"Wait for me in the palace!" Magus Leon said
The sudden order that came as soon as the two of them arrived in the city naturally caught Emery off guard. The confused look on Emery's face quickly made Magus Leon let out a sigh when he saw it.
"You are a privilege acolyte. Of course you will be fine going to the palace by yourself, right?" The man spoke again, this time with a softer tone.
"Yes.. Of course," replied Emery quickly. A thought later, he added, "The Bloodline Institute, right?"
"That's not the palace!" Magus Leon let out a deep sigh.
He then pointed his finger at a building located on the hill that stood majestically next to the Bloodline Institute.
"That's the place. Do you see that?"
Turning his gaze to where the other party pointed at, Emery replied.
"Ahh, yes.. Of course."
Magus Leon didn't say anything more and immediately took his leave, leaving the former alone on the bustling streets of Zodiac City.
When the magus left, Emery started to casually walk his way through the busy street. His eyes swept around as they took in everything he could see, while deep down he was still impressed by the different types of people around him.
Among these peculiar-looking people, there were some that fully caught his attention. For example: a young woman who has black spots all around her body, a boy who has three horns on his head. There was even someone who looked even more like a rat than a human.
Emery recalled how this place used to be full of people chattering with each other while smiles could be seen on their faces. This time, however, not so much.
For a moment, he wondered if it was because of his uniform, because he was sure people seemed to look at him differently. To be precise, he noticed how the expressions of the people who saw him changed.
Among this crowd of people, Emery suddenly saw a figure with long white hair. In an instant, his mind recalled of a certain girl that he remembered meeting on this street too before.
Without him realizing it, his body moved as he chased after the figure he just seen, only to find the other party was not her. After apologizing to the random passerby, Emery turned around and continued his walk to the palace.
As he walked through the street, he heaved a deep sigh and thought how silly he was.
Still, he couldn't forget how the last encounter they had was – it was pretty intense.
Deep down, he hoped that nothing bad happened to her.
It was at this moment that suddenly Emery heard a female voice calling his name.
"Emery? How surprising, I didn't expect to see you here."
Turning his body, when Emery saw the person approaching him, he couldn't help but be surprised.
A beautiful young girl with long crimson hair. The other party looked at him with a wicked smile hung on her lips. She was Annara Vermont, a privileged acolyte like him and one of the personal disciples of Grand Magus Zenoia.
"What are you doing here?" She asked with a curious look.
Of course, due to the obvious reason of not divulging the classified mission, Emery decided not to tell the truth. Alas, he didn't really have much time to think of a plausible excuse.
"Ermm… shopping." Noticing the suspicious look on her face, he added his reasoning. "I have something I need to buy in this city, that's why I'm here."
A dubious expression appeared on her face. She took a step closer to him and said, "You should learn to lie better, Ambrose."
She then did a circle around him and opened her mouth again.
"I asked you again.. What are you doing here?"
Undeterred by her words, Emery looked at her with a confident look and said, "Shopping."
"…"
Knowing that she wouldn't be able to glean anything, the female privileged acolyte was annoyed and eventually left him alone on the street.
Emery stared at her gradually disappearing figure in the bustling streets and suddenly remembered something about her. He recalled how Annara showed a transformation that was similar, but at the same time different, to that of the Bat Bloodline.
Now that he saw her here in Zodiac City, Emery could safely conclude that his previous guess was correct – that she was a half-blood.
Not wanting to waste his time thinking more about her, Emery shook his head and continued his journey to the palace. However, he took a little detour to drop by a certain place.
He walked through an alley and saw the place where Bob the Frog's bloodline shop was. The place still looked the same as the last time he visited – desolate, without any sign of being visited for years.
Emery couldn't help but let out a long sigh. After taking one last glance at the barren shop, he continued towards the palace.
If he didn't remember it wrong, the palace was where King Alduin, the Protector of the half bloods, lived.
When he arrived, Emery was immediately stopped by several formidable-looking guards clad in armor. These guards have scaly skin that Emery could see on the parts of the body that the armor couldn't cover, which meant they were definitely half-blood warriors. He just wasn't sure if it was Snake Bloodline or Dragon Bloodline.
Either way, Emery couldn't get into the palace as apparently no one knew nor notified about his arrival. Hence, he was forced to wait before Magus Leon arrived.
Magus Leon came with four other people, all magus-level figures from what Emery could perceive. All of them, however, were wearing normal clothes – including Magus Leon who had changed his black enforcer uniform.
Magus Leon gave one look at Emery and said, "You shouldn't have come wearing the academy uniform, especially your white uniform. This is, after all, a secret mission. I wish you were smarter than this, but I seem to be expecting too much."
Irritation sprouted within Emery when he perceived the contempt within the other party's words. Still, he held up his emotions and just nodded his head. While Magus Leon was talking to the guards, one of his companions approached Emery. A female magus with short brown hair.
"You must be Emery. Nice to meet you." She said with a smile. "Don't worry too much about what he just said. Leon is always strict, but he's a nice guy when you get used to his character."
The female magus introduced herself as Michela, and she with the other three people were all Magus Enforcers assigned for this mission. An elite five man team consisted of magus-level individuals, definitely a force to be reckoned with.
With Spirit Reading, Emery could tell that all of them were at least Half Moon magus, while Magus Leon who was chosen as the leader was a Full Moon magus.
It took Magus Leon a few minutes before the guards allowed them all to enter the palace.
Entering the open gate, Emery saw firsthand how magnificent the palace was where King Alduin lived. It was a building made of light stone which gave off a warm feeling throughout the palace.
The group walked through the long corridors of the palace and finally arrived at the throne room where a group of people seemed to have been waiting.
When Emery saw the figure seated on the throne, he was in shock; it was as if his life force was being forcibly drained out of him.
That figure was the strongest and most overwhelming person he had ever met.
"You are in the presence of the Dragon King, Alduin, Lord of Zodiac city, keeper of the creed."
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Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,