After the incident, Lear's Mansion:

As the three of us approach the main gate, we were blocked by the guards.

Guards: "Halt! State your intention!"

Louis: "Is Master Lear inside?"

Guards: "Who are you?!"

Oh. Since I am in my usual disguise, they didn't notice that I'm the Silver Adventurer. I'm also working for a different noble, so I can't blame them. This is also my first time meeting the Lear House Head.. shall I scare them a little bit?

Before I could use a spell, someone spoke behind the guards. It was the Little Lear- Weiss' butler.

Butler: "Oh, it's rare to see you visiting, Mister Zvalle. So, what brought you here?"

This guy.. I alway felt something ominous around him. I can't act and interrogate him since most of the time, he's around my daughter's friend. But now..

Louis: "I want to talk with your master."

Butler: "Sorry, but you can't see Master right now. Please go back."

My wife starts to speak. Her voice is still trembling.

Belle: "Please, we need to see him..."

Butler: "Even if you said that.. I still can't permit it."

Permit it? Isn't your master the one should decide that? Something's wrong here.. I need to confirm it.

Louis: "Air Slash!"

If my theory is true.. then..

I used Air Slash towards the Butler. The guards were blown away by the wind, but the Butler didn't move an inch from his position, as if he didn't care.

And my suspicion is correct..

He deflected it... or I should say, he redirected it by using an item. It was a pendant that looks like.. a replica of Lowell's pendant.. or should I say.. it's the same stone. If I could recall, that Gladius brat called it 'Star Sapphire Stone'

Butler: "Oh? You noticed, Mr. Zvalle? Well, too bad. You're daughter was already transported somewhere 'Safe'. Hahaha!"

He smiled while mocking me. I can't do anything to him because he was teleporting away. By the looks of it, he was ready if this kind of thing happens. The guards are looking towards him with disbelief, as if they didn't know what's happening anymore.

Louis: "I see. So you're the one who set that up. May I know the name of this crafty bastard that I would swear to kill?"

Butler: "Ahahaha! This lowly one is called Chairon Diplar. I'm also tired of this sh*thole of a country. See you later, Silver Adventurer! Hahaha!"

Louis: "As if I'll let you have a good time!"

I used the same spell when Lowell was teleporting on him. I wish he drops dead somewhere without people.

After using the spell, he vanished from the area.

I looked towards the stupefied guards and started to ask them.

Louis: "Where is your Lord? I want to see him, now!"

Guards: "Y-Yes!"

They didn't reject my notion now that they know the graveness of the situation. All of us rushed towards the Lord's room, there.. we saw a very gruesome scene. The first one to speak is one of the guards.

Guard: "T-This is! Lord Lear!"

The Lord's body was sitting on the the chair, but his head was removed cleanly from it. The head was placed on the table, and a stilleto pierced it, pinning the head on the table.. I think the way he was killed was fast and gruesome, but I noticed that the blood was dried long ago. I looked at the other guard, who has a pale face.

Louis: "When is the last time you saw your Lord?"

Guard: "It was two weeks ago. The head butler Niscar- I mean Chairon Diplar told us that we shouldn't disturb our Lord since he's busy handling the city's affairs. He's also the one who takes care of all the needs of the lord. But to think he's the one who did this.."

It looks like he's trusted by all the staff of this mansion.. To think they didn't question his authority. He handled everything smoothly, all of us are dancing under his palm.

Louis: "When did that butler started working in this mansion?"

Guard: "H-He was employed eight years ago.. before Young Master was born. He was employed directly by the Lord so no one made a fuss about it. When Young Master is three, he was assigned as his Butler at the same time, the Head Butler of the Lear House. To think that he would betray our Lord.. this is very unexpected.."

Now, I'm starting to realize his true origins. If my guess is correct..

Louis: "Did you guys know where he came from?"

Guard: "Lord Lear told us that he's from the west. We don't know which place, though."

As I thought.. he came from that place..

Louis: "I'm going to leave. We don't have anything to do here."

I didn't notice that one of the guards alarmed the whole mansion. I need to leave before the whole place starts to panic.

Qazar: "D-Dad! Wait!"

Before I could walk away from the room, Little Qazar calls my attention. Now that I discovered that he's our King, I need to listen to all of his requests.

Louis: "What is it?"

Qazar: "Can we look for Weiss?"

Hmm.. I think I should do that. Since he's my children's friend, doing this is natural, right? It's also a request of my King, so I need to follow him.

Louis: "Okay, we'll do that. My dear wife, can you look for him?"

