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”Miralen!” Karna greeted happily and scooped the Dark Elf girl into a surprise hug. She had snuck up on her and Siegfried as the two had been talking about something in the Academy gardens. Siegfried had seen her approach but had managed to keep his expression neutral.

"Kyaah! Karna? Put me down! Unhand me, you scoundrel!" Miralen's surprise turned into relief and a joking tone quickly.

"Oh, hey to you too Sieg," Karna added as if an afterthought, just to rile him up.

“Yeah, I can feel the fair and equal love.” Siegfried dutifully acted as if he’d been hurt by her words.

The trio exchanged quick greetings and gave a rough synopsis of what had happened to them since the accident. “Did Shaheera say anything?” Karna asked when she learned that he had stayed in the Aegean Empire.

“What do you mean exactly? He said many things.” Miralen was a little confused by the question.

“I mean, did he explain why he had to stay behind. Yes, I know he made a deal, but why did Ashanti even bother asking for a deal like that? And is Shaheera ok with all this? Do we need to mount a rescue or something? That sort of thing.” Karna explained.

“Ah, apparently there’s a program where the most promising highborn Leonid in the empire are trained in a group by Ashanti and other notable high-ranking Leonid. Those that show special promise get further training by Ashanti in particular and can rise to a rather prominent position in the empire. Shaheera was something of a special case when he voluntarily came to the Academy. On one hand, he was the perfect exchange student, but on the other, it became a little awkward when he started to really shine in the Academy. It’s not polite to outshine the teachings of the Leonid bigwigs apparently. Shaheera also mentioned that there's some kind of agreement between his family and Ashanti’s. He said something about a marriage agreement, but apparently that agreement is not exactly binding. The Leonid aren’t really big on that sort of deal. Very progressive of them actually.” Miralen shared what she had managed to learn. As she herself had some trouble with arranged marriages, she actually appreciated that the Leonid didn’t seem keen on forcing the issue.

Sieg picked up the explanation from there. "Anyway, Shaheera doesn't need a rescue. He made a deal. Under duress yes, but as you know, he's a man of his word. He also told me that this is a good opportunity for him. He still plans on graduating from the Academy as well, but for now, he's staying in the empire. With him having roused Ashanti's interest, he could learn a lot. Usually, the great marshal of the Aegean Empire doesn't have much extra time to teach pupils.”

“I’m getting the sense that despite his reputation and supposed behavior, Ashanti is really fond of win-win deals. This isn’t the first time he’s agreed to one or proposed one.” Karna observed. Arjuna had told her about the peace deal over the territories of the Holy Kingdom. Even then Ashanti had agreed to a deal that was a bit too good for everyone when he clearly could've negotiated for a better one despite the situation.

"That's…not a bad observation," Siegfried said with a frown. Most people would've missed a detail like that because of the way Ashanti acted. He suspected there was some greater purpose to Ashanti’s deals, and not without reason.

“Forget that, I brought you a present.” Miralen pulled out an ornately decorated pillow that had Leonid mane-hair circling the outer edge. It was clearly something made in the Aegean Empire. “I’ll give it to you if you promise not to disappear on us straight away. With Travan back with his family and Shaheera in the empire, things around here are not the same.”

Karna snapped the pillow up and hugged it to her chest with lightning-quick hands. "Well, I suppose I could agree to stick around for a short time at least." She didn't bother mentioning that she planned on using this opportunity where the Emissary was busy elsewhere to spend some time with her family and the Academy, although she’d likely do some heavy cultivating as well. “Travan went back home?”

“Oh? You’re interested in his goings?” Miralen asked with a teasing voice.

“You literally just told me he went to his family. I thought it polite to at least ask for some details.” Karna wasn’t flustered though. She knew Miralen was only trying to get a rise out of her.

“Bleh, you’re no fun. To answer your question, yes. Travan went back home to bring home the news about what the Queen told him. He hasn’t been back since. Apparently, he might not come back at all. I heard something about him staying back and helping his family move on. Don’t know how reliable those rumors are though.” Miralen speculated. The school rumor-mill could be very effective, but reliability was always an issue.

“Well, I suppose we should at least celebrate our safe return. We can’t really say we’ve all returned until we get Mayumi back though.” Karna stated with firm determination.

---------

Once again Marius was not pleased. As so often happened, he had been recalled from a mission that had been going perfectly just to deal with someone else’s mess. This time though, he had to admit the mess wasn’t entirely due to incompetence. Besides, he was being sent to clean up the mess of the Royal Family, so he certainly wouldn’t voice his discontent. He was currently being briefed by one of the more powerful members of that family, Kurnous.

“So, if I understood correctly, my mission is to find the being that tapped into the powers of the Divinity of the Sacred Lady? And then what?” He asked in confirmation, as Kurnous had been rather unclear with his instructions.

The elder God of the Hunt frowned a bit in displeasure. He had expected Marius to be a bit quicker on the uptake. “I was hoping there would be no need to spell things out. That being is to be killed as soon as you find them.”

