As the last grain of sand dropped on the pile of sand on the bottom of the Hourglass of Chronos. Time resumed its flow once more as countless gazes were immediately aimed in a single direction having traced back the source of the Temporal disturbance.
The world almost seem to stand still once more as the gazes of countless celestial beings and more were aimed in a general direction.
However, the feeling of being watched soon passed as they all failed to peel through the layers of concealment from the Divine Class Artifact, the Hourglass of Chronos. The item would automatically move to protect its wielder from drawing the attention of the God of Time alongside any other interested party capable of moving through stopped time.
This was one of the usefulness of artifacts with a living property as they usually did everything to ensure their continued use which could also be considered one of their biggest drawbacks.
"An interesting Artifact indeed. I wonder if Lord Ty would be happy if I brought this to him. I should call him when I'm done here."
The moment time had begun its flow once again, the delayed spells Rain had cast earlier had taken effect, she had used one of the effects of the hourglass, Time Capsule to put Number 10 in a Temporal stasis.
She should be locked in a period of time for somewhere between 10-45 minutes. As for the Viscount balled up on the ground, it seems he had already fainted and the 'Hold Person' spell she used had been pointless.
"Well whatever. he has outgrown his usefulness anyway. Oh right, Zelda, are you done?"
Just as Rain contemplated her next move, a shadowy figure came down the hallway before appearing in front of her.
"I've searched through the mansions, there are no magic items or artifacts up there. As per your orders, I've retrieved anything of value within the estate."
"I see... I suppose it was too much to hope a failing Viscount household has magic artifacts just lying around, well whatever. Just take this thing up with you and destroy the estate. We can't leave anyone alive if we want to make an example of this."
Rain spoke as she pointed to the balled-up Viscount on the ground. The ground around his waist had been drenched at some point and a strong ammonia odor permeated through the air.
"Understood."
"As for this one, I'll pry the information I need out of her before freeing the slaves here and sending them to Erin myself, hope she's not too busy because of me. I didn't expect there to be this many dark elves in one place. Hmm... that's strange..."
"What's wrong!?"
Sensing the concern in Rain's voice, Zelda's demeanor immediately switched into battle-ready mode as she expanded her perception in anticipation of an attack.
"Oh, it's nothing, just... The souls of those two have completely disappeared."
"Is that bad?"
"Not necessarily. It's only been a few minutes since they died, their souls should still be lingering around their death place before passing on but now they're missing. I had wanted to capture the souls for Lord Ty's experiment with reincarnation and the metal golems but I guess not. Someone here must be playing with souls, I wonder if a new necromancer is being born, this is getting more and more interesting by the second."
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Zelda tilted her head in confusion as she couldn't follow Rain's rapid train of thoughts completely. Noticing this, Rain chuckled and replied.
"Never mind me, just thinking out loud. This is not of any immediate importance. Let's just stick to the plan for now."
Without saying a word, Zelda nodded and dragged Armin by his legs as she slowly headed back up the stairs. A few minutes later would be the sudden disappearance of the Heartrail family's estate within the capital city of the Jaxith family in a devastating explosion that could be seen and heard far and wide.
This would be the topic of conversation amongst the masses for weeks to come as the citizens of this city wonder if the war had finally reached their doorsteps.
➖➖➖♦️➖➖➖
—A few hours earlier.
After receiving the information of the missing emissary from the Royal Guards assigned to monitor her movements, Bam was quickly issued an order from the 5th princess to aid in the search and rescue of the emissary from the Darknar region.
Unfortunately, such slanderous news could not be allowed to spread and any slim hope the family had of receiving aid from other ruling-class families would be squashed and the proud ancient Jaxith family would slowly disappear from the world.
Wearing a darker variation of his armor lined with the more lightweight yet incredibly more durable Tritanium but made from the less reliable Platinum, Bam was tasked with leading a separate search unit with Blane by his side.
The Royal Guards that had been assigned to protect the emissary claim to have lost her in the privately hosted dinner party by one of the Earls' estates. They claim to have searched the entire vicinity of the mansion but failed to pick up any traces of her whereabouts, but given that they had failed to prevent this outcome in the first place, Bam didn't think their words could be trusted.
Still, this situation was most likely the work of one of their enemies. He was sure it was an attempt to hinder any form of an alliance between the Jaxith family and the Darknar family. However, this may also be the work of the Dark Order.
They were the secret organization responsible for the disappearance of many young ladies of low standing, apparently for ritualistic purposes and the family was still in the midst of investigating that situation. So what if they were now targeting ladies of higher standings and mistakenly captured the emissary instead of one of the demonesses' in that party?
