CHAPTER 48- Movements Everywhere (2)

In a large room that almost looked like the throne room of a palace, a lot of people were standing and staring at a young woman and man kneeling in front of them.

The whole room was almost completely white and even the people standing in the room wore long robes made of white and golden materials.

The mere sight of the room emitted a holy and pure feeling that made anyone with an evil heart think twice about entering.

Looking at the two people kneeling in front of them, one of the men who was standing declared.

"Young priest in training, Caedric has been selected to visit the elven kingdom because of their request for assistance. I hope you know your duties…"

The young man of about eighteen or nineteen kept kneeling in silence.

He knew his duties very well.

The Elven Empire had requested a help from their Holy Twilight Empire.

Apparently an unknown group had somehow made its appearance along with two SS ranked slavers and started capturing and torturing elves here and there.

No matter how they tried, they couldn't catch the evildoers.

Thus, the queen of the elves requested them for their help in return for listening to their requests for a year.

Caedric was a priest in training and this was his third and last mission outside the empire.

'I just have to do some minor scouting and find out who is responsible. If I cannot, the empire will send in official priests for the job… nothing dangerous…'

Every priest and priestess in training was appointed missions after they became eighteen.

Successfully completing three missions outside would make them an official priest or priestess, albeit a junior one.

Then they would have to rake in accomplishments and praises from the common people to grow in rank and become a senior or even higher.

Caedric was visibly excited as this was his last mission as a priest in training. If he successfully completed this, which he was confident in, he would become an official priest.

This time a woman with an elderly voice declared.

"Young priestess in training, Ellaine has been selected to visit the Celestial Empire and assess the new king. I hope you know your duties as well…"

The woman who was kneeling, Ellaine appeared to be the same age around Caedric.

She too kept kneeling in silence.

According to their rules, silence was acceptance.

This was her second mission outside.

She just had to visit the empire as an envoy, use her skill on the new king and report back to the empire.

Her job was even easier than Caedric and she wanted to complain at first, but after listening to the senior priests who mentioned that her job was far more important than the other, she was consoled.

Seeing both the young people kneel in silence and accepting their duties, the others standing nodded their head in acceptance and after saying a few more words slowly left, leaving them alone.

"Alright, Ellanie, I'll be leaving now, be careful with your task!"

Ellaine rolled her eyes at Caedric as she replied.

"I'll leave tomorrow and my task doesn't have any danger at all. It's you who should be careful."

"Alright, thanks… then how about we…"

"Alright, bye."

Without letting Caedric finish his words, she left the room humming a tune.

The young boy looked at her leaving and shook his head.

Ha had a crush on her since forever but could never speak about it. They had to make vows of chastity after all. They could never enter in any relations once they became priests or priestesses.

"It's fine this way. At least we can remain friends…"

Trying to console himself, he left slowly… his destination the Elven Kingdom.

Ellaine on the other hand went to their library frying to read and know more about the Celestial Empire.

Even though she was a bit picky sometimes, when it came to doing her job she took it extremely seriously. She was a devout follower of justice and would even protest against some priests, who were higher than her in rank if she felt they were committing anything unjust.

As a result she was quite disliked by a lot of people.

But she didn't mind. As long as she could keep doing justice, she knew she would be rewarded.

While humming a tune, she opened a book with a title… "The Silver Hairs, The Unique Royals" and began reading.

*****************************************

In the North, the Duke Ono Kazuo was sitting on a chair, opposite to a person who was blatantly using a disguise artifact.

This person also claimed to know something about his wife's condition.

He had already fixed a deal with the oracle, but he didn't want to take any chances.

His wife, Nadya stood behind him, listening to their conversation.

"So you know what is affecting the duchess?"

"Yes… after all it isn't a natural condition. It was a spell… a slumber spell to be exact…"

Kazuo was surprised that he arrived at the same conclusion as the Oracle, but didn't let it show.

"So?"

"Didn't an oracle just visit you? If I were you, I wouldn't go with whatever he filled your ears with…"

Kazuo was getting more and more apprehensive of the man but kept on a calm and cold expression.

"Who did you hear that from?"

"That's not important. However, you should listen to me if you value the life of the duche-"

However before he could even speak further, an explosively cold and murderous aura burst forth and catapulted the man away from the chair.

*BAM*

With a loud noise he was flung away where he hit the wall and immediately started coughing blood.

"You! How dare you threaten me!"

The man who was suddenly flung away became angry within a split second.

"You? What 'you'? The man who cast the spell is connected to me! If anything happens to me, he will strengthen the spell and kill her within a second!"

Kazuo was fuming with anger but as hard as it was he tried to control it and listened to what he had to say.

"We have your beloved wife's life in our hands! The moment you go against us, she dies."

After a few seconds of silence, Kazuo slowly spoke.

"What do you want?"

"Simple… kill the prince during the coronation ceremony."

