BXBX NOVEL Chapter 300 - One Way To Find Out!
"C-can I see him?" Veronica requested.
"Sure! I'll bring you now to the cave right now," Elva replied. "By the way, how's the old man?"
Veronica sighed. "Grandpa was devastated inside. He considered Graven as his son. I'm sure he was suffering inside," she answered.
Elva shook her head. "The King is cunning! He must have planned everything! I wonder where did he hide Graven's body? After we're done in the cave, we should go back to the castle and check that place thoroughly. I keep thinking that there must be a secret passage beneath that castle, and Graven's body is lying there somewhere hidden by the cursed King!" she said angrily.
"Grandpa also thinks the same way, that is why he went back there along with Graven's men to find any clues around the castle," Veronica responded.
"That's good!" Elva said. She rose to her feet. "Let's go now!" she spoke and extended her hand to Veronica. "Hold my hand. I'll take you there to the cave," she ordered.
The women held hands and vanished from the balcony.
They appeared inside the cave a moment later.
Elva's eyes widened in surprise upon seeing the unconscious guy already up on his feet, trying to force his way out of the invisible barrier to no avail.
Veronica looked at the guy. "Is that the King? He's alive!" she exclaimed.
Elva silenced her companion. "Shh...don't be too loud. We are currently invisible in his eyes. Don't let him know that we're here. Let's observe him first," she whispered.
"Okay," Veronica said and shut her mouth.
The King heard that female voice! It was a faint woman's voice, but he heard it just the same. Someone is out there watching him!
"Who are you? Show yourself to me!" he shouted.
He was greeted with thick silence.
"Get me out of here!" he demanded angrily.
Elva stared at the King. "He's alive. I thought the revival elixir didn't work. I was wrong," she murmured to herself.
Veronica glanced at her companion. "Let's show ourselves to him. We need to ask him where did he hide Graven's body?" she urged her.
"Wait..." Elva said and pondered for a moment. She waved her hand, and they become visible instantly.
The King finally saw the two women. He grinned happily and wasted no time. "Ladies... can you please remove this invincible barrier out of my face?" he requested politely.
Elva looked at the guy. "Are you the cursed King residing beneath the castle?" she asked.
"No!" he said, shaking his head. "I am the King's trusted servant!" he lied.
The two women looked at each other in disbelief.
"No! You are lying! You must be the cursed King!" Veronica shouted.
"My lady, please believe me. I'm the King's servant! I'm his right hand! Before the castle exploded, the King switched my body with Graven. The last thing I remembered is that he mentioned a place where he will hide Graven's body. Then I lost consciousness after they leave the windowless and doorless room. That's all I can remember..." he explained in a serious voice.
Elva looked at him with hawks eyes. "Are you telling the truth or trying to deceive us?" she asked.
"I'm telling you the truth, my lady!" he said without blinking an eye. He had a feeling that if they will know that he is the cursed King they will finish his life quickly. There is a big chance that he will survive longer if he will pretend as the King's right hand. He will continue with the facade as long as he can.
The two women looked at each other, debating whether to believe the guy's claim or not.
"Can you tell us where the King hide Graven's body?" Elva asked.
"I will help you, my lady! But can you promise me that you will release me after you found Graven's body? I've been a prisoner of the King and longed to have my freedom. Now that I finally escaped his clutches, I want to experience freedom. Please release me, my lady! I will tell you the place where the King possibly hides Graven's body! And maybe you can also see the King's body there along with Graven!" he said convincingly.
"Alright, I will grant your freedom as long you can tell us where is that area where you think the King hide Graven's body. After we see the King and Graven's body, I will release you from this place," Elva said.
"Thank you, my lady!" the guy said excitedly.
"Tell us now! Be quick!" Veronica shouted in a loud voice.
The guy looked at the ladies. "C-can you bring me to the castle with you? I will point the area myself," he suggested.
Elva shook her head. "No way! You must remain here until we see the bodies. Tell us now!" she demanded.
