Chapter 16

Meanwhile, back at Beaufort Mansion

"Sir Hugo is that you?" said by the old butler James in a blissful tone as he excitedly opened the door for a familiar man.

"Indeed it's me James, I'm back." courteously greet by Hugo as he went inside the mansion.

"You've been away for so long, it's nice to see you back." James said  as he guided hugo inside the house.

"I'm also happy to be back James, but I need to look first for Master Hubert. Is he here?" Hugo impatiently ask as they walked inside the Beaufort mansion.

"Yes, Master Hubert just came back earlier this morning. But are you going to report immediately? You might want to take your rest first, a lot of things have happened when you were gone." James said calmly.

"No, I can't. I have no time to waste. There's something important that I need to tell to our lord. I need to speak with him today." Adamantly said by Hugo.

"AH! Yes of course, follow me inside sir Hugo." James said as he bowed his head.

As Hugo followed James, he couldn't help but think about the command of his lord to go outside and find someone using a special magic artifact.

He spent years upon years looking for that person. He also needed to get away from his family from time to time just to follow that order, and yet every time he goes back, the only news he can bring is always negative.

He searches far and wide, from every corner of the human continent this farce have last for a decade, but still, he only finds clues that the person did exist before, but he did not find the person itself.

He encounters many troubles along the way, and even his lord has spent a huge amount of resources and used his remaining influence to search for any possible clues that might lead to her, but time is cruel, as it has erased most of her tracks.

He tried to persuade his lord to give up, but no matter what he said, Hubert didn't want to listen. Hugo have no choice but to spent most of his time venturing to a faraway place, looking for a person that he didn't have any idea if she is still alive, but at last, this journey of his finally gave a result, as he found a clue of that person.

Hugo traveled day and night continuously for several days just to make it back home, as soon as possible, but last night was different as he encountered the most bizarre things on his way back home. During his travell he suddenly felt a small tremor coming from the northern mountains. At the same time, the sky in the northern direction was lit up by a very bright aurora.

This phenomenon bothered him the entire night. He even uses his own power to boost up his speed, thinking that something bad might have happen to his hometown. That's why when he saw the familiar wall from afar, a huge breath of relief came out from his chest.

Hugo didn't waste any time, as he immediately entered the city just to find that something is wrong, as most of the people were anxious about the quake they felt last night.

He also found Sandra and Manuel on the side of a wall and decided to give them a hand before asking them for the location of his sire.

His thoughts were  suddenly cut off, when James knocked on a door.

*knock* *knock*

"Master Hubert, Sir Hugo's back in the city and he said that he has something important to tell you." Courteously said by James outside the room as he asked for permission to open the door.

"Let him come inside, James." Hubert quickly said as he got up from the sofa.

"Sir Francis, it's nice to see you in good shape," greeted Hugo as he entered the room.

A/N: Hugo is friends with Hubert. That's why when it's just the two of them, he can casually call him by his name, but not all the time, as he respects Hubert's, and his master's whole name is Hubert Francis Beaufort.

"I'm also happy to see you back, Hugo, but did you find anything about her?" Hubert ask immediately.

"Francis, for a long time I've searched every part of the land of human territory, but I got no response from the magic artifact you've lent to me, but somehow, this year, I finally got a clue." Hugo said in a solemn tone before picking something from his pouch.

"Here,....I found this near the Great Wall." Hugo said as he handed a broken pendant to Hubert.

"For a long time we've searched for every possible location she might go or hide, and the only place we haven't looked for is the northern continent, but I know it's impossible for anyone to go there, but when I approached the fortress, the magic artifact suddenly reacted. The nearer I get to this pendant the bigger the reaction is," Hugo added.

"I remember this pendant, "said by Hubert as he carefully caressed the broken pendant.

"This used to be my brother's treasure, and he told me before that he would only give it to his future wife to become their family heirloom. My brother got this from our mom." Hubert said in a sad tone as he reminisced about the past.

"I'm sorry, Francis, this is the only thing I got for you after searching for so long. No matter how hard we look for her, a lot of time has already passed. The chances of us finding her are very small. We don't even know if she is still alive. You can't just spend your entire life looking for her." Said by Hugo in sympathy.

"I know, but I can't just let it go. I'd promised my brother that I would look after her, but what did I do? I didn't even manage to protect her and even her son. I-I don't know what to do anymore." Hubert sadly said as he put the pendant in his drawer.

"You've just done everything you can do to keep him safe. We know that there are too many people out there looking for her and we're lucky enough we managed to keep his son's existence, a secret from those people, and when do you even plan to tell Lucas the truth about his cousin?" Hugo ask while staring deeply at him.

"Not now. It's not the right time, yet there are too many things I need to do before I can tell him about this. I need to solve it first." Hubert said solemnly.

"I do respect your decision, but I just hope that we still have enough time for all of this. By the way, how's Lucas condition did it get worse?"

"I don't know. Just this year, he also suffered from the same pain due to his illness, but despite that, he seems to be getting better. At the same time, Lucas has now advanced to a 5th rank junior Knight. His chances of survival have risen. I hope with this advancement in powers he can overcome this illness." Hubert explains worriedly as he tell everything to Hugo.

"That's good news. I know he can do it, but did you warn him about the danger he might face if our enemies discovered his ascension in power?" Hugo asked worriedly.

