'It seems that Golden Dice is more important to me than I thought.' Charles stood up from his seat and stepped down from the elevated throne canopy. Simultaneously, he touched the emerald pendant and checked whether Melody was in the pocket dimension or not.
'Oh? She is in the middle of meditation?' He thought for a moment and ordered the Will of the pocket dimension to let her out.
A moment later, the space in front of him started to distort and soon formed into a one-meter tall portal.
A few seconds later, an emerald-haired young woman in her twenties walked out of the portal and greeted him.
"Do you need any help, Your Majesty?"
A smile appeared on Charles's face.
"Yes. I want you to accompany me for a while." As he spoke, he arrived next to her, grabbed her waist with his right hand, and enveloped both of their bodies in crimson flame before disappearing from the Throne Hall!
A few seconds later, both of them reappeared in the middle of an unknown forest and looked around.
"W-Where are we, Your Majesty?" Melody released herself from Charles's grasp and asked with a slight blush on her face.
Meanwhile, Charles thought for a moment and spoke.
"We are currently in the territory of the Holy See." He paused for a second and then talked to her about something secret for the next few minutes.
Once he finished talking, he looked in a particular direction and added.
"Wait for a while. I will go and bring Irzoch here."
Saying so, he once again cast [Flame Teleportation] spell and disappeared from there.
...
Thirty minutes later, Charles reappeared in the same place with Irzoch and spoke.
"From now on, you two must act very cautiously and complete your mission before that Seer finds out your true intention. Don't disappoint me."
Saying so, he manipulated the surrounding spatial energy using the false flame and created a bluish portal behind him. Then, he turned around, walked into it, and soon disappeared from there.
...
A few minutes later.
Golden Griffon Territory, Braiba Kingdom.
At that moment, a bluish spatial crack appeared 1000 meters above the city called Goldcrest and soon formed into a one-meter large bluish portal.
Then, a blonde-haired young man in his late twenties walked out from it and looked at the large city with a solemn look on his face.
His hair was a little bit messy, and his eyes appeared sharp as the eagle's one. He was none other than Charles!
Although it would be difficult for a Demon Sorcerer to travel to different parts of this mainland, Charles was an exceptional case. He traveled more than 2,000 km in a few minutes and reached this Braiba kingdom.
At that moment, Charles released his wisdom power, scanned the tens of thousands of houses from above, and searched for any dungeon or prison-like building.
Soon, he zeroed his particular three-stored mansion-like building in the northern direction and curled his lips upward.
A moment later, he enveloped his body in a crimson flame and disappeared from there.
He reappeared in an enclosed dungeon a second later and scanned the surroundings. As he had seen in the vision, the dungeon walls were formed of dark grey bricks, and the stone floor was covered with dirty dust and loose dirt. The floor also appeared colder, and constant groaning sounds came from both sides of the iron-barred doors.
At that moment, an unpleasant odor also appeared out of nowhere and filled his nose with a stench.
Covering his nose, Charles took a step forward and started walking towards the other side of the dungeon. He also saw similar griffon symbols engraved on the iron-barred doors along the way and soon arrived in front of a particular prison cell.
Like what appeared in the vision, Charles saw a brown-beared man in his late 70s lay on the dirty floor with a painful look on his face and appeared tired. Moreover, the golden dice also appeared next to the old man's right hand and glowed in golden light continuously.
But there was something else that caught Charles's attention.
'Why do I feel nothing appear in my scan?' Indeed, his wisdom power perceived no soul or body appeared inside the dungeon prison cell!
After thinking for a moment, Charles stepped forward, cast [False Blink] spell before disappearing, and reappeared inside the prison cell.
Then, he bent down and was about to pick up the golden dice but suddenly stopped.
Not because he received any forewarning, but because someone gripped his leg!
It was the brown-haired old man.
At that moment, he looked at Charles with a stiff smile and muttered.
"D-Don't lose it."
Saying so, he suddenly moved his hand and tried to take the nearby Golden Dice.
Unfortunately, Charles acted swiftly and stopped him. Then, he shifted his attention towards the brown-haired old man and asked with a frown.
"Who are you?"
