After the departure of the head of the household, even though they were still in a flutter of enthusiasm anticipating the arrival of the tenth spouse, Allen, Alrain, Ordion, Alvein, Alrian, Kylen, Dylan, Davin, Arion, and Victor were left astounded by what their husband had just done right before their eyes.
However, the one who felt the impact of that astonishment the most was, of course, Davin.
The youth stared blankly at the spot where the gate had just opened. His heart pounded with a rhythm slightly faster than usual.
He truly copied my spatial magic in a very short amount of time. Davin thought. There was a mix of extraordinary awe and a slight feeling of dread upon realizing the potential of his husband's power. This husband of mine is an utterly nonsensical existence. Besides having a handsome face and a nature that is so attentive to me and the others, he also possesses an absolute power that lies beyond reason.
Davin smiled, full of relief and happiness. To be honest, I truly feel incredibly lucky and happy to be his spouse.
Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometers away from the warmth of the mansion located in the Astoria Kingdom's capital, Arvin had just stepped out of the gate and was already right inside Kaydan's room located in the Victoriaz Kingdom's palace.
However, a moment after the portal behind him closed, Arvin's brow immediately furrowed, sensing an anomaly. Inside that room, he did not detect the presence of anyone at all.
With vigilant steps, Arvin walked toward the bed in one corner of the room. There was no body of Kaydan sleeping on the bed.
For some reason, my feelings have suddenly become very uneasy... Arvin muttered in his heart, his eyes sweeping every corner of the dimly lit room.
Not wanting to waste time guessing, he closed both his eyes. He began to focus their soul bond to find the exact coordinates of Kaydan's position.
As soon as the youth opened his eyes again, a magic manifestation in the form of a thin, pitch-black thread appeared glowing faintly in front of him. The ethereal thread hovered in the air, elongated, and its end pierced straight through the bedroom wall.
Arvin fell silent for a moment upon seeing that. His face instantly contorted into an unhideable expression of annoyance.
Damn it! Arvin cursed in his heart, gently massaging the bridge of his nose. I truly never expected that the 'knowing each other's position' system of this Soul Seal ritual was only visualized through a manual thin black thread like this. I thought that after binding his soul, some kind of advanced radar would appear in my head that would directly pinpoint the precise coordinates of Kaydan's location. This is a truly troublesome system!
Despite his grumbling, he had no other choice. Arvin immediately chanted a soundless spell and activated his invisible magic. In an instant, his physical form and his presence vanished completely, blending into the empty air.
With very quiet steps and without the slightest sound, he walked out of the empty room to follow the trail of his soul thread in order to find the location of the tenth spouse.
As soon as he set foot in the palace corridor, dimly lit by torchlight, Arvin began to follow the direction the black thread stretched. The atmosphere of the palace at night felt so quiet and tense. Occasionally, he passed by groups of elite soldiers on patrol.
Arvin continued to step forward, navigating corridor after corridor of the palace, which felt like a labyrinth designed to confuse intruders.
However, his patience was tested once again. When he was at the end of one corner of the palace corridor, the thin black thread instead pierced through the wall again, leading to an area outside the palace.
This is truly annoying! Arvin cursed again, his jaw tightening slightly.
Reluctant to waste time looking for a detour within the labyrinthine interior of the palace, Arvin reactivated his spatial magic. He created a small gate piercing through the building's structure just to exit into the palace courtyard area.
Once outside, he resumed walking, following the direction of the thread.
Too much time wasted tonight just because I have to explore this damn huge palace manually!
In the palace courtyard, swept by the cold night wind, the black thread continued to stretch straight, pointing toward the back section of the palace complex. Arvin immediately walked around, passing gardens and stone pillars in the vast courtyard.
Now I understand. It is no wonder in that sealed ancient tome, the author gave a warning that neither I nor the person whose soul is bound to mine would be able to use teleportation magic directly to each other's location points.
"Tsk!" Arvin clicked his tongue softly while continuing to grumble in his heart, cursing that limitation.
The youth continued to walk briskly, ignoring his surroundings. He then looked up, staring at the pitch-black night sky, dotted with thin clouds and an expanse of stars.
As if too carried away by his complaints and the exhaustion from the ritual effects that had not yet fully recovered, Arvin's mind suddenly played a brief hallucination.
Among the clumps of clouds up there, his eyes caught the silhouette of an old man with a long beard and a worn-out wizard's hat. The old man seemed to be striking a silly pose, winking one eye at Arvin while sticking out his tongue, as if the author of the ancient tome from the past was intentionally mocking him from the afterlife.
Seeing that silly illusion, the annoyance Arvin felt toward the ancient tome's author intensified even more.
Damn it! Just because of the ambiguous and undetailed instruction writings in that book, I truly feel like I am being thoroughly pranked by those wizard elders from ancient times!
A few moments later, Arvin's footsteps finally halted. He stood right in front of an old building separated from the main structure of the palace. The building looked like a small house or an abandoned guard post, but it had a heavy iron door that served as the access way to the underground.
The black thread pierced through the gap of that iron door, pointing straight toward the stone steps that served as the access way down into the pitch-black basement.
Without thinking twice, Arvin, who was still in his invisible form, immediately manipulated the space around the door to slip inside without having to open it, then began to descend the stone steps before him.
He stepped on the stone steps one by one in silence, before finally arriving at the bottom and finding an underground corridor stretching forward.
So dark! Arvin thought, his eyes sweeping the absolute darkness ahead that was nearly impenetrable to normal vision. But, I cannot carelessly summon a ball of light magic in here. Even the smallest light would definitely bounce around and attract the attention of guards if there are indeed people down here.
Arvin was not out of ideas. He closed both his eyes for a moment and switched to activating wind magic at a sensory precision level.
A very thin and invisible gust of wind spread quickly from his body to all corners of the underground corridor.
The wind moved like a bat's echolocation radar, mapping every detail of the spatial structure ahead. Through the reflection of the air currents, whether it was the rough texture of the corridor walls, small pebbles on the floor, water puddles, or even uneven mounds of dirt, he could know the position of everything in his mind with an extraordinarily perfect level of accuracy.
While continuing to maintain the sensory wind magic that was so delicate it could not even blow a single strand of cotton, Arvin continued to step forward, penetrating deeper into the damp, dark, and long underground corridor.
After walking in silence for several minutes, the end of the corridor began to show a change. He could see a beam of dim yellowish light from a wall torch burning in the distance.
Without hesitation, Arvin walked faster yet still soundlessly toward the point of the light source.
However, upon arriving at the area that was starting to become brightly lit, the sight presented before his eyes made his steps slow down.
In that area, there were many rows of sturdy iron bars lined up lengthwise, dividing the corridor into numerous confinement cells that led deep inside. A strong smell of must, rust, and damp earth wafted sharply, piercing his nose.
An underground prison? Arvin thought with a furrowed brow, his eyes scrutinizing all the iron-barred cells on his left and right sides alternately. Is this building the place where the Victoriaz Kingdom detains all their top-tier criminals and political prisoners? Then, for what reason could Kaydan be in a place as filthy as this?
The youth continued his steps down the detention block. While constantly looking to his left and right, so far, all he saw around him were just rows of empty, silent prison cells without a single prisoner inside.