"Your Highness, where were you going? Don't you know our paperwork was tripled thanks to His Grace the grand counselor's disappearance"
Dion bursts out and whining on the floor as soon as Rex entered his work office, the other talented aides which were personally selected by Grizel greet him with huge eye bags on their faces as well, fortunately, they are not as messy as Dion who looks like a beggar than the Crown Prince's first attendant.
Even though Dion and the other aides are fully aware of the Princess's eccentricity, they never think the one behind this kidnapping case is none other than that demon lord.
"Hold it for several weeks, when everything is ready, we will announce the death of the current Grand counselor, and immediately hold an assembly of the nobles for the election of the new Grand counselor"
"..."
Judging from the Prince's calm tone, Dion is quite sure he knows the truth behind this kidnapping case, but for someone who's always been by his side, this bold move is not the Prince's style of dealing with the trashy nobles.
Then...
Ba-thump!
Ba-thump!
Dion's heartbeats become chaotic in anxiety, there only someone who has the guts to kidnap such a big figure without fearing any of the consequences.
"Your Highness, is it perhaps..."
Dion and the others are hoping for 'No' as the answer, but fortune seems like to stay away from their miserable life as the Prince nodded helplessly, once again they were victimized by the Princess's tyranny.
Sob...
Sob...
"I... I don't know anymore whether Your Highness married to a Princess or a disaster, I get panic attacks every time I heard about Her High-"
"Stupid Dion, Sshhh!!!!"
Rex panicked by Dion's complaint as he abruptly covered his attendant's loose mouth with his hand to hush him, but to no avail.
A melodious voice of a little girl rang through the office from the Crown Prince's blue necklace, it was stupid to badmouth behind the devil's back as she could hear all of their conversations thanks to the magic pendant.
"Hhmm... A disaster? Panic attack? Ah! What a good idea"
She chirped happily, except for the prince, the gloomy faces of his aides turned into pale blue, they know exactly who is the owner of that melodious voice, especially Dion who seems to get struck by panic attacks for real.
Well...
He fvcked up.
"It was Dion, I have nothing to do with his complaint"
Rex averted Dion's pitiful gazes as he shamelessly offers the soul of his most trusted aide to the devil.
"Oooh? That complaint is giving me the idea to deal with these crowds though, Thank you Dion"
For the first time in his life, instead of feeling good, he feels a bad omen after hearing that grateful phrase, little did he knows that his complaint was really helpful to the Princess, though...
He will regret it.
-â¢-
Covered with a long robe and an illusion to disguise, Grizel is standing absent-mindedly staring at the grandiose fountain surrounds by the statue of mermaids, as the trademark of this lively port city, this fountain swarmed by a lot of people doing business in every corner of it.
This port city in the South is the trade center of the Eastern mainland, where most of the international trade between Azure Empire and Sherwood Empire takes place, hence why this city is populous with merchants and workers from the other regions as well.
And this trademark fountain was built magnificently near the port, precisely right next to the coast where huge vessels line up in the harbor.
"Are you kidding me?!"
Grizel half-shouted in disbelief gaining the confused looks from her surrounding, she doesn't care at all about it though.
'Master, according to the coordinate in your memory, the second artifact will appear here, above that fountain, tomorrow noon at the busy hour, how unfortunate pfft'
Somehow it seems like Athena exists to frustrate Grizel who can't do anything to her, when the first artifact appeared, even the little Grizel found it suffocating to breathe, these crowds couldn't withstand the negative aura around the artifact and casualties may appear.
'How to emptied this port city even only for a few hours without any suspicion?'
Amidst the crowds, Grizel is thinking about how to chase away these people tomorrow, and there she heard someone's complaining behind her back through one of the magic pendants.
Sob...
Sob...
"I... I don't know anymore whether Your Highness married to a Princess or a disaster, I get panic attacks every time I heard about Her High-"
Grizel flinched as that complaint gave her the idea to chase away the crowds on their own.
"Hhmm... A disaster? Panic attack? Ah! What a good idea"
She said as she connects her magic earrings so that Rex and the other could hear her voice, a huge grin appears on her face.
