Meanwhile, Thyvin had just returned with his skeleton knights to Belmud.  To his surprise however, he discovered that the number of patrolmen guarding the city walls doubled since he last left the city. He could even vaguely see that some of the guards were actually armed with loaded crossbows instead of pollaxes.

He instantly had a bad feeling. He could easily tell who was mostly likely to be responsible for the sudden change. Yet, he also felt that something was off. While it may help against a siege, doubling the guards wouldn't necessarily help with manhunts.

As such, he couldn’t resist the urge to question one of the patrolmen before he entered the city.

“What’s with the extra guards? I don’t suppose that any of you volunteered for extra work.”

“These changes were made due to a request by her ladyship, Arielle Vyatch.”

A distinct voice replied to Thyvin’s question, a voice which he was all too familiar with. Turning to face the owner of the voice, Thyvin saw an Eikthyrnir knight who stood a full head taller than him. He had a broad figure which was only exaggerated by his steel plate armour, which itself was outlined by fleeks of gold, a feature not seen on typical Eikthyrnir knights.

Two ornate horns mimicking a stag’s antler protruded out of his armet helmet rather than having a yellow plume feather attached. Instead of the Eikthyrnir family emblem of a shield with antler horns, the insignia emblazoned onto this knight’s golden cape was the emblem of another family; a pair of two rearing stags with their front hooves planted on a central tower.

Only high ranking vassal knights were permitted to sport the insignia of their own noble family rather than their liege and that particular insignia belonged to the ‘Claude’ family. It was near impossible for Thyvin to mistake who this knight was. He was the lord-commander of Belmud’s city garrison, Jarren Claude. The only question was ‘what the hell is he doing here?’

With a slight bow, Jarren lifted up his helmet’s visor to reveal his handsome face as he greeted Thyvin in a respectful manner.

“My lord Thyvin, I am pleased to see that you have returned home safely.”

“My lord Jarren? Why are you here?”

Thyvin mostly ignored Jarren’s first statement about Arielle’s ‘request,’ that more or less confirmed his suspicions. Instead, he focused on the fact that he met Jarren at the city walls out of all places.

“That too was a request of lady Arielle. Not just me, but many of his excellency, Golvond Eikthyrnir’s elite knights were stationed at the city wall’s gatehouses.”

Like before, Jarren’s replied respectfully to Thyvin.

“She also requests your presence at Belmud’s castle. You can find her at the castle’s twenty-second parlour room.”

Jarren’s last statement caught Thyvin completely off guard. His voice trembled slightly when he questioned the knight.

“S-she requests my presence? Did she say why?”

“I’m afraid not.”

While Thyvin saw that response coming, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he liked it. With a solemn sigh, he gave his farewells to Jarren.

“I see… I apologise for the insincerity, my lord Jarren but it appears that I must now take my leave.”

“Farewell, my lord Thyvin.”

Jarren seemed to have ignored Thyvin’s ‘insincere’ words as he simply said his goodbyes, allowing Thyvin to leave in a timely manner. Fortunately, Jarren wasn’t one of those knights who cared for petty etiquette.

When Thyvin arrived ‘home,’ he ordered his skeleton knights to return to their ‘resting place’ at the castle’s crypt before he made his way for the twenty-second parlour room. Upon entering the keep, his absent undead minions were replaced by Eikthynir family knights. However, he was surprised to see a few men draped in robes with hoods inside the castle.

Their attire was plain and simple, wearing white robes with a black sash tied around their waist. They also wore a necklace which had an emblem of a white eye with two sets of outstretched black wings, the insignia that represented the insignia of the ‘Inquisition of Jumar,’ one of the many Church sects which worship the ‘Faith of the Pantheon.’

Probably because they were within the confines of the castle rather than the city’s cathedral, the inquisitors only silently glared at Thyvin as they made their way out of the castle under the escort of Eikthyrnir knights.

At first, he didn’t make much of their presence. However, a realisation flashed within his mind soon after.

Wait. The members of the Inquisition can’t freely wander about the castle unless they were invited.

Such thoughts only made Thyvin more confused. For what reason would they be called to the castle? He doubted that any of his family members or the vassals under their command invited those inquisitors over, they disliked the power of the Church too much to even consider negotiating with any of the Church sects, let alone the Inquisition.

The only person who would willingly negotiate with the Inquisition would be Arielle Vyatch. Thyvin just didn’t know why. He knew of her intentions of capturing a ‘rogue transmigrator’ in the name of the Frankonian King. He also knew who that rogue transmigrator was.

However, his thoughts soon drifted elsewhere from the peculiarity of Arielle meeting with the inquisitors to the peculiarity of Arielle meeting with him.

He thought that she perhaps suspected him of having connections to her target. No matter how many times he told himself that this was unlikely to be the case, that lingering thought persisted within his mind. Regardless, he still had to meet with Arielle no matter what.

Dreadful anticipation built up within him with each step closer he took towards the twenty-second parlour. While she may have treated him with indifference at their first encounter, that didn’t mean that she would do so again in their second encounter.

