Hazeel was basically glued to me by the time Bella came out. I shook off the elf and walked towards Bella. With a pout, Hazeel walked closely behind me.
“How’d it go?” Bella gave me a thumbs up and smiled.
“Fantastic, their information network is no joke. I also know where your partner is.” I face-palmed, realizing I had forgotten to tell them what I had found out when we came inside the city.
“The castle, right? I sensed her.”
Bella faltered slightly, but still kept a haughty smile on her face. “Oh, oh yeah? I see. But I also know what they’re researching and where in the castle she’s being kept.”
I gave a light smile to the demoness who had decided to help me out of sheer boredom. “Thanks Bella.” Her face lit up red and Hazeel chuckled behind me. “Lead us to the castle Hazeel, Bella can tell us what she found out on her way there.”
Both the girls had started walking away, but I stayed for just long enough to transport the person shadowing Bella outside the city gate. I smirked at the guild, and slowly followed behind my new companions… my new team.
---
The leader of the Guild of Lust, Regin Xandra, sat in her chair that oversaw the entirety of the guild’s library. She hadn’t been too enthusiastic about being called to the front desk because of the three people that had stood outside the guild for ten minutes, but her mood took a 180 when one of them turned out to be a new recruit, and even brought her something interesting.
She had just glanced at the freshly printed article when the door to her office burst open and her vice-leader, Tavion Smilli, and slammed his fists on her desk.
She looked at him with an annoyed look. “What did I tell you about displaying your anger so openly? It’s a waste of energy.”
Tavion clicked his tongue and sat down in a seat across from her. “Apologies. We briefly lost contact with the shadow that you sent to trail the new girl.”
Regin’s eyes widened. “Briefly? So he’s in contact now?”
“Yes, but… he’s been sent home for the time being. Our medics have diagnosed him with severe photon poisoning. The last thing he remembers is being looked at by a boy accompanying Bella Claire, and then he was outside the city gates. Nearly got killed by a groggy soldier too.”
Regin shivered and looked at the report of what Bella told her. “Bella Claire… what a dumb attempt at subtlety.” Regin smiled, an act which had Tavion taken aback.
Regin peered down on her library - an amassed collection of knowledge - and shredded the paper in her hand. The boy most likely wasn’t at the Clairborne mansion any longer. The waste bin at her side burst into flames, and Regin sat admiring the light, wondering what the world held for Jane’s granddaughter.
---
The gates of the castle were somehow even more impressive than those of the city itself. While Songrande’s massive black walls struck a sense of despair at those who viewed them, the pure golden doors to the castle instilled something that I hadn't felt in a long time - hope.
I immediately scoffed at the thought and took stock of my surroundings. As opposed to the golden gate, the walls enclosing the castle were made of a pale blue metal that shone brightly in the evening sunlight.
“Come on, stop staring.” Snapping me out of my daydream, Hazeel pinched my cheek and walked forward. Bella giggled and gestured to me to follow behind her, leaving the demoness to take up the rear.
Hazeel led the way up to the gates, but then took a sharp left and started walking along the perimeter of the wall that surrounded the castle. I cocked my head for a brief moment before shuffling behind her.
“Where are we going Hazeel? You realize I could just transport us in there, right?” The wood elf looked back at me and shook her head.
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“That would be the safe assumption, but when Jane was employed there, she installed sensors along the perimeter of the castle, so the knights inside will know immediately if anyone uses magic within these walls.” I nodded and she returned to her task.
I debated on whether or not to tell her my hunch that my control of photons wouldn’t be classified as magic, but decided to play it safe and heed her advice.
As we trudged behind her, Bella gave me several hard pats on the back.”Don’t worry Leo! You’re our undisputed muscle! Just be ready to kill things if the situation takes a turn for the worse!” I sighed and nearly ran into Hazeel, who had stopped beside a stone statue almost directly 180 degrees from the castle’s entrance.
