Chapter 481 – Before The Gate.

“We are here!”

Margaret shouted while pushing the carriage door open, jumping out, and almost stumbling forward onto her face. Her maid was luckily there to stick out her hand, her long red hair bounced around with the sudden movement. Hadley, with surprising quickness, caught her mistress to prevent an ungraceful fall.

“Careful, Miss Margaret, your dress isn’t meant for running.”

Margaret looked like a daughter of a rich merchant. She had many shiny accessories adorning her neck and a rather long dress. The other girls came wearing the academy uniforms while she was wearing something unique. Roland stepped out of the carriage while ignoring the two guests he didn’t really wish to bring with him.

“Thank you, Hadley. I’m just glad that we are finally here, my legs feel really stiff.”

As the two chatted, Roland stepped out of the carriage. His gaze swapped the area for any potential enemies but none seemed to be immediately present. The noble district of Ballac was bustling with activity, but it was clear that security was tight. Guards patrolled the area regularly, and the presence of several noble houses could be seen within the area. While it belonged to the De Vera household, some shops here belonged to some of their allies.

Thanks to the luxurious carriage and the emblem from the Institute, they were allowed entrance without much trouble. It was something that Roland expected as mages were something even the nobility respected. Their potential in warfare was quite sought after and as long as they had an army of soldiers to protect them, they could unleash continuous barrages of spells.

Lucienne emerged next, looking around with clear anxiety in her eyes. Roland could see that her concern for her brother was weighing heavily on her. He wondered if she had felt the same about him when he was pronounced missing. It reminded him of her small fist flying towards his face after she realized who he was. It was clear that she would not take it well if harm came to Robert, but he wasn’t sure if there was anything that could be done here.

“Don’t worry, Luci, we’ll find a way to help your big brother!”

“Yeah, we are all here for you!”

Both her friends appeared from behind her to hug her. There was no need for him to cheer her up with so many cheerleaders present. Thanks to this, he could focus on devising a proper plan. Escaping during the day would be hard with so many soldiers, but there were a few weak points through which he could slip.

‘I wonder where they are holding him. He is a noble’s son, so he should be in their private dungeon or perhaps only under house arrest?’

Robert was still a son of a baron, so they might have given him somewhat humane treatment. To avoid creating too much tension with other nobles, in such cases, they would just be imprisoned and placed inside houses. Perhaps while they were worried here, Robert was enjoying some tea in a summer house? While this was a possibility, they could have gone with the exact opposite.

‘Won’t know until we get there. It would be easier if they stuck him into a regular dungeon. I might have to go against multiple tier-3 knights and hundreds of soldiers… and then there are also probably magical traps. They might have a mage on their side too…’

His mind raced with unfavorable possibilities, but eventually, they needed to move. Once the girls were done having their moment, it was time to find the woman who hated him and was his sister’s mother.

“Miss Lucienne.”

“Yes, Professor?”

“Do you perhaps have an idea where your mother could be?”

“Um… no, this is the first time I’m here… but wait, perhaps we could use this?”

They needed to find Francine in this large city and have a talk with her. The woman probably knew the details of Robert’s case and could give him a good idea of what he was dealing with. Going around and asking for a noble wouldn’t be that easy, and their time was limited. Luckily, Lucienne was still a mage, and she retrieved a little magical trinket from the bag she was carrying. Along with it, an old friend also made an appearance.

“Ah, stay inside.”

It was the small chubby drone spider he had gifted to his sister. It had been placed inside one of their traveling bags and peeked its head out once it was opened. To Roland’s surprise, his golem was wearing some kind of fuzzy suit over its metallic skeleton. It seemed that the girls had turned him into a strange-looking plush toy with a smiling face.

Roland couldn’t help but smile as he saw the plush-clad drone spider peeking out of the bag. It seemed that the girls had taken a liking to the little golem, even dressing it up. While it pushed itself back into the bag he looked at the item she brought to the forefront.

“Miss Lucienne, what exactly is that trinket you’re holding?”

Roland asked, eyeing the small, ornate device in her hand. Lucienne smiled, holding up the trinket, which seemed to have some sentimental value to it.

“This is a charm. I gave a similar one to my mother when I was home, and when the person with the other half is nearby, it lights up.”

“I see.”

“But…”

“It seems to have a limited range, ten meters at most.”

Before Lucienne could explain the main deficiency of this charm, Roland interrupted her. He quickly saw through the cheap enchantment it had been given. It was a simple location spell using mana patterns. When the two items were close to each other, they would start to resonate, and the little gem in the middle of the trinket would light up.

“Oh, that’s right. Have you seen one of these before, Professor?”

“No, but the enchantment is rather simple. Just give me a second, may I?”

“Of course.”

The other girls were interested and watched as Roland took the item from Lucienne’s hand. Upon closer inspection, he could tell that this charm was in the shape of a unicorn with a small gem intended to be its horn. The quality of the exterior was far superior to the enchantment placed on it, and he was sure it had been done by some overworked enchantsmith who didn’t care much about it.

“Alright, everyone, please give me a moment.”

It was attuned to the other item through the use of a mana pattern, which he could copy. What he needed was to create something similar to echolocation; by producing a signal from his location, he could find the other charm if it was in range. The girls could see the horn starting to light up in a strange pattern as the enchantment was being played with.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Roland concentrated, and soon the location program was altered. His map reacted to the new mana pattern, and soon a dot representing their target appeared. It was more than probable that his stepmother was where this dot appeared. He came prepared with the map of this city already uploaded into his runic databank. After a quick check, he knew exactly where the signal was coming from.

‘What is she doing there?’

“…”

“Well?”