Chapter 308: The Ties that Bind

Late Afternoon - Mid Summer : Voldukirk | The Holy Kingdom

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- Astren Ravenna ~

"My apologies for interrupting your treat, Ladies," the priest spoke softly as we were surrounded by a veil of silence. "But I must inquire once more. Do you require the services of a guide?"

He spoke politely, but something about his tone simply sent shivers down my spine. -And with so many people around, I can't even sense his presence...-

Looking into his eyes, I felt like my soul itself was being observed.. like I was looking at something more monster than human. -Is he.. a dragon?-

"Since when did a priest require so many guards?" Elizabeth's voice instantly ripped through the silence like a cold wind.

"Hoh? I didn't expect you to be able to sense them... But you are mistaken." Several people donning heavy white and gold armor instantly revealed themselves around us, each wearing a golden balance on their chest. "My name is Barion Ilkari, a deacon of the Church of Balance. I apologize for the misunderstanding." He bowed his head slightly as he spoke.

But while Elizabeth and I were simply stunned, there was someone who wasn't.

*Clop* *Clop* *Clop* Walking her horse up to the deacon, Katherine looked down at him with a frigid gaze. "Have you heard of the name Vasilias Whyte?"

Confusion immediately washed over his confidence, but after a moment, it turned to agitation. "Whyte?" Looking up at her, he didn't bother hiding his distaste. "How does someone like you know that na-"

*Fwip* As if teleporting, the tip of Katherine's half-wrapped rapier appeared just in front of the deacon's head.

But he simply caught it on the bottom of his finger. "What a deceiving young gi-" *CRRACK* Jolting his head to the side, a white cloud instantly blew through his finger and gouged out a strip of the smooth brick road behind him.

The wall of silence around us was instantly dispelled, but rather than hearing the chatter of everyone nearby, we heard nothing.

Everyone nearby had their eyes on us, watching blood start dripping out of the hole in the deacon's finger with a look of disbelief or awe until, finally, Katherine spoke in a bone-chilling tone. "Spill what you know, this time without the aggression."

Whispers instantly filled the air around us, but after a moment, the people started to scatter, disappearing into alleyways and stores like mice hiding from a cat.

"It appears I misunderstood who the guest was... I apologize for my rudeness." Pulling his bloody finger away from her rapier, he bowed again, this time more deeply. "If I were to guess, you must be Elizabeth Valia, correct?"

He spoke confidently toward Katherine, but after just a moment, Elizabeth spoke up. "T..that would be me.. but..." Her look of shock quickly turned to skepticism. "How do you know my name..."

"I told it to him." 

Hearing a youthful man's voice, I instantly whipped my head around and met eyes with a man wearing a simple but beautiful white garb woven with gold string, proudly displaying a golden scale surrounded by a halo on his chest.

He was quite tall, with bright golden hair, and had the face of a prince, but his hands were both visibly worn from countless years of swinging a sword. -He looks like he's only twenty, but...-

At the time, I couldn't sense his presence at all, but even still, my instincts told me what I needed to know. "My name is Hephas, the Apostle of Eir, the Goddess of Balance. Please allow me to apologize for whatever my deacon has said to upset you." He immediately bowed deeply, his golden locks falling forward. "The Church of Balance values harmony and peace above all else, and I assure you, Deacon Barion's actions were not in alignment with our principles. I hope you can be forgiving."

There was a moment of silence as Elizabeth and I glanced at each other before Katherine spoke up. "In that case, do you know anything about the name Vasilias Whyte?"

He slowly straightened back up with a hint of uncertainty. "Unfortunately not, however the goddess may." Finally looking toward the deacon and paladins, the Apostle tipped his head to the side, causing them to instantly vanish into the sea of presences around us. "In any case," turning toward Elizabeth, he put on a more gentle smile. "Our Goddess Eir has taken a particular interest in you, Miss Valia, and from what I've seen today, in your companion as well."

Elizabeth was instantly taken aback. "Why would a goddess be interested in us?"

He briefly glanced at Katherine before turning back to Elizabeth. "It would be shameless of me to attempt to understand the reasoning of my god. All I must do is follow her guidance... However, I implore us to move to the church. There, we can discuss these matters.. away from prying eyes." He quickly shot a gaze over his shoulder before turning back to us with a polite air.

But while I felt like I needed to follow his word, I was hesitant. "We were advised by the Second Templar Division to stay at the Sunflower Inn until they returned."

"Do not fret." He spoke gently as if speaking to a young child. "I shall send some of our Paladins to inform the Templars of your whereabouts. They will understand."

Elizabeth instantly shot me a skeptical look upon hearing his tone, but before she could speak, Katherine turned to face him. "Only if the deacon is there."

Hephas immediately raised his hand up to his chest before looking over Elizabeth and me. "Understood. Are there any other demands?"

I quickly shook my head with reluctance before glancing at Elizabeth, looking toward Katherine with a mix of worry and confusion.

But after a moment, she lowered her gaze. "If possible, allow me to speak with your goddess."

"Why, of course." His smile slowly widened, causing me to start second-guessing myself, but rather than letting doubt fill my mind, I simply followed Katherine.

