The Stonehearted Knight
Chapter 357: The empty rooms

Chapter 357: The empty rooms

"Elemental Serpents? I only know about Shadow Serpents."

Jonathan looked from Elize to Hex and then back to Elize. He displayed complete ignorance about such creatures.

Hex observed from up close yet couldn’t find a reason to doubt him. He even reconsidered suspecting the man for the incident with the Lava Bat. For a brief moment.

Elize, having failed to trace the beasts, had decided to seek the help of Jonathan. There were two reasons for her to do so. First, Jonathan was the head of the Guardians and was in command of the camp. Any thorough search would require his permission.

Although she was stronger than him, his rank demanded respect. As a Wrixian, Elize couldn’t step over certain boundaries.

Second, by informing him she informed the Guardians stationed in and around the camp. It would help raise awareness and create a line of defense against the thief. Even if the person didn’t have any intention of attacking them, they could be discovered sneaking around. The Guardians could be their ears and eyes, covering much more ground.

What went unsaid was that anyone capable of sneaking into the room of an Enlightened Knight to steal something was certainly capable of getting away undetected.

Despite being upset by the incident, Jonathan followed the plan and within a minute every Guardian was notified.

’He knows we suspect him or one of his people but there is no one else around to have pulled such a thing off.’

Hex saw his shout at Elize, who listened in complete silence. He couldn’t hear their conversation. One of them had placed a barrier between them, him, and everyone else.

"What did he say?" Hex asked once they were done.

"He just shouted that I overstepped my boundaries and that I should have notified the Council as soon as I discovered a new species. Oh, and that he would report me to the Elders." Elize just shrugged, brushing off the threat.

"Any clues so far?" He had a few things he wished to try himself but if the options could be narrowed down then it would save him some time and effort.

Elize shook her head. "None that are reliable. The prisoners haven’t been in or out their rooms within the timeframe this occurred. The only people roaming out free were the Guardians and the servants, neither of which had been close to my room at that time."

"Can’t you use those light particle things you used to find those Shadow Serpents?" Hex asked, referring to their first battle together when they had to search for the abducted people from Sterling’s group. Elize’s light had even affected him.

"I tried. But it’s not of any use," Elize replied. "I expected it not to work. To explain it in simple terms, the light spots are attracted by opposite elements. The Shadow Serpents use Shadow. Hence their name. Neither of the missing serpents used elements opposite of the light element."

Hex nodded and went into his room. He retrieved a piece of paper and quill. Sometimes writing helped with organizing the mind. Hex had relied upon it ever since the destruction of Grindeston. It took some discipline but it came in handy. Like the time in Notresol. ’

Of course, there were times when the option to write things down didn’t exist. For example, when he had to come up with plans and counters on his feet during the exploration in Edune.

’Let’s see,’ he pressed the top of the quill against his chin as he tried to organize his thoughts. ’I found three of these so-called Element Serpents. One used the Space element, the other used the Death element, and the third one used the Earth element.’

Death – Mother

Space – Elize

Earth – Elize

He scribbled on the paper the elements and the person he gave them too. Death was done for. Its core had hardened and he had wrapped its lifeless body inside a cloth, and had stored inside his robe.

Element Serpents enhance a person’s affinity with an element, give a regular person access to the use of elements, and are able to transfer traits and abilities from one host body to another.

’Let’s consider enhancement first. The benefits are short term and are more destructive than beneficial. So, unless someone is out on a suicide mission, they won’t have much use for it.’

Hex placed a question mark on top the word enhance. He didn’t dismiss it. Only, he didn’t consider it an immediate threat as they had people like Jonathan and Elize inside the camp. No enhancement would suffice in front of them.

’Regular person. Hmmm. From what I have sensed, not a single regular person exists inside the camp, aside from some of the Witchkin. But they were guarded and monitored. And even if they managed to slip away, there is no way a regular person can hide his or her tracks from Elize and me.’

Hex struck through the part of the sentence mentioning the giving access to regular people. That left one ability.

’Transferring abilities across species. But why does one need to turn into a Lava Bat?’

It didn’t make much sense. Hex scribbled everything he learned about those beasts, when suddenly something caught his eyes.

...the accumulated elements, energy, and attributes of the previous host is transferred to its new host.

’Space...’

Hex jumped out of his chair and rushed toward the cellar below.

"Halt!"

A group of four Guardians stood before him, at the foot of the stairs, descending from the upper floor to the cellar. Three were at the Refinement Stage, with the one at the front at the Transformation Stage.

"You are not authorized to enter."

The leader spoke, his old face warped in a scowl as he blocked Hex from going further. Hex saw two heavy wooden doors behind the group.

"I know. I don’t need to enter. But could you please check whether the two prisoners are inside?"

Hex put his hands in the air to indicate he didn’t mean to barge in. His words, however, shocked the group.

"What do you mean?" The leader of these men growled. "Of course they are inside. We have been here all the time."

"Look, I can’t explain. Could you just check? And if they are inside, you can report me."

This seemed to have convinced the leader. He still looked Hex with distrust in his eyes but he at least signaled his men to check the doors. They opened both doors at once, revealing the rooms behind.

Both rooms were empty.