Immediately after talking with Pyra, Rosavellt cut the communication circle and Rosavellt leaned against the table in her room with her head in her hand. How could those two fail the mission? How was that even possible? They knew just how important this mission was to the demon lord and they still failed? this is going to affect more than just them. The demon lord will lose faith in us if we fail him again. As his household, we are supposed to be the demons he relies on the most, but we are just a burden!
Rosavellt knew that she wasn't the one that failed but she still felt an intense amount of nervousness and sadness inside her. She is the one that will have to report this to the lord and she doesn't know how he will react to the news. Rosavellt let out a shuddering breath before pushing herself off the table as she felt a magic signature entering the castle grounds. That was Alucard announcing his presence and that means that the demon lord already arrived at the castle. There was no more time to think about how to give floid the news, Rosavellt just had to do it.
Rosavellt steeled her nerves before she walked out of the room nervously to welcome the demon lord.
....
Floid was bored as he sat inside the wagon that was taking him back to his castle. He looked outside his window and he saw the various human servants and slaves that were standing in a straight line on the fields. They had all stopped working and they were bowing deeply to his wagon as he passed them by. Floid allowed his eyes to roam over them all and he stopped at a small girl that didn't look like she was older than five years old bowing along with the other slaves and he wondered where the little girl was from. She has dark skin so maybe she is from Noir? Since Noir had the Night Banisher active for so long, the people there were exposed to a lot more sunlight and so their skins are darker than people from other towns. Floid was surprised that the vampires didn't just suck her dry when they were carrying out their revolution. I thought they really liked the blood of children. Floid just shrugged and moved his gaze away to look at the notification bar in front of him.
Floid already got the notification telling him about the successful mission that he finished in Trad. The system didn't give him a mission to take over Trad, but apparently, there was a secret mission that he completed once he took over Trad.
[Host has completed the Hidden Mission [Take Control Of The Merchant Dynasty]. The rewards will be distributed]
[Host has gained 50,000 acres of land]
[By securing a constant stream of income through the traders in Trad, the host has gained a new title, [Merchant Lord]]
[Merchant Lord - Grants the host unparalleled knowledge of finance and business. All future transactions will have an increased 70% chance of success]
All the rewards were very impressive and Floid couldn't deny that he would need the knowledge in the future if he is going to have any business transactions. I already have a lot of knowledge about business and finance because of my father back on earth, but it wouldn't hurt to know even more. Floid just wondered why he still hadn't gotten a notification about the hero. The system gave him a mission to get the hero and floid thought that the mission would be completed by now. Have Pyra and Andromeda not finished the mission yet?
"We have arrived, my lord,"
Dragonnels voice reached Floid from the front and Floid hummed. Alucard came down from the carriage and he opened the door to allow Floid to come down as well. Floid looked to the entrance of his mansion once he highlighted from the carriage and he saw a long line of maids standing there with their hands held together in front of them as they waited for the demon lord. At the very end of the line were both Rosavellt and Rizi. Floid couldn't see Oyra or Andromeda anywhere so Floid assumed that they were still carrying out the mission he gave them. Was the mission meant to take so long? How hard is it to find and capture my sister?
Floid didn't know why he felt like something was wrong. Ever since he came to the castle, Floid just knew that there was something wrong. He couldn't tell why he felt that way, but it was a feeling he couldn't get rid of.
Floid walked past all the maids as he moved to the door of his castle. All the maids bowed deeply and welcomed their lord back to the castle. Rosavellt and Rizi both bowed deeply from the side as they welcomed Floid and Floid stopped and gave them a nod before telling them to come with him.
Floid and the members of his household moved towards the throne room and Floid walked up to the seat while the members of his household formed a straight line in front of the throne respectfully. Floid leaned back and rest his chin on his closed fist before he spoke directly to Rosavellt.
"Is there any news yet from Pyra or Andromeda? How is the mission I sent them on?"
Rosavellt swallowed silently and she released a shallow breath before she finally stepped forward and repeated the same words that Pyra said to her. She would never try to beat around the bush in front of her lord and so she told him exactly how the mission went.
"I apologize my lord. Pyra and Andromeda failed the mission,"
There was a beat of tense silence in the room and no one even dared move a muscle. Floid's eyes narrowed as he sat forward. Maybe he didn't hear her properly.
"What...?"
Rosavellt took in another deep breath as she repeated the words again. There was already an insane amount of pressure building in the throne room and Rosavellt could tell that the demon lord was angry! His bloodlust was leaking like a faucet! Alucard, Dragonnel, and Rizi all looked toward Rosavellt in shock when they heard that Pyra and Andromeda failed their mission! This was the first time they were hearing about it so it was news to them as well!
"Summon them here this instant,"
Floid commanded Rosavellt to call the two maids and Rosavellt immediately opened a communication circle and told the two maids to come to the throne room this instant! A portal opened beside Rosavellt and three people came through. Pyra was carrying the body of Quinn while Andromeda came in behind Pyra. Both Pyra and Andromeda had their heads bowed as they walked into the pressure-filled room.
