While Victor was being held by the woman as he cried the rest of the people left the room. Turning down a hallway, Meln took the lead as they went to a table with twenty chairs around it, eleven of which had people already seated at them with a variety of races. A few of them had lineage with more than one race.

Taking his seat next to the empty head of the table, Meln looked down at everyone as the others who came in sat in various empty seats.

"Telli is speaking with the man now. His name is Victor and he came here with six others, but they are all dead. Of the nine groups that could have stolen the crown of flowing life we can cut out four of them. That is of course unless they learned the soul separation ritual that is required without us finding out about it."

The group was quiet and nodded slightly, some of them seemed to understand better than others as the man pointed toward Nell.

"Please tell us what you know of the man and why you rushed bringing him in. Those who are representing others will want to know this for their report."

Waiting for the man to sit down, the elven woman stood and cleared her throat.

"As you know I have been the one acting as Leahla for several years. Before that, the job was done by Anj and she only took over from a lower member when the crown was stolen. Those of you who were at the meeting, when that happened, know all about it so do any of you who weren't here need an explanation, or were you informed about this ahead of being told to attend?"

Looking around the room she saw four people indicate that they needed to hear more.

"I really hope that you only don't know because of being the only ones available or else it..... Moving on the crown of flowing life is a very unique magical tool that we don't quite fully understand. We know what it does and the requirements for it to do can be asked of it."

Waiting to see if there were any specific questions she continued, "It is a tool that can rip things from other locations, but not in the way you would expect. There are very few people who can make locational transportation tools. Since these require a lot of finesse and some of the largest mana cores to create and keep charged typically only royals have them. That and the people who would be needed to aid in their creation tend to prefer doing their job with the magic rather than help make a tool to go against their specialty."

"When the transportation tool is used it focuses on the target tethered to it to determine where it is going and sends the people to it and the target no longer works while the main body of it uses some of the mana core until it is depleted. The crown needs fuel as well. It doesn't target the way we would expect. People end up coming who can't use magic and, while we can't prove it to be true, the stories from before claim they can conjure a powerful artifact that is said to be a physical representation of their soul."

A slight scratching was heard as various people were taking notes. Of the eleven that were in the room prior to the group entering six of them were taking notes.

"Any questions so far?"

One of the people writing spoke up. Her ears slightly pointed despite having small talons extending from her fingers showing she was someone who had a little bit of elven blood in her beast kin bloodline.

"You indicated it needs fuel, which is true for any magical tool, but the fact you specifically said that makes me wonder if there is something you are not mentioning."

"Right," Nell replied, "It doesn't use a mana core for fuel. In fact, it is a very odd fuel that won't work casually and the fact they got it to work after all these years is why we suspect it wasn't the group Dellians blood right or Gorlum deceit. While they have capable people and are a threat in their own right, they don't have enough people or resources to fuel it. It requires death draining all of the blood from a person's body to help fuel it."

A slight murmur was heard through the room as some more scratching went down upon the papers, the ink vanishing as each mark was placed upon it.

"If it only required death it might be something they could pull off, but it wouldn't be this fast because of the condition of whose blood it can take. It can only take the blood from people who audibly volunteer to do it and have nothing that indicates they don't desire it. Simply put it requires people to, by choice, die and let their blood fuel the crown. That is what makes it hard to use. The number of people needed to die for it to work once and the fact that the people have to be willing to do it instead of captured sacrifices or slaves makes it that much harder to use."

Staying quiet for a moment she sighed, "We suspect of the groups we think it could be their poorer members or random people they found were told that if they did this their family would be taken care of. A sort of bribe for the person to end their life by choice. Even then I suspect it would be hard to get so many to sacrifice themselves in such a way. I know not many of us would casually let ourselves die for something like that."

A general murmur of agreement spread throughout the people in the room.

"As for Victor, I didn't want to rush him and wanted to see what he was doing. He seemed to be someone only concerned about safety and money and sometimes it seemed to clash a little bit. He also didn't seem to care for conflict when it comes to anyone with authority. I won't speculate why for now, but the reason we had to rush this is because he caught the eye of someone from the house of Conret."

One person at the table nodded their head. Seeing this Nell continued.

"Apparently he saw Victor at a clothing shop and found him cute. Trying to learn about Victor he was planning to ensure that Victor could be his. Since it was Jandes there was even a chance that it would end in death before they could rig a crime against him and buy him from the prison. I had to pay two large golden coins to our usual connection there for the information. On top of that our connection is retiring so, we can no longer use him like before."

"Next he does have a variety of things that we can't ex...."

Partway through Nells thought, the door opens and in walked Telli, the woman who had stayed with Victor in the room.

"Alright whoever was speaking... ah, Nell. I got your reports what did you say so far?"

