier the better, we might just be able to meet these people who interrupted us from claiming that mine" he said, sinisterly.