When a natural disaster occurs, people would definitely try to save their lives by evacuating themselves to a safe place, that's the instinct of the livings.
'A natural disaster...'
'Alright, I'll make one'
Grizel smirked as she thinks about what kind of disaster that can be used to chase away these people, there's no need to create the real one that will damage the town, she just needs to make a situation where the people believe that the disaster might occur, taking advantage of their panic attacks to sow the anxiety and chase them away for safety reasons as an excuse.
'Perfect!'
Grizel was satisfied with her plan, unsympathetic to another headache she caused for her fiance and his aides later.
"It was Dion, I have nothing to do with his complaint"
Rex's voice from her magic earrings makes her realize that the communication device is still connected.
"Oooh? That complaint is giving me the idea to deal with these crowds though, Thank you Dion"
Grizel said as she disconnects the magic earring, she was really being grateful for Dion's complaint, even though ironically, the Imperial palace will be swarmed with another wave of paperwork from the South region thanks to Dion's complaint that ended up being another distress in the hand of a certain devil.
Grizel is humming as she walks joyfully towards the decent inn near the harbor because the artifact is not the only thing she will loot from this region.
"Tonight, will be a long night"
Grizel chooses to stay at the inn even though she has teleportation scrolls, this thing was pricey in the market because the production has ended as the Elven race extinction.
But thanks to Athena's knowledge and Deus's skill in craftsmanship, they can reproduce the teleportation scroll, but the problem is the production time, Deus can only craft one scroll for 2 weeks worth of work, since the magic originally belongs to the Elven race, even if he knows the method, it was extremely difficult for a human to craft using the Elven magic.
Hence why she chooses to save the scrolls and stay at the inn.
"Miss, can I help you?"
Said the man at the reception desk, there are a lot of hotels in this port city from the cheapest to the most luxurious ones, since she plans to leave the room at midnight discreetly, it would be a waste of money to stay in the expensive hotel and the cheap ones are like the den of fugitives, hence why she chose the decent one to avoid any kind of commotion.
"Is there any vacant room? If possible the one in the most desolate area since I want to rest without any noise"
Said Grizel who disguised as a novice merchant in her twenties.
"Of course, actually our entire top floor is empty because most of the fat-bellied merchants hate stairs"
The receptionist whispered in a low voice making sure no one hears except for the Miss.
"Oh, that's perfect, I take it for one night"
An entire floor for herself, it seems like fortune is always on her side.
After paying in full, she is heading into the room, it was quite convenient to rest a bit before tonight's joyous event.
-â¢-
Swoosh...
The wind blessing is keeping Grizel afloat on the water, her long robe fluttered every time the waves of the midnight sea are passing beneath her feet as the moonlight shines.
'Master, it's around here, according to the map you stole at the First Emperor's tomb, the treasure in the South is under the sea around this area'
"Alright"
Swoosh...
Swoosh...
The wind starts to get rampant running in circles covering around Grizel, it creates a huge whirlwind before turned into a whirlpool as it engulfed itself into the sea carving a path for her to descend without touching the cold water.
On the seabed, Grizel could see a simple altar with a huge shell on it.
Swoosh...
2 ancient daggers appear on her hands as she holds back her strength gripping them, it would be stupid if she accidentally breaking the treasure along with the shell.
Clank!
Clank!
Grizel's eyes widened, even though she is holding back, this shell didn't even get any scratch against her ancient daggers.
"What is this sturdy shell? appraise!"
Her oceanic blue eyes turned into gold as her appraisal blessing is working on analyzing the shell.
"Hhmm..."
Grizel knows that there will be a seal on the treasure like the previous one she looted in the Northern highest cliff, last time she absorbed the wind barrier forcefully and received a quite severe backlash.
"It such a waste to damage this sturdy item, seems like I need to borrow his ability"
Grizel touched her earrings to connect with one of her elite members, the one who has the ability to make a temporary hole without damaging the item.
"Your Highness?"
From the other side, Mammon replied to the call of his new Lord.
