An uncomfortable silence followed the 'bomb' that Number 3 dropped on both boys. Both of them stared at each other with a mixture of disbelief and stubbornness.

"W-Who are you people?! And you!" The silver-haired boy who already fell down to the ground pointed at Number 3. "How do you know me? Why do you have one of our family artifacts! TELL ME!"

As he became increasingly more agitated, he was already back on his two feet. Pointing at Aiden, he continued. As his mind and heart were now in chaos, his voice carried this chaotic undertone of mixed emotions. His tone was fluctuating.

"A-And t-this boy… How can such a weak, scrawny nobody, carry such an explosive strength? W-who are you people?" He repeated his earlier question.

Meanwhile, Granny, who arrived in the meantime, walked to the silver-haired kid, and placed her wrinkled right hand on his shoulder, gently caressing, massaging it. Warm invisible strands of calming energy entered the boy's body through that point of contact, untangling the chaotic emotions that were already wrapped around his agitated heart.

A good ten seconds passed in silence as she continued to calm the silver-haired boy before she spoke.

"Calm down, dearie, we are not bad people, and from what we've seen and heard so far, you don't seem to be one either. Let's just all take a step back, and talk, like civilized people, okay?"

She was facing Aiden, directing her words to both of them. She also slightly increased her grip on the boy's tired shoulders, sending a warning to him as well.

As expected, both boys replied with unison. While Aiden's voice didn't fluctuate and was emotionless, Drake was frightened.

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Yes, Granny!"

"Great! Let's go back to the house and talk about who you are dearie and what you want, and then who we are and what we are here for." She said, and with that, she pulled the still trapped frightened boy with her. Number 3 and Aiden silently followed behind.

Due to the house's unfurnished state, they all leaned against a section of the wall close to each other, with the exception of Granny who stood between the three.

"So, let's start with introductions." she started. "My name… well, everybody just calls me Granny, so feel free to do so yourself. That boy there is Aiden, and the last one is his master, who goes by her title, Number 3. We are here to save Aiden's sister, a blonde-haired girl who came to the city a few days ago. We came to know that she may have encountered some trouble and needs our help, so we came."

Then, looking at the silver-haired boy, she asked.

"Now it's your turn. Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

Gritting his teeth, he refused to answer and just turned his head away in stubborn defiance, with an audible "Humpf!"

"He is Draco Morth'gan de Draquilea, the current crown prince of this very kingdom." Number 3 answered the question instead of him, dropping another bomb into the conversation.

As soon as he heard his name being mentioned, Drake or Draco faced the masked woman, and with his hands balled into fists, seething with anger, he grumbled just loud enough for all of them to hear.

"I'm not the crown prince anymore, I refused that title, and I don't listen to that name either! My name is Drake Aquila, an adventurer."

"I see… So, Draco, sorry, Drake, right?" Granny continued, while removing her hood, and revealing her wrinkled but kind-looking face. "What are you doing here? Why did you spy on us?"

Refusing to answer once again, Drake was looking at the masked feminine figure leaning against the wall with her arms folded. Instead of coherent words, Drake was merely grumbling at the sight of her.

"Ah, sure, let me answer that for you as well then." Number 3 straightened up. "He was drawn to us when I used my search magic using one of the ancient artifacts. These artifacts, you see..."

As she said it, the tiny emerald eyes of the skull on her ring momentarily flashed with a green light, and in the next moment, a black crystal about 30 centimeters tall appeared hovering above her open palm. The crystal shape was basically a bundle of triangle-shaped surfaces that came together and formed an intricate object. It looked like two pyramids attached at their bottoms.

(AN: Sorry for the short interruption, but I just wanted to mention that the geometrical shape is called a scalenohedron. I probably spent an entire morning trying to find a better term for it, but in the end, there wasn't any. So, instead of using a phrase that 99% will not be able to understand, I went the roundabout way. Also, I made sure this 78 extra words will not go over the usual length of a chapter.)