Pyra dropped Quinn slowly to the ground and she stepped back from the unconscious body. Immediately Floid saw the state that Quinn was in, his blood boiled even more and his bloodlust increased to a level that made it hard for the people in the room to breathe! Andromeda and Rizi both had to struggle to stay conscious while the other servants all sweated heavily! Andromeda and Rizi were the weakest out of the six members of the household so the bloodlust affected them far more than the others! Everyone had their head bowed as they waited for the demon lord to say something!
"Who caused this to happen?"
Floid spoke directly to Pyra but it was Andromeda that flinched a little once she heard the annoyance in his voice. It was obvious to everyone that Andromeda was the most terrified. The demon lord's aura completely filled the room and it was pressing down on them intensely! The bloodlust was almost past the EPIC-class!
Pyra spoke without raising her head.
"We don't know, my lord. The hero suffered from Mana drain, an old technique that hasn't been used in centuries. The soldiers we interrogated believe that a priest named Dray might be the one responsible for it since he and the hero were seen together a lot, but we still don't have any concrete evidence,"
Pyra's voice was mellow and clear but the nervousness she felt could be seen in the way her hands wouldn't stop shaking. The next words the demon lord spoke made her entire body shiver in fear.
"So I sent you on a mission to bring me the hero and you come back to me with assumptions!?"
Slam!
Floid slammed his fist on the armrest of his chair and both Pyra and Andromeda immediately fell to their knees as Floid focused the full force of his bloodlust directly on them. all around the castle, people were fainting and falling unconscious as Floid's bloodlust covered the entire grounds! Many of the servants outside the castle could also feel intense fear as the bloodlust threatened to suffocate them!!
Pyra bowed even deeper till her head touched the ground!
"S-Sorry, my lord!"
Floid closed his eyes as he tried to calm himself. He looked down again at the still body of his sister and he didn't feel anything but annoyance and irritation. So there was someone else out there that also wanted the Dragon's Mana? I knew that I wouldn't be the only one after Givalich, but I didn't think that they would be moving this quickly. They were able to take it from right under my nose. Floid thought about who the person could be and the only one that came to mind was Elias, the man that threatened Pyra in Aquinas a long time ago. There is no one else that would dare to touch the hero other than that bastard Elias.
Floid spoke up to Andromeda and Pyra as he dropped his BloodLust.
"I will not punish you because this is only the first transgression that you have committed before me. Till now you have served me splendidly and that will be your saving grace, but next time, I shall not be so forgiving. Do not let me see your face for the next few days. Get out of my sight. Now!"
Pyra squeezed her hands as she felt deep anger at herself. She should have done better than this! This was the first mission that the demon lord sent her on and she failed him! She immediately stood up shakily and she and Andromeda bowed deeply before they walked back through a portal that opened behind them.
Immediately they came out on the other side, Andromeda burst out into tears and she tried her best to remove the image of the demon lord's disappointed look from her head! Luckily there weren't any other conscious servants around the hallway they were in so Andromeda was able to cry to her heart's content without making the demon lord look any worse. All the servants around had passed out because of the demon lord's bloodlust and so Andromeda and Pyra were basically alone.
Pyra couldn't deny that she also felt like crying but she knew that it would be a waste of time to cry. Pyra just told Andromeda to go to her room and clean herself up. They have to get back to work and they must be ready in case the demon lord needs them again. Andromeda just nodded while trying to clean her eyes.
Pyra knew that it was unlikely that the demon lord would call on them at all for at least a week but Pyra just wanted Andromeda to get herself under control. It will look bad if a servant sees one of the household members crying. Pyra left after she was sure that Andromeda would stop and she went back to her room.
It might not be their fault that they failed the mission but both girls couldn't help but feel like they let down the most important person in their life.
Back in the throne room, Floid immediately started to think deeply as he tried to come up with a plan on how to fix all of this. He told Rosavellt to call a maid to take his sister away and put her in his chambers. Floid knew that it was only a matter of time before his sister dies from the mana drain that was used on her. Floid already read about the mana drain in the Rivalle wiki a long time ago and he knows that the only way to save the person that it is used on is by supplying extra mana to the person's core. The mana they will need to give Quinn is the dragon's mana and the only way to get the dragon's mana is by either finding Dray or by finding Ghvalich. And both of those things were going to be impossible right now so Floid knew there was nothing he could do for her. Floid wasn't the sort of person to allow personal relationships to influence his critical thinking and that was why he was so detached. He easily removed all thoughts of his sister from his mind and he tried to think about how to catch Elias.
Floid needed to figure out where Dray and Elias might be. The only lead that Floid has now is the fact that Elias would definitely be after Givalich. There is no way that Dray would survive long with the Dragon mana inside him so that means they will be going after Givalich very soon. Floid could use this information to his benefit. If I work around this properly, I might still be able to capture them before they completely unseal Givalich. Floid immediately spoke to Alucard and Rosavellt.
"Create familiars and send them to every corner of this continent. Make them scan for any fluctuations in the atmospheric mana or any increase in the mana in the atmosphere. If you find anything like that then report to me immediately,"
Both Alucard and Rosavellt nodded before they turned and left to do as their lord commanded. This was the only choice that Floid had right now. He knew that a seal like the one they used on Givalich would release a lot of mana the moment someone tries to release it. Floid was going to wait until Elias makes a move toward the seal and then Floid would go and intercept him.