Arcadia's Ignoble Knight: Dark Elf Arc

Chapter 42

The sun was at Callisto's back as he sat behind his desk, looking at Commanders Oliver and Jefferson with a frown. While the two of them were shifting uncomfortably underneath his gaze, Cleopatra was sitting at a small table with a tea set on top, calmly sipping tea from an expensive cup as she swung her legs back and forth. It was a very childish gesture that suited her appearance.

"So you couldn't find any trace of Sylvia of Elincia at Commander Klein's Peacekeeper garrison?" asked Callisto.

"That is correct, My Lord," Commander Oliver said, sweat forming on his brow. "We checked the entire premise and found no trace of them."

"They must have been alerted to the fact that we were coming and had the two sneak off before we arrived," Commander Jefferson added.

Callisto steepled his fingers together. He glanced at the clock on his desk, noting the ticking hands as they moved slowly across the clockface. The two commanders became even more nervous as he said nothing. Finally...

"They are probably out of the city by now," Callisto announced. "That being the case, there's nothing we can do from here. You two may go back to your posts. I'll get in contact with the Peacekeeper branches that have allied with us and have them begin searching the nearby cities. I doubt they could have gone too far."

"Yes, My Lord."

After bowing to Callisto once more, they stood up and hurried out of the office. The two commanders looked like they couldn't leave fast enough.

Callisto leaned back in his chair and sighed. He wasn't sure how Sylvia had managed to escape. He recalled the previous day where he and Cleopatra had been rallying a large crowd of people, convincing them that Sylvia had been the one responsible for everything that had happened. The people had enthusiastically demanded her death. However, then an arrow had landed on the stage, and suddenly, he and Cleopatra had fallen asleep. Immediately after waking up, they had seen that Sylvia was gone.

"It seems we have underestimated that girl," Cleopatra said.

"You mean Elincia?" Callisto frowned as he reached out and grabbed a calligraphy pen. He undid the cap and placed some ink inside, and then resealed it. "I had been hoping that Marquis Hunington would be able to get rid of her, but it looks like my hopes were sadly misplaced. That good for nothing old man wasn't cautious enough. Thanks to him, Dorumhold is now under Clarissa's complete control."

"But you'll be rectifying that soon, right?" said Cleopatra with a smile.

Callisto nodded once. "I already have an army of murakumos ready. We can't use the same method there that we did here, but it won't matter. Now that Sylvia has been ousted, we can kill the other sorceresses at our leisure."

Grabbing one of the reports, Callisto read it over and frowned when he saw the contents. So Erica still hadn't been found? That was highly disappointing, and it also made him a little nervous. Among all the sorceresses present, Erica and Sylvia were the only two who posed a real threat.

"What about Erica?" asked Cleopatra. "By this point, Erica has probably healed from the injuries she received. She will definitely be a problem in the future, especially if she and Sylvia join forces."

"That is indeed a problem," Callisto admitted. "It's a shame my plan to lure Erica into a trap by staging a dwarven rebellion didn't succeed as I wished, but all I can do now is deal with matters as they come to me. We're currently in development of another anti-sorceress device that should help us deal with them. Unfortunately, it still requires us to get in physical contact. If we could just discover a way to block their ability to summon spirits from a distance, we'd have an easier time, but I suppose that would be asking for too much."

"Even cutting off a sorceress' ability to summon a spirit is a great feet," Cleopatra said. She muttered something under her breath, and suddenly, her left hand ignited with flames. "Our ability to summon spirits is formed from a contract with a specific spirit clan. This contract creates a gate between us and the clan, which allows them to enter our bodies and use our powers. Finding a way to block that gate should be nearly impossible."

"Yes, I know." Callisto set the paper aside, and then grabbed another one. After reading it, he began writing instructions that would be sent out to all branches of Harmonix. "In either event, for now we'll focus on finding Sylvia before she can become a problem, and we'll also begin capturing the sorceress located in other parts of Arcadia."

"That sounds good to me." Cleopatra smiled. "And while you do that, I will deal with the Sorceress Council." She placed a finger to her lips as her smile widened. "I won't let them interfere with my revenge."

***

This chapter is a bit short, but I couldn't think of anything meaningful to add, and I do so detest padding my word count.

Please let me know what you think!