Looking at the woman, Nell bit the side of her lip, "I explained what the crown is and to an extent what it does. I explained some about Victor and why we had to get him out of there."

Sitting at the head of the table, Telli nodded once and extended a hand.

"Right. He has a few things we can't explain or at least that we can't understand enough to explain. We were able to get most of what he sold though thanks to our funds and connections, but not all of it. Some of what he had was very interesting while other items were nothing to take notice of. Some small tools that look like they were made by master craftsmen were included. One apparently is used for removing your excess fingernails in a more uniform way."

"I think I explained enough of what was needed for the time being. If there is more needed of me I'll explain later."

Once everyone was sat back down, Telli stood up and, after everyone had written what they needed, spoke to the group.

"I have used a bit of my magic so he won't be escaping soon. If he tries the door it will thrust him to the center of the room. I won't have the mana to do it again since I'm keeping the security measures up at the moment so I'll not let this drag on. Based on what he told me while he was crying I think he has a hard time accepting that he lived when his companions didn't. We have seen it often when soldiers return healthy and safe when those they left with came back as ashes or with missing limbs. I would like to suggest seeing if he will accept some therapy later when he either accepts what we want to say or leaves."

"Now this next part nobody will write down. While things that are known to an extent are fine if someone happens to discover the usual system I want you all to just remember this and if you were told some of this by Nell I want you to keep listening."

Pouring herself a bit of wine, Telli drinks it before starting.

"The crown draws beings from a world that's not ours. It is that or from far enough beyond the ocean that it might as well be. We haven't verified it due to the cost of using it."

"Those people use no magic but when exposed to mana something manifests physically that only they can use and if someone tries to take it to use for themselves, based on what Nell's report said, it won't allow itself to be held. It caused a minor amount of discomfort and pain. I can see it getting worse the more you try."

"Once she no longer was trying to claim it or use it it stopped, but trying to take it away from him caused it to go back to him. The distance was not very far so it is connected to him in some way. As far as what it does he didn't tell me and this is pure speculation on our part."

Taking another sip of wine she holds up a piece of parchment roughly the same shape as Victor's card.

"In the center of the card is what appears to be a yellow jurex. Under it is some sort of script we were unable to identify, but it looks similar to the text on the items he had with him. It also has something on the upper left and some sort of bar going up the right side. It mostly appears to be a lined outline with a small amount of red filling the bottom."

Having pointed to where she was describing Telli puts down the paper.

"While we aren't sure we suspect that if he kills something it goes into the card and upon the little bar filling up it will be repaired and he will be able to use it as a summoned combat partner. This is purely speculation at this point, but he did have burns on his leg from a jurex, and the way the creature looks on the card it could possibly be barely alive. This works with our speculation as there is barely any red in that bar."

"We will go over which five groups we think it could still be based on the time table, but for now I will say this. The fact that they did this means that there likely have six items we can assume are powerful. It also means that the group that did this likely has considerably less manpower as a result or, if they used money and resources instead, considerably less financial clout. I would assume somewhere between the two is most likely."

The group continued to speak with one another as time went by, going over the same point many times before eventually, Telli stood to leave.

"My spell is going to wear off soon and I want to make sure Victor is either doing ok. If not at least I want to ensure he won't escape until we are able to do something. At a minimum, I want to have him go somewhere farther away from where we found him and ideally agree to something similar to what the guild does to keep track of its members."

Having been left in the room for the last hour, Victor had given up on trying to leave it. The woman who had left him there took one of his hairs and told him that if he tried to leave the room it wouldn't allow him to. Despite the warning, he did try to leave and found himself thrust back into the room again.

Testing it he found that he could put his arms and legs past it, but when enough of his body went through the door it would work and, as there was no other door or windows as far as he could tell, he gave up trying to leave and picked up one of his books and started to read, although he kept going over the same bits as his mind went over what he had been told.

The deaths of his classmates weren't his fault.

Sometimes life is fair or unfair and you have to keep going.

A lot of it was just words to try to help him feel better in the moment. He imagined a lot of people had heard similar things and he ended up pushing the woman away eventually, not wanting to be held by someone anymore who he didn't know and didn't trust.

When the woman returned, Victor had only gotten through three pages of his book so he folded its corner quickly and set it down.

"Can I go now?"

Pausing for a moment the woman smiled, "Almost. We want to get you somewhere safer. We want to learn about your card more and we want to know a few things more about what happened."

"No!" Victor cried out, "You asked enough It's my turn to ask a few questions! Why am I here? Why was I able to get away when my friends couldn't? Why am I fucking here!? Why do you care so much about me and what the fuck was up with Leahla!"

Smiling Telli sat in a chair, pulling it so she is facing Victor.

"You are here because we had to hurry up the timeline. Originally we were going to wait until you were red in the guild and make a request to you and speak with you then while on a trip between cities, but a noble found you cute and was going to frame you for a crime so you would become a slave. He would then buy you for the duration of your sentence and use you as a part of his harem because he thought you were cute."

