Chapter 52 – Gardener’s Nightmare

Asterios, Miria and Selene found themselves in the mansion’s garden. There was still a bit of distance to overcome before they would reach the residence behind it. The main issue was that the garden was actually a huge maze made out of tall hedges.

While he pondered over going around the obstacle, Selene created an orb of spiritual energy and drilled with it straight through the first, bushy wall. Asterios sighed and shook his head. He knew that some collateral damage was unavoidable, especially with how riled up he was inside, but he started hoping that the mansion would still stay in the same place after they finished their business here.

Selene led them through the maze. In a straight line. Through every single plant wall. They stumbled on a gardener somewhere in the middle, shocking him greatly when part of the hedge suddenly got blown into smithereens in the shape of a perfect sphere. After politely greeting the man, they moved on, creating another hole in the bush, leaving the employee even more shocked.

After coming out on the other side, Asterios turned around and looked through the tunnel spanning from the beginning to the end of the grassy maze. To some extent, it looked beautiful, but he didn’t think the owners would appreciate the stylistic change. But, it didn’t bother him much. It was just some plants. Worse things would be happening to some people soon.

Finally, in front of the main facade, they glanced around. There were no more guards. Richtensteins must have truly believed no one would dare to assault the mansion from the very front gate.

“Selene, please keep watch on spiritual energy around and let us know if any strong presences appear nearby,” Asterios said to his foxkin companion.

She waved her hands in a peculiar motion and a wisp of bluish flame appeared above her extended palm. Many tendrils sprouted from it, pointing in different directions. Asterios gazed at it for a moment, getting a little curious how that little technique worked, but he quickly refocused his mind. He could always ask later.

Miria stepped to the front and opened the double doors. They were unlocked, surprising the panthergirl a little. She didn’t expect the main entrance to be completely unguarded and not locked at the same time. The party entered the main hall of the mansion.

The interiors were all in dark wood fashion. Most likely mahogany. The walls, the floor, the big stairs leading to the upper level and somewhere to the sides, everything was out of different shades of wood. The composition didn’t look bad. The colours were picked carefully and formed a beautiful match, but it wasn’t really up to Ast’s style. Neither up to the girls’.

For a moment, Asterios started thinking they would have to search the whole place on their own as there was no one present in the main lobby. Fortunately, one of the doors on the side opened and a woman in a maid outfit showed up.

She stopped in her tracks, visibly confused by their presence. It didn’t last for long as she quickly calmed herself down and approached the trio, bowing a little before them.

“Welcome to the Marquees Richtenstein’s residence, dear sir, and…” she glanced at Miria and Selene, noticing their collars and hastily returning her gaze to Ast, “I apologize, but I was not informed that we were expecting guests today. Is dear sir with an appointment, or…?”

“Is the master of the house present?” he asked calmly.

The maid nodded. “Yes. Although, the Marquess is working in his office. Does dear sir have a message to pass?”

“No, I’ll meet him personally. There’s no need to inform him either. Trust me, he won’t mind.”

“But—”

“Is the young master home too?” he interrupted the maid, glancing at her with an uninterested gaze.

The woman didn’t give an immediate answer. She wasn’t sure what to say. In addition, her master didn’t want anyone to disturb him without a good reason, and she didn’t recognize the person standing in front of her as anyone close enough to the Marquess for him not to mind the abrupt visit.

Selene taking a step closer to her brought the maid from her thoughts.

“Didn’t you hear my Lord’s question? How long are you planning on making him wait? Are you sure you can bear the consequences of slowing us down?”

The foxkin woman was slightly taller than the maid, who looked to be somewhere around her thirties. Selene’s exquisite clothing just added weight to her remark. The woman chose to quickly bow and apologize. Someone having a slave looking this refined must definitely have been a remarkable person.

“I’m sorry, my Lord! Yes, the young master is also here!” she mimicked the way Selene called Asterios, assuming that he was of high standing.

“Good. Go and tell him that ‘Asti’ came to say hi. I’ll be in his father’s office if he wants to talk. Now then, how do I get there?”

