When Abium entered the royal palace, most of the mages and n.o.bles were already gathered in the banquet hall. Still, the king"s body motionlessly laid on the chair and already starting to emit distinct odors.At the center stood a tall figure and appeared talking to two red-robed mages while showing his back towards Abium and other n.o.bles. Abium couldn"t even manage to see who he was, but soon, his eyes shifted to those two red-robed mages. One was his mentor while other was Mage Ubiur. Both of them stood there, nodding with a solemn expression on their faces.
Sigh!
"Okay, I am going back to the tower now. Tell Idus to meet me in the lab soon. I need to teach him a lesson for inviting an enemy into our tower."
"Yes, teacher." Mage Zivior and Mage Ubius replied in unison. After that, the figure gave once last glance at both of them, then snapped his finger. Next instant, a magic circle appeared under his feet, and that figure disappeared from there, leaving his mentor Zivior and mage Ubius.
"We don"t have time to waste. Start the preparations." Zivior ordered.
Following that, the servants already started to move Late King"s body to the throne hall.
Soldiers carried the body of the late king from the banquet hall to the throne hall with proper etiquette. Soon, they placed that body on the throne while mages and n.o.bles also entered the hall and stood with a serious expression on their faces. Both Zivior and Ubius stood at near to the throne and observed everyone like a hawk. You could see everyone inside that throne room started to become nervous.
"Josse, Did you get any information about Hogg?" Zivior eyes squinted as he caught saw a guy from that crowd.
"No, Sir. He and the Vice-captain of the royal knights disappeared, leaving no trace behind." The one who replied was a black-robed mage. He had black hair and also a thick, full mustache that partially covered the top lips.
"Where is your teacher Idus? Tell him headmaster Alius is furious about this incident because of his student"s action. He didn"t even show up even after that emergency call." There was a hint of irritation that appeared in Zivior"s tone.
"Sorry, sir. I will inform my teacher soon, sir."
"My friend. So tell me now, what is it in that stone tablet?" Zivior shifted his eyes to Former king Lucius and urged with some impatient look. The incident that happened under their nose made everyone from the magic academy to put in a bitter position.
"It"s a stone tablet with some Graffiti and symbols on it. We found it during Keelad excavation. I first kept that in the royal exhibition, but some guy came and asked me to sell that stone tablet to him. I thought it must have some secrets, so I declined without hesitation. Later, I started researching that." He stopped for a second, then continued.
"But I wasn"t able to found a clue so, just kept it inside the royal treasury. I didn"t know that stone would bring that much trouble." Lucius said with a frown.
"So now it fell into enemy"s hand, huh?"
Lucius nodded.
"Ha, I don"t care as long as we will get to know that demon"s background." Soon, his eyes shifted towards Abium.
"Abium, you did a great job protecting the honor of the royal family. I will also personally visit that old hag and thank her."
"I simply did my duty, sir."
"So, where is that demon"s hand?"
"Sir, it"s with Lady Tabitha. She said it was her war trophy, and she might sell it in the next auction." Abium replied.
"Ha! I knew she would do something like that. Anyway, come and meet me once this ceremony is over." Mentor Zivior said and shifted his gaze to other n.o.bles.
They started discussing what to do next for the ceremony.
Following that, a week-long period of mourning was subsequently announced.
"King Seawallus Lockridge of Peral kingdom died on 31 st December 10291 after a long illness." The royal family officially announced it to the public.
Following his death, many sovereign kingdoms and organizations sent a message of condolences. The king died at the Royal palace banquet hall on 31 December at 8.00 pm. The administrative of the royal household officially announced his death at 9.00 pm, less than an hour after the actual time of his pa.s.sing.
After that, the body was given the bathing rite, presided over by the late king"s son, Crown prince Huggin. Only n.o.bles and mages were allowed to take part in that ceremony.
Those who took part in the procession wore full-length black mourning cloaks and hoods, as did their attendants. The quality and amount of material in these garments were strictly regulated by the college of arms, according to the rank of the wearer.
Colorful heraldic banners were also carried. The coffin was borne on a horse-drawn bier and covered by a richly embroidered pall.
As well as the mourners, the horses were dressed all in black, and it was customary for black drapes to be hung along the route of the procession.
The general citizens were allowed to take part in the symbolic bathing rite in front of the king"s portrait within the grand palace later that day.
The king"s body lay In the throne hall of the royal palace for a period of seven days, with daily rites. After the second day, the citizens were allowed to pay their respect and attend the lying in state in the grand palace.
A royal cremation ceremony took place over five days. Following the cremation of Late King, remains and ashes were taken to the grand palace. They were enshrined at the royal cemetery and castle chapel.
Following the burial, the mourning period officially ended on midnight 7th, and every citizen has resumed wearing regular colors.
…
In the Alastall woodlands, near to the eastern coastline of the devil sea, stood a small three-layer tower painted in pitch black color. You won"t be able to see this type of tower in the whole Peral kingdom. It was wholly fortified and guarded continuously by undead skeletons and some humans, who wore crude leather armors with swords strapping to their hips.
From a simple glance, you could also be able to see they were not trained well in the military and appears unorganized. Those guys almost look more like bandits than soldiers. Suddenly, the guy with a big belly stood on the watchtower suddenly saw a raven flew from the west in a high speed, and it slowly landed on his shoulder.
He startled a bit and quickly looked at that raven. You could see it"s eyes almost similar like a crimson red and all over that raven"s body were inscribed in rune letters and a red crystal on its mantle. Like a puppet, it stood on that bandit"s shoulder unblinking while carrying a scroll in it"s mouth.
