Chapitre 8: Dungeon Break

Five Years Later

It was the beginning of summer and school had just ended. Eliza, Edmund, Sebastian, Zach and Torii returned for their summer break. Of course, I was quite happy about it since we were complete again. As years passed we had grown up and had become quite powerful at our respective fields.

Eliza was turning twenty and she grew up to be a really beautiful young lady. She had a tall and slender physique, and I heard from Edmund that she had attracted quite a lot of attention among the male population of the Imperial Academy. There were even countless of marriage invitations among rich families, nobles and relatives of the imperial family as well, but I knew the boys and Aunt Zaira would never easily allow that to happen. Of course, Eliza was also an excellent mage and was not really that interested in love so her suitors might have to try harder.

The same went for Torii. She grew up to be quite beautiful as well but her lack of empathy made others hesitant to approach her. Nevertheless, she was a force to be reckoned with since she excelled in wind magic and she had a sylph as her familiar. It was the same sylph I saw hovering around her when we first met, Ilra.

Meanwhile, the boys had grown up to be quite the looker as well. And Eliza told me, they were quite the heart-breakers at school. It was understandable. With beauties such as Eliza, Torii and me (I know I'm being shameless), always around them, their standards were quite high. I wasn't sure about Zach though. He didn't seem to be interested in girls in general.

Aunt Zaira remained the same; powerful, beautiful and mysterious, so there wasn't that much to talk about her.

Other than that, what made me excited that year was because I just celebrated my fifteenth birthday on the seventh of July. And sometime during the summer, I would be receiving the invitation to take the entrance exam for the Imperial Academy. I would finally be able to see Azte and be with my older brothers and sisters!

The Celestine Manor was bustling since everyone was back. At the same time, the four human settlements were celebrating the summer festival that week. And with the use of the teleportation formations, anyone could visit the settlements anytime they wanted. Non-local guests would also visit to celebrate it with us, so it was a very lively occasion. Of course, with the festivity, it would attract the attention of monsters from the surroundings, so warriors had to be more alert and the barriers around the settlements were strengthened. At the same time, other intelligent creatures like elves, fairies, nature spirits, demi-humans and many more would join in. The people of Celestine territory were open-minded that way. And we were all very excited about it. It was one of the few times a year where we get to relax. Unfortunately, fate had other plans.

Two days before the festival, the emperor's envoy arrived and informed us of a problem.

"A dungeon break?!" we all exclaimed.

Dungeons are the birthplace of monsters. Raiding or clearing one will let a person earn money, fame and magical items. Dungeon breaks happen when the barrier around the dungeon suddenly gets destroyed and monsters from inside goes out and cause all sorts of trouble. It's quite a rare occurrence and it usually happens when a strong dungeon had been cleared but the envoy said that the dungeon where the dungeon break occurred was never cleared.

"Then how the hell did that happen?" asked Eliza.

"We're not sure either. The dungeon break happened to the closest most dangerous dungeon from the capital. And because of this, nearby monsters are also acting up." the envoy explained. "The emperor has deployed the army and the magic knights to make a line of defense and has sent men to venture the perimeter."

"Any possibilities of the monsters heading to nearby towns and provinces?" asked Edmund.

"No Young Master Edmund. All the monsters seem to be heading to Azte as we speak. We believe they will reach the defense line tomorrow noon. The emperor requests the support of the Celestine family to help the empire solve this dilemma."

All our heads turned to Aunt Zaira who kept a cool face the whole time. There was also Torii, but she had been learning how to copy emotions and she could somehow read the mood now, so she didn't look uncaring like our matriarch.

"Sure. As long as nobody argues."

"Thank you very much archduchess. I shall return to the capital as soon as possible." the envoy said.

"Let's go together. Get your gears." ordered Aunt Zaira.

""Yes Aunt Zaira!""

