"Fascinating…"
Arzan was in his own spiral of confusion when a voice materialized behind his shoulder.
Arzan staggered back, alarmed at Finnian's sudden proximity. "A-Ah!!! A human is standing too close to me!"
A lucid smile floated across his lips. "How did you two end up here?"
"H-Huh?" Arzan stammered.
Arzan tried to hide behind Silas, but the latter cast him away. "What's there to hide from?"
"He's a human!"
"Not a wild beast who'd devour you. Get it together!"
Arzan looked back at Finnian with a gulp. "Th-The Vein…Sir Silas pushed us through it!"
Finnian tilted his head.
Silas frowned. "Why does it sound like you're complaining?"
"It was dangerous! You just pushed me into it so ruthlessly!" he burst into tears.
"You were just standing there like a block of useless rock!" He glared. "What was I supposed to do? Princess-carry you?"
"Aaahhhh!!!"
Vivia's sudden exclamation took everyone by surprise. Zerath turned. "What's wrong?"
Vivia pointed a trembling finger at Silas. "I remember now. You're the one who kicked Eurus in the stomach!"
"The festival? You were there when it happened?" Silas raised a brow.
A vein popped on her temple. "Do you think I'd have stood calmly had I been there!? How dare you hit an innocent child!"
Zerath had to physically pull the fire-breathing Vivia to a safe distance from Silas, lest the cave was bound to collapse from the weight of her fury.
"Dare? If he was foolish enough to get tricked by me - and then had the audacity to ask for his money back, then in all the reasonable world, he deserved that kick. Brought some sense into his naive mind too."
"Good point," Judith nodded.
Vivia was speechless. "Lady Judith, how could you take his side? Eurus is a young ice-demon child who has suffered immensely."
"Suferring doesn't automatically earn pity," Silas smiled.
"Eurus doesn't need pity!"Her gaze turned frigid.
"But he did need a clear understanding of how harsh the world could be. It's not as flowery as the princess imagines it to be."
"I'm well aware, but there're different ways to teach children that," she gritted her teeth.
"Violence, I believe, is the quickest option."
Judith sparkled. "You speak of merit."
Finnian salivated at that. "Indeed, pain is that epitome of bliss that opens the gateways to true happiness and understanding. Nothing compares to the tingling seduction that courses through the veins like a fiery pit of hell. Ah…the epiphany is truly mind-boggling."
Arzan stared at him, horrified, while Vivia lacked the tears to shed.
How could everyone be so heartless? Eurus is a fluffy cloud of adorableness and love!
Judith yawned. "Are you certain you want to marry a demon, Princess? Even if, by some unforeseen miracle, you two got married, I'm already seeing significant differences in your child-raising viewpoints."
Vivia choked.
Ch-Child raising? Her face went deep red. T-That future is too far away. We haven't even kissed…like that…!
She turned to Zerath, whose gaze betrayed nothing.
Finnian clapped with delight. "Your golden eyes are quite breathtaking, Rudaheim Prince. Can I gauge them out? I have always wanted to study a demon's eyes in detail…"
"Don't you dare!" Vivia and Arzan spoke unanimously.
"Ah, a pity," his shoulders sagged in disappointment.
The subject of their relationship had seemingly settled, so he asked the next imminent question - realizing the striking familiarity of this chamber.
"This cave is just like what we found in Nethermoor's forest."
Vivia nodded anxiously. "That's what I didn't understand either. I realized this cave, the prison cells, these rooms - everything felt awfully familiar to what you had described."
"Hold on," Judith intervened, completely lost.
Zerath explained how they had met in the astral realm once and their following conversation.
She stared. "There're strange disappearances in Rudaheim, and you discovered a cave like this on your side too?"
"Yes, but not in relation to the abductions. We had wanted to find Eurus's mother. But…" He exchanged a glance with Silas. "Recently, we discovered that Eurus's mother's abduction and the other demons might not be separate, after all. Commonalities exist in the modus operandi. Lucian suggested a thread of possibility that…there might be human and demon slaves being exchanged between our realms."
"That's not possible," Judith declared confidently.
"Why not? There's information suggesting secret routes were built for this transport. My family oversees the black market. If demons were coming into my realm, I would've known. As simple as that."
Which was Silas's point of contention as well. Though he didn't fully control black market like Judith did, he still had his eyes and ears everywhere. No matter how clandestine the slavery had been, it was impossible to suppress whispers from floating around.
While Silas pondered upon this line of thought, Vivia was stunned to hear this.
"Lady Judith deals with the black market?"
Judith enjoyed her reaction. "Did you think people from the Great Three are all so noble and pure?"
Silas snorted. "Please. Nobles are the last people to be cloaked with purity. I'd rather jump in a muddy swamp than stand anywhere near a noble."