The moment the words were spoken, Kazuo frowned and his anger started boiling again.

The two things that he valued most were loyalty and his family.

Now, he had to choose among one of them.

He was about to refute him and somehow find the oracle for help, when he felt a hand on his shioulder.

Looking back he could see his wife Nadya looking at him with sad eyes.

"Dear, please… please just don't let Yei die…"

Kazuo felt helpless.

For the first time, even after being so powerful he felt helpless.

Not being able to let himself see the sad expression on his wife, he finally relented.

"Fine…"

After about another hour of discussion, the man left the mansion satisfied.

Immediately he called Number 1 to inform him of the good news and how Number 3 had perfectly assisted him.

Number 1 who was slowly getting pessimistic about their plan finally saw a glimmer of hope and rejoiced.

"Number 3 has not disappointed! Vice-leader will be real happy!"

However at this moment, in the Duke's mansion, Nadya's sad face was gone and she was looking at the Duke with a serious expression.

"That man was extremely suspicious… I will start investigating him…"

Kazuo was staring at his wife's antics with his jaws opened.

"But you just…"

"It was an act. I don't think a slumber spell can be affected that way… Yei's life is in no danger. We should just listen to the oracle and I will look into the man who cast that spell on Yei…"

The Duke was about to say something, but Nadya looked at him with eyes filled with emotions as she spoke.

"Please. I am as angry as you at the person who dared to hurt Yei like this. Please let me do the job of finding out who it was. Right now, Yei needs you more than anything. You should just do what you can to cure her. I will handle this matter."

And seeing the Duke conflicted, Ray who was currently connected to Nadya's senses gave her an instruction which made her confused but she complied.

Following Ray's instruction, she looked down and just said one line.

"Or could it be that you don't true me anymore…"

The Duke's dismayed expression made a sudden turn and grew determined.

"Not at all. I'll do exactly what you said. You should try to find that bastard. The moment you do, inform me. We can punish him together!"

With that, he left for Yei's room.

Nadya was surprised to see that he was convinced so easily.

Ray however was laughing internally once again.

'The pity trick always works…'

*****************************************

However unlike how multiple huge movements were taking place everywhere, other places were much more relaxed.

In the South, the young Duke Barion Krones and his wife Tserina were cuddling together, planning what gift they should give the prince at the ceremony.

In the mage guild, Ambrosia was setting up more magic circles to enhance the security of the event further. She missed her sister and her nephew. Most of the things had to be supervised by her because she didn't trust others. Her workload was massive and she couldn't visit the palace to meet her family.

However, she knew after the coronation, both her and Isis would have a lot of free time to spend together. Thinking about this, she was once again filled with energy and kept working.

In the maid's quarters, Ray's childhood friend Rachel and head maid Adrianna were giggling and giving out instructions to others about how the palace should be decorated.

Unknowingly, Adrianna who had been working at the palace for the longest time knew about the prince's likings and Rachel being who she was knew Ray better than most others.

These two had strangely connected and were now happily instructing others. Despite the age gap they found a lot of topics to talk and laugh about amidst their work.

And well, most of these topics, as one would have imagined, included Ray.

In a dark room, Claire was sleeping peacefully. There had been no instructions from her master Ray that day and she kept listening to what Number 1 told her. She had a lot to do on the coronation day as well.

In the throne room, Isis was sitting and for the first time ever, listening intently to the people's troubles and making helpful suggestions.

There was a sweet smile on her face that infatuated and stunned most of the people who came to greet her, but knowing it was their queen, they immediately let the feeling escape.

Isis wanted to immerse herself in being the queen for the last two days. Who knew that she would one day find the feeling of being a ruler nostalgic? For the longest time she had hated this position, but when it was time to let it go, she did feel quite sad, but her happiness far exceeded her sadness and put her in an overall joyous mood.

Her son was finally going to be an emperor, and what made her smile more was the fact that she was closer to her son that ever before.

Thinking of the events that had transpired, she didn't want to escape them anymore, however a dreamy expression appeared on her face as she once again forgot to pay attention to the person kneeling before her and stating his problems.

In the West...well, no one knew what was going on in the West. The duchess Valindra was a mystery.

And lastly how could anyone forget old Man Wilfred, the one who loved magic research.

He was sitting on a desk intensely reading a book with a serious expression.

The mages around him all murmured and praised him as they looked at the cover of the book filled with weird looking glyphs and magic circles which they knew no meaning of.

However, if Ray ever used appraisal on this item, it would appear something like this.

[Hardbound Book: 'Best jokes to lighten up a tense situation Vol. 26— Freeman]

As everyone kept doing what they wanted, time slowly passed...the night arrived and for the first time after getting his system Ray slept completely, without letting his soul wander.

...

A new day arrived.

Ray woke up slowly as he yawned.

'So, the big event is tomorrow...'