The findings of the cane did come as a surprise to Drac. But at the end of the day, he was so tired that he just straight away went to his room and fell asleep. Early in the morning, he started hearing knocking on the door. He could only groan at the sound, he was too tired and sleepy to see what was up.

Still, he pushed himself up. It is there he found Jina, along with some soldiers who looked sleep-deprived like him. Jina on the other hand looked as fucked up, as she did last night.

“Let me grab my cane and hatchet,”

As the gentle rays of the sun kissed their faces, Drac along with the group once again started their search for Jamie. Ultimately, they couldnt find any clue or trace of the boy. People feared the worst, and by the end of the search, Jina started fearing the worst as well.

While the rest of them started to head back, Jina insisted looking for her son. To which he let her be, and brought the soldiers back. They had some work to do. For the safety of people from the castle, Drac started the operation of barricading. He started barricading the windows and doors, that could be used by the monster to access the castle. With his work, the people of the castle felt secure and were off his backs.

With the disappearance of Jamie, everyone was on the edge. The soldiers wanted to leave. Henry’s wife and daughter were constantly on his back, saying that they wanted to leave. With some persuasion and anger, he was able to make everyone stay. As far as the monster responsible for this was concerned, she remained in her room for most of the time, and would even eat her food in her room.

Whispers about Mikaila being afraid of coming out of her room started spreading through the castle. He only heard about it when he eavesdropped on the conversation of two soldiers. As far as Jina was concerned, she went insane after his son’s disappearance and stayed confined in her room.

In her absence, all the food and kitchen responsibilities fell on Henry’s wife's shoulders. And she was not a little bit happy about it, but didnt dare to voice out his opinion.

The change in the castle occurred 4 days after Jamie disappeared. With most of the windows and doors barricaded, Drac could focus on his goal. He started opening the wooden crates of Mikaila. He was already granted access to her books, so he didnt feel like he needed to take permission again.

As he was looking through a book in a foreign language, he was approached by a soldier who came into the room huffing and puffing.

“Sire!” the man said, “People bearing House Sumor spotted coming from the south.”

He looked at the man, and asked, “People?”

“An army sire,” he said.

He immediately put the book down and went to the front gate of the castle…

The soldier was right, there was an army making their way to the castle. From where he stood, he figured that there were around 150 people in the party. Most of them were soldiers bearing the coat of arms of the Sumor Family.

Drac formed a genuine smile on his face. He knew that someone from the Sumor Family would surely come to the aid of Mikaila. And from what he could see, either Gregor or Daniel was here. That excited him because they surely noticed that something was wrong with Mikaila. And boy, that would be a site to behold.

As the group was about to enter the castle, a rider tore through the group and came sprinting towards him. The rider disembarked in front of him, and greeted with him a cold face, “Well.. You look like shit. It seems that you have not been taking my teaching carefully,” Travis said.

“You were supposed to be here weeks ago. Mistress Mikaila was not supposed to come this early. And we were not supposed to be attacked by a fucking magical beast. So… Yeah. I look like shit,” he said. That was the truth as well, with all the things happening around the castle, he really didnt get a chance to wash his clothes properly, nor take care of himself. In the past few days, he had grown himself a mild beard. As he had just hit puberty, his beard was not even out, it was scruffy on one side, and small on the other.

“How is mistress?” The old man asked.

“Good,” he said, “She is just fine,”

“She better be,” Travis said while sighing.

Before he could ask why, another rider came via tearing through the group. This one didnt stop in front of them, instead went straight to the castle, disembarked at the main door, and went sprinting straight in.

“Is Lord Daniel is also here by any chance?” Drac asked the old man.

“No. Just Lord Gregor. He was insistent I come with him as well, as he didnt believe that you would be able to handle the responsibility of the castle,”

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“Of course,” he then saw Greg running towards them. That man had been roaming around the castle, like a night crusader. Wanted to hunt the beast himself, which is why he sleeps through most of the day.

Greg came and stood by them, “I hope that I am not late.”

“Nope, you are on time,” Drac said, and then looked at the old man, “If no noble is left, let's go in. Greg, make sure that the soldiers and commanders are well fed and have a bed to sleep off their fatigue,”

“Sure,”

And with that, he and Travis made their way towards the master bedroom of the castle.

***

As they got to the bedroom, they started hearing the sounds of yelling. As they got to the room, the door lay before them broken from its hinges, they stood outside the door, waiting to be summoned…

“…You broke through the door!” Mikaila said while pointing at the door of the room.

