Outside, the sky was slowly darkening, but the rain showed no sign of easing. It still washed over everything in uneven bursts, splashing down onto the ground and sending up sprays of water.
After Magistrate Giselle's summons, all the residents of Fossbarrow were gathering toward the plaza outside. Some had managed to throw on raincoats, while others simply let the rain soak them, but nearly every face carried the same question, why had they been called here?
Soon, all the townspeople had gathered. After Giselle finished counting the crowd, she confirmed that everyone was present.
Then Luke and the others walked out. Everyone's eyes gathered on them, and the murmurs gradually began.
"Why did they call us here this time?"
"No idea. Who are those people?"
"They seem to be important figures from the capital."
"I heard His Highness the prince and Lady Crownguard are here."
"His Highness the prince actually came to our town?"
"Is he here to help us?"
Amid the many voices, Luke slowly stepped onto a raised platform. He was not wearing a raincoat, and the rain had soaked his black hair, trickling down the contours of his face. His eyes seemed to carry some strange power. He only looked down, and the people in the plaza quieted without realizing it.
"I am Luke Lightshield. I imagine all of you know my name."
In the rain, Luke's voice slowly spread. "I gathered everyone here because we must take the strange events in this town seriously."
He got straight to the point, his gaze sweeping over every weary, exhausted face.
First, he could confirm that the demon had not hidden itself among the residents.
Under the confused gazes of the crowd, Luke looked toward Sona, who stood beside him, and asked, "Do you sense anything?"
At that moment, Sona's clear blue eyes were also scanning the townspeople below the platform. Hearing Luke's question, she nodded slightly, and her inner voice came through.
"They are all deeply unsettled and afraid. I can feel that, deep inside their hearts, it is as if something is about to be set off."
Unlike what she had sensed earlier, a few traces of worry appeared in Sona's eyes. "A few of them have already been badly contaminated. Their emotions are on a sensitive edge, and they could erupt at any moment."
Luke asked again, "Can you resolve it?"
"I should be able to."
Sona's tone was not entirely certain. Her music could guide, comfort, and soothe people's hearts, but she was not sure whether it could oppose a demon's power.
Right now, she could clearly sense that inside the hearts of those residents troubled by nightmares, the seeds the demon had scattered were taking root and sprouting.
Back then, she had helped Vayne drive away the demon's seed in her heart, but that situation had been different from this one. That time, it had been like cleaning up leftover trash, not especially difficult.
This time, however, there were thousands of people.
And the seeds inside them were growing at a terrifying speed. If this was allowed to drag on, the consequences would be unimaginable.
"Among the scores Your Highness gave me, there is a piece called Celestial Purification Melody. Perhaps I can try using it."
While communicating with Luke through her inner voice, Sona stepped forward, found a place to sit, and placed her etwahl across her lap.
Luke stood beside her and held an umbrella over her.
Under the dim twilight, Sona's pale, lovely face was set off with an extraordinary quiet beauty. She took a deep breath, then raised her delicate hands and played the strings.
In her eyes, the notes transformed into ripples that spread outward in every direction.
Beautiful music rang beside every person's ears.
Then she quickened her playing. The true purification melody began, and over the ripples, one note after another seemed to dance.
That incomparably pure music instantly conquered every questioning heart present.
They felt the music turn into a wondrous force, washing and purifying their hearts. Exhaustion, weariness, grief, sorrow, rage, irritation, every kind of negative emotion seemed to vanish like smoke in that moment.
Only the music remained. Above the plaza, it drowned out the sound of the rain, and every person sank into it.
Not long after the purification melody took effect, Sona felt as if a pair of dark eyes was peering at her from somewhere unseen. The displeasure, fury, and malice within that gaze made her body begin to grow cold, and an uncontrollable shadow rose in her heart.
In the very next second, two warm currents of energy appeared on her body at the same time.
Sona could feel that one gentle light came from Lux behind her. Her radiance seemed capable of driving away all darkness, so brilliant and so warm.
The other came from Luke, warm and pure, driving away the chill from her body as well.
