Early Evening - Early Winter : Central Valtivar, Siratha

*tap-tap-tap-tap* As everyone came to a stop, the elven knight next to the apostle walked up to the two guards at the door in the hallway with a displeased look. "Miss Aetla has arrived, please make way."

"Identificat-" Before the guard could finish, the knight shoved a medallion in his face.

"Is this enough?" His expression remained serious, as if he thought he was being cool.

But even though he was acting like a child role-playing as the princess's knight, the guards ignored it and opened the doors.

-New guards, huh... I wonder what happened to the ones I knocked out...- Finally walking through the door, we continued into the familiar, busy hallway leading up to Leif's office, while noticing many people's sour looks toward the apostle.

I honestly thought it was a bit of an odd reaction to seeing her, considering her political position, but after looking at her condition once again, I assumed there must have been a reason for it.

But I didn't even get a hint of what that reason was the whole time we walked. -Maybe it's related to what she and Leif will talk about...-

Continuing down the hall, we eventually came up to Leif's, now repaired, office, where the elven knight obnoxiously knocked on the door. *Thunk* *Thunk* "Miss Aetla is here to speak with you, Miss Vilulf."

Almost immediately, I heard a drawer close behind the door. *clunk* "She may enter."

Hearing Leif, the disheveled apostle reached for the doorknob, but the young knight with her grabbed and opened it first. *click* "Please have a good meeting, my lady." He bowed as he held the door open, but the apostle didn't move.

She immediately started clamming up and broke into a cold sweat, but instead of taking time to think about it, I took the opportunity to walk in ahead of her.

"Alva Aetla," Leif spoke in a cold tone right as we walked in, cracking a momentary smile as I walked by before putting a serious expression back on. "Our Lord let you live; he clearly must have seen something in you, but here you are living in fear." Her voice was provoking, but the displeasure in it felt oddly forced.

"I-I..." Aetla spoke with a quivering voice.

It seemed to make the knight she was with quite upset as well. "Miss Vilulf, Miss Aetla was told this was urgent, must you continue to belittle-"

"Child." Vilulf's voice echoed through the open door and down the hall. "You have no right to speak for her."

He froze from shock for a moment before silently clicking his tongue and backing away from the door.

Turning back to Aetla, Leif gave her a dark glare. "Alva, come in and have a seat. We need to talk."

Almost immediately, she shakily walked forward, grabbing the doorknob from her knight, walking in, and closing the door behind her. *click*

Silence magic wrapped around the room in an instant, as she stood at the door, seemingly avoiding Leif's eyes.

"Alva, I hope you have a good reason for the way you have acted recently."

Too curious about what she was going to say, I stayed cloaked and listened. -Plus, Leif already knows I'm here.. she must want me to hear this...-

However, as a result of that judgment, things quickly became complicated. "T-The others were cleansed for their s-sins... S-so..." She tightly gripped her robe as she turned around with tears running down her face. "W-when will I?"

I immediately got uncomfortable, but Leif didn't even flinch. "Alva... What. did. you. do." She sounded like a mother reprimanding her child.

"I.. may have.. um..." She was so nervous she looked sick, but after a quick breath, she managed to speak. "In e-exchange for helping me become an apostle, I-I did whatever the d-dragons asked me to do! But I promise it was never anything too bad!"

The silence that wrapped around the room after she finished was excruciating.

But it didn't last long.

Dispersing my light magic around her, Grandmother appeared with a furious expression. "You did what?!"

Aetla immediately jolted at her unexpected appearance but Vilulf just smiled and glanced at me.

-Well.. that was easier than expected...- Remaining cloaked, I silently walked over to Vilulf and whispered in her ear. "She is here to investigate something on her own. She should keep her requests toned down, but assist her as you deem fit..." I glanced back over at them to see Grandmother getting ready to talk. -She should be fine on her own now...- "In any case, you don't need to keep an eye out for Amara Chalkos anymore, and please send a letter to the others in Morva Asari that she is with 'Vasilias'. I have something I must go check so please take things from here."

She nodded immediately with a proud smile.

"Ah, and one last thing..." I pointed at the large window behind us, not thinking that she couldn't see it. "You should make a small balcony for your office." -Having to sneak my way through the entire building every time is pretty troublesome...-

After seeing her obediently nod without questioning anything, I gently patted her head without thinking and motioned over Ilios. -Alright, that should be all I need to do here...-

Quickly making sure I was holding Ilios securely, I finally jumped into the void, changing to my dragon form in the process. *vwoop*

Thankfully, it only took a second to adjust. "Phew.. alright..." Slowly shifting gears, I quickly settled on a new course of action. -Now that she's all set up... Let's head back to the god's abode and see if I can answer any questions...- After speaking with Grandmother, I felt the urge to give looking at the carvings in the ceiling of that room some priority. -Even if I don't quite have time to look at it all, maybe I can figure something out...-

Although my chances of success were low, I was still hopeful.

But little did I know, success always came with a new set of problems.

-

- Holcyon Aetos ~

"My lord, the rumors have begun to spread, and they are also cooperating as you predicted."

Slowly glancing to the side in the single small room I was granted, I saw a humanoid in a black robe, kneeling to me. "It's about time..."

The robed man immediately tensed up. "I apologize if I was too slow, my lord!"

"No, it's not you. They have always acted slowly." -Even with our help, they progress like snails...- "In any case, where has that troublesome bi*ch gone? I heard she left the Centre several hours ago."

"She left with a black-scaled dragon and went to the northwestern space rune. We suspect she went to Siratha."

"Tch..." I clicked my tongue immediately. -She wouldn't go herself if she didn't have a good reason...- Quickly crossing off various possibilities, I hastily tried to come up with a new plan. "Since Leander has ratted out our cover and left us in the dark, let's assume the worst. Send a group to go interfere with Asimi as much as possible, even if it uses force. We cannot let her find whatever she is looking for."

"As you wish, my lord."

Seeing that he was about to leave, I quickly added one last thing. "While you're at it, investigate that black dragon... I heard he disregarded the Aetos name." I slowly laid my head back down with an angry expression as the man in the corner suddenly disappeared.

The room fell into silence in an instant.

"Haah..." Letting out a sigh to suppress my lingering anger, I quickly refreshed myself on everything I still needed to do, but the list felt too long for the amount of time I had to do it. -If only that stupid son of mine didn't get himself killed.. none of this would have happened...-