Rin, or rather Dion — his real name — returned to his den.
"Master! You're back! I was so worried about you!"
A man with short red hair and golden eyes suddenly ran toward Dion.
His name was Khazan Glámr, Dion's loyal aide, and he wasn't human.
Dion stopped him from approaching by lifting him upside down with magic.
"How could you be so mean! You know I missed you. I even thought you were dead!"
Dion looked at him coldly."How's the situation here while I was gone?"
"Except for Mila constantly asking where you are, nothing really happened. Say, where have you been? Is this related to the Saint? How many times do I have to tell you not to be so reckless when it involves the Saintess?"
"You know I have to meet her. It might be the key to stopping this war."
"You know how the church is, Dion. They'll go to any length to wipe us out."
"Enough of this. I'm tired."
Dion then released the man from his magic hold.
"What happened to you? You look injured."
"There was a problem when I entered the capital. The church, all the high priests, the empire's knights, and even some mercenaries ambushed me. They even used that thing on me. From the way they were prepared, it felt like they were about to go to war with an entire army, not just one man. They were too prepared. It was all planned."
"This is exactly what I meant when I said you shouldn't have left so hastily. You didn't even bring a teleportation scroll with you!"
A teleportation scroll was a spell written on parchment that worked like a teleportation spell. Only a person at an archmage's level or a Saint could use one. It also required five high mages to perform if you weren't an archmage or a Saint.
Lilian's magic had been interfered with by the help of the current archmage, Lumos.
"And what's even weirder is that you only told the Board of Members you were leaving for the capital after you finished that meeting."
The Board of Members were the six strongest in Cathars, Dion's personal vassals.
"This all adds up to one thing. There's a mole among them. I'll deal with it in the next meeting."
Only seven people knew Dion would be leaving the organization, including Khazan. But Dion trusted Khazan. He was a draugr, a powerful undead summoned from the underworld, bound to Dion's life as his servant.
"If you were ambushed by that many people, and even that cursed thing was used on you, how did you survive?"
"I fought my way out. Managed to kill a few. Even with that thing, it was a close call. A blonde high priest caught me and stabbed me, but I managed to escape and hide in the church."
"You did what?!"
Khazan's voice cracked."Why would you go there?!"
"I was heavily injured. It was obvious they would search nearby, so I figured the most unexpected place would be the perfect hiding spot. Besides, someone there helped me with my wounds."
"A person from the church helped you? Who?"
At that question, Dion's expression softened, like a man remembering a mesmerizing scene.
"A beautiful priestess."
Meanwhile, in Khazan's mind:
Is this man really my master? He's making a weird face right now.
"What a surprise that a priest would help you, the leader of the Cathars."
"Indeed. I managed to hide my identity with some lame excuses, but somehow, she bought all of it."
"Did that woman fall for your appearance or something? Or was she just incredibly naive?"
Dion glared at Khazan.
"Oh my, look at the time! I should feed Kulshedra now."
Khazan bolted to escape the glare of death.
Now Dion was left alone in the room. He opened a drawer, took out a potion, and drank it. It was a healing potion meant for dark magicians since healing potions made from light magic could damage them. In this world, there was also a type of magician who specialized in creating potions , they were the alchemists. They weren't affiliated with dark magicians, but a black mage could be one. Dion himself had that ability.
After finishing the potion, Dion went into his bedroom and lay down.He stared at the ceiling and muttered to himself.
"Another failed one…"
Dion's real purpose that day had indeed been to meet the Saintess Sylvia. His mother.