Marius shook his head. He’d understood. He just hoped he’d been wrong. “I suspected that was what you were aiming for. The answer is no.”

“No?” Kurnous was not used to hearing that response.

“No. As far as I am aware, this being has broken no laws. I am not an assassin sent to do the dirty work of the gods.” Marius held on to his principles. He was a problem solver, and he wasn’t too picky about his methods, but he also served the gods of justice and law. There were some lines he didn’t want to cross without a really good reason.

“You do not understand the danger this being presents.” Kurnous leaned forwards menacingly, but Marius didn’t back away.

“That may be, but being a potential danger is not a crime. Dangerous to who? And why? And until you have proof of a crime worthy of execution, the law of the Divines still applies. Even if you are a member of the Royal Family, that doesn't give you the right to just execute people without a trial or a good reason. You know as well as I do that once you start going down that path, the other large powers will have to react. I’m fairly certain both Shiva and Themis will see things my way.” He was quite comfortable with his convictions.

“Considering your actions until now, I did not realize you had such scruples.” Kurnous pointed out his past. He was certain that Marius was right. Shiva was one of the few gods that had lived long enough to have met the Sacred Lady. The God both feared and respected The Goddess of Mercy.

“I do what I must in the service of justice, and those that I have killed have all committed crimes worthy of the punishment I've meted out. I have something I believe in, and sometimes you have to do evil for a better world. However, there’s a line. A line we must not cross lest we become what we’re fighting against.” Marius knew the Gods and the Blessed Children occasionally killed each other in the struggle for power, but he would not take part unless the target was a convicted criminal. And he certainly wouldn’t assassinate someone who wasn’t even an immortal yet.

“Then just find the being in question. We will deal with the matter from there.” Kurnous said simply.

Marius nodded and left but had no intention of simply complying. If he found the person and simply turned them over to Kurnous and his lackeys, then he might as well kill that being himself. He’d at least make it painless. He needed to talk with his master to figure out what to do. As he wandered out of the opulent and glamorous temple, he found himself in a forest. That such a huge building had been placed in such a place was only due to Kurnous’ nature as the God of the Hunt.

‘That reminds me. Considering his Divinity, he likely has servants capable of tracking down people, which makes it a little odd he'd pick me.' He frowned as his suspicions were raised. Maybe the being that had tapped into Sacred Lady's Divinity was more dangerous than he'd thought.

Most of the realms controlled by the gods reflected their Divinity, and they could change drastically according to who controlled the area, and who was trying to enter it. Most realms of the gods in the Divine Plane were both infinitely close and infinitely far from each other, so Marius was not surprised to find himself ejected from Kurnous’ realm as soon as he took a single step, finding himself on a shining gold bridge that connected the separate realms. There were hazy indistinct shapes around him, reminding him that wandering around this area without a firm destination in mind could be dangerous.

With another step, he reached the realm of Shiva, the primary god he served. He stood inside a rather simple temple with little decorations. Shiva was a god with many aspects, and that was reflected in his temples. There were some that were fantastically opulent, while others could be simple shrines made of nothing but sticks and stones. As one of the primary gods overseeing and enacting justice, he was constantly presiding over countless issues in just as many courtrooms and temples like this one. One of the aspects of his Divinity allowed him to exist in all those places at the same time. He was always busy, but at the same time, he also had time for each case.

“Marius. I sensed your need to discuss matters with me.” The god that had taken the form of a simple monk this time prompted.

---------

The first thing Marius had done after Descending on the Higher Planes a second time within a decade, was to seek out the person with proper knowledge pertaining to his mission, Prince Tethrine Asuryan. As the only real witness to the events, he was an important source of information. The meeting had been cordial, although it had become rather clear the Prince didn’t like the fact that Marius had been sent. Marius’ own admittance that he’d rather not be here stepping on the Prince’s toes either had been rather well-received. Marius also had to admit that the prince was not stupid, as he’d provided him with something he had not expected, but that would help him immensely.

One of the more complicated mind spells that could be cast was able to produce a copy of the memories someone had of a particular event. That copy could then be viewed by others. Marius had been about to suggest casting the spell but didn't have the chance before the Prince gave him an orb containing his memories of the events that day. Tethrine had also produced the memory only a couple of days after the events, which made things much easier as time made most memories unreliable at best. Even someone with a well-trained and structured mind like the Prince would have their memories decay and get embellished rather quickly.

When Marius walked through the memories, it was like he was inside an illusion. It was a little odd to view the memories of powerful people, as their senses caught many details they weren't even quite aware of, but those details were often hazy and hard to interpret. For example, the prince couldn't see what happened behind him, but his senses could tell him a lot, and his mind filled in the blanks. Those details were even less reliable than other parts, so going through the memories of a person was always an exercise in judgment.

