"They are seniors of young lady Rose…" The butler was trying to say something but Mathew cut them short.
"Ulfic…I think I know someone with that name…" Mathew looked at Rose, "They were her seniors… Hmm… Interesting…"
"Does that matter right now…?" Ravindra asked.
"No… Let's leave…" Mathew smiled while Ravindra didn't know what was so interesting about a name or that person.
When they reached the barn which they technically almost owned, the other two were preparing, they were making space so that someone could practice spells, of course, Ravindra.
"Something significant?" The coordinator asked while rubbing his head from the sweat.
"A lot…" Mathew explained. "Rose has a criminal mentality or…her mother has it…"
"I was going through all the information I had on her… she is kinda mysterious you know…"
"Mysterious?" Mathew frowned.
"Yeah…" The square-faced said, "She is…a witch or something… In one record she is 30, 30 years ago and then, in another record she is 15, 25 years ago. Also…uh…These are all the records that have her name and her maiden name… That's it."
"Wow…SO mysterious" Ravindra seemed impressed.
"Not so mysterious… These two are legally dead" Mathew said.
"What?" Ravindra couldn't buy it for the first time that the world thought that these two were dead.
"Also, I have some…bad news." The coordinator sighed, "You know that check-up… That happens every five years…"
"Don't tell me it's the time for that thing…" Mathew seemed annoyed.
"It is time for that check-up… We need to stay low" The coordinator looked worried.
"What's check-up" Ravindra asked, "Someone's checking us up?"
"Not…like that, some people from that church come into these places to do some digging and criticise literally everyone. Except for schools or properties Akarvans own… They go everywhere, not in the houses of normal people but in the mansions or palaces of noble people, like this viscount. Most of the time a big bribery is enough to keep them shut.
"This happens due to a treaty that all…noble families would let these people check if the workers are getting good treatment. They still believe in god or not… It's just mundane stuff, all time-pass. They poke their nose everywhere…And they will also poke their nose in our matter as well. Even they will come to take a look into our barn." In just a few hours they claimed the barn.
"According to that letter, they will arrive in a few hours… It's so frustrating." The square-faced said.
"Can't the viscount tell them to come after a few months" Ravindra was still curious.
"No, they always arrive according to their mood… If someone refuses then, there is unnecessary drama and protest." The coordinator gave further clarity.
"The viscount wouldn't disagree even if prodigy doctor says so…" Mathew looked coordinator, "We need to work slowly and make a new plan till those bastards are here"
Mathew and the Coordinator started planning while Ravindra and Square-faced studied dark magic illusions. They got a book… It was called a guide towards illusions which was the same book Ravindra found a few days earlier. The first thing they needed to do was to master the fire of dark magic which was done by "Impersona of Dark magic" It was a guide on how to impersonate a type of magic through dark magic.
"Well, let's start… So… First of all…" The square-faced had already read the whole book beforehand though he still had the book open for Ravindra to see. "You need to use the natural fire and refine it or something like that with dark magic."
"You sure…? You said something like that?" Ravindra raised questions.
"Uh… No… Umm… I don't know what refine means… uh… It's exclusive for dark magic users"
"Oh… We are special"
"Care to begin now…"
They used a firepit and some firewood they made the butler arrange them.
When the fire was lit, Ravindra gently went closer and closer to it.
"Now…What exactly I have to do…" Ravindra frowned, "It burns…"
"Go a little more deep inside it's heart…maybe"
"What's the **** is a heart of fire" Ravindra was furious, his hands were burning.
"Ah… maybe…Okay… just refine it… just refine it" The square-faced seemed a little confused himself as the book didn't give a perfect description.
"Refine…? the hell is refine?" Ravindra looked confused and barely holding his hands and now he was retreating. "Mathew… It burns…"
Mathew came strolling, he checked the hands, "Hmm… No, it's good… You can do it again."
'Why don't they understand it burns…?' Ravindra looked at the fire again and slowly reached out his hands again, this time was different, he was concentrating on dark magic.
He tried to fuse his dark magic all around his palms. It was easier with dark magic around his hand, it was burning less. When he reached his all-time best spot, he was on alert and infused more dark magic layers into his palms. He was getting closer and closer to "the heart of fire".
"Hmm… What now?" Ravindra almost whispered.
"Now?" Square-faced said with the same intensity, "Just refine"
Ravindra retracted his hands. He looked into the eyes of Square-faced and said, "How?"
"I told you it's a dark magic exclusive…" The Square-faced gave the same look, "I have no idea what does refine means…"
"Ah… It's so frustrating…" Ravindra stood up, "There is no other way?"
"Maybe… But not something we have the luxury to"
"What's wrong?" Mathew and the Coordinator came to see, "Can't make progress?"
"Yeah"
"It's only being two minutes…" Mathew frowned, "Just give it some effort."
