28 The Hunt begins

"Cat do you have any way to teleport people into this place?"

Don wanted to test this place whether it's only beauty or it has some functionalities he could use.

Catalie didn't take long to answer.

"Yes brother father installed a powerful teleportation array we could use that why?"

The answer Catalie gave made Don smile a little because now he had a safe way to transport everyone in the camp safely and discreetly to the castle.

"Show me the way" Don said to Catalie and followed her to the teleportation Array, the array was not far away from the throne room it was just built adjacent to it although it was not big as the throne hall it was however very spacious.

The Array was a gigantic circle that was engraved with magical runes and inside of the circle one could fit a minimum of two hundred people but there were some cracks on the arcs of the circle.

"It seems like the array is damaged but we can use it a couple of times"

Catalie said after inspecting the array for a moment.

"It'll do for now"

It seemed the river of time took a toll on the castle and its functionalities but Don never thought he could get everything he asks so he didn't mind it for now.

"Cat can you leave this place?" Don asked.

"No brother I can go anywhere in this dimension but outside of that I can't I'm sorry" Catalie looked very uncomfortable when she realized she couldn't help Don but in an instant, she had an idea.

"But brother you can contact me anytime from anywhere using the Khals"

As she said, Catalie projected a pair of small circular objects.

"What is this?"

"They are called Khals, we can use these to communicate with each other no matter where you are you just need to put it inside your ear"

"And we have those in the castle?" Don asked in surprise because he knew it will provide him more help in the future as he wouldn't need to physically be here to talk to Catalie to give orders or something.

"Yes, we have those in the Magical Items room you wait here i'll bring those in a jiffy" Catalie's projection flickered and went out.

"Don what do we do now?" Arrora asked Don while Uncle Dior was still touching and feeling everything in the castle with sparkly eyes.

"You two stay here"

"What about you?"

"I'll go to the camp and bring everyone here"

"Can't you use the teleportation Array to bring them here without going there "

"I don't know this Array can do that even if it can how would they know i'm the one using the teleportation array Knight could simply use his teleportation scroll to run away the moment he saw something weird"

Don never used a teleportation array like this before so he was not sure he could just beam the whole camp to be teleported here as he was thinking about it Catalie's projection appeared before him again with the Khals floating beside her.

"Here Brother take this and place it on your ear" one Khal floated towards Don as he took that one and carefully placed it on his right ear, when the Khal was touched his skin it suddenly vibrated and merged with his ear and disappeared.

"Ahh" Arrora jerked and shouted in shock at the scene while Don touched his ear to make sure everything was alright.

"Brother don't worry the link-up process is completed now we can talk to each other without dimensional restrictions"

"If I gave the Khals to some of my people I can talk to them also right?"

"Yes of course I just have to link their Khal to yours and your connections will be verified "

Don was happy to hear Catalie's answer, he realized the amount of help the Castle and Catalie could provide him in his path to be a conqueror, now he only needed to bring Knight and the elves here to start building an army.

"How is this teleportation Array work Cat?"

"Uh it's like this the Array was not completely finished as the array is still in its initial stage" as she said Catalie could see the confused look on Arrora's face and thought about for a moment to make it sound simpler.

"To simply say the ruler of the castle you must be in that precise area to teleport anyone or anything in that area into the castle..."

"Alright" Don said.

"When you want to initiate the teleportation just call my name and i'll lock your coordinates and start the process it won't take long"

"Ok you two stay here" Don said to Arrora and Uncle Dior and walked towards the door while Catalie followed him behind like an obedient child,

Uncle Dior obviously didn't have any plan to disagree with him because he had enough flying in a single day while Arrora knew she would just be extra baggage to him if she wanted to follow him.

After a few minutes, Don and Catalie reached the main gates away from Arrora and Uncle Dior.

"Uh brother can I ask you something?" Catalie nervously asked Don.

"Yes"

Catalie was still couldn't question him simply but eventually, she decided to quietly ask him

"Brother the people you are going to teleport can you really trust them?" Don stopped walking when he heard Catalie and he stared at the nervous girl for a second.

"Don't worry if anyone tries to betray me I simply kill them" Don calmly said but he knew the elves wouldn't betray him because they have no reason to and he won't give anyone a chance to betray him because he doesn't blindly trust them.

Catalie was little shocked to hear him simply saying kill them as she was just a little girl and all of this was new to her as she was in shock she head Don before he disappeared into the dark portal,

"Anyone can stab you in the back Cat you just have to not show your back to them"

Catalie just stood there watching the portal while repeating his last words.

*******************************

(Several hours ago)

An old man with white hair was running towards a room in a manner, everyone's face seeing the old man was pale they were shivering in fear.

"Miss ....Miss Rosaline your...there is someone here to see you" the old man was none other than Jacob the butler of late Minister Bryan.

When he heard Minister Bryan was murdered his heart almost stopped beating he was unable to guess how someone could kill him in his own house that was surrounded by hundreds of guards and five freaking great masters.

But what made him nearly pee his pants was the scene where Rosaline burned a group of drunken guards who were on patrolling duty when MInister Bryan was murdered, she and her team investigated everyone including him and turned every stone in the manner to find something about the killer and the half-elf. However, nobody had a single clue about how the killer passed the defense parameter set by the great masters or how he escaped so Rosaline's team had no choice other than to report this and call for help from the capitol.

Hearing Jacob Rosaline figured that someone from capitol already come to investigate the murder, she was little surprised at the speed the capitol responded to the report as she thought that the ugly pig was indeed someone important to the capitol but the thing bothered her at this moment was whether her teacher arrived here or not.

