A day had now passed since Aron's arrival in Hazenloft. On this afternoon the city was in a buzz as a large airship bearing the Hoffenheim family crest arrived just outside its walls.
This was the airship tasked with picking up Esmeralda who had been residing in the city Lords mansion.
Upon hearing of their arrival, Esmeralda was quick to rush to the city gates where she found her sister Emilia alongside Anastasia waiting for her.
The three embraced each other for a long moment before finally boarding. After they had calmed down she finally explained the events that befell her without leaving out a single detail as she trusted Emilia and Anastasia wholeheartedly.
"Aron..." Anastasia muttered as complex emotions began to build up in her mind. The very person who threatened the lives of her friends was the one who saved her best one.
Unlike Emilia who easily accepted it since Aron asked for money in return, Anastasia refused to believe Aron's plans were that simple.
To her, Aron was a cunning and a very intelligent man whose every steps were taken with care. After all to everyone except Lady Rose, all of Aron's plans could be said to have been successful when in truth nothing had gone as he planned this time.
So all Anastasia was doing at the moment was overthinking an otherwise very straightforward matter.
Aron's plans didn't go as planned so he would be spending more time with his faction than he anticipated, hence the opportunity to gain more wealth and a link to another powerful family could not be overlooked. It really was just that simple.
"Then should we report that he's here to Lady Belle after we get back? That wouldn't go against the oath you made right?" Emilia suggested with contemplative look on her face but Esmeralda rejected the idea before Anastasia could even try to. "No!...."
"It's humiliating enough that I needed his help but it would be even more humiliating to do something so petty. Plus it's better we don't antagonize him, after all if things were different he'd have left me for dead or killed me himself..." Esmeralda muttered loudly before her voice began to grow lower and lower.
'Did something happen between the two? Ez would never let humiliation go unrepaid' Anastasia thought and began to worry that Esmeralda may have also fallen into a similar situation as her and was forced to listen to Aron's commands behind the scenes.
Before Anastasia could voice her thoughts, a figure draped in uniform leather armor approached them and bowed. "The gold and items have been delivered as you requested." The masculine voice stated while remaining in a submissive posture.
Esmeralda recomposed herself and cleared her throat before facing the figure with her usual arrogance and air of superiority. "Good, we may set off then. Did he say anything once you delivered everything?" Esmeralda asked in a straight tone while trying to feign disinterest.
But just like Anastasia, she too had grown subconsciously very fearful of Aron and was curious to know what went on in his mind.
"No, he didn't even personally receive the items." The armored figure replied to Esmeralda who frowned only for a moment before sending him on his way.
"Let's leave then, Father has said we must return to the capital as soon as possible. He was extremely worried." Emilia saw Esmeralda look a bit angry when she heard Aron hadn't even personally received the payment which she had even doubled without him asking.
"Fine. What about mother?" Esmeralda agreed before asking her own question but Emilia went silent at this and showed a slightly saddened face. "Tsk, forget I asked about that woman. Let's go." Esmeralda instructed with even more anger in her voice before walking away into airship.
....
Meanwhile one of the reasons to her anger, Aron, was casually seated on a chair within Evanora's room.
Evanora stood before him completely naked with an expression that didn't differ from her usual one. Aron had been observing her since the night prior and had even asked she sleep that way so he could clearly monitor every little detail her body displayed before her demon was summoned.
'I should have tried this earlier.' Aron thought to himself as he had finally learned one useful piece of information from his observations.
He was successful this time thanks to a hint he had received from the ruin. Before going in, no one was able to sense the dense mana that was housed behind the metallic gate which acted not only as a safeguard but also as an inhibitor apparently.
This lead to him asking Evanora to strip her clothes off which at first yielded no results, until she was asked to remove her chains and other accessories as well.
It was only then that Aron was able to clearly see the movements of her mana. What followed was him asking her to sleep and it was then that he observed a change...
After she fell asleep, the mana in her neck would experience a strange change that wasn't visible to the common eye.
Even with Aron, he could only barely make out a certain number of characters form. Once completely formed the mana demon had appeared and once they faded during the sunrise it vanished.
This discovery was extremely great but the characters he saw weren't in any language he could understand and nor did they match anything he had seen so far.
While he had Evanora like this, Aron took the opportunity to set up some precautions on her. This came in the form of runes being drawn on her naked body before they faded into nothingness, the purpose of this rune was quite simple. To kill her if she ever became a problem…
"Progress is progress I suppose." Aron sighed before looking at the naked Evanora who was very much ignorant of the current situation. "At the orphanage, Evanora was told never to show a man her body unless she is all grown up. Is Evanora grown up now?" She asked while poking herself strangely in numerous places.
Her actual age wasn't known to Aron, especially since Pesia's concept of time varied greatly from Limbo. In some places she could be two years in others over a hundred, age wasn't a definite way to tell someone's age so most people in Limbo only separated them into five stages. Baby, Child, Young Adult, Adult and Elder which were all determined by the body's condition and features.
A young adult for example was considered anyone who had fully developed sexually and was able to reproduce. Adults were considered those who could not only reproduce but had reached the peak state of their physical bodies and could no longer grow. While the Elderly were those whose body's were deteriorating from their peak state.
A baby was obviously one that couldn't take care of oneself while a child was one that could but hadn't developed sexually yet. This was a simple concept that could be used among all races without confusion since most races had varying life spans and ages when they considered one to be young or old.
Evanora fell under the category of young adult the same with Aron who was currently in his second stage of evolution.
Nove l B(in).C OM
"Yes, you're all grown up now get dressed. Let's see if you can be of any help to Rose, stating the words that you do understand will make things far easier I'm sure ." Aron instructed and Evanora did as he said without a word, she was like a chick following around its mother blindly without question.
Aron normally didn't like company but Evanora rarely spoke unless spoken to and for the most part acted like she wasn't even there, similar to Lady Rose except in her case she chose to ignore everything around her.
This played a part in why the three could so easily be in each other's company without being irritated.
....
At this time, Lady Rose was reading a paragraph she had managed to roughly translate with keen eyes.
[ The beasts...growing much faster...than anticipated. Mistake...shouldn't have...killed queen. Unruly...disaster approaching...war...flee. Too late...can't bring...leave...beasts don't....No, why? Signs...should have known ]
'Like I thought, the little book I found on the floor was indeed a journal. Just what sort of disaster befell them and more importantly what signs...' Lady Rose looked at the journal curiously and fell into deep thought over the matter.
…
A/N: I'm not too good and writing mystery but I'll try my best to keep you on your toes
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