"Useless, the lot of you!" screamed Nathaniel Corvick, sitting on a catdger's back made up of nothing but pure powder snow. His kitty-like ears twitched in volatile anger then lay flat on a bed of his black hair. "Can't even track down a small child? I am way too busy with my research to act on my own, but with the way things are going maybe I should get my hands dirty." He spoke, before jumping down the catdger and looking at five demons.
The dead leaves of the trees of the hidden grotto he was in crunched under his feet, breaking the deafening silence that came after Nathaniel raised his voice.
"What is with everyone and not being able to find that kid…even my party members from Ignis Leos could not find a trace of Clailip…" Nathaniel murmured as he fiddled with his black coat, "You lot are winter moon demons, yes?" He asked the demons, having to tilt his head upwards ever so slightly due to his size.
The demons trembled as they nodded their heads. A flash of pure anger lit up Nathaniel's face, and it took all of their strength to not run away then and there. They watched as Nathaniel calmed himself down, fidgeting with the golden buttons of his expensive-looking black coat embroidered with unknown runes that only the most academically gifted could hope to interpret.
"You five have the nerve to call yourself winter moon demons, and yet you can't find the body of a single child. Dead or alive. Even if it's a singular bone, or a finger, just something that belongs to him. I have already given you the means to track him down, so do so! The longer we take, the more the child's mana disperses and joins the natural flow, and the more depressed my godmother would be. Not that I care much about Kara's feelings." Nathaniel spoke, his tone commanding. He spared a glance to the more timid of the demons, and saw that it wanted to speak.
"You. Spit. Make it snappy, I still have to run back to the kingdom of Mante. I've wasted enough time lecturing all of you." Nathaniel stared at the demon as it moved forward, twiddling its needle-like fingers together, hunched over in fear revealing its back overgrown with spikes, and dragging its spiny tail reminiscent of evergreen trees on the forest floor.
"I-If it's a magical signature…We did f-find one, but the track completely stopped, as if the person who the signature belonged to just completely disappeared." The demon's voice shook. "N-not just that, but when analyzing the magical energy around that area, it seems that teleportation was used, the destination should be somewhere in the Western Isles, in the territory of the Cruel Queen Cristina Von Avande."
"...It isn't much, but that's more like it, actual results." Nathaniel scoffed, "Finally, I actually thought for a second that you were duds, worker demons with the abilities of lowly imps. Though the results are still mediocre, I have to praise you for being so thorough with the investigation. That will be all. If you do not have anything else to say, then this will be your payment." Nathaniel brought out a silver knife from one of his coat's pockets, it was a lot longer than what the pocket looks like it could hold. With his free hand, he set a bottle to the ground, and cut his palms and let his blood drip into the container, until it was at about half full, deeming that he's given enough blood and froze his hand then shattered the ice a second later to reveal an unscathed palm.
"Send Raum, my regards. Also, tell him to never send any of you five to me ever again, I do not want to work with inefficient demons like you." Nathaniel climbed up the catdger as he said those words, he gave the demons a parting look–a disappointed and disgusted one.
"And the next time I call for Raum, tell him that I want to talk to him personally. I do not want to interact with his incompetent cronies."
"Catdger, let us leave for Mante. Colin must be panicking, checking my bags for his wallet, right about now." Nathaniel ordered the mount and with speed surpassing that of a race-horse, the catdger ran out of the hidden grotto and started going north, towards the kingdom of Mante, a human kingdom situated on the northern end of the Forest of Illusions.
"So that pulse of abyssal power yesterday really was Shul'ka…It seems something very troublesome is coming. Well, with the information the demons gathered up, I wouldn't be surprised if the child were still alive somehow." Nathaniel watched the passing trees as he spoke to himself, the whole mood of the ride towards Mante was solemn. "Shul'ka often does not teleport after devouring their prey, they make sure to thoroughly eat whatever they can in the surrounding area… I wonder, why exactly did it disappear with Clailip…Not just that but to go all the way over to the west too…" Nathaniel's eyes furrowed and his face turned void of emotion as he tried to think of what might Shul'ka's intentions be.
"Well, abyssal creatures like Shul'ka are known to be quite random…maybe it just teleported Clailip on a whim. It wouldn't be unheard of, many families have been displaced over the years due to Shul'ka's unpredictable behaviour." Nathaniel has never encountered any documents detailing Shul'ka's behaviours, and he hadn't run into it just yet, so he wasn't very confident in his hypothesis. But it was the best that he could come up with right now, and he didn't have enough time to think about it too hard. His mind was too preoccupied with Clailip, and how he was still alive long enough to encounter Shul'ka.
"Ugh, I need a drink. Catdger, let's stop by a tavern before entering Mante's territory. Colin can wait."
