"Sebastian.."
"Yes, Your Majesty.."
"Go ask Evan who is staying in his courtyard or who is allowed to enter the courtyard at that time..and.. investigate the fight that occurred near Denver town."
"Yes, Your Majesty.."
Griffin was at a loss. All he knew was the infants used the bloodline power. He could see they are in very good condition from the tattoos but he couldn't accept the fact that he, the emperor, couldn't protect his offspring from unknown harm.
Meanwhile, Evan was packing up the necessities for the front line in his mansion. He didn't have servants his whole life. Now he doesn't want others to touch his clothing while packing.
"Your Highness. Mr. Sebastian is asking for permission to meet.."
"Sebastian? Want to meet me?"
"Yes, Your Highness"
"Let him come to my room."
Evan was puzzled. It should be the Emperor who asked him to come.
"Greetings. Your Highness."
"What brings you here Sebastian?"
Evan stopped what he was doing and sat on the table, motioning Sebastian to talk.
"His Majesty wanted to know that your highness's courtyard in the temple was occupied about three or four months ago."
Evan didn't answer but stared at Sebastian.
"Why?"
Even though he was a veteran, Sebastian sweated under Evan's intense stare.
"Haha… I am teasing you. I am in a bad mood after my little sister ran away."
Sebastian smiled but didn't laugh along with Evan.
"Your Highness. His Majesty was assassinated four months ago in the temple. The assassins ran towards your highness's courtyard. That's why his majesty sent me to ask you."
Evan's smile disappeared.
"Gloria was in retreat at that time. But you won't think she is an assassin, right?"
"What this servant thought didn't matter… What matters is what your Majesty thinks.."
"You are right.. All right. You can go now."
"As your order, Your Highness .."
Sebastian bowed and left. Evan raised his eyebrows, thinking of the relationship between his courtyard and assassins.
"Yes…what matters is what you think, brother."
He smiled and restarted to pack his belongings. He had to go to the front line within three days. Whether he wanted it or not, he had to cultivate to raise his realm.
It was unlikely that he could become 8th ring Advanced Mage in a short time as his strength was acquired from his mother,not his own. Nonetheless, the failure to detect his own tracking spells twice on Gloria hurted his pride.
"Little sister…it won't be that easy next time we meet. I will trap you properly at that time.."
*****
"Your Majesty.."
"Any news?"
"His highness Evan said Princess Gloria was in retreat in his courtyard until last month."
Did she? But come to think about it, she didn't seem to have a need to fit into the common senses. She can grow up in a month, can't her child be born within three months?
She could be an old monster with a long life like dragons or she could be a short life ghost that grows up in a blink. After all, she was a new species. If he didn't want to make Evan upset, he was tempted to do something ugly to understand her species.
"Tracking her trail is also not difficult as she hasn't tried to cover up. After getting out of the city gate, she didn't even bother to put on the hood along the way. This old servant thinks she is heading to the front line or the Cursed forest."
Griffin could trust Sebastian's judgement. He was the steward of the Prince's mansion before. When he ascended the throne he became the person who represented the Emperor by his meticulous work and loyalty.
"Along the way, she was targeted by the traffickers once, robbed by the bandits twice but she escaped unscratched. The three groups also disappeared. Our scouts can get her news easily because she was healing the refugees all the way with Sir Noah. However, the whole group disappeared after they passed the Caesar border city. We can't find out whether she was heading to the front line, Cursed forest or hiding in the border city."
Gloria ran away from the Capital city. Coincidentally, the children are also out of the Capital city. She fought with the traffickers, the children used the bloodline power. It's hard to surpass the suspicions rising in his head.
Maybe she ran away because she was afraid of being robbed of her children!!! He will surely take the children by force from her but if she is well behaved enough, he can let her meet with them from time to time.
"Have they seen children under five or six years old in her group or near her?"
No matter how fast the children grow, they won't outgrow their mother,right? Searching for children under five or six years old would be enough.
