Chapter 374: Chapter 374

“Aedan, be truthful with me now,” Erin said sternly. “Did you know about this?” Ruri was in her hands, raised to the light.

Aedan leaned close to Ruri, studying the strange sub-dragon creature. “I wish I did. Last I checked, she was hiding in Lilian’s… valley. Yet, here she is. This is curious. Unless this is a different Kirin who happens to look very similar to Ruri, she must have snuck out of the embassy.”

“You think she snuck out?”

“I don’t sense any Fae in the vicinity other than you. Which means, they still hadn’t the faintest idea that Ruri exists. Therefore, she must have snuck out. Such a crafty fellow.”

“Kyu~” Ruri purred happily as if to agree with Aedan’s assessment.

“Really? Is that what truly happened?” Erin asked.

Ruri tilted her head. “Kyu?”

Erin sighed. “This doesn’t change anything, right?”

“The embassy is laced, covered, and drowned with nearly all manners of spells. The sentry kind. Even I wouldn’t be able to sneak in and out of the embassy successfully without being detected. Ruri did. She’s either very lucky or it isn’t luck. If it isn’t luck, it can only mean that she has the means to avoid the Fae’s sentry spells.”

“So, how do you think Ruri got out of the embassy?” Erin asked. “If luck wasn’t involved.”

“In all honesty, I haven’t a clue. I know a few ways, but none would be possible for a Kirin. Do you remember Eliza?”

“I do. The Apostle of Chronos, whoever that is.”

“Ruri was a tremendous help then, wasn’t she?”

“She was. She was able to resist Eliza’s time manipulation spell. Is that perhaps how she avoided the Fae's detection?”

“It’s a good possibility. She might be resistant to spells that curb one’s ability. She may even be useful.”

“Useful?” Erin narrowed her eyes. “Are you suggesting that we use her to help Nivia and Lilian to sneak out of the embassy?”

“No, not the embassy. I’m thinking of Marsh. We can have her infiltrate his home.”

Erin stared blankly at Aedan. She lowered Ruri and held her close to her chest. “No. We are not doing that. That’s far too dangerous. Ruri knows nothing of being a spy. Sure, she may be able to infiltrate places undetected but I don’t believe she knows how to do any of the actual work, such as gathering the information.”

“It was just a suggestion and an interesting thought.”

Aedan smiled wryly. “I know. I know. I will not put her in any danger.”

“See, even she’s against it.”

Aedan frowned. “I don’t believe that’s what she’s trying to say. But anyway, we’re done here.”

“We are.” Aedan nodded. He put the book back into its slot and made his way out of the store.

Erin followed behind him. They gave the storekeeper a nod as they exited the store. The storekeeper simply waved them off and returned to his card game, or at least Erin assumed it was a game. The storekeeper had no opponent. She wondered how the game was even supposed to be played but that thought was fleeting.

“No one’s tailing us,” Aedan observed. The streets weren’t bustling with people but neither was it empty. The traffic was moderate, scant enough to deter any pickpockets, not that Aedan or Erin were particularly worried about pickpockets.

“Did you find anything useful?” Erin asked as they strolled down the street. Ruri was perched on her right shoulder, marvelling at everything that crossed her sight.

“Nothing we don’t already know and things that don’t exactly serve us in any way.”

“Marsh is a suspicious character, that was the general consensus of the servants. Then again, it isn’t anything new. Servants rarely have any faith in their noble masters. Though the servants of Marsh’s household are very suspicious of their master, they don’t have any irrefutable proof. He would go to some part of the manor and simply disappear.”

“Disappear? How? Into a puff of smoke?”

“That’s what the servants are baffled about too. Some say they saw Marsh turning into a corner and when they tried to catch up, he simply wouldn’t be at the turn, as if he disappeared as soon as he turned into the corner. Similar incidents had occurred throughout the estate. He would go into a room and when a servant followed him a few seconds later, he was nowhere to be found. The servants have tried looking for some kind of a secret passage but they never found anything, even though they examined every nook and cranny.”

“Every nook and cranny? Wouldn’t the servants look suspicious to Marsh?”

“They don’t need to be so obvious. They simply need to be doing their work, such as cleaning the house. They have plenty of excuses to hide their efforts. However, they found nothing.”

“And how does Marsh return after his disappearance?”

“Same as how he just disappeared. He would just reappear seemingly out of nowhere. Gave the servants a fright, quite a few times already.”

“That’s not much to go on.”

“It’s not. Marsh is very careful of his movements and actions, it would seem. Other than his random disappearances within the estate, he did nothing of the sort that would implicate him of any crimes.”

“What about the people he met or his acquaintances?”

“He did have frequent meetings with merchants but so do a lot of other nobles. He did have the occasional luncheon with the crown prince and the nobles of the same faction. That’s nothing suspicious, though the same couldn’t be said for the contents of their discussion. However, we won’t be hearing any of the contents of those discussions. They would dine in secret and privately. Not even the servants are allowed to be in the same room as them unless their service is required. Again, nothing suspicious. It’s common across the nobles.”

“...We got nothing, after all that. How much did you spend?”

Aedan shrugged. “I didn’t. It was on Iris’ tab.”

Erin widened her eyes. “Does she know?”

Aedan tittered. “She will.”

“What a cheeky bugger you are.” Aedan reached out, trying to give Ruri a gentle touch.

