"Huh? What is this place?" the maid asked as she grew even more confused.
She found herself standing inside a room that was mostly dark, but still, she could see here.
The room was mostly empty. Neither Lucifer was here nor Sirius.
She didn't understand why she was here. Milena said that she was here to punish Sirius? Then why wasn't Sirius here?
Moreover, she only found a giant statue in front of her.
The statue seemed like that of a chubby man who was sitting in meditation, but the statue didn't have a head. It was a headless statue, but that wasn't what made this statue odd.
Instead, it was the other features.. The statue had two stone arms on the left side, while it had only one stone arm on the right. It wasn't a human statue since no human was born like this.
Moreover, the statue had a face popping out of its stomach which made it look even more creepy.
"Ah, Your Majesty? Are you going to tell me what this place is?"
Other than the Statue, a few skeletons could also be seen lying in various parts of the room. Some of the skeletons were intact, while most of them were broken in one way or another.
Some had the skill crushed while others had rib cage smacked. Splashes of blood also existed on the wall making this place look even more creepy.
Seeing everything, the maid started having a really bad feeling. It didn't seem like something good was going to happen here. Neither Sirius nor Lucifer was here, but Milena still brought her to this place. Something was seriously wrong.
At the moment, the maid couldn't help but wonder if she shouldn't have come to inform Milena about Sirius.
"Y-your Majesty?" She asked again, stuttering. However, Milena still didn't reply.
Milena kept facing the status with her back facing the maid.
The silence slowly crept in as the maid grew even more scared. She started stepping back in fear slowly.
In fear, she glanced back at the door only to realize that it was also closed. No one could come in, and no one could go out of this place either.
After a long time, Milena finally opened her lips. "So, you heard Sirius talk about betraying me?"
"Y-yes."
"You shouldn't have."
"W--what?"
"I said you shouldn't have heard that. Spying on Master and complaining about him? You only deserve death," Milena let out, frowning.
"M-master? Your Majesty, you mean he...?"
The maid's face turned pale as she heard Milena address Sirius as Master for some reason.
As Milena turned back, the maid was able to see her emotionless face, which didn't look anything like the usual Milena. It was as if she was looking at a dead person.
The heartbeat of Milena started beating faster as she realized that she was probably going to die here.
The room in which they were standing was a room that was completely sealed. No amount of noise was able to leave the room.
So no one could come to save them. Moreover, no one was standing outside the room in the first place to hear, even if the voice was managed to escape. The entire basement was empty.
...
The sun started setting in the distance. The light started decreasing, signaling the arrival of the evening.
Whatever bit of natural light was left also left as the sun disappeared entirely soon after.
The street lights were turned on, keeping the streets of the Royal City brightly lit. Most of the citizens had returned to their homes by the time it was nine.
Only a rare few people were still outside, taking a night walk.
Salazar stood near his window, looking outside.
"It has been so long, yet I can't find Lucifer. Just where did he go? He didn't even tell me before leaving."
Salazar didn't know that Lucifer had left with Sirius. The only person who knew was the maid, and even she wasn't here to tell everyone. In fact, she herself was missing for hours, but no one had realized it.
Knock~
"If it's you, Caen, then you can step inside. The door is open," Salazar responded to the knock calmly
The gates opened, and Caen stepped inside.
"I rechecked every place, but I couldn't find him. He's certainly not in the Palace. Moreover, I can't find the maid either," Caen informed Salazar.
"Huh? Even the maid is missing? This is strange. It couldn't have been an enemy since I don't see any signs of battle. That could only mean that he left on his own. The problem is how to find him now. The plan was to stay put tonight, but he himself left?"
"You think there's a possibility someone took him out without giving him the opportunity to fight back?" Caen asked, speaking about a possibility.
"I don't think there's a good chance for that. He's not that weak. Moreover, no adverse effects like poisoning and other things act on him because of his healing. So taking him out like this should be impossible," Salazar responded.
"Then where could he go?"
"I wish I had an idea," Salazar muttered. "But the maid is missing too. Maybe the two went out to see the city?"
"But in that case, he would have called us to go with him. Why would he leave alone when it was just about visiting the city?" Caen asked. "I'm getting concerned about him."
"Can you try contacting him?" Salazar asked.
"I did. But he didn't pick up."
"He didn't pick mine either. I thought it was just the case with me," Salazar responded. "Try calling Kellian? That guy doesn't like me. So it's better if you call him. You should ask him to locate Lucifer."
"I can't contact him either. Somehow no communication is going through outside the city. There seems to be some kind of block. Only Lucifer's glasses could've avoided this block. We can't," Caen explained, sighing. "I already tried."
"Then we have no choice but to wait?"
" We can either have faith in him and wait for a day, or we can try searching ourselves?"
"I prefer the latter instead of sitting idle."
"Can the two of us really find him? The city is really big, and none of us can fly."
"So? Are you saying we should wait instead?"
"Not at all. I'm saying that we should ask Milena for some manpower. She needed Lucifer to lose tomorrow so she could use him to infiltrate the Warlock Council. She wouldn't want him hurt either. She should be able to help us," Caen suggested.