"Tch! I don't know who you are, but you're finished!" The masculine woman threw the fireball in her hand toward Hers, but it was intercepted by the wall of glass that suddenly erected from the sand below. The fire imdiately vanished the mont it hit the glass wall, leaving no mark. Her fireball spell was underdeveloped, lacking the punch needed even by average mage standards.
Hers didn't respond verbally. Instead, he waved his hand in a slow, controlled manner, commanding the sand to obey him. It swiftly transford into a high-density glass wall from four directions, forming a room with no openings for air to enter. Only an intricate sound-transmitting magic formation adorned it, as Hers didn't intend to harm the woman, not yet. He and his lord had questions for her.
The woman in the glass cage was terrified. Trapped within, she couldn't throw a tantrum or use her fireball spell, as it would backfire due to the lack of oxygen. Any attempt to break out would consu the limited oxygen, potentially ending her life.
"Now, tell , where exactly is the Alchemont Clan HQ?" Hers asked in an authoritative tone.
"Why are you looking for them? If it's about making a contract regarding insurance and resurrection in homunculus bodies, then..." The woman tried to divert the topic.
"Do I look like I need those faulty homunculi with less than 100% efficiency in their mana pathways?" Hers asked, his tone showing a hint of anger and annoyance. He felt insulted by the suggestion.
"No, my lord!" The woman responded, startled but calr this ti as she observed the situation. She glanced around and spotted the two n observing from a distance.
She recognized them despite her limited magical prowess and theoretical knowledge. Her strength lay in connections and rembering faces, making her adept at managing her mage family despite her lack of magical prowess.
"Wait... is that... Vlad Tepez, the Pri Ancestor of the Sanguinis clan?" She uttered as she saw Vlad, then her gaze stopped dead at Daniel. "And…. that's Daniel Emberweave!? The guy who beat the shit out of a hell lord!?" The woman exclaid in fear and awe.
However, since the information about Daniel defeating Satan was exclusive to the higher-ups, she only knew about the battle in Tessia Kingdom where Daniel defeated Mammon and destroyed the hell gate there.
"Enough with your insolence! Tell what you know about the Alchemont Clan already!" Hers roared once again. Now that the woman saw that Hers didn't seem to be bothered about being observed by the two notorious figures in the Curtained World, she connected the dots and ca to the conclusion that Hers must be associated with the other two.
"You... you're with Lord Emberweave and Lord Vlad?" She asked for confirmation.
"Yes, I ca with them. What does that have to do with my question?" Hers asked, growing impatient with the woman.
"Oh, my lord, that has everything to do with your question," the woman chuckled and faked a laugh, hiding her fear as she began to speak. "You should know that my family and I are just an average noble mage family. I don't even have a seat on the Hightower Council! The battles among the Higher-Ups are like the battles of gods to us mortals.
We can only suffer the consequences and try our best to protect ourselves from the fallout, aiming to stay on the winning side."
"Then you'd better stay on our side because we're winning," said Hers confidently. "Now, tell where the Alchemont Clan is!" He urged.
"They… they are in East Hampton, XXX Street. At the end of the street, there will be a large illusion array protecting it. Behind the illusion array is the main house of the Alchemont Clan," the woman revealed. "Can... can you release now?" she asked tentatively.
Hers checked the formation array on the cage, used to detect lies and transmit sound from inside the cage to the outside, and saw no issues. He then imdiately turned the cage and all of the glass back into sand, startling everyone present.
"East Hampton, XXX Street, got it. Thanks for your cooperation. Sorry to bother you," Hers said, nodding toward Daniel, his Lord.
Daniel also nodded and pulled out a pouch that jingled with coins from his coat, tossing it to the woman. "It's not much, but consider it the price for the information," he said as he prepared to head to East Hampton.
"Oh no, Lord Emberweave, it's very nice to be of service. You don't need to pay us," the woman quickly protested, bringing the coin pouch back to Daniel.
