The least expected - I

"Here. As you requested, this is fifty percent of my gold."

His right hand gestured in the direction where a few chests filled with things made out of gold were lying. Seemingly, they were more than what a person could even carry by himself.

Snap

But that didn't matter. With a single snap of her fingers, just like how she had pulled out the relic, all that gold disappeared into thin air. A faint, strange smile flashed on her lips as she did that.

The man's body flinched, seeing the gold disappear in front of his own eyes. It wasn't the feeling of surprise but nervousness that brewed within his heart.

"Hand over the relic now."

"Why such haste? I have no intentions of going back on my words either."

Swoosh

The Heart of Sands floated in the air before finally dashing towards the man. Instinctively, he put his right hand forward, attempting to catch it. The winds made huge echoes when the orb fell into his hand.

The anger boiling his blood wasn't something that could be calmed down easily, but it did. His gaze, with a short sigh of relief, fell upon the brown orb, all fine in his own hands.

That's when he came across an unreasonable situation. His eyes wide open, he found himself staring at an empty space. The woman had disappeared from the room in that split second when he caught the orb.

With no expression on his face, he stared down at the rose petals that fell down in the very place the woman was standing. His lips twitched while extending outward to form an odd smile.

"Emissary Aliana... Just what in the world was her deal...?"

No matter how much he thought about it, Kamran would've never reached a conclusion. And since it was already in the past, it didn't matter to him anymore.

After all, the national treasure had been recovered by Kamran. The culprit behind the theft had escaped, but thinking over it again, Kamran decided not to chase her.

Aliana had gotten past all that security to steal the treasure under the light of day. Kamran didn't know for sure if it was her who did it or someone else, but the culprit definitely seemed like a person not to get involved with.

That's why he left that matter alone. Or at least, that's what he thought would be best for everyone. But there was something no one was aware of. And the day Kamran finds out about it, it might be very late to even do something about it.

-In some other place-

"How did you even manage to pull this off?"

Her green eyes had a confused look in them while glaring at the small leather pouch overflowing with gold coins. Her lips curled up in awkwardness.

"By speaking."

"That's not what I..."

Sigh

Before she could realise it, she had facepalmed herself. How could she not after hearing that absurd answer? She felt as if it was her own mistake to even ask that question.

After making her escape from the palace, Aliana and the rest were hiding in a corner of the city. To get out of the Sabbianyth Empire, they would need to wait until night fell.

At night, they could easily sneak out of the city without taking much risk. Even though guards would be patrolling outside, it wouldn't take Aliana much effort to get everyone out of the city. That was one thing.

What really concerned her at the moment was where they planned to head next. Getting in there would take them a bit too long, given how secluded that part of the continent was.

"Sister, sister. Where is Miss Rudia?"

Melanie tucked into Claire's robe's sleeve while asking that question. That made Claire's talk with Aliana come to a stop. She glanced around before bending a bit.

Claire's hands stretched out onto the table as she let her chin touch the surface of the table. Melanie could do nothing but stare at Claire.

"Don't ask me. I wasn't the one who talked with her last time."

Before Rudia left, Claire wasn't the one who spoke with her. The last one who had a talk with Rudia was no one else other than Aliana.

Claire did speculate that Aliana had ordered Rudia to do some work for her, though.

Even Melanie could tell how exhausted Claire was feeling after all of that. Not to mention the constant sighs of Claire. Once she heard Claire say that, Melanie didn't question her any further.

Despite having met a few weeks ago, Claire and Melnaie had gotten close very quickly. Melanie was clueless about most things, but Claire was there to explain it all to her.

Aliana gazed at the two of them sitting by the table. And then she looked outside the window beside her.

The storm hovering over the skies of the Sabbianyth Empire had died out. Aliana's lips gapped as a thought ran through her mind.

'I wonder how he is doing right now.'

-----------------

Sigh

The cold temperature of the floor was being partially felt by the man on the back of his head. All the thinking he had been doing for the past few hours had left him exhausted.

Had it not been for the things he experienced a while ago, he would've been enjoying his nap time. Sadly, that wasn't possible at the moment.

His deep blue eyes fixed on the open sky above the training grounds. The sky blue colour had become darker with a tint of orange near one edge.

'To draw out a conclusion...'

Even though he was aware that there were more chances of being wrong, the man chose to assume things. Aside from assuming uncertain facts, there was nothing else he could've done.

'Aliana Rosenstein...'

She was the very person who happened to be in the centre of everything that occurred. As if the world revolved around her, Aliana was the one playing the main role.

There were three things Jaden understood completely about Aliana Rosenstein. The very Aliana whom he met in person and not the one in the original story.

Firstly, Aliana was the type of person who would prepare a plan beforehand. No matter what kind of situation they got dragged into, Aliana always took safe steps.

Secondly, unlike in the original story, she possessed mana. That fact alone was more than enough to make Jaden understand that Aliana in the novel and the one he met were a lot different.

Lastly, her aim. Jaden figured out what Aliana's goal was. There were chances that she had more than one goal, but Jaden was able to point out at least one of those. It was something that gave Jaden goosebumps.

"Demon Lord, huh..."

He mumbled to himself while covering his eyes underneath his left arm. The whisper-like voice wouldn't have been heard by anyone. Or maybe not?

A cold breeze moved past Jaden's whole body. Instinctively, he flipped back up and started scanning his surroundings. Maybe it was his imagination. There was no one present there aside from himself.

Hah

He let out a sigh of relief upon realising that no one had heard him. Mentioning the term 'Demon Lord' and alike would definitely be bad. At least on the land where the elves lived, it would be bad if someone heard it.

In fact, in the original novel, the term 'Demon Lord' was considered taboo for some races. The only races that mentioned it were humans and a few other similar races.

In most places, it existed in the form of tales, legends, and myths being passed down to future generations. As if it never even existed.

Since it had been a few dozens of years since the Demon Lord went missing, there were no major issues or threats. That simply meant one thing...

'Chances of coming across that monster...'

They were almost zero. There were always reasons behind everything that happened. If the Demon Lord had disappeared, there must've been some serious reason too.

That was the last thing Jaden could think of. Why the last thing, you ask? The reason was simple: something, or rather, someone, had caught his attention.

"Lord Jaden..."

His right eye twitched as he turned around to face the person he had sent away a while ago. An awkward smile glistened on his lips as he saw the red-haired man.

"What is it now, Tower Master?"

"Nothing... That person is looking for you..."

"What? Who is?"

"Well..."

Hearing what Blaise just said, Jaden didn't waste a single moment and just ran out of the training grounds. Maybe he heard the name wrong?

It didn't matter. At last, someone unexpected had come looking for him. But who was that person? That would be a certain someone he knew a bit about. Still, he couldn't just believe it.

'That must be a joke...'

His thoughts couldn't leave him alone as he continued to dash with all his might. The door to the room where Sierra was attending that person finally came into his field of view.

Clankk

He turned the doorknob with a strange nervousness in his heart. As the door slowly creaked open, a light smile rose on Jaden's pale face. He gulped down his own saliva with only one thought on his mind.

'There's only one way to find out...'