Lilia's Tale

Chapter 85: Search

I was weary of what could potentially be inside. If the door had been trapped so heavily, there was no telling what was inside. I took my chances and had the goblin enter and scour the room for traps, be they in the form of spells or more basic devices. I also had Alice try and see if she can't find the trace of spells having been cast on objects.

"What do we do now?" Riogh asked.

"I'm testing everything inside with the goblin and having Alice check for trap spells."

"So it's a waiting game?"

"More or less."

With that said, we waited. The goblin made sure to touch everything while Alice stayed outside to scan the house for magic. It took maybe an hour until the goblin and Alice both told me there was nothing deadly, as well as nobody inside. I forwarded the information to Riogh and we got out of our hiding spot towards the house.

I wasn't sure if just going in would be safe, so I had the goblins check for the outside now. If anything came close, they would alert me. Riogh entered first for safety reasons, and I followed. The inside of the shed was... surprisingly clean. There was no dust to be seen, it was well tidied, and the bed was properly made.

"Someone was here recently," I mumbled to myself.

"There definitely was someone living here. I think we found exactly what we wanted."

"Yeah. What are we supposed to do now though?"

"I'll tell the others as well as the general. You go back to the academy and let us handle this. You succeeded our mission, and quite fast."

The praise was unexpected, but quite welcome. I blushed a bit, stuttered a "Thank you" and left the shed. I took the time to verify with every goblin for any movement while Riogh was doing what he had to do with the place. Thankfully, there was absolutely nothing happening, so I unsummoned them one by one after checking.

Riogh apparently finished his business slightly earlier than me, as he was standing next to me when I was done.

"I'm done," he said.

"Me too. Let's go back before whoever lives here sees us."

He simply nodded and moved on. I told Alice to go back as I started following him. She listened and told me something interesting.

"There is a new magic trap set in the house, Master. It seems Riogh set it up."

"Riogh did? That's surprising. Do you know what it is?"

"I do not, Master. But I think he wants to capture whatever will be inside the shed directly."

"Isn't that a bit reckless? I mean , the spell put on the door was quite powerful so it is expectable for the creature to be at least equally as powerful."

"That is true. I didn't think about that. Master is so intelligent~"

The sudden praise was unsettling, so I tried my best to ignore it in an attempt to stay composed. We were still in danger, after all, and would be until the demon is caught or killed.

The thought of having to kill them felt quite unpleasant, yet acceptable. It was different from my feelings towards killing creatures and monsters, which always felt disgusting to me. This disparity caught my attention, although I didn't get to think much of it as we had reached the entrance already.

The guards were a bit more demanding in order to let us come back in, but it ended up going without much trouble. Riogh went ahead to the castle as he told me to go back to the academy so as to not look suspicious. While I was caught off-guard at first, I quickly understood why he thought I would be and agreed, going directly to the academy.