The statue itself was quite unremarkable in terms of materials used, being only simple stone. However, the craftsmanship depicted a beautiful woman wearing an ornate circlet, and smiling while clasping both hands to her chest.
“It’s a relief of the former Queen of the Azure Continent. Songrande used to be littered with them, but after she died, the king recalled them all and stored them in the royal treasury.” Hazeel sighed deeply. “That was, until Bella’s father took them out as a teenager and infused them with a detonating spell.”
Bella grinned and shook her head. ”I wish I knew my parents. I bet they’d have plenty of fun stories about each other to tell me.”
Hazeel rubbed her back in comfort. “Ask your Grandmother when you return. Your mother used to confide in her every day, there’s no doubt she still has some stories up her sleeve.” Bella thanked Hazeel as she stepped back in front of the statue.
“This is a trick my student used to use when he wanted to sneak in and out of the castle.” She unstrapped the buster sword from her back and raised it vertically. With a grunt, she swung it down on the statue, breaking it into small pieces.
Immediately, the wall around the castle cracked, and broke, creating a path that led directly to the back of the castle. Hazeel re-sheathed her sword and started to head in.
“Hurry up, it has an auto restoration spell that activates every minute. Come through before the opening is mended." We followed once again and Hazeel stopped us behind the castle, making sure to keep a watch on the hole in the wall.
“I’m glad that statue was still there.” Hazeel smiled softly as the wall repaired itself. “It must’ve been untouched since the last time I was here.” She looked up at the black spire we had seen from the road to Songrande, and started walking towards it.
“If Bella’s information is to be believed, it’ll be at the top of that spire - the king’s personal tower.”
---
It was less of a climactic trek than I thought, but Hazeel’s stealth magic was working double time to keep us safe from the guards that patrolled the stairways. They were still on alert from her initial pulse of magic, which tripped the sensors she had warned us about.
In the end though, we had decided that taking a calculated risk was much better than encountering one we didn’t realize was coming.
By the time we got to the top floor, Hazeel was sweating profusely and dragging her feet up the final staircase. “You did well Hazeel. Rest outside the door for now, I can’t sense anyone in the room.”
Without uttering a word, she collapsed in a heap in front of a double door that resembled the gate in front of the castle. With caution, I opened the left door and walked into the room.
I was immediately blinded by the light coming from the large stained glass ceiling. Inside was only a single bed, with the rest of the room devoid of any objects, contrary to what one would expect from a beloved sovereign.
I walked up to the bed, heart racing in anticipation, when a thud behind me caught my attention. I spun around sharply and saw Bella collapsed on the floor. “I don’t feel so great Leo.”
I closed my eyes and reached out using photons to probe her condition, and reeled back as I realized that the entire room was so clouded with particles that I couldn’t sense anything else. It would be a danger to absorb all of these, but the risk was well worth it if Bella was suffering from Photon-poisoning like I believed she might be.
Opening a small black hole, the room instantly clears of accumulated photons, and I immediately sensed the source of the disturbance - something under the King’s mattress. I swallowed my saliva and lift the bed to find a black box.
Heart racing once more, I opened the chest and sigh with relief as my gaze settled on both halves of Dantae’s katana/bastard sword combination. Hugging them to my chest, Bella, who had recovered, came over and hugged me from behind.
“I’m happy for you, but you have plenty of time to repair her later.” Remembering my talk with Conrad and Jane, I stand up after placing Dantae in a black hole for storage.
“Ah Leon, fancy seeing you up here.” Brago Shields walked through the doors, which apparently Hazeel had passed out next to, and smiled at me from across the room.
“Those sensors sure work fast, huh?” It hadn’t even been three minutes since I opened the black hole and he already came to meet us.
“They do indeed.” The same smile was still plastered on Brago’s face as he spoke. “Now, if you’re finished with your business here, I’d be happy to escort you out so you encounter no trouble in the castl-”
“Brago.” I interrupted, glowering at the man. “How long have you exposed King Pola to Dantae’s radiation?”
Brago’s steadfast smile finally faltered.