"I did warn him to keep it a secret for now, and only a few people among us know about his advancement. You know that they still have ears around us even though a long time had passed," Hubert said in a serious tone as he sit down on his chair.

"I'm aware of that, but what are you going to do now? Are you still going to look for her or not? besides we have a bigger problem than that. I found out that the taxes on the entire human territory are rising, not just on our kingdom, and we both know that this is not normal. Also when I found that pendant near the border, there was much more activity going on that side, I almost got discovered when I searched for this pendant." said by Hugo as he narrates everything that happens to him during his adventure near the Great fortress.

"What do you mean? Did the Demonic creatures become active again? But why didn't they tell us?" Ask Huber in a hurry.

"I don't know if it's because of the demonic creatures, but they're not using those weapons yet, so it might be something else, but what just happened last night? On my way here I saw some strange things, the northern sky lit up and a small quake could be felt as far as my location." Hugo ask hoping to understand the situation last night.

"I have no idea, that's also the first time I have experienced something like that. I just hope that those demonic creatures won't wake up yet. I can't afford to be away from this place, especially now that Lucas is nearing that age, (The age where creeping death claim the lives of their victims before they turn 15) and as long as they are not using that weapon (Pertains to Magic cannon that wizard has made), then it's safe to say that the demonic creatures on that side are still calm." explains by Hubert in a serious tone.

"I know that my friend, if demonic creatures woke up from their inactivity, most of us would be assigned to defend the Great Fortress. No one would be left behind to protect the city, aside from Lucas and we don't even know how long we would stay there, or if we could come back alive. Those creatures are terrible opponents." Hugo said in a grave tone as he recalled his past memory of serving as one of the knights in the Great Fortress.

"I'm just afraid that something has changed on the other side after the quake. I felt that there was something bad brewing on the northern continent. Aside from that, I also noticed something unusual going on in the enchanted forest since last month. Those magic beasts suddenly became active again for an unknown reason. It's not even the time yet," said by Hubert as he looked at the northern mountains on his windows.

"Don't worry, whatever happens, I'm going to help you, with my presence here. You can now have the freedom to go anywhere. You won't be limited to staying in one place to protect everyone." Hugo said assuringly.

"Yeah, I'm also glad that you are back. There's too much work I need to do every time you are gone." said by Hubert in a light tone.

"That is also your fault. I have already insisted a lot of time to stop looking for that woman. I know that you'd promised your brother that you would look after her, but you were too young at that time to do anything, and were even lucky enough to save your brother's son and to keep his existence a secret from everyone." Hugo said with trilled.

"You're right about and don't worry this is also the last time you're going out to look for her. I should focus more on Lucas and the territory. With the news you brought in, I'm afraid that we need to prepare for something bad that might happen in the future." Hubert said with a worried face.

"About that, what's the deal with Lucas? I saw Sandra and Manuel at the wall earlier, talking about his project of a waterway?" Hugo asked puzzledly.

"That's one of his plans to help me earn more gold for the taxes. He said that with enough water supply we can have a bounty harvest for all of our crops, at the same time, we can expand our field inside the city. He plans to open a pathway for the water to come inside the city. At first, I even opposed this idea, as he wants to make a hole in the stone wall, and you know how important that wall is to our city, but eventually the quake has given him the chance to do his project without damaging the magic formation behind it." Hugo said proudly.

"Well, I can see that our little young master is becoming more responsible for all of his duties. Ha! and someone here is really proud of that." Hugo said with a little laugh.

"Of course, I would be proud, who wouldn't be. Lucas is starting to become more mature and he now wants to involve himself in helping me to managed the territory. You! of all people should know how troublesome it is." said by Hubert as he pointed his finger to Hugo.

"Aye, that's why I'm here, I could help you lighten up your work, at the same time, I need to go back home Lisa's been waiting for me for a year I haven't even seen my son when he was born." Hugo said excitedly.

"I do want to apologize for that, I've sent you to a faraway place even though you've been waiting for the birth of your firstborn son." Hubert said in shamed.

"That's okay, I know how important it is for you to find that woman, and besides you've given me this." Hugo said as he pat his chest showing off his shiny armor.

"I know that you wanted that armor since we were little, and we only have 5 remaining left, its one of the most important treasures left to our vault by our ancestors, but you've done a lot of things for me, even enough to endanger your life, this is the least thing that I could do in exchange for your service." Gratefully said by Hubert.

The armor that they're talking about belongs to one of the precious things left behind on their family's vault, by their ancestors. It's one of the ancient magic artifacts that are capable to defend from multiple attacks from a Grand level powerhouse and it was called as the armor of resilience, made from the magic star metal. A special metal that naturally siphons mana from the surroundings that makes it a good conductor of mana.

"Thank you, and It's my honor to serve you, Lord Hubert," said by Hugo as he took a vow and leaves the room.

"I guess it's time for me to let you go, and Brother, I'm sorry to what happened to your lover , but I promised that I would take care of your son. He's a grown man now. I know you're gonna be proud of him, but I cant announce his existence to the world as long as they exist." Hugo whispered in the air while holding the broken pendant on his hand as he looked at the family tree of the Beaufort family.

Where in his brothers lineage have end after their death but behind one of the line is an empty space reserve for Luca's cousin albeit he doesn't know anything about this.