He had viewed the memories a dozen times, and it wasn't until this last time that he finally found what he had been looking for. It was no surprise that the Prince had missed it while he had been in the situation. There were several things that stood out from the memories even on the first viewing. The most obvious was the power that had obliterated the curse. A surge of power that not only removed a curse that spanned almost an entire continent, actively maintained by the demons no less, and on top of that curing those affected was not something a mortal could accomplish. Power at that level could only be used by someone at the rank of a Silver Immortal at least. Unless they were borrowing someone else's power of course, like the power of a Deity.

The second detail that jumped out was the presence of the Alpyran woman the prince knew to be rank nine. Most people would focus on her, but Tethrine had questioned her and had deemed her to not know anything. Despite everything, Marius had quite a bit of faith in Tethrine's judgment when it came to those kinds of things. He'd likely want to question the woman at some point just in case, but for now, she could be dismissed as a suspect and a source of information. That's why he'd spent hours going through the memory with extreme precision.

What finally gave him the breakthrough he needed was the collar worn by a tiny blueish-white kitten. The collar was rather elaborate for such a small cat and had drawn his eye. The design had stirred his memories. He had to dig deep to recall why, but finally, he remembered something that he'd been taught long ago by Shiva. As he and other investigators like him had gone through thorough training, they had been taught about spirits that would allow someone to fool the senses of others. The collar looked exactly like one of those spirits, a rather high-ranking one at that. The spirit would hide the magical nature and aura of anyone wearing the collar, for a time. The more powerful the person wearing the collar, the faster they’d become extremely nauseous, as if suffering a sort of poisoning from the aura and magic that was not allowed to leak outside. Despite the side-effects, the spirit was very powerful as it could hide someone almost completely.

That discovery had caused him to pay a lot more attention to the cat. It didn’t seem to act in any way that was strange, which was why Tethrine hadn’t paid any attention to the creature. It had disappeared at some point, but that alone wasn’t enough to raise any warning bells. The presence of a collar that looked just like the spirit could be a coincidence, but Marius didn’t trust in coincidences.

The second sign that something wasn’t quite as it seemed was the girl holding the cat initially. When Tethrine had raised his voice to demand information from the gathered people, the girl had flinched. Now that wasn’t too odd. Tethrine was an immortal and hadn’t hidden his presence completely. Him showing any agitation was easily enough to make someone like the girl react with fear, even if there was no reason to be afraid. That's why Tethrine hadn't picked up on it either, despite being specialized in detecting such reactions. The girl had reacted as she should. But she had also made a glance towards the cat in her hands just before it had disappeared. That too wasn't anything odd considering the situation but combined with the possible presence of the spirit it raised some questions. Maybe the girl knew more than she let on? Marius would need to find out. Assuming he could still find her. If the girl still had the cat, then there would be no problem. If she didn’t? Well, then Marius would need to find out more about the elusive feline.

Tracking the girl down took a couple of hours as the city was still a mess even after all this time, but the priestesses at the temple of the Sacred Lady were able to direct him to the right house eventually. A Rabbit-tribe woman that he barely recognized from the memory answered the door. She had recovered a lot and looked a lot healthier now. “What can I do for you immortal?” The woman knelt and bowed down deep.

“Oh, I’m here just to look into the miracle that happened at the temple. You were one of the people most affected and your daughter is one of those that might be able to shed some light on the matter. You are not in any trouble, I assure you, but I want to ask your daughter a couple of questions.” Marius said with a gentle voice that he knew would produce more results than threats.

“You want to ask Kani questions?” The woman questioned incredulously. “I mean, of course you can, but I doubt she’d be able to tell you anything. It was a miracle by the Sacred Lady after all.”

Despite her words, the woman allowed him inside and shouted out to call for her daughter. It seemed like there was no father present. The tiny bunny-girl bounced out from a side room with a careful smile. “Kani, this immortal is here to ask a couple of questions. Be a good girl and answer them if you can.” The mother instructed the girl.

From a single glance, it was obvious the girl knew something, just by judging her expression. "I see you already know what this is about," Marius stated with a warm smile. "You don't have a cat do you?"

“No, she doesn’t have a pet. We can’t afford to keep one.” The mother seemed confused.

“Mother.” The girl hugged the woman and hid her face.

“Ma’am. With your permission, I’d like to cast a spell that will allow me to copy your daughter’s memories of the event. That will make things easier and we don’t have to ask any questions she doesn’t want to answer.

Once he acquired the memory, he barely managed to wait until reaching the nearby alley before delving in. The memory was tainted by time and there was a lot of embellishment after the fact. There was only one thing that Marius could pick up from the memory as the truth and that was the appearance of the girl that was likely responsible for the miracle, and that was because the girl didn’t need any embellishment. It only took him a fraction of a second to recognize her appearance and the obvious implications.

'Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUUUCK!' He cursed in his mind. Things had just become infinitely more complicated. Without any hesitation, he crushed the memory in his hand and pulled out the memory produced by the Prince to do the same.

He stood still for a few seconds and knew this was not enough. With a heavy heart he turned back towards the house he'd just left. He'd have to make sure the girl's memories of the event would be gone completely. He hated to do such things to kids. He'd have to wipe the mother's memories of his visit as well…