Chapter 129: Internal Calamity
The group gathered everything of value inside the clan and moved to leave.
When everyone was near the teleportation inscription...
"!"
Suddenly, hundreds of figures appeared in a hurry.
They were all humanoids, all with very grave expressions. They saw that group, and their eyes became sharp as blades.
"Iron Fang Clan? Sun of the Underworld Clan?" Orlaith recognized them, asking in confusion.
There were two Elders commanding the two groups. The demon from the Sun of the Underworld Clan turned to her.
"Leader of the Ylisse clan, something very serious happened. It is a situation of internal calamity; the entire alliance is being investigated. We were sent to investigate all of you, since you were present in ’that’ place."
Orlaith was confused, but shook her head and pointed to Boey.
"He is the new Leader of the Ylisse clan now. You should know him, correct?"
"That alchemist? Okay, it doesn’t matter." That figure nodded, evaluating Boey from head to toe for a second. "We came with the objective of evaluating the five of you, using the energy-tracking artifact. We will also see all your spatial rings."
"Why this now?!" Orlaith asked seriously. That was very, very invasive.
"You still can’t know," the Elder from the Iron Fang clan snapped back with a cold gaze. "This is an order from above; because of that, we will analyze every trace of energy in your bodies to make sure you are not who we are looking for. You cannot refuse, and if you try to flee, we will take you down immediately."
The atmosphere of the place became tense.
All those figures focused on the six there, as if they really would attack at any moment.
Orlaith turned to the four youths.
"It’s okay, they won’t do anything without reason."
The four nodded, but clearly, except for Priam, the youths felt their hearts speed up. They were clearly nervous. After all, Priam had potentially done something terrible that night... and the result seemed to have been very serious.
The newcomers also noticed that change in them; there was no way to disguise it. That was definitely suspicious!
The sound of blades being drawn echoed from every direction.
They quickly surrounded the group, without hesitation.
"We have no intention of fighting back. You can do what you came here to do..."
It was Priam who spoke, calmly breaking the atmosphere. Everyone focused on him, seeing his absolutely emotionless expression.
Priam’s eyes shone subtly. He nodded, tossing his spatial ring to the demons.
Everyone else sighed and did the same, handing their rings to the people nearby.
Those figures focused attentively on everyone, sensing whether they were really not hiding other rings.
Boey’s rings would also be checked, so they wouldn’t run the risk of them having given something to him.
"!"
During the inspection of the rings, movement and sudden shock appeared among the demons.
Those from the Iron Fang clan stopped checking the others and turned to the alarmed demons.
"Did you find something?!"
The demons were left without a reaction. They didn’t answer yes or no.
They were precisely holding Priam’s spatial ring in their hands.
The demon Elder approached. When he looked at that ring...
At that moment, his face froze, and his eyes almost popped out of their sockets. That was because, inside, he saw something he had never dreamed of seeing.
It was a wooden staff.
The Essence-Root Tree was truly something very well known, and it gave off very distinct and unmistakable fluctuations. The demons suspected it was something terrifying and became confused. But someone as experienced as that demon Elder recognized it immediately.
Priam had already heard about this from his father. Because of that, he wasn’t surprised now.
That Elder turned to Priam, staring into his eyes. A poorly hidden smile appeared on his face.
Priam stared back at him, with an empty expression, without any fear or hesitation.
’Want to steal my things? You can try. Let’s see who gets out of here alive.’
"SAY IT ALREADY! WHAT DID YOU FIND?!"
The Elder from the Iron Fang clan roared. Everyone from his clan drew their weapons, ready to neutralize those from the Ylisse clan in the next second.
The demon Elder’s expression twisted for a mere second.
He saw a subtle challenge in Priam’s gaze.
If he were alone with his clan, or at least if he were in his demon universe, he wouldn’t hesitate even for a second and would take that treasure to his clan.
Having honor with these poor humanoids from a destroyed clan? No such nonsense existed. The law of this world was the law of the strongest. He would never let such a good treasure escape his hands.
But... neither of those two options existed at the moment.
He couldn’t do that, or those people from the Iron Fang clan would want to see the spatial ring; and then, they wouldn’t let them keep it.
At that moment, the demon’s eyes shone. He turned to the other Elder.
"It was a mistake," he said, and at the same moment threw the ring back to Priam. "I only found the carcass of a Primordial Chaos Beast. Those from my clan got confused, because the aura was similar."
"Oh? A young Mage Disciple killed a Primordial Chaos Beast?" The Elder narrowed his eyes.
"Why not? This youth beat up all the geniuses of our clans before, even while being at lower levels than them. Why are you suspicious? Are you just looking for trouble?"
The demon Elder’s voice became very grave. Clearly, talking back without real reasons would be considered an affront.
