Chapter 11: Phantasmal Cloak

Hearing that the Forbidden alchemy can be used to rule the world, she got startled.

"Fret not, Fedyenka. I am not one of them. But the person we just saw indeed is. We have to get rid of him." said Martina.

"Do you know him, Martina?"

"I'm not sure yet. We should head back now. I'll take you to your mother, Her Highness. Let's see if she has gotten a lead."

"I'm getting exhausted to find these 'leads' to our goal. Ughh."

"I have heard that you are going through a lot already. I can see that as well. Please don't overthink about it."

"I'm trying."

Fedyenka and Martina rode the boat and left the place. The river leads to a garden of Sabia Fourth. However the area, is well guarded. They had to avoid people so they went back to the shore.

"Fedyenka, Hurry."

"Yes, I'm coming."

After Fedyenka got off, Martina destroyed the boat.

"Woah...Why did you do it?!"

"We can't leave any traces of our investigation and works."

They both dug a hole on the ground with a nearby shovel. It was probably abandoned over there a long time ago. There was rust all over the shovel. After digging the deep hole they put the woods there. Fedyenka told her that,

"Maybe we should plant a blue Dahlia here. It's an endangered species after all. If someone removes it, the person will go straight to the jail."

"Very clever, Fedyenka. We'll come back here soon."

"Why don't you burn the paper you drew the boat on as well?"

"It is no ordinary paper. It cannot be burnt. But it can be drenched it water. The water will tatter the paper in no time. I'll leave it in my rose vase. No one dares to touch it."

"What if someone does?"

"No one will. Don't worry, I'm quiet feared for some reasons." said Martina while grinning.

"Eh..he he...So, where is my mother?"

"I'll lead you to her." said Sabia Fourth.

They began to go to Queen Maria. When they reached the room, Maria opened the door and rushed to her daughter. She held her tight as if she is a mother who holds her baby.

"My Fedyenka...How have you been my dear?" said Queen Maria.

"Mother...I'm okay."

"No you are not. I can see that your skin has sunburns. Thank goodness those haven't turned black. Or else you would have gotten cancer."

"I'm more careful than you think mom."

"Uh...Fedyenka?"

"What is it mo- wait did I just call you 'mom'?"

"Yes dear, you did."

"Why do I remember calling someone 'mom'?"

"Yes you did just now."

"Oh...yeah..." Fedyenka became silent. Martina got close to Fedyenka to check if she has a fever. Seeing her coming toward her, Fedyenka backed.

"Fedyenka, why are you backing away from me?"

"H-Huh?" Fedyenka finally came back to her senses.

"Fedyenka, are you alright my dear?" said Queen Maria.

Sabia Fourth suddenly remembered that she didn't tell them about a really important thing. She coughed and said,

"I have something important to share Your Highness and Your Majesty."

Sabia Fourth informed the Queen about the occurrence with the man who was pretending to be Prince Felix. The Queen was filled with confusion and worries. She said,

"How could it not be my son?"

"I think he was using the Phantasmal cloak Your Majesty. It's made by forbidden alchemy." said Sabia Fourth.

"Weren't all the works burnt?" said the Queen. After saying this she made a plumped face as if she has done a grave mistake.

"What is it mother? Why is your face all plumped with air?" said Fedyenka.

"No, it's nothing."

"It's just that there is an unspoken rule. No underage person can know about forbidden alchemy."

"Why is that?" said Fedyenka.

"No one knows. Maybe it's because young people tend to take more risk than older people." said Sabia Fourth.

"So, about the Phantasmal Cloak." said Fedyenka.

"Ah yes. The Phantasmal cloak was created by some alchemist who used to follow the mad scientist who created the relic."

"Sabia Fourth..." said her mother staring at Sabia Fourth as if she has done something ill to her daughter.

"She had to know about it Your Majesty. She has done numerous works to protect you and His Majesty Oleg in this short time. Your Majesty, you should look up to her a bit more. She is more than you think. I will tell you about those later, Your Majesty." said Sabia Fourth. She went back to the topic and said,

"I was rescued from some human traffickers by Sabio First. The human traffickers used to know some forbidden alchemy techniques. They say that they follow the mad scientist and will pursue all knowledge from the universe, even from god one day. Ridiculous right? They used to kidnap children. The beautiful ones would get sold in high price and the ones with alchemic potentials would become one of them. They made me one of them. My rival was named Phantom because when he joined he was a starving kid who was supposed to die. When they took him to sell his flesh to the black market he started crying. They said that a phantom has entered his body. Thus, they started calling him Phantom."

"What about the ones who had none?" said Fedyenka.

"The fate Phantom was about to meet." said Sabia Fourth.

"Does the group still exist?"

"Could be."

"What happened then?"

"Since he was my rival, we always used to compete. He used to lose to me most of the time. Whenever he lost he would get one bowl of food less that day. He used to hate me. But I had no other choice. Because if I didn't put all my potentials on alchemy, they would sell me as a slave."

"So now he wants revenge?"

"No. I think what he wants is something else. I'm not sure about it either. He is the one who helped our master create phantasmal cloak, so he was the one who has it. The cloak can be used to mimic a person but it costs the blood of the person."

Fedyenka became silent. Then she asked, "How much?"

"Depends on the time the person is going to keep the fake appearance up."

Suddenly, a pigeon comes to deliver a letter. There was written, "Meet me behind the left alley of the Palace of Egret. Now."

"Bingo" said Fedyenka.

"I guess we are about to find a clue. Since he has already told his crime partner everything, I'm sure that Sabio Second the crime partner will surely send someone to keep an eye on us." said Sabia Fourth.

"I wish you two to be safe." said the Queen while caressing Fedyenka on her cheeks.

"Mother, I love you." said Fedyenka like a child.

"Oh! My princess is still a baby ha ha. Now go my darling I will wait. Don't forget to take the sunscreen when it's daytime. Drink a lot of water."

"Yes mother." said Fedyenka. Then she left the room with Sabia Fourth.

"I will inform Sabio Tenth to send his werecat to spy on the spies. I have to go a meeting now. I'll inform you about it if needed." said Sabia Fourth.

"Yes. Goodbye" said Fedyenka while walking away from Sabia Fourth and heading toward the stairs. She suddenly remembered that she forgot to tell Sabia Fourth about the things that happened in the Hall of Giants. She rushed to the place she was supposed to meet the fake Felix.

"Hey, Brother!"

"Oh, you are finally here. I found something. Take a look at this." said the person who was faking being the Prince.

"What is this?

"It's the key of the vault of Sabio Second. He's probably the main culprit here so I assume that the key would be handy."

"Where did you get it?"

"I joined with the culprit. It's not real of course. Tonight I'll break into the vault. Not by myself. My bat form is white after all. It would be the best if you went there."

"Sure. Now leave it to me. It's already dark now. I will go there when it's 12 at night."

"Woah, that was fast. Alright then. take this. *cough* *cough*"

"Brother, are you alright?"

"Yes I am alright. Go now. *cough* *cough*"

Fedyenka left from the place. She could see the bushes moving. At the moment she knew that it must be a careless person with another kind of cloak. She kept in mind to inform Martina about these later. She went back to her room and laid on the bed and said,

"It was a long day. Gotta take a shower."

She went to the bathroom. The bathroom was exquisitely designed. Some of the parts even looked like mechanisms. She touched the and moved them but nothing happened. Then she got out of the bathroom and somehow slipped and smashed the mirror in the room. The moment she smashed the mirror, she was hurt by the broken glasses. She was frightened by it but not more than what she could see.