Intrigue at the Marquise's Estate

Marquise Margaret's Atelier felt all wrong when we entered it. Nothing seemed to be missing, and the place had not been visibly ransacked. But something was definitely off.

“Someone has been here searching for something,” Ériu said.

“That makes sense. I'm getting feelings of a strange apprehension in this room. A sense of wrongness,” I said.

“Yes! That's it. Something about this room feels wrong. I feel it too,” Kanae and Kiera said at the same time.

“That's creepy! Kanae and Kiera in sync. I'm getting a bad vibe from this place, too,” Darby said.

“I'm getting nothing, but this room is creeping me out,” Aoi said.

“Hmm, all people with light or dark magic affinity, or connections, feel a wrongness to the atelier. Very interesting. Even Aoi with no light or dark mana is affected,” I said.

“Well, we'd better get to it, and inventory your mother's atelier, my Lady,” I said.

“Ok. Right.” Ériu said with a puzzled expression.

“There are five medium dark mana chrystals in this first drawer. Aoi, would you please take out a notepad and keep a tally of everything?” I said.

“Sure, Dee,” Aoi said, giving me a weird look.

“Well come on everyone, let's get cracking,” I said.

Everyone gave me a weird look and then started calling out everything in the atelier.

“This book is really strange being here. Hey, it's stuck,” Aoi said.

Darby and I approached Aoi. Then Aoi fell backwards, as the book tilted downward.

“Whoa!” Aoi yelled in surprise. I caught her before she could fall and steadied her.

Click!

“Hey! This is __”, Darby began, and I quickly planted a kiss on him. Then stepped back putting two fingers on his mouth. Darby stood there with his mouth open and his eyes wide open like he was looking at an S Ranked Monster.

“Save the flirting for later,” Ériu said, catching on.

The bookcase was now at an angle to the wall. I shoved it open, and looked into the darkness of the hidden room beyond. I turned around giving everyone a silent look, and everyone followed me into the hidden room cautiously. I closed the door and cast

firelight

The room lit up with a soft, golden, candlelight glow. I raised a privacy shield.

“What was that all about?” Ériu asked.

“I'm pretty sure someone has multiple spells on that room. It's not safe to freely talk in there,” I said.

“What about this room? Surely, they also discovered this room, also,” Ériu said.

“I don't think so. I don't get the same creepy feeling in here, like I do out there,” I said.

“Yeah, me too. This room feels ok,” Kiera said.

“But we can't be sure,” Ériu said.

“I'm pretty sure. This room hasn't been opened in some time. We disturbed the dust on the floor, and it's clear we're the first ones in here in a long time. Look at the floor. Only our footprints. Also, that spiderweb was destroyed by Aoi opening the door,” I said.

“D...di...did you just kiss me?” Darby asked.

“Welcome back to the land of the living, Darby. Yes, I did. Someone had to shut you up. You were about to tell whoever is watching this place there's a secret room here,” I said.

“Alright, what's next?” Ériu asked.

“I suggest you stay here in this room and explore, and we'll go back out, and continue doing this inventory, before whoever is listening gets suspicious. Also, we can't take anything out of here, until we clear the spells monitoring the place,” I said.

“Well then that holds up our investigation,” Ériu said.

“Not necessarily. I have a plan. Let's document the room. You explore here and look for clues, then we'll leave, and I'll reveal my plan,” I said.

“Alright, we'll try it your way for now. The Queen seems to hold you in high regard. I'd be a fool not to at least listen to you,” Ériu said.

“Great, let's go,” I said and we returned to the other room. We finished cataloging everything in the atelier. Ériu finished exploring the secret room, and closed the door. Then we left.

“Let me cast a spell on the lock and your key. This will keep everyone else out of the room. I've already sealed the windows, so no one can get in that way, without me knowing,” I said.

“Wow, you're thorough,” Ériu sad.

“Well, I graduated from the school of Hard Knocks. You either learn or get schooled out there in this hard life. Now, I think this is a good time to take a break, and review what we just did, My Lady” I said.

“That's an excellent suggestion, Dee. We can have some lunch brought up to my study,” Ériu said.

