"It does not seem like his Highness will be coming back anytime soon. Let us continue to eat before the food goes cold." Faelyn said to the two maids and Nelson Donahue, who ordered another two dishes for himself happily.
Faelyn had always been a vegetarian, not because of some customs but because the meat the elves cooked was simply not that good, while their vegetarian food was like the taste of heaven.
However, things have changed after she had a taste of the food prepared by Twilight Palace. Although the veggies and salad cooked by humans were mediocre, the beast meat was different.
She did not know beast meat could taste so good. It appeared that every race had its own specialty.
Unknowingly, Faelyn had cleaned out all the meat from her dishes but left out the veggies. Feeling that her hunger had yet to be satiated, she began to eye Leon's food on the table.
'I don't think he can finish all of this by himself, and it'll quite cold by the time he returns. I should help him finish it. En, I am helping him." Faelyn convinced herself.
That night, Leon did not return to Twilight Palace to continue his meal and sent a messenger to inform Faelyn and the others that he would not be returning.
The mystery of Lost Isle Alley had grabbed all his attention. Spreading out his divine sense, he located the nearest shadowguard in the area and summoned the person to his position.
"What are your orders, Your Highness?" The shadowguard saluted subserviently with a bit of confusion, unsure if the prince had called him over or not. What
Leon had used Divine Will to transmit his message across space to the shadowguard. What the shadowguard heard was akin to a sound transmission commonly used between divine practitioners.
"I need you to return to the palace and inform my father to recall the search on the Capital. There aren't any more hidden enemies in the Capital." Leon said to the shadowguard before asking the Baron, "Isn't that right, Sir Grant?"
"Yes, that is right, Your Highness." Baron Grant recovered from a quick surprise and admitted, before proceeding to explain. "Ever since we foiled the sect's plans 17 years ago and covertly killed all their spies, they changed their focus to other cities and had not sent another spy to Capital since."
Leon nodded before turning back to the shadowguard with a stern look.
"Also inform my father to treat Lost Isle Alley as a danger zone and send people over to seal off this place. If he asks for details, tell my father I will recount what I discovered here personally when I return to the palace. That is all. Go now."
"Yes, Your Highness!"
The shadowguard obliged solemnly after being infected with the prince's sternness. He did not dare to delay and immediately disappeared from his spot to deliver the message to the king.
"Your Highness!" Baron Grant shouted suddenly.
"What is it?"
"Take a look! Something is happening inside!"
When Leon turned to look, there were flickers of white light escaping from the darkness of Lost Isle Alley's entrance, and the sudden cry of a young girl soon followed.
"Wuwuwuu..."
"It's the strange cry from the young girl—No, vengeful spirit again." Baron Grant stated.
Leon raised a hand and gestured for the Baron to keep quiet as he perked his ears and listened to the young girl's cry. His ears were picking something different.
"Save me… Save me… It hurts…!"
Leon could hear the vengeful spirit crying for help from the bottom of the well like it was suffering from great torment. He could not sense any malice and hatred in its tone like a vengeful spirit should innately possess.
At the same time, pulses of energy could be felt emanating outwards, and the ground subtly shook.
With these few points of observation, Leon could infer that the vengeful spirit was incredibly powerful and intelligent. Still, it was also confined and violently struggling as it was in great pain!
Such discovery immediately fueled Leon's curiosity. He sent out his divine sense to seek a clearer picture of the situation.
Unfortunately, his divine sense could not penetrate the darkness and could only rely on his sense of hearing and feeling. He had to enter Lost Isle Alley if he wanted to get a clearer understanding of the situation.
However, Leon was in no hurry due to a few doubts in his mind.
The vengeful spirit had not been hiding but trapped! Someone or something had confined it here! Could it be the demons?
But then, there was a bigger question. For what reason was the vengeful spirit trapped at the bottom of the well? Was there another hidden formation down there?
The gears of Leon's mind quickly spun as he sought to formulate an answer that would solve this mystery.
'A formation and a trapped vengeful spirit? What is the relationship between these two? A formation would not be active without any form of energy to fuel it.
The yin energy, moonlight, and dark miasma could all be used as fuel, but it would hardly be enough for a big formation unless a large amount had been accumulated.
Can a vengeful spirit be used as fuel for a formation? Leon posed himself a question. The answer was apparent to him. Yes, it can!
Vengeful spirits were bodies of energy. Theoretically, it should be possible to use vengeful spirits as a catalyst to power formations and arrays.
"Your Highness, it could be dangerous! The ground had never shaken like this during the cry of the vengeful spirit before! Something is different about tonight's events!" Baron Grant advised Leon against entering Lost Isle Alley to investigate.
"Then you can wait here. I need to understand what is happening inside." Leon said firmly. This was something he had to do. He was the best person for the job.
Of the people present in the Capital, his current strength was only second to Grandmaster Don. As for runic knowledge, there is most likely no one more knowledgeable than him.
"How can I allow Your Highness to brave the dangers alone. If you are bent on entering, I will follow you, Your Highness!"
"Your good intentions are well received, Sir Grant. However, you should sit this one out. With your level of strength, you will not be able to help and may even burden me with your safety." Leon denied him.
He was only going in for a quick look. Should something go wrong, he was prepared to retreat at the first sign of danger, but it would not be possible if Baron Grant is with him.
He still needed this person's knowledge. There were too many things they did not know. The Capital had been out of touch with the rest of the Human Domain for too long.
"This… then please be careful, Your Highness."
"I will."
Leon calmly said as he stepped into the darkness of Lost Isle Alley for a second time.
The flickers of white light came from a beam of energy shooting out from the bottom of the well. The energy seemed to be special as each beam of light could briefly illuminate the darkness of the area.
Surprisingly, Leon's divine sense was also able to catch a glimpse of everything above and below during this instance.
The vengeful spirit was confined by special dark chains glowing with runes at the bottom of the well. It had already achieved a half corporal state and regained its former appearance from when it was still alive, which was the appearance of an innocent young lady. This was hardly the look of a vengeful spirit.
The vengeful spirit seemed to have also detected Leon's presence in the exact moment he found it with his divine sense as it gazed back at him through space.
"Save me." It spoke.
Leon felt all his hair rising in that instance but shortly recovered when he did not sense any malice directed at him. Furthermore, the vengeful spirit could not escape on its own.
There was small-scale formation lying underneath the vengeful spirit's feet. The formation drew energy from her and fed it to an array floating within a dense cluster of dark clouds within the middle space above Lost Isle Alley.
If not for the limited source of light, Leon would not have known about these things due to them always being obscured by the darkness.