The woman slowly landed on the ground and walked toward him. She was around 20 years old and was wearing a brown mage robe that matched her staff.
"Name yourself," she said to him in a commanding tone.
He frowned at her tone. "And who are you to ask me that?" He responded.
"I am Elise Fairmount, the third daughter of the Marquis of Fairmount. I am here with a Marquis Order to question anyone in relation to the incident that happened in the area around this Stronghold." She said.
He immediately regretted breaking through at the stronghold. The person in front of him was an Early-Stage 3rd Circle Mage. She was not nearly as powerful as him, but she could have sensed the magical fluctuations his breakthrough generated.
It wasn't like he was very quiet when he advanced. He had made so much of a disturbance that the entire stronghold behind him collapsed.
He ran through the two options he had. The first one would be to kill the person in front of him. But he didn't want to do that for two reasons. One was that he wasn't sure the lady was as deserving of being killed as her sister. And the second was that it would bring up a bigger issue that could implicate the village right beside them.
The second would be to deny anything she said and maintain a false story. Since she was a mage, she would be able to tell that he was an Aura Knight anyway. He decided to keep it that way.
"I am Orion, a mercenary," he said. He decided to show a respectful tone once she introduced herself to get on her good side. He sneaked his hands to the back and quickly hid his dimensional ring with Valkyr's Deception.
"And what are you doing here?" She asked him.
"I heard that there were bandits that used to be here but abandoned the place. I wanted to come and check it out to see if there was any loot that I could find. But the whole place crashed when I tried to get in," he said with a regretful tone.
"Where did you come from?" She asked him.
"I came from the city of Eldridge directly to this place. I was planning on leaving after I finished my business here," he said.
Elise looked at him with disgust. "Are you sure that is all you are here for?" She asked him.
"That is all, Lady Fairmount," he said.
She paused for a minute and looked at his face. He looked very calm which was a little unnerving since she was so superior to him. She couldn't understand how he was maintaining his composure.
"What were you doing 4 months ago?" She asked him.
"Completing a few missions back in Eldridge," he said. "Is there any problem, Lady Fairmount?" He questioned her.
"Are you questioning me, commoner?" She got angry when he asked her a question.
"Of course now, Lady. I was just inquiring whether there was a problem with me trying to enter the stronghold," he said.
"Yes, there is. I find it very suspicious that you are here in this abandoned area this much time after it was burned down. Who told you that the stronghold was abandoned?" She asked him.
"No one. They were just talking between themselves in an inn while I was listening in. It must be why I didn't know that it had been so long since it was abandoned and I didn't know," he responded.
For some reason, she couldn't help but feel that the man in front of her was not being honest. She felt it was odd that a 2nd Circle Aura Knight would be here when he could earn money by himself. But the problem was she didn't trust her opinion.
She was only 26 years old and wasn't trained as much in detective work. She was very surprised when her father assigned her to the disappearance of her sister. She quickly found out what her sister had been up to through her servants and got to the place she was in now.
But she had only gotten to the fort to find out that it had just collapsed completely. And a 2nd Circle Aura Knight was there as the only witness. She asked questions that she thought would reveal whether or not he was guilty, but she was unable to read his expressions properly.
She quickly realized why she was assigned to the case instead of any proper detective. Her father considered neither her nor her sister as important to spend any time or resources on the case. That was why she was sent instead of a 4th Circle Mage or the City Commander who was good at work like this.
She figured this out but wanted to still show that she could do a good job. But looking at the current situation, she decided to give up on the whole case.
"Fine. You can go," she said to him.
"Thank you," he said to her and walked away. He walked through the path that led toward Eldridge. He was planning to walk away from the stronghold as quickly as possible to get out of her sight.
The moment he got out of her sight, he lifted himself from the ground with his magic. He stopped walking like before and started to fly through the air. His speed was a lot higher than before as he reached the village. He completely ignored the village and instead went around it.
In a few minutes, he reached the crossroads that led to Eldridge. Instead of taking that route, he chose to go to Phoenix Greens instead. At this point, he decided that he could just fly higher than stick close to the ground. He lifted himself up high into the air and shot himself along the path that led to the city.
At this point, Elise noticed the flash in the distance and frowned.
"What is a 3rd Circle Mage doing here? It might even be a stronger mage," she thought to herself.
Suddenly, a few gears turned in her mind. How did Orion get there?
He said that he had come all the way from Eldridge and was planning on going back. But she didn't notice a single horse with the man. She saw him walk along his path without any form of baggage. So how was he traveling a distance that huge?
She quickly lifted herself into the air and scanned the area. As she combed through the area to look for him, Leo was hundreds of miles away smoothly cruising to Phoenix Greens.
When she couldn't find him anywhere in her sight, she was confused. How was a 2nd Circle Aura Knight so fast that she couldn't even find him?
Suddenly, she realized what just happened. Orion had left and a few minutes later, she saw a mage shoot away with great speed. What if they were related? If that was the case, then it would make sense that he was nowhere to be found.
He had definitely escaped in the time that she took to realize that something was wrong.
