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"So, we meet again. You will be coming with me," Elise said.
"Is this someone you know?" Nefrati asked him. She was watching the scene play out with amusement.
He ignored her and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Lady Fairmount, but why do I need to do that?" He asked her.
"Why? You are involved with my sister's murder. I will present you to my father and make sure that he will acknowledge my skills as an investigator," she said.
"A person of the Fairmount family died?" Greendove was surprised.
"It's information that will not get out at all. Isn't that right?" Elise turned to him and asked. He nodded in response while feeling horrible inside. Why was it him that was stuck with the intolerable woman?
Leo showed the same shock. "How could this happen? I will make sure to assist you in any way possible, but I don't think I can come with you. If there is anything else I can do, please tell me," he said.
"Don't show your shock now. You acted very well last time, but I won't let you get away this time. You will be coming with us," she said.
"Huh, are you sure about that? What if I run into the forest? I might be lucky and escape without encountering a single Magical Beast," he said. "I outran you once. How hard is a second time?"
Elise took out her staff. "Last time you were able to escape somehow with the help of your mage companion. But he is not by your side now and will probably be too afraid to interfere now. On the other hand, I am with Viscount Greendove, a 4th Circle Mage," she said arrogantly.
As she was saying this, the shadow that was cast by Leo was slowly changing. It seemed to elongate, stretching toward the two. Both of them didn't realize that the shadow itself was moving.
"I think you misunderstood something," Leo said slowly, adding suspense to his tone. "I don't have any mage companion to help me escape."
"Stop trying to fool me. How would you be able to escape by flying away if you are not with another mage?" Elise asked him.
"Like this."
The shadow enlarged at once, allowing him to drop into it. Before either of the two reacted to this, Leo was behind her with a shadow blade to her neck.
"I don't think either of you considered that I could be a mage myself," he said.
"That is- that is impossible," Greendove was shocked. He didn't think he would witness someone use both aura and magic.
"The circles of magic and aura would conflict with each other, making your body burst! No one has ever been able to do this," he kept trying to understand the situation. "Are you using some sort of magic to make your magic seem like aura? Or are you using a treasure that mimics aura?"
The blade pressed to Elise's neck.
"I don't think you understand the position that you are in. I am the one in control, so I will be asking the question," Leo assertively said.
As his blade was pressing to her neck, Nefrati's voice sounded in his head.
"Don't kill her. At least, not yet," she said.
Leo was confused.
"Why?" He thought in his mind. Since he wanted to relay his thoughts to her, she was able to hear them.
"You said you wanted to find the Blood God's temple, right? But the problem is that the Blood Moon passed. The only way you can activate the main temple is to wait till the blood moon, or offer a worthy sacrifice," she said.
"And this sacrifice is worthy? She is pretty weak. Wouldn't the stronger mage be a better person," he asked. The fact that the useless Elise would be considered a good sacrifice blew his mind.
"No. It has nothing to do with power. The reason he is useless is because his blood is not that special. As for the girl, she has a very faint amount of a royal bloodline, which means her blood will be barely enough for you to activate the temple," she said.
He was confused by her words. So what if the Fairmount family had a royal bloodline? He didn't even know what a bloodline was. It wouldn't really matter to him unless he got some background information.
"You don't need to ask. I can tell that you have no idea about what bloodlines are. I'll tell you later. Focus on making sure you have the girl as a hostage and get rid of the other person. He seems as strong as you, so you will be at a disadvantage," she said by reading his expression.
"Thanks for the heads up," he said and snapped back to reality. Their conversation was over in seconds since it was happening in his mind and didn't need any physical talking. Both of them were so strong that they could process the speed of the conversation easily.
Meanwhile, the Viscount was filled with tension. He had no idea what to do. How was he supposed to expect that the girl would become a hostage? After thinking for a while, he took out his dimensional ring.
"Wait. I know that you are someone who is strong, so I have a deal for you. Here is my dimensional ring. It has 20 million Starcoins worth of stuff. If you let the Lady go, the ring is yours," he offered to Leo.
When Elise heard that, she instinctively tried to cover her own dimensional ring. She took it off and quickly held it in her hand. Unfortunately for her, Leo was able to watch all this. He reached for her hand and grabbed the ring from her.
The ring was very similar to what the other daughter of the Fairmount family had, and it probably had just as much money in it.
"Well, this is the dimensional ring of someone from the Fairmount family. I wonder how much it has," he said loudly while quickly taking a peek into it. What he saw surprised him.
"30 Million Starcoins?! Wow, you are very rich!" He exclaimed while complimenting Elise. Her face was red with the anger of losing her dimensional ring. She wanted to do something about it, but she was afraid of the Shadow Blade hovering in front of her neck.
No matter how strong she was, the blade would slice through her neck. If she tried to use magic, her speed wouldn't match something that close to her body. So she resorted to something she was good at - threats.
"I am the lady of the Fairmount Family! How dare you try to hurt me. If you don't leave me, my father will hunt you down till you die a horrible death. If you know what is better for you, then-" While she was talking, he interrupted her.
"I am not really concerned about what your status is since I already knew who you were. And let's be honest, no matter what happens your father will try to kill me. So why would your threat impact me at all?" He asked her.