However, the Kirin shrank away from his hand.

“She still doesn’t like you.”

“She’s afraid of me.”

Aedan flinched slightly. “She growled at me.”

“What do you call it then?”

“...I suppose it’s a growl.”

“Now that I think about it… Ruri didn’t just resist Eliza’s spell. She even extended that resistance to the one she was touching, according to Lilian.”

Erin sighed. “Aedan, I know what you wanted to suggest, but that’s a terrible idea.”

Aedan smirked. “It isn’t because you do not know what I wanted to suggest.”

“Oh? What do you want to suggest?”

“We don’t need to take Ruri with us. We simply need her ability.”

“And how do we do that?”

“Same as how Spell Scrolls, Spell Crystals, and Spell Cards are created.”

“I have the knowledge but not the tools.”

“Do you know where we can get the tools?”

“I don’t, but Iris does.”

Erin fought back a sigh. “It’s always her.”

“How fortunate we are to have her as a friend, don’t you agree?”

“I suppose it is fortunate,” Erin grumbled.

Aedan gazed at Erin. There was a glint in his eyes. “Is that jealousy I’m sensing?”

“You’re imagining things,” Erin retorted with a huff.

Aedan chuckled. “Never took you for the jealous type.”

Erin glared at him. “I am not jealous.”

Aedan shrugged. “If you say so.”

“See, Ruri agrees with me.”

“She didn’t,” Erin rebutted. “And stop bringing it up.”

Aedan threw his hands up. “Alright, alright. I’ll stop.”

Erin clicked her tongue and hastened her pace. As much as she hated to admit it, it was jealousy. There was no reason for her to be jealous but feelings and desires were seldom logical. She was never known for her smarts, even before her current life. Not that she was a fool or an idiot, she simply favoured brawn over brains. Her disposition became all the more apparent in Aedan’s presence. Whatever the question was, he always had the answer for it.

Aedan stopped in his tracks all of a sudden. “Oh?” he muttered.

Erin stopped too. Her petty grievance was immediately cast aside. “What is it?” She glanced behind and saw Aedan slowly approaching a narrow alley that could only fit a single person. Two was possible but they would need to squeeze.

“Do you see that marking on the ground?” He pointed into the alley.

Erin stepped closer to the alley and peered into the darkness. Her Faerie eyes allowed her to acclimatise to the dark rapidly. She examined the ground but she found nothing. “I don’t see anything out of the norm.”

“Look at it through the lens of Mana.”

“I can sense Mana but I can’t actually see it anymore… not without the System.”

“It’s easy. Just imagine your body was a web of rivers where the water flows in circulation within the confines. Now, will the water flow into the river that is your eyes?”

Erin glanced at Aedan oddly but she followed his advice nonetheless. She wasn’t optimistic but it worked wonders. She felt Mana coursing through her veins and she felt it converging on her eyes. As she blinked, the world seemed to change. The flow of Mana became visible to her. There, she saw a symbol on the ground. It was marred and faded, though the faint etchings remained. “That’s a rune, is it not?”

“What spell does it hold?”

“It holds no spell. Not at the moment, at least. It is broken. But that rune was used to hold the Teleportation spell. There are scratch marks. Someone tried to erase it. It hasn’t completely faded, which means it hasn’t been long since it went out of use.”

“Does it have something to do with Marsh?”

“That remains to be seen. This particular rune was not the one that people usually use. In fact, ordinary people would not know of this rune. As far as I know, the only ones who used this rune are the Aeryons and the Aerysians.”

“There are Aerysians in this city?”

“There were, obviously. But no, this is not the work of the Aerysians. They wouldn’t be so sloppy with erasing their mark. The way this rune was destroyed was done so by someone who only has surface knowledge of the Aerysians. They do not know how to destroy it completely.”

“The Mana around the rune is slightly heavier.”

“Because the rune was recently used. And as soon as they used it, they destroyed it. Clearly, they don’t want others to use this rune.”

“Any idea where this Teleportation rune will take you?”

Aedan shook his head. “The rune is too damaged to determine the destination.”

“Kyu~!” Ruri squealed excitedly and hopped down from Erin’s shoulder. It then ran into the valley, towards the rune.

“Ruri, where are you going?” Erin chased after her.

“It’s going for the rune,” Aedan said.

Ruri stopped right in front of the rune and began inhaling the Mana around it.

“It’s absorbing the remnant Mana of the rune,” Aedan observed. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭·𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦·𝘯𝘦𝘵

“Huh… what can’t this little bugger do?” Erin mused.

After devouring all the Mana that was left behind, Ruri’s body started to glow a faint blue. Her gaze seemed to shift. No longer were her eyes that of a naive and curious larval creature. Her eyes turned sharp and resolute.

“What’s happening now?” Erin asked.

“We’re about to find out.”

All of a sudden, Ruri lifted off the ground as if gravity had lost on her.

“She’s flying!” Erin exclaimed.

“Oh, shit. Catch her!” Aedan yelled.

Erin didn’t question. She immediately darted towards Ruri. However, the Kirin shot towards the sky, a mere second before Erin could catch her. Erin followed Ruri with her eyes and she saw her flying in a certain direction. “Is she going to the destination of the Teleportation Rune?”

“We won’t know unless we chase after her.”

“That goes without saying.”

The two quickly left the alley and bolted straight in the direction that Ruri was heading.