"Your Highness!"
At that moment, Panis and Quinn, who had been waiting near the entrance, hurried over as well.
Panis looked at Luke with concern. "Are you alright?"
"No," Luke said. The word exhausted might as well have been written across his face. He looked around at the ruined vault hall and rubbed his aching shoulder. "I've used up all the energy I had for the next month in one night."
Hearing that, Panis lowered her head, her face full of apology. "I'm sorry, Your Highness... I..."
She opened her mouth, but for a moment she did not even know where to begin.
There was simply too much she needed to explain.
Luke looked at her and said, "Start with why you were sneaking out in the middle of the night."
Panis glanced at the Redemption in her hand. Its light was now so dim it was almost gone. Her eyes trembled faintly, and she said softly, "Do you remember the story I told you that day?"
Luke nodded.
"The great healer placed part of her power into a treasure called Redemption. Later, Redemption was bestowed upon my ancestor, but one day it was lost."
Panis tightened her grip around Redemption and continued, "Only now do I know it wasn't lost. It was sealed here."
Luke had recognized Redemption at a glance.
Putting the story together in his mind, the first person he thought of was that horned, violet-skinned healer.
It was almost certainly the Starchild, Soraka.
Quinn spoke up then. "So you and your uncle were trying to recover Redemption and take it back?"
"Eventually, even we began treating Redemption as just a legend and gave up looking for it." Panis did not answer directly. Instead, a trace of sorrow appeared in her eyes. "A year ago, my father suddenly fell gravely ill. We tried many different methods, but none of them worked."
"At that point, Marta came to us and said she had found Redemption's location through astrological magic. Her family had served the Granlott royal family for many years, so we didn't suspect anything."
"My father's illness has lasted for a full year now, and it's almost impossible to hide any longer. Granlott's political situation has become unstable because of it. My uncle and I were desperate to restore my father's health and steady the situation. The moment we learned this news, we immediately brought her to Demacia."
When she reached that point, Panis lifted her head again and looked at Luke apologetically. "Even though we knew what it meant to secretly bring a mage into Demacian territory, we still did it. I'm sorry."
Luke heard her out and said, "You can explain that part to my father in a little while."
Right now, he was just trying to sort out the full sequence of events.
The reason Panis and Dupont had spent these past few days searching for Redemption was to use it to heal the gravely ill king of Granlott.
And from the fact that they had clashed with Marta over releasing the shield, it was clear that their intentions had been simple enough.
But that Marta was obviously no good.
At that moment, Luke's gaze dropped to the object in Panis's hand. He noticed that Redemption had gone from the brilliant multicolored jewel it had been moments ago to something that now looked almost no different from an ordinary stone.
He spoke up. "This Redemption..."
Panis gave a bitter smile. "It can't be used anymore."
Luke fell silent for a moment. He knew she had used its one remaining chance on the Darkin.
If she had not bought him those ten seconds, he probably never would have found that long sword lying in the wreckage of the chaotic hall, the one that held part of the Darkin's power.
But that also meant her father had likely lost his only remaining chance to be healed.
"I made that choice myself." Panis looked at Luke and gave him a gentle smile. "If not for you, Your Highness, my uncle and I would probably have gone on being used by Marta. Even Redemption would have been taken by her."
Luke looked at her and said, "When we get back, I'll see if I can think of something."
Just then, a rapid series of footsteps sounded from outside.
Very soon, one squad after another of silver-armored Dauntless Vanguard soldiers rushed in with weapons in hand.
Valor flapped in through the entrance and landed on Quinn's shoulder.
When the soldiers saw the wrecked hall, as well as Luke, Panis, Quinn, and the unconscious Dupont, they all paused for a moment in surprise.
Luke looked at them and said, "The situation's been handled. Sorry to make all of you come out here in the middle of the night."
"No, this is our duty."
One of the captains answered, then asked in confusion, "Your Highness, what happened here?"
At that moment, the Vanguard soldiers behind him stepped aside of their own accord and made way for a figure striding in.
Luke looked at the newcomer and greeted her with an innocent smile. "Good evening, Aunt."
"Evening?"
Tianna raised a brow and looked like she wanted to smack him on the spot. "Take a look at the time first, would you?"
She had been sleeping soundly when a bird woke her up, and she was not exactly in the best mood because of it.
But after reading the short message Quinn had left, she had immediately gotten up, gathered the Dauntless Vanguard, and hurried straight here.
Now, looking at the devastation all around them, the countless marks of battle, and the corpse lying there with its heart pierced through, Tianna frowned.
A fierce fight had obviously taken place here, and as she took in the hall itself, she muttered, "There's a place like this near the capital?"
Truthfully, even she had no idea what this hall was or where it had come from. She had never heard of it before.
As she spoke, she glanced at Panis and the unconscious Dupont. Her brow remained furrowed, and a strange look entered her eyes.
"You lot, clear this place out."
She gave the order to the surrounding soldiers first, then turned to Luke. "Now explain everything properly."
