During their discussion with Duke Rowena, the group was led to a spacious suite to take a short rest.
Once the three were settled, Duke Rowena hurriedly left with Blake, mentioning that lunch would be sent directly to them later.
Midir watched the father and son depart, a sense of doubt inevitably rising in his heart.
“Why do I feel like we’re not very welcome? Duke Rowena’s attitude seems... how should I put it? Abnormal? It felt like he said a lot during our conversation, yet at the same time, he said nothing at all.”
“I have that feeling too. Could it be that they’re a bit wary of you, Sister Aila? But this isn't the Royal Capital!” Rosal, finally relaxing, flopped onto the sofa in the room and hugged a soft pillow as she responded.
“True. If Ferdinand and the others had entered the Azure Fortress as the Royal Guards, it would be easier to explain. After all, no one likes another power directly entering their base. But their attitude today is indeed subtle...”
As Aila spoke, she walked lightly to the door, opened it a crack, and peered outside.
“What is it? Is someone out there?” Midir asked curiously, seeing her mysterious behavior.
“No, I just suspect we’re being monitored. Though I haven’t noticed any unusual movement, perhaps I’m overthinking it?” Aila carefully surveyed the situation outside through the crack before closing the door again.
“Let’s just rest for now and see how things develop. You two have been exhausted these past few days. Maybe your feeling is wrong.”
Midir patted the still-suspicious Aila, then chose a sofa to sit on and closed his eyes to rest.
“I hope so... Little Rosal, let’s go to the bedroom and rest too.” Seeing Midir sitting as still as a monk in deep meditation, Aila could only lead Rosal into the bedroom.
However, throughout the rest of the day, no one approached the room except for a few guards who delivered their meals on a small trolley at mealtimes. This only made the situation feel even more eerie to the three of them.
...
“No, I feel like there’s definitely something wrong here. I’m going out to take a look!”
As midnight approached, Aila finally couldn’t take it anymore. She stood up, intending to push the door open and leave, but Midir grabbed her arm.
“If there really is a problem, won’t rushing out like that be giving ourselves away?” Midir said calmly, looking at the anxious Aila.
Seeing Midir trying to stop her, a surge of irritation rose in Aila’s heart. She frowned, her tone laced with impatience.
“Then what are we supposed to do? Just sit here and wait? We haven’t heard anything from Blake or Ronald yet. What if something happened to them?”
“We don’t have to just sit and wait. We can go out after a bit of a disguise, right Rosal?” Midir smiled and turned to look at Rosal.
“Huh? What do you mean, Mr. Midir?” Rosal, who had been lost in her own thoughts, was startled by the sudden mention of her name and nearly bounced off the sofa.
“Don’t you remember? That cloak Aila took you to get from Ronald when we left the Royal Capital. I believe it was made from Shadow Leopard skin?” Midir said with a smile, pointing to the black cloak hanging on the rack behind her.
“Oh! That’s right! Mr. Ronald said this cloak comes with the Shadow Leopard’s innate skill, ! It’s supposed to work best at night. Mr. Midir, do you want to... use this to go out?”
Only then did Rosal recall the introduction Ronald had given her. Because she had been following Midir’s group, she had almost no chance to act along the way, so the large black cloak had been kept in her bag as a decoration.
“Exactly. Smart girl! I can take Aila and teleport out of the room directly. While going too far at once might not be realistic, staying within the castle shouldn’t be a problem.”
After praising Rosal, Midir waved Aila over. He took the cloak from Rosal, unfurled it, and draped it over both their heads.
“It might be a stretch to cover both of us with this cloak. Aila, lean in a bit closer. If we crouch down a little, it should be about right.” Seeing their feet still exposed, Midir frowned and signaled Aila to bend down with him.
At this moment, their bodies were pressed tightly together, and they could clearly hear each other’s breathing. Aila’s eyes met Midir’s; the distance of only a few centimeters made her nervous, and she could feel a warmth beginning to rise in her cheeks.
Midir, however, looked perfectly normal. He simply looked down to check the length of the cloak, and after a satisfied grunt, he activated the skill attached to it.
With a faint rustling sound, their figures under the cloak gradually faded, blending into the surrounding environment.
“It really works! I can’t even see you clearly from this close!” Rosal whispered in pleasant surprise as she looked at their blurred silhouettes.
“That’s good. Rosal, you stay in the room and stay alert. We’ll go out, take a look, and come back. Take this—if anything happens, notify us immediately!”
After receiving her positive feedback, Midir took the communication stone Aila had given him out of his storage space and handed it to her.
“O-okay! You two be careful!”
Rosal took the white communication stone, clutched it tightly in her hand, and nodded to them.
“Right, we’re off!” After saying that, Midir grabbed Aila’s small hand. A faint spatial ripple appeared around them, and they vanished from the room.
With a soft thud of feet hitting the ground, the two arrived on a rooftop a hundred meters away from the room.
The lights that had shone as bright as day in the fortress during the daylight hours had long since dimmed, with only indicator lights remaining on at regular intervals.
The two carefully hid themselves in the shadows of the roof. Aila pulled the cloak off her head, looked around for a moment, and then whispered to Midir.
“Hmm... it seems there really are no guards or hidden sentries nearby. Could I have actually been wrong?”
“Whether you were wrong or not, since we’re already out, there’s no point in returning empty-handed. Do you have a direction in mind? Or should we just search bit by bit? That would take too much time...” Midir replied in a low voice, frowning.
“Of course not. You didn’t really think I knew nothing about the Azure Fortress, did you?”
Seeing his troubled expression, Aila gave a playful smile and pulled a folded piece of parchment from her pocket.
Under the glow of the indicator light above, Aila gently spread the parchment on the ground.
Although the paper wasn't large, it detailed the basic layout and facilities of the entire Azure Fortress with extreme precision, even marking certain escape routes and hidden armories.
Seeing the map Aila produced, Midir couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.
“Didn’t you say this morning that you’d only been here once and weren’t familiar with it? How did you even get an internal map?”
“It’s called being prepared for any contingency! Although this data is several years old, the general layout won’t be wrong. I couldn't exactly tell Duke Rowena to his face that I know everything, could I? Come on, let’s look together. Where should we go first?”
Aila gave an impatient wave of her left hand and signaled Midir to lean in so they could study their next move together.
Midir leaned down, skimmed the map, and tapped his long finger on the Lord's Manor located in the very center.
“How about we check the Lord's Manor first? If Blake returned, he should be staying there. Then we can see if there are any areas large enough and suitable to serve as a laboratory.”
“Alright, let’s check the Lord's Manor first! You know the direction now, right?” Having said that, Aila quickly tucked the map away and ducked back under the cloak.
Midir grabbed her hand again, merging their bodies into the surrounding space.
A moment later, they landed at the base of a perimeter wall in the rear courtyard of the Lord's Manor. Not far away stood the brightly lit manor itself.
This teleportation distance was clearly more than ten times longer than the first, and without preparation, it did indeed cause some discomfort.
Aila rubbed her slightly dizzy head and then glanced at Midir, who looked as composed as ever, thinking to herself.
“Isn’t teleporting with someone else supposed to be more exhausting? How come this guy has no reaction at all?”
Under the cover of the cloak, the two approached the solemn outer wall of the Lord's Manor like phantoms in the night.
They crouched low against the wall. Aila quickly scanned the surroundings with her keen gaze and soon discovered something unusual.
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