Chapter 52: Looking for the entrance... or exit?
Everyone except Shelly and Selina stared dumbfoundedly at Jaden, who was leaning back in his chair with a playful smile stretching across his face.
"It’s just a simple trick... let’s move on to the important things," Jaden added as he straightened himself within the chair.
Selina continued to glance at Jaden from time to time as she thought.
’He is different from before... way different, is it because of the city? Did I make a mistake by leading us here? But...’
Right then, Shelly placed a hand on her shoulder and bent down as she whispered in her ear.
"You don’t have to worry, young lady. He would understand why you did it once he gets his memories back."
If Jaden had heard so many words from Shelly’s mouth, he would have thought that the world’s end must be near.
Selina looked at Shelly and gave her a small nod as she once again fell into her thoughts with a troubled look.
’I also have to find that man, I had decided to lead us into this dreadful place after meeting that man and... I still don’t understand why I got persuaded so easily.’
Jaden, who was glancing at Selina from time to time, saw her troubled look and called out worriedly.
"Selina."
Selina, however, was too deep in her thoughts to answer, so he called out louder.
"Selina."
She came out of her thoughts and looked at Jaden with a puzzled look as she replied.
"Yes?"
Jaden’s expression turned worried as she asked softly.
"Is something troubling you?"
Selina’s lips arched up a little as she shook her head and replied.
"No, it’s nothing."
He frowned at her words but didn’t push further and turned to Navin as he questioned solemnly.
"Did you find out anything about the entrance?"
All of them knew that the entrance to the drainage was located at the statue of the founding father of Nightshade City; however, they didn’t know exactly where this entrance was.
Navin, being the son of the guard captain, had more freedom to roam around the church, and thus, they had told him to find any clues related to the entrance.
"I didn’t find anything," Navin replied darkly as he shook his head.
Hearing his words, others leaned back in their chair, and Arden questioned.
"So we are going to find the entrance tonight?"
Jamie turned and looked at him with a frown as he questioned.
"Why? You don’t want us to?"
Arden turned to Jamie and replied with a startled expression.
"I didn’t mean that."
Jamie turned to look at Jaden and questioned.
"What should we do then... We can’t just go there and start searching, can we? We will get caught by the guards if we take too much time."
Jaden’s expression darkened at Jamie’s words. He looked at everyone before heaving a sigh, stood up from his seat and responded.
"I’ll go search for the entrance."
No one replied to his words and just stared at him with a stupefied look as he stepped out of the hall.
"..."
The hall fell into silence.
***
Jaden slipped on a dark hooded cloak, pulled the wooden entrance door and stepped out of the house. The cold of the night hit him, but he felt nothing from it. After becoming an Adept, his temperature resistance had increased, and now the warmth of the sun and the cold of the moon didn’t affect him much.
Jaden stepped past the gates and began walking on the street with measured steps. He examined the stone brick pathway with a calm look on his face. His eyes, however, told a different story.
"No need to tense it further," he mumbled as his gaze landed on the huge white walls of the church of knowledge.
Shifting his eyes, he looked at the statue of a man wearing a mage’s robe with a grimoire in his hand—the statue of the founding father of Nightshade City, which stood at the centre of a calm pond.
Looking around, his gaze then landed on the guards standing a few meters away from the statue.
He pulled his hood closer as he called out to his grimoire, and soon, an open night sky grimoire with golden arcane patterns appeared in his left hand.
Looking forward, he mumbled.
"Twilight Veil."
Just as he spoke, the mana within his body flared and began to move without guidance. A few moments later, light and darkness elementals covered his body. His figure blurred and then disappeared.
Jaden walked towards the statue with hushed steps; he didn’t know any spell to silence his steps after all.
He walked with vigilance, and soon neared the statue.
Circling the pond, he looked for a clue about the entrance, but there was nothing.
"There must be a clue..." he didn’t give up and continued to search for it.
Moments stretched and turned into minutes, and he finally let out an annoyed groan as he muttered.
"Where the fuck is—"
However, he had to stop in his words as he heard the sound of flowing water; the sound was so low that even the sound of steps could muffle it.
He focused on the sound and walked to it with slow and silent steps, and soon he stood at the front of the statue.
"I can’t hear it anymore?"
After walking towards the source, the sound should have increased instead of decreasing, but that didn’t seem to apply here.
"Not like strange is rare in this place," Jaden muttered in annoyance as he stepped near the calm pond.
He looked at the edge of the pond and at the statue for a clue, but didn’t find anything notable. He heaved a sigh and looked at himself in the pond, and cursed under his breath.
"Blasted hell! Why can’t things go smoothly? Why does it have to be so fucked up all the time?"
It was then that another strange thing came to his notice, and then he pieced the clue together as he thought.
’Why am I being reflected in the pond?’