Amaya and Mia couldn’t believe how different the castle looked behind the hidden door. The part of the castle then had seen till now looked like an abandoned castle, with no decoration, little illumination and dirty floors. The hall in front was more reminiscent of a royal palace than a black castle on an isolated island.
They stepped into a lavish hallway and the first thing they noticed was how illuminated it was. Instead of old torches that are too far apart, the hallways here were lit up by mana lights. Mana lights are balls of light magic that emit white light with a soft centre that brightens a room like it is daylight.
The floor of the hallway had a beautiful, soft, thick purple carpet that was immaculately clean. In what was so clean that Amaya was self-conscious about stepping on it. Renard gave a small smile and assured her that it was fine to walk on it. “The staff have great cleaning magic and it’s very hard to leave any marks on the carpet or the walls. Unless you use destructive magic, this carpet will be in pristine condition until the magic expires.”
The walls were adorned with paintings, and statues and vases were placed to enchant the environment. The paintings had different but equally amazing scenes, in one of them a man with black armour was fighting a golden crow. In another, a man was shaking the hands of a dwarf with a crown. Another painting showed what seemed to be a young Emile with massive wings flying next to Gryphon, the grin on his face was there for all to see.
Amaya couldn’t help but slow down as she observed each painting, but Mia noticed something unusual. There were also statues throughout the hallway, Amaya had recognised the similarities between them and the statues in the ancestral hall. The statues were mostly made of a single material and as such were the same colour throughout.
Mia noticed two very lifelike statues that looked painted. The different colours on them were what drew Mia’s attention first and as she looked closer at them her suspicions grew. The statues were two goblins that were for some reason in the middle of a game of rock-paper-scissors.
This was so different from the rest of the statues, who were in proud or confident poses. Mia had to stop and look closer at the goblin statues. She stood in front of them and leaned closer, and as she did, she noticed that one of them had a single sweat drop falling down its forehead.
Curious she poked the goblin statue with her finger and felt the soft texture of skin. While she was doing the other goblin’s face started to redden and began to shake. She turned to look at it and the moment she did, the first goblin wiped its forehead in a flash. The sound of that attracted Mia’s attention and she looked back at it. The second goblin took this opportunity to take a deep breath.
Amaya couldn’t believe what was watching, an official knight looking between two goblins and trying to catch them in the act. What was more insane was that two goblins were quick enough to evade the detection of a knight. She looked at Renard as if to check if this was real. Renard for his part looked a bit ashamed and was holding his hand to his face.
Deciding to end this farce he called out “Raban, Resna stop messing around. What are you doing here?”
They disappeared in front of Mia and blinked into existence in front of Renard. Mia pouted as she went back to the rest. “Aw, I wanted to see if I could catch them.”
She looked at the goblins who were holding a mock salute. “I’ve never seen goblins like these. They seem just as fast if not faster than me and they can teleport?”
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The two goblins were the same height as normal goblins but instead of the crooked, slouched posture of ordinary goblins, they stood to the full heights. They also had a full head of hair, with one of them having its front half in braids and the back falling loosely.
They were also dressed in sleek leather armour with a hood at the back, and their bodies were as scrawny as the rest of their brethren. All in all, they looked like tiny assassins instead of the punching bag of the civilised races.
“These little vermin are part of a special goblin clan that Lord Emile invited to stay on the island. They live out in Nyx forest and are under the protection of His Grace. As for the unusual abilities, their clan originates from the Lost Continent. The lord found them residing in the eye of a mana whirlwind.”
Mia’s eyes bugged as she heard this unbelievable news. The Lost Continent is the only continent forsaken by the allied and monster races. In the previous Ages, it was the centre of the world in all aspects. But a calamity wiped out almost all life and the remaining beings were mutated into liven monstrosities. If it wasn’t because they couldn’t leave the continent, then that calamity would have become the apocalypse.
To find a clan of civilised goblins there went against all conventional thinking and in the eye of a mana whirlwind just seemed improbable. Mana whirlwinds were tornados of mana-infused winds. This whirlwind could even level towns in Avalyn, so what chance did goblin have against it. She would have to Emile that story later.
“These are brother and sister and are known troublemakers who have a tendency to prank people. And you two you didn’t answer my question.” Renard said as he gave them a knock on their head. The goblins dropped their mock salute and clutched their heads.
“We noticed that there was an unusual magic signature and that Emile also emitted a large mana signature. The elders said to not worry but they didn’t want to tell us what was going on. So we were nominated to check it out.” Said Raban.
“Yeah, we wanted to see what could make the Lord activate so much of his magic.” Resna added on.
“So you were going to spy on us?” Renard said as he narrowed his eyes.
Both goblins froze at the question and shook their heads franticly. They started to look around for exits to escape to, but couldn’t find anything. Resna noticed Amaya and decided to use her as a shield. Raban noticed his sister's plan and copied her by hiding behind Mia. Safe from the tyrant, both goblin decided to mock Renard by sticking their tongues.
“We weren’t spying, we just wanted to see the visitors. But before we got there, you arrived with two new people.” Resna’s voice sounded behind Amaya. “Who are they?
“The knight is a representative from the council who will be staying with us for a while.” Renard then patted Amaya’s shoulder. “But here is someone very important”
“She is the newest disciple of Lord Emile and the newest member of the Prime Lineage”
Raban and Resna's eyes widened like saucers and started to jump around Amaya in excitement.
“Wow, a new disciple. How old are you? What are your powers? Where do come from?” They sent a barrage of questions to Amaya, and Amaya struggled to answer them and keep the goblins in her sight.
Before she toppled over, Renard grabbed the two goblins by the scruff of their neck. The goblins dangled from his hands like a bag of groceries.
“Please don’t scare the new residents, your chaotic energy is not something outsiders can handle. Also, we need to get going, Lady Amaya is in need of nutrition.”
The goblin finally stopped struggling and turned to look at Amaya. Raban said, “She does look very skinny and in terms of mana she might as well be a corpse.”
Resna slapped the back of his head, “Don’t be rude, she Lord Emile’s disciple. If he catches you upsetting his new disciple then you are done for and you will be on your own.”
Amaya’s thoughts were still stuck on Renard calling her a Lady. Did becoming Lord Emile’s disciple make her a noble?
Renard with the goblins still in his hands called Amaya and Mia, “Let’s go, I had already informed the kitchen staff to prepare a small meal and it is ready now.”
He led them further in and soon they reached the entry to a courtyard. Renard gave them a short summary of the paintings and statues. Both Amaya and Mia were soon lost because of the large number of names that they weren’t familiar with.
Renard was in the middle of a story about a statue of an orc warrior who served the previous Lord and how he was now one of the champions of his race when he stopped talking. The courtyard they entered wasn’t empty and currently there was a small group of people waiting for them.