With that command given, the Dauntless Vanguard soldiers immediately began cleaning through the hall at speed.
Meanwhile, Luke stood at Tianna's side and explained the full chain of events from beginning to end.
Panis stood nearby, quiet and timid, not daring to interrupt. She knew that at this point, there was no hiding anything anymore.
And thinking about what would come next, she began to feel truly uneasy.
She and her uncle had secretly brought a mage into Demacia and caused an incident and commotion like this.
Would they be punished for it?
And if they were, then they would deserve it...
"So Granlott's internal political situation is in bad shape now?"
After hearing everything, Tianna did not look angry. She simply turned to Panis and asked.
"Yes." Panis nodded and replied, "Half a year after my father fell ill, we began to notice that the nobles in various regions were becoming more restless. Government officials and nobles began moving more closely together. Harmful rumors spread everywhere, and worst of all, it began affecting the people as well."
Just from hearing that much, Tianna could already picture the sort of situation Granlott was in.
Though whether it was precisely that bad still needed to be confirmed.
The Granlott royal family had been keeping the news suppressed, but the fragments that Demacia's envoys stationed there had been sending back over the past year were enough to suggest that this was most likely true.
Then Tianna's eyes moved to the shield that Luke still had pinned beneath his foot. "You're saying some terrifying monster was released from inside this shield?"
"Yeah. Scared the hell out of me."
As he spoke, Luke stepped on it again. "I nearly died sealing it back up."
Tianna said nothing, but kept her gaze fixed on Luke.
Luke frowned. "You're not telling me you don't believe me, are you, Aunt?"
"No, that part I do believe." Tianna smiled slightly. From the battle damage in the hall alone, she could already tell what kind of fight he had just gone through.
The reason she was staring at him like that was because she was surprised at how much stronger he had gotten again.
Then she said, "Move. Let me take a look."
Luke trusted that Tianna's willpower was more than strong enough that she wouldn't be tempted by the shield, so he stepped aside.
Besides, he had not heard the Darkin's voice from inside it for a little while now.
It probably knew by this point that some people simply could not be tempted.
If a Darkin wanted to connect with a host, that host had to first pick up the weapon.
That was why they tempted people with weak wills into taking hold of their weapons, allowing them to be reborn.
But someone with a strong will naturally would not be easily lured.
Once Luke moved aside, Tianna did not pick the shield up. Instead, she crouched and placed a hand on its surface first.
Then her brows slowly drew together.
She did not hear the tempting voice Luke had described.
But the instant she touched the shield, she did feel a deeply unsettling aura, something profoundly wrong.
That aura even stirred a flicker of fear in her.
Tianna's brow knit tighter at once.
This vault felt more like a prison built to seal that shield away.
According to Panis, the entrance had originally been protected by a seal left by a very powerful mage.
Even with the key to open the vault's door, they still had to undo that seal first.
And Marta had just happened to know the spell needed to remove it.
Looking at all those details together, it was clear that the Granlott royal family must once have had some connection to this vault long ago.
As for what had happened afterward, there was no way to know yet.
That would have to wait for a later investigation.
After standing back up, Tianna drew her weapon with a clear metallic ring, a longsword with a crossguard.
Looking at the shield, she raised the sword high and then brought it down in one fierce strike.
A flash of sharp sword-light sliced through the air.
In the next second, a thunderous clang exploded through the hall.
The piercing crash of steel on steel rang throughout the entire chamber. The air around the shield shook for an instant, a shockwave burst outward, and cracks instantly spread across the floor in every direction.
Yet after such an extraordinary strike, the shield remained completely untouched, without even the slightest ordinary scratch.
"It really is hard."
Tianna had no intention of striking it a second time. She sheathed her sword and looked at Luke. "What are you planning to do with this shield?"
Luke thought for a moment and replied, "For now, probably the same thing that was done before. Wrap it up with petricite chains again."
From the fact that even beings as godlike as the Aspects had only sealed the Darkin inside their weapons, instead of sealing them and then destroying the weapons afterward, it was pretty obvious that Darkin weapons were extremely hard to destroy.
And if that was true in general, then this shield-type Darkin would be even harder to get rid of.
So continuing the seal was probably the only real option.
It could tempt human minds, which meant it had to be kept far away from people.
Demacia obviously could not just irresponsibly toss away a shield like this and pretend it was no longer a problem.
"Then that's what we'll do."
Tianna nodded. It really was the only practical option.
"Marshal, Your Highness, the hall has been cleared."
At that point, the Dauntless Vanguard soldiers had already cleaned out the chamber and arranged the undamaged treasures from the hall before Tianna and Luke.
Among them, one particularly strange cloak caught Luke's eye.
It was grayish violet, and even after being left in a place like this for so many years, it showed no sign of rotting.
The material looked as new as if it had just been made.
There was also a faint pattern carved across it, and woven into that pattern was a short line of text that looked like a spell.
On the front of the cloak, around the chest, was a symbol.
Inside a diamond-shaped frame sat something black, almost like an eye.
