15. A Draph Country Valtz Duchy

Heya sorry for half of length chapter kinda busy with Eid Al-Fitr and meeting so many family members and others

Don't forget to give me your feedback on this chapter

Thank you ~

<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >

Valtz Duchy

A Draph country where scorching heat slumbers beneath the land. Due to the intense temperatures below ground, a river of lava flows there without ever hardening. Prosperity is wide-spread thanks to a steel industry that takes advantage of the heat of the land and Draph handiness. The grandest factory in all of Phatagrande Skydom is located here, laboring day and night. Metal vessels forged in Valtz are famed for being robust, beautiful, and of the best quality. They fetch a high price throughout the Skydom.

[IMAGE]

"Hahhhh, this place is really hot..." Lyria's voice was heard.

They all finally arrived at Valt duchy because they were curious why Drang and Sturm had sent them there.

But as soon as they set foot on the island, they could immediately feel the hot air in the air.

"Well, what can you do, Valt duchy is an island surrounded by very active magma under its surface," Katalina wiped her sweat because she was wearing a metal armor that didn't help at all.

They then exited the place where they had landed and started walking around the city.

But all they could see from the city was smoke coming out of many houses because they were working on something.

"Hm... I see the factories here are as lively as ever. But I've never seen so many Draphs in one place," Rackam said, touching his chin.

Talking about Draphs, Lyria and Djeeta were annoyed about something, while Rei was amazed that there were so many Draphs in one place.

'Oh wow... there are so many Draphs in this place, the male Draphs are really tall and I don't know why they all have such big muscles, while the females are short but always have such large chests,' Rei looked amazed by the Draph race.

He even more interested in seeing other races like Erune and Harvin now.

"But is it just me, or do things seem a little on edge here?" Katalina telling them.

As they walked around, they felt like someone was following and watching them.

Vyrn tried to eavesdrop on the conversations of the people around and then returned back.

"Everyone's talking about the archduke going missing. Word has it the Erste Empire kidnapped him..." Vyrn informed them of what he heard.

"The empire?" Lyria heard the word 'empire' and felt a little scared, remembering what had happened in Port Breeze.

"Well, if it isn't Captain and friends! Are you enjoying the view of the city?" They heard a familiar voice.

They turned to see Sierokarte welcoming them.

They were all silent, seeing Sierokarte suddenly appearing here when she was still in Port Breeze before.

"hmm? Why are you all so quiet?" Sierokarte asked them, tilting her head.

"eh? Sierokarte? How are you here? Weren't you still in Port Breeze when we left?" Djeeta asked Sierokarte.

"I am both everywhere and nowhere!" Sierokarte answered cheerfully.

"ahhh... that's kinda scary not gonna lie," Rei spoke.

"Hahaha~ Anyway, I have a job for you all!"

"That was a pretty sudden task," Lyria spoke upon hearing Sierokarte.

"This mission is quite sudden, so follow these secret instructions to meet a man named Christophe of the Valtz Duchy. The town is in an uproar, so be careful. Even I'm being watched..." Sierokarte briefed them on their task and instructed them to be cautious.

"We also feel like we're being watched as we walk around the town," Rei replied to Sierokarte.

After Djeeta agreed to accept the task from Sierokarte, they all began to head towards the designated meeting place with the client.

As they walked, suddenly Katalina whispered in a low tone so only they could hear, "Rackam! Djeeta! Rei!"

"Yes, it seems like they are still following us," Rei knew why Katalina called them.

"Someone from the empire?" Djeeta asked Katalina.

"Definitely not the empire, this is unusual for them. The empire would usually just attack... no questions asked," Katalina replied.

Vyrn discreetly turned to look behind to see who was following them, but he struggled to find them because there were so many people around.

"So what are we going to do?" Lyria asked them.

"For now, let's just ignore those following us until we find an opportunity to capture them," Djeeta informed them.

"It seems that will be difficult... I can sense that the person following us is using magic to create illusions so they won't be found," Katalina told them.

"More importantly, for now let's ignore those following us and head to the location mentioned by Sierokarte," Rei sometimes wished he had a system that could provide skills like analysis or abilities to show the status of others.

After they arrived at the location, they were greeted by a male draph wearing clothing that made him look important.

[IMAGE]

"I presume you're the crew that Sierokarte sent."

