Abium quietly entered the 16x16ft room on the right side of the main hall and noticed that Alfred was in the middle of doing stitching work.
Noticing his arrival, he put down the needle and the shirt on the table and turned his gaze towards the entrance.
"Do you need something, lad?" He asked.
"Yes, Uncle." Abium nodded and slowly shifted his gaze towards the left-side wooden table.
At that moment, he saw a round-faced carvers mallet, a square-faced joiners mallet used for chopping, and seven types of chisels with curvature sweeps, U-shaped sweeps, etc., on the table in order. All these were professional sculptor's tools.
"I want you to sculpt a statue for me." After a quick scan, he turned his gaze towards Alfred and requested.
Meanwhile, Alfred paused slightly, slowly stood up from his seat, and moved towards the wooden table while speaking.
"Sculpt a statue? Tell me more details about the statue. Whose statue? If possible, give me a detailed physical description."
"I can sketch that person's image on the scroll, Uncle. You can take a good look at it whenever you want." Abium said calmly and moved towards the front table. Then, he took out an empty scroll, a small painting brush, a pencil made of charcoal, ink bottles, and a strange crystalline stone.
Noticing the crystalline stone and other materials, Alfred gave him a surprised look and asked.
"Hmm, I don't think I taught you anything about sketching, though. When did you learn how to draw?" He was surprised by Abium's confidence.
"An elven friend taught me a secret to make sketching easier." Without waiting for him to ask more questions, Abium sat on the wooden chair, closed his eyes, and ordered Azolla to show the image of Goddess Rodia's statue from her memory.
A second later, a statue's image flashed in his mind.
At the center of an altar, he saw a statue of crystalline ice standing in a luxurious cloth. The dress was made of azure duchess satin and embroidered with floral emblems representing fine mithril and golden threads. A silver crown was placed over the statue's head, which looked dazzling.
The woman in the statue had long straight hair, a round face, a slim and curvy body, and appeared more like she was carved out of a crystal.
Abium quickly memorized the statue's image and started to sketch the image on the empty scroll. Although he was pale compared to professional artists, he had a fair share of experience in painting and sketching and made beautiful art in 50 minutes.
"This is it. I want a statue similar to that in this picture." He stood up from his seat and gave the scroll to Alfred.
"Oh? Is it a Queen's statue?" Alfred gave a sharp look at the picture and quickly nodded.
After that, he took out a chisel and a small wood from the nearby table and started to do his work.
Like drawing a picture, he started to cut it down slowly using different types of chisels.
But it was a failure!…
After five more constant failures, Alfred finally carved out a beautiful lady's figure and gave it to him.
Although that statue was inaccurate, Azolla told him that would be enough.
"You can go back now. I've some other important work to do." Saying so, Alfred picked up the needle and the old shirt from the wooden table and started continuing his work.
Meanwhile, Abium didn't say a word and quietly left the room.
'Okay, what should I do about the sacrificial ceremony, Azolla?' Abium was clueless about the sacrificial ceremony and asked in puzzlement.
'Well, Goddess Rodia has a unique taste. In ancient times, some elven mages used to sacrifice goats to attract her attention and used their precious materials to exchange for divine power. If you want to get the attention of any goddess, the mere sacrificial ceremony won't be enough. You also have to offer something precious like the divine shard.' Azolla's answer made Abium knit his eyebrows.
At that moment, Azolla also sent him about the materials used for the sacrificial ceremony.
'Heh, I've to prepare twelve goats for the sacrificial ceremony, huh?' Abium fell into silence once he listened to Azolla's words. Although he could get wild goats in the nearby territory, it still would take time.
'I have no other choice.' With a heavy sigh, he informed Claude about his plan and walked out of the manor.
'I think some wild goats would be roaming near the frozen mountain.' Abium thought inwardly. Within a few minutes, Abium had already crossed the town square, market street, and moved towards the northern gate through the dirt road. As he was about to walk past an Inn, he noticed an unusual burning area and halted his footsteps.
'Is it the work of an explosion?' His eyes narrowed sharper. With a frown, he moved towards the Inn.
As he walked inside, he noticed an old fat lady standing up from the wooden chair and welcomed him with a warm smile on her face.
"Welcome to the lazy hammer Inn, my lord."
"What happened there?" Abium asked while pointing his forefinger towards the southern corner of the corridor. Almost two rooms were wholly burned, and he saw explosive trails up to the ceiling.
'Someone used a fire spell here.' He could tell it was definitely a fire orb spell with a single glance.
