I Can Devour Monsters' SSS Talents

Chapter 548: Reunion With Seris ( Bonus Chapter )

”No one leaves Verendal.”

Rhaenar Pendragon’s sentence was not loud.

It did not need to be, everyone heard his voice easily.

Lian was still sitting in his place when he saw the first change.

A tower on the western side of the city lit up, then the second tower and behind it the third tower.

Golden light passed over the old buildings of Verendal and ran across the stone walls like thin lines.

A few seconds later, similar lines appeared from the other directions and completed a huge ring around the main part of the city.

Only part of it could be seen from that distance, but he could guess its path.

The main gates were being closed and the transportation systems were being shut down.

The city’s security network was leaving ceremony mode and entering lockdown status.

Fortunately, there was no painful alarm sound and no soldier started running across the field.

Everything happened with an order that showed the Pendragons were prepared for situations like this more than any display of power could.

He moved his gaze away from the golden lines and placed it on Rhaenar, the man had not even moved from his place.

The Patriarch had not asked if he could close a city where thousands of guests from the greatest powers in the world were present.

He had simply made the decision and the city had obeyed, this was the difference between the owner of this territory and his guests.

Gregor Valemont was still standing below his family’s section, the anger had not left his face and several other Valemont members had gathered behind him.

On the other side, the members of Stormheart were also no longer sitting calmly.

A man stood among them, he was in his forties, and was known to many of the people there, Adrian Stormheart.

The leader of that family’s delegation and an Awakened who had passed three Evolutions.

He walked down a few steps, but did not enter the field.

”Finding Stormheart’s trace on the body does not prove that one of us is the killer.”

”Mana traces?, the type of burn, the remaining lightning, the Mana pressure and the type of damage to the nervous pathways also match you exactly.” Gregor turned his head toward him.

Adrian did not even frown.

”Then there are two possibilities, either one of my people committed the murder... or someone really wants you to believe that.”

”Are you saying we made the evidence?” One of the younger Valemonts stood up at the same moment.

From the other side, one of the Stormhearts also moved, the atmosphere of the field changed in only a few seconds, not enough for a battle to begin.

But a kind of silence formed where everyone was waiting to see who would make the mistake of taking the next step.

The problem was that these two families had had conflicts and arguments with each other during the past few months, although the tension was controlled, their argument was something that had the potential to grow.

The argument was about a special resource mine that was extremely important to Overlords, a resource that could directly help them obtain a considerable number of Stat Points.

”Sit down.” Rhaenar said only one word.

That was all.

No aura was released and no pressure fell over the field, but the young Valemont became silent, and the Stormheart man sat down again.

Gregor was still standing, but said nothing.

The Patriarch moved his gaze across the two families.

”Closing the city is not against either of you. Until the cause of the murder is clear, the safety of everyone who entered Verendal is the responsibility of the Pendragons.”

Then his gaze moved toward Isolde Pendragon.

The Matriarch did not need any extra explanation and stood from her place.

If Rhaenar controlled the field with his heavy calmness, Isolde was different.

”Do not move the body.”

One of the commanders lowered his head.

”Seal the Valemont residence until the investigation is complete., Save all security records from the past twelve hours separately and lock the original copy.”

Second order.

”No Stormheart member will be arrested.”

This sentence made several Valemonts look unhappy, but Isolde continued without paying attention.

”But until the first investigation is complete, the members of the delegation will not leave the assigned area unless they are accompanied by our forces.”

Then she gave the last order.

”Form a joint investigation group. One specialist from the Pendragons, one person from Valemont, one person from Stormheart, one Federation representative, and one independent specialist from one of the ancient guilds.”

This time, even Gregor said nothing, it was a smart move.

If the Pendragons investigated by themselves, any result could be accused of being biased.

If the Valemonts were responsible, Stormheart would not accept it and the same would happen the other way around.

But when five different sides recorded every step, changing the truth became much harder.

Lian watched everything from his place.

This was not a place where a nineteen-year-old young man, even if he had the Vorhelm name, could stand among the elders of the six families and the twelve ancient guilds and give his opinion about the investigation method.

There were people in this field who had probably managed security files and family wars before he was even born.

He also did not consider himself important enough to think that all the problems in the world were waiting for him to enter them.

For now, he only watched, however, one small point would not leave his mind.

The Stormheart trace was very clear.

If someone from the Stormheart family really intended to assassinate a Valemont member in the middle of Pendragon territory, leaving something that would scream the name of their family during the first investigation was a strange choice.

Of course, it was not impossible, maybe hiding was not the goal at all, maybe it was a message, maybe there was a conflict that Lian did not know about.

He had not seen the scene, he had not seen the body, and he had not examined the structure of the attack, so he put the thought aside, a guess without information was only a guess.

A few minutes later, Rhaenar stepped forward again.

His gaze briefly stayed on the altar and then on Seris.

The Ancestral Mark was still shining with a very weak light on the back of the girl’s hand.

The ceremony had almost reached its most important part and only the official announcement of the heir remained.

”The announcement of the heir will be delayed until the situation becomes clear.”

This time, the reaction came from inside the Pendragons, no one dared to object, but the whispers became louder.

Some members of the older generation exchanged unhappy looks.

It was natural.

A ceremony held once every twenty-five years had been stopped exactly one step before the announcement of the heir.

But Lian was looking at Seris more than anyone else, the girl was still standing beside the altar.

If she was unhappy with her father’s decision, nothing could be seen on her face, she only looked toward the Valemont section once and then toward the forces leaving the field.

And without a word, she walked down from the altar.

The young Vorhelm leaned his head slightly against the back of his chair.

If the only thing that mattered to Seris was the title of heir, she should have been more unhappy than anyone else right now, she had received the highest possible Mark of the generation only a few minutes ago.

Almost the entire field knew what the next step would be but someone had been killed and for her, it seemed clear that her title could wait.

But honestly, from what he knew about her, he found it unlikely that the position of heir mattered to her even a little.

About half an hour later, the younger generation and most of the guests who had no role in the investigation left the main field.

The family leaders, elders, and security specialists remained.

Cassius was also there as the leader of the Vorhelm delegation.

Lian did not even see him before leaving, this was also natural, Cassius had the duty of staying beside the family’s official representatives, besides, that man had passed two Evolutions.

Himself? He had no duty.

For a while, he walked without a goal in one of the inner gardens of the Pendragon estate.

The path passed between old trees and short stone walls, the sound of the main field could no longer be heard from this distance and if someone did not know about what had happened an hour ago, they might think Verendal was still having its normal day.

He stopped near a stone pond, the reflection of the sky and part of the tree branches could be seen in the water.

The sound of footsteps came from behind him, they were calm and regular.

”You found me quickly.”

”It was not hard to follow you.”

Lian turned around, Seris was standing a few meters away.

She was still wearing the same formal clothes from the ceremony, but she had removed some of the decorations and now her appearance was a little more normal.

The first thing that caught his eye was her right hand.

The golden Mark on the back of her hand was a dragon with open wings whose lines continued almost to her wrist, its light was no longer strong, but even when it was not glowing, it did not look completely normal.

”Congratulations.”

”Thank you.” Seris raised her hand slightly and looked at the Mark.

”Many people seemed to expect you to get at least an Ancestral Mark beforehand, well, I expected the same.”

She looked at her Mark for a few moments and nodded, she was also confident that she would receive something like this.

But she did not seem excited about it at all, if anything, seeing him seemed more pleasant to her.

”What did my father want from you yesterday?” Her tone became a little more direct and it was clear that Aurelia had told her some things.

The question was very direct, and Lian saw no reason to avoid it.

”He told me to stay away from you.”