"..."
Already rushing through the hallways, Karlasth's expression turned desperate.
With his hand clenched on the pocket hosting the envelope he received, he rushed out of the building. Instead of going for the main gate, he took a shortcut through the training grounds and with the help of an internal spell boosting his physique, he leaped over the wall, landing softly on the other side.
"..."
In great haste, he rushed past the deceptively shallow pond that in truth was a deep emergency water reservoir, missing a pair of beastly yellow eyes observing his every move from the shade of the forest.
Thanks to the planned design in which the trees were planted, the pair of yellow eyes burning in the darkness never lost track of him, only flicking out of sight for a second or two at a time.
Joshua Karlasth didn't wander around. From the start, he had a clear goal.
"!!!"
And when he made it, he jolted and shivered at the sight of the patch of stirred soil and a plant with blue and white flowers growing in the middle of it.
"Ikna, Dig it up."
"...ugh, again? And now it has filth in it too…!"
Karlasth didn't use a spell. Instead, he simply spoke up, and his contracted fae appeared out of thin air with a complaint.
Ikna was an earth elemental in the form of a stouty old man donning a volcanic rock armor, with chunks of granite for hair and beard.
"Someone might have discovered this little secret. I have to be sure."
"...mhhmm…"
Karlasth shrugged his shoulders while pointing at the spot, and Ikna shrugged his while grumbling grumpily.
Even so, the fae waved his hand dismissively, and the white and blue flowers were uprooted, followed by the chunks of soil rising and levitating.
As more and more earth was moved and suspended in mid-air, the first bones flashed in the scarce moonlight.
"That's the wolf you got me as a distraction. Go deeper."
"..."
Karlasth scoffed dismissively, urging his fae to continue, but Ikna squinted his eyes and furrowed his brows, as if deep in thought.
"There's only a lower jaw here… most of the skull is missing…"
"...what…?"
Finally, Ikna spoke up, causing his contractor to tense up and gasp.
"There is no way that it somehow disintegrated while every other bone is intact… someone took it… But… Why…?"
"Dig deeper!"
The contracted fae spoke up with concern, making Karlasth clench his fists and call out with urgency.
"..."
Ikna nodded, and more and more chunks of soil began to float up…
…only chunks of soil, with nothing else that should have been there…
"...!"
As something got his attention, Karlasth suddenly stepped towards the hole and snatched a single shining speck from the floating earth.
He then inspected it in silence, his complexion turning more and more pale by the second.
It wasn't much, a mere speck of silver crushed into thin petal…
But Karlasth knew what it actually was.
A piece of chain link of the necklace worn by the commoner nurse whom he killed.
Strangled, broke her neck, accidentally breaking the cheap piece of jewelry.
…but it wasn't right…
Why was there only one piece left while there should be more…?
Although the chain was cheap, the pendant itself was something lovers gifted to each other, a trinket blessed by the Grand Fae of Nature sold by the main temple. Back then, Karlasth decided that it would be something that a simpleton like Brice Hervolst would adore, so he took the pendant to give her after tearing off the broken piece of the chain and tossing it together with the corpse.
…but now neither those pieces nor the corpse were where he left them…
*rustle*
"!!!"
A sudden sound alarmed both the fae and his contractor, making them jump…
"...stay here and keep the spell active. Just in case…"
"...as you wish…"
Karlasth furrowed his brows, looking around while already chanting a spell even before speaking to Ikna, who nodded hesitantly. It was obvious that the fae was confused about why a human, especially his contractor, would risk doing that on his own instead of sending him.
Even going for such lengths as to make him stay behind…
Nonetheless, the command of a contractor had precedent over such worries, and the fae watched the human walk from the cover of trees out in the open with two orbs of spells on standby, stealthily levitating behind his back.
At the same time, Joshua Kervolst stepped out of the forest already focused on the silhouette standing by the pond, clearly awaiting him.
"...student Vallhall…?"
The appearance of the person took Karlasth aback as he addressed the presumed person.
With their hair bleached blond and the body structure of a scarecrow donning an oversized school uniform, holding their hands behind their back, one would think that it would be easy to tell, but…
The person wore a very specific mask…
One could tell it was made out of a canine's skull, its upper part, well, face to be exact, covering the actual face of the individual with an alarmingly threatening aura.
"..."
Karlasth gulped down his saliva at the lack of response. He quickly glanced back towards the forest where he left Ikna... reminded about what the buried wolf skeleton had been missing.
"...I've been told that Kyle is apt in illusion magic… is that you then using your unfortunate master's appearance or is it young Vallhall in person…?"
The man asked while reinforcing all of the defense spells, both internal and external, that he had cast on himself on his way there.
"..."
Without saying anything, the masked person turned to Karlasth, and only after a second or two of the burning, beastly yellow eyes starting from inside the hollow eyesockets of the skull did the man realize that they weren't even actually focused on him until that point…
"...!"
…the moment their gaze was on him, Karlasth experienced the dread a cornered prey feels…
…and that was before the silent person made any actual move…
"...of, fuck…! You're the real o…!"
"Do you believe that reject of the main family would be able to pick and prepare a proper gift on his own?"
Karlasth cursed, backing off and reaching his hand towards the masked person, but just before the orbs of spells awoke and shot forward, the masked one spoke up, mockingly tilting their head.
"...!"
And Joshua Karlasth froze up with a shocked expression.
"...then… what is going on…?"
"..."
He asked, but got no answer, with the masked person tilting their head to the other side, staring at him intensely.