The corners of Sona's lips unconsciously lifted into a smile. Her playing became fuller, and the music grew even more lively, making every person in the rain no longer fear the cold or the darkness.
At that moment, Lux was seriously scanning the surroundings with her little face tense. Just now, she had clearly sensed that the demon had tried to interfere with Sona's playing.
So she immediately cast a barrier of light, refusing to give that demon even the slightest chance.
Soon, Sona finished the piece. As the final notes faded, every person felt warmth in their heart. The cold had been driven away, and so had their unease.
Everyone present clearly felt the change in their condition, so they all looked toward Sona with grateful eyes at the same time.
Luke asked Giselle beside him, "How do you feel?"
Giselle's current feeling was quite strange, and her weary face looked far more refreshed. She said in surprise, "Much better. It feels like I had been tense for a very long time, and then suddenly relaxed all at once. It's very comfortable."
Her feeling was exactly what everyone present felt.
Two consecutive days of nightmare interference had exhausted their nerves. Some had even become irritable and volatile because of it, but now they had returned to normal.
Luke looked down from the platform and said, "I believe everyone is feeling much better now, but we still need to be careful. A demon has come to this town. It is hiding in the dark, and we cannot let our guard down."
As soon as he finished speaking, the crowd below immediately burst into an uproar.
"It's actually a demon?"
"At first, I thought it was a dark mage."
"So this demon is what made us end up like this?"
"Damn it."
"Thank goodness His Highness and the others came."
After having their hearts adjusted, the townspeople did not panic as much when they heard the word demon, especially when they remembered that the prince from the capital, Lady Crownguard, and the others had personally come here this time. That made them feel much more at ease.
Luke waited for the crowd below to talk for a while. Once they gradually quieted down, he said, "We do not know the demon's whereabouts either, but we will do our best to protect everyone's safety. So for the near future, I hope everyone can gather together. I will establish a shelter camp in the plaza. Everyone will look out for one another, and we will not give the demon any opportunity to take advantage of us. If anyone needs to leave town, I will also arrange guards for protection. Only move in groups of at least twenty. Everyone else should avoid being alone and prepare tools that can be used to call for help at any time."
There was no need to hide the demon's existence. Only by telling everyone would they understand the severity of the situation.
However, restricting travel was not very realistic.
The town had at least several thousand people, and northern towns were already poor to begin with. Setting aside the amount of food and resources consumed by gathering everyone together, the crops and farmland outside town would also suffer major losses if no one tended to them.
So travel could not be restricted, but they could build a shelter camp and temporarily gather the townspeople together. That way, if anything happened, it could be handled immediately.
The source of the demon's power in the town was the residents' nightmares. After two days, the seeds of nightmares had been planted, continuously providing the demon with power.
But now they had been purified by Sona. As long as they did not give the demon another chance to plant seeds, it would no longer be able to gain strength.
No one knew what the demon would do next, but ensuring that it could not act however it pleased was already the first step toward success.
After Luke finished making arrangements, the construction of the shelter camp quickly began in the rain.
Demacians were highly efficient, especially when several thousand people worked together. By the time the rain stopped at midnight, the shelter camp had been built.
The camp could accommodate more than a thousand people at once. Many people brought quilts, pillows, and blankets from home in the middle of the night.
The environment was certainly not as ideal as anyone would like, but the residents of a poor town naturally did not care about that.
Who among them had never endured hard days? Even if this many people had to live in the same place, they could tolerate it for many days.
So basically no one opposed this decision. After learning that a terrifying demon had come to the town, everyone wanted it resolved as soon as possible.
With many people nearby, they also felt much safer.
Magistrate Giselle's residence was not far away, so she no longer needed to prepare lodging for Luke and the others. She simply let them stay in her house.
At that moment, Luke and the others were seated in the living room, talking.
Lux asked, "Then what should we do next?"
"We stall it out. Before that, we'll first try to see if we can find it."
Luke took a sip of hot water. For now, he could not think of any better method.
After all, he had not become so all-powerful that he could see through the hiding place of a concealed demon with a single glance.
