Fire Mage (Web Novel)

Chapter 285: Suspicious

A silence appeared in the corridor.

"Where is this hideout located?" Oswald asked.

"It should be somewhere near the Dreamymaple Woods," Rachel responded as she recalled Omen's words.

"But who put the card in your room? What is their intention? Is this a trap?" Destiny Lady became hesitant.

At that moment, a certain battle against a peak level Rank-4 Demonic Class Mystic appeared in her mind.

'At that time, I lost my life and revived after changing my Destiny. But I'm not sure if that thing could help me once again.'

In truth, that was a gift she received from a certain someone.

It's called 'Divinity of Destiny.'

As long as she had that Divinity in her body, she could indeed change her Destiny and evade her death.

That's why everyone calls her as 'Destiny Lady.'

She was the only person in the surrounding kingdoms who changed her Destiny once!

'No, I changed my Destiny again. It should be twice now.'

While she was in muse, Oswald thought for a moment and spoke.

"Just scouting the surrounding areas won't cause any harm, right? Even if Red Prince placed an ambush, it must be in Dreamforce Lair. So, we should refrain from going near this hideout. Instead, we should scout the surrounding areas and hire some normal mystics to do the work later."

"That's a good idea." Rachel and Destiny Lady also nodded their heads in approval.

But Oswald suddenly frowned as he recalled something and spoke.

"What about these kids? What if someone attacks them while we are away? That Ancient Mage isn't here."

"What this has something to do with us? We are not here to protect them, right?" Rachel raised her eyebrows.

"No, that old man asked me to take care of these kids. Moreover, I also need his grandson's help to find someone. Otherwise, I wouldn't be staying here." A grim look appeared on her face.

She then pondered for a moment and added.

"I will stay here to take care of them. You guys can go and do the scouting."

After some discussion, Oswald and Rachel decided to check out the hideout tomorrow while Destiny Lady decided to stay in the mansion.

Then, they went back to their rooms and took some rest.

…

Early morning, Oswald and Rachel walked out of the three-storied building, moved to the mansion garden, and cast wing spells on them.

Then, they both flapped their wings and shot forth towards the southern sky.

Meanwhile, Destiny Lady stood at the entrance, watched them flying in the sky, and soon frowned.

'Something powerful is manipulating behind the scenes. I never failed in divination, but this is the second time I faced obstruction.' A strange, unsettling feeling appeared in her heart.

"What happened, Lady Natalia?" A soft voice came from behind, causing Destiny Lady to turn around.

At that moment, she saw a blonde-haired young woman was walking towards her from the reception hall.

"It's nothing. They are just going to do some scouting mission." Destiny Lady responded with a smile and soon turned serious as she saw a troubled look on Jessie's face.

"Is something on your mind?"

Meanwhile, Jessie nodded her head and spoke.

"I feel something wrong about Churches' forceful method to do the coronation ceremony." She explained about Griffon Family head's arrival and his threat, then about Archbishop Abel's advice, her guesses regarding the Churches' strange behavior, and so on.

"If my Teacher is here, I wouldn't have worried about these things. But I need to do something. Otherwise, something bad might happen." She said with a serious look on her face.

Meanwhile, surprise flashed on Destiny Lady's face.

'T-This girl… She already sensed that someone is manipulating from behind the scenes?' At that moment, she suddenly thought of something and soon asked.

"Who else came to the mansion when we were away?"

Although Jessie was startled by her question, she didn't put much thought into it and responded calmly.

"Only three people came here, Lady Natalia. First, Archbishop Abel came here to give a letter to our Teacher, then Andy Griffon, and then the auction manager Bella. Other than these three, no outsiders came here to visit us."

A frown appeared on Destiny Lady's forehead.

Then, she took out the strange black card and showed it to Jessie.

"We found this card in Mage Silas's room."

Jessie moved her right hand, caught the card, and read the two words written on it.

"Dreamforce Lair? Isn't this a mysterious ruin located at the southern border of Iron Kingdom?"

"You know about this place?" Destiny Lady asked in a surprised tone.

"Yes, I read about this in Iron Kingdom's public Library once. It's a mysterious ruin located in the Dreamymaple Forest and has some connection with Dream World. Although many mages, hunters, and Historians went to explore in the past, none manage to get past the outer region. They met different kinds of obstacles like abnormal loops, entering their dream before they could even step into the ruin, moving out of their bodies in their soul forms, and some even died while they were walking."

"There is also a strange rumor about this place. Quite a few powerful mages explored the ruin long ago and guessed that something terrifying must be hidden deep in the ruined graveyard and responsible for these abnormalities. I also researched this place and learned that this ruin might be linked with the First Arcane Era. During that time, the five Empires ruled this continent. They were Molan Empire, Arcane Empire, Star Empire, Holy Empire, and the final unknown empire. Among these five, Star Empire was the one that ruled the northern part of this continent. So, other experts are guessing that this ruin might actually be a graveyard of an Emperor who ruled the nearby kingdoms once." Jessie spoke in a solemn tone.