"No, Your Majesty. There are six people including the Princess in the group. All of them are grown up."
"Are you sure?"
Griffin took the reports from Sebastian's hand and read it himself. Not to mention Liam and Noah, the scouts were very sure that the three masked knights following Princess Gloria were adults.
They couldn't guess the exact age with the masks on but the body shape and proficiency of weapons couldn't lie.
"Aren't they hidden?"
"It can't be. They are riding the cloud horses with no luggage, not carriage. There is no place to hide, Your Majesty.."
"No luggage? Then, they must have storage devices in their hands."
Sebastian was helpless. His majesty was very clever before, how come his IQ dropped now.
"Your Majesty. The storage devices can't store living beings."
No matter what, the seed of suspicion is already planted. Griffin ordered him to keep an eye on Gloria's movements.
But he can keep an eye on her only if she doesn't disappear…
******
I didn't cover up my trail but it didn't mean I wanted others to know where I went. Therefore, after we entered the Caesar border city, I put all of my children into the small world and left the city in the dark.
When I was out of the city, I called out to Pegasus in the deserted place and rode at full speed. It took two days to arrive at the edge of the forest at Pegasus's speed, faster than the wind.
"Phew … I have arrived. Cursed forest…"
"Come out."
All the children walked out from the small world.
"Let's go and conquer our home.."
"I feel some life ahead.."
"Okay. Adam can feel life 's energy. Liam and Adam are suitable as scouts. You two, go and detect the danger ahead. We won't use horses in the forest from now on. Noah, teach your younger siblings how to run in the forest and how to use nature in harmony. You have experience living in the Mirkwood forest."
Liam and Adam jumped on the tree and ran from branch to branch. Adam was a little jerky at first but got used to it after more tries.
They ran on the trees and the rest of us ran on the ground.
It's not even five minutes after we ran, Adam jumped down beside me.
"Mother! I detect a large group of life energy there. It should be a goblin's lair."
"How large is it?"
"About a hundred. But some energies are not the same. Should be humans?"
They are more adapted to the fighting styles after fighting with a wave of traffickers and two waves of bandits. Now, when they heard there is a goblin's lair, their eyes lit up.
[ Veronica! Can you detect them? How are their strengths? ]
[ Let's see…. It's around level 4 and 5. Not dangerous. You can let them fight with a peace of mind…]
Levels 4 and 5 are not dangerous for the children but for the commoner humans and villagers near the border, they are a huge threat.
"Your aunt Veronica said it's not dangerous. Go see what they are and if it was really a goblin's lair, destroy it."
I gave an order directly. The absence of level 6th and 7th meant I don't need to keep an eye on them while they are fighting.
But…. Do goblins really deserve to be destroyed? Just listening to the one-sided speech of humans and making judgement isn't fair for the goblins…
"Tsk… Natalie, call them back."
What a headache!! If we can co- exist, we will co-exist. If not, just destroy them.
"Mother.."
"Listen! I don't have the right to judge indiscriminately. Humans can't be trusted and the goblins also can't be trusted. So, we will just believe in our own eyes. They don't have high level goblins there. Go in quietly and see if they should be destroyed or not first.."
As for who should sneak in, it should be Alex. With his small body, he had an advantage over his older siblings. He could use poison to protect himself if he were to get caught.
"Alex, you go. Take care of yourself.."
Alex disappeared from our sights with a few moves. He sneaked into the goblin's camp successfully.
After nearly ten minutes, he came back.
"Mother. I don't know if we should destroy all the goblins or not. But, I think we should save the humans inside."
"What did you see?"
"They are working together with human traffickers. They raided the village not for food but for the humans. They destroyed the village and burned the houses to act like the villagers were killed. But they arrested them secretly to trade with the human traffickers."
I thought the goblins were lowly creatures that couldn't be communicated. However, you told me not only they could communicate but also they traded with humans…
"No need to think about it. Just destroy their den.."