'The night sky is blank tonight, not a moon in sight…' Glancing out the window and staring at the blank night sky, Augustus felt as if he stared into the eyes of some endless void, "That's strange—"
Augustus heard a clicking sound, and his head snapped in the direction of the door. A faint gleam flashed in his eyes as the door opened, and Melissa stepped in. He sighed, the man she dragged in with her catching his attention.
"—given the stunt these guys pulled off." Augustus groaned, slumping back in the big chair and drumming his fingers on the base of the armrest. His violet eyes fell to the side, "I suppose that's the moon slave? He looks quite pathetic…"
Moon Slave, Moon Knight, Moon Prince or Moon Lord. In order of their rankings at the moon palace, they all looked fairly nice. Augustus returned his gaze to the man, "This one looks like some ugly a— Ahem. Have you questioned him?"
"Yes, and he's mentioned a lot." Melissa threw the man to the ground, then crossed her arms across her chest, "Presumably, he was only after our gold to restock supplies. There's no other moon slave in here according to him, and he only needed the funds."
"Did you have a seer?" Augustus lifted his gaze to stare Melissa in her eyes, and seeing her shake her head caused him to wear a wry smile, "You did not have any means to verify his claims yet you speak them to me as if they were facts?"
"There is nothing else the slaves would want in the treasury? The only thing worth the trouble is our years worth of gold, and some low ranked skill books." Melissa dropped both arms, exhaling loudly, "You may have forgotten our village has little worth."
'The skill books are definitely what the bastard was after, but I could be wrong. For me to believe a moon slave would attack a village for some gold is foolishness…' Augustus felt his fingers grow cold, 'She's got no idea how rich gods' slaves are, so I don't blame her.'
"Are there any other things in the treasury you are not mentioning to me to me?" Then again, from his muscle memory, there were some high grade items from when Iona wasn't a ghetto, "For example, some weird weapon or I don't know… an artefact?"
At that moment, both the moon slaves angered and Melissa's tired expression changed as the duo locked their gaze on the smirking Augustus. In the next instant, Melissa dashed across the room, grabbing Augustus's neck and slamming his chair into the wall.
'The Iona village fell hard after acquiring this artefact years ago from an auction. Just a few days after bringing it in, monster hordes began targeting the village.' Augustus was unbothered with her chokehold, staring her in the eyes, their faces inches away.
His left hand darted at a terrifying speed and grabbed the side of her face. He slammed her face his chair's armrest, and her grasp on his neck loosened. He kicked her in the guts, sending her rolling across the ground, "You thought you could intimidate me?"
The artefact was a Ten Thousand Year Old Autumn Leaf, and it allowed one to weaken flame properties. In high ranked magic armour, it was the best counter to flame effects of skills, but it was very costly to make and overly strenuous to cultivate.
In his last run, it was useless as no one wanted it due to its high cost until it vanished one day and guess who came knocking the next day? The moon palace, rich enough to get it running and really the ones with the highest demand of the leaves, of course.
Then again, in that life, things had advanced a bit and the village was strong enough to handle the little they brought to invade. Augustus frowned, 'What happened next? It's not even a hard guess. So, this is where the plot begins to unfold?'
"Fuck… I thought my heart exploded there…" Melissa struggled to her feet, after some time she turned to the side where the moon slave was crawling away like a worm, "Where and how did you learn about those things? Have you been here before?"
"Once upon a time." Augustus gave a vague reply, turning to the moon slave who tried his best to run away, but it was already too late. After Melissa secured him in her grasp, a calmness returned to Augustus's expression, "I guess we know what they're after."
"Why would they try secretly stealing it? It isn't like if they offered to buy, we would refuse." Melissa grabbed the moon slave by the back of his head, her fingers latched tight, and her gaze fixed on Augustus, "Why send this incompetent fool?"
Augustus blinked, stepping back and dropping in his chair. He relaxed his elbow on the armrest, and supported his chin in his palm. His gaze fell to the ground— the palish bluish floors —then, returned to Melissa, "Just interrogate him harder."
'All these may have something to do with that Enryon fellow. I can't dispute that the princess Celina and the others of flame royalty may have something to do with this, but,' Augustus groaned, 'Lily herself said trust no one. I'm too deep in the darkness.'
Melissa shut the door, breaking Augustus out of his thoughts. He blinked twice, then a tired sighed escaped his lips. He relaxed in his chair, 'I need to foster my relationship with the others first before taking command. Anyone that objects will be cut off effectively.'
Augustus chuckled, but there was a vicious glint in his eyes. He closed his eyes, and he began to meditate, but as he relaxed completely, he heard a sound bang and jumped. As he turned to the door, his furrowed furrowed tight, "Are you mad?"
"Sorry, Augustus." Arlene apologised, seeing how annoyed he looked, then she cleared her throat, "Aaron and I tracked the raks trail, and we were led to a weird cave. We did an investigation, and the hideout turned out to be a base— for humans."