Back at Thomas's mansion..
Boom!
A fist destroyed a table.
"What the hell?!, things were going my way, who was that monster, where did he come from?!"
"Not only did I not did I not get to have my way with Grace but now I have to find an excuse to tell my brother why she disappeared, damn it all, that red robed bastard!!"
Thomas was rampaging in his office after the greatest failure of his life. He even had to run for his life like an insect which pissed him off even more. Worst part, he knew he didn't even have the qualifications to take revenge.
His three remaining accomplices, who had eventually met back with him at his mansion, just looked on from the side as he rampaged. They too were frustrated and they too knew they couldn't do anything about it. Hell, their bodies still shook in fear whenever they think of the red robed man.
"Well Thomas, it seemed this deal is a bust, and since we couldn't capture her, we won't need any payment, so we're off, as we have other appointments to take care off."
One of the men suddenly said and before Thomas could respond, all three had gotten out of the room and flew away.
"Damn it, those cowards, they are abandoning me!!". Thomas' anger increased as he knew that these men didn't have any appointments but just wanted to get as far away from that red robed man as they could.
Truth be told he also wanted to, but he knew his brother would definitely send people after him, especially after Grace's disappearence in his territory. Which will definitely strain relationships between the royal family and the church. So him runaway would be like admitting he did something.
"Now what am I going to tell big brother and the church?, so troublesome. Why did I have to be so rush just because I got drug."
...
The next morning....
"Mmm, what happened?, why do I feel so weak, oh right....huh?, Senior!!!". Grace who hadn't moved since passing out the previous day was confused before remembering what happened. Just when her head was clearing up, she looked up and saw Igneel's face and his mesmerizing silver eyes looking down on her, which shocked her greatly as she sprung up from his lap.
"Is that how you thank, someone who saved you for a horrible fate?, and even let you sleep on their lap all night?". Igneel who for obvious reasons couldn't understand why a woman would be so startled waking up with her head on the lap of a man. He hadn't studied human romance after all, didn't know how to go about it.
"Oh, sorry senior I didn't mean any disrespect, I was just startled". Grace quickly apologised seeing his frown.
"Sigh, whatever, I'm surprised you can already stand tho..."
"Ahh!"
boom!
Before he could finish, her legs lost power and she fell off the bed, hitting the wooden floor with a decent amount of force.
"Oh, it was adrenaline then, makes sense, and with your current state I'm sure that hurt". Igneel looked at her with a bit of schadenfreude visible in his eyes.
"Hhmp!". Grace who obviously didn't like being made fun off, didn't reply to him after expressing her displeasure as she pulled herself up and set on the floor.
"Hehe, how childish, anyway, let me get you some food, should be a bit useful to you". Still amused, Igneel wrapped her with his mana and went outside to get her some food.
A while later, he stood in front of the house, with a still disgruntled Grace floating in the air behind him, arms folded. He then snapped his fingers, just when Grace was about to ask why he did that. A man in a black robe, shot black her and serpentine eyes appeared infront of them, startling her.
Even more surprising, he was carrying a body of a Level 8 beast that not even Level 9 humans can face. The Hellfire Bison which was twice the size of a mammoth.
She felt the man's gaze linger on her for a bit scarring her quite a bit, before he disappeared, leaving the boson body behind.
{So this senior even has a subordinate and he also seems to be stronger than Level 9, just where are all these experts popping up from?}. Grace thought, while at the same time glad that they didn't seem to care about the human kingdoms otherwise nobody would be able to stop them from doing whatever they want.
Boom!
Just when she was stuck in her thoughts, a lightning bolt struck the bison from the sky rousing her.
Before she could make sense of what was happening, a chunk of it was ripped off by an invisible force and flew towards them.
Igneel grabbed it and offered it to her.
"Eat, I cooked it like you humans do"
"Senior that's not how we do it"
"Really?"
"Yes"
"Oh...but the end result seems about the same to me"
"Well... I guess you're not wrong"
"Then eat it"
"Sigh, fine"
Grace seeing his intense gaze grabbed the big chunk that took quite a bit of her strength to hold, then bit it, before frowning a bit.
"What, is it not good?"
"It could use some salt, but I can feel, some of my mana returning, though only a miniscule amount of it."
"Salt huh, I don't have that around here so you'll have to make do, it's to recover some of your strength after all"
"Oh, senior, that reminds me, why do I feel so weak and have no mana in my body at all?"
"Well to remove the drug, I had to remove all your mana too, and I found out something interesting after extracting it. Seems if the one who fed it to you had gotten away with it, he would have basically drained your mana and used it to advance his own to at least peak Level 8. While your dantian would have been destroyed and you would have become an ordinary human who he likely have kept as a toy. What a sinister fellow".
Igneel casually told Grace some information that made her whole body shake with fear thinking of the fate that almost befell her.
"Th..thank you again senior, without you..". Grace had stopped eating as the meat could not go down after hearing what Igneel said. She thanked him, at the same time her unconditional love for all humans waned by a bit without her noticing it