Sly Old Man

We were all seated at a long table with servants rushing to serve all those who were invited in the main bailey. Not everyone was allowed to enter the fortress and feast here, most of the people were feasting at the city hall 100 metres beneath us in midst of the city.

The fortress was located at the top of the mountains, all others structures were constructed beneath it.

We sat down together and were indulging in the feast. I had expected a few to go wild with the food but all of us were eating with dignified postures and only had as much as we would be satisfied with on our plates.

Viviane and her father were seated at the far end of the table alongside her elder brother, her fiancé and her sister-in-law. They were eating quietly and were taking their own time, eating slowly and carefully. I finished my dinner and decided to go to sleep.

(It would be rude not to congratulate them, right?)

With that thought in mind, I headed over to the other side of the table once all of us were done eating. I smacked my face once.

(Okay, politely with a smile.)

"Greetings Prince Albaine, My name is Aether Nightblade, Captain of the User squadron, it is an honour to meet you, and you too Princess Ernsta."

"Likewise.", Albaine referred to me without even looking my way.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Captain Nightblade.", the dwarven Princess was well mannered and spoke to me politely.

"And Princess Viviane, I congratulate you on behalf of all the Users."

"You too Prince Aurele, congratulations on being the new heir to the dwarven throne."

"Thank you.", he said with a smile while his sister only bowed her head slightly.

Albaine got up and walked to where Viviane was seated, he put his hand on her shoulder and spoke with a deep and drunk voice.

"Come now Vivane, shall we call it a night and head over to my room?"

"Sure, let us rest.", Viviane said apprehensively.

"Ah, that won't do." I said.

"We have a mission tomorrow so I suggest that you head over to your room and get a peaceful, uninterrupted sleep."

"Oh, of course, I had forgotten about tomorrow's mission!", she said in an encouraged voice and then quickly added, "I'm sorry Prince Albaine but I will have to sleep in my own quarters today, I have some things that I need to prepare for tomorrow."

"But it won't be any different in my room", he said in vulgar manner unfit for a Prince and let out a laugh.

"Come on let's go", he pulled her arm and took her towards his room

"Ah but-"

We had to watch on as their figures entered the housing tower, Aurele and Ernsta were gone too.

Only the old man remained.

"You know how she feels don't you?", Venti spoke with slight anger in his voice.

"Of course I do, I am her father, and it precisely why I chose to do this while ignoring her feelings, it is better for us and her this way", he replied coolly.

"Wha-" I shot a warning look to Venti and made him stop, it wasn't our place to interfere with their matters.

We wished the old man goodnight and headed over to our house in the city.

We had been given a house on the 1st level because of our increasing numbers and the possibility of more coming here. Our house had 5 rooms, 5 washrooms and a living room. Two people would have to stay in each room and my roommate was Nevera.

We had no kitchen since we ate outside and even had our own café.

As soon as our house came in sight, a large explosion occurred behind us. It was the fortress.

"It's on fire.", Lia whispered. A few seconds later, the bellowing sound of trumpets echoed throughout the mountains. It seems that there were intruders in these supposedly protected mountains.

"Let's go." I commanded and immediately flew off towards the explosion.

"He can fly now?", Sapphire asked in astonishment.

"What do you expect, the guy is a prodigy", Cecilia replied while shaking her head.

"Move now talk later!", they started running towards the 2nd level elevator.

"Guess we gotta go too!"

***

(The fortress is blown up?)

I saw from the sky and began curveting around the castle, I activated elemental sight in order to find any survivors.

(All the important people seem to be alive, a few servants survived too huh…)

I landed in midst of the fire and immediately released my pressure. A sense of relief ran down my spine as the built-up exhaustion I had was released in a single moment. The fires died out under my pressure, I condensed the water in the air and showered it all over the area.

Out of the shadows the old man and Aurele appeared. Ernsta and some maids were safe too.

The maids got off with mere bruises and small burns.

"Aether!", Nevera shouted, "Are these all the survivors?", "No there are a few more", pointing towards a certain tower I said, "There are two more in there."

There was one tower that was still burning. The people inside were probably being cooked, it was a large furnace now after all.

"Lia! put out the fire!", I turned back shouted. She put her right hand forward and called.

"Fading Twilight."

The warbow materialised out of thin air and a whirlpool arrow was drawn. She shot the arrow and within a split second, a whirlpool of cold water was sprayed on the flaming tower. But the flame only grew and now it turned blue.

"Inferno...", Minerva muttered slowly.

"Put on your repulsion gloves, we're doing a manual rescue" I said.

Everyone except Lia and I had put on their repulsion gloves. We headed to the entrance of the tower, the flame was hot beyond my expectations, nevertheless I exerted my pressure on it and a small hole was made, creating an entrance big enough for us to go into the tower.

"Huh?"

I too shared Arthur's confusion upon stepping foot in the tower. There were no signs of fire. In fact it was far from a place having a flame engulf it.

"Human mages?", Kathlyn questioned before correcting herself, "A double domain."

"Exactly, and an extreme one at that, an inferno outside and a freezing winter inside. The one who conjured this is strong, very strong."

"In any case, we should get out of here quickly after saving Vivane and Albaine, so let's just end this."

"But how do we plan on doing that?" Minerva asked me.