-If he has bad intentions.. I'm safest with Elizabeth and Katherine...-

And so, with a mix of reluctance and curiosity, we followed the Apostle several kilometers up the road, far past the large and extravagant Sunflower Inn, and into the upper district where everything was practically supersized, before coming up to the towering spire of a church so large, I had to question its real origin. -Was this city.. really made for humans?-

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Mid Morning - Mid Winter : Atlas | Bahamut

- Zachari Ragnarok ~

The relentless scratching of a quill against paper echoed within the confines of my office, each line written with an intensity born from mounting stress as warm morning light shined through the warped wall of glass behind me. -It's been two days... We are running out of time...-

*Shuffle* Quickly pulling out several other papers, I skimmed through them. They were the interrogation records of those believed to be tied to the incident with the Chalastis family, but no matter how many times I read through them, there were no patterns, ties, or inconsistencies. -And it's safe to assume those on the list of ties that suddenly disappeared that night are dead...-

A chill passed down my back as I thought about the sight of a colossal hole being in the place of the academy a few nights prior. -The maids have been saying Vasilias was just tired when he returned, but.. is that really something he would do without being forced into a corner?-

I felt my heart ache slightly as I thought about it, but after a moment, a soft knock interrupted my thoughts. *Knock-Knock*

"You may enter." Finally setting down the quill with my aura, I looked up to the door as it opened to see a sleek multi-winged, blue-scaled dragon with the bodily maturity of an ancient, but shrunk down to my size.

"Miss Ragnarok," she spoke in a much softer and more exhausted tone than when we spoke a few days prior.

"I already told you that you can call me Zachari. In any case, how have things been progressing on your end?"

Amphitrite's expression instantly turned troubled. "Mixed..." Continuing into my office, she closed the door with her tail and sat on one of the many cushions in front of me. "Using conflicting rumors has effectively disconnected the colors of Vasilias's scales from the event, but they have fallen short in most other aspects."

"Haah..." My sigh was heavy and filled with anxiety. "Part of me wishes I could just hand this whole mess over to the Elder Hall."

"You know as well as I that your family can't stay silent for much longer. The rumors bought us some time, but that time is starting to run out."

"I know, I know." I retorted with a hint of frustration in my voice. "The issue is that Vasilias destroyed every speck of evidence we could have used to incriminate the Chalastis family." Straightening my posture, I handed her the investigation records. "Within the academy's walls, nothing was even left recognizable, and when Sir Atsáli finally got to investigate the bottom of the pit, the only things left were artifacts made of black mythril, some shattered mana cores, and several seemingly random divinity systems..."

"How many divinity systems did he find?"

"Around thirty, but none match any of the big figures we would have expected. Poniria and all the academy executives that were supposedly there are nowhere to be seen."

"Then what if you made the divinity systems you found public knowledge and announced that the person everyone saw speaking wasn't Poniria?"

"And play it off like all the evidence of her and the professors heading into the academy doesn't exist?" I quickly tossed her a massive stack of papers. "If we had evidence to incriminate her and the professors, this would be unbelievably easy, but we simply don't... We can't hit her for possessing a restricted artifact because the rumor that the initial blast was a spell by the Ancient Fenrir has already spread, and we can't simply claim her words to be false without evidence stating otherwise."

Amphitrite's expression darkened the longer I spoke. "In that case, why don't you rule with an iron fist. Claim it without evidence and start an official public investigation to tame the masses. No one would be able to object."

"But trust in my family would plummet. Rumors have spread too far, and people are already upset..." I paused as I slowly fell into thought before mumbling to myself, "Maybe I should just proceed with what the plan Vasilias told me was..." -Announcing an alliance with the Fenrir could help, but it would simultaneously force us to take blame for destroying the academy, even if we find evidence to incriminate Poniria... Is that a cost we can take right now?-

Amphitrite immediately opened her mouth to speak, but another knock at the door cut her off. *Knock-Kncok*

Sensing two servants at the door, I momentarily set my thoughts aside. "Please enter."

A butler opened immediately to reveal Galen in his humanoid form, clutching a metal chest stained with dried blood. -What the...- "What is that?"

Walking inside, he motioned the butler to close the door before bowing to Amphitrite. "A messenger from.. the old Elder Hall.. came by with this and a message." *Clack* Setting down the heavy chest, he picked up a scroll resting on top of it and moved it to me with his aura. "This is the original message."

Quickly unrolling and reading through it, my eyes widened. "This scroll..."

"It was written by Agatha Exypnos, the one with the temporary authority of the Intelligence Agency." He held a deep bow as he spoke.

-That means this.. is real...- Slowly looking back at the scroll, my mind raced. It detailed an event that occurred at the old Elder Hall. Several ancients showed up as a group, visibly aggressive toward Myles, but one of the Ancient Fenrir killed them all, seemingly protecting Myles. -Based on how they described him.. it must have been Ilios...- "But what is the chest then?"

Galen held his bow in silence for a moment before speaking somewhat nervously. "He said one of the Ancient Fenrir gave it to him and tied it to the scroll. I don't know what is inside it."

-What?- Quickly pushing my aura into it, I sensed stacks of artifacts and medallions, with a pile of letters at the bottom, but even though there was seemingly nothing stopping me from reading them, the letters simply appeared blank to my aura. -But no one would store blank letters with broken seals...- "Could they be..."

And that was when I finally noticed the symbol on the wax used to seal the letters. -The Holy Kingdom...-