The carriage that Hal and his group were riding in soon arrived at the palace, only to come to a stop a few meters from the palace gates.
Hal looked out the window and saw numerous carriages that were much grander than theirs; they were all decorated with gems and minerals that made looking at them in the gleaming sunlight difficult.
Hal's eyes hurt just from him looking at them, making Hal retreat into the dimmer carriage, his eyes adjusted to the dimmer lighting, as Hal felt happier with less light forcing its way into his eyes.
"So, what's going on out there?"
Lyrrah asked with curiosity in her voice as Hal turned to his friend, who had been attacked just before they left, and now lay sleeping opposite him and Lyrrah.
"There is a huge line outside; it seems we are the only ones visiting the palace today"
"Well, it is expected since the selection is said to start today"
Lyrrah was right, but her words did not put him at ease; he was dreading this event because he knew that the cultists would be extremely active at this time
He rested his head in the palm of his hand as their carriage slowly began to move again, getting closer with each time they moved
Finally, their carriage reached the palace gate, where, after one look from the guards were asked to go a different direction from the other carriages
Their carriage drove onto a different path that went around the palace, allowing Hal to take in its full glory
The Palace was extremely big, so much so that Hal knew he could fit fifty Harleyclover mansions into there and still have room to spare
The castle walls were made from some kind of grey stone and were decorated with emblems from the most important families on four great pillars that rose above the palace. He saw the Aquilia family, the White Family and other families; he didn't get a clear view of the angle of light reflecting off them, with the Haverfield Emblem on the central building of the palace.
The palace also had statues of many powerful-looking men who most likely were the most prominent kings to rule Haverfield, not to mention the multiple huge gardens filled with flowers he had never seen before, and sheds designated for tea parties or just to view the gardens.
The path they were on led them behind the palace, and soon after, a butler wearing a black double-breasted tailcoat with the Haverfield emblem embroidered on his shoulder in gold, the man bowed as he gestured to the door that led into the palace.
"Please, guests of the king, come in; the acting King will be with you shortly"
Hal and his friends stepped into the building. It was a large living room with walls covered in red wallpaper, and sofas that shared the same red colour.
And to Hal's surprise, there were familiar faces already seated on the sofas; it was the other members of the Silversword Hunter Company.
Nanny Leya, Joset, Magret, Velto, Tiffane and none other than Lady Roxanne, the silver sword was a small hunter company with less than twenty members in the company that included him, Tai and Lyrrah.
Though he had never seen the other members of the company, who were stated to have gone on a long mission from which they had not returned
The company members finally sensed their presence and instantly smiles burst on their faces, they all got up and rushed to them, as they soon found themselves totally crowded by company members.
Lady Roxanne did not join in the initial greeting; instead, she waited for the others to finish before coming to greet them.
She approached Tai first and touched his cheek as she gazed into his eyes, which now had red circles that grew smaller as they approached the iris.
She smiled as her gentle voice soon followed.
"You finally got a trait, I'm happy for you, Tai, and I'm sure your dad would be proud of you too"
Tai reached out and grabbed Lady Roxanne's hand
"Thank you, Lady Roxanne"
She patted his head and gave him a brief hug before she moved on to Lyrrah, who stared nervously at Lady Roxanne, who reached out and hugged the surprised Lyrrah.
"I'm so happy to see you up and about again, Lyrrah"
Lyrrah embraced Lady Roxanne as she indulged herself in the emotional hug she was receiving
"I'm happy to see you, too, Lady Roxanne"
She withdrew from the hug and too sometime observing the gentle girl
"Also, I like your new hairstyle"
The two ladies giggled a little before Lady Roxanne proceeded to Hal. He was not that excited to see her; instead, he had a lot of questions after their last encounter.
She was too ominous, plus she knew about the kidnappings and about the supposed mysteries Lyrrah was chasing after, not to mention his ability to mark things and make them extensions of his mind and senses and that he could not mark any other person apart from Lyrrah.
There was also the suspicion that she might have continued pulling the strings even when they were here in Malentei.
How much did she know, and why does she know it? These questions stayed circulating in Hal's mind, but there was no way to prove them, but now here she was
The question was, would she tell him what he wanted to know if he asked nicely? He found himself in her arms as she embraced him, but then her voice flew into his ears as a gentle whisper.
"How has your quest for forbidden knowledge been going? I heard you are now involved with the cult, good, that tells me everything is going according to plan"
Hal controlled himself as she withdrew from the hug with a smile on her face.
"I heard that you have been through a lot, but we have prepared something special for all of you to enjoy, but not now, since the acting King has finally arrived"
Everybody's attention was suddenly pulled to a man wearing a long brown coat and holding a dark brown cane. He had chocolate brown hair with light brown eyes, and as he walked to them, he took a sip from his pipe and let the smoke escape his lips as a cloud of smoke.
"Now that your reunion is complete, we can move on to far more important matters. I have invited you because you will be useful assets in my gamble to stop the cult once and for all"
He sat down in one of the sofas as the rest of the silver sword joined him and waited for him to continue.
"We discovered something big when we thwarted the attack on the Harleyclover mansion. We were to conclude that the catalysts can not leave the place where they are placed until the end of the selection, which is why this selection will be different. Please follow me"
Mr Vandinel got up and escorted them to closed curtains, and with one glance at one of the butlers, the curtains were raised to reveal a group of nobles who were seated on tables decorated with white sheets.
"Nobles of Haverfield, I would like to declare the start of the selection today, but this selection will not be like others. For this time, none of you is allowed to leave until it's over; furthermore, anyone who objects will be charged with treason and killed on the spot"
The entire crowd burst into uproar as the detective simply smiled at them with a whisper to those behind him.
"Let the selection commence, and may I bring these scoundrels to justice"