Inside the dead silent mansion, frozen by the effects of time manipulation, the footsteps of three men echoed, shattering the silence.
Thomas walked at the very front, guiding the way with a blank stare yet harboring a million burning hopes. Behind him, Calian and Wolvin followed without lowering their vigilance in the slightest.
Upon arriving in front of a door, they halted their steps.
Thomas turned to Calian, who stood calmly behind him. "This is my office. Let us go in!"
Without waiting for approval, the man pressed the doorknob and pushed the door open, then stepped inside, immediately followed by Calian and Wolvin.
Inside the fairly spacious room, there were several ceiling-high shelves filled with various thick books and scrolls of important documents. A set of soft leather sofas for receiving guests of honor was neatly arranged in the corner of the room, while an incredibly large and sturdy wooden desk dominated the central area.
Without wasting time, Thomas walked straight toward the large desk. He exerted his remaining strength, placed his hands on the edge of the desk, and pushed it with all his might, producing a heavy, grating sound of wood scraping against the floor.
Once the desk was completely shifted from its position, Calian and Wolvin could see an anomaly on the wooden floor. There was a neatly cut square section, resembling a flat hatch door specifically designed as a secret passage leading to the basement.
"Is that where you keep all the documents?"
"Yes, I placed everything in there." the man answered without the slightest doubt on his face.
At that exact same time, Calian's brain suddenly recalled a crucial piece of information mentioned by the leader of the kidnappers when they were in the underground prison.
The existence of an enslaved alchemist who created the anti-magic and mana suppression cuffs.
"Tell me!" Calian said suddenly, his cold voice cutting off Thomas's intention to open the floor door. "Where is the person who made the anti-magic and mana cuffs worn by my spouse?"
Hearing the question thrown so specifically, Thomas gasped softly. He finally realized that one of his foolish subordinates must have leaked the information about the alchemist's whereabouts to them.
However, Thomas knew very well that he was no longer in a position to hide anything. Moreover, the purple-haired youth currently with him was the only key capable of turning back time and resurrecting his entire family.
If I try to lie and do not tell him, he could simply cancel the deal. My wife and children will never be resurrected, and my bloodline will be wiped out tonight. Thomas thought, filled with a despair that tightly bound his neck.
Realizing his position where he could truly do nothing else, Thomas chose to state it honestly.
"He is inside a room located on the second floor of this mansion."
"Once I retrieve the documents and verify their authenticity, I will take that alchemist with me." Calian stated his intention with an intimidating gaze. "You don't mind, do you?"
"I don't mind!" Thomas replied quickly without hesitation. "You can take that slave wherever you want as long as you keep your promise to me!"
Calian nodded in satisfaction at the answer coming out of the man's mouth.
"Very well, we have a deal. Now, open that floor door!" Calian ordered. "I want to retrieve those documents immediately before morning comes."
Thomas nodded in understanding. He bent his body, felt for a small gap in the wooden board, then reached for and pulled a hidden lever located on the floor door.
With a smooth mechanical click, the hatch door opened upward. Once fully open, Calian and Wolvin could see a dark hollow space with a flight of wooden stairs leading directly to the underground area.
Thomas walked toward the large desk he had previously moved, picked up a magic lantern resting on top of it, and turned it on with a slight flow of mana.
The bright light from the lantern instantly illuminated the area around them.
Not wanting to waste any more precious time and in order to reunite with his wife and children as quickly as possible, the man urged the two youths to descend the stairs immediately.
The three of them began to step down the stairs. The pitch-black darkness surrounding them was immediately driven away by the bright light from the magic lantern carried by Thomas.
At the end of the wooden stairs, their footsteps halted. Their path was completely blocked by a tightly shut iron door.
However, in the middle of the iron door, a panel was carved displaying twelve small, protruding magic stone squares arranged very neatly. The arrangement formed a grid pattern: three squares stretching to the right, and four rows going down.
Thomas stepped closer to the door. He raised his right hand toward the panel containing the twelve squares, then began to press the squares specifically and randomly, starting by pressing the fifth square and followed by pressing the eighth square.
"Why are you pressing those squares randomly and not in order?" Calian asked curiously, his eyes carefully observing every movement of Thomas's fingers.
"These squares are not decorations, but a complex combination lock that will open this safe of mine." Thomas answered, explaining the mechanism on the door. "If you press even one wrong square, its defense system will activate immediately. This door will instantly knock the intruder unconscious with a very powerful magical lightning shock attack from the floor they stand on, and warning alarms will automatically ring throughout the entire mansion area."
After pressing square number five, Thomas's hand kept moving to press square number twelve, eleven, one, and ended with the number seven.
Click!
A metallic clicking sound was heard from within the thick steel structure.
Grrkkk...
The iron door opened automatically, revealing a storage room behind it.
Seeing how the iron door operated so sophisticatedly, Calian and Wolvin fell silent. The two of them felt truly amazed, never expecting to see a masterpiece with a security system that was not only incredibly strong but also highly practical.
"Who made this iron door?" Calian asked curiously.
"The enslaved alchemist I mentioned earlier." Thomas answered briefly. "He is the one who designed and built the entire security system for this underground safe."
Hearing the man's answer, Calian became incredibly eager to meet the great alchemist and see his face. He was highly ambitious to recruit him personally and make him an alchemist working under the auspices and protection of the empire.
"Let us go inside!" Thomas urged, which instantly pulled the purple-haired youth's consciousness back to reality and their current situation.
Calian immediately nodded in agreement to Thomas's prompt, prioritizing settling the matter of the documents first before morning arrived.