Lucian turned to her. Though he now knew she was a demon according to the voice, she didn't act anything like a demon should. She acted more like a human child. From what he knew, demons were meant to be wild and vile without any sense of reason. Well, probably only strong demons acted like this.
"No, but we have to leave for the dining hall and have breakfast there," he replied.
She nodded, then came close to him and gave him a peck on his cheek before putting her head on his lap, as he was still sitting on the bed.
He looked down before asking, "What was that for?"
"Nothing really, daddy. Just felt like giving you a kiss. Or don't you want a kiss from your daughter? Wahh!" She started making sobbing sounds like she was about to cry.
Lucian's expression didn't change much. He just looked at her. After a while, he said, "It's fine, don't worry about it."
Then he used his hands to pat her head, in the process using them as a comb to smooth her hair, feeling how soft it was. He touched his own hair, feeling the softness, and started to think. After a while, he shrugged his shoulders, not bothering to linger on it because he heard a knock on the door before it opened and Aria came in with Damian.
As soon as Aria saw what Lucian was doing to Aurora, she frowned and gave a death glare at the girl. Aurora, feeling the gaze, turned to Aria with a smirk on her lips before rubbing her head on Lucian's lap without bothering with Aria again. Aria, seeing all this, replied with, "Hmph," and didn't say anything more.
Damian, who entered, noticed all these episodes but didn't make any comment. He just said to Lucian, "Captain, Aria said you wanted to see me."
Lucian replied with a nod before saying, "Someone sent you a gift. Care to explain?"
On a normal occasion, he wouldn't care what Damian received or what he got. They had just arrived all the way from the forest together, and Damian receiving a gift as soon as they came into the city seemed too coincidental. So Lucian wanted to know how they would cover their tracks without messing anything up.
Aria presented the gift to Damian, who received it cautiously. When he saw the pendant, his face paled. "That's... that's my family crest, but it's been altered."
"Altered how?" Lucian asked, while Aria just kept staring at them. Even Aurora looked interested, still enjoying Lucian's pats. Throughout all this, Lucian didn't stop patting her hair.
"The normal Rufus crest is gold with blue inlay. This one is inverted—blue with gold inlay. It's a warning," Damian replied, his voice growing grim. "It means someone in my family is compromised."
"Your grandfather?" Lucian asked.
"No, he would never," Damian replied. Then he hesitated before saying, "But my father might. He has always been ambitious, always seeking more power and influence. Even being an earl, I can say we are on the top list of those believed to have been the greatest supporters of the kingdom."
Lucian frowned, considering this information before saying, "Could your father be connected to the underground laboratory where we were held?"
"I don't know," Damian said after a while. Then he added, "But if I were to say, it would explain why they had such information about noble children. How else would they have known exactly when and where to kidnap me, especially when my grandfather is mostly around?"
Lucian nodded. You might be able to escape the mana sense of an Arcanist, but an Ether Lord was something else entirely, especially with his grandfather at solid core stage. So this had to be a bigger play than they had assumed.
"Hopefully your grandfather comes with your mother, because if that doesn't happen, things are going to get pretty messed up," Lucian said.
"What should we do now, Captain? This crest held a warning. They probably already know where we are, wanting to scare us out," Damian asked.
"Even if they come now, they won't be able to touch us," Lucian replied. "From what I can tell, that centaur woman has more connections than I first thought. I had my doubts about why your grandfather would come here and why a centaur at Arcanist stage would be working as a bartender when there are mostly jobs for awakeners at that stage that pay more. And from the lack of mortals in this inn, I came to a conclusion: there's someone as strong as your grandfather, or even stronger than him, and that's what's keeping them at bay without them rushing in and acting as they please."
Aria and Damian had their eyes and mouths open wide.
"So boss, you mean—" Damian started.
"Yes, there's an Ether Lord or awakener of an even higher stage in this inn," Lucian completed.
They both sucked in air while Aurora nodded, simply impressed that he had come up with all these conclusions after just being here one night.
"For now, act normal, like you normally act. Make it seem like you didn't get the message. I want to see what they're going to do. If push comes to shove, I might just look for a way to get in contact with the Ether Lord and have them deal with this for us. But that would disrupt the plans I have for them. And avoid saying anything to anyone, even the others. We will play along with their game, but for now, we've got to be the prey, meaning we have to be the ones doing the hiding. That's all. I will come down to join you at the dining hall in a bit."
After Damian and Aria left—not without Aria turning back and giving a glare to Aurora before exiting the room—during all this process, Lucian was still patting Aurora's hair.
After a while, he heard Aurora say, "Daddy is very clever."
He looked at her without any change in his expression before asking, "What makes you say that?"
Then she giggled before saying, "Hehehe, it's like you're weaving a web, catching everyone in your threads, like that centaur woman, Damian's family, and even me." She giggled before saying, "It's all fun to watch, hehehe."
"What makes you think I caught you?" Lucian asked.
She didn't reply. Instead, she just giggled before saying, "Can we go have breakfast now, daddy? I'm starving."
Lucian didn't reply. He stood up, holding her in his arms, left the room, and headed downstairs to join the others. The inn was crowded as always, with noise all around. He didn't bother to look around; he was only trying to find a particular scent, but he couldn't find it.
Then he went to where the others were. He smelled their scents coming from a large table. As he got closer, he could hear the twins whispering and the sound of Jake devouring his food with enthusiasm. He could feel Julia's gaze on him. Her room and the twins' room were close to his, so she probably heard Sarah's moans since they were close to her wall. Not like he cared.
He simply found a seat and sat down. Before he could say anything, he heard Jake say with mouthfuls of food between, "Munch... hmm, boss... munch... The innkeeper said there's a festival in the city today. Something about honoring the city's founding. Maybe we should check it out?"
Lucian nodded. After thinking, he asked, "When is it starting?"
"It probably starts at noon," Jake replied.
Lucian thought this was a perfect cover-up. At least this would be able to cover up his plan.
Then he turned to Damian, saying, "Do you know of any merchant guild around here?"
Damian thought for a moment before replying, "Yes, but it depends on what we are going there for."
As Lucian was about to reply, he smelled a particular scent he was expecting. It seemed Sarah had shown up but was keeping her distance, probably watching them. He didn't show much expression on his face, just acted normal.
Then he looked at Aria before saying, "You will go with Damian and Julia to the merchant guild to sell the Tidejaw corpse of the Arcane Fang beast we got, and also change your clothes. I don't know what you're wearing, but we all need something different. Damian should bring me any clothes that fit him. We both have the same body shape, with him being a bit taller than me. As soon as the festival starts, the twins will stay with me."
She nodded after a while and quickly replied, "Yes, I understand."