I looked up towards the top of the tower.

"Vajra"

A black blade manifested in my hand, its mere presence made me feel powerful. It drew out all my power forcefully, I cast a barrier upon the others to protect them from any backlash the blade would give me.

Because of this blade, I could use force even without getting my power permit.

I could use reinforcement forms and elemental forms of force and easily form barriers.

I raised the blade above my head with one hand and slashed down in a swift movement.

"End." I said.

A small spherical barrier was formed in front of me, it sucked the cold inside and the inferno outside. I closed the barrier, it quickly shrunk to the size of a marble. I grabbed it and put it in my pocket.

Since I couldn't use dimensional forms, I could only seal and store. I would have to release this double domain somewhere else before my barrier broke.

The double domain was erased, as if it was never here.

"That was pretty easy." I heard Venti say.

"Wait here, until I return." I said and jumped to the topmost floor of the tower.

Since this was the main tower, it took me a few seconds to reach the top.

What followed was the sound of two beings meeting. I could hear clapping sounds.

(Can someone be so engrossed in something that they do not realise that they are in danger?)

"Sorry to interrupt your sessi- what the heck is happening here!?"

Even I was taken by surprise. It wasn't anything like what I had imagined.

Albaine was tied up to a chair, except he wasn't Albaine. He was a demon with two red horns jutting out of his heads.

He was in no clothing and the other person- Viviane was half undressed and her leg was held by Albaine. She was trying to break free of his grip but he had held tight.

His nails were digging into her skin. The sound was of her legs kicking against Albaine's could be heard.

Both were sweating, the reason likely being the flames outside, and were clearly exhausted.

(I see, it looks like I need to meditate more)

Venti's murky head had affected me.

I entered the room and freed Viviane who then rushed to hug me. She sobbed and hugged me tight.

I didn't object. She deserved this much, I told her to redress and tell me everything once we got out.

Considering that Albaine was a demon, I decided to kick him off the tower.

Viviane looked stunned but weirdly happy at my actions as she linked our arms.

"Don't worry, he'll live."

"Honestly I'd be happier if he died.", she said.

We got down the tower after I cast a sealing barrier on Albaine's body and assembled in the old man's study.

"Viviane tell me what happened, in detail."

"Yes father."

"After Albaine dragged me alongside him to his room, he touched me and felt me. I didn't like it so I broke free of his grasp but he quicky held my wrist and pushed me against a wall. He partially undressed me and hugged me. He placed a binding spell on me and had me pinned against the wall while he completely undressed himself,"

"I broke through easily but he lifted my dress and nearly forced himself on me but just at that moment an explosion rocked the tower. He fell back and I immediately restrained him with a binding spell of my own. But he wouldn't be bound. It was then that I hit him with an attack spell and knocked him out."

She paused and then continued.

"Then a demon appeared behind me, I got into an offensive stance but his hands were already at my neck, he told me not to move. I did so and stayed quiet. He walked over to Albaine and cast a revealing spell on him, it was at that moment that Albaine's true form came out. He was a demon."

"The demon who did this, I asked him what his purpose was here and he said that he was here to confirm something. The next moment, the flames went out and the cold disappeared. He then nodded to himself and vanished,"

"I wasn't aware at that moment but Albaine had caught my leg and was pulling himself closer to me. He grabbed my waist and tried to pull me onto himself but I quickly realized and broke loose. His nails however had dug into my leg, so I couldn't get my leg free."

"And then I came over." I finished.

"He was a demon…", Venti said slowly.

Viviane retched in disgust and said in a bold voice, "Father, I want Albaine executed."

The old man laughed and then sighed.

"Albaine is already dead."

"What?"

I knew it. There was something this old man knew that we didn't.

"That man was not Alabaine Degarmo, he was a demon from the Central Dominion pretending to be Albaine."

He looked at us and realised that we didn't quite get what was happening so he explained.

"Originally when I made contact with House Rainier, I received a letter from House Carbone, saying that the House of Rainier had been destroyed. In our letters, we formulated a plan and set up the demons who were plotting to take down House Carbone by pretending to be the Rainier's."

"They intended to take my daughter and use her as leverage to get me to support them in taking down Carbone and leaving these mountains vulnerable. A well thought out plan if I say so. But what they didn't know was that these mountains aren't truly isolated from the rest of the world."

"We have different forms of communication, which have been established for centuries now. Only with the people I truly trust, and the people of Carbone are one of those people."

"I also knew that another demon would come and save you, be it indirectly."

"Who was that demon?"

"F-Father! This was all a sham?"

"Haha, I'm sorry young one, but the truth will be revealed to the people tomorrow, how could I give my daughter to someone who isn't worthy of her! You will choose the person you marry, of course you still need my approval."

"And if you don't find anyone, I think Hope's son, Valor Carbone would be a good match for you."

"Hmph!"

After that, we each asked questions and got some answers but the though process of this old man truly fascinated me…

"All of you should get some rest, you must be tired", he said, "Besides you have a mission tomorrow don't you?"

(Ah the mission...)

"We must get going then, please excuse us." I walked out with everyone else.

"Can I come with you guys today please?", Viviane asked me, she wanted company.

"Fine, do as you wish." I hurried back to the house, sleep was important.