Chapter 10 : The Fault (5)

Hoff Praya Crestia had managed to reach the Mylen Manor. The place was about 1,500 acres and surrounded by trees of the forest. When he entered the main entrance, a servant greeted him.

“Good afternoon, Court Advisor. Mistress Mylen is currently taking her milk bath. Please wait at the throne room,” said the servant.

“I thank thee for the information. I will wait for the mistress at the throne room,” said Hoff continuing his walk to the throne room.

Inside the room, there’s a roundtable for the court advisors and one luxurious throne property of Lady Victoria Mylen. No one else seemed to be inside the room, making Hoff quite nervous and sceptical of his summons.

(Something is wrong…) Thought Hoff.

Not long after, the door opened again as Victoria and her servants entered the room. Victoria had porcelain skin, graceful long hair with pink colour, red-coloured eyes, and topped with her alluring smile.

“Greetings, Hoff Praya Crestia, my ever so loyal court advisor,” said Victoria.

“Greetings, My Mistress. On what purpose shall I serve you?” Hoff bowed down to her waiting for her command.

“Oh, no need for such salutations you may rise, my court advisor,” Victoria slightly chuckles. She then walked through the roundtable and sat on the throne. In response, Hoff sat down too at the roundtable. Victoria then snapped her finger, and the servants poured the tea into a cup and served them to Hoff and herself.

Victoria and Hoff then sipped the tea, sharing a moment of silence before the Lady opened the topic of his summons.

“Regarding your summons, Hoff. It has come to my attention that an incident had happened in the Priscote town, southeast of our province.”

“By incident, do you mean the battle between the Golden Knight and the Dark Knight, my lady?”

“Precisely, you have heard the news regarding that matter,” Mylen stopped to sip from the teacup. “The matter at hand is that The Prince, had given intel that one of the Dark Knight’s syndicate escaped the Priscote town and entered this province.”

(The Prince? It was relatively rare for him to interact with other lords this openly, but The Dark Knight also in this matter. Things just got dire.) Thought Hoff.

Victoria sips again from the teacup and continues, “We need to plan and lure the target out of hiding. However, you must know by now how corrupt my advisors are. They do not care for things other than wealth and would rather let me handle all the decisions. That is except for you,” Victoria points at Hoff.

“I want you to lead the investigation starting by interrogating The Flicher, who was just caught by your son, Marlon Unis Crestia.”

“I will do it at once, my lady.”

“Great. Ask the Flicher anything you might need to know since she used to be my stewardess. She would know plenty of things in the province, and I suspect she had something to do with the infiltration,”

“Yes, my lady.”

“One more thing, use any way to make her speak. I expect results from you, my outstanding court advisor.”

“I will, my lady.”

“Then you are dismissed. If you ever need my counsel, feel free to stop by,” Victoria said, sipping yet another time from the teacup.

“Then I will be off. Thank you for your kindness, my Lady,” Hoff rose and bowed to Victoria. He walked away and exited the room.

“hhhhm”, Victoria giggles.

***

(Why is the lighting is so dim? I can’t really see very clearly) Xaviel thought.

Xaviel is inside the North tunnel hallway, walking towards the unknown to accomplish his mission. The hallway was 5 meters in width, so it wasn’t so suffocating, and as a way to prevent himself from getting lost, he had traced his steps with the tree sap he got in the south room.

Squeak-Squeak

(SHIT! Is that a mouse?) Xaviel panicked a little as he observed his surrounding in the hallway and noticed a silhouette emerge from the darkness.

“Oh no… Don’t tell me….”

“HAGHHH”

The figure hiss in hostility towards Xaviel.

“It’s a giant rat!”

As Xaviel raised his tone, the rat charged towards him. He took out his dagger and prepared a stance. The rat then body slams him as he falls to the ground.

“Agh!!!”

The giant rat looks like a mutated or hybrid rat. It had spikes on the top surface of its body as the eyes were glowing red like that of an albino rat.

Xaviel then bounced back to his original stance and took out a tree sap vial. He then threw it towards the rat’s face. Making the eyes covered with goo minimizing their sight.

The rat frantically moves, trying to remove the goo, and in this instance, Xaviel swiftly moves close to the rat.

“VERTICAL CUT!” Xaviel stabs the rat’s head bottom to top simultaneously using his Phantom Armament. He lets the blade hit anything inside the rat’s body except its bone. This let his dagger go through the rat’s skull and straight to crush its brain. However, since it is only a dagger, Xaviel needs to push his hand inside the rat’s head quite a bit because if not, it wouldn’t reach the brain.

The rat then stopped its movement seconds after Xaviel stabbed it. He then took his hand out of the rat’s head to reveal it was covered in blood and green goo. As Xaviel tries to wipe his hand on the stone wall around him. His gaze suddenly went blurry.

“What the?”

His feet suddenly felt weak, making him tumble to the ground

“Why... am I?”

He starts feeling a bit dizzy

“What the hell is happening.”

With his determination, he used the dagger in his hand and tried to get up. Only to fall again to the ground.

“I… Must. Reach. Go Back.”

Xaviel was talking incoherently as he crawled with the help of his dagger back to the cellar room. He crawls and gets nearer and nearer, but as he reaches the door, it is locked.

“Ha...H..e..l-Hel..p”

With little energy left, Xaviel closed his eyes.

.

.

“That’s it!” Xaviel shouted, and with his little energy, he used his knife imbued with Phantom Armament and stabbed the door handle. The dagger went through the wood and the handle.

(Now!! I’ll Make the dagger tangible to the Lock!)

BRUAK!!!

The lock part of the door suddenly burst, creating a medium hole that returned the door’s ability to be opened. Xaviel ran and stumbled into the south room. He crawled desperately and held out his hand to reach the tree’s root. Unfortunately, his body froze when he was just centimetres away.

BRUK

He is now sprawling on the ground, immobilized.

“I ….”

Drip!