After we got done eating, I placed barriers up. Well after clearing Ériu's study of spying devices and spells, that is.

“Ok, so, I guess this is where I tell you about my ingenious plan, and you all call me a crazy, mad, crackpot,” I said.

“That's not going to happen, I enjoy breathing,” Darby joked.

“Yeah, what he said,” Aoi said. Everyone laughed.

“So, Here's my plan. First, I'm going to cast an illusion spell for the whole room, and everything in it. That illusion will be cast over a nullification field. The nullification field will sit on top of the floor. The floor has a complex hidden dark mana spell embedded over its surface. Then we can enter the room, and take anything we want, as long as it isn't touching the floor. We also can't move anything touching the floor, or the illusion will shatter. Lastly, Lady Ériu what did you find in the hidden room?” I said.

“I found a lot of things but nothing seemed relevant to my Mother's death,” Ériu said.

“I was afraid of that. That means we need to explore the hidden stairs in the room,” I said.

“Hidden stairs? I didn't see any stairs,” Ériu said.

“Me either,” Kanae said.

“Nor me,” Kiera said.

“Hmm, when we're done with this investigation, I'm going to have to give you two some more training. You should have both detected those stairs. I understand why you didn't detect the hidden room, as the spell is interfering with perception, but the stairs in that room should have been clearly visible to any dark magik user,” I said.

“Um, if you are willing, I'd like to participate in those lessons. I didn't see them either,” Ériu said.

“Hmm, yeah, I suppose I should help you rank up your skills as well. You're going to be thrown to the political wolves soon. Alright, then. I'll let you know when I plan those lessons. The Queen will be needing your skills. Did your mother not train you for the position?” I said.

“No, she wouldn't train me. I think she was trying to shield me from it all,” Ériu said.

“I see,” I said.

“So are we heading back down there now?” Ériu asked.

“No it'll take me at least an hour to craft the spell. It's fairly tricky, and the timing needs to be precise,” I said.

“There, done. Alright let's go activate this spell,” I said.

“You've been working on that spell for almost three hours. What happened to 'it'll take me an hour'?” Darby said.

“I said it would take at least an hour, but if you think you've got better spellcasting powers why don't you do it next time?” I said, more agitated than I meant to.

“S-sorry! Not me! I hate spellcasting, and I don't have any clue how to craft my own spells. I think you're amazing being able to do this stuff,” Darby said.

“Hmph, whatever,” I said.

We headed back to Margaret's atelier where I drew the casting circle on the door, and activated the spell.

“Wait for the door to stop shimmering, then it'll be safe to enter,” I said.

“Wow! That's really cool, but why do we have to beware of the floor?” Aoi asked.

“Whatever spells were cast in that room are being fed from the floor and the walls. So don't take anything off the walls either. This spell is making a thin layer above the floor and along the walls. Luckily, the hidden door is protected from spellcasting, and for that reason alone whoever is monitoring won't and can't detect it,” I said.

“So, the door has stopped shimmering. But your magik circle is gone. Is it safe to enter now?” Ériu asked.

Stolen from NovelPhoenix, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“It wouldn't be a very good hidden spell if the writing was still visible. Yes, it's as safe as it is going to get. Let's go,” I said.

We went straight for the hidden room and entered it.

“So where's this stairway, Dee? I don't see or sense anything,” Ériu said.

“You don't? But it's right there on the floor in front of far wall. Right here, but I can't seem to find any way to activate it,” I said, as I walked over to the hidden stairway, and ran my hands over the floor and wall.

“Come here, Lady Ériu, and put your hand on the floor. Maybe that'll help you detect it,” I said.

Ériu walked over and knelt where I was, and put her hands on the floor. Suddenly, the floor glowed with black flames and disappeared. Unfortunately I was kneeling on that part of the floor, at the moment, and I tumbled down the stairs!

“Ow! Well I guess we found how to activate the stairs. Luckily, my back broke my fall,” I said as I pulled myself up using the steps and handrail, holding my aching back.