Upon hearing her detailed explanation, Destiny Lady got dumbfounded.

"You are so knowledgeable." She couldn't help but mutter out loud.

In truth, she indeed read about those empires during her childhood.

'But I had long forgotten about most of the parts. This girl sure is something else.' She muttered inwardly.

In the meantime, Jessie glanced at the southern sky and asked.

"Are they going to this ruin now?"

"Nope. They are only going there to scout the surroundings." Destiny Lady answered in a reassuring tone.

At that moment, confusion appeared on her face.

She then turned her gaze towards the black card and asked.

"Do you have any guess about who put this card in Mage Silas's room?"

"Maybe one of the maids?" Jessie wore a troubled look as she felt a strange, unsettling feeling in her heart.

It was as if something terrifying was watching her from nearby!

She hurriedly calmed her heart, shifted her gaze towards Destiny Lady, and asked.

"Lady Natalia, you can see others' fate strings, right? Why not check if something anomaly happened in our servants' fate strings?"

Destiny Lady showed a surprised look and nodded her head in approval.

Without any hesitation, Jessie walked into the reception hall, turned her gaze towards the Kitchen room, and ordered in a loud voice.

"Miss Ashley, please stop the cooking work for some time and come to the reception hall with other servants. The same goes for other servants."

Her loud voice echoed everywhere in the mansion.

"What happened, Young Miss?" Ashley was the first one who walked out of the kitchen, followed by other female servants.

Some came from the second floor, while the other came from both sides of corridors.

A total of 50 servants gathered in the reception hall within the next few minutes!

Meanwhile, Destiny Lady had long started checking the servants' fate strings one by one.

But even after checking everyone's fate strings, she found no anomaly!

"Something is wrong… If the culprit is not one of the maids, who could it be?" She muttered in a grave tone.

"What if the culprit is one of the three visitors?" Jessie's eyebrows rose upward.

"Possible. Did you notice any abnormal behavior from any of those three guests?" Destiny Lady asked.

Meanwhile, Jessie wore a thoughtful look on her face and spoke with a nod.

"I have slight suspicion on Andy Griffon. He used his soul power and suppressed me. Maybe he did that to sneakily place the card in Mage Silas's room?"

"It is possible." Destiny Lady also found it reasonable.

But just when Jessie was about to dismiss the female servants, she suddenly recalled Bella's visit.

'Lady Bella's arrival at that time… Then, there is also another anomaly that happened to me… During the past three years, I actually forgot to do my job for the first time. What surprised me is that my other two consciousnesses also somehow forget to remind me. Could this have some link with this? Thought manipulation?' A strange suspicion appeared in her heart.

She then closed her eyes for a second and ordered.

"Briella… Rose… Laura. You three, stay here for a while. As for others, you guys can go and continue your job now."

Although the servants were puzzled by Jessie's orders, none dared to ask any question and moved in different directions.

Only Destiny Lady, Jessie, the three housekeeping maids, and Ashley stood in the reception hall.

"Did they steal something from Lady Bella?" Ashley stared at them with her daggering eyes and asked.

Meanwhile, Jessie shook her head and spoke while waving her hand.

"It's nothing like that, Miss Ashley. You can go back and do your cooking work now."

Although Ashley was hesitant, she didn't say anything and started walking back to the kitchen.

On the other hand, Jessie stared at the black-haired girl named Briella and asked.

"Do you remember the silver-haired lady who came to visit me yesterday?"

Upon hearing her sudden question, Briella wore a frightened look and nodded her head hurriedly.

"Y-Yes, My Lady. But we didn't speak anything ill about here! At that time, we were actually talked about Iris's secret affair with the coachman Miguel." Panic surfaced on the young girl's face as she said those words.

Meanwhile, the other blonde-haired girl named Rose also nodded her head and said the same thing.

Jessie glared at both of them and shook her head.

"I don't care about your silly gossips. I actually want to ask something else. It's about that silver-haired lady. When you guys are gossiping, did she stand up from her seat and went to the right side corridor? Did she make some strange gesture or something?"

Her question surprised both of them.

Briella soon regained some courage and answered while shaking her head.

"After 'Young Lady' went upstairs, the head maid came out of the kitchen and scolded us for not doing any job. Then, she told us to go and peel the onions in the kitchen. We didn't see anything."

"Miss Ashley?" Jessie wore an annoyed look and soon shifted her gaze towards the black-haired woman.

Unlike the other young girls, she appeared to be around 25 to 30 years old.

Noticing her gaze, she also shook her head and spoke in the same nervous voice.

"H-Head Maid also ordered me to go and sweep the second floor because of the presence of a guest in the reception hall, Young Lady."

Upon hearing their response, Jessie's expression went stiff.

She soon regained her sense and told them to go away.

"Something is wrong." Both Jessie and Destiny Lady muttered at the same time!