Clues he found

"Are you sure that you aren't making hasty assumptions?"

Her sky-blue eyes squinted with a peculiar frown. The confusion and discomfort had made her face pale.

That was only natural since what the man just told her was beyond absurd. It was least likely to be the case; no, it wasn't something that could even have a slight possibility of happening.

Then again, for the past few days, they have been encountering oddly weird things. First, the appearance of monsters, which weren't ever found within the elven forest before that time.

The elven forest was a place where no one could enter without the world tree's permission. Yet the monsters had been making frequent appearances.

Clink

He let down a small white gem with a crack on it on the top of the table. The woman staring at it was taken aback by that. It wasn't something that was meant to exist in such a place as the Elven Forest.

"Where did you find this...?"

She stared at the man with a nervous gaze. The gem was something she was familiar with. After all, it was something that led to the demise of her kind.

A long time ago, there existed a whole kingdom of the world tree, though it was a small one. Each individual from the said race had powers worthy of their title of 'world's salvation'.

Before they knew it, a certain group of individuals discovered how the powers belonging to the people of the World Tree clan were able to be extracted.

They were nothing but psychopaths who wanted to bring the world to ruins with their powers. Alas, what could one even expect of mere mortal beings like humans?

All because of their selfish desires, the world tree clan, which was considered the world's guardian, perished.

By the time of the great war against the dragons, only one world tree had survived. That was Sierra Starcrest Yggdrasil. The group that was her clan's mortal enemy vanished as if it never existed.

The tricks they tried to pull for attaining powers all ended up in failures since most of the powers were passed down to Sierra. She hid in another dimension for a few years, awaiting the chaos to settle down.

Those powers of hers got sealed by the dragon king Solas and two more dragons, though.

"It was embedded inside the basilisk's forehead."

Adrienne spoke while touching the gem with his index finger. This gem was the very one that went out flying along with the blood when he pulled out the sword from the basilisk.

Then he used his unique origin magic to get hold of the object that lay beside a bush near by. In the end, he left behind the three people accompanying him to visit Sierra.

He could tell that Sierra was having a hard time believing that that gem was the real one. His eyes remained fixed on her while he tried to figure out what he should be doing next. l

Having read the records stating what had occurred hundreds of years ago, Adrienne was aware of what the colourless shard was.

"I doubt that the appearance of monsters was a mere coincidence."

Adrienne was a cautious person, and that personality would always let him figure things out before others even noticed. This time too, he was on mark.

One or two different types of monsters making appearances would be understandable. But five? Anyone would find that odd.

"Then... what will we do now...?"

She knew that Adrienne had no reason to lie to her. Without even questioning him any further, Sierra was asking for a solution. Her worried face made Adrienne take a huge breath.

Sigh

The lips that didn't move an inch since earlier were slightly curved at the corners. A faint smile surfaced on his face as he picked up the gem.

Grabbing it tightly into his hand, his lips broke apart, forming a grin. His words followed the cracking sound of the white crystal.

"Leave it to me. I have a guess where the preparator is hiding."

He had already caught on to where the hiding spot of Ace and Jack was. Of course, he didn't have any idea as to who they were. But was that even his concern?

All he knew was that he would soon be ripping apart the people trying to harm Sierra to the point that no one would be able to recognise them.

Sierra's eyes widened at his unexpected answer. That surprise on the face was valid, though. Who would suggest looking for some people after actually locating them beforehand?

That person was none other than Adrienne. He traced back the mana imbued into the crystal, which became the reason why Ace's position got exposed. And Ace was awaiting Jack's arrival to decide what to do further.

Sierra's gaze fixed itself on the broken gem. She had a feeling that what Adrienne was saying wasn't sheer nonsense.

'Are they from the same group as that time? This gem is surely...'

The gemstone filled with mana was a harmful material for Sierra. Its mechanism was so complicated that no matter how many people tried to imitate it, all of them failed.

The mana imbued inside the crystal would easily suck out all the powers held by the world tree just by coming into contact with them. Once drained, those powers would get amplified a hundred times and would be stored within the shard.

Lastly, when the person who created it got hold of the gem, he would be able to utilise those powers at a whole new level.

"What do you plan to do with them?"

Sierra could feel that something absurd was going to happen soon. Adrienne's grin was what told her that he would soon get into a fight again.

The very next moment, dry, erratic laughter broke out. Adrienne covered his right eye with his hand and began walking out of the room.

Sierra felt chills run down her spine as she heard him speak. It was even worse than what she was expecting him to say. Adrienne closed the door right before vanishing along with his words.

"It's time to hunt them down."