That other Elder was clearly suspicious of something, but he couldn’t do anything except snort dryly.
He turned to the others who were checking the rings.
Everything was normal.
"Let’s use the artifact. Don’t move the Ether in your bodies even a millimeter." He spoke dryly, and those five nodded.
At this stage, Boey didn’t need to be checked.
This artifact was of an extremely high level, bought from the Divine Plane. It was possible to sense the traces of every kind of power and energy in someone’s body. Even something a Mage had been minimally involved with seven days ago would leave traces in their body.
A Mage from the Mortal Plane didn’t have the ability to disperse that.
In other words, if any of those five had any kind of energy trace from the Venomous Tree of Chaos, or from other things from that race’s treasury, they would be captured immediately.
Just using this on them would already be enough investigation. But to guarantee everything, they had also been ordered to look at the spatial rings.
But...
Nothing.
Nothing suspicious or different from expected.
All those newcomers snorted, somewhat relieved.
"With this, the investigation is concluded." The demon spoke seriously.
"What the hell happened?" Boey asked hurriedly.
The two Elders stared into his eyes. They couldn’t speak directly about "them" in such an open place, where there could be ears in the shadows.
"The thing your race was most affected by, sacrificing itself for... was stolen."
Boey, Orlaith, Lumiere, and Shione... all became completely catatonic at those words.
Priam tried hard to change his empty expression into surprise, but failed.
But due to the terrible situation of his planet and clan, no one would find that so strange.
"An indescribable chaos erupted internally. The Supreme General and his wife were captured, accused of treason. Enraged, they tried to resist. In the end, a bloody battle happened... things are far from calming down." The Elder from the Iron Fang clan spoke only with words that wouldn’t connect them to anything wrong.
"Anyway, your clan is not in a situation where it can contribute anything now. So just focus on establishing yourselves again, until further orders."
After he finished, those two groups turned toward the teleportation inscription.
Before the inscription activated...
The demon Elder stared at Priam with a faint dark smile.
Priam snorted. He would definitely try to rob him.
In a few seconds, everyone disappeared.
Silence.
Slowly, the four who knew something turned to Priam.
He saw those looks and, with the most innocent and pure face he could make, simply smiled.
That strange and fake smile only made the four break out in cold sweat.
It was definitely him!
He was insane!
Completely insane!
---
In a short time, they arrived at the Ylisse clan’s new temporary home.
Boey and Orlaith went to the leader of that race for a meeting, where they would discuss everything properly.
Meanwhile, Priam and the others went to Seien.
---
The days passed calmly.
The Ylisse clan officially became a temporary ally of the Pyrix clan, sharing their territory for 100 years.
It was an excellent agreement for the Pyrix, because they would gain everything Boey had brought from his clan. When the Ylisse clan left, they wouldn’t take anything.
In exchange, during those 100 years, they would have everything that existed there to live well.
The leader of the Pyrix clan couldn’t believe the offer he had received was so good. But how could a destroyed clan, with only two relevant members at the moment, harm them?
Young people going to the Divine Plane to take tests was something normal.
Being accepted as a disciple of a sect was almost impossible, but staying there for a few dozen years as a worker was quite common.
The group of youths from the Ylisse clan might even become powerful people in the future. But no one would believe it if someone said they would become strong enough to destroy the Pyrix clan.
So, there were no risks, only benefits in keeping them for a mere 100 years.
...
Seien spent her last days with Priam trying to cheer him up.
Using Ether, it was even possible to see the entire evolution of the embryo inside her, day after day.
Seien tried to use that to cheer Priam up, because she could feel the inner emptiness that completely dominated him.
She made him understand that he still had his family, and now he needed to come back to see them often. His little brother or little sister needed to know who he was and get to know him properly.
Priam promised he would do what he could.
But... he couldn’t even sleep properly...
His nightmares came back with full force and became 10 times worse.
He could only take short naps, and even that was difficult.
He exuded a dark and chaotic fluctuation, as if he were now a completely different person.
He still trained day and night, studied, and did the things he had always done before. But...
The weight he carried didn’t change. He felt bathed in the blood of all the dead on his body.
...
One thing happened on a beautiful morning.
Priam went to his mother, and she smiled, telling him something surprising.
"It seems the technique we used was too efficient this time..." She looked at Priam, seeing his expression change into confusion.
"Hehe... you won’t have a one brother or sister now... because... there will be two together!"
Priam widened his eyes.
There was no way to know the genre or anything of the kind. But... they were twins.
Well, the clan needed to multiply, so it was a good thing.
...
As for his partner, she remained in a state similar to the incubation she had been in before. Nothing changed, and it would possibly take a while for any change to happen.
...
...
The days flowed calmly. Until finally, the day of departure to the Divine Plane arrived.