Van Dijk was a powerful creature. Incredibly so that he had split his own mind into several pieces and bits, each taking care of something. His main body was handling the investigation of the ritual, while another part of his mind was conversing with Ludwig and the other part was back at the academy handling a few experiments.
“So, what do you think? Van Dijk,” Sirou Von Dalton asked.
“Hmm, I believe I can figure out who the preparator is. But, he’s mine to hunt down,” Van Dijk said.
“Is it related to The Beast?” Sirou asked.
“Indeed, I can smell it. The ritual here isn’t something any mortal can do. It’s far beyond simply sorcery and witchcraft, this is at the level of Eldritch Profanity…” Van Dijk said.
“I can understand that, but how come you think it’s related to the Beast, after all, he’s a fiend that never showed any magical abilities…”
“He never visibly showed them, but I encountered him several times before, and I know well what he’s like. This stench, it belongs to him even if he isn’t a direct part of this ritual…” Van Dijk finalized.
Sirou couldn’t interject, after all, for him Van Dijk was a smart and incredibly reliable person, but the moment the creature that killed off his entire family is brought up, all reason flies out the window.
So he decided against mentioning that Van Dijk had no tangible evidence to chase after the Beast or infer any rhyme or reason that the Beast was actually the preparator.
But in reality, Van Dijk couldn’t find a reasonable way to tell Sirou that his disciple was the one who told him about the beast. Sirou knows that Ludwig obtained a powerful item from the Wandering Merchant, but he doesn’t recognize it as the Mask of the Blind Witness. An item that brought an entire kingdom to ruin in less than a month after its ruler used it.
It was an item that would bring war and destruction once it is revealed. Taking a mental note of this fact, Van Dijk used his bat to once again remind Ludwig to not show or tell anyone of the abilities of his mask and only use it when needed.
Van Dijk finalized his investigation, taking several notes, and asked Sirou to burn down the tree.
“Really? I thought you’d keep it, for experiments,” Sirou said.
“This tree belongs to the Elves of the Evergreen forest,” Van Dijk said.
Sirou’s face turned serious instantly.
Van Dijk understood and immediately shook his head, “Don’t jump to conclusion, though they’re traitors of humanity, or as you guys call them. They cannot corrupt their own holy tree. It goes against their existence. They’ll be abandoned by nature and the spirits if they dare do it, not to mention the Holy Tree would immediately kill them if they do so,” Van Dijk explained.
“Then someone stole a piece of their holy tree and used it for this profane ritual…” Sirou said.
“Indeed, it’s the same person that died. Seems that the Kingdom of the Sand is trying to cause trouble, but we don’t have any reasonable or tangible evidence on their implication, it could be a separate faction that’s interfering and causing terror in Lufondal.”
“I see, then I’ll finalize the cleanup,” Sirou said as he realized that there was nothing more that Van Dijk could offer.
Van Dijk excused himself and left the area via Teleportation, he had several samples of bodies and remains of the corpses from the ritual that he took with him along with a piece of the corrupted tree.
Once he appeared in his tower, he muttered, “Sebas, come in here.”
Not a few seconds later, a knock on the door echoed then one of Van Dijk’s two main servants showed up.
“Yes, Master,” Sebas said.
“Don’t call me that, I never took you as my disciple, know your place.” Van Dijk replied sternly.
“Yes, Tower Master,”
“Did you give Ludwig his new set of clothes?” Van Dijk asked.
“I have handed it over to the Inn he’s currently residing in.”
“What about the gold, I heard that there was an issue with his allowance,” Van Dijk said.
“That was a mistake on my part, I was too busy with your request that I forgot to hand it over to Ludwig…”
“So you’re saying that I’m to blame?” Van Dijk replied sternly.
“No, Tower Master! It’s all my fault! I should have found a way to hand him over the gold first…”
“Don’t make any mistakes like this anymore, it paints me in a bad picture when the financial instructor thinks I’m skimping on my own disciple’s funds…” Van Dijk wasn’t someone who would forget nor forgive, he’ll remind anyone with their flaws and would punish those who are deserving accordingly, fortunately for Sebas, his head didn’t fly because he still had some use.
“Bring these to the lab, and go with Evan to find more Nephilium,” Van Dijk said as he pointed at the materials he brought from the ritual site.
Sebas grabbed everything and left the room bowing his head.
Though his expression was that of boiling rage. After all, the newcomer actually made him look the fool in front of the Tower Master, further pushing away the possibility of him becoming a Disciple of Van Dijk. Most of the people working in the Black Tower wanted to be his disciple and learn the ways of the Black Flame. But this newcomer is actually taking the spotlight…
For Sebas and Evan, they needed to get rid of this new variable. Or else all their hard work will go to waste.
Back at Van Dijk’s office, he placed his hand on a drawer under his desk, activating a magic circle that was placed underneath it. A small drawer pulled up and revealed an old decrypt book in it.
Feeling melancholic, Van Dijk wiped some of the dust on the book, and opened it.
Memories of a life long since gone began resurfacing.