I grabbed my wife's shoulders. After that incident, I noticed that she's out of her usual self. Not that I can blame her for that. When I grabbed her shoulders, she snapped out and looks at me. I'm getting worried about her.

Louis: "Belle, please focus. I'll promise that we'll meet our daughter again as soon as possible, so please hang on."

Belle: "O-Okay.. then, I shall look for him. Land's Eye, Wind's Flow."

She used two High-Rank spells, Land's Eye and Wind's Flow. Both of them are very useful skills for tracking. Unlike her, I'm no good when it comes to tracking. I can only depend on her in these situations.

Belle: "There is a thing shaped like Little Weiss below the ground. I think it's in the basement. There is also a something like a person inside. I don't know what it is because I can't detect it with Land's Eye."

I looked at the guard who remained by our side. He's pretty composed even though they just knew that their Lord was killed. I looked at him carefully, but my suspicion vanished when I saw a slave collar in his neck. I think he's a mind-broken slave. It isn't rare to see one these days.

Louis: "Hey, what kind of room is in the basement?"

Guard: "It's just a normal warehouse. It's rarely used, but it's being cleaned every week."

Louis: "Guide us there."

I can let Belle guide the way, but it's much better to let an authorized personnel guide us. We don't need to waste time explaining why we are in the crime scene.

Guard: "Then, follow me."

The guard hastily guided us towards the deepest part of the mansion. When we reached it, we were forced to cover our nose. The floor has been covered by stench of blood. The place is also very dark, so the visibility inside is too low.

Louis: "Create Torch."

I gathered fire mana to create a torch. It is just general magic that could be used in daily life.

When I illuminated the room, what we saw is.. the House Lear's noble mistress. She was suspended mid-air in a chain. Her body was covered by blood. Her face was facing the ground, being covered by her long golden hair. It looks like she's tortured by that man.

Belle: "T-This?!"

Louis: "That man's pretty brutal, I guess.."

While looking at the lifeless-looking body, Qazar starts to speak.

Qazar: "D-Dad! She's still alive!"

Louis: "Oh? How did you know?"

Qazar: "I-I just used my skill on her.. and she responded!"

I see. His skill is very convenient for this kind of situations.

Louis: "Belle, let's place her down. Use Air Pillow."

Belle: "Okay."

Louis: "Well then, Flame Slash"

I used a fire spell to cut the chains. Belle used Air Pillow to make the mistress' fall very gentle.

After placing her in the ground, I hastily used a general magic 'Cleanse' to remove all blood and filth around her body. Belle used the general fire magic 'Dry' to make her wounds dry, to lessen the blood flowing outside. Her face became much better after that.. but she's still unconscious.

Louis: "Call your staff immediately. We need to treat your mistress immediately."

Guard: "Yes."

He left in a hurry. It looks like he's still under the effect of slave collar.

Belle: "Louis, go there. Weiss is in that place."

She pointed at the back of the warehouse. I proceed with Qazar towards the place. What we found is Weiss, covered with blood and unconscious. We don't see any wound around his body, so we thought that it's the mistress' blood. He only have bruises, but they are superficial. Qazar starts to shake and call on Weiss, trying to wake him up.

Qazar: "Weiss!"

After shaking him a little, Weiss opened his eyes weakly and started to speak.

Weiss: "Q-Qazar..? W-Why are you here..? Ah! What about Mother..? Is she alright..?"

Qazar: "Yes. She's alright. Mom and Dad helped them."

Weiss: "I'm glad..."

He starts to weep silently.

Louis: "Little Lear- I mean, Weiss.. What happened here?"

Weiss: "Niscar.. he did all of this.."

Hatred shone in Weiss' eyes. It was eyes full of will for vengeance.

Louis: "Your family is foolish to begin with. You hired a mysterious person that came from nowhere. It looks like you got what you deserved."

I tried to mock him even more. His hateful eyes looked towards me.

Weiss: "What do you know?! You don't know anything!"

After hearing that, I snapped.

Louis: "You know, because of your family's foolishness, Lowell was seperated from us!"

His hateful eyes turned into shock. As I thought, he didn't know what happened.

Weiss: " Q-Qazar.. I-Is that true?"

Qazar: "Uh...."

Weiss: "Qazar! Speak! I want to know if it's true!"

Qazar: "Yes.. it's because of that pendant you gave in her 5th birthday.. She was teleported to somewhere.."

Weiss: "Uu... Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"

He screamed frustratingly.

Qazar: "D-Don't worry! She's still safe.."