"Yup! You sure chose a suspicious place to rendezvous!" Djeeta responded to the draph.

"Our top priority is secrecy."

After saying that, he checked to see if Djeeta and the others were being followed. Seeing that no one was following them, he began to explain their task.

"I would like your assistance in locating none other than Tzaka the Great, the Archduke of Valtz. Whoever did it was smart enough not to leave behind any clues."

"If you accept my request, I have some... documents you may be interested in." The man suddenly took out a book from his clothing.

Before Rei could ask about their reward for accepting this task, Rackam suddenly took the book and started reading it.

"A record of the archduke's steps just before he disappeared. Talk about detailed..." Rackam spoke while reading the book.

Seeing Rackam immediately reading the book without questioning the reward, they all sighed and facepalm.

"Hey, don't you realize what you just did? You agreed to help the minute you looked at those papers!" Djeeta shook her head in Rackam's direction.

"Well..." Rackam realized it and slowly closed the book, looking away.

"Don't worry, if y'all successfully found Archduke Tzaka. I will give a good reward." The man spoke and then left, being cautious in case anyone was following him.

"All right, Everyone! Let's check all the locations mentioned in these papers!" Djeeta took the book from Rackam and went to the last known location of the archduke.

<Next Day>

After a day of searching for clues about the archduke, they didn't find anything at all.

They then rented an inn and continued their search the next day.

"Searching for the archduke is like trying to find a needle in a haystack," Lyria said, wiping her sweat as they were now in a valley where magma flowed below, making the air very hot, especially during the daytime.

"All we've heard is rumor after fishy rumor. Nothing close to the kind of evidence we need..."

"There's even talk about the archduke and empire teaming up to create a doomsday device. The rumor mill just never stops."

Katalina glanced back to check if anyone was still following them, but after not sensing anyone, she looked ahead again.

"Whatever was trailing us yesterday seems to have disappeared too."

"Hey! What're you doing? Let me go!" suddenly Rei heard the voice of a girl and the sound of a monster seemingly fighting each other.

Upon hearing this, Rei immediately ran towards the source of the sound, shocking the others as Rei suddenly left them.

"Rei!?"

Rei continued to approach the sound he heard and saw Io fighting some monsters. Rei quickly used his new sword given by Djeeta and slashed a monster holding Io's magic staff.

"Hey, are you okay?" Rei stood in front of Io and saw three monsters remaining after Rei slashed one of them.

"Eh?... I'm okay, thank you for saving me," Io was surprised because she didn't expect anyone to be near this valley.

Io saw the person who helped her wearing a cloak and wondered is it not strange to wear a cloak in such a hot place?.

Although Rei wore a cloak, his body as an archangel wouldn't get too hot easily, so he had no problem wearing heavy clothes.

The reason Rei wore a cloak was because of his distinctive white hair, and Lucilius face was too handsome.

Rei then used the same technique he used when fighting Drang, and his sword started changing color to black.

He then slashed his sword, and an aura attack flew towards the direction of the three monsters. When his attack touched the monsters, there was a large explosion that was enough to kill all three monsters.

"Kyaaaa!" Io protected her face as the wind from Rei's attack made nearby rocks fly.

After the wind died down, Io saw that the monsters were all dead and noticed the crater left by Rei's attack.

She didn't expect a human to create an attack like that without using magic, but before she could ask who the person was, she heard several people running towards their location.

Io panicked and didn't want to be found, so she used magic to disappear from that place.

"Rei?" Djeeta's and the others' voices were heard as they searched for Rei, as the smoke from Rei's attack made it hard for them to see around them.

"I'm here!" Rei shouted towards them, and the smoke slowly started to disappear.

Upon hearing Rei's voice, they started heading towards the source of the sound and easily found Rei as the smoke had cleared.

"Why did you suddenly run like that? And what was that explosion sound earlier?" Vyrn asked Rei while looking around.

Rei then told them about the recent events and informed them about the girl he had encountered earlier, but she disappeared after Rei defeated the monsters.

"So, do you think that girl was the one following us?" Katalina asked Rei.

Hearing that, Rei said that it was likely the girl who had been following them because the girl was a magician, and Katalina mentioned sensing magic when someone was following them.

Curious about who the girl was, they agreed to return to Sierokarte and ask her for information about the girl.