Above The Sky
Chapter 410 - 410 381 The Faceless Child 23

410: Chapter 381: The Faceless Child (2/3) 410: Chapter 381: The Faceless Child (2/3) The streets of Leyan Territory were neatly constructed, but some seldom-used paths inevitably became covered with moss and lichen due to their location deep within dense forests.

On normal days, it wasn’t too bad, but now, with the torrential rain, they became unexpectedly slippery and difficult to navigate.

However, this was only the case for ordinary people.

Two Sublimators were walking on the road leading to the castle atop the cliff; the ancient, pitch-black castle was shrouded by the rain, standing tall in the howling wind, silent as if it were death itself.

Soon, Ian and the Radiant Nun arrived at the base of Leyan Castle.

Whirl…

Whirl…

Rain poured along the channels and grooves on the surface of the castle, hitting the deeply indented rocky ground, while the pitch-black towers seemed to have fused with the night itself.

“It’s still hard to imagine that the Baron could act so decisively,”

said the white-haired dragonfolk girl, looking up at the castle which the Empire’s military had built to block the only mountain path between Leyan Lake and the Mountain People’s settlement, looming on the edge of the Agate Stone Plains.

Two hundred years had passed, and the once war-forged fortress had now become the residence of the Baron’s family.

But at this moment, there wasn’t a single ‘master’ at home.

The Baron and his ‘four’ children had all left, and Ian could no longer see their purple-blue mist.

“That’s why we need to quickly find clues and locate their current whereabouts.”

Ian hadn’t expected that the Baron, who had received him and the Radiant Nun at noon, would have disappeared by evening.

The other party must have sensed a dangerous aura from the actions of Huai Guang Church, which is why he decided to accelerate his plans.

No, it wasn’t just that.

He was already on the verge of taking action, and the only reason he hadn’t was simply because he hadn’t made up his mind.

“We are that resolve.”

Ian murmured to himself, causing the Radiant Nun to tilt her head in confusion, which he answered with a shake of his head: “Don’t worry, there are no guards around, the Guard Squad leader should have gone on patrol—It seems that the Baron really was prepared, even his own people were sent away.”

In other words, the matter he was dealing with was probably something his own people wouldn’t support.

This was good news; at the very least, the Baron wouldn’t call the entire Guard Squad to join in an attack.

While Ian would be fine, it’s uncertain whether the Radiant Nun could hold out.

—The speed was too fast.

The young man actually felt a bit annoyed; even he had felt a strange discord from the Baron’s actions.

Coupled with the Prophet’s foresight being obscured by the Skull of Momentary Insignificance, he had chosen the safest course of action—that is, to become a Second Energy Level before setting out to investigate.

Unexpectedly, the Baron acted so decisively.

But he didn’t regard it as a wrong choice; advancing to Second Energy Level, ensuring his own safety, was necessary to better investigate the truth.

The castle gates were tightly sealed, and even a military siege hammer wielded against this iron-cast, citadel-grade gate would be frustrated.

But this time, it was dealing with two Sublimators.

So they went straight in through a third-floor window.

Knocking on the door?

Er, that would clearly be too noisy.

The Baron might be gone, but there were still quite a few Sublimators inside the castle.

Although the Radiant Nun was certain that the Baron had violated imperial law and even called for reinforcements from the Second-Level Cathedral Executor in Nauman City, the reinforcements wouldn’t arrive until tomorrow morning at the earliest, and now was not the time to make a scene.

If they truly smashed the door, and the guards within Leyan City heard it, it wouldn’t stop the two of them, but there was also no need to make matters so complicated.

After all, for Sublimators, a distance of ten or twenty meters was merely a light leap away.

In some sense, this was more insulting to the existence of a door than if they had simply kicked it down.

Click.

The glass window was removed, and they arrived inside the unlit castle at night.

The castle, which still held a somewhat cozy atmosphere during the day, now only had a gloomy and oppressive air; the wet rain quickly formed a white mist in the corridor.

Radiant Nun raised her hand, and a grey-white flame ignited in her palm, lighting up the surroundings.

“Shall we go to the Baron’s study next?

Or to his bedroom?”

The nun surveyed the corridor, her light so clear that even the patterns on the walls were visible, and the shadows of some hangings at the top elongated, casting towards the abrupt end not far away, sinking into the darkness.

“Are we…

wait, are there still living people inside the castle?”

Ian initially wanted to check the alchemy laboratory first, as there would definitely be clues left by Baron Leyan.

He had long ago scanned the fingerprints that the other party left in the laboratory with the silver chip, which allowed him to easily open the fingerprint-inscribed door.

