Meanwhile, Abium returned to the 32B old house and quickly summoned everyone, including Roysia, to the main hall.
The first ones to enter the main hall were the four adventurers; following them were Roysia and another black-haired male adventurer. After that, Nicolaus, Fennelis, and Umi arrived with a severe look and stood before him quietly.
On the other hand, Abium turned his head towards the wavy pink-haired lady and smiled.
"It's nice to see you again in good shape, Lady Roysia."
Upon hearing his words, Roysia got puzzled and soon frowned as she saw this black-haired kid looked a little familiar.
Soon, an elf's image appeared in her mind.
"L-Lord Baron?" She stuttered with a confused face.
"Yes, My Lady. I'm using an artifact to disguise my appearance." Abium cleared her puzzlement and soon asked another question.
"Are you after the Red Python organization?"
"Yes, my lord." Roysia nodded and shifted her attention towards Hooper.
"This adventurer Hooper also has some link with that demon organization."
As Abium looked at the adventure in confusion, Roysia sighed deeply and explained everything in a detailed manner.
After hearing her whole story, Abium was utterly shocked.
'Guard Captain Piers? Isn't he Light Bishop?' Abium quickly made a guess.
'So, that's why he is waiting outside the city like a watchdog, huh? It is not that he is after this scroll, but he is after Fennelis and Umi. Moreover, a shapeshifter?
It must be their pets. Although I had never heard of shapeshifters, I know that the Light Church hides many secrets. So it's not a surprising thing. Tsk, this is going to be a problem tomorrow. If Fennelis and Umi came with me to that dungeon, the Light Church members and Bishop Piers would attack them.' Abium rubbed his forehead and soon shook his head.
'Haa! I sometimes forgot that I'm also a rune mage.' He sighed and quickly picked up two silver rings from his spatial ring. Then, he quietly sat on the nearby wooden chair and started inscribing [Mirage] spell model in those two rings. At the same time, he embedded two black colored elemental stones into it and tossed them toward Fennelis and Umi.
"Please use this ring to disguise yourself during the upcoming expenditure, My Lady. Also, teach Umi to how to use this ring." Abium said solemnly and then added,
"We must protect her at all cost."
"I can protect myself." Umi stuck her tongue out and protested, which stunned Abium.
'Heh, her strength, agility, and vitality attributes are already above 12—no wonder she is so sure of her strength. Hmm, moreover, she also appeared to be matured a little. Well, I don't think she will be a burden during this journey.' Abium stared at her with an amusing smile and spoke.
"I can see you already have the strength to battle against wyverns, Umi. But only having strength won't make you invincible in battle. There are many artifacts and spells out there that could kill anyone from far away in a blink. Moreover, you lack real battle experience and knowledge. Well, we will teach you everything from now on."
Meanwhile, Umi smiled brightly and nodded like she was listening to a lecture.
After that, Abium discussed for a few minutes and started to ponder who would participate in this expedition.
After a few debates, Abium asked Nicolaus and Roysia to return to the Peral kingdom. After realizing that the Red Python and Light Church were after Roysia, he didn't hesitate to send her back.
'Although she lost her knight title, it's not a big deal. As long as I ask Prince Huggin to award her a good position in the Royal Palace, he won't refuse it.' At that moment, he suddenly thought of the strange scroll and asked.
"Lady Roysia, where did you get that mysterious scroll? Is it from a vampire?"
"Scroll? Oh! I was about to tell you about that incident!"
Roysia heaved a deep sigh and continued,
"Now that you mention it, he might be indeed a vampire. I think he is the one who ordered the Holy Knights to attack us when we are searching for clues in the woods. That guy wore some blue robe, and from his tone, I know he must have a high position in the Light Church. Moreover, he doesn't have any fighting skills and appeared like a coward." She paused for a moment and then added solemnly.
"It's not hard for me to figure out that he is some big shot. When he asked the Holy Knights to attack us, I had no choice but to launch a brutal attack.
My action startled everyone, including that blue-robed guy. Well, that gave me a big opportunity to get near to take him as a hostage." Roysia said calmly.
"During that time, I stealthily stole that mysterious scroll from his waist while he was distracted and stored it in my bag. But what I didn't expect was that he made some strange movements and disrupted my thoughts."
"Mind manipulating spell?" Abium asked.
"Indeed. So, I have no choice but to escape along with others." Roysia couldn't help but smile wryly.
"But how the other adventurers died?" Abium felt something didn't add up and asked.
As she heard Abium's question, her face stiffened.
"It was due to that guy's another strange magic spell. I think he used some tracking spell and energy-draining spell on us. Except for two of us, all of them died by the Holy Knights before reaching the city. They died while screaming for help. A-And, I couldn't do anything at all!" Roysia's lips trembled as she said those words.
'As expected of the Former Knight Captain, she survived the chase from the Holy Knights.' Abium was deeply impressed by her quick judgment skill and spoke,
"Lady Roysia, I think the information hidden in that magic scroll must be important to the Light Church. Although they still didn't know what was in that scroll, they knew it must be important. That must be the reason why they put arrest warrant on both of your heads. So, I'm urging you to leave this kingdom sooner. It's not safe here." Abium ended his speech and shifted his attention to Nicolaus.
Although both didn't have a good relationship like before, they had a good understanding. Abium thought for a while and took a silver ring from his spatial ring. It was one of the five rings he had taken from the mysterious throne hall, and he had long thought of giving it to Nicolaus.
'Although these rings aren't precious artifacts, each one has a unique elemental essence and could help my allies' elemental affinity to increase one or two levels. Not only that, but they also have some sort of connecting with the small Thrones in the Mysterious Throne Hall. They are pretty good stuffs.' He muttered inwardly.
'But what are you going to do with the other three rings?' Azolla interjected his thought.
'I still haven't decided yet. But I'm planning on giving the blue ring to Umi. As for the Red Ring, I'm planning on using it myself.'
'What about the 'Black Ring?'
'I still haven't found the suitable candidate for it.' Abium made a deep sigh and gave the Silver Ring to Nicolaus.
'Imprint this ring with your spiritual mark, Nicolaus. With this ring, I can pull your consciousness into a separate domain and communicate with you even when we are away. Don't let others know about this ring and wear it all the time.' He spoke in his mind telepathically.
Meanwhile, Nicolaus got startled a bit and soon nodded.
Although he didn't trust Abium completely, he knew that this elf was not a bad guy.
On the other hand, Abium dismissed the male adventurer who went along with Lady Roysia before and shifted his attention to the strange four adventurers.