“Just take the big stairs behind me and then follow the second corridor to the very end. It’s the last room on the left. The door is impossible to mistake. I’ll go and inform the young master immediately!” She bowed again and started turning around.

“Wait. Depending on the Marquess, the conversating might get… a little heated. We have a sensitive topic to touch on. Hopefully, we’ll reach a mutual understanding, but if not… I’d advise you to bring all the staff out of that wing. Just in case.”

The maid paled a little under his gaze. Asterios kept staring at her with raised eyebrows until she nodded faintly. He then passed the woman, patting her shoulder a few times. The girls followed him shortly and they began climbing the wide stairs.

“Is this really going to be this easy?” Miria asked during their walk.

Asterios chuckled. “It’s only the beginning. I’m glad there are no guards literally at every corner or we would have to do something about them, potentially risking hurting them too. Well, the maid might also go straight to them if there are any around.”

“I don’t think so, my Lord. She ran outside through some back exit and is currently heading towards a single presence. I assume that’s the person you asked her to deliver your message to. Or they have just one guard. He doesn’t seem to be that strong, but he certainly knows a thing or two about magic. On the other hand, we are walking towards the strongest source of mana in this place,” Selene said.

“Right. They both are Summoners. It would be kind of stupid for the head of the family which takes pride in their summoning arts to be weak. I’ll be counting on you girls.”

“Leave it to us, Master! No matter what familiars he has, they are definitely not our match!” Miria cheerfully tapped her chest with her fist and Selene nodded with a smile.

At the same time, Marquess Wilhelm Richtenstein was going through various documents in his office. Picking up a piece of paper with fancy writing, he noticed a familiar sigil on the bottom and groaned. 

“These bastards, already asking to return the favour…”

The letter was from the Rosewind’s Summoner’s Academy and was sent by none other than the Council. He had to call in on some connections to deal with his son’s bully around two weeks ago. Roz’s request was sudden, but his son insisted on acting quick and pressuring the academy to deal with the person while they finally stepped out of the line in public.

His son often came home in a bad mood and always blamed it on that one person. It went for months if not years. He couldn’t remember when it exactly started. He even suggested helping quite early, but Roz insisted on wanting to deal with his bully personally. Wilhelm was proud of that stance and decided not to intervene.

That was until a few weeks ago when Roz’s familiar was hurt by that person and his son came to him pleading for help. His mid-term opponent turned out to be his nemesis and the person even broke the rules of the test, assaulting Roz’s wolf fully knowing that he could not order it to strike back, maliciously aiming for the beast’s nether regions.

Marquess Richtenstein sighed and put the piece of paper away, only to notice another nuisance on the side. It was a message from one of the Captains of the Rosewind’s Peacekeepers. They were currently investigating the store in which Roz was scammed while buying a gift for his sister. 

His son, fortunately, noticed that the gold seemed to be low quality and found out it was partially unmarked. Even though the guards found a full box of it in the shop’s warehouse, the case was still open. He was starting to wonder what was the problem there. The evidence was clear. He was actually surprised how unlucky his son was. It so happened that the very shop was managed by the bully’s mother.

“Like mother, like son, I guess.” He sighed again.

Then, someone knocked on the door to his office, bringing him out of his contemplation. The Marquess furrowed his brows.

“I told you to not disturb me today. I’m working.”

He returned his gaze to the documents, just to hear the knob moving. Whoever was on the other side of the door, tried to open it, but it was locked. None of his servants would dare to do so after his initial reply.

“Who is it?”

“Marquess Richtenstein, we need to talk about something important.”

The voice of a young man answered him. One that he did not recognize as his servant or anyone he knew.

“Whoever you are, I’m currently unavailable. I have no idea how you made it here, but you better go back and schedule an appointment with one of my mai—”

*CRASH*

Wilhelm jumped in his armchair when a fist came through the wooden door at the level of the knob. It definitely belonged to a woman. Then, that hand bent and turned the lock on his side, releasing the mechanism. 

After it withdrew, the door was opened and he was met with the sight of a beautiful and lady-like woman in distinguished clothes he knew from the Demon continent. She had a pair of fox-like ears on top of her head and a tail was sticking out from behind her.