But at this moment, the young man furrowed his brows, his gaze shifting to the castle basement: “There’s someone down there still alive—faint breaths but relatively stable.”

“We need to check it out.”

“You lead the way.”

The Radiant Nun chose to follow the Spirit Energy User’s lead.

The path leading to the castle’s underground basement wasn’t hard to find; after arriving on the first floor, the two quickly located a spiraling corridor beside the kitchen.

Ian’s eyes emitted a spirit energy halo that poured out through his slots, casting an “I”-shaped blue light, scanning the surroundings for details.

The ceiling height of Leyan Castle’s basement was very high, and it was structured like a large storage room, or rather, it might have been a large storage room initially.

A crystal lamp that wasn’t turned on hung from the center of the basement ceiling, while the ground was paved with sturdy Qing Steel Stone bricks, with inscriptions filled with silver lines on top of them, with the effects of ‘dryness’ and ‘firmness’.

The basement stored many things—barrels, urns, and various boxes, but most were shattered and empty; they had been recently disrupted.

The contents had been hastily taken out, then assembled in the middle, and eventually carried away.

Radiant Nun raised her hand, her ash-colored flame was not a true flame, but a peculiar radiant phenomenon.

Under the glow of the ash flame, many urns, boxes, and corner insects were driven out, producing faint rustling and crawling sounds.

And amidst the scattered boxes and urns, the familiar bald steward lay there, unconscious.

“It’s Steward Moda, all affairs of the Baron’s castle were managed by him,” the nun obviously still remembered the steward’s name.

“He also told me that the Viscount’s children were still alive, and even often played with toys,” Ian nodded slightly.

Narrowing her eyes, Radiant Nun didn’t immediately rush forward to heal, but cautiously pulled out a folding shovel from behind…

no, a folding staff.

This was an odd scepter, the handle part was a foldable and simple structure, the top end consisted of four spiraled sharp metal blades, and at the very tip was a fiery red gem as the ‘spearhead’…

Without doubt, this was a staff that could be used in close combat.

With Origin Quality invoked, a white light shot out from the top of the red gem, sweeping across Steward Moda’s body, as well as the surrounding urns.

“No poison, no traps, no abnormal biological bombs on the steward, he’s alive, just fainting ordinarily from fright,” Radiant Nun spoke in a calm tone, while Ian could tell from her actions that she was battle-hardened.

――So cautious and careful, she must have suffered a lot of setbacks, right?

Walking over, Ian helped Steward Moda to the side as Radiant Nun was about to use her Sublimation Skills to awaken him, but Ian shook his head slightly and took out a small smelling bottle from his waist bag, passing it under Moda’s nose.

Immediately, the chilling cool scent of Spirit-Focusing Herb brought the man back to consciousness.

“Ah!!!”

Upon awakening, the middle-aged steward screamed in unparalleled terror, clearly still immersed in the scene he witnessed before passing out: “Monsters, monsters!!!”

He initially wanted to continue shouting, but Ian pressed his cheeks with a hand sheathed in metal gauntlets.

The cold touch, undeniable force, and those indifferent blue eyes sobered up Steward Moda instantly, gesturing to show he wouldn’t scream again.

“Three questions.”

Ian lowered his hands and went straight to the point, “First, why did you faint here.”

“Second, where did Baron Leyan go.”

“Third, what’s this monster you’re talking about.”

Ian’s speech was deliberate and clear, Steward Moda took a deep breath, looking around and noticing he was intact, just in the basement, and aside from the young White Folks knight, there was also the Radiant Nun from the Huai Guang Church.

――I’m safe now.

With that thought, he heaved a long sigh and then stuttered, “Sir, I, I was just trying to bring afternoon tea to the master and the young master and miss…

But the floral tea just ran out, so I came to the basement to get some.”

“But who knew, the basement was incredibly empty, the cabinets and compartments that used to be full are all gone, several large boxes of Radiance Grass Solution halfway products and an alchemy apparatus that looked like a glass bathtub were placed in the center.”

“I was wondering, it’s only been a few days, how did the basement become like this, I intended to scold those servants for how they organized the storage room, but then I immediately realized that this must be directed by the master, otherwise no one would dare to do so.”

“Just as I decided to ask the master about the next steps for organizing the basement, I noticed from the light’s projection that there was another source of light behind me, completely different in color…”

“At that time I didn’t think much and just turned around,” Moda continued, revealing an extremely terrified expression, swallowing hard and trembling as he said, “And then, I saw a blue phantom, reaching out to me…”

“A child without a face!”