Weiss: "Don't comfort me, Qazar. I shall take responsibility for this.."

Louis: "Oh? How can you do that? When you're beaten black and blue by the culprit?"

Weiss: "I... I will become stronger!"

Louis: "How? By practicing your childish swordplay? Even I can defeat you in a flick of finger."

Weiss: "Still..."

Belle: "I would help him."

My wife spoke while walking towards us. It looks like the mistress was already taken away.

Weiss: "Mrs. Zvalle? I thought.. that you use knives and daggers?"

Belle: "Well, some circumstances made me master the sword.. I don't want to wear it, but.. If it's for Lowell, I'll take it again.."

Louis: "Are you sure about this?"

Belle: "Yes. Don't worry about me. "

I see conviction in her eyes. I can't do anything about this.. If things gets worse, I'll just do that again..

Louis: "Well then, suit yourself."

Belle: "Thank you."

I summoned a Space Portal out of thin air. On the other side, It was a sword binded with chains. I took it and gave it to her.

Belle: "We met again, Krakkein. I won't lose to you this time..

It was the one-handed sword, Krakkein. Instead of being a dragon-slaying sword, it was something beyond that. It is a sword with a fearsome power.. and a terrifying trial should be passed to use it.

Belle: "So, Weiss.. Do you want power? Power for revenge? Power to protect everything you love?"

My wife resolutely spoke towards Weiss.

Weiss: "Yes. I want it."

Belle: "Then, I'll become your teacher. Until you surpass me, I'll teach you everything I know."

After that, we heard an uproar. It looks like the whole mansion knew what happened to their master and mistress.

Louis: "Well then, let's get out of here.

Belle: "Yes."

Qazar: "Weiss, let's go."

Weiss: "Can I ask.. what would we do from now on?"

Louis: "We're planning of looking for Lowell. If you want to stay for your mother, then say so. I think she needs you right now."

Weiss: "I think that wouldn't be the case.. After all, she hated me."

Louis: "We don't want to pry anymore with your family's affairs, so decide if you'll going to join us or not."

Weiss: "Can you give me two days? I would like to see my mom to stabilize before departing.."

Louis: "Well, It's okay.. but remember, each day we delay our search, it also decreases our chance to see Lowell again."

Weiss: "I'll remember it."

All of us walked out of the warehouse.

***

Three miles away from Blanc City..

Five of us were camping before departing towards our new destination. Gladius ordered Hughes, Sarge, and Dwain to ask for directions. I noticed that Gladius was making an irritated expression. It's rare to see him like this. I started to ask him what's wrong.

Aimee: "Gladius, what's wrong?"

Gladius: "I was tricked by them.. I thought they couldn't meddle with humans.. so they used that as their advantage."

Aimee: "Is that so.."

Gladius: "They made it so that I wouldn't know their location. Now, we're going to look for their location aimlessly.. But first, we should get my sword. I can't move the way I want without it.."

So, he's irritated that he didn't anything..

Aimee: "We received a clue right? Isn't that good enough?"

Gladius: "Knowing their movement and location is important. If you weigh both of them, inaccurate information about my sword's whereabouts is less important than the information Lowell Zvalle is holding right now. Now, it's going to be harder than I thought.."

Aimee: "Why? If we met her again, we can ask her about that, right?"

Gladius: "That's impossible.."

Aimee: "Huh?"

Gladius: "When I chose not to seek for her, you should've known why I did that."

Aimee: "Wait, wait. I don't really know it.."

Gladius: "World Assimilation."

Aimee: "Uh? What's that?"

Gladius: "If I would describe it, it means 'Being one with the World'."

Aimee: "T-Then..!"

Gladius: "We should depart soon. Look, another pillar of light emerged from Blanc City. It looks like the Silver Adventurer started to move."

Aimee: "Yes. but.. can I ask another question?"

Gladius: "What is it?

Aimee: "Are you an Evil God?"

It was the first time I heard it. I felt fear towards him when I heard him say it awhile ago.

Gladius: "It depends on how you interpret my existance. As a God of Sword, people tend to call me evil. I, who didn't care whatever they call me, became an Evil God in their eyes without even noticing. But now that they started to move, I need to make a move myself to prevent their goal."

Aimee: "By the way, you said 'their' goal.. but what is that goal?"

Gladius: "Of course, it's-"

Dwain: "Gladius!! We found information about the next city~!"

Gladius: "I see.. Well then, Aimee.. Let's go."

Aimee: "Y-Yes."

In the end, he didn't say it.

We started our journey towards our next destination, Theicia.