Chapter 367 - Guests
The group was inside the very busy Solaguer Castle. They were all wondering what the commotion is all about until Lance pulled a maide to the side and asked.
"Excuse me, is there any reason why everyone is so busy?" Lance asked.
The maid scowled at Lance and took a few seconds before she could recognize him, "O-Oh, my dear prince. I'm sorry for my attitude just now. I haven't slept since yesterday preparing for the arrival of the visitors from the East."
The entire group looked at each other after hearing what the maid spoke. Lance shook his head as if to clear his mind from thoughts, "E-Excuse me, visitors from the East?"
–
Lance walked inside the throne room where the king was standing in the middle, instructing his men with words that didn't register in Lance's mind. The entire throne room was decorated with golden statues and flowers that didn't look like it came from their kingdom.
"Father," Lance called to which made his father turned to his direction. "What is all this?"
"There has been major changes in the plans in regards to the negotiation with the Eastern kingdoms," King Leon said. "We will have an exchange of diplomats, eight on eight. The eight diplomats from the East will represent one kingdom each."
"But we agreed on ten people," Lance said. "Team Azure Scorch from the Championship of the Greats plus me. Should we change that as well?"
"Oh, that," King Leopold thought for a moment. "I will let you decide on that. But the East will only accomodate eight people. They will send their dragon here in a day, so be prepared."
"Father–" Lance was cut off before he could finish when the king raised his hand in his face.
"I am busy right now, Lance," King Leopold said. "You can deal with this matter and report back to me after."
With that, the king and his men walked out of the throne room, all indulged with their plans for their preparation.
"Lance, let's go back," Frederick said. "We will plan this back in the inn. Let's also celebrate the freedom of the Cilcans and Christina. We may have a problem in our midst, but let us not forget that we just solved one."
They were in the streets, going back to their inn when a thought entered Elliot's mind.
"Wait a minute," Elliot said. "If we won, I heard that all the guild members will be promoted by nine ranks. So that means Aquarius is currently on Top Twelve. What did Kingsley say?"
"He wasn't happy," Lance chuckled. "Let's start with that."
"No, sh*t," Ed cursed, while snorting. "He barged in the inn and wanted to see Aquarius face to face. He was saying how he was pushed back by another rank and blah blah blah."
"He's pathetic," Elliot snickered, shaking his head in amusement. "From the ones we knew, were there any one who passed?"
"No," Lance replied. "But apart from you and Luck in the brink of literally dying, nothing major happened."
Elliot turned to the bear-like man who was pouting. "Luck nearly died?"
"I was caught off guard," the man scoffed. "Plus, that b*tch was tricky. She had tentacled hidden in that large thing of hers. If I knew there were such things, I would've prepared myself."
The group walked down the darkening streets while laughing at each other. They were having too much fun, until Frederick who was at the front stopped and held out his hand to the sides, stopping everyone. "Shh."
"What's the matter?" Luck asked.
The red haired man raised his index and middle finger, lightning up red wisps and scattering them around the street. It dawned everyone with him how odd it was for the street to be silent and dark.
There wasn't anyone around and the lights on the stalls that usually lit up and give life to the entire market was out. Just a moment ago, a person walked past them, and now no one else was around.
"What's happening, Fred?" Luck asked. He brandished his sword, making everyone else pull out their weapons in defense. "Why isn't anyone here?"
"That's what made me ask myself too," Frederick replied. He took a step forward and a thin sword shot up from the ground, barely passing though his shoe.
The man spun to the side and conjured a ball of light in between his palms, "Show yourself!"
There was only silence. A few more seconds later and they all felt something on the ground. It started to shake like something underneath was coming out.
"Watch out!" Frederick yelled.
Hundreds of swords shot up from the ground like it was raining on the opposite direction. Everyone managed to dodge or block the swords but they think they couldn't last long. It kept coming and coming, like a never ending flood.
"Run to the side!" Fredrick yelled. "There's no sword here."
As instructed, the boys leaped to the side of the road. Like what Frederick said, there wasn't any sword that came out from the ground.
"What was that?" Elliot asked. "That was unbelievably scary."
"You're gonna need more than that if you want to survive the place you want to go," a whisper in the air sounded. It was like the sound comes from their mind but at the same time it wasn't. There was no other person around them, and the voice seemed like it was taken to them by the wind. They also couldn't make out if it was male or female by how airy it sounded, like an echo but a whisper a the same time.
"Who are you?" Frederick yelled. "Show yourself!"
"Let us just say that I am the sheep that holds the balance from the dragon. The East has fallen from Malice's darkness, but our people shall regain freedom, with or without your help," the voice said.
"Show yourself and we can talk," Luck said. "Why the sneak attack?"
"This is a test," the voice said. "And you have passed. For one final task, deactivate this spell and your questions will be answered.
"Fine then!" Fredrick's yelled. His harlequin coat started to lift from the bottom like there was air below him. There was a red circle on the brick pavement below him while the man chanted something under his breath. "Azure Cleanse!"
The red circle turned blue and flames surged on the ground. It covered the entire street before vanishing, the dark silent street was now turned to the busy market.
"What was that?" Connor asked as they slowly regrouped. "That person. Did they came here to kill us or warn us?"
"Doesn't matter," Elliot said, raising a small note from his hand. "It seems like we have our first ally from the East."
The boy cleared his throat to read the note aloud, "Greetings from the former noble Shun Kingdom. We will meet you in the Young Castle West Tower balcony at the day of your arrival between midnight. We saw you fight against the Deathly Sins and are sure that you can save us from the Vassals of Malice. She made the Crystal Maidens fell to their knees but we know you can save us. Please help us."
Elliot looked up after reading the note, the faces of his friends that filled with worry returned his gaze.. "Malice was behind this too."