Markus Luna's Fate

"Hm?"

Fae frowned and looked up at the sky. She saw a giant pillar of light in the distance.

"That is…?"

Sebastian was standing inside a circle drawn on the floor.

"It's too far for Karya's influence to see. I'll have to go there personally."

Sebastian felt Fae use some energy for a brief moment before she stepped onto the empty air and a chariot with two horses, all made of gold manifested itself.

"It's most likely Lord Markus Luna's attack. Would you like to come with me?"

"Yes."

Sebastian took her hand and stepped onto the chariot as well.

The horses neighed and began stomping their hooves on the ground. Slowly, the chariot fell off the edge of the mountain and then flew through the air.

Strangely, Sebastian didn't feel as if he would fall at all. Even though he could feel the wind brushing past him because of the chariot's speed.

It didn't take long for them to reach the place where the pillar of light had appeared.

"?!"

Sebastian's eyes widened as he saw Markus' carriage broken in half with several burnt corpses scattered around everywhere.

He didn't wait for the chariot to slow down and directly leaped off and approached the carriage.

"..."

As he approached, he could feel his heart beating faster and faster. He looked inside the wreckage and trembled.

Bryan, with his chest wide open and his heart missing, was laying there without a single breath of life inside him.

He hadn't died for very long, though at the very least, it had been a couple of minutes.

Sebastian then saw a ring on the ground along with ashes. He bent over to pick it up.

"This is…"

"That's the ring that Lord Markus always had on his left ring finger."

Fae arrived from behind him and spoke. She took a look at the surrounding bodies that were charred and unrecognizable with cold eyes.

"There are only a few capable of getting rid of Lord Markus Luna so easily. The ones that can are all present at the peak of the mountain. I hadn't felt their presence disappear, even with Karya's powers."

Fae could see that Sebastian was having trouble accepting the situation. He was breathing rapidly and his entire body was trembling.

His hand that was holding the ring couldn't stay still.

—He isn't dead.

"Ah…?"

—Even when dead, every living thing still emanates a bit of life force that seeps out of them slowly. Even if their body is turned into ash or nothing at all, they will still emanate some life force. It shouldn't be possible for Fae to sense it, but I can.

As a living hamadryad connected with nature and life, she was more attuned to the presence of life force than anyone.

—This isn't Markus Luna, but someone else. The ring was most likely left behind so people would think that he's dead.

"..."

Sebastian bit his lip and stood up. He took the ring and kept it in his pocket. If Markus really was captured, then Sebastian needed to keep the ring for him and deliver it to Amy.

He approached Bryan's corpse with its eyes still open and closed them.

"Do you want to bury them?"

"...please."

Though they could also try and search for the culprits as it hadn't been long since Bryan and the others were killed, there wasn't any guarantee that they were still in the area.

Fae helped him in digging out a few graves as they buried the bodies. Sebastian then put some wood as tombstone and carved the names of those he could identify.

"About Lord Markus…"

"He's alive."

"Pardon?"

"He's alive, my hamadryad could tell."

"..."

If it was just Sebastian's hunch, then Fae would just brush him off. However, it was a different story if Balanos was the one to affirm it.

"I'll do something about this. You should go ahead and go home. In a month and a half, when your father and everyone else have arrived in Aurum, you will be able to know what happens. However, if I were to try and search for the culprit, I wouldn't be able to return for at least half a year. Can you last that long?"

"Yes, I can."

"Do you have any leads as to who would do this? It might help speed up my search."

"The King of the Underworld."

Fae frowned.

"Are you certain?"

"Lord Markus had told me before, that the one after me was the King of the Underworld."

"...I see. If it's that man, then he could certainly get some control over the three Sages that had attended the summit. Then, two years… no, a year. I'll try and do it within a year. I will ascertain the location of Markus Luna."

Though Fae wanted to ask why the King of the Underworld wanted Sebastian for, she stopped herself. There were secrets that could and couldn't be shared.

"Where will I be able to contact you?"

"Blue Rose. Just tell them that you're sending a message to Fox."

