The sun had finally risen and a new day had come, the Sovereign was currently flying through the skies above the forests near the Newman Highlands.
Inside the airship, all the members had gathered in the dinning area per Aron's request. The atmosphere was quite chatty as many were excited about finding an actual ruin, for simple commoners like them the entire trip had been like a wonderful dream.
Even Claudia couldn't hide the emotions she felt when she thought about how much prestige she would earn for finding a ruin. She wasn't the type to be overly optimistic especially after knowing first hand how unfair life could be, but so far everything was going well and she didn't see a reason to be negative.
A short while later, Aron had walked into the noisy dinning room which almost immediately became silent at his arrival. He wasted no time and took out the map he had received from Lady Rose who chose to not attend this meeting.
"As I said the day before, we've narrowed down the possible location of the ruin but it's still a lot of ground of cover. To be most effective in searching we shall divide into four groups."
"Jagu, Jin and Xavier will lead three of the groups while I'll lead the last. Claudia shall remain on the airship with Evanora, once each group is left at their designated locations the ship will be hidden in an illusion at this point." Aron instructed before pointing onto a spot on the map, so far no one had anything to add on what he said so he continued to speak.
"Once in your area, you are to thoroughly investigate it before making your way to the rendezvous point before midnight. In the case where you actually do stumble upon the ruin by chance, immediately report it to your team leader so they tear this runed paper I'll give each one of them. It'll inform us all and we'll rush to your location. Do not under any circumstances try to enter the ruin alone, the dangers within are unknown after all. Any questions?" Aron took his gaze of the map and looked to see if anyone had something they wished to ask.
The one to raise his hand was Xavier who gave a nod before standing up. "How will the groups be decided?" He asked causing the attention to fall back on Aron.
"You three should be aware of the other member's strengths and weaknesses, the goal is to create a balanced team. As for my group it will be me and Lady Rose, we shall be exploring this region here." Aron once again pointed to the map and showed the area he'd be taking.
In actuality he very much doubted the other areas he marked had any useful information. However splitting into groups would divert the attention of other factions should they arrive but more importantly he did this because he didn't trust the others enough to bring them to the real location.
He wasn't about to underestimate how greedy humans could be. The only reason Lady Rose would be coming along is she already knew of the location, Aron however would have much preferred going alone.
They were a few more questions brought up by Xavier and Claudia on what to do in certain situations but other than that everyone was on board with Aron's plan.
Immediately after the meeting ended, Claudia went to steer the airship to the drop points while Jin, Xavier and Jagu began picking who would be on their teams. This was a fairly quick process and by the time they reached the first marked area everyone was ready.
First it was Jagu and his group, followed by Xavier's, then Jin's and lastly Aron and Lady Rose.
....
"Remember what I told you okay?" Before descending from the ship, Aron left these parting words for Evanora. "Evanora will remember." She replied indifferently and Aron prepared to descend.
Before he could however Evanora tugged at his shirt slightly causing him to turn back and face her with a raised brow. "Good luck." She said with the same lazy tone but her eyes showed a trace of worry.
"I will." Aron replied and finally began to descend the platform with a satisfied expression on his face. Evanora was slowly but surely showing signs of growth and this pleased him.
Below the descending platform stood Lady Rose who had been waiting for Aron. She had even changed from her usual style of dressing and wore tight black leather bottoms, dark brown boots and a white long sleeved shirt with matching white gloves to suit the nature of the situation.
But what truly caught Aron's attention wasn't her attire nor her figure but instead two strange mana devices hovering to her left and right.
Each device was simply a large crystal resting on a triangular golden pedestal that curved downwards.
Lady Rose noticed his gaze on these and she proceeded to say something to him. "They are my own creations, they're essentially for scouting and warning us of danger." Lady Rose explained without much interest and waved her right hand to provide a demonstration.
When she did that the device to her right flew deep into the forest and when she retracted her hand it returned. With the demonstration done she felt nothing more needed to be said.
Aron was curious but he didn't ask further, even at first glance he could tell they weren't as simple as she described but it's not like she would just reveal all her cards to him so there was nothing he could do but observe and be careful.
"That should make things easier, let's get going then." After the airship left, Aron began walking in a certain direction but Lady Rose seemed confused by this. "Why are we going in the wrong direction?" She asked with her arms crossed under her bountiful breasts.
"I indicated we would be searching a fake area on the map during the meeting, just in case someone betrays us. As for why we're going there, I just need to quickly set a runic formation as a back up." He explained causing Lady Rose to look at him in a curious manner.
"You're pro efficient in runes too? Interesting. What kind of formation is it?" She questioned as the two began walking in the same direction with some distance between them.
"An illusion..."
Visit freewe𝑏nov(e)l.𝗰𝐨𝐦 for the 𝑏est n𝘰vel reading experience