— [ WALTZ OF CROWNS ] —

-『CHAPTER 10』-

«  Chieftain of the Waterleaf Clan »
— Lorah Waterleaf —

I calmly analyzed the situation before me as chaos enveloped the whole coastal outpost.

On one hand, there's these two newcomers that we've been talking just moments ago while on the other is the special forces belonging to the Margrave's private army looking for a particular noble girl.

Velestina Novaldein. 

Its a familiar name I've been hearing quite a lot recently especially from within the confines of the Margrave's office due to my job as the Governor's secretary. Around a month ago, the Viceroy seemed to have gathered all of the five governors to his estate in Malnijha, the colonial capital or what the Margrave would like to call as the 'Cabecera' here in Midras.

I had also gone along with him on that meeting upon his request since the Margrave treats me more like some sort of personal confidant that he likes to share his strategies with. Despite his elderly visage, we actually are in the same age group and we both also have a rather similar taste and mindset as well so he let me came along to hear my opinions afterwards.

Anyhow, the gist of the meeting centered around the expected arrival of a certain female nobility whom the Viceroy and his retinue deemed to as a crucial 'bargaining piece' to the grandfather of the said girl. From what I understood, it seems that their faction used some ruling of their Council to forced this lass to be sent here in Midras the same time as their revolution commenced.

The Viceroy wanted to capture this girl as a leverage so that the Margrave's faction, the Narfá can convince this 'Lord Novaldein' to remain impartial and not side with the Kaiser's faction. 

They expected her to arrive any day within this week and the glint within the Margrave's eyes when I reported earlier this morning that some ships have appeared at the outpost should've clued me in to this whole covert operation but alas, I didn't noticed it since I haven't slept for three days already due to handling the matters concerning the plague.

"We have reports that this girl was onboard one your ships." The commanding officer of the operation said to the agitated newcomer and then he pulled out a paper with a detailed sketch of a girl before showing it to Captain Guillian. 

"...T-That indeed looks like the noble girl the Admiral ordered me to escort here in the New World." The naval officer responded with abject fear in his tone.

The Margrave's operative then leaned down and inched his face closer to the Captain. He then gave him a long scrutinizing look before intoning, "Oh is that so? Well then, that makes my job a lot more easier."

The operative folded the sketch paper and returned it back in his chest pocket. He then stood straight and shifted his gaze towards the horizon. I too had followed his sights and also wordlessly watched as the six ships tries to circumvent the entrapment of their pursuers. 

Silence.

"Hmm...It seems the situation there have devolved into a deadlock," The Commander finally muttered after five minutes of silently watching the ongoing naval battle. He then turned his eyes at me and asked, "Miss Secretary, can you aid me with your 'Griffin Eyes' to see as to where does this noble girl I'm looking for is hiding amongst those ships?"

I didn't instantly responded but rather countered his stern gaze with an frigid stare of my own. 

We Darkelves unlike the rest of the races cannot use any of the Elemental Magic at all. We can't convert our mana to any of the four basic elements but instead we are gifted with the power to enhance parts of our bodies. There are Elves like this idiot Aranis whom has solely relies on 'Muscle Enhancement' alone however in my case, I instead preferred strengthening my vision. 

My surroundings would instantly turn into a shade of monochrome whenever I use this ability of mine but in exchange, I can use my eyes to zoomed in at any particular object with such clarity even from miles away. My ability also has a second tier and in this tier, my eyes can now temporarily visually see the strength of mana from any living being. They would form like a thin layer of white flame aura that entirely shrouds a person's body.

 I also have a third and final tier and activating it makes me perceive mana even if my vision are blocked by some physical objects. That means I could see the total numbers of people within those ships due to the amount of auras I could visualized and nothing could hide from me, not even those whom are hiding below the deck. 

Nobles tend to have a much stronger aura compared to commoners and in my eyes they're like a sun amongst the stars since they gave off this really bright white aura unlike the average people whom only have a weaker output. Old Margrave found my ability akin to the eyesight of a Griffin thus he termed it as 'Griffin Eyes' and it kind of stuck especially amongst his personnel.

"...Fine." I finally responded after a minute of a terse stare down.

I closed my eyes for a moment to feel the flow of mana before I channeled it towards the two orbs within my head. Heat gradually arose from my eyes in a placid intensity before I finally opened it once again then swiftly directed my sights towards the six ships at a distance. 

The commanding ship's deck was in absolute turmoil as the sailors desperately kept fending off the attempts of the boarders to climbed up their ship. I then increased the flow of my mana towards my eyes and instantly activated up to the third tier before letting my eyes roamed around the vicinity.

White aura's kept appearing one after another despite my vision being obscured by the ship's outer body but so far, everyone that appeared is the usual weak auras coming off from the common people. I then shifted my sight towards the other ships but to my bewilderment, all of the people inside these ships as well merely gives off this common aura. 

I foolishly blinked as I mentally scratched my head while outwardly fixing up my glasses.

...What's going on?

I can only sustain the third level of my Griffin Eyes up to a minute and thirty seconds have already passed. I quickly double checked in case I may have missed this noble girl's aura yet after doing so, the outcome's still exactly the same. 

No one onboard these ships have a noble's aura at all.

I only have ten seconds left so I instantly zoomed out my vision and faced the Commander to tell him of my weird and bizzare discovery but as my eyes accidentally landed upon the hooded woman standing behind the Captain—

Silence.

—I stared and...I stared, until it finally sank into me what I'm seeing just now.

...Wh...W-What in the Goddess heavenly sagging tits!?!?

"This is impossible."

What an absurd amount of mana. 

The white aura emitting off from her was so bright that it felt as if the sun itself have suddenly descended upon me. The strength of this mana is simply way off the charts! This is the first time I've seen a person who have this much magical capacity twice the normal output of a noble and it felt like my eyes are going to bleed to death, thus I quickly turn off my ability and massaged my now aching and strained eyes. 

"What's wrong...What happened?" The Commander asked with a hint of unease in his voice and it took me a minute to regained a portion of my bearings.  

My vision have finally came out of that monochromatic state yet I still felt the strain through my eyes. 

"The girl wasn't in any of those six ships." I finally uttered after I catched my breath.

"What!?" Exclaimed by the bearish operative with a dumbfounded expression before adding, "H-How is that possible, my intel is absolutely certain that this noble girl is within those ships! We confirmed that they came from the 3rd Naval Battalion of Admiral Novaldein so your findings can't be right. Surely you must have made some mistakes."

I let out a curt sigh before involuntarily pushing up my glasses up the bridge of my nose.

"Your intel is not wrong. All I'm saying was that the girl isn't inside those ships but on an another location instead."

The Commander showed a stupefied face.

"So what you mean is...?"

I sighed yet again and gestured my right hand vertically before pointing at the hooded figure behind the Captain.

"That's the noble girl you're looking for."