Luckily, I have a pretty tough spine due to my dragon heritage, but that didn't mean I didn't have stabbing pain over my entire back now. Everyone else filed down. Some spell had activated when I landed on the floor and magikal lights came on, so the room was illuminated.

“This is very strange. There's a layer of dust over everything on the floor above, but this room is spotless,” I observed.

“Look! This is my Mother's handwriting.”

The beasts and monsters in the forest are acting strange. Found traces of netherspawn dust on a dead half-eaten dragonewt in the forest today. The ancient casting circle sacrificial altar shows signs of recent usage. I fear the Orphean Cult has become active once again. Damn! Will we never be rid of those evil necromancers!We were sure we got them all in the last Orphean Purge. I fear someone in the mansion is connected to all of this. I can trust no one.

“What's netherspawn dust?” Kanae asked.

“Netherspawn dust is the powdered spores of Netherworld mushrooms which only grow on corpses of beasts, and monsters, raised through necromancy. Since the corpses of such beasts and monsters normally decay instantly, it requires dark magic to slow the decay long enough for the mushrooms to grow. But such magik is forbidden because of the dangerous miasma that leaks out, and kills all living things,” I said.

“That sounds like something incredibly dangerous. What kind of evil maniac would do such a thing?” Darby said.

“I don't know, but whoever it is would be the enemy of all. It was also the reason the Orphean Cult was suppressed. They were trying to bring about the end of the world. It was Orpheus himself who first discovered the dust, and the reason those spells were banned as forbidden spells. But it would seem someone is trying to resurrect the Orphean Cult. The Queen must be informed. This is a threat to us all!” I said.

“Oh, I don't think I can allow that, but thank you Marquise Ériu, for unlocking Margaret's private workshop. You see she stole something from me, that I very much must have back. Alas, she locked it in here, and only the rightful heir could open it. Thank you all for being so helpful and following where I led you. Now if you don't mind, all. Please. DIE!” said Denjirou Ó Ferdia as he released a Netherspawn dust bomb spell.

“Wha...?” said Denjirou dumbfounded as his spell did nothing.

Icespear! I silently cast.

“Unh!” Denjirou groaned as the icespear passed through his chest just missing his heart as he tried to dodge the unknown spell, and then teleported away.

“Damn! He got away!” I said.

“Denjirou?” said Ériu dazed and confused.

“What was that?” said Kanae.

“Why are we still alive?” Kiera asked.

“What the Hell is going on!?” Aoi screamed.

“Uh, well. I cast a bunch of protection spells on us, before we entered the atelier. You know you can never be too cautious. So, Denjirou's attack was just repelled,” I said.

“Ok, so, the one person in the domain who knew why we are actually here, is the bad guy?” Kanae said.

“Look's like it, but I doubt he's working alone. I've suspected for a while this murder wasn't committed by a single person. And it's been pretty obvious this was a carefully planned and orchestrated attack by multiple people,” I said.

“Say what?” Kiera said.

“Explain,” Ériu said.

Sigh.

“Well, it's complicated. You see we have the Fenrir attack. Since a Fenrir was used as part of the murder, it means it was trained, or controlled, by someone. So that requires a Dark Magik beast-tamer since Fenrir have dark mana. No such mage would have made the mistake of not taking the trophy, nor preventing the beast. That means that whoever set up the murder scene was not the tamer, but an assistant who didn't know. Then there was the dark mana trail leading into the forest. That was either a diversion, or unrelated to the murder. That trail should have been erased by the murderer, or it was something someone else left unintentionally after the murder scene was set up. A matter of a lack of communication between the murderers. As well as several other inconsistencies, but enough of that. We have killers to catch!” I said.

“Right! So how do we find, Denjirou?” Kanae asked.

“First let's get out of here and reseal this room. Something in here is important to Denjirou, and now is not the time to try and figure out what it is. We need to keep it safe,” Ériu said.

“Right!” I said, as we headed out of the secret room. Ériu resealed the stairs once we were all out. We then reconvened in Ériu's room.

“Alright, we need to find Denjirou!” Ériu said.

