Back on the path that Marionette fought on, two men clothed completely in black stood; their faces shrouded and hidden behind crimson wolf masks that were marked with the numbers 3 and 4.
They were members of the Darkhound’s elite: the Bloodhounds.
"There were signs of a battle here..." They said in unison as they began to survey the area.
Dragging their fingers across damaged cracks, they felt the mana in the air still vibrate with activity - this was recent; it didn’t happen any earlier than today.
Whilst crouched, the man numbered three looked to four and asked:
"Who was patrolling this area again?"
"I believe it was 1 and 2." #4 answered, looking back while keeping his hands on a dented part of a tree. "Don’t you feel as though this dent was created by a person?"
"Hm..." #3 looked at the dent and thought outwardly, "Looks like a dent made by a person hitting against it. They were either hit hard, wearing some kind of armour, or was really heavy."
The dent the two were talking about was the exact dent Marionette indirectly caused by knocking the Valkyrie out of the air.
#3 traced his fingers against the ground before placing his palm against it.
"Mana is still stuck inside the stone path; it must’ve been manipulated by a mage with an Earth kind of element."
The mage that was the cause was the Tier 3 Earth Mage that Marionette kicked down into her darkness.
"The ground over here is split open like it was hit with a really heavy, sharp weapon. Either a greatsword or a large axe; maybe, there was someone heavily learning towards physical strength as a mage."
The one to wield the heavy weapon was the beetle-armour mage that Marionette overpowered.
"For what reason did #1 and #2 have for them to leave their posts?" The Bloodhound marked #3 asked, curiously, feeling not the slightest bit concerned by the minor destruction.
"I’m not quite sure either; we will just have to ask them when we see them afterwards. But for now, we should try to clean this mess up and find out who caused this - not like it would matter in the end."
...
Three hours passed since the training grounds. With a near-empty stomach, everyone who was about to pass out was immediately rejuvenated when they reached the dining hall.
The hall was grand and large, decorated with a variety of stone hound statues, banners, and chandeliers. But also, it had several white-clothed round tables laid out - with a buffet of food far to the side for people to grab.
As the nobles swiftly went off to grab a seat and a plate, Lillian was still standing behind Marionette, who had yet to move.
Lillian, not yet having the urge to stuff her stomach, was still in the middle of her detective work; or that was what she would like to call it - in reality, it was just her being overly confused on the whereabouts of the missing nobles.
Truthfully, their existence wasn’t that big enough to get her all worried about them. In fact, them being gone was more like a blessing and relief.
’But that’s not where the mystery ends...’ Lillian’s facial expression darkened. ’More nobles are missing...’
In the past 3 hours, a total of three nobles had gone missing - each disappearing near the end of every hour.
Lillian was no genius, or that she thought she wasn’t, but she realised there was a key similarity between each missing noble.
One: all six of the missing nobles were of families that didn’t have a considerable amount of strength in comparison to a highly esteemed family.
Two: they seemed to be in some way related to her, possibly, in the way that they made various comments about her appearance, although in hushed tones.
And lastly, the third similarity...
Each noble that went missing was coincidentally replaced by a noble that was "running late", which may or may not be secretly getting on Damien’s nerves.
How improper could a person get to not notify the party inviting them that they would be late?
Lillian scratched the back of her head at this mystery. Like a calm, cruising train that was suddenly met with trouble, her plan at this moment was entirely derailed; it was too sudden.
Such an event hadn’t happened before in the game. Why was it happening now?
’And why is it related to me...?’
Simultaneously scratching her head and rubbing her chin, Lillian continued to think deeply about this, ignorant of the look she was getting from Marionette.
A piercing gaze filled with love, infatuation - and extreme intensity- that only Marionette’s red eyes could give was settled entirely on Lillian’s figure.
The Assassin then glanced away when she felt a burning prick in her forearm.
Looking down at a spot just beneath her left sleeve, Marionette found a faint, trickling dark line crawling underneath her skin.
Her vein was blackening; the True Darkness must’ve stirred slightly from her use of magic, maybe trapping the nobles and their attendants in her darkness, which could’ve stirred its slumber.
Fortunately, it seemed that only one of her veins was experiencing this for now - but how long would it take for the darkness to spread? She was still uncertain.
’No wonder my mind is growing hazier...’ Marionette frowned internally, still keeping an outward emotionless expression.
From when she first used her magic today, she had felt a seed of fogginess stir and grow in the corner of her mind - sprouting its roots to try and enroach her mind like a parasite.
Unbeknownst to her, the more the darkness spread, the more her mental cognitive functions would temporarily deteriorate - specifically, the area of her mind that dealt with reasoning and decision-making.
And just like her father said, she would grow more and more susceptible to her dark impulses the longer she suffered from the True Darkness’s effects.
How long would it take for her to give in to her urges to kill someone?
"..."
Close.
She was getting close.
’It was their fault for getting closer to another person’s attendant...’ Marionette pulled down her sleeve, her eyes flashing with a look of annoyance.
’Actions without consent get met with consequences; common sense, is it not?’ She judged.
Even if she was going to do the best that she could to hold herself back, it was much harder to resist when—
"Excuse me, miss, but I must say you are quite the stunning servant. Who do you work for, may I ask?"
"Huh? Well, uhm..."
—Nobles after nobles tried to grab at Lillian’s attention, which solely belonged to her.
Seeing Lillian already confronted by another noble, Marionette felt her blood boil as she strided over.
Millis, who was sticking close to Crystal Ker Dovette, watched as Marionette deterred the noble from afar - stacking her plate high with food.
Her eyes glimmered at Marionette’s hidden display of possessiveness and smirked mischievously inside.
She was rather bored earlier, so why not make it a bit more fun?