The large hall is a place where a lot of paintings and beautifully sculpted pieces are displayed. Just like the dining room, it was a place of beauty and fashion but in far greater quantities and quality. Mordred's mother herself is the one who chooses every piece of art for this place.
Gazing at the extravagant sculptures and paintings, Mordred moved forward. Some of the sculptures depict humans in positions showcasing their great strength, while some of the art consists of paintings of beautiful landscapes, located in regions far away on the continent, where people from the north would rarely visit.
"How is it? Doesn't it look wonderful?" As Mordred came closer to her, Isadora gazed at one of the statues in the hall.
It was a statue of a man carving his own heart out from his body. Calling this thing beautiful is not something an ordinary person would say.
But Mordred and his mother are anything but ordinary.
"Beauty at its purest form," looking at the statue, Mordred praised.
Isadora looked at her son and then smiled at him.
"You'll be going to the capital in one month. Are you prepared?"
"Prepared By you mean the lessons I'm learning from the academy—than yes. But if you mean the leeches from the other families trying to suck onto me—also yes. I'm your second son, mother. I should be able to handle these things on my own."
Isadora was completely satisfied with her son's answer, and her smile widened a bit.
"Come here,"
Although confused, Mordred made his way closer to his mother. Isadora took out a pendant with a red gem in the center. The pendant had an iron plate above the gem, carved with an image of a mother holding her newborn son in her hands.
Isadora carefully put the pendant on Mordred's neck, and as she did, she chanted a few words. After hearing those chanted words, Mordred felt as though he and the pendant had formed some kind of connection.
"If your life somehow comes into danger, this will protect you in my absence," she whispered in his ear.
"Also, remember, son, I don't ask you to be great at the academy. Just enjoy your time with others if you can. If you feel bored at the academy, you can always come back whenever you want."
Isadora's words were those of a worried mother, and Mordred knew the reasons for her concern. After the evil spirit took over, Mordred had become an extremely violent person. In some events involving the Arclore family's participation with other nobles, this violent behavior became more apparent as he caused harm to other children. All of those cases had been dealt with through the Arclore family's influence, but children of Mordred's age began to fear him more and more. As a result, he became somewhat of a loner while growing up.
The only people who stayed by his side, even during his evil times, were Vanessa and Negun. At first, there was Evelyn, but she suffered because of Mordred's actions.
"Don't worry, Mother. I know what to do now." After all, being better at the academy and aristocracy isn't something I'm hoping for. What I'm aiming for is to become a better villain.
"Your father is also in the kingdom, but you won't be able to meet him. Your sister might come to welcome you. Be nice to her, and don't scream at her like you always do."
"Yes, Mother."
After spending some time with his mother, admiring the paintings, and talking about sculptures and what she should add next to the collection, Mordred returned to his own residence.
"someone took the task to retrieve the Leviathan Pearl?"
"Yes, young master. Although it's somewhat strange. It was an old veteran adventurer who suddenly appeared and took this task. He said that before doing the task, he needed to meet with the lord to discuss the reward."
"Let him meet Negun in disguise instead of me. If he's an old veteran, there might be some hope."
Since the day of the academy entrance is arriving soon, I need to finish these tasks first. If possible, I really need to retrieve the Leviathan Pearl and hand it over to get back my mythical egg.
"Any news from the factory? Maybe about who's spying on us?"
"Nothing yet. Charlotte has been observing carefully, monitoring the replacement she made for the caught spy, using his same appearance."
"Is there any news from those underworld thugs about someone hating or targeting the company?"
Sitting back in his chair, Mordred picked up one of the books on the table and flipped through it.
"Negun has been doing it, but no positive result yet. It seems whoever is targeting us is hiding very well," Vanessa answered as she stood at the door.
Hmm... This is a bit troublesome. There has never been mention of an incident like this in Destined Quest. All the times I played, Mordred, possessed by the evil spirit, did his experiments very aggressively, taking the lives of thousands of people as a result. But not one incident like this was mentioned.
Maybe this is also an aspect that changed in reality since I altered the story.
Pausing, he put the book back in the same place he had picked it from.
"How is Olivia doing? Is she still holding on?"
"She's losing her mind slowly. If she stays in that state for another week, I'm sure she will fall into the state the Master wants her to be in."
"She is someone valuable for the future, so make sure she doesn't kill herself or die by any mistake."
After informing and taking orders from Mordred, Vanessa stepped out of his room.
For a few minutes, Mordred read the book on the table after she left. Then, he stood up and opened a secret door in his room, which led to a small lab space.
I may have been clueless about how they conducted experiments with spirit animals and humans, but nothing stops me from learning it.
Mordred took out a notebook from his pocket, a gift Charlotte had handed to him. It contained her experiences and the results she gained from experimenting with the creatures. The notebook itself served as a symbol of trust between Mordred and her.
After reading the book for a few minutes, he summoned his pawns. At his command, two burning wolves appeared.
The two wolves acted like playful puppies in front of Mordred.