“I wounded him, but somehow he sensed my attack and tried to dodge it. So he's seriously wounded. We could check his office, but he's probably been and gone. He may have then gone to his house. Or else to wherever his base of operations is. Let me see if I can sense him,” I said.

“Wide sense!” I cast.

“I have him, but his location must be shielded. Wait. His presence is gone. Could be a concealment. So do we go, or do we get reinforcements, and then go? Can we trust anyone here?”

“We have the Queen's guards. We should be able to trust them,” Ériu said.

“That makes sense, alright let's include them. Denjirou may have already joined up with his people,” I said.

We then found the guards, and we used jumps to approach the location I last noticed Denjirou. We stopped at a stand of trees on an approach to a large mansion surrounded by a fortified wall of gray stonework, with a large and ornate gate on the side facing us that we could see.

“That is Denjirou's estate. We might have some difficulty getting through the gates. Seeing as we are on foot, and like you said, we have no idea who in my Mother's estate we can trust. So going back and bringing forces could make it even worse for us,” Ériu said.

“How many are we likely up against?” I asked.

“Tough to say. Some of his staff may be only role-playing. He likely has ten guards active at all times. There are fifteen other staff. So perhaps up to fifty people on the grounds. So, we might be outnumbered five to one,” Ériu said.

“Alright, that means sneaking in and trying to grab him is our best bet. But we lose all his co-conspirators, and we don't have much in the way of leads on them yet. Although, it may not be too hard to figure out some of them,” I said.

“We definitely need to at least try and grab him. It's too late to try and contain this,” Ériu said.

“Right, ok, then Kanae, Kiera, and My Lady we'll sneak in. Darby and Aoi, and you knights need to reach some Royal forces. Do not return to the mansion, it may no longer be a safe place. Aoi, you have the jump spell down, can you jump everyone else?” I asked.

“I'm not sure. I've never jumped this many people,” Aoi said.

“I can jump my squad,” said the Royal Guard captain.

“I can jump with Darby, so then we can jump together. We should be fine,” Aoi said.

“Alright, be safe. Get re-enforcements, and contain the estate,” I said.

“Don't get captured you three,” Aoi said.

“Well, that's actually probably the easiest way to get inside. But maybe we won't try that, just yet. See ya!” I said as we jumped away.

“I worry about her, she has a real crazy streak in her,” Aoi said shaking her head.

“Isn't that what we love about her, though?” Darby said.

“Teenagers,” the captain of the guard muttered under her breath.

“Alright, so here we are. Outside the wall. I detect no magik or mana on the other side. I can feel some kind of shield around the mansion. We likely will have to walk in. I can detect some people outside the southern entrance to the mansion. Probably servants. We should try going in from there,” I said.

“Alright, let's try that,” Ériu said.

We jumped to a spot close to the servants on the south side of the mansion, after I cast another mana concealment spell on us.

Somnia! I cast, putting all the commoner staff present to sleep.

“So shall we enter?” I asked.

“Let's” Kiera said unable to hide her excitement. This girl is some weird kind of excitement junkie.

Somnia! I silently cast, as we entered the mansion.

Fracas! Ceangail! Ciunas! Somnia! I multicast on one of the staff breaking his shielding, binding him up and gagging his speech.

“We're going to want to question that one. He's a plant in the staff. He's bound silenced and sleeping now. He was faking having been overpowered by my silent spellcasting. We'd have been in trouble had I not noticed. So that confirms there are planted people among the staff. Servants may not be what they seem. Very likely your staff are also compromised. Be careful,” I said.

“Right,” Kiera said nervously.

“What are you? That was amazing!” Ériu said.

“I'm just an ordinary orphan who's had a really rough life,” I said.

“You are many things, I'm sure, but ordinary is definitely not one of them,” Ériu said.

“I sense a lot of mana below us. But, there is something blocking me. Something powerful. I'm sensing a lot of people also. I still can't lock on to Denjirou's mana, but I can sense him below,” I said.

“How can you sense him but not his mana?” Kanae asked.

