Ordion, Dylan, and Victor continued their exploration, piercing through the silence that enveloped the eastern forest of the Astoria Kingdom's capital. Their footsteps tread upon dry leaves and broken twigs, creating a constant rhythm amidst the wild.
Their eyes moved vigilantly, sweeping every corner, observing mounds of earth, rock crevices, and the arrangement of tree roots. However, after hours of combing the area with a high level of meticulousness, the result was nil. There was not a single trace of a cave or anything suspicious.
As far as the eye could see, there were only thickets and towering trees obscuring the sky. This forest was purely a natural formation untouched by human activity.
Ordion finally halted his steps and let out a long sigh. He wiped a bit of sweat from his temple, then turned his head toward his two family members.
"We have combed almost this entire eastern sector and found nothing." Ordion said, breaking the silence, his tone sounding slightly tired yet remaining rational. "What do you say, should we end the search and just return to the mansion now?"
Victor, who was standing not far from him, gazed toward the south, piercing through the dense trees.
"Wait a moment, Ordion! I feel our task is not fully completed yet." Victor answered, offering a suggestion with a serious expression. "It's better if we explore the forest area across the main road over there. That area is still included in the capital's eastern territory."
"Victor is right!" Dylan chimed in calmly, agreeing with the purple-haired youth's proposal. "Dalvanel is planning an immortality ritual that requires soul sacrifices on a massive scale. If that massacre is indeed going to happen, we must not take even the slightest risk by leaving a single area untouched. It is better for us to be more serious and thorough in exploring the entire forest area in the eastern part of this capital."
Victor nodded in agreement with the logical argument Dylan put forward.
Seeing the seriousness radiating from the eyes of his two family members, a faint smile etched itself onto Ordion's face. The red-haired youth could not possibly ignore their determination, especially if their carelessness ended up causing this highly important mission entrusted by their husband to fail.
"Alright then, I agree!" Ordion decided firmly, once again radiating his positive energy. "Let us widen our range and explore the forest area over there!"
Then, the three youths immediately changed course. They walked side by side toward the south, parting the wild vegetation to reach the point where the main road intersecting the eastern forest was located.
Their footsteps were in perfect rhythm. They kept walking on and on, traversing the slightly ascending contour of the land, until finally the leaf canopy began to thin out and they emerged from the forest's edge.
The sunlight shone directly on the faces of the three youths, providing a little warmth after hours of being confined in the forest's humidity. And right in front of them lay a fairly wide main dirt road, a route typically used by merchants and travelers to connect the capital to other city regions.
"Let us finish this and immediately explore the forest across the way!" Ordion exclaimed enthusiastically.
"Yeah!" Dylan and Victor answered in unison.
Without wasting time, the three of them stepped across the main road, which was quiet at that moment, and quickly entered the forest area on the opposite side.
The moment they stepped inside, the atmosphere in that area felt a little different. The forest was much denser and shadier. The trees had much larger trunks with branches interlocking high above. The sunlight found it much harder to penetrate the thick leaf canopy, making the ambiance below dim like twilight.
However, that did not deter their steps. They explored every inch of that dark forest area with much more meticulous observation.
....
Time continued to roll by. The gusts of the late afternoon wind began to carry a bone-chilling cold. Yet, even after a few hours of walking through the thickets and tangled tree roots, the result remained the same. They found no cave. There were no suspicious places around them.
Dylan's steps, who was positioned at the very front, slowly decelerated until the black-haired youth finally came to a complete halt. He tilted his head up.
Right in front of them now, towering extremely high and standing firmly, was a massive stone structure sweeping the horizon. It was the city's outer wall that separated the capital's territory from the wild.
They had truly swept the entire forest area clean until reaching its absolute limit.
A wall? Dylan thought, slightly surprised. He did not expect that they had walked so far and deep until reaching the end of the forest area's landscape.
Ordion, catching up behind him, also stared at the giant stone wall, then let out a long sigh, this time with a feeling of true relief.
"It seems we can draw a definite conclusion now. There really is no cave at all in this entire eastern forest area." Ordion said, breaking the silence. He turned his body to face Dylan and Victor. "Let us just return to the mansion. Our task of combing this sector is perfectly completed. Besides, we have arrived before the city wall."
"Yes, you're right. Let us return!" Victor replied in agreement. The soreness in his legs was starting to make itself known.
Dylan also gave a nod of agreement.
With significantly lighter hearts, the three youths turned around and began walking side by side, tracing the route home, leaving the dense forest behind to return to the capital's gate.
Although this hours-long search did not yield any satisfying physical results, the three of them still felt immensely relieved.
While treading on the ground covered with dry leaves, Ordion turned to his two family members.
"Hey, you two!" Ordion called out in a cheerful tone. "Once we arrive at the mansion later, let us take a bath together!"
"A very good idea!" Dylan replied, agreeing immediately. He looked at the dirt stains on his sleeves. "My body is also very sticky, covered in sweat and dust. I feel like I want to be able to fly just to arrive at the mansion quickly right now."
Hearing the conversation, Victor also smiled.
"Okay, I will join the bath with you! But after bathing later, the two of you must promise to teach me how to cook food in the kitchen again, alright? I really want to become a perfect and useful spouse for our husband, just like all of you!"
Hearing the highly sincere and dedicated desire Victor had just expressed, Ordion and Dylan spontaneously halted their steps for a moment and turned to the right, gazing at the purple-haired youth's face.
The two of them could not hold back their smiles. A smile radiating a strong sense of pride and profound brotherly warmth.
"We would gladly teach you!" Ordion and Dylan answered in unison, making the smile on Victor's face widen even more.
....
A few moments later, Ordion, Dylan, and Victor finally arrived back at the main road, exactly several dozen meters in front of the eastern gate of the Astoria Kingdom's capital. The sun was already on the western horizon, casting orange rays across the skyline.
Upon the three youths' arrival in front of the checkpoint, the guarding soldiers immediately gave a respectful salute and invited them to enter the capital without undergoing any inspection.
After securing such easy access from the military, the three of them casually walked through the arch of the stone gate.
Seeing that special treatment, several travelers and merchants originating from outside the city, who did not recognize who the three charming youths were, felt very puzzled.
"Excuse me, Sir." asked an old man who was a cloth merchant, his forehead creasing in confusion upon seeing the three youths saunter freely. "Why were those three allowed to pass just like that without undergoing an identity check like the rest of us?"
The soldier who was inspecting the old man's horse carriage glanced briefly at Ordion's back.
"Oh, the three of them are Academy students." the soldier replied in a flat yet convincing tone. "They just arrived from inside the forest looking for herbal plants."
"Oh, so that's how it is... no wonder their clothes look nice and their aura is different." muttered the old man, nodding in understanding.
The merchant made no further comments after hearing that explanation, and refocused on his merchandise.
Meanwhile, precisely a dozen meters after passing the eastern gate and entering the capital's street area, Ordion, Dylan, and Victor spontaneously halted their steps simultaneously.
In front of them, standing in the middle of the road as if intentionally waiting for their arrival all this time, was the figure of a yellow-haired youth. His white clothes matched his pair of light blue eyes that stared straight at them with a complicated gaze, a blend of nervousness and strong resolve.
That youth was Oliver Yudavius En Astoria, the Third Prince of the Astoria Kingdom.