Jump! Run! Stop!
Since my soul level is stronger than theirs, I'm able to control these two. That means my soul level is indeed around the level of an initial-stage warrior. Definitely a peak initial stage.
After patting the hell hounds a few times, Mordred took out a syringe. As the two hounds were loyal to him, their fire had no effect on him. Mordred slowly injected the syringe and drew some blood from one of the hounds.
Afterward, he canceled the summoning. On one of the desks were items handcrafted by Charlotte herself. One of them resembled a microscope.
Dropping a drop of the hound's blood on the microscope stage, Mordred then drew his own blood using an injector and added a tiny drop to the hell hound's blood.
He was just curious and needed to see what was going to happen. But once they came into contact with each other, the two blood samples showed no reaction to each other.
After a moment of silence, thinking, Mordred picked up a blood packet from a drawer and took a blood sample from it.
Holding the injector, he slowly added a drop of blood onto the hellhound's blood.
Pshhhh!
As soon as the two bloods met, the blood of the hellhound began to devour the human blood. Like being burned, the human blood evaporated, releasing smoke.
Hmm... Interesting. So, the contractor's blood isn't affected by the contract spirit's blood. But it does harm any other human blood it comes into contact with. It seems human blood isn't strong enough to tolerate the hellhound's blood. I really wonder... What would happen if we tested the blood of a knight or a magician? Although they're the same kind as me and the other humans, the path they walk is different. If I could somehow acquire their blood...
Stepping out of his room, Mordred sat back at his desk. Currently, his experiments only used ordinary humans and some ordinary creatures as test subjects. Moving on to those of knights, magicians, and other people with different classes had been something Charlotte had been suggesting for a long time. But due to numerous risky reasons, they hadn't had the opportunity to proceed with that task.
"By any chance, is there any holy knight that your friends have killed recently?"
"I'm unable to answer that. I've been by your side this whole time without a connection to them."
Mordred heard the ghostly woman's voice in reply.
"Are you able to contact them?"
"I can find them, but I'll have to leave you for that."
"It's okay. I'm not planning on opening a portal to the spirit realm anytime soon."
After a moment, dark smoke seeped out of Mordred's body. As it passed through the door, he heard its voice in his mind.
"I'll be back within two or three days..."
. . . . . . . .
As days passed, one morning, Mordred ordered his meal to his room instead of going out to eat in the dining hall. At that moment, Vanessa was holding a large tray full of food as she made her way to Mordred's room.
But when she arrived in front of his door, she struggled to open it.
"Allow me, young miss." Fortunately, from the other side, Remiar opened the door for her.
Remiar wasn't someone strange to her now. Although his origin was something mysterious, the fact that someone strong like him was working under her master was something she took pride in.
"Thank you," with a greeting she stepped inside to see Mordred staring at a giant map of the continent. With tools by his side to measure distances, he was so utterly obsessed with his work that he didn't even glance at the food she brought.
"Master, please take breakfast," Upon hearing vennesa, Mordred actually took a break from his work.
"Which road are we taking to the capital, Vanessa?" he asked while Vanessa jamming his bread.
"Since we're taking a more stable road than the shorter one, I think it's possible we'll be traveling along the Lagna River."
"Excellent. Make sure that doesn't change, then."
After Mordred finished his breakfast and Vanessa stepped out of the room, Mordred summoned the shadow assassin in front of him.
"See this tiny place I've marked?" he pointing at an 'X' mark on the map.
"This place is important. It's located in the middle of nowhere, but I want you to look after it until I arrive. You'll have to be there for at least a few weeks before my journey begins, so prepare before you go. Oh... and come back once you've identified these people." Mordred then explained the appearance and names of a few individuals to the assassin.
"At your word, Master," the shadow assassin disappeared into the darkness at his command.
That woman fooled me the first time, but I won't let the same thing happen a second time.
. . . . .
In a village located in the middle of nowhere, a group of kids was playing hide and seek.
The oldest among them began counting from one to ten, and the little kids around him ran away in a hurry to hide.
"ey, Celith, go find your own old place! This is my spot!"
One of the older kids pushed aside a smaller boy. The little boy, named Celith, hurriedly stood up again despite falling pretty hard. He looked around and saw a giant bush, then made his way behind it to hide.
But behind the bush, he saw another figure—one much tinier than him.
"Heyyy, whooo are you?" Celith asked in his childish voice.
"Eek! You... you can see me?" the tiny bug-like figure spoke in a female voice. She jumped onto Celith's shoulder so he could see her more clearly.
"Yes, I can! You're so tiny!"
"Ha-haa, just like I thought, you can indeed see me." The tiny figure jumped in joy on Celine's shoulder.
"Quickly, quickly. Let's go, I want to show you to someone."
"But I'm playing..."
"Playtime is over, let's go, let's go," urged the tiny figure's noisy voice. Celine walked past the frost that surrounded the village, into the deep where he disappeared from everyone's sight.