"M-My lord, it was caused by a slave which those bandits brought to this town earlier." She said with a grim tone and explained the incident in detail.
After a short discussion, Abium managed to get a gist of the story.
'Aliza again!' His frown grew deeper.
"Can I take a look at that room?" He asked.
"It's your town, my lord." That Inn lady nodded in response and bowed again.
Meanwhile, Abium quickly moved towards the southern side and soon arrived in front of a wholly burned room. Only black chars were painted in the whole area, and bright sunlight gave the room warmth through the broken ceiling.
'What are you trying to do?' Azolla asked him curiously.
"I'm trying to do some experiment," Abium spoke seriously and searched the room carefully.
'What experiment?' Azolla asked with puzzlement. Slowly, he explained what had happened last time in the unknown place. He told Azolla about how his soul was pulled into a strange place by a mysterious force and the mysterious fountain.
'I never heard of such a thing, kid. It may be due to the Time Divinity.' Azolla said and soon added. 'Don't share any information about that place to others.'
Abium wasn't surprised by Azolla's warning and nodded.
'Now, I want to try something and see any information about Aliza.' Abium said and picked up a thin blonde hair attached to the half-burned birch wooden bed.
Then, he concentrated his full attention on the strand of hair and linked his soul to the unknown room.
Like a flash of lightning, he felt his soul being pulled by some mysterious force. A second later, he found himself standing in front of a mysterious fountain. No, it was his soul form.
'I need to understand more about this mysterious place.' He thought.
A second later, Abium shifted his gaze towards his hand and smiled as he saw the same strand of blonde hair appear in his foggy hand.
'I didn't expect I could bring the outside materials into this place.' He couldn't help but be surprised a bit. After looking at the mysterious fountain for a second, he moved near it and touched the white petal-like divinity. A second later, a one-meter wide mirror-like space appeared in front of him.
After seeing the void-like mirror, Abium threw the strand of hair onto it and watched it with expectation.
As that strand of that blonde hair touched that mirror, a mysterious vibration happened in the small space.
After a short vibration, the rectangular space twisted and formed into an image. Abium soon saw an image of a girl with short deep blue hair, round black eyes, and thick arched downward eyebrows. She stood with a pale face while looking at a prison cell and appeared familiar to his eyes.
'Aliza!' That was the first thought that came to Abium's mind. He clearly remembered her appearance from the wanted posters and instantly identified her. But what made his expression frown deeper was that he saw another figure in the image.
At that moment, Abium also saw a blue-skinned figure lying inside the prison cell and pinned by a metal rod.
'Hm? Isn't that child I saw earlier in this mirror room?' His expression froze.
'Is that prison cell? What is this blue-skinned child's connection with Aliza?' Abium tried to decipher more information from the image but soon found that it dispelled slowly and returned to normal empty-void-like space.
'It really did show any person's whereabouts. But is it past or future or present?' He became puzzled a little but soon shook his head.
'It doesn't matter; this experiment is a success.'
'Next, I have to confirm the exact 'Time."
Abium nodded and soon noticed the same feeling of being pulled by some mysterious force.
'Is that it?' Abium's vision blurred as he muttered inwardly.
Pa!
The next instant, Abium felt he was lying on the concrete floor and noticed that he was still in the same burned room.
Phew!
He quickly stood up and breathed out a sigh of relief.
'Kid, what happened? You got blanked out for a while.' Suddenly, he heard Azolla's startling voice inside his head.
'It worked!' Abium said with a grin on his face.
'Oh! But I think you should only enter that mysterious place when you are in a safe place, kid.' Azolla said solemnly.
'Oh? For how long did I stay in an unconscious state?' Abium asked.
'Almost 20 minutes. Use this method only when you are in a safe place. Got it?' Azolla said gravely.
'That's dangerous indeed.' Abium's face changed drastically.
'So what did you see?' Azolla asked with a silvery voice.
'It's a prison. I saw the Death Mage Aliza in the vision. She seems to be standing in a prison cell and appears to be planning to release an imprisoned child.' Abium said in a solemn tone.
'Child?' Azolla asked with more interest while Abium explained the female child's outer appearance.
Once Abium finished his words, Azolla suddenly went silent.
'Do you know the race of that child?' Abium asked without hiding his curiosity. Azolla didn't reply to him; instead, she stayed silent for a long time and finally started to speak in a worried tone.
'That child must be a creature from the Abyss, lad. From your explanation, I can tell that the child must be from the Syreni race. I don't know why someone imprisoned Syreni in this plane, but it's definitely not a good thing.' As Abium heard Azolla's solemn words, he couldn't help but get startled.