178 Chapter 178

Athy jumped down from Loki's arms and ran forward, making me and the others run after her. When we turned at a corner, I could hear voices whispering and saw light coming from a distance.

'Father!' I thought and ran faster.

Reaching where the light originated, I saw the missing nobles and knights clumped together in a wider part of this cave. Athy ran directly to our father and jumped in his arms.

"Pa!" I called and ran towards him.

It was quite easy to spot our father and our knights in this group since they were wearing black armor. The others were wearing silver, the only way to know which is which is by their insignia.

"Is any of you injured?" Was my first question, when I reached them.

"No, my lady." Haktor replied, his face was a little shocked and so were the other knights.

"Good." I nodded but then frowned at their facial expression. "What?"

"Oh! It's nothing, my lady." Haktor smiled awkwardly. "I was just surprised that you asked for everyone's well-being first."

"What's so surprising about it?" I asked, confused.

"A noble would usually ask for their family member's well-being before anyone else's." Haktor answered with a shrug.

"And all of you are part of our family, so isn't it correct to ask for everyone of you if you are all okay?" I asked feeling very confused.

Haktor and everyone else looked stupefied at my answer then embarrassed. They started smiling like fools and scratching their heads with silly smiles.

Everyone who bears the Castellan insignia is a part of our family and we have to take care of our family. I think of them like older cousins, aunts or uncles. They were like our extended family.

"Haktor, since when have you guys been in here?" I asked, changing the topic.

"Roughly a few hours after the second explosion, my lady." He answered after thinking.

"What exactly happened? How did you get in here? How did yoi end up with this many people?" I asked consecutively as I looked around.

"It's a long story, would my lady like to sit and listen?" Haktor said as a knight used his ability to create chairs made from earth for us to sit on.

"Okay." I nodded and sat on one of the chairs.

"Well, to start off, we were walking on the mountain when the first explosion happened." Haktor started. "We did not notice anything unusual at first but after a few hours, Sir Ajax felt that something was off. You know how accurate your butlers's instincts are? So we took precautions and scoured the surroundings to check for anything unusual."

I nodded and at the same time, Athy came and sit to listen.

"We found dead animals around us, but what was weird was that those animals seemed to have just died out of nowhere. They just dropped dead while doing what they were doing." Haktor tried to explain. "We found it odd but we still continued to move forward. After some time, we heard the first explosion and saw the black smoke."

He took a deep breath and continued.

"At first, His grace wanted to check it and see if anyone was fighting or injured. One of oir knights recognised the smell that was floating with the wind. He warned us that it was how the smell of necromancers are described but we were sceptical. Fortunately, Sir Ajax was able to change His grace's mind as we were on our way to the site."

I glanced at the stoic looking butler. His instincts are really top notch.

"It was really weird that the black smoke did not stop nor did it dissipate in the wind. It was then we noticed that it was no ordinary smoke, and that was no ordinary explosion. We went back where we came from and away from the smoke which was giving us a bad feeling. That was when we heard the second explosion."

"We tried going back to the camps but before we could even go halfway, we met it."

"Who?" Athy asked as if she was listening to a fairy tale.

"Not 'who'.." Father shook his head.

"'What' should be the correct question." Marionne corrected.

"What did you meet?" I asked, curious at the built up tension.

"The necromancer and his dead men." Haktor answered.

"What?!" I exclaimed.

"They were fighting with them." Haktor pointed at the knights with Felix Salvatore's father.

"The Salvatore knights?" I asked and he nodded.

"They were outnumbered. Though the enemy was weak and mindless, their numbers could still easily make up for it. Add that they are harder to kill without destroying their heads, they were fighting a tough fight." Haktor said in a non-bragging way.

"So you chose to fight with them?" I concluded.

"Yes. Well, to be exact, His grace joined in on the fight and we can do nothing else but to follow him." Haktor scratched his head awkwardly while I gave my father a stinky eye.

"And how were you able to get away from the necromancer and hide here?" I asked him.

"Well, Sir Sebastiene came and fought with the necromancer. He suddenly created a barrier that trapped the dead men inside and pushed us out. He said we should find a place to hide and treat the wounded until he comes to find us." Haktor answered with a shrug.

"So you are telling me that my butler is currently battling a necromancer by himself all this time?" I stood up and glared at him.

"Well, he said not to disturb him and there were many men who were injured." Haktor tried to explain their side. "And we were pushed out by the barrier, we can only follow his orders and treat the injured while protecting the Archduke."

"Where are they?" I asked trying hard not to get mad at them for leaving Seb alone.

"We left them near an arrow looking boulder south-west of the entrance to this cave." Sir Ajax answered with a stiff, unfeeling voice.

I stood up.

I need to go help that idiot.