[3rd Person POV]
After the confrontation was settled violently, at least for one side. Aiden and Seraphine left the scene on foot. It was morning time, so not many people witnessed what happened; the street of the bank was mostly empty.
Those who even watched the whole immediately lowered their heads like they didn't even see a fly. Nobody wanted to be pulled into a mess, especially where someone from Arclight got dragged through mud.
The main spectators of the whole one-second fight were the two guards of the bank and someone within the shadow.
The guards' situation was quite unique; they knew from the exchange that the one who became decoration of the wall was from the Arclight Clan.
They were in a dilemma about whether to go and help them, but there was also hesitation in their thoughts.
They vividly remembered the way, in seconds, someone toyed with them and didn't want to be next by offending someone capable of fighting the Arclights.
However, the tense situation was resolved when a third Person appeared from the gate.
He ordered immediately, "Fools what are you waiting for, go and remove him from our wall and give some potions from the bank and send them on their way. Remember to note down every expense," Ryuk finished ordering.
The guards promptly came into action and followed the order. Ryuk went inside again, muttering, "I have to send the bill to Arclights; I hope they don't ask too many questions."
Ryuk had followed Aiden and especially Seraphine; her race, Seraph, was a hybrid born from the Angel race, but that knowledge was limited to very few individuals on Aetherionis. He leisurely walked to his office and entered.
As soon as he stepped into the room and closed the gate, his whole demeanor changed. The earlier easygoing and friendly face transformed into that of a calculative, cunning face with a ruthless gleam in his eyes.
He walked with resolute strides and quickness in his steps, eager to reach his chair. As he settled down, he took out an orb made from an unknown black material. He poured mana into the orb after holding it in his hands.
The orb glowed with strange luminescence; in the next second an image formed above the mildly glowing sphere.
The orb turned out to be a long-distance communication orb, which would be difficult to acquire, even for a branch manager of Astryx Bank from mid-tier Cian City. This alone was enough to know the severity of the situation.
The floating image on the orb spoke, "You used the limited long-range communication orb despite knowing how precious it is. The news should be worth it, or you may lose something precious for wasting my time and the resources of the Accord."
Ryuk immediately turned submissive as soon as the image appeared; he bowed his head and said with reverence, "Riftbound Ryuk greets Riftmaker Hoshin. I bring two important pieces of news with me."
"Speak," Hoshin, the man in the image, commanded.
"I am sure you also would have heard the rumors of the youngest heir of the Arclight Clan being expelled from the family because he awakened an F-rank unique ability and Origin Heart."
"However, contrary to rumors, he has a B-rank ability and even reached the Awakened rank despite rumors of an F-rank Origin Heart."
"He may have had a fortunate encounter, or maybe someone from his family helped him before expulsion. Did you seriously bring me the child's news, hoping to get rewarded? Are you tired of your life?" Hoshin shouted angrily from the image.
"No, my lord, I would never; this brings me to my second piece of news. He was travelling with a unique lady...." Ryuk was interrupted as he was speaking.
"Do you think I am free here and want to listen to what a 16-year-old boy is doing travelling with a girl? It looks like you are eager for me to personally raid your bank and rob you of your life. Get to the point, dammit." Hoshin was losing his patience.
"Sorry, my lord, the lady with him was Seraph. It's a race only our Accord knows about, but she was with Aiden, and it looked like they were on really good terms."
"The broke and expelled heir also had the capital to open a Sovereign level around Astryx Bank. I thought this was of importance, and I should bring this to your attention." He hurridley finished explaining, hoping to get praised.
"You should have led with that and not about some twerp opening his first node. Interesting, a Seraph, huh? How did she cross over here? Is she from the same place? Do you get anything else?" Hoshin, interested, fired a flurry of questions.
"Apologies, my lord. I couldn't ask any further questions. That Aiden bastard knows about the bank, even if I asked nothing more. It would have looked suspicious and jeopardized my position." Ryuk meekly apologized.
"Worthless, do you at least know where they are travelling to or about their stay?" Hoshin asked.
"I informed Aiden about the beginner dungeon of the Joshean City, The Graves of Thirty Steps. I think they would travel to the city next." He replied.
"At least you are a little bit useful. You will be rewarded for this important piece of news. Serve the Accord well." Hoshin praised the manager.
"The Fracture holds—" Hoshin spoke with resolution.
"– Until it widens" Ryuk completed the call. The orb dimmed and he put it back into the drawer.
Ryuk slumped back into his chair and exhaled then muttered, "This Hoshin bastard, always impatient and difficult to please. I didn't even give him the news that he lodged an S-rank ability user in the wall in a second."
"Well, I hope this piece of information can help me gain some elixir which helps me break past Grandmaster and easy the process of opening my nodes."
He threw his head back, dreaming about breaking through in his cultivation, not caring about the chain of events he set in motion.
– – –
In a mansion with an average appearance, on the window side, a man could be seen eyeing the outside world with a grin on his face. Hoshin Tamagi was an ambitious man with high impatience and low tolerance.
He just received an important piece of news from a lowest-level member of the Accord. Technically, he should be thinking of how to inform his next superior about this new development, but his thoughts were, "Fortune favors the brave."
"Let him clear the dungeon first; if he doesn't die in there, then I will make the city his grave and take the Seraph for myself." He muttered, glancing at the window.
Totally forgetting about, "Don't bite off more than you can chew."
– – –
A teenage boy and a lady with the beauty of an angel were searching the roads for something; they looked like they were in a hurry. After looking here and there for a few minutes, they finally found what they were looking for.
The boy took the lead and reached the Beastiark carriage bounded with two Gravestepper at the front.
A magical beast with horse-lion hybrid body and thick obsidian hooves with faint violet glow lines, generally used in hailing multi-compartment transport.
The conductor of the carriage saw two people heading towards him.
The boy asked first, "Is there any space or compartments left?"
"Yes, we are going to the capital via the cities around it." The conductor answered.
"Perfect, we would like to book a compartment for two people," the boy said.
"Names and destination, please," the conductor further asked.
"Aiden and Seraphine. Destination, Joshean City," the boy answered.