When Leon woke up, he was surprised that the Blades were already busy preparing for dinner.
It was only then that he realized Kayden may have done something to induce him to sleep heavily.
He had slept until the evening was already at sight.
Shaking his head, he went towards the laboratory area and saw Kayden examining a drop of liquid in a glass slate.
He was busy recording the properties while a group of Blades wearing the same laboratory coat assisted him in his activity.
This drop of liquid was the one Olivier, Baobao and Wisey confiscated from the remains of the Spectre forces back in Silverdew Forest. Leon had gotten Emperor Valentin's permission to take the hell wolves and the rest of the items for study.
Since they placed the investigation and clearing of the Spectre forces in the Empire on top of their priority list, they had to postpone the investigation of the matters on the Silver Dew forest.
The Hell wolves, the trigger and calming potions as well as the rest of the artifacts gathered from the sinister group were all placed here in the secret base for safe keeping.
It was also a blessing in disguise that Kayden decided to go with him to the capital.
If not for this situation, the Roaming Blades who were assigned for this study will have to do everything on their own.
With Kayden leading the team, there was a great chance that the answers would be discovered earlier than expected.
Leon observed everything from the glass partition and waited for Kayden to finish his examination before ringing the bell to announce his presence.
When Kayden and the rest saw Leon, they immediately wrapped up. They knew that Leon would have to talk to Kayden regarding the investigations, so they hastened their tasks and left the laboratory at once.
"You pulled tricks on me."
Leon coldly told Kayden, who was already keeping away his lab coat and sanitizing his way out of the sterile area of the laboratory. He crossed his arms while throwing an accusing look towards his friend.
Kayden only shrugged while saying in an unperturbed manner, "It's your fault for worrying my Little Sister. She asked me to remind you to take a rest you deserve, but knowing you…"
The gentle looking half-elf doctor looked at the cold blooding prince while shaking his head, "I know that you would only say yes and go on with your tasks until you have finished them all."
"Take out your anger with me for all I care, but Leon.." Kayden took a step closer to Leon while placing his hand over his shoulders. He had a very serious expression as he said the next few words with a stern cold tone.
"You are a man with a family now. You were no longer the cold blooded bachelor prince who could waste away your life recklessly."
"Whether you are hurt or happy. Whether you are in pain or delight. Whether you are sick or you are healthy. There will now be someone who has to go through the same seasons with you."
"Don't forget that. Be sensitive enough."
Leon kept silent and had a deep contemplating look in his blue jewel eyes. As Kayden reminded him, his mind couldn't help but think of Eli's worried and pleading face. He had to admit that Kayden was right.
It was not the first time he had heard these words. It was only now that he fully understood what it truly meant.
To think of his well being was not a selfish act but an act of cherishing the care others had given for him.
To care for himself is to respond to the love he receives from people.
To love himself also meant that he wanted to stay well so that he could be with the person he truly loves.
"I understand." He uttered rather guiltily after a few moments.
It was his long standing habit after all, he really had to try and remind himself to become accountable for his well being.
Slightly taken aback by Leon's submissive response, Kayden could just let out an startled "O-oh.."
After that, the men spent the evening with the Blades as they waited for the designated time to transfer the captives under the cover of the night.
While Leon was sleeping, Blaze and Olivier took over the preparations to ensure that everything will be all set on the transfer of captives.
On the side, they also checked if the remaining identified dark knights, Das, Orel and Visam had already made a move to look for the two captives.
Fortunately, no one had noticed yet that the two tracking knights were missing. This also made their transfer easier as there would be less eyes to avoid.
The time of the transfer was around 3 am in the morning.
Holding the bird cage spell entrapment, Leon, Kayden and the selected Blades took the scent dispelling potion. They also have already put their disguises at hand.
The operation was pretty straight forward. Only five of them would participate in the transport. They would disguise themselves as errand men delivering the food supplies before the time for the breakfast comes.
Teleporting themselves to the barracks, the five men immediately proceeded to travel on foot towards the agreed rendezvous location to the temple.
Reaching the rendezvous point, they already saw a familiar 'temple servant'. It was none other than the undercover roaming blade, Julian, who previously helped Leon in infiltrating the Temple's restricted section.
Seeing the people, Julian knew that these were his comrades under disguise.
He still remained in a restrained manner but the excitement in his eyes couldn't be masked as it twinkled so brightly under the faint glow of the moonlight.
Leon nodded at Julian in acknowledgement as they immediately set off as errand men for the temple. In the wee hours of the night, six unsuspecting men dragged a wagon of flour and other 'goods' towards the temple.
No one would ever suspect that these men were actually holding two captives that would be detrimental for the safety of the entire Prasinos.
Soon, they reached the temple. But as soon as they entered the vicinity, the group didn't go into the warehouse.
Instead, Julian led them in another passageway.
Triggering a mechanism, the men saw a dark underground passageway. Julian who was leading the team beckoned the rest to follow while explaining everything.
"This passageway leads to the dungeons, you may all have been wondering why there would be a dungeon on a temple, yeah?" Without waiting for their response he continued.
"That was because the temple still had people who have turned away from the heavens and chose evil. As such, the temple had this dungeon to contain the people until their designated punishments were already decided by the trial of the Higher Courts."
Leon knew of this thing as part of the Imperial family, so he only nodded and followed Julian to where the designated place would be.
Julian continued explaining details about the history of the Higher Courts, as if he was dutifully orienting the team. The men knew that this was Julian's way to subtly pass them information regarding the higher courts.
They listened to him explaining things while occasionally nodding in acknowledgement.
It did not took them long to reach the deepest part of the underground passageway. They entered into a row of dungeons that were protected by arrays on top of the steel bars and thick walls.
"As we have already been given the preliminary profile of these people, the temple had already prepared a designated dungeon for the two of them." Julian didn't let them stop on the normal looking dungeons, instead they continued until they stumbled upon a stone wall that seemed to be a dead end.
Julian then touched several bricks and overturned them according to a sequence. After that, there was a slight buzzing sound from the wall.
On the next moment, an entrance appeared on sight. As they entered inside, they realized that it was a massive chamber.
There were no enclosures akin to the dungeon prepared. Instead, the center of the chamber was ridden with complicated drawn arrays and runes that made it look so intimidating and dangerous.
"This is a maximum security chamber for the temple sinners of the highest ranks. We have prepared two of these for the captives. Once the array was activated in these chambers, the people here would no longer be able to gather nor utilize mana from their bodies."
Leon took a good look at the chamber and an expression of skepticism flashed on his frigid face. He looked at Julian and asked, "How about someone who uses the curse?"
"These arrays not only detect and deter any mana activity on the entire chamber, it also disrupts any malicious activity. This pertain to any thoughts like suicide, self harm and the like. I cannot guarantee that the curses could be stopped here though…"
"According to my superior, these chambers were used to contain people who were suspected of using curses and highly malicious sins in the entire history of the temple.. However, as the temple does not have enough information about curses, this chamber can't guarantee anything about the curses either."