It was a mark, and the moment Luke saw it, he immediately thought of what it represented.
The Veiled Lady.
As for Tianna, looking at the treasures laid out before her, she had the distinct feeling that this whole trip had turned out to have unexpected benefits after all.
Suddenly, staying awake this late in the middle of the night did not seem like such a waste.
"The hall can be investigated properly tomorrow." Tianna glanced over the collection, then withdrew her gaze and gave her orders. "Aiken, you and your team will guard this place. And do not let anyone get near that shield, including yourself. The Mageseekers will come deal with it later."
"Everyone else, return to the capital."
"Yes, Marshal!"
Aiken immediately stepped forward and accepted the order.
Then he and his squad took up position at the cave entrance.
The rest of the soldiers gathered the treasures recovered from the hall and began the return to the capital.
At three-thirty in the morning, inside the palace, the now-awake Dupont stood with his head lowered in shame.
"Your Majesty, I offer my deepest apologies for my secrecy and for the trouble this has caused. I was the one who trusted the wrong person, and I am willing to accept punishment under Demacian law. But I hope that, for the sake of the friendship between our two nations, Your Majesty will spare Panis."
King Jarvan III, who had already heard the full account of what had happened, sat there without looking particularly stern. He looked down at Dupont and said, "You yourself just said that Demacia and Granlott have enjoyed a long-standing friendship. In that case, why would I punish you over this? Let the matter end here. There is no need to raise it again."
Hearing him say that only made Dupont feel more ashamed.
Panis could not help but steal a glance upward at the king, never expecting to be forgiven so easily.
"I only hope that next time, you will place greater trust in Demacia's character. A matter like this could have been brought to us much sooner."
Jarvan III was not especially angry that Dupont had kept the matter hidden and taken private action.
As the ruler of a nation, he understood full well how many things in a situation like this could not be openly spoken of.
"I am deeply concerned by and sympathetic to Klier's condition."
Jarvan III fell silent in thought for two seconds, then said, "Given Granlott's unstable political situation, Demacia is willing to dispatch two thousand elite soldiers to help you stabilize matters."
At those words, Dupont looked up in complete surprise, then hurriedly said, "Thank you, Your Majesty."
In that moment, he felt even more ashamed than before.
Jarvan III had not only forgiven what they had done in Demacia, he was also willing to send two thousand elite troops to stabilize Granlott's situation.
And yet they had chosen not to trust Demacia.
"It's late. Go get some rest first. We can discuss the details after you've slept."
Jarvan III noticed Luke yawning so much he looked ready to collapse, so he decided the rest could wait until daylight.
Soon afterward, Dupont and Panis were escorted back to Granlott's envoy residence.
Luke also took his leave and headed straight home.
That left only Jarvan III and Tianna in the hall.
The two discussed the matter briefly, then Tianna also left the palace.
There really was not much else to debate about tonight.
Dupont and Panis were both members of Granlott's royal family. Even if Demacia did decide to impose some punishment over what had happened, it would never be too severe.
On the contrary, it would be wiser to think about whether anything could be done to help with the friendly king's illness and Granlott's political instability.
After all, if Granlott's regime changed hands, there was no guarantee that its friendly relationship with Demacia would continue.
Looking at it that way, Dupont and Panis's intentions had not been malicious.
They had simply been used by Marta.
Though because of it, Demacia had ended up gaining several treasures.
As for the vault itself, that would need more investigation later.
Outside, the sky was still dark.
But it was already nearing five in the morning.
And Luke, dragging his exhausted body around, still had not gone to sleep.
At that moment, inside his room, he was studying the sword he had picked up from the underground vault.
In his eyes, the snow-white blade seemed to give off a sharp, icy edge.
He picked it up and felt its weight again, then laid it back on the table and frowned slightly.
He had not noticed it before, but on the way home it had occurred to him that he should take a careful look at the sword, and it did not take long before he discovered what was wrong.
This weapon was draining his strength.
Back when his own sword had shattered against the shield, Luke had immediately widened the distance.
Panis had bought time with Redemption, and during that moment he had spotted this long blade in a pile of shattered rubble and picked it up.
The first thing he noticed was that the feel and weight of it were both excellent.
Then, over the next few strikes, Luke discovered that the sword seemed to contain part of the Darkin's power.
That made it obvious that there had to be some kind of connection between the two.
As for the quality of the sword, there was nothing to complain about. Even after hundreds of years, it remained as sharp as ever, and there was no sign of decay on it at all. It looked like a weapon that had only just been forged.
But the problem now was that it seemed to absorb the strength of whoever used it.
That was a pretty serious flaw.
After all, if you got drained dry by your own weapon halfway through a fight, then what the hell were you supposed to do?
Maybe that was the real reason this sword had been left in the vault.
If that was the case, Luke could not use it casually.
He looked at it once more and figured he would need to think of some way to solve that problem.
But right now his brain already felt like mush from exhaustion.
He pulled his gaze away, did not even bother taking off his clothes, and simply dropped onto the bed.
Not long after, he was asleep.
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