"Okay, please calm down. I'm now going to tell you the truth," he said. "Go back to the castle... count 100 meters starting from the back of the castle, going to the north side of the castle. You will end up in a small body of water. Two metal coffins are lying at the bottom of the lake. I think that is where you will find the King and Graven's bodies! Hurry up! Before other people will find it! After the castle was burnt to the ground, the King's relatives will arrive from a far distance and investigate the whole thing. They might already have located the two coffins at this very moment and have them taken away. It will be hard to find them after that because I don't know their headquarters!" he explained.
The two women looked at each other.
"Let's go!" Elva said with urgency in her voice.
The ladies disappeared from the cave.
The King was left alone in the chamber, grinning inwardly.
His Plan B is now in motion!
"Let see how it will go," he muttered to himself, feeling amused.
A thousand miles away.
At the ground of the ruined castle.
Terros, Calder, and Graven's men were investigating the whole place, looking for clues everywhere.
The two women appeared in the place, hovering in the air.
Terros saw them coming his way. "Girls, why are you here?" he asked.
"Grandpa! The guy that Elva resurrected is alive! He told us that he is the King's trusted servant. The King switched his body and that of Graven..." Veronica explained.
Terros brows furrowed in confusion. "So...y-you mean to say that the unconscious guy is not the King himself? Did you believe his words? He can be lying..." he suggested.
Elva sighed. "He could be lying or telling the truth. The only way to know the truth is to search the lake first if there are indeed two coffins lying in the bottom of the lake!" she said.
"What lake? Why did you mention the lakes?" Terros asked in confusion.
"The guy told us that the Graven's body and that of the King must be hiding in the coffin that can be found at the bottom of the lake. The lake's location is 100 meters away from the back of the castle, the north side. Let's go and find it!" Elva said.
The trio hovered towards the location described by the guy.
Calder saw them, he followed them towards the north side.
Then they found it!
The body of water. It's a small lake about fifty meters in diameter, surrounded by towering trees.
They lowered themselves into the ground.
They scanned the whole area and saw coffins in the corner underneath the shade of the tree. The two lids were already thrown haphazardly into the ground. The area was hidden from the view above.
The trio rushed towards the coffin and saw an empty casket!
"Damn! We come too late!" Terros groaned. "I saw this lake, but it never occurred to me that there is a coffin here!" he said in a frustrated manner.
The two women looked at each other.
"The guy told us the truth!" Veronica blurted out.
"Yeah..." Elva agreed.
"I want to see this guy!" Terros declared.
"No problem, come with us back to the Windless Mountain," Elva said.
Terros looked at Calder. "Son... you and your men continue investigating for any clues left behind by the people who took the bodies away from this coffin..." he gave his instruction.
"Yes, Grandpa!" Calder replied.
"Before the evening comes, you and your men should go back to the headquarter to rest and continue investigating the next day," Terros added.
"Got it, Grandpa!" Calder nodded his head.
Elva, Veronica, and Terros teleported themselves back to Windless Mountain.
A few minutes later, they appeared inside the cave where Elva imprisoned the guy.
The guy was sleeping on the ground during the time of their arrival.
Terros looked at the guy. "What he's doing?" he asked.
"Probably sleeping," Veronica replied.
Terros was about to move forward to wake up the guy.
Elva prevented him. "Don't move forward. You can't go in there. I created an invincible barrier preventing him from escaping this place," she explained.
"I see..." Terros said. "Girls, do you think that he is the King's trusted servant or the King himself just disguising his true self?" he voiced out his suspicion.
"The problem is... we haven't seen the King and his men in person, so we have no idea what they look like. Only Graven saw their faces," Veronica said.
"There is one way to find out if this guy is telling the truth or not!" Elva said.
Terros and Veronica looked at the deity.
"There is a way? How?" Veronica asked.
"Bring Calder here or anyone of Graven's men to identify this guy. I'm sure those who are imprisoned before, inside the basement, can identify who is the King and who is his servant," Elva stated.
Veronica and Terros smiled brightly.
Terros scratches his head. "Dang! Why I failed to think of that idea. It seems I'm getting older, and my mind is getting slow in thinking..." he said in shame.
"Alright, let's leave this cave and go back to my house..." Elva spoke. She waved her hand, and they vanished from the place.