185 Ritual (1/2)

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\”A ritual?\”

Raven repeated in a whisper, he frowned and tried to recall if he could remember any rituals that was done by the Mort Family in the past. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried to recall things, nothing comes to his mind at all.

While he was busy trying to recall some things, the people that came out earlier started walking back towards the entrance of the building. Once he saw this, he stopped recalling about past events. He figured that since he couldn't remember anything, might as well figure things out as he go.

He suppressed his breath to the minimum and climbed to the ceiling as he waited for the people to return. He watched as they went back inside and the iron doors closed. Once the doors were closed, the whole hallway was silent and became dim. This low visibility was used by Raven to it's fullest as he tailed the roaming guard captains as he walked on the ceiling.

\”Do you guys actually think that the intruders will come here?\” One guard captain asked his comrades.

\”Who knows?\” One of the other guard captain answered, \”And even if they do, there an army of 100 strong soldiers defending this place, good luck going through that.\”

\”Don't be complacent.\” Another guard captain butted in, \”What if the intruders are Golden Knights? Then even if we sent thousands of soldiers to stop them, we will just be sending them to their deaths, they won't even slow down those people!\”

\”That's ridiculous!\” Another guard replied, \”You're talking about Golden Knights here, it's not like they have spare time to check this place at all. With how occupied they are with work, it's virtually impossible for anyone of them to be here. Plus, this place had existed for years now and none of those people had any clue that there's even a place like this, and I refuse to believe that they will investigate now.\”

\”Although what you said might be true, I still feel that we should stay alert. Lord Mort is visibly anxious about this whole operation, which means that he couldn't afford to fail now. It would be best to remain alert just in case. After all, Lord Mort said that we could say goodbye to our families if we ever failed. I still want to see my son grow up.\”

As the guard captains discussed amongst themselves, none of them were aware that the intruders that they were talking about could hear their discussions. Raven followed their patrol routes and listened to their conversations for some more, however he found nothing else about the so-called 'ritual' that they were talking about so once they entered another room, Raven stopped following them and went onto a different path.

The interior of the building isn't that complicated. He imagined that this must be used for extravagant occasions or parties amongst nobles. He saw neatly arranged, high class equipment all over the place. Expensive sofas, couches, chairs, tables, dining equipment, dancing poles, high-grade cloths, gambling equipment and many more. Although the place is deserted by nobles for now, he could imagine that this place must be where Mort hosts his private parties and gatherings.

Raven silently traversed the place, making sure to be very careful not to alert anyone with his movements. He had close encounters with the guards roaming around but thankfully, no one noticed him at all.

He continued combing through the place but unfortunately, he couldn't find where the ritual was taking place. Raven knew that if he tried checking every single room in this building, he's afraid that the ritual would be done before he could finish, so in an old and stereotypical manner, he used common sense to locate where the ritual was taking place.

If there's any important place here where Yael might be doing the ritual, it should be on the top floor right? After all, by virtue of nobility, the highest class of parties should take place at the highest floor. Knowing how conceited and arrogant Yael is, he figured that this was his best bet.

Following his thoughts, he picked up his pace while still maintaining vigilance. He passed by each floor like a breeze and eventually arrived at the staircase near the top floor before stopping dead on his tracks.

Raven stopped because he had to, there's a bunch of guards stationed in front of the top floor and they were keeping close watch of their front. Thankfully, Raven was within the shadows and the Minor Ghost Symbol was still active so no guards were alerted.

A frown appeared on his face, it seems that his conjecture was correct, if it wasn't then there's no way they would guard the entrance to the top floor heavily. The guards stationed in here were those that at least reached the Knight Stage with the strongest being a Silver Knight.

If there's any fortunate thing here, that would be the fact that the entrance was wide open and he could somehow see through the interior. Raven paused and observed each guards from the weakest to the strongest.