The mansion that was built over the Dungeon had been leveled, and instead a powerful magic shield had been set up around the gaping pit, powered by six artifacts evenly spaced around the edge of the shield. Just outside the shield, two dozen paladins stood in formation, shields empowered by aura as they faced down the spear-wielding Westerners. It had yet to devolve into a fight, but from the angered expressions of the spearmen, and the grim ones of the paladins, a fight was not too far off. At least, that’s how it was before we arrived.
The moment we appeared on the edge of the pit, both sides looked at us in surprise, and the chaos unfolded. At first, we could not tell what they said, because the shield blocked all sound, but it didn’t take long for it to be taken down, and the disorder that we had only seen before came crashing down on our ears.
“Ji-Soo!” shouted one of the spearman as he forced his way in between the paladins’ broken formation toward us.
“Dad!” said Ji-Soo, moving to meet him.
As they embraced in a tight hug that I’m certain would have been able to crush a boulder, another voice arose from behind them.
“See? I told you, Jae-Sung. No mere Dungeon could stop the pride of our Han family.”
If not for his pure white hair, and slightly lined face, I might have thought that the speaker was the same age as Ji-Soo’s father. He was a head taller than me, and though his clothing was baggy, it could not hide his broad shoulders and chest. He walked with his back as straight as an arrow, and his gait was so smooth that he almost seemed to be floating. When Ji-Soo heard this man’s voice, she quickly extricated herself from her father’s arms and turned to face him.
“Grandfather,” she said, bowing. “I apologize for worrying you and father.”
“Bah, there’s no need to apologize!” he said, beaming. “You just cleared a Dungeon previously thought to be unclearable! This should be a cause for celebration, not apologies!”
“Thank you, grandfather,” said Ji-Soo, her face emotionless.
“No need to be so formal,” said her grandfather. “So, tell me. What was it like in this so-called ‘unbeatable’ Dungeon. Obviously it wasn’t too difficult, since you’ve come out unscathed, thought does mean much. There isn’t much in this world that would be able to hurt you.” He laughed heartily. Ji-Soo’s face remained stony.
“Father,” said Ji-Soo’s father. “I believe that stories can wait. She has been stuck in a Dungeon for a month. No doubt she wants to wash up and get some rest. We can save the celebration for later.”
“Oh, of course, of course,” said the grandfather. “How could I be so rude? I hope you’ll forgive me, my granddaughter.”
“Yes, grandfather,” said Ji-Soo.
“I told you you didn’t need to be so formal,” he said, still smiling. “Let’s head back. As Jae-Sung said, you probably want to get some well-earned rest.”
“I’m afraid that will have to wait,” said Otto, striding over. Annoyance flashed across the older man’s face. “We have just emerged from a place that Greed believed we would never escape from. We have a unique opportunity to surprise him, and catch him off guard, but if we take time to rest, news of our return will reach him, and we will lose the element of surprise. We have a lead, and an advantage. We must act on them before it’s too late.”
“Is there no time even for a short rest?” asked Jae-Sung.
“None,” replied Otto. “Every minute we spend here is another minute during which the news can spread, which is another minute that Greed will be able to prepare. We must leave immediately.”
“Well, who am I to stand in the way of a Godly Emissary?” said Ji-Soo’s grandfather, his face having returned to its original smile. “By all means, go ahead. If your plan succeeds, should I expect further cause for celebration?”
“...yes,” replied Otto.
“Excellent!” said the older man. “I look forward to your success.”
“Thank you,” said Otto before turning toward me. “Lucille, can you make a portal back to Claude?”
“Yes,” I said. Since it was a place I had been, making a portal there was no problem at all. “Taking everyone here would strain my [MP] though.”
“No need to take everyone. Just our group. Ingrid! Sylvester! Barnabas! Humility! Twins! Get ready to head out!”
A few moments later, the nine of us were gathered in one spot a few steps away from the rest of the paladins and martial artists. Before creating the portal though, there was something I needed to confirm with Otto, so I set up a [Wall of Silence] around our group.
“The lead you were talking about is Ophelia, right?” I asked.
“Yes. Though by your account, Midhna does not know we know of his relationship with her, we must still apprehend her as soon as possible. Ideally, he will hear the news of her arrest at the same time, if not before the news of our survival. That way, we can-”
“Yeah, I understand that part,” I said, cutting him off. “I just wanted to know where to make the portal. I can give us one straight to the duke’s castle, but it will set off all kinds of alarms, and it will cost double the [MP], which will probably bring me down to a quarter my maximum, since I haven’t recharged fully from the Dungeon yet. Or I can get us to the outskirts of the city without setting off any alarms and still have over half my [MP] left.”
Otto considered for a moment. “Get us straight to the duke’s castle. There will be time to recover after we make the arrest while we wait for Midhna. We need to get there as soon as possible though.”
“Roger that,” I replied, and then started making the portal.
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I was still not quite as quick as Natalya and Anatoly, but it didn’t take more than 30 seconds to prepare the portal. Sylvester went through first, in case the guards at the castle had an “attack first, ask questions later” approach to the sudden appearance of a portal at the front door. He was followed by the other two paladins, then everyone else, with myself going through last.
Sending Sylvester through first turned out to be the correct decision. While he did not receive any blows, he would have if not for his tall shield emblazoned with the scales of Order. Waiting for us at the opposite end of the portal were a dozen high level guards, and one knight whose aura was on a similar level to Casimir’s. I guessed him to be another of the Lions.
“Where is Lady Ophelia?” asked Otto.
“Why do you ask?” asked the knight suspiciously.
“That is not for you to know,” said Otto. “I am Otto Schuchardt, the Godly Emissary of Temperance. Lead me to the Lady, or you will be charged for obstructing our investigation.”