"You don't need to know my name, Stranger. The dice has already chosen you as its next owner. Take it."
Just as he spoke, his body turned into pure golden light and scattered everywhere!
Simultaneously, the Golden Dice elevated above the floor and soon stopped as it reached one-foot height.
At that moment, Charles felt a drastic change in the surrounding area and felt the time itself had frozen suddenly!
The next instant, an invisible ripple came out of the golden dice as it turned illusionary and disappeared from his sight!
Simultaneously, an imprint appeared in the deepest part of his mind.
A moment later, Charles noticed it had already entered his Inner World and was hovering in mid-air!
Even though Charles had [Eyes of the Runes], he couldn't even perceive its movement at all!
'So fast and mysterious!'
Alas, he knew that this golden dice was not a regular artifact.
'Tsk, I hate surprises.'
Clicking his tongue, Charles took out the golden dice from his Inner World, let it hover in front of him, and analyzed it carefully.
Soon, a row of information appeared in front of his eyes.
[Dice of Disasters:
Description: It is one of the hundred Miracle Gold Coins created by Goddess Myxenta to break the balance of the Universe. Each coin contains the soul shard of the Goddess of Luck and can exhibit mysterious luck abilities.
Ability: Chaotic Disasters.
When the user rolls the active Golden Dice, it will produce the power of 'Misfortune' without relying on any outside force and cause countless disasters to your surroundings. The power of the disasters' will depend on the dice's face with a total number of dots faced upward after rolling. The more the dots face upward, the more disasters you and your enemies will experience.
Caution: Trying to manipulate the Die will result in a backfire.
Side Effects: As long as the user manages to survive the Disasters, there will be no side effects after that.
Usage: 1/Year.]
'Oh? So, this dice has some mysterious past, huh. But who was that brown-haired old man?' Charles furrowed his brows and decided not to use this 'dice' now.
He knew it was impossible to guess what kind of disaster this Golden Dice would bring upon rolling.
After some thought, he stored the dice back into his Inner World, enveloped his body in a crimson flame, and disappeared from the enclosed dungeon.
A moment later, he reappeared more than 1000 meters above the Goldcrest City, manipulated the surrounding space elements, and created a bluish portal.
Following that, he jumped into it and disappeared from there.
A few minutes later, he returned to Aetas Kingdom's capital and waited for Bryson's arrival.
...
Exactly 5 hours later.
Charles walked out of the Royal Palace, cast [Fallen Angel's Wings] spell on himself, and flew up to the dark cloudy sky.
Within a few seconds, he reached a height of around 500 meters and stopped flapping his wings.
Then, he turned his gaze towards the eastern direction and soon squinted his eyes.
At that moment, he saw that arcs of bluish bolts of lightning passed through the clouds like slithering snakes and moved in his direction at an unimaginable speed!
'So fast!' Before he could even blink, a human descended from the dark clouds and soon arrived 100 away from where he was hovering.
The person wore a black suit with golden embroidery and held a black stick with a bright-red tip.
He had long black hair, greyish eyes, pale face and showed a twisted smile on his face.
But what startled Charles was that he also saw two distorted faces appear behind him from time to time and seemed to be screaming for help!
Upon seeing this, Charles stealthily activated the [Eyes of the Runes] skill, analyzed his every movement, and asked in a cold tone.
"Are you here for the Silver Crowns to open the sealed 'Nightmare' box, Mr. Bryson-?"
Before he could finish his words, Bryson suddenly raised his black stick, pointed the tip in his direction, and opened his mouth.
A moment later, a strange echo came out of his mouth and caused everyone in the city to forget what they were thinking!
Some of their consciousnesses were even pulled into the Dream World!
Even Charles forgot what to think next and hovered in mid-air with a blank face.
Unlike all other spells he had faced earlier, this one bypassed his Dark Space without even alerting him and affected his consciousness in an instant!
Thankfully, he managed to regain his thinking ability in a moment due to his other consciousnesses' intervention and hurriedly backed away.
He enveloped his body in a crimson flame, disappeared from there, and reappeared 1 km away from where he was hovering earlier.
On the other hand, Bryson also turned into bolts of bluish lightning arcs, disappeared from there, and chased after Charles!