Selka saddled the paper and served a bottle of vintage wine, clearly her conversation with the evil young lord was gonna take longer than expected.
"It was obtained by Count Richard". Selka finally broke the silence.
"House Morrow". Lucien added. "Except there's one problem, they are all dead".
The druid mage nodded while savouring the taste of her wine. "Yes, a problem indeed… but it's a given that the house of morrow couldn't keep such a treasure, they really should have handed it over to house Valeir, you guys would have done a better job at protecting it".
Lucien grunted darkly.
"Get to the point Selka, who has the nine cycle fire lily?".
Selka sat back down, leaned in closer to Lucien, it was almost like the secret she was about to say next could bring the dead back to life.
"A few days after the last leader of the fallen house morrow obtained the nine cycle fire lily, he hosted a great banquet, he invited many merchants and appraisals just so he could show off his treasure… but later that night, commoners noticed the unusual silence coming from his manor, the lights were lit, but every single soul, no matter how young or old, mysteriously died".
Lucien also leaned closer. "How did they die?".
Selka gulped before answering. "Mysteriously young lord, no one knows, not even the major guilds with their wide expanse of information networks… but they did find that they all died from bleeding from all their orifices, some say they were all poisoned, but the guilds believe it was a covenant of casters".
Lucien frowned.
"A count's banquet will be filled with high level awakens, what type of magic could possibly kill them all, and just how many casters will it take to cast such a spell?…".
Lucien thought for a moment. "Such a massive amount of mana being used will definitely be noticed by awakened warriors, they tend to be especially sensitive to mana, and considering how strong my father is, there's no way he wouldn't have noticed… Is there something you're not telling me Selka?".
Selka smiled nefariously. "This is where things get juicy… what has been going around in the black market and slave trading guilds is slightly different".
"Different how?".
"They think it's a cult, a cult with a god legacy".
Lucien shot to his feet, his eyes colder than steel, he'd heard about the cult Selka was about to tell him about, not only did he fight them during the later part of his life, but he also destroyed them.
"The cult used faith energy".
Hmm
"Yes, how did you know?". Selka asked.
Lucien calmed his raging heart.
"The children of Hemlock, they're a cult that worships some unknown god, the god is dead, yet he still listens, with his blessing they're able to convert their mana into faith energy. I don't know much about it, but it definitely makes them strong enough to fight awakened warriors on equal footing".
"They sound pretty tough, can your family handle them?". Selka's confidence in house Valeir began to falter as Lucien said more about the children of Hemlock.
Lucien shook his head. "I can't bring my family into this, it's my private affair, begin brewing the potion of vital synthesis, I'm going to need as many as you can possibly make".
Lucien didn't wait for Selka to respond, while she was still nodding, Lucien took his leave, leaving behind a stunned Selka.
"If you're not bringing your family into this, how are you going to pay me?".
… …
Lucien joined the massive crowd on the streets, his face covered by his black cloak, so no one could really recognise him, not even the guards on patrol.
He didn't leave the lower districts just yet, he still needed to make another important detour. Finding another abandoned alley, Lucien went down a slippery slope, jumped over a small puddle before finding himself before an iron door.
He walked particularly fast, this time he felt the urgency to get stronger even more so than before, Elizabeth is a threat, yes, but she's still just one woman, but the children of Hemlock are a dangerous organisation, one that made major waves in the war.
And if his memory served him right, they should have rank three awakened or maybe even rank four at this point in time, the academy's research on the children of Hemlock had never truly been credible.
Lucien needed to be strong enough to protect himself, and if they truly had the nine cycle fire lily, then they were destined to be enemies in this life as well.
Knock knock.
A small hidden compartment opened on the iron door and a pair of pitch black eyes peaked from the inside.
"Get going, this isn't a tavern".
Ofcourse Lucien knew the man wasn't actually telling him to leave, he was simply calling out their half of the password, so he responded confidently.
"The tavern over at green lake was filled up, so I decided to find a place to rest for the night, I have gold".
The person paused for a moment before shutting the compartment, then a moment later the sound of locks opening echoed through the iron door.
"Come in valued customer, I will lead you to your room".
Lucien didn't stand on ceremony, he directly walked in and followed the burly man, the interior of the slave trading guild was cold, but lit with lights, it was so bright, one would think the sun was peeping through.
The man led Lucien to a room with a large living space, it was decorated with silk curtains and sandle wood furniture, even the carpets were what you would find in a noble house.
The room already had people waiting, twelve beautiful women of all races wearing thin white curtain like garments, they didn't wear any underwear, so Lucien's sight wasn't impaired from appreciating their curves.
But Lucien as the sole heir of a great duchy, wasn't really that impressed, infact, from the moment he stepped into the room to the moment he sat down, he didn't glance sideways even once.
The burly man nodded inwardly, thinking to himself. "This young man must be from a rich noble house".