Dealing with monsters had always been the specialty of the immediate members of the Celestine Family and those that follow Aunt Zaira. After all, we lived in a monster-infested land where monsters would appear on one's path almost every five minutes. I equipped my gear which was a customized set of black clothing made from flexible and strong materials. Since I tend to move around a lot when fighting, I submitted my own design to Aunt Zaira. I also designed a belt which had two mini-sized bags enchanted with spatial magic to store many things including food, weapon and necessities. I had my own inventory but having a bag was more convenient. It was especially much easier to avoid suspicion since people who had their personal inventory was rare. I also had a red cloak which doubled as extra protection from various attacks and from being stabbed.

I couldn't help but whistle at the sight of the others when we gathered again. Edmund was equipped with a white armor and a white cloak, and his sword was strapped on his back. Sebastian was wearing a dark purple armor which was obviously lighter that Edmund's since he specialized in speed. He was also wearing a cloak of the same color as his armor and his sword was strapped on his hip. Zach was wearing dark blue armor which also looked light, paired with a dark blue cloak. His spear was strapped to his back. Eliza was wearing a light blue dress which had two slits at the front which showed off her long legs. Of course, she was wearing a pair of light blue pants which was Edmund's idea. A light blue cloak also hugged her slim figure. Lastly, Torii was wearing light green clothes. Like mine, it was customized for her so she would be able to move around. She was also wearing a light green cloak.

Our cloaks were actually a gift from Aunt Zaira. She gave it to us on our fifteenth birthday. She was the one who enchanted it so it was definitely of the best quality.

Aunt Zaira was wearing a mage's outfit for a change. It was a white one-piece fitting dress that only reached her knees with a black leather armor that covered her right shoulder and chest. It was equipped with a belt where a bag twice the size of mine was attached behind her. A pair of black boots that reached just below her knees completed her gear. She had no cloak on, but it was nothing to worry about. I don't think she would even worry about blood splatter despite the color of her clothes.

"Looking at you guys, remind me of power rangers." I heard Aunt Zaira comment.

"Power… What's that?" asked Eliza, but the archduchess just smiled and shrugged her shoulder. It meant, 'It's for me to know and for you guys to ponder.'

We just dropped it.

"Luna, did you bring enough medicinal pills? We may not have enough healers in the frontlines. Eliza and I could do that but we would be fighting as well. You can distribute that to the wounded."

"I brought a lot auntie."

Some of the things Aunt Zaira taught me the past few years other than hand-to-hand combat, sword fighting and mystic arts techniques were medicine, acupuncture and pill refining. I had never heard of pill refining nor acupuncture before, but she said pill refining had the same principle as alchemists use to make various potions. Mine were just in solid form unlike the regular liquid ones. Meanwhile acupuncture was using certain spots/points in the body that when pressed has some sort of effect in the body. For example, there was an acupuncture point on the neck that could make one unconscious, another could make one immobile and various ones could make one lose their senses. It was like casting magic, except there was no magic needed.

It was interesting so I learned both easily. It was also amazing since I could use acupuncture in treating someone. The only complicated one was when using the needles.

Back to the situation…

"Good. Let's go. I'll teleport us there."

A few seconds later, we arrived in front of a command tent. Soldiers were scurrying around and I could feel an ominous aura in the air.

"I'll enter the tent, you kids scout the area."

We all followed her orders and spread out. And since Torii and I were the ones who could fly, me in a sense, we scouted the sky around the area. I immediately called Vyfal to aid me on my scouting. Vyfal could travel at a high speed. To be more precise, she had the ability to bend the space and time around her so it would seem like she could travel at the speed of sound. But it was only applicable if she did not have anyone riding her. She arrived a few seconds later and I immediately started to look around.

A few minutes later, our scouting finished and we did not see any flying monsters so it was safe to assume there would be no aerial attacks. We met up again in front of the command tent where Aunt Zaira was already waiting for us. We immediately reported our findings in which she nodded her head. We were then led to a tent not that far from the command tent. Along the way, I could hear soldiers whisper about us and most of their topic was not exactly positive. I could understand them though the support team was after all a bunch of kids.

Although I wondered why Aunt Zaira did not bring any of her men? When I did ask her, her answer was:

"Eliza. Edmund, Sebastian and Zach are more suited for this kind of occasions. Meanwhile think of this as a debut for you and Torii.

'Debut? But I'm not even eighteen yet?' was my thought.

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