"...have a special connection with each other. They can sense when another is close-by. That's how our prince, oh sorry, ADVENTURER noticed us. He probably wants to know how am I holding this crystal, right?" Number 3 looked at the stunned boy. Her tone carried a hint of smugness.

"T-t-that's…! W-why...H-h-how do you have it?!" As soon as the crystal appeared, Drake's eyes went wide and mouth agape. That was not an ordinary crystal, it was a royal family heirloom! It should still be in the treasury buried away deep, and not out in the open in the hands of a stranger.

"Let's not dwell on questions, you better not know the answer to. If I'm correct you also felt another artifact in the city earlier, right?" Number 3 changed the subject.

Although he really wanted answers to his burning questions, he still nodded his head. Still stammering due to the shock, he answered.

"Y-yes… I-I felt one earlier this day… I-in the Guild's Hall… B-before I could find out who it was, they left the building."

"They? What do you mean they?" Aiden's ears perked up at the answer. Could it be that Lily wasn't alone when she was kidnapped? Was the person she was with the cause of her misery?

The mere thoughts caused his anger to rise. Balling his fists, he looked at the silver-haired boy menacingly. The golden hue shined through the tiny eye sockets under his black mask.

"U-um, yes. I wasn't sure but just before Marf lost the signal, I saw two people walk into the guild's back area through a door. I wanted to follow along, but the attendee wasn't really helpful."

"Marf? Who is Marf?" Aiden asked confused at the mention of yet another name.

"Oh sorry!" As the conversation went on, Drake slowly calmed down. He was still on alert about these three powerful figures, he didn't feel any enmity from them. Grabbing the hilt of his sword that was now resting on his side inside the decorated sheath, he continued. "Marf is my sword. Just like the crystal that the lady is holding, Marf is also a royal artifact. In fact, he can't be wielded by anyone, only by those that he recognizes."

Looking at the crystal and Number 3, he sighed as he went on.

"*Sigh* This is actually true for every artifact I know of. That crystal… Should still be owned by my father… How can you use it?"

"I have my means. Anyways, about the third artifact…"

Turning his palm facing down the ground, the tiny emerald eyes of the skull on her ring flashed again and the crystal disappeared. Then she walked to Aiden, placing her hand gently on Aiden's head, caressing it.

"...that is also mine, but I gave it to his sister when she went to explore the city. Before you ask, it was Ikliss, the eagle amulet."

Hearing that, Drake's previously calm face contorted into anger. Grabbing the hilt of his sword, he sneered.

"How did you get your hands on my sister's amulet? WHY DO YOU HAVE IT?! WHY IS SHE A SLAVE?! ANSWER ME!"

As his anger rose, the pommel also started humming and bathed in blue light.

Number 3 who was the target of Drake's full ire didn't even bother looking at him as she answered nonchalantly.

"Do you really want to question me, boy?! Even with the full power of Marfedelom, you will not last long. Let's just calm down, okay?"

Seeing that the raging boy didn't seem to understand their difference in strength, she let out a tired sigh and waved with her left hand.

A huge invisible force hit Drake in the chest and threw him back a couple of meters before he crashed down to the ground, incapacitating him in a fraction of a second.

Walking over to him, Number 3 extended her hand towards him.

"Just calm down, we shouldn't be fighting, from what I understood we are actually aiming for the same thing. You want to find your girl, and so do we. You came to this city because you heard the news about her from the capital, right?"

Drake begrudgingly accepted the offered hand as he sat up. Looking at the ground, he was silent for a few seconds, before he eventually started talking.

"Yes. After many years of searching, I finally found a clue that she is here in this city, so I rushed here using a smuggler group's services. They then told me that my sister, who is now called the "Wild Tigress" will be having a match in some Fighting Pit tonight. We made a deal, and they should be able to get me inside the facility so I could save her!"

"Heh… Is this fate? Or destiny? No matter…" Number 3 mumbled to herself, then looking at the silver-haired boy, she patted his back. "We are also heading there, why don't we team up?"