"Zerath is literally the Crown Prince…" Vivia reminded him.
"Worry not, Princess. I'll be getting sufficient compensation for bearing his presence."
Judith's eyes squinted. "Was Emberlain raising soldiers as well as you're theorizing?"
Vivia said, "That doesn't make any sense. Having identical caves and both kingdoms employed illegal forced breeding? That feels too improbable."
Silas guessed. "Maybe one side got the intel of what the other side was up to and replicated it? But still…replicating this down to its last detail like Nethermoor is impossible."
"Why'd Audreya be brought to a place like this?" Vivia now had more questions than ever.
"S-Stay away from me, human!!"
They turned and found a cowering Arzan backed against the wall, with Finnian stooping over him at an uncomfortable distance.
"Hmmm…" Finnian spoke in a soft, lulled voice. "That's something interesting you're holding in your hands."
"My-my lord, I'm going to die…"
Finnian held a breezy smile. "Those are some powerful runes you're holding there. I'm afraid your body would explode, being so exposed to it at such close proximity. How about I suffer that pain instead of you? The prospect seems tantalizing…"
Zerath stared. "You know what those runes are?"
"Hm?" Finnian turned but didn't move away from Arzan's way. "Those are the Yin runes, aren't they?"
Silas asked slowly, "How does a human recognize them?"
"Because I've seen them on the lower floor."
Zerath's eyes widened. "Could you take us there?"
Silas gave a friendly reminder. "The cave had collapsed the last time we broke in, remember?"
Zerath looked at Finnian. "How did you get down?"
They walked towards the farthest door on the second floor. Horror filled Vivia as she studied the walls and bed. A wave of nausea gripped her hard.
"Is this the…"
"Yes, the room where the female slaves gave birth."
Even Judith, who had never flinched at the sight of blood, felt sickened inside.
Finnian faced the wall and took out a curved dagger from within his robes. He began scribbling across the stony wall.
Arzan forgot his terror momentarily. "Is that your magical tool?"
"Yes."
His eyes lit up. It was the first time he was watching a human perform magic.
Silas asked, "Is it that interesting?"
"For me, it is! Demons channel their mana from within themselves. Humans have to use outside tools and artifacts to invoke it. We can summon magic faster, that's our advantage - but it's also unstable at times because it depends heavily on the caster's state of mind."
Vivia thought of Eurus and Astaroth, whose emotional states dictated their ice and fire.
"For humans, it's a slow and methodical process, but more stable."
Arzan then asked eagerly, "How is that dagger special? Did you receive it at the Magic Academy?"
Finnian turned to him. "No, it's mine and yes, it's very special to me. After all," he smiled warmly, "I had killed my mother with it, after all."
A steep silence fell.
"Oh? Don't feel bad. She wanted to kill my father. I killed her instead. Mother died a beautiful, painful death. She must be happy in heaven."
Finnian returned to his magical inscriptions.
Silas asked, "Is the entrance magically sealed?"
"Yes. These runes will unlock it."
Silas threw a frown at Arzan. "How come you didn't do this in Nethermoor when it was this straightforward?"
Arzan trembled, aggrieved. "Did you even give me the chance!? Before I could even examine the wall, you smashed straight through it with your spear and charged in like a wild beast! How is that my fault!?"
Zerath looked away and coughed.
That was my idea…
"Fast and efficient," Judith nodded in appreciation.
"Oh," Silas just shrugged. "My bad."
Finnian's inscriptions began to glow - and a click sounded. He pushed the stone wall to the side, revealing a stairwell beyond. Vivia held her breath, as if a disgusting energy was beating her black and blue. Zerath felt it too. He held her hand, and she drew warmth from his grip.
Arzan was close to puking his guts out as well. He had already endured this harrowing experience in Nethermoor. Only Finnian, merrily leading the group down, walked without a trace of sweat. Arzan could practically see him absorbing the nauseous mana as though relishing every moment of it.
As they reached the lowermost floor, Arzan gasped and staggered his way towards the altar.
"I-It's the same altar as the one in Nethermoor!"
He then compared the runes to the ones he was holding. "Th-The ruins are the same too…But how? How are our realm's runes in Emberlain?"
Finnian smiled. "Just as my realm's runes were in your cave. The runes on the left represent the Human Realm - the Yang of the world. That's how I knew the other runes had to represent Yin."
Vivia thought about her master's words, slowly and consciously. "...Because they complement each other?"
"Yes!" He sparkled, delighted with her answer.
"Yin and Yang are the fundamental forces holding our world in balance. They cannot exist without each other. We cannot invoke one essence without the other. So if the left side was Yang - then the right side could only ever be Yin."