Chapter 82: Cautiousness
A few minutes later, Rachel arrived in front of a single-storied house, surrounded by a blue painted compound wall, and walked in. Soon, she came in front of the entrance, opened the wooden door with an iron key, and then locked it from the inside.
"I messed up pretty bad this time." She said out loud and then went towards the bathroom. She took a long bath in the cold water for 30 minutes and then walked out in a black gown. Rachel then went towards the bed, placed it on the main hall, and sat on it.
As she was about to take some rest, she heard a knocking sound from outside and soon frowned.
'Who?' She raised her eyebrows in suspicion as she stood up, adjusted her dress, and then went towards the entrance. She then placed her hand on the handle, turned it towards the left side, and opened the wooden door with a click.
Soon, she saw a white-haired old man in amber eyes standing outside and narrowed her silvery eyes. He had a wrinkled oval face, thin eyebrows, and wore a slightly long black-colored surcoat.
"You are?" She arched her eyebrows upward and instantly recognized that he was the one who appeared in the funeral ceremony.
Meanwhile, the old man stared at her for a second and spoke in an ancient tone.
"I'm Eve's father, Oswald Raven."
Rachel's heart sank as she heard those words. She felt that hundreds of needles were stabbing at her heart when she saw the painful look in the old man's amber eyes.
She didn't say a word and quietly stood there for three continuous seconds like a frozen statue.
Finally, she regained her senses, took a step back, and invited him in.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Oswald. I couldn't able to protect her in time." She bit her lips and said while lowering her head in shame.
In the meantime, Oswald walked on the red-carpeted floor and soon reached the main hall. He then went near a wooden chair, brushed the dust off from the chair with his right hand, and sat on it.
"It's not your fault, child." He paused for a moment and then spoke.
"I came here for another purpose. Do you mind hearing it?"
Rachel widened her eyes as she heard his question and soon nodded.
"I came here to seek some help from you." He straightened his back and said in an old voice.
"Help?" Puzzlement appeared on her face as she also sat on the opposite chair and stared at him in confusion.
Oswald nodded his head and spoke.
"I want you to protect me for a day." He stopped for a moment and continued with a serious look on his face.
"The one who killed my daughter's name is Xander Nightwind and he is also a member of the Nightwind family. Although I don't know why they killed my daughter, I'm afraid they might try to kill me once they found out about my real identity. So, I want you to protect me for a day." Rachel noticed helplessness in his voice and soon fell into deep thoughts.
In truth, she wanted to go after the guy named Xander and kill him brutally now. But she refrained herself from acting rashly and nodded.
"I will do it." Her sense of Justice and the former guilt made her say those words subconsciously.
"Thank you," Oswald nodded his head, took out an azure stone from his space ring, and passed it to her.
"I also need you to help me with something. This is the payment."
Although Rachel got puzzled by Oswald's action, she moved her hand and took the gem-like azure stone.
"This is called 'Divinity Extractor' and it also has the 'Will' of a Devil reside in it." He purposefully paused for a moment to observe her facial expression and soon added.
"I want to get a 'Ritual Method' to link one's soul to a fire elemental plane in exchange for this gem. Can you help me with that?"
Upon hearing those words, Rachel suddenly turned solemn and then frowned.
Before she could ask any more questions, Oswald cleared his throat and said in a grave tone.
"Although I lost my daughter, I still have one grandchild left. If I didn't protect him and make some preparation for his future advancement, I won't die in peace at all."
An understanding expression appeared on her face. Rachel saw that exact resolution she had seen on Eve's face and became touched emotionally.
"Getting a ritual method is not a hard thing for a Rank-4 Mage like me." She waved her hand and then asked.
"Is there anything else, Mr. Oswald?"
A weak smile appeared on Oswald's face as he shook his head and said.
"That's it."
"Okay." Nodding her head, Rachel stood up from her seat and continued.
"Wait here for a while, sir. I will go and get ready in a minute." Saying so, she turned around and went to the wardrobe room. She then locked the door from inside and took off her black gown.
After that, she took a sleeveless white shirt, black tights, brown leather shoes, and a Carlyle plaid jacket and started wearing it.
In two minutes, she finished her dressing and then walked out of the wardrobe room.
"I'm ready, Mr. Oswald." She said in a polite tone.
"Then, please follow me," Oswald said as he stood up from his seat, held the black cane with his right hand to support him, and then walked out of the single-storied house.
In the meantime, Rachel took a small sword from the nearby shelf and followed after him silently.
Both soon walked out of Amber Street and then went to 45 El Street. Although a few town security guards stood at the entrance, they didn't dare to block Oswald as they noticed Rachel's presence and let them in.
Oswald opened the compound gate, walked on the yard, and soon arrived in front of the entrance door. He then pushed the opened door and walked in.
To his surprise, the security guards seemed to have cleaned the bloodstains, and the reception room already turned good as new.
"Not even seven hours have passed, but Life Church is already planning to take this house for their believers." Rachel said in anger.
"Take?" Oswald halted his footsteps and asked in surprise.