After what felt like hours, Thyvin finally arrived at the parlour’s doors. Instead of Eikthyrnir knights, two Vyatch family knights guarded the door in the former’s stead. Their orange aesthetic and dog-esque carvings etched into their armour made it easy to distinguish them from their Eikthyrnir counterparts.

Seeing them arrive, the two knights did a short bow before one of them opened the door.

None of the knights moved as the door was being opened, prompting Thyvin to enter alone. After mentally preparing himself, he walked past the two knights and entered inside.

“My lord Thyvin Eikthyrnir. It is a pleasure to once again meet you.”

The first thing to greet Thyvin’s presence was a pleasant voice which came from the centre of the parlour. There, sitting on a lavish and plump red couch and facing the entrance was Arielle Vyatch. She wore an elegant velvet gown which was a colour which was a mix of orange and gold.

A confident but friendly smile adorned her face as she leisurely relaxed on the furniture with a tea cup and saucer in her hands. Although Thyvin was wary of her, he nonetheless, he responded to her in a courteous manner.

“The feeling is mutual my lady Arielle Vyatch.”

He said that as he made his way towards her before he took his own seat on the furniture opposite her. Just like how it was in his memory, there was a similarly lavish purple couch which stood a couple metres away from the red couch with a single short legged table separating the two.

Upon making his way towards her, the knights behind him closed the door, leaving the two of them alone in the room. It was only when the doors were shut close did Arielle speak up again, taking a sip of her tea before she did so.

“Oh and I do apologise for the fact that there is no longer any tea in reserve for you. Unfortunately for the both of us, those inquisitors overstayed their welcome and exploited my goodwill. I’m almost inclined to believe that they drank it all just so you can’t have your share.”

To Thyvin’s surprise, the first thing that Arielle talked about was his share of tea. Whether the lamenting and regretful tone within her voice was genuine or not, he couldn’t really tell. He could only give a polite reply.

“It’s alright, I do not mind.”

Although she accepted his response, she still continued expressing her regrets.

“It’s such a shame though. Both the tea leaves and sugar used to create the tea were grown in the rich, fertile lands of Efforos. Their origins alone would have made them superior to their… ‘competition.’ Not forgetting to mention that I went through all the effort to make it myself. Now I feel as if my effort was wasted.”

Snap!

Arielle snapped her fingers at the end of her sentence, summoning a single short flame which lingered at her thumb when she did so. Soon after, she turned her gaze away from Thyvin and stared right at the flame, muttering something under her breath. Unlike before, her voice was distinctly colder.

“Such a waste of mana…”

But then she quickly shook her head as she turned her attention back towards Thyvin, the flame on her thumb dissipating when she did so.

“Oh my, I’m so sorry. Please ignore that. The past two days have been taxing on my mind and those Inquisitors left a bad taste in my mouth.”

He didn’t know what to make of what just happened so his reply was random at best.

“It’s… fine…”

“Ahahaha, I can tell that you’re quite confused so allow me to explain.”

She chuckled slightly while she spoke.

“You see, there are currently multiple problems that I have to deal with right now. One of them is a problem that concerns everyone in this city. Have you heard of that one caravan that went missing a couple weeks ago?”

Thyvin felt his stomach lurch when he heard her question. After all, he was one of the reasons why that caravan disappeared in the first place. However, he somehow managed to retain his calm composure as he answered her question.

“Yes. Why?”

“Then you should be aware of the Crimson Cult’s relation to that caravan correct?”

He heaved a mental sigh of relief in response to her next question. Thankfully, his worst fears have not come true. Now that he had nothing to fear, he found it much easier to respond.

“Yes I am.”

Arielle silently nodded once before she posed her third question.

“And are you aware of the changes in the Winds of Magic?”

Thyvin immediately felt confused.

“Not yet no…”

“I didn’t expect you to.”

She paused for a moment to let out a tired sigh before she resumed speaking.

“According to both the Royal Magos and the Royal Seers, there had been a subtle change in the Winds of Magic. Ever since a few weeks ago, there has been a gradual rise in the level of daemonic activity within the Principality of Valha. That was also roughly the same time that the caravan was attacked as well as the time that I set out from Riliana. Coincidence? I think not.”

Thyvin couldn’t stop himself from instinctively gulping. He could easily tell what the implications behind her words were. He was well aware of how much of a terrifying opponent the Crimson Cult was. He also just discovered why Arielle had invited the Inquisition over. A few seconds later, she confirmed her his thoughts.

“The inquisitors were here because I wished to recruit Inquisition’s aid. Nobody is better at conducting inquisitions than the… Inquisition. But as you can probably tell, I’m not too fond of them.”

He simply ignored her last remark as he questioned her.

“That’s cute and all but what does this have to do with me?”

“Nothing honestly.”

She shrugged slightly as she answered.

“It’s just that I also wish to recruit your help. Unlike your bigoted family members or those self-righteous inquisitors, I for one actually see the value in necromancers such as yourself.”

Within her words was an underlying sense of sincerity. Whether her sincerity was genuine or not, Thyvin couldn’t tell.

“You’re saying that you want me to help you?”

“Only if you’re willing of course.”

Her tone continued to maintain its sincerity as she continued.

“But I’m certain that this is an offer that you can’t turn down.”