"Use a teleportation scroll and come here"
Grizel said as she tells him the precise coordinate, because of the noise of the waves and the raging wind, she needs to say it several times for Mammon to get the correct coordinate.
Swoosh...
Flop!
Mammon appears in front of Grizel with his struck dumb expression.
"You gotta be kidding me..."
He mumbled as his jaw dropped, somehow he was aware that his destination would be somewhere near the sea because of the loud sound of the waves, but who in the world with sanity intact would have expected to be teleported into a whirlpool in the middle of the sea.
Seemingly his logical brain started to waver.
Cough!
Cough!
Mammon coughed as he feels a terrifying and suffocating aura around his Lord, immense fear started to creep into his shivering legs, he finally learned the reason why his instinct was screaming out loud of the danger right before his eyes back then when he gets recruited by the Princess.
"Mammon, are you alright?"
Grizel is using the aura from Solomon's blessing to control the wind and maintain the whirlwind, they would have been drowned if she erases her aura right now.
Mammon nodded confirming that he's alright, he certainly feels suffocated but not to such an extent where he could faint anytime soon, but strange enough, even if he is surrounded by those frightening aura, his Lord's concerned voice feels so warm and he feels safe around her.
"Y-yes Your Highness, it's bearable since the aura wasn't directed to me"
"Can you open the shell without damaging it?"
He nodded as he started to activate his ability while thinking about the reason why the Princess persistently wants to open the shell here in the middle of the sea while maintaining the whirlpool even though she could put the shell into her storage ring first then open it somewhere safer.
Clack!
Creaaaak...
The sturdy shell is opening up, it was quite easy to open from the inside thanks to Mammon's ability to create a hole.
Just like before at the cliff, there is nothing but a rusty wooden box and a simple ring inside of it, but Grizel couldn't suppress her grin when Mammon hand over the opened box to her.
Grizel bites her finger and drops her blood on the simple ring.
Drop!
The simple ring is covered with a sudden light for a moment as the shape of it changes into a beautiful silver ring warped with red ruby snake carvings.
Mammon raised his eyebrow because he had seen the same ring before, it was the same ring uses by Levi, he is sure about it because of that eye-catching ruby snake carvings.
"Ha, hahaha, jackpot"
Grizel laughed in satisfaction when she put the ring on her finger, she could feel what kind of jaw-dropping things are inside the ring.
Swoosh...
A blue crystal that looks as beautiful as the ocean appears on her hand making Mammon who notices it widened his eyes, he has a hunch about that crystal because it's emitting a mysterious aura.
"Stone of God?"
Grizel smirked not caring Mammon's shocked face, he doesn't have any idea that there are more stones of God inside the ring and fortune that equal to the wealth of a Duchy reside in this small ring.
She absorbs the stone, a beautiful blue light was eaten by her artifact ring as the light becomes dim and then disappears completely.
Swoosh...
The water around Grizel and Mammon dispersed to the side making a huge hole in the ocean as if respecting their Lord at the center, it was an unbelievable sight as though a God of water is being born.
But it seems like the train of shock won't end here, as Mammon's common sense is barely catch up to this situation, he is witnessing another crazy phenomenon.
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
A series of strong wind blows are heading towards the landmass as if giving a warning to the fishermen and the people in the land that something is wrong with the ocean, this wild wind keeps blowing for some time but then...
"..."
The ocean waves and the sea breeze are suddenly gone, there is no more the natural sound of the ocean as it becomes deadly silent like the calmness before the storm.
"Woa-"
Mammon get startled by the water that lifts their body to the surface, it sounds really crazy but they are literally standing on the water in the middle of the sea.
He rubbed his eyes as he watches a huge wave is forming behind his Lord when she raised her hand, her eyes are looking straight to the port city like those snipers he saw at Tartarus's base camp aiming at the target.
Gulped!
Bathump!
Bathump!
Bathump!
His heartbeats become restless as the wave is growing in height and width blocking the beautiful moonlight as if ready to wreak havoc on the town.
"No way..."
To be continued...