“I was worried about my little doll. And I should be.. Look at you, you look like the wraith from grandmother’s old bedtime stories,” Gregor said.

“Father, this is the style. This is fashion. This is a very common style on the Hograve continent.” She said.

“Is it?” he asked and then gestured towards her clothes. She was wearing a bra, and what called be modern equivalent of the mini skirt, “And what about your attire? Dont tell that all the people of the continent dress up like whores,”

She groaned, “Father, for the last time.. It is my body, my choice. You have no right to tell me what to do, and what not to do,”

“The hell I dont have. I am your father. And you will listen to me, you ungrateful brat,”

“GET OUT!” Mikaila screamed, and the mana in the air started vibrating. “GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! GET OUT OF MY ROOM! GET OUT OF MY LIFE!”

Gregor angry now, immediately left the room with the huff. When he saw both of them, he ordered, “Both of you, with me!” and started walking in the hallway.

He was about to follow them, when he heard, “DRAC! Inside!” Mikaila screamed.

“I need that boy!” Gregor yelled from the hallway.

“FUCK OFF!” she yelled from her room. Gregor looked at him, “Find me quickly when you are done with her,” he said threateningly.

He nodded, and then Gregor walked away, along with Travis.

Drac when entered Mikaila, he started feeling the chill in the room, as if it was located high up a snowy mountain. “Fix the fucking door,” Mikaila said. He nodded, “It will be done.”

Still angry, she said, “My father would probably try to make up with me for yelling at me. Try suggesting throwing a ball in my honor. And tell him that I really want to have my botanical garden and alchemic lab established as soon as possible.” He nodded, bowed to her, and went away…

Drac found Gregor and Travis in the sitting area, having some tea. Henry’s wife and daughter were present, ready to bootlick Gregor. Ignoring them, he came and bowed to Gregor.

“Give me a report. What needs to be done here, and what have you been doing here for the past few weeks,” Gregor ordered.

So he started recalling what had transpired till now. After he had recalled everything, Gregor asked, “You said that the workers and the equipment had been paid by my daughter?”

He nodded, “Yes sire. Mistress provided with everything. She really wanted to finish everything in a month,”

“Any particular reason, for such a request?”

He thought about it quickly, and then turned around towards the maid, “You two, get out. And close the door behind you,” They were surprised by his orders but still complied. He just did that to fuck with them both.

He then faced Gregor once again, “Mistress.. Wanted to throw a ball in the castle. She had not told me the details, but she did tell me about her intentions,”

“Hmm,” Gregor mumbled.

“Talk to me about this so called.. Magical beast. What happened that night? And from what I heard, you even opened your mouth in front of royal knights as well. Care to explain,”

Without an ounce of fear in his voice, he started recalling everything. As he had expected, when Gregor came to know what royal kings did, the mana in the air started vibrating. The old patriarch was pissed. And it is when Drac felt the difference between his and the old man’s power. It was truly overwhelming. It was like comparing a small kid to a full-grown Bull. Which also made him wonder about the shadowy figure, the so-called Mikaila’s master. He wondered how powerful that person would be.

“Master, it not vice to be angry about the matter,” Travis said, trying to calm the old monster down.

“Calm down!” the old man said while gritting his teeth, “Those royal fuckers think that they could ask my daughter a question like this and get away with it.. Well guess what, they will have one another thing coming their way,”

“Sire. Not now.” Travis said, “We first need to find the beast. Only with evidence we will be able to prove that this thing was not fabricated,”

Oh, people from the capital think that this is fabricated? Make sense, considering no one had spotted any magical beast in the kingdom for hundreds of years.

Gregor and Tavis went back and forth with their arguments, and eventually, Gregor backed off. He then looked at him, and said, “And you. How much time would you need to finish everything?”

“Ah..” He thought for a moment, and then said, “A month.” He said to be on the safe side. He didn't overwork himself again.

“Done. I will be taking Mikaila to the capital for shopping. I will be leaving Commander Gorg here, for your and the worker's safety. See to it, that everything is taken care of,”

“Understood,” he said while bowing.

Then Gregor leaned forward, and asked him, “Also, by any chance did you come across this language,” he gestured to Travis. The old butler ruffled through his coat and fished out a piece of thin parchment.

He unfolded the piece of parchment, to see some words in a foreign language traced on the parchment. He looked at the words properly, memorizing them. Then he passed the paper back and shook his head, “I have never seen that script before in his life,”

He lied. He just saw them, just a few minutes ago, when he was going through Milkaila’s books…