That would be bad, wouldn't it?
Bam thought but quickly shook his head as he didn't want to believe such an organization could be that stupid. Otherwise, what would it say of the knights who had not been able to eradicate the crime organization from the city, much less the entire region?
As his thoughts wander freely, they arrived at their destination.
This was the mansion of the Viscount family, the Heartrail family. Shortly after the disappearance of the emissary was discovered, this mansion suddenly disappeared in several flashes of bright lights and purple lightning that were unaccompanied by thunder or a storm, so it could not have been natural.
He hoped.
"Sir Bam, we've located the remains of the residents and have confirmed, there are no survivors within the wreckage."
The knight unit captain came up to Bam who currently ranked higher than him and made a report.
Bam's heart sank as he took in the vastness of the piles and piles of stones and dust. He could only imagine just how powerful a spell must be to cause such devastation in its wake, and how many people had died under such powerful magic.
He had seen large-scale magic used on the battlefield before and still could not believe magic was capable of such pure destruction.
"There's no need to get stumped over such minute details. We still have a job to do so get over it."
Those words came from the Demon standing casually beside him, the one known as Blane. Bam wanted to say something but couldn't find the words to refute what he had said and was forced to remain silent.
Blane didn't react to Bam's hesitation as he simply turned his head to the Knight captain and asked.
"Have you found anything else?"
"Yes sir! We found a secret entrance that seems to lead underground. According to the submitted design for this estate, there should be no unground chambers in this place so this could've only been constructed after the mansion was already completed and fairly recently."
"Is that right?"
Hearing the knight's words, Bam and Blane followed him to the entrance to the underground stairs that had not been covered by debris. It was as though this stairway was intentionally left this way for them to find.
"What do we do?"
Bam asked Blane nervously, a little rattled by the whole situation. He did not want to make a mistake that could cause any problems for his mistress so he had to make sure he wasn't making any hasty decisions.
"We were given the mission of finding the emissary and investigating the cause of all this. We can't afford to wait here and risk losing any chances of accomplishing our mission by delaying here."
Bam could understand what he meant but still felt uncomfortable about this.
"Besides, the emissary might be in danger. It's our job to rescue her if possible."
"Right."
Bam nodded in understanding. Despite his previous hesitation, he didn't want to be the one responsible for someone else losing their lives. If he could help someone by taking a slight risk, he would. As long as that risk did not endanger or trouble his mistress in any way.
After making some preparations, it was decided that only a select few would venture down the stairs and the rest of the knights would remain here and secure the perimeter.
As their selected team was about to enter the stairs, they suddenly heard the sounds of footsteps coming from the bottom of the stairway and everyone was immediately on alert.
They all stepped back from the entrance and prepared their weapons. None of them had sensed any feeling of animosity coming from the person on their way up but none of them would risk their lives on just that.
The sounds slowly got closer and closer until finally, the silhouette of a slender figure walked out of the staircase.
Their eyes naturally widened as the figure of the one they were looking for materialized before their eyes. This was none other than the emissary from the Darknar region.
"Hmm... and you are?"
Given that Radiance City was located at the peak of a mountain, during times like these when the clouds were thick, it was natural for the city to be covered in dense fog which was usually just the clouds in the lower atmosphere.
So naturally, visibility was lowered in times like these so Bam could barely make out the appearance of the emissary but if there was one thing he could be sure of, it was that this was definitely the emissary as her eyes carried the authority of a superior entity.
Not only that, the moment their eyes met, he felt the sudden urge to kneel as though the weight of the world had been placed on his shoulders.
He was beginning to wonder why they had been worried about her in the first place.
Rain's eyes alternated between the boy and the young demon beside him. Her gaze carried little interest in them as she wasn't even looking for an answer to her question.
However, seeing as she was about to walk away, Bam hurriedly responded.
"I am Bam, the 5th princess of the Jaxith Family's personal knight. We heard something had happened to the emissary and immediately came to investigate."
Rain stopped in her tracks and glanced at the two of them once more before responding.
"That girl huh? interesting. Tell your family I will send their maids and knights back to them with a report of what had transpired here today. Have someone take me back to my residence."
Her tone was not commanding yet none of them could utter a word to refute. They could not even ask any questions about what had happened to her and immediately prepared a carriage to take her back to her assigned mansion.
"We should still investigate what lies beneath those stairs."
Blane's words carried more weight to them than they had previously as Bam nodded in agreement. He could understand what his tone was implying and they didn't even have a choice in the matter.
"I agree."
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