"Lead the way" Rosaline didn't show her troubles and thought on her face as she calmly said to Jacob.

Jacob simply nodded and led Rosaline to the hallway to see the newcomers from the capitol.

Every step towards the hallway made Rosalin's heartbeat a bit faster, she didn't want her teacher to see her at her miserable failure but her worst fear came true when she saw her teacher standing in the hallway looking at her.

"Teacher" Rosaline respectively said and bowed her head seeing her teacher.

Rosalin's teacher was a well-built man with white hair, he wore a black robe engraved with silver linings and had moon tattoo on the center of his forehead.

Beside her master stood one wrinkly old woman in white robes and a young man in blue robes which was engraved by magical runes which shined in the light around him, he was extremely handsome and had blue eyes which matched his robes perfectly but he had a slight resemblance to Rosaline.

"Brother" seeing the young man Rosaline said in a respectful tone there was a tinge of embarrassment that could be found in her voice.

"Rosaline before we proceed, meet my teacher Aqualis the greatest water mage" Rosalin's brother introduced his teacher to Rosalin proudly as his voice was full of arrogance and pride.

At the moment Rosalin heard the name Aqualis she was startled because she was a peak grandmaster mage just like her teacher but mage Aqaulis was older than her master and more powerful compared to her master, being her student is a great feat because she wouldn't teach anyone but most talented magis, the cream of the crop so Rosaline realized her brother had the reason to act arrogantly as well as proudly before anyone.

"Nice to meet you dear and I'm just a simple mage unlike Hayden described"

Aqualis had no trace of arrogance or dominance Hayden showed, she really looked like a humble harmless person to Rosaline but she knew the appearance can be misleading.

Rosaline bowed her head showing respect to Aqualis while her team came behind her and greeted both the teachers.

"Enough pleasantries I gave you one simple job to do Rosaline one simple job" Rosalin's teacher said, he was truly furious at Rosaline when he heard Minister Bryan was murdered, Rosaline was his star student but now she ashamed him thoroughly.

"Don't be angry at your student Sears everyone makes mistakes" Aqaulis interrupted Sears before he continues to vent his anger on Rosaline.

"Not my student Mage Aqualis not in the simple job like this"

This was the first time Rosalin was scolded in front of people in her entire life especially before her own brother but she realized it's truly her fault and she deserves this.

"Rosaline dear show us where Minister Bryan was killed" Aqualis knew the temper of her colleague so she didn't try to cool him down as she decided to investigate the crime scene.

Rosaline nodded and led them to Minister Bryan's bedroom while Rosalin's team followed them to the room.

After a few moments, they reached the room.

"Dear where did you say the killer came from?" Aqualis asked Rosaline but she didn't look at her as she was scanning the room for something while Rosalin's teacher Sears examined the dead body of Minister Bryan.

"The killer came from by breaking the roof and directly jumping into the room" Rosaline said.

"But the killer didn't trigger your defense spell did he?" Aqualis asked.

"No, the killer didn't" it was a simple answer but it was what mostly bothered Rosaline how he evaded the spell.

"It should be impossible to evade the spell I taught her" Sears said.

"But the killer did now the question we should ask is how to find him or her " Aqualis said but there was a troubled look that emerged on her face for a moment.

"Finding the killer would provide the answer for how did he evade the spell"

Hayden got the point that his teacher meant.

"But how can we find him?" Chase couldn't help but ask Aqualis.

"Dear I can see there are two magical fluctuations in the room beside us right" Aqualis answered Chase's question with another question.

"Yes Minister Bryan's and the Half-elf's" Chase answered just when a smile appeared on Aqualis's face.

"So the one you need to find is that half-elf, find her you'll find the killer" Aqualis said with confidence.

"Teacher what if the killer killed that half-elf too" Hayden asked Aqualis.

"If the killer intended to do that he would have done here why would the killer risk take her with him and then kill her"

It made sense to everyone what Aqualis said, the killer could have simply killed her along with Minister Bryan and left her body.

"I tried teacher Aqualis but the magical fluctuations were so weak, it disappeared after a few meters away from the manner"

"Dear, you know what a magical fluctuation is? its a form of energy It's like a fingerprint it's unique to each person even if all of us use the same spell with same power one with experience and expertise could differentiate the magical fluctuations and find who used the spell" as she said that she made a sign in the air and a bubble wrapped the part magical fluctuations left by half-elf.

"It would have been so much easier if you have done your job properly in the first place" Sears scolded Rosaline again but before she say anything he sighed continued

"It's a tedious process but thankfully we have the sample of the magical fluctuations and knew whom it belonged to this makes it less tedious"

Hearing this Rosaline was little glad to call for help because she knew if they took longer the magical fluctuations would become weaker and disappear.

"Hayden send a note to every tracer in the capitol about this job and mention agreeing to the job will get a spot token in the examinations of Cold Moon Mansion and I Aqualis will personally owe them a favor if they successfully complete the job "

Everyone in the room was shocked to hear the rewards of the job because it may seem like a simple token and favor but it's a token which could earn them a spot in one of the best Magical school in the empire, some wealthy people spend millions of gold trying to buy a token for their daughters or sons.

As for the favor it's worth even more, a grandmaster teacher of a powerful titan like Cold Moon Mansion owing you favor could nearly get you anything, with a correct plan you can simply achieve what you want.

"I'll do it as you say teacher with this much of rewards even the best tracers in the empire will make this job their top priority and find the half-elf"

"And the killer my child and the killer" as Aqaulis said with an evil smirk.