"Yes, before Eve's death, she signed an agreement with Life Church. In the agreement, she mentioned that if the Life Church protected her son during the city ruin mission, the Life Church will have the full rights to take this house and the Wind Villa after six months." Rachel explained with a solemn look on her face.
"But why are they taking this house now? There are still six months left, right?" Oswald's tone went cold. He clearly showed his dissatisfaction towards Life Church like a real father of Eve.
"It's an order from above. Moreover, Life Church higher-ups also said that Charles might have died in the city ruin, so Eve's property should belong to Life Church from now on." Rachel said in a low voice.
"What if Charles is still alive? What if he comes back and accuses them of forcefully taking over his property?" Oswald wasn't surprised by their greedy action and raised questions.
"If he really comes back, then the Church will give him some money in compensation and might let him stay here for the next six months." Rachel paused for a moment and then added with a solemn look on her face.
"By some luck, if he is really alive, then please take him away somewhere safer. Also, tell him that he has the full rights to walk away from the Withering Shadows department from now on."
A look of astonishment appeared on Oswald's face as he nodded his head and then went towards the spiral staircase.
With great difficulty, he stepped on those large stairs and soon reached the second floor. Then, he arrived in front of Charles's bedroom, opened the door with a click, and walked in. Rachel also followed his footsteps and looked around the room with a curious look on her face.
"I already contacted Charles and he told me to get something from the Dreamworld for him. That's the reason I came here and requested your help, child." He took out a grayish-black pebble from his space ring as he said those words, lay on the soft bed, and placed it in his coat pocket.
After that, he took out the Starfall Codex from his space ring, flipped the pages, and soon stopped on the last page.
But instead of chanting, he cast his gaze on the Holem's Crown and said in his mind.
'Mr. Runeth, it's your turn.'
An instant later, he moved his lips and started to act like he was the one who was chanting.
From Rachel's perspective, Oswald Raven was the one who was chanting a strange spell. But in truth, the Holem's Crown was the one who was chanting this spell.
Unlike other spells, this one was a Rank-4 spell called Sun's Glare!
It was a Fire spell that could repel any spells, skills, and weapons and protects the user for two consecutive days.
Due to his less wisdom, casting a Rank-4 spell through chanting would be an impossible task for Charles. But the Holem's Crown was different. Although it was an artifact with limited abilities, it does have a large amount of wisdom power, so Charles thought of putting it to good use.
The chanting continued for a long time as Charles moved his lips like an expert mimicker and then ended the chant.
It took almost 15 minutes for the Holem's Crown to finish the chanting!
Once the Holem's Crown ended the chanting, a dense amount of fire elemental energy came out from the Starfall Codex magic book and formed into a protective layer around his body. A second later, the protective layer turned transparent and soon disappeared from the outsider's eyes.
Upon seeing such a spell, even Rachel became stunned for a second and soon realized that even she would need more than an hour to break these types of protective spells from the outside.
'He didn't trust me a single bit. Well, I did end up not doing my job properly and caused his daughter to die, so it's not a surprising thing.' She let out a disappointing sigh and then sat on the floor in a cross-legged position.
Meanwhile, Charles placed the black cane over his chest area and spoke.
"Protect me for a day from now on. If something abnormal happens outside, notify me in advance by touching this shield. Also, don't leave this room from now on." After saying those words, he took a deep breath and closed his amber eyes.
…
After an unknown amount of time, Charles opened his eyes in the Dreamworld and instantly turned serious as he heard a rumbling noise from the sky. At the same time, he noticed that he was not in the old man's appearance and became surprised.
'Oh? This Dreamworld can even distinguish between true face and false face?' He raised his thin eyebrows.
He then took the red crown from his chest and stood up.
Yes, it appeared that even the Holem's Crown imitation skill couldn't fool the Dreamworld.
Shaking his head, he then went near the window and checked the situation.
"This room is filled with runic words." The Holem's Crown said in an old man's voice and soon turned itself into a red bracelet.
"Runic words? You mean Runal words?" Charles raised his eyebrows as he caught the hovering bracelet and asked before wearing it.
"Runic is the right term, lad. Like other languages, the future generations changed the real name and modernized it. There is a legend in my world that this language was actually created by High Humans and High Elves to understand the secrets of magic and then passed down to their descendants."
"High Elves? High Humans?" Charles became more curious about those new races and asked in curiosity.
"They are the true ancestors of Elves and Humans. Long ago, a devastating battle occurred in my world, and most of the High Elves and High Humans died while the remaining ones were left to search for more power to seek vengeance. Well, let's talk about them another time." The Holem's Crown paused for a moment and then continued in an impressive tone,
"Eddie must have created this place to link Dreamworld and Edhen world. Otherwise, simply entering this Dreamworld would be an impossible task for other class mystics."
Charles looked around the walls and then raised a question.
"Mr. Runeth, can you tell me about this strange Dreamworld?"
"Hmm, there are many theories about this world, but no one can tell which one is right, which one is wrong. Before I tell you more about my own thought, do you have any idea about how life is created?" The Holem's Crown asked in a serious tone.
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