Daniel paused, gazing into the masculine woman's eyes and sensing her cunning nature. He deduced that she and her family were attempting to curry favor with him, knowing that accepting paynt would sever their connection. Despite her lackluster magical abilities, she displayed a keen understanding of politics.
Having encountered similar tactics from Don Veneziale, who also sought favor, Daniel decided to go along with the charade.
"Keep it, I insist. And if you're interested in working for us, hold onto this as well," Daniel said, tossing a copper coin with a crow head symbol on one side and the letter 'W' on the other. This coin represented affiliation with the Whispering Hall.
"Keep that coin. My people will contact you. Present it to them, and you'll be recognized," Daniel explained. He wouldn't dismiss soone attempting to ingratiate themselves, particularly soone influential within the Confederacy mage circle.
"Thank you, Lord Emberweave, for this opportunity!" The woman expressed her gratitude to Daniel as he and his group departed.
Once Daniel and his group were out of sight, the masculine woman hurried to her husband.
"Hahahaha!! Billy! We've struck gold!" She exclaid joyfully, showing her husband the Whispering Hall insignia coin.
"Oh? What's this, honey?" Billy inquired.
"I'm not sure, Billy, but it seems quite mystical. Is it an artifact coin or so kind of token? I'm gonna ask my grandpa; maybe he knows," the woman replied. Looking at the coin in her hand in awe and confusion.
— anwhile - Alchemont Clan Main House —
At the Alchemont Clan mansion, a large mansion that nearly exceeds 3000 square ters. Within a luxurious conference room of the current Alchemont clan patriarch. The one who is sitting in the seat of honor within this room is the mysterious man in a wooden owl mask with velvet robe.
There are many people within the room who are sitting on the seats along the long table, all of them wear masks of various animals, and so have symbols on the mask, such as '?' or '!'.
"It is as Lord owl predicted, The Hightower had retracted their influence from North Arica. And our next step is to establish ourselves and we'll be the next Hightower!" Said one of the masked n who were sitting at the long table.
Then, a lady in red dress said with concern "But, I heard that our plan to kidnap his daughter and use her to control him has failed. Will he co to us to take revenge?"
"I don't think so." The man with the K alphabet for a mask said. "Don't forget, Lady Envy is with him, we all know that she is kind and didn't like to resort to violence, and according to our data, Daniel Emberweave seems to listen to his family a lot, he won't co here to bother us."
"Yes, Mr. K is correct, and besides," the velvet-robed man with an owl mask interjected, "even if he does co here, it would be a foolish decision on his part. The Confederacy is our stronghold, where our people reside. If he were to venture here, it's akin to walking into a trap. We boast over 100,000 mages!
I welco him to co so we can confront him, extracting all the knowledge from his mind!" The man in the owl mask declared with a sinister tone.
Laughter filled the room at the thought of Daniel's arrival, except for one person wearing a raccoon mask.
"What's the matter, Mr. Raccoon? Not feeling so good?" inquired the man sitting beside him.
"No, it's just a healthy dose of caution from . I wouldn't underestimate Daniel Emberweave's potential visit. Based on information from one of our informants, he's a deeply paranoid individual. Soone like him, if he were to show up, likely has nurous strategies to counter us and whatever we throw at him," explained the man with the raccoon mask.
The room fell silent, acknowledging the raccoon-masked man's insight. His reputation for gathering information and surviving in precarious situations was well-known. He had outlasted many masters and always positioned himself on the winning side of conflicts.
Suddenly, a servant dressed in a butler's attire hurried into the room, visibly pale and flustered. He whispered sothing to the man in the owl mask, who nodded in response and promptly stood up.
"I apologize, everyone, but urgent matters require my imdiate attention. Until next ti," the man in the owl mask announced before hastily leaving the room.
Observing this, the man in the raccoon mask also rose. "It appears I'm not in the best mood. I'll take my leave now. Farewell, everyone," he bid farewell before departing as well.
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