“I apologize,” said the knight quickly, bowing. “She is in the garden hosting a tea party. Allow me to lead you there.”
“Thank you,” said Otto.
The knight quickly strode away, around the house castle rather than through it, and we followed. There were a few hedges and walls in the way, but the knight did not hesitate to slash through them, and led us straight to an area beyond the castle surrounded by a much taller hedge, and surrounded by a group of knights.
The alarm in the castle was blaring loudly, and we had not exactly approached quietly, so all the knights were on guard. They were all fairly impressive, but there was only one among them that I would have deemed dangerous, that one being Casimir. He stood in the center of the knights, directly in front of a green archway, almost completely obscuring our view of the interior with his hulking frame.
“Rubén,” he said. “What’s happening?”
“Godly Emissary Otto Schuchardt and his group wish to see Lady Ophelia,” replied our guide.
Casimir stared at us with an unreadable expression. As I waited for his reaction, I noticed a miniscule, almost imperceptible mana fluctuation near his ear. I narrowed my eyes, but did not comment immediately. A few seconds later, the mana fluctuation vanished, and he stepped aside.
“The lady is within,” he said.
Without a word, our group strode past. While his face was still impassive, there was an almost palpable aura of unhappiness surrounding him as he watch us go by. I activated [Secret Message] and sent my words directly to Otto’s ears.
“Casimir just received orders from someone,” I said. “I couldn’t tell where they came from. It may be prudent to investigate him as well.”
[Secret Message] only created a one way connection, so he could not respond verbally, but he nodded his head slightly to indicate his understanding.
Within the hedge wall was a small grass field surrounded by a clear moat lined with multi-colored flower bushes. At the center, there were a few tables laden with pastries, confections, and tea. A group of a dozen or so ladies in elegant dresses and three maids in work attire were huddled together near the back, looking at us fearfully.
Even though she was in the back, and mostly obscured by the others, it was not difficult to locate Ophelia in such a small crowd. I spotted her the moment I saw her green eyes peeking over the shoulders of one of the other ladies. I immediately cast [Hold Person] and [Levitate] and pulled her out of the crowd, causing a few screams.
“Lady Ophelia Lyon, you are under arrest for conspiring with a Demon King,” said Otto. “We will now take you into custody.”
“W-what? What are you-?” she said, glancing around frantically as I floated her over to our group.
“I advise you to remain silent for the time being. There will be plenty of time for explanation later.”
“But-? What-? What’s going on?”
No one answered her question. Instead, Barnabas summoned a pair of black manacles from his own inventory, and clapped them on her wrists. As soon as they were locked, I noticed a large quantity of mana start to be expelled by them.
“Oho,” said Barnabas with surprise. “You are a more talented mage than I had heard.”
Ophelia looked at him with confusion. “What’s going on?” she repeated. “Why am I being handcuffed?”
“As we said before, you are under arrest for conspiring with a Demon King,” said Ingrid.
“But I already told you, I didn’t know about Jocelynn! I thought we were-”
“This isn’t about the princess,” said Otto. “I cannot share any more information at the moment. Please wait. Your questions will be answered once we get somewhere more private.”
“But-” she stopped her protests when she saw the look on the Emissary’s face. “Let’s go then,” she said dejectedly.
“Good,” said Otto, before turning back towards the knights. “Is Archmage Beatrice here? We need her to make us a portal out.”
“Yes, but she has not left her room in over a month,” said Rubén. “I believe it may be easier to go to her than it will be to convince her to come down here.”
Otto opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off before he could. “That won’t be necessary. She’ll be down in a moment.”
I then activated one of the aspects of [Create Thrall] I had discovered while bored in the Sealed Dungeon. I could actually send messages to my Thralls and change their control style remotely if I wanted to. I sent Beatrice a mildly threatening message, and less than a minute later, she appeared in front of us in a very large burst of spatial mana.
It appeared that I had caught her at a bad time, and since I had banned her from disguising with illusion, there was nothing to hide the fact that she was dressed in sweat-stained pajamas the size of king sized bed sheets. With no makeup and no disguise, her 56 years of age were now much more evident. However, she did seem smaller than before, if only a little, and she was only partly supporting her weight with [Levitate], instead of relying on it entirely.
“I heard you needed a portal,” she said, trying her best to appear calm and collected.
“Yes,” said Otto. “I believe you have been to Ludberg before?”
“Yes, sir, right away,” she said, and immediately began preparing the portal.
Since I was able to see her stat-sheet, I knew that the underpowered archmage would be straining her mana reserves to make such a portal, breaking through the enchantments on the castle, and on the city, but she did not hesitate or complain once. It took her nearly a minute to fully create the portal, and from the sweat beading on her face, the others seemed to get the message, and immediately stepped inside. Again, Sylvester went first, this time followed by Ingrid, then Barnabas and Ophelia, then Otto, then the twins, then Humility, then Ji-Soo until I was the only one remaining.
“You’ve lost a bit of weight,” I said to Beatrice. “You look better.”
Without waiting for her response, I followed the rest, with the portal snapping shut behind me almost immediately.
The other end of the portal dropped us off just outside a city that I assumed to be Ludberg. However, rather than leading us toward the gates, Otto immediately turned toward the nearby mountains and started hiking toward them. We walked in silence for nearly an hour until we crested a ridge and finally got a good view of our destination.
It was a small, rocky valley full of loose stones and in the center, a tall rock spire rose up out of the ground. As I looked closer, I noticed that the loose rocks all had jagged edges, and some were blackened with soot. There were craters all around, with fissures spreading across the rocky ground next to them. The rock spire I belatedly recognized as a very large [Earthen Spear].
“Is this what I think it is?” I asked.
“Yes,” said Otto. “This is where Gluttony was defeated.”