“Simple answer? I don't know. He's doing something to mask his mana, but I can feel his life force. I'm not sure how to explain it to a human. My dragon core is telling me he is there. But his mana core is being hidden. My dragon sense can tell he's here, but I don't know how to describe how I know. It's not a power or skill I can consciously access. It's a native dragon power, and why it's so hard to steal into a dragon's lair in case you were contemplating. Even if you completely hide your presence a dragon can still detect your presence,” I said.

“Yeah, um, I think I understand, but it still makes no sense,” Kanae said.

“I know, right?” Kiera said.

“My mother once told me, it's impossible to understand a dragon. Now I know why,” Ériu said with a giggle. Kiera and Kanae giggled too.

“Are we having fun, or shall we continue? I'm not sure we should continue. I don't know what's waiting for us beyond this room, but I'm fairly certain we will be walking into a huge ambush. I think Kanae, Kiera, and I can bring down everyone, but if we fail things could go very badly for us all,” I said.

“How many do you think there are down there?”

“Over a hundred,” I said.

“Over a hundred? You think the three of you can take down a hundred!?” Ériu said.

“Uh, yeah, but we might destroy the mansion as well. So uh, stay close. Oh, is it alright if we kill everyone, if necessary?” I asked.

“Well, ideally, I'd like to take at least a few of them alive, but we have to do what we have to do,” Ériu said.

“Ok, good. Try and take prisoners, but kill if we have no other choice. Got it, good. Kanae let's start with a vortex, just not quite full power. Maybe three quarters. I'll say when,” I said.

“V...v...vortex? What's that?” Ériu asked.

“It's fun, you'll see. Stay close,” I said.

“R...r...right,” Ériu said stepping really close.

“But you told me not reveal that,” Kanae said confused.

“Well, you won't be able to hide it forever, and the Queen already knows. How's your silent casting coming along?” I asked.

“I'm proficient with it. It's not quite natural, or habitual yet,” Kanae said.

“Good! Keep practicing,” I said.

“You can silent cast?” Ériu asked.

“You haven't noticed? I've been silent casting this whole time. I've been teaching Kanae and company,” I said.

“Would you teach me?” Ériu asked.

“You're a third year, aren't you? They haven't taught that yet? Well it doesn't matter, yeah, sure, when this is over I'll teach you how to silent cast. But there are things you must be able to do first. We'll cover that then,” I said.

“Silent casting isn't taught at the Academy. It's only taught to mages joining the military,” Ériu said.

“That's dumb, but explains a lot, and helps us, I guess,” I said.

We proceeded out of the kitchen and were promptly attacked.

Fracas! Ceangail! Ciunas! Somnia!

We began looking for a way down.

“I think this is the way,” Kanae said pointing to a stairway.

“Alright, aim down the stairs and fire a multicast to break shields, then bind and gag and put them to sleep. Use your full power,” I said.

Maxa! Fracas! Ceangail! Ciunas! Somnia! Kanae multicast.

We descended and found a half dozen armed staff, all secured.

“Good work, Kanae,” I said.

“Thank you, Dee!” Kanae said.

“Let me try next!” Kiera said.

“Ok,” I said.

We descended another floor, and it appeared to be the bottom. But the place was empty, except for six secured people.

“Where is everyone? I thought you said over a hundred?” Ériu asked.

“Still below us, Look for a false panel, or lower floor,” I said.

After fifteen minutes of searching Ériu said, “I think I found something. It seems like the stairwell to my mother's secret room, but it won't open.”

“Hmm, yeah this looks like the way down,” I said.

After analyzing it for a while and not finding a solution, I said, “Shall we knock? You might all want to stand behind me.”

“What are you going to do, Dee?” Ériu asked stepping behind me.

“Knock knock. Dinistrio!” I cast. The entire magikal stairway shield exploded in such force the mana took on physical form as mana shards. The shards slammed into the walls and stairs doing considerable damage. Four mages at the base couldn't evade in time, and their bodies were impaled by the mana shards as if they'd been blades.

“OK, together everyone,” I said, linking arms with Ériu and Kanae. Kanae linked with Kiera.

“Descenta! Now Kanae!” I cast and commanded.

Mega Vortex! Kanae cast throwing out her arms as we descended.