The Royal Palace in Elfaven City, Eldinor.
Clutching a piece of unmarked parchment in her hand, Selene ran through the extravagantly decorated passageway while huffing to herself.
As someone who had never trained her body since birth, she didn't have the endurance to be able to traverse the long route which needed her to walk through at least a kilometer of winding passageways before reaching the exit.
In fact, she had already gotten lost twice, making the blades on her earlobes twitch as she had no option but to ask directions from the patrolling guards.
Indeed, she had been taken into the employ of the Queen of Eldinor only one week back, and she had yet to completely familiarize herself with the maze that was the Palace.
Reaching the exit, she nodded at the guards while hiding the parchment in her palm before hurrying out towards an inn in the city.
On reaching her destination, as she was about to climb up the stairs, something tripped her.
Yet, right before her nose was definitely about to be broken by the hard wooden floor, a hand caught her waist and pulled her up with a gentle force.
As it had all happened too suddenly, Selene fought the feeling of vertigo which threatened to make her faint.
Getting back her senses, she looked around to realize that there was no one to be seen in her vicinity.
Puzzled, she turned around to walk towards the inn again before the terror that had suddenly appeared on her face made her turn around and search the ground frantically.
The secret message sent by the Queen was gone!
Indeed, two days ago, she had been called to the Queen's quarters where she had been given the option to enter the Deathsworn Service.
If she swore to obey all the orders of the Queen, her one-armed brother whom she was supporting through the salary from the Palace would be immediately cured using the costliest methods available to the Elves.
Apart from this, she would also be given a secret hike in salary which would be accumulated in the Palace to be withdrawn by her the day she left the service of the Queen.
As someone who had been through a life of poverty, Selene wasn't a prime example of the individualism inherent in Elves.
In fact, the post of a maid itself had few takers even though it had high pay. This was because Elves saw it beneath them to be called so.
Thus, in the Palace, the post of "Cleaning Mage" was more common.
Regardless, Selene had chosen to accept the offer after a day of thought. She needed the money, and she couldn't bear to see her little brother learn to take care of himself with his other hand, when there was another option available. Even though he had chosen to disregard her words and become a mercenary before being ambushed and almost killed in his very first mission, she still loved him as he was the only family she had.
Now, it seemed that she had botched up her first mission just like her brother.
After searching for another half hour, she dejectedly made her way back to the Palace while hoping that the punishment wouldn't directly be execution.
…..
Seeing the drooping shoulders of the Elf whom he had just tripped to collect the information from, Olfax sighed while wishing there was another way.
Alas, the Queen of Eldinor had become considerably more ruthless since the time he and the King of Lanthanor had interacted with her.
This was her way of making sure that this particular message-bearer would always be afraid of failing again, making it so that she would always work with the best efficiency.
Of course, the impact this would have on her psyche had been disregarded by the Queen who had by now already taken firm control of the Kingdom.
Deciding to make a report on the matter to the King, Olfax looked at the parchment in his hand before heading to the waiting soldier from Lanthanor.
...
Back in Lanthanor City, Daneel got up from the Energized Training Chamber and made his way to his chambers after being notified that the package from Eldinor had arrived.
Glancing at the clone, he blessed his previous master whose visit had allowed him to develop this technique.
Already drunk in the feeling of rapidly improving in power, Daneel knew that he would break through to an Exalted Human Mage pretty soon.
Yet, his smile that had appeared due to this thought vanished due to the images of the half-destroyed village and the hanging corpses that flashed through his mind.
Sighing to himself, he adopted a stoic expression before making his way up.
On receiving the parchment from the messenger, the smile returned to his face albeit with a slight chill to it due to the message that rang in his mind the moment he initiated contact with the trinket.
"This is all I found in the Hidden Library of Eldinor. Many of the original documents were burned due to the fear of being exposed. These were only preserved in case we were ever attacked using something similar. I do not know what you have planned, so all I can say is that you should remember the words you said to me the first time we met."
Feeling amused at the message from the Queen of Eldinor, Daneel proceeded to ask the system to analyze the information stored in the parchment.
....
Meanwhile, in the personal quarters of the Sect Master of the Withering Leaf Sect.
Located on top of the tallest spire in the Sect, the Sect Master's quarters were supposed to be the most scenic in the entire Valley of Mist. With a bird's eye view of the vibrant forest along with the ecosystem that thrived despite their presence, many wished that they could live in these rooms which were also equipped with the best defense trinkets in the entire Sect.
Sitting on a chair in the center of a room which had floor-to-ceiling windows, the Sect Master smiled at the man in the purple habit in front of him before bending forward to pour him a cup of tea.
As for the other three individuals of the task force which had struck the Kingdom of Lanthanor, they were standing in one corner of the room respectfully.
"Knight Nebula, why do you think we are being observed by Lanthanor?"
The man who had been addressed by this strange name first took a sip of the tea before spitting it back into the cup instantly.
Although this was a very rude gesture, all the Sect Leader did was raise his eyebrow.
"Don't you have any wine in this place? Oh, you asked me something. I only said there's a chance they know, as that Exalted Mage was nearby when we attacked. He could be there for something else, but I felt as if I were being watched when I exited your primitive formation."
Ignoring the blatant disrespect in the man's words, the Sect Leader replied, "I'll have my men check tomorrow. It is impossible to post men around the clock all around the Valley without escaping our notice, so it must be some sort of trinket. Regardless, we reached our goal. As a King who obtained his throne by leveraging the support of the people and a teenager without much experience in ruling a nation, he will definitely choose to retaliate. Unwittingly, he will fall into a cycle of retaliation while we will have the upper hand."
"Humph, you really think it will be that simple? The wisest of Kings would choose to ignore the provocations and only attack when they are certain of victory. I don't think he is at that level yet, but he certainly isn't dumb enough to retaliate in a way that will allow us to 'take the upper hand'. But he will retaliate all right, and the Church looks forward to see how he will do so."
As he said the final words, the man raised his palm where a green skull of fire exactly like the one which had devoured the village in Lanthanor came into existence.
As if it were intelligent, it glanced around the room before swooping forward to drink the tea that had been spit out by the man.
Watching with indecipherable eyes, the Sect Master sipped at his own cup while inwardly gritting his teeth at what he had to put up with.
Yet, this feeling only lasted for a second due to him remembering the words left behind by the previous Sect Master, who was the reason they had a favor to call in in the first place:
"Pander to the Tenebrous Knights of Rectitude, for their lifespans are cut in half due to the flames that live inside them. Use them just like the Church does: as weapons which speak but have no mouths."