"Elders! Good eve—"
Luca had barely finished bouncing into existence when several startled cries immediately cut him off.
"ACK!"
"WHAT?!"
For once, even the usually frighteningly perceptive Elders had been caught completely off guard.
It wasn't as though they'd grown careless. Under normal circumstances, people with their skill level would've noticed someone approaching long before they got close enough to pose any threat.
Unfortunately, there wasn't exactly an approaching presence to detect when Luca and Xavier simply ported straight into the room without warning.
One moment, the Elders had been completely absorbed in their examination of the incense burner.
The next, an Imperial Crown Prince and one particularly urgent-looking little dungeon owner had practically materialized right beside them. And while the pair occasionally did something like that, they certainly didn't make a habit of suddenly appearing in the dead of night!
Several heads whipped around.