"Yeah… That's what I'm sayin' just give refining some effort." The Square-faced jumped in. Ravindra was kind of hating his behaviour.
"What's refining?"
"Not Refining but refine the fire from its heart or something like that" Ravindra tried to complain about Square-faced, "That's what he says"
"That's new… even I never heard about it" Coordinator shrugged, "Probably exclusive to Dark magic"
The Square-faced slightly laughed, and Ravindra felt annoyed.
He did the same thing and other experiments to acquire pyro of dark magic but he didn't seem to make any progress. In the end, he was exhausted and restricted himself from using any more mana as he always had to fake using black magic on Rose.
"No progress today… Don't worry these kinds of things take time… maybe in a week or two, you will have some progress" The Square-faced seemed kind after he saw Ravindra's hard work.
"Yeah…" Ravindra said with a depressed tone, 'Once I can use illusions…I will use it on the Jarl of Ravenhold and become the king myself but he is a high-value target… I should try that Sigrud, she has a big house and a butler and two maids… hehehe…'
They rested for a while and then the next day, went to visit Rose. This time she made progress, she was scared again but this time, she was peeking through her hands. When Ravindra used black rendering, it showed fewer black particles than, the last time, Mathew told them almost.
'Oh… So, she is getting better?' Ravindra was lost in his thoughts.
"She is kind of making progress, however, it can be because of her being dominant this time than that curse," Mathew said in his analyses out loud.
"Hmm… then, she will be able to speak soon…" Ravindra gave his thoughts out loud as a prodigy doctor.
"Really?" The old lady spoke in excitement.
"Can't promise…" Ravindra shrugged, "Her case is so…different… Don't get your hopes too high… Okay?"
They nodded.
The butler came inside and said, "Lords… The lord viscount wants to have a word with you both… It's important and classified…"
"Uh… Okay… Lead the way" Ravindra looked unpleased or more like he acted like that.
They were going into the office of Samul, where one of the main objectives lies. The plan so far was going as they planned, the viscount trusted them as they knew a lot of secrets even though not all. They couldn't know sensitive secrets as well or viscount might kill them. As long as they don't investigate to find any more secrets and poke their nose into Viscount's work, they would be Viscount's trusted.
As the mansion looked from the outside, the fourth floor was the same level as the first, second and third but the fifth floor was like a clock tower. It had the round stories to go up, on the fifth floor there was nothing it was empty. They reached the sixth floor which had a proper door and it was luxurious. The designs on the floor looked hand-crafted right on the spot. The door was made up of thin steel, ultra-luxurious.
It was the first time they got to see the office of the viscount. The door opened and a man could be seen sitting in the middle chair with loads of files could be seen around him, there were glass windows behind him, big glass windows, that formed an arc.
Samul was reading a letter and his expression was very annoyed, not his expression but his face was annoying when made a solemn expression, almost like a thrid grade villain.
"Please have a seat…" The viscount stood up himself, "I called you here for a very important purpose… It's the check-up…"
Ravindra and Mathew both took their seats and Viscount sat as well.
"I don't want to waste both of your time but this check-up…" The viscount was trying to talk sweet to both of them.
"Before that I have something to tell to…" Ravindra said, "Don't get too excited…umm… Rose has a little more control over herself than, she had yesterday and maybe in a week or two you might be able to speak to her… It's probably because I make her force sleep."
"That's so nice to hear…And the curse…Can it come back?"
"Of course, that's the main trouble but the more control Rose has over herself the more better for us." Ravindra thought, 'The hell is wrong with these people, why can't they stop to just talk for now… They have no idea how low on mana I am, I am so hardworking and they want more and more… huh…'
"You were talking about those check-ups?" Mathew reminded them of the real temporary issue.
"They are such a bother" Ravindra spoke.
"I know, Lord Akarvan doesn't like those people…" The viscount laughed weirdly, "but we will have to tolerate them for 2 weeks or so."
"Yeah…Yeah…" Ravindra showed his annoying side after the mention of a check-up. Well, as it turns out Akarvans don't like this method of churches, it's like a religious war, except they are at peace. Akarvans generally don't criticize the churches and act like friends when religious gathering happens. On the inside, nobody really likes churches other than a few followers whose number is going down every day but they have the god of sun card… Which is like 'if you deny the church, you deny the GOD'…with some extra drama. So, people try to stay out of their drama and just play along with the churches.
"I was thinking that the lords don't mention…uh…the curses to them…"
"I will make up a fake disease related to it…" Mathew said and then, the viscount looked at Ravindra.
"I won't even talk to those people." Ravindra said overflowing with attitude, "I don't care about them."
At the same time at the gate of the mansion, four young men were standing in suits, hats…and other formal things, they were Deen, Ben, Kevin and Durgur. They came from church. They had the authority, they had the order from the church.