Of the many things that he had thought might be said, being told he was going to be falsely accused of a crime and made to be someone's slave as a result was not on his mind. His face sunk and his mouth opened just enough to speak.

"Are you joking with me?"

"No," Telli responded, "Our timeline was for three days after you got to red. Our only concern there was if you were able to find a job like many of those of black rank do. Being able to get a job that is consistent is one reason many people even bother to join the guild. Especially since the first requests, you can take are so simple and not difficult for most people. Regardless your next question was asking why you didn't die."

"We have two main theories about how you got out when you said you ran and that's it. Theory one is the more likely one in our minds. They had to save the other items. Once the others were dead the items would start to weaken and dissolve unless put into a host. We imagine that the people bringing food and water were there to have the items attached to them as short term hosts. This would likely kill them unless a suitable partner is found within a day or so and they would be passed between hosts until a suitable partner is found."

"Based on past records your item can only be fully utilized by you just the other six will only be fully realized by them. They are dead now and trying to use it kills the one doing so unless the item finds them suitable. There are theories about what makes one suitable, but the way to tell is very simple. If you try to take it from the host it will either let you and attune itself to you like your card is with you or it will not allow itself to be taken and nothing beyond that will happen."

"So you mean they didn't care about me or my card?" He asked a bit hopeful.

"That is not what I am saying," Telli comments, "I am saying that between your item by itself and the other six you weren't a priority. They also likely had people who they hoped would get one of them there and didn't want to have it take to long for their person to start to get used to it. Simply put it's about their priority. Six items or one. Unless you showed your card could do amazing things they likely had no reason to risk losing another item to chase you down. Especially if they are lacking in manpower right now like we suspect."

Feeling a little better about, what he originally thought was dumb luck, Victor spoke softly, "And the second possibility?"

"They thought your item was more likely to be a hindrance or that you were so pathetic and weak you would die anyway if you escaped. They knew they couldn't take your card by force as the blood pact you described requires the one to do it by choice. If it is done by force it doesn't work. No amount of force will do so as the person has to do it willingly which is why the terms are written on the paper itself, but that only helps if you can read it."

Thinking back, Victor did remember the people were flirty, full of words of praise, and made promises of rewards beyond anything that seemed reasonable. It made sense now that they would not have any qualms about making promises or saying words of sweetness as if it was the very air they needed to breathe.

"Can you tell me why you are so interested in me and this stuff now? Maybe what you all do?"

Victor was still quiet as he spoke, looking down at his feet.

Hearing his request Telli folded her hands.

"I'll tell you what Victor I'll explain things to you, but then I want you to tell me about your card and what it does. Also if you could tell me what the other items do or look like and any indicators about who took you. The color robes were nice, but that doesn't match anyone we have our eyes on for anything."

"And you will let me go right? I'll tell you about the people and such, but after that, you have to let me out of here so I can leave and give me means to get away! I won't be your...."

Cutting him off Telli spoke, "We can arrange that. We had no intent to keep you long term we just needed to speak and sadly the nobility forced us to play our hand sooner than expected. The best way to explain who we are is to ask what do you do with the most dangerous things where you are from?"

In his life, Victor was lucky enough that the only time he had anything really dangerous happen to him was being robbed. He had kept two wallets on him during that time and threw the empty one down the alley so the criminal would go towards it and he could escape. While it did work he was stabbed in the leg before the man went to get the wallet for being a smart ass.

"I... I don't have anything overly dangerous, but I know the government has lots of places they hide dangerous weapons so that people can't get to them easily."

Waiting for Victor to look up Telli wore a smile, "That is us. We take things that aren't understood or are too powerful to be out in the world and hide them away. They all require special measures so people with a great amount of skill can't notice the mana aura they create since most of them don't require a mana core. The mana core is the aura detected from most items. Between the fact, different items need different materials to block or to find natural mana springs to block it our items have to be spread around. This also helps prevent things from getting worse if something is found like with what brought you here."

"Sadly we don't have enough people to station someone at each location at all times and keep our ears open for new items. We are going to keep our eyes to the world and our ears to the sky so that we can figure things out, but for now, we just want to know what you can do, what the other items can do and from there we will see if we can convince some of our connections to do something."

"If we can't convince them or we can't get the information in time I suspect there will either be a war, an assassination, or random slaughter depending on who has the other items."

Smiling wide she took Victor's hand and held it tight, despite his attempt to pull back.

"The fact you escaped gave us a head start we wouldn't have had otherwise so thank you for not dying and thank you for running away."

A shiver went through Victor as the woman's eyes seemed to get a bit brighter to him. Looking away he couldn't help, but smile a little.

"You're welcome."