Picking up Girls With My System

Chapter 404 [Bonus ] Mysterious Key And Creature

Arthur was a vampire and someone who trained with the special techniques of the Blood Monarch. So, tracking two people was easy, especially Jake, someone who had a mark after selling his soul to Arthur.

He ran away from where the battle occurred, going as fast as possible because there was a chance the Bishop would know about that and would go after him, which would be a disaster.

Also, his fight with the priests did not last long, so it took Arthur fifteen minutes to catch up with Agatha and Jake, who were surprised to see Arthur there so quickly.

"Are you done with the fighting? How many were they?" Jake asked, gasping his mouth.

"Five, I killed three. Now, let's keep moving, or else the Bishop has the chance to find us."

They nodded and kept moving toward the forest, into a location humans never went to. Dangerous, mysterious, and also the home of the elves. Agatha was sure there would be no way for the church to find them there and reassured Arthur and Jake multiple times.

"I hope that's the case, or else we are screwed!" thought Arthur.

~~~~

"So, what do you think about the gift?" Malak asked as he handed the box to Arthur.

The moment Arthur touched the wooden box, images flashed through his mind, and a pain stroke his head. It was like memories were being put inside his mind, but everything was hard to understand.

He saw the image of a shiny key forged with dragon scales and enchanted with a specific spell from thousand years ago. The key once belonged to Placidusax, but he lost it long ago, even before he stepped foot on that planet.

Arthur saw some powerful mages with the key in their hands, locked inside a safe place where no one could enter on a distant planet.

"The Alliance that rules this universe! Why do they have the key?"

Then, the memories stopped, and Arthur returned to his normal senses. He still did not know what was inside that box. Still, it was important for the dragons, and it once belonged to Placidusax before the Alliance stole his key.

"Thank you for this. I can help you with the Von Stein family if you help me with something, too," Arthur said, looking at Malak, Tessa, and Leonard.

"Just say it, we will do anything we can to help you."

"There is something I am looking for, a girl with pink hair, and she's said to be in the Von Stein territory," Arthur said.

He did not know if Tessa or the others had some information about Sybille. Still, there was no harm in asking, and based on the things he knew, she was supposed to be there in the Von Stein family territory.

"Pink hair?" Tessa was in deep thought, trying to remember if she had seen someone like that, and after a few seconds, she recalled.

"Yes, I remember someone with pink hair. A gorgeous woman! The two rank-four mages appeared with her one night, and no one saw her. I did due to coincidence, as I was on my balcony looking at the stars that time,"

"But I don't know where they went after that, but I never saw someone with pink hair leaving the castle, so I wonder if she is somewhere there. There are many secret passages not even I know."

Arthur was unhappy that his question did not lead to any new information. However, he was sure they were still keeping Sybille inside the castle.

"You will return to the castle, right? Can you three try to find clues about her? I need to take her out of that place."

"Of course! But what are our next moves?" Tessa asked.

"Well, we need more power to fight against them, so I am focusing on reaching rank four and helping the other dragons reach it too! After that, we can go against them with no problems!"

That was good news for them, and after they spoke more about their plans, Malak, Tessa, and Leonard left. So there was something else they had to do, and that was to look for Arthur!

While they were there, speaking with the dragons, duke Mikael sent a message to his daughter, Tessa, explaining that Arthur had left with the other captains.

"They were supposed to go to a village on our border. So please, go there to look for more information!"

That was the message the duke sent her, so they left after speaking with Arthur in the dragon valley.

Well, not all of them. Malak had other things to do, so only Tessa and Leonard went looking for Arthur.

~~~~

"How far are we from the elven settlement? We have been walking for days," Arthur complained, as he was starting to get tired.

Agatha smiled as she looked toward a big tree in the distance, "we are finally here!"

The forest around them was different, with the trees being way bigger than the average ones. Those trees were so big someone could live inside them.

That forest was dangerous, and humans who went there often went missing. Agatha knew the reason behind it, not because of the elves, but because of a powerful creature that lived inside that forest, akin to a god.

"Come, there's a portal inside this tree," Agatha said, making a sign with her hand for Jake and Arthur to follow her.

They did as she told them, and sure enough, inside the big tree was a green portal, just like the ones Arthur had seen in different parts of the world.

"How can no one ever see this portal? I don't believe no human tried to enter inside this tree," Arthur asked.

"You are right, other races had come here, but the portal is only visible to elves or those the elves allow to enter, like Jake."

Arthur was surprised at that statement, considering he was not a real elf. So was the Blood Monarch's avatar spell that good it could fool a magical portal?

"Good to know."

Agatha took the lead to pass through the portal, but when it was Jake's time, he was too scared to do so.

"What if her family dislikes me? What if-"

Arthur was not feeling like listening to that bullshit, so he pushed Jake toward the portal and followed him right after.

Everything around them did not look like it had changed much, and they were inside a forest with big trees. Arthur had experience with portals, so he knew they did not travel a long distance.

"Why is the portal so short?" he asked Agatha.

"Well, the portal is only there, so we can cross a specific part of the forest where there's a powerful creature living. We believe it is stronger than rank-four mages, as a long time ago, a rank-four elf vanished when it went to that part of the forest."

"Really?"

Arthur now wanted to know more about that creature, but that was too dangerous for a rank two mage like him. Even with his main body, it would be suicide if the beast was stronger than a rank-four mage.

"Perhaps after I conquer this continent, I can go there to check," he thought.

The trio made their way toward the elven village, but when Arthur stepped inside, something opened its eyes.

"Hum? This smells like that old man who I gave one of my eyes. Is he here?"