Sebastian had dropped all pretense with Fae. She was just helping him as a favor and he was really thankful to her but he had no choice but to take advantage of her good will.

Fae called for the chariot once again and Sebastian was sent back to Aurum using the circle.

…

"Hahaha!"

A person covered in green armor from head to toe cackled maniacally.

"Those idiots actually fell for the trap!"

The person walked out of the forest and then toward the carriage. He took a small orb hidden in one of the seats and pressed his hand against it.

"Perfect. I've got to thank Aurora's royal family and Markus Luna for bringing this with them."

What the person held in their hands was the orb that allowed contact with the other orbs. But, there was another function that it held.

It was able to record what it sees, though it could only record something once.

"For Markus… then using flames to burn him to a crisp. Then, take the part where he buries the bodies… and done!"

The person laughed again and held up two fingers to his temple. The helmet they wore suddenly disappeared and Sebastian's face appeared.

"It's me. I've got the orb with the falsified memory."

…

When Sebastian opened his eyes, he was standing on a grass field overlooking Aurum from a distance.

He clenched his fist and sat down.

He also remembered the last conversation he had with Fae before he left.

"You don't need to hide the fact that you teleported there. But, do not tell anyone about what has happened to Lord Markus. In a couple of days, the three houses will come and check on the graves.

"At that time, I will explain what had happened to them. Once they return to Aurum, I doubt that they can keep the news of Markus' supposed death for too long. At that time, there will be chaos. You will have to rely on the power of the remaining three major houses to keep yourself safe.

"Once I tell them of the news, I will depart and will be unable to interfere with anything else. For at least a year, you will have to survive any of the Sage's plots until I return."

—You want to tell Amy but you can't. You want to warn her about the Sage but you can't. This whole situation seems a bit familiar, doesn't it?

"..."

It was just like with the stigma. He had only told Mile about it and nobody else.

—I doubt everything will go according to her plan. She may be strong but it doesn't look like she's very wise. If the Sage killed Markus, he would definitely want to spread the news to sow chaos.

Though Amy already knew that a Sage was after Sebastian, how would she react if she found out that her father had been attacked and possibly killed?

"...I'll tell her."

—Are you sure? If the Sage finds out that she knows the truth behind Markus' death, then she will become a target as well.

"Even so, I can't let her live in the dark forever."

—Do as you like.

"I will."

Sebastian entered the capital through the shadows. It was already night. Though he wanted to tell Amy about Markus as soon as possible, the fatigue from everything that had happened all came washing in.

Without greeting his mother or anyone else in the estate, he went into his room and slept. Balanos was also feeling tired and decided to sleep as well.

Unbeknownst to him and Balanos, someone had been waiting and approached him.

…

"...Huh?"

Sebastian sat up on his bed.

"Why am I here?"

—You teleported here yesterday. What are you talking about?

"What do you mean? I had just sent off Lord Markus last night and went to sleep."

—…

Balanos appeared outside of Sebastian's body and frowned.

"Last night, I was hit by a wave of drowsiness. I had thought it was a backlash from my armor being called upon but it looks like it wasn't so simple."

Balanos neared Sebastian and placed her hand on his head.

"Your memories have been erased. You have no knowledge of a day's worth of memories."

Sebastian's eyes shot open. The drowsiness that was still plaguing him vanished in an instant.

"You mean to tell me that someone came in here last night, put you to sleep, and then manipulated my memories?"

"The possibility is high. I'll tell you about everything that I know—"

The door opened and Martha walked in. Balanos went back inside Sebastian's soul before she could be spotted.

"Young master! What are you doing here?"

"...I arrived here yesterday."

Sebastian decided to first go with what Balanos had told him and got out of bed. After tidying up his clothes lightly, Martha eyed him with a strange look on her face.

"I'll go and greet mother."

"Young master… Could it be that you don't know?"

"Hm?"

Martha bit her lip and hesitated to speak.

"Last night, a meeting was called. Every Inheritor in the city was informed and by extension, us. Soon, the entire city will know as well."

Sebastian felt a sense of foreboding in Martha's words as he frowned.

"What is it?"

"Lord Markus Luna is dead."