That bandit s.n.a.t.c.hed it from that puppet"s mouth and examined it. A seal of devil skeleton face symbol and some words written in ordinary language appeared on that scroll caught his attention. That bandit"s eyes soon widened.
"Boss, Keith! It"s a letter from Lord Rilos." He shouted then quickly climbed down from the outpost while carrying that scroll in his right hand. Soon, that guy went near to a bald man with multiple scars on his face and gave it to him.
"Hm? Rudie, from when did you start learning how to read?" The bald man called Keith gave Rudie a suspicious glance and asked.
"Hehe, boss, I just started to learn the common language from miss Aliza." Rudie scratched his head and responded with some nervousness. Well, the reason for Keith"s suspicion was that women were the only educated person other than that necromancer inside that building.
Also, after her arrival to this building, his reputation among his bandit group become decreasing. Now his lackey appears to be learning how to read and write from this woman made more dissatisfied. He glared at the culprit and quickly s.n.a.t.c.hed that scroll from him without minding others giggle.
"My lady! Can you give this scroll to Lord Murius?" Keith quickly replaced his angry face with a goofy smile and asked. Leaning against the back of that wall was Aliza, a good looking woman with short hair and a black leather jacket.
Well, even he has to show some respect to her because their lord picked her up when returning from his journey two years ago. He doesn"t know much about her but guessed she must be some merchant"s daughter. Even though Keith knew ordering Aliza to do these types of work only make her angrier, he didn"t have any other choice.
That Lord Murius was a hot-tempered guy, and his only weakness was he would never harm this woman. If he or another one of his lackeys went inside, he might just turn them into skeletons.
Snort!
Aliza snorted contemptuously at Keith and sighed helplessly. She quickly took that scroll from him and went inside that three-layered tower. Once she entered the main hall, she walked forth towards the room on her right side. It was Murius"s experiment room. Only she and Keith have the right even to go near to this place.
Knock! Knock!
Next instant, a type of dreadful energy came out from inside made Aliza fall on the ground.
Click!
The door clicked open and soon revealed a black hooded man who appears to be inscribing mysterious letters on a circle with his thin pale hand. She also noticed a small gray crystal in the center of that circle and now confirmed that dread energy was coming from that crystal.
"Oh? Why are you here, girl? I"m in an important work right now." Without even stopping his work, Murius huskily spoke.
Pant! Pant!
Aliza hastily stood up and replied with nervousness.
"My lord, A puppet raven came from the north. It"s a letter from Lord Rilos." She quickly took out the scroll from her waist and walked inside that laboratory then gave it to him. There were many gla.s.s tubes, beakers, funnels placed on the three tables on the left side made her chocolate eyes to wander a little.
"Hm? From the master, huh?" Murius stopped his inscribing work that suddenly caused elemental fluctuation all over the room, but no explosion came. Instead, he sent his spiritual energy and erased all those elemental fluctuations inside like it was nothing and returned his pale looking face towards her direction.
Although Murius got annoyed a little when seeing the destruction of this magic array circle which he had been creating it for two days but soon sighed helplessly. If some other guy came here instead of this girl, he would definitely kill him.
Tsk.
"Give me that scroll." He clicked his tongue then grabbed that scroll, and opened it. It was written in an unknown language inside, unlike the cover made Aliza more curious. Without minding the girl"s curious look, he started to read what was written in that scroll.
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[Murius, I have one good news and one bad news for you. The good news is, someone has a.s.sa.s.sinated that half-dead king to steal something from the royal treasury. I heard from one of our spies in the castle and confirmed it is some demon"s work. Well, it made our job easy anyway, and I will send you about our order of the dead members" next meeting date.] Murius"s dark green eyes narrowed.
"Hm, then our plan to break the seal under the royal city will be easier, huh!" His lips curved up and continued to read the next sentence.
[Next is a piece of bad news. It"s about the territory you are staying now. Before his death, King Seawallus bestowed that land to a newly t.i.tled baron. He appears to be that Huggin"s lackey and might become a future threat to our plan. He is also an official mage, so kill him quietly without revealing your ident.i.ty. That"s it, so take care.]
That curved up lips started to go down and turned into a frown. It wasn"t in their calculation and quickly took out another scroll and quill pen from his spatial ring then started to write. He needs to know more about this newly t.i.tled baron and pondered.
"To whom do i ask about this guy?"
"Ah! I should ask this matter to that viscount Gauvain." He almost forgot there was that fool who was still believing their organization would fulfill his dream.
"Well, he is useful to us anyways." He muttered under his breath and began to write down. After a few minutes, he tossed that newly written scroll to Aliza and replied.
"Girl, once you place this scroll in that puppet raven"s mouth press the number 245, then that ravel will do the remaining work." Aliza caught that scroll and turned back to walk out of the room, but Murius"s next words halted her footsteps.
"Do you want to become a necromancer girl?" Murius"s word made her eyes widen a little, and soon she turned around once again. But this time, her chocolate eyes were shining, and she quickly nodded.
"Haha, take this book and study this language first." Murius tossed a rune language book to her and shifted his dark green eyes towards the empty floor where that magic array circle was inscribed before. Aliza bowed her head towards that Black-robed necromancer and walked out. A smile crept on her face. After two years, this was the first time Murius let her learn something about magic even though it was necromancy.
She quickly returned to that fort wall and placed that scroll on that raven puppet"s mouth then typed the number on it"s back without minding others puzzled gaze towards her joyful expression.
The next instant, the high tier magic crystal embedded in that puppet raven"s mantle started to flicker.
Bzzz! Flap! Flap!
That red-eyed puppet raven rose from her hand and flew towards the western direction.