-----------

"Huh?"

The man could feel his vision getting faintly hazy. The pungent-smelling odour made him cover his nose with a white handkerchief.

His deep blue eyes were fixed on the bottles of black liquid, giving off an ominous feeling. He could feel his chest getting heavy due to the lack of oxygen.

Sigh

The man beside him let out a sigh, witnessing his reaction. This unpleasant smell was something far better than those he had come across before. He brushed his hand past the earring in his right ear.

Tink tink

Along with the sound of the windchimes, the smell that was unbearable to take in faded away. The light green barrier of air covering the bottles was faint yet visible.

Puh

Soon, the man let go of the handkerchief before breathing heavily. That smell was, by all means, the worst one he had encountered so far.

"I thought I was going to die."

His pupils trembled lightly, along with his shoulders. The drop of sweat covering his temples flowed down by the jawline and reached his neck.

He could feel a chilling sensation across his body because of the cold wind. The man sitting beside him glanced at him before speaking.

"Aren't you being dramatic about that...? This smell is far better than Chimera Tiger's blood."

Hearing that, his eyes narrowed with a bitter smile on his face. Chimaera Tiger was actually a monster he had written about in his novel.

It was on a whim, but he ended up creating a four-legged monster from his imagination that had two heads, a pair of wings, the claws of an eagle, and a snake as its tail.

-Lenon threw up buckets after inhaling the smell that was even more unpleasant than the smell of the rotten garbage from his original world.

Those lines that he remembered left Jaden shivering for a split second. He shook his head sideways, trying to shake off the odd feeling. He was glad that he had not gotten to smell what the other man had just mentioned.

"What did you even do with it?"

He raised his twitching left eyebrow with an awkward smile. There weren't many uses of that blood known to normal people. That was limited to those people, not the Magic Tower Master.

Heh

Blaise giggled lightly, seeing how Jaden had a puzzled expression on his face. Jaden wasn't aware of any uses of Chinera Tiger's blood since he never mentioned it after one appearance.

"Just this and that. We have our share of research tasks with the tower, after all."

Blaise considered that it would be better not to mention anything about it at all. That blood was being used to make a medicine that would heal any disease or injury. An all-healing potion, to say.

The mages in Magic Tower were always cooped up in their labs for days researching new or existing things. That was the reason most mages were single despite their old age

Blaise was a bit different from them. If he were to try, he would've managed to swoon a girl or two. But his luck was bad when it came to dealing with women.

For example, look at Eleanor, who has been infatuated with Blaise for the past few years. He couldn't think of her as anything but a minor bother.

Precisely, he wouldn't have minded having a relationship with a beautiful woman like her. But Eleanor was too eccentric. That behaviour wasn't something Blaise really cared about, though.

There were two reasons why he had put distance between himself and her. The first was due to the lifespan they both had. And second were the positions they had to maintain.

"That just makes me curious as to what you did there."

Jaden and Blaise flinched simultaneously at Diona's sudden words. She was glaring at the two as if asking what they were wondering about while holding a wooden glass in both hands.

The three of them had been sitting by the table in the room within a wooden house next to the training grounds, waiting for Adrienne and others.

There was one last thing left to do. Reporting what had occurred at the borders of the forest was the most important task at the moment.

Aachoo-

That sound of someone sneezing was the reason that Blaise was soon having a bad feeling. It was neither one of the three in the room.

His gaze stiffly turned towards the door on the right side to him. He gulped down his own saliva nervously at the sight of the door opening while making creaking noises.

"I'm here for you~"

The figure of the person was barely visible to him as the bright light flooded Blaise's vision. But that voice—he definitely had it engraved on his mind. Not as something important, but as something chaotic.

"My prince~"

Saying that, she ran towards Blaise, who had a pale face. Not even a moment had passed when he realised that he was staring at the ceiling.

THUD

The sound of him falling to the ground reverberated through his ears, along with the pain in the back of his head. He smiled clumsily while rubbing his head.

"Y-you seem rather energetic, Eleanor."

Jaden and Diona stared at each other blankly, wondering what had happened. The person who entered the room wasn't the one they were expecting.

Diona smiled uneasily, just like Jaden, as the awkward silence graced them. She coughed once before speaking.

"If you are here, then where is Lord Adrienne?"

Eleanor's bright smile froze up at that question. She tried to avoid looking Diona in the eyes, pretending that she had no idea about it.

Crackk

The wooden glass in her hand was crushed to pieces when she unconsciously applied some strength to it. Diona's furious gaze made chills run down Eleanor's spine. She spoke nervously.

"About him..."