Chapter 289: Sacrifice

Pearlford Town.

Oswald and Rachel entered the rural town and started gathering information about Dreamforce Lair.

They asked many local hunters about the ruin for the next two hours and soon realized that place was dangerous to explore.

To their surprise, they also learned that a group of [Historian] Class Mystics explored the Dreamforce Lair ruin during the past few years and excavated a dozen of artifacts and precious gems.

"Is this the right place?" Rachel asked as they entered a bar.

Meanwhile, Oswald nodded his head and looked around.

At that moment, he overheard a talk about a rare artifact and stopped his footsteps.

"It seems we are in the right place." He spoke in a calm voice, shifted his gaze towards a group of 3 people, and went towards them.

Currently, they were seated in front of the wooden square table and seemed to be in the middle of arguing their loots.

One was a 30-year-old blonde-haired woman, while the other two were men in their late thirties.

While they were arguing, the black-haired woman noticed someone's gaze from behind and stopped talking.

She stood up from her seat, turned around, stared at him for a moment, and asked.

"Who are you?"

Meanwhile, Oswald arrived near the table, took out a pouch of gold coins, tossed it on the wooden table, and spoke while releasing a bit of his wisdom power.

"I want you guys to take us near the Dreamforce Lair. There are a total of 250 gold coins in this pouch."

Upon hearing his words, the black-haired woman sized him up and down and shook her head.

"You can go and look for some reckless hunters to do this job, Mr. Mage. Going towards the Dreamforce Lair is akin to playing with fire."

At that moment, Rachel also took out another pouch and placed it on the table.

The next second, the black-haired woman took the pouch, opened it, and nodded her head with a smile.

"300 gold coins, it's not a bad job. Playing with fire is bad for those immature hunters. For experienced Explorers like us, it is a great pleasure."

Saying so, she went towards the nearby table, took two chairs from there, and placed them near to their table.

"Please sit down." She added.

Oswald and Rachel were surprised by the woman's words and sat down before introducing themselves with their fake names.

"I'm Faith. These two are Harris and Jett." She said in a calm tone.

Then, Faith asked about their purpose, their native, their strength, and so on.

After some discussion, she nodded her head in understanding and spoke in a firm tone.

"We will only take you to the ruin's outer region. But you have to listen to my every word."

After a few minutes of discussion, a group of five people walked out of the bar, moved towards the Pearlfort town, and soon left the town.

Just after they left the town, a silver-haired woman walked out of the town and followed them stealthily.

She was none other than Bella Collins!

...

Old Mansion, Rodsley Street, Nobles' District.

It was around 5 P.M.

Jessie and Destiny Lady sat in the reception hall and wore a solemn look on their faces.

"There is still no response." Destiny Lady looked at the ceiling and touched the communication ring in her hand.

After a few seconds, she shook her head and added.

"The connection seems to have been blocked by some strange power."

Jessie wasn't surprised by her answer at all.

"They must have entered the ruin without knowing. Is there a way to help them?" She asked.

Meanwhile, Destiny Lady shook her head and spoke.

"They are powerful Rank-4 Mages and must have considerable experience in these types of dangerous situations. As long as they didn't meet any Rank-5 Existence, they will be alright." She paused for a moment and added.

"But we should worry about ourselves."

Jessie widened her eyes for a moment and nodded before standing up from her seat.

"I'll pay close attention to our surroundings."

Saying so, she moved towards the second floor, leaving Destiny Lady in the hall...

The next day, Churches announced the exact date and time of the coronation ceremony to the masses and even dispatched a squad of Royal Knights to guard the old mansion.

Although hundreds of Knights arrived at the old mansion to protect them, Jessie and others felt no safety at all.

In truth, Jessie and others sensed that they were under house arrest!

If not for Destiny Lady's presence, they might have been scared to walk out of the mansion.

For the next few days, the old mansion was busting with full of life.

No, it wasn't just the old mansion. The whole city was filled with full of life.

Citizens came from all parts of the kingdom like the rural villages, towns, and other cities to see the coronation ceremony!

Just after 3 hours of the announcement, Inns and Hotels got reserved!

Thankfully, quite a few nobles came out voluntarily and made their private properties into accommodations!

Among them, almost all of them were Rhea's faction members!

It caused commotion everywhere.

The Nobles not only arranged food and accommodations for citizens, but they also send their Mystics to tighten the security in all streets!

Then, they also took in-charge of the coronation ceremony rituals and began to proceed.

They laid out a large stage at the Royal Palace's entrance, invited artisans to do the decorative works, arranged workers to clean the street roads, sending invitations to the nearby kingdoms' monarchs, and so on.

Meanwhile, the other Nobles, Churches' representatives, merchants, and even a few mages visited the old mansion multiple times, showed respect to Rhea, and even presented gifts.

...

3rd January, Year 6401 Second Arcane Era.

Misty Woods, Duke Foster's territory, Iron Kingdom.

It was around 6 A.M,

Deep in the Misty woods, a thirty-year-old-looking man sat on the ground and stared at the sky in silence.

He had black hair, grey eyes, and his face appeared ageless.

He was none other than Omen!

It's been more than six days since Emilia entered Dream World to capture Ivy, but there was no sign of her return!

'Did something happen?' He frowned.

Just as he was about to retract his gaze, he saw a small spatial crack appeared in the sky and stood up in a hurry.

Then, the crack began to expand and soon formed into a bluish vortex!

A moment later, a streak of light came out from it and formed into a figure of an old woman in her late 60s.

Her face was filled with full of wrinkles and appeared pale.

She had greyish white hair, black eyes and wore a torn robe.

She held a unique silver pocket watch in her hand, looked around the surroundings, and soon zeroed her gaze on Omen.

Upon seeing her current appearance, Omen's eyes were filled with shock and disbelief!

On the other hand, Emilia disappeared from the sky, reappeared in front of him, and asked.

"How many days have passed?"

Omen soon woke up from the shock and responded in a hurry.

"It's been more than 6 days, Divine One. Tomorrow is the official coronation ceremony. But the Churches might have started the rituals."

Emilia nodded her head and sighed.

"That artifact is too crafty. If I didn't have the 'Star Watch', I wouldn't have managed to escape the Nightmare Loop spell in time. Although I didn't manage to capture it, I cast a chaos spell and banished it into a faraway Plane. It would take more than a year for it to return."

Saying so, she looked at the sky and spoke.

"Follow the plan and take care of 'Jessie' before the start of the official ceremony. If she survives, she might pose a great threat to our plan."

"Yes, Divine One. Then, what about Charles and the Holem's Crown?" Omen asked.

"Don't worry about them." Emilia smiled lightly, waved her wrinkled hand, and closed her eyes.

A moment later, she opened her eyes and looked at her own wrinkled hands.

For a second, her whole body went stiff.

She hurriedly took out a mirror from her space ring, stared at her wrinkled face, and touched it with her right hand.

"I-I aged a lot." She muttered in a hoarse voice.

At that moment, flashes of images appeared in her mind one by one and induced her inner emotions!

'Why am I following this guy? What happened to Andrew? H-How did I turn into an old woman?' Her eyes widened.

Simultaneously, tears started to appear from the corner of her eyes.

'Someone is manipulating my mind!' She subconsciously glanced at Omen and moved her hand.

Just as she was about to touch him, Omen took a step backward, stared into her eyes, and spoke.

"You are a sacrifice, Lady Emilia. You shouldn't think of retaliating."

Upon hearing his divine-like words, Emilia instantly stopped thinking and nodded her head with a half-hesitant face.

"Let's go back to the capital."

Saying so, she started walking towards the eastern direction.