Right now, they were in the open, while the demon was in the dark. Both sides could only wear each other down.
"Where do we look?"
Lux asked, then her gaze spotted a little boy quietly poking his head out from the stairway. He was looking over timidly, with a bit of caution.
She stood up, revealed a bright smile, and greeted him warmly. "Hello. What's your name?"
"Luca."
Luca still hid at the stairway and did not dare come out, even though Lady Crownguard's smile was so pretty.
That left Lux a little discouraged. She started to wonder whether her signature smile looked scary to children.
Why did every one of them look like they wanted to hide from her?
Very quickly, she blamed the problem on the child being shy around strangers. It definitely was not that she had no charm with children.
After Giselle noticed Luca, she suddenly stood up. A flash of panic crossed her expression, and she walked over to Luca, soothingly stroking his head. "Tonight, go stay with your mother at your aunt's place. Don't be afraid. Go back to your room and wait for a while."
Luca obediently nodded, then turned and went upstairs. He had probably gone back to his room.
After he left, Giselle turned around and said, "That is my son. He is seven this year."
"He's very cute."
Lux sighed and sat back down. "Let's keep talking about where to find the demon."
Luke withdrew his gaze from Giselle's face and stood. "Then let's get ready and head out."
Giselle and Sona stayed at the shelter camp to maintain order.
As for Luke and the others, they brought thirty guards from the town and headed toward the direction of Lux's great-grandfather's tomb.
"You're saying you suspect that demon is hiding in my great-grandfather's tomb?"
Lux asked as they walked along the road.
Luke nodded and said, "It's only a suspicion. We'll have to go there and see."
Lux had no objection to that.
After all, trying to find a hidden demon was like searching for a needle in a haystack. They had to check every suspicious place to be safest.
After the rain, the mountain road was even harder to walk. The path was muddy, and one careless step could make someone slip. The climb up the mountain was also extremely steep.
With Lux leading the way, everyone spent quite some effort before finally reaching the cliff where Fossian's tomb stood.
The cliff was indeed very high. Looking around, there were wild grasses everywhere, while in the center stood a marble gravestone engraved with Fossian's glorious deeds from his lifetime.
Beyond that, there was only emptiness. They could hear the cold wind blowing up from below the cliff with a whistling sound, making the place seem especially eerie under the night sky.
The surrounding air was very cold as well.
Lux shivered, walked forward, looked at her great-grandfather's tomb, and bowed seriously. "Hello, Great-Grandfather. I am your great-granddaughter, Luxanna Crownguard. I'm sorry I've only visited you once after all these years. I hope you aren't angry."
She placed the flowers she had picked on the way onto the tomb, then continued muttering, "If you are angry, please vent that anger on your great-grandson, Garen. The number of times he has visited you can be counted on one hand too. Also, when he was little, he broke a teacup you had treasured, and he secretly drew a handlebar mustache on your portrait. It was absolutely unforgivable. You must not go easy on him."
After saying that, she clasped her hands together like she was making a wish, then closed her eyes with devout and sacred solemnity.
A gust of wind swept past, as if responding to her.
Lux opened her eyes and continued, "Also, your great-granddaughter has run into a little bit of trouble right now. A demon has gone to the neighboring town. I hope your spirit in heaven can bless us and help us destroy it. Next, I may need to offend your home just a tiny bit. Please forgive me."
As she spoke, she stepped forward and placed both hands on the raised mound of the tomb, then closed her eyes again.
A burst of light erupted from her palms and extended downward through the tomb as her senses followed it. A trace of familiar dark aura immediately made Lux frown.
When Luke saw her expression from the side, he knew she had found something.
After a long while, Lux stood up and shook her head at Luke. "It really was hiding here before, but it seems to have already left while we were on the way."
"It ran off, huh."
Luke thought for a moment. "Then let's go back. Trying to find it directly now is basically impossible."
This trip could only be considered a wasted one, but there was nothing they could do about that. After all, they had to at least try searching.
Before leaving, Luke also bowed seriously in front of Fossian's tomb.
//Check out my P@tre0n for 30 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810