The woman walked inside, followed by another girl with animal ears. The two of them stood on the opposite sides of the door and bowed inside a bit while a man he did not recognize entered his office and looked him straight in the eyes with his deep, crimson irises.

Asterios stepped into the fancy-looking chamber while mentally sighing. Miria and Selene were causing an unnecessary scene they did not plan on with all this bowing, but he decided to just go with it.

On the other side of the room, a man with short, blond hair was sitting behind a massive desk. His neatly trimmed beard, noble-looking face and crystal blue eyes emanated an aura of someone with high standing. He also wore formal looking clothes in blue shades.

Wilhelm stood up and a golden gate appeared by his side. A moment later, some kind of a beast walked out of it and stopped by the desk. It was taller than the man himself, barely fitting the room. Asterios instantly recognized it, and also quite expected it, as it even appeared in the Richtenstein’s family emblem. It was a Griffon.

In simplest words, a lion-eagle combination. Head, claws and wings of the former and rest of the body of the latter. They were proud beasts and didn’t serve a master they did not recognize as worthy and also righteous. That already gave Ast an idea of what could have been going on.

“Who the hell are you?!” The Marquess shouted.

“Honestly, I’m actually curious if you know me,” Asterios answered and snapped his fingers, dispelling the illusion he borrowed from the pixie for a moment and forcing his scorching hot energy back, with a lot of struggle to keep it down. “Rings any bells?”

The man stared at him intently, trying to remember if he either offended someone he shouldn’t or made a new enemy by accident, but nothing was coming to his mind. The person in front of him looked like your typical adventurer and the two women by his side were most likely his combat slaves, judging by their collars. And race he was not aware of.

“Not in the slightest,” he answered and straightened his posture, “but do you know who I am? I don’t think so or you wouldn’t—”

“You are the father of the bastard who desperately tried his best to make my life hell for his own amusement but kept failing and failing repeatedly since I did not care about his antics, but one time, he actually crossed the line he should never have ever even thought about,” Asterios interrupted the Marquess to his surprise and stopped blocking the flow of his mana, returning to his awakened appearance.

Wilhelm was a smart and experienced man. He quickly connected the dots and realized the identity of the assailant.

“So, you are the one. Coming for revenge now after you have finally been struck down? Quite a foolish move. But hey, somehow, all the villains end up being like that. I wonder if you took it after your mothe—”

*SLAP*

Without a warning, something hit the man’s face. He did not know what or when or how exactly, but it felt like a hand.

“Selene.”

“I apologize for stepping out of the line, my Lord.”

The youth and the white-haired woman exchanged a few words, confusing him even more. No matter what, the fact that he had been attacked persisted and Wilhelm ordered his familiar to immediately strike back. They could ask questions after the weird trio has been apprehended.

But, even after a few seconds, nothing happened. 

“Nehburn! What are you waiting for?!” he asked and turned his eyes to the side.

Instead of seeing his mighty beast preparing one of its powerful wind-type abilities, he found it frozen in place, staring at one spot without moving even a little. No, that was wrong. The beast was shaking. 

Only now he noticed the faint trace of fear and anxiety coming into his mind through their connection. Wilhelm was perturbed. Not once he saw his long-time friend act like that and they went through some tough battles together.

A quiet growling finally reached his ears and he turned around to look exactly the same way as his familiar. He furrowed his brows after realizing that the source was actually the other girl accompanying the mysterious youth.

His confusion only grew. And it grew again after he witnessed the black-haired woman get surrounded by black mist and turn into a big black panther on a moment’s notice. The huge cat started coming closer while increasing the volume of her growls until she stood directly in front of his Griffon.

Then, the panther released a ferocious roar straight into its beak. The pressure was so strong that a violent air current was created and all the documents in the room went flying. Wilhelm quickly covered his ears as it hurt to even listen to it. 

Shortly after Miria finished, the man’s beast took a few steps back, tilted its head towards its master and squealed in apology while disappearing inside the golden gate it came through previously.

Miria returned to Ast’s side and he started gently scratching behind her ears.

“Now then. Shall we finally move onto the subject of my visit or do you want to try another summon?”