On the second floor of the mansion, Calian and Wolvin moved along the hallway to find where the enslaved alchemist was locked up.
Through the large glass windows lining the hallway, the night sky began to show signs of the changing hour. A very faint bluish hue started creeping across the eastern horizon.
Witnessing that, the married couple instinctively quickened their pace a little before dawn truly broke.
When they arrived at the first room's door...
Click!
Wolvin pressed the doorknob and pushed the door open. His eyes quickly scanned every corner of the room. However, there was no one inside. The room was merely an empty, luxurious bedroom.
Seeing that they did not find the person they were looking for, they wasted no time. Wolvin closed the door again, and they continued their search to the next room.
At the second door, the result remained the same. It was also the same when they opened the third, fourth, and fifth doors. All of them were completely empty and unoccupied.
Wolvin's steps slowed slightly. The Night Wolf youth turned to his husband with a slightly furrowed brow.
"Darling, did that man named Thomas lie to us in his final moments?" Wolvin asked suspiciously.
"I don't think so." Calian replied calmly, his eyes continuing to watch the row of doors ahead of them. "In a state filled with despair and the fear of losing his family, he didn't have the mental capacity to tell a lie. It is better if we keep searching until the end of this mansion's corridor."
Trusting his husband's instincts and analysis, Wolvin nodded and quickened his pace once more.
When they finally arrived at the end of the hallway, there was a tightly shut door, slightly separated from the rest of the rooms. Calian and Wolvin looked at each other for a moment. Through a glance, they agreed. Wolvin nodded, then placed his hand on the doorknob.
Click!
Unexpectedly, the door was not locked at all and could be opened very easily, confirming Thomas's earlier words that the alchemist's prison was not a room, but the collar around his neck.
Wasting no time, the two of them immediately stepped into the room.
And there, right on the bed located in the corner of the room, sat a handsome brown-haired man.
The man wore simple clothes with a black collar around his neck. His face was bowed, staring blankly at his palms. His face displayed a very dense expression of despair, looking like someone lamenting his cruel fate as a slave.
However, the brown-haired man's body was not moving at all, absolutely frozen due to the stasis authority effect of Calian's [Time Loop] blessing that still enveloped the entire mansion area.
Calian looked at him carefully for a few seconds, then made a decision.
"I will carry this man on my shoulder and take him away from here right now!"
Hearing what his husband had just said, Wolvin spontaneously turned his head. He looked at Calian's face with a sense of wonder and disbelief.
"Carry him on your shoulder?"
"Yes!" Calian answered firmly, stepping closer to the edge of the bed. "We don't have much time left. Dawn will break soon."
Realizing that his husband's argument was highly logical, and considering their time was running very short without any better options, Wolvin could only nod in agreement.
After getting his spouse's approval, Calian immediately stood right in front of the alchemist. Once he was close enough, he briefly glanced at the frozen man's face.
"Alright, let us make this a bit easier." he said softly.
Calian then raised his right hand, aimed his palm directly at the brown-haired man's body, and focused his time authority.
"Reversion!"
Instantly, a very faint purplish glow enveloped the alchemist's body. Right in front of Wolvin, the adult man's body shrank at an absurd speed. His bone structure shortened, his muscles reduced in size, and his adult face turned round and innocent.
With his absolute 'Reversion' authority, Calian had reversed the man's biological flow of time, turning his age back into the figure of a six-year-old boy. His clothes, which had fit perfectly before, now looked incredibly oversized, drowning his tiny body.
However, the slave collar around the man's neck also shrank to match the size of its user.
Seeing what his husband had just done, Wolvin felt amused at himself for forgetting such a simple thing.
Ah... how could I forget that my husband is the possessor of the [Time Loop] blessing? Wolvin thought with an uncontainable faint smile. I should not have questioned his decision to carry the man's body.
On the other side of the room, Calian felt very advantaged by the man's initial position, sitting listlessly on the edge of the bed. Because his tiny knees were already bent, he could easily slip his hands under and lift the child's body, then place him comfortably over his right shoulder as if carrying a small sack of wheat.
Once the little man's body was safely positioned on his shoulder, Calian turned around and approached his spouse.
"Come, let us leave this place immediately!"
Wolvin nodded in agreement. The sooner they left, the less likely they were to be seen by the residents or guards of Gias City starting their morning patrols while Calian carried the alchemist along the streets.
With a fairly quick pace, the married couple went back through the second-floor corridor, then descended the stairs and walked across the first floor of the mansion.
However, right before they arrived at the door leading directly to the mansion's backyard, Calian suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Wolvin, who always adjusted to his rhythm of movement, spontaneously halted his steps right beside his husband.
"Why did you suddenly stop, Darling? Is there any evidence or something left behind in this mansion?" Wolvin asked to make sure.
"No, nothing is left behind. Everything is sorted out." Calian replied as he adjusted the position of the little child on his shoulder. "I just wanted to share the details of my plan with you before we step outside and I revoke my stasis authority."
Wolvin focused his attention and listened. "What is your plan?"
"The moment we walk out of this door, the two of us must return to our original positions, exactly when you were hugging me from behind." Calian said, detailing his plan. "We must act as if nothing happened so that those affected by my stasis effect will never know that we disappeared and searched the inside of this mansion."
Wolvin nodded in agreement with what his husband had planned.
"But, what about that man on your shoulder?" asked Wolvin, not wanting all of his husband's plans to fall apart. "And what about the corpses of the kidnappers and soldiers scattered in the yard?"
"When we go out, I will place this man's body inside the wagons. After that, I will cancel my stasis. Once the yard is empty, I will retrieve this alchemist's body from the wagon, and then we will go together to Eralio's residence."
Calian then looked intently into his spouse's eyes. "And as for those I killed earlier... you are tasked with storing all their corpses into your dimensional storage necklace."
Hearing the task given by his husband, Wolvin nodded in understanding. His trust in Calian was far greater than his doubts regarding the capacity of the dimensional storage necklace hanging around his neck.
"Okay, I understand! Let us go outside and execute your plan immediately!"
"Yes, let's go!"
The married couple resumed their steps, opened the door, and stepped out of the mansion into the backyard, the place where dozens of kidnapped people were still standing frozen within the stasis authority of his [Time Loop].