色戒无删除版

She nervously looked around after one of the sentinels tapped her shoulder. Her body was shaking and fear was clearly written on her face even before any questions could be asked from her. She was constantly rubbing her hands and her eyes couldn\'t focus on one spot.

"Kindly tell us what you saw yesterday night, during dinner?" Galahad asked with a soft voice so as not to frighten the young woman even more.

He made his move because he did not want those people asking her. They might pressure her and make her confess to things she had not seen. As far as the duke could understand, the young woman was not there yesterday which means that these council members have people even inside his sentinels.

They must have promised her something in return for telling a false testimony, well it was not false but she was still forced to do so. This also implied one more thing and the duke narrowed his eyes at the group of servants inside the room. No matter what happened after the meeting, he was already set on finding out all the spies in his territory.

One of the council members became impatient so he spoke with a raised voice which only startled the already trembling woman. "What are you remaining silent for? Answer the question or do you want to lose your job!?"

Galahad frowned because the man was ruining the atmosphere. The young woman was already frightened and yet here he was shouting without reason. He looked at the man and gave him a glare.

"Don\'t listen to him and take your time young lady. We will wait for your answer and don\'t be afraid because I will protect you," Galahad maintained his soft voice.

The young woman was still hesitant to answer but Galahad was patient and so were the others, except for the council members. He could feel their restlessness from the air but he didn\'t care and when he felt that one of them was about to talk once again, he looked at them and gave them a fierce glare. They did not dare speak after receiving such treatment.

It took a couple of minutes before the young woman finally spoke, "Y-your excellency…I-I didn\'t, I didn\'t see anything yesterday," her voice was trembling and that her words came out as mumbling but she still continued, "I-I was not there yesterday, at the d-dining room."

At those words, the room fell into silence but Galahad was not done. He then asked the servants who were in there to narrate what happened in the dining room and all of their stories were the same. There was no mention of a malevolent spirit whatsoever. Even the others who were called in left the room because they have the same statement.

The council members felt indignant at what happened, especially those who planned everything. They thought that they already had a card against the duke but he still managed to evade them. Galahad could see their fists clenched and their tense posture but he did not care.

"Now, are there any more subjects you want to talk about? We are already here so you better talk because I would be busy for the next few days and I wouldn\'t have the time to indulge you," Galahad spoke through the tense atmosphere.

They were silent, nobody wanted to speak. The duke could only sigh before he stood up from his seat. If you have time to waste here, then so be it but if I find out that you were neglecting your territories just because of these trivial matters, I wouldn\'t be as lenient as before.

Their morning ended in an unsavory manner but at least it was sorted out with those people. A bunch of letters also arrived that morning and were waiting for the duke. He sorted out the letters and found that most of them contained complaints about evil spirits appearing throughout their place. There were also reports of such creatures appearing on the mining areas of the territory which was constantly halting their operations.

These problems had been occurring once and a while that they would receive reports here and there but this was the first time that he read so many letters with the same problem over and over again. He could send out his sentinels to deal with the evil spirits but it would mean that the security in the manor and the rest of Central Blackwell will weaken. After reading all those letters, he stood up and went to the workroom.

Even after what happened and despite the questions in their minds, Sigma together with the two young men went to create talismans for the rest of the day. While they were busy with making the talismans with the spell that worked against the malevolent spirit, they heard a knock. Sigma stopped what he was doing and opened the door.

"Your excellency, what brought you here?" Sigma asked in surprise. He didn\'t expect to see the man himself visiting the workroom.

"I came to check on the progress of the talismans," he answered, followed by a sigh.

"Then please come inside." Sigma took a step back to let the duke enter the room.

Galahad stepped in and saw that his heir and Ezio were focused on doing talismans. He quietly went to observe their work and was impressed because they were doing it smoothly. They only learned about it yesterday and yet they were already good at controlling their mana.

On one of the tables, he found a stack of talismans and picked up one. He raised a sample and was satisfied with its quality. Although he only had a small amount of mana, he could tell that the talismans were of high quality.

"You are making great progress just in time for distribution." He turned around and looked at the archmage who had prepared tea for him.

They walked towards one of the doors that led to a sitting room. Sigma placed the tea on the table and sat down on the couch in front of where the duke sat. Galahad gladly took the cup of tea and leisurely took a sip.

"Are there sightings of evil spirits once again?" Sigma asked after they\'ve settled down.

Galahad nodded his head to the question. "Yes, I\'ve received at least a hundred letters saying so. I\'ve already sent some of the sentinels to confirm if all of those in the letters are true. If confirmed, we will need to send and distribute talismans to the people. I can\'t send all of the sentinels in all of those places. I am afraid that if I do so, the enemy will take that opportunity to attack."

Sigma sighed. "There\'s nothing we can do. We will make as many as we can." He was an archmage, powerful as he may be, it was also impossible for him to drive out all of those evil spirits. A one-man stunt like that was not possible for him.

"Why don\'t you ask Rigel to help you? I\'m sure that with his prowess in magic, he would be able to help you create more talismans…" Galahad trailed off when he saw how the archmage\'s face contorted in displeasure at the mention of Rigel.

In retrospect, Galahad could understand why the archmage somewhat detested the young man. He was someone who did what he wanted without regard to others. But with Ginehart backing him up, he would still give him the benefit of the doubt even after he nearly died because of Rigel.

"If it were before all of this chaos, I might have considered your suggestion but right now, I don\'t want to have too much involvement with him. It is also for my peace of mind," the archmage answered. "Indeed, he would be of help but I am still not settled with him here."

"Then I won\'t pursue the matter then. He is my friend\'s adoptive son and Ulysses trusts him so I can only give him a chance. Besides, I already made a deal with him and I intend to carry it out to the end." Their situation was a bit complicated but they did not have any reason to be antagonistic with the young man.