Dragon's Awakening: The Duke's Son Is Changing The Plot-Chapter 48 - 47 - The SearChapter

Everyone, excluding Jessy and Rufus’s subordinates, who were supposed to guard the gate of the mansion, rushed inside the mansion, jumping in from different points.

After that, they went their own ways, finding clues they could find.

After all, even if Raven hadn’t told them what their target looked like, they knew they were held captive, and if someone were held captive in a mansion like this, more than one person would know about them.

They just had to find the other person who knew about their target and follow them.

.....................

[Jessy]

She was moving with quick and surgical precision.

Scaling the ivy-wrapped wall of the west side, she landed on the second-floor balcony with feline grace.

A soft hum of magic tickled her senses, and her eyes narrowed. A minor detection rune—visual-based.

’Easy.’

She plucked a throwing knife from her boot, reflected the nearby torchlight off its polished surface, and angled it upward.

The rune pulsed once... then went dark.

’That’s how you blind an eye.’

This type of magic wouldn’t be of any use against them since they would be done with their work by the time Gerax, who controlled these spells, returned, but Jessy was thinking of the worst-case scenario.

’If we couldn’t find her in time, at least I would escape and call for help.’

Yes, that was her plan.

If Gerax returned before they could find their target, she would sneak out and call for help, since no one would have any clue that she was in the mansion.

She slid the glass door open a crack and slipped inside.

A long hallway greeted her, dimly lit and lined with thick red carpets and portraits of stone-faced men.

She ignored them and listened until she heard them—

—Footsteps.

They were light ones, so the owners of the footsteps weren’t wearing armor.

’Guard? Servant?’

It didn’t matter.

She ducked into a room and waited, pressing her back to the cold wall.

A woman passed by.

She was middle-aged, wearing a maid uniform, muttering something under her breath about "feeding time" and "unstable brat."

Jessy’s eyes gleamed as she found a clue faster than she had thought.

She stepped out silently, slid behind the woman, and with a swift motion, clamped a hand over her mouth and pressed a dagger to her throat.

"Where’s the girl?" She whispered into the woman’s ear, her voice like a cold wind.

The woman froze.

"Don’t scream. Nod twice if you understand."

Jessy was behind the woman, so the latter couldn’t see the former, and the Vaise girl planned to keep it that way.

Once she got all the information from the maid, she planned to knock her unconscious, maintaining her invisibility.

The woman, on the other hand, nodded.

"Now show me."

.....................

[Jake]

Unlike Jessy, Jake didn’t infiltrate; he invaded.

Sliding under a blind spot in the wall’s defensive barrier, he knocked the lone patrol outside with a flick of his wrist and a tap to the pressure point at the neck.

The guard collapsed silently.

Inside, he moved like a shadow sculpted into human form—swift, efficient, and invisible.

Unlike the others, Jake wasn’t looking for information.

He was looking for threats.

Down the servant stairwell, he found a storage room—rows of potions, chains, and even sedatives. And among them?

A parchment.

A logbook detailing sedative doses, meal logs, and, most chillingly, emotional observations.

"’Subject displayed signs of self-awareness today... administered correction dose.’"

Jake’s jaw tightened.

It was clear that their target was being observed and experimented on like an animal.

With his fists clenched, he took the parchment and vanished down the corridor.

.....................

[Clara]

Clara didn’t sneak.

She walked through the hall like she belonged, making it seem like she was an important person.

Her robes shimmered with the right authority to make anyone think twice before questioning her.

She was pretending to be a student called here by Gerax.

A young servant ran past her, carrying linens, their gaze stopping at each other.

But the servant didn’t think Clara was an intruder since no intruder would walk in so comfortably.

Clara, however, raised her voice before the servant vanished, her tone sharp and commanding. "You. Stop."

’He seems new. Perfect.’

The servant halted mid-step, startled. "Y-Yes?"

The servant didn’t know why his voice sounded respectful when he answered Clara, but he instinctively spoke that way.

"The Principal called me here to keep an eye on the test subject," Clara lied smoothly. "But he forgot to tell me the location. Where is it?"

The servant hesitated, uncertain.

Even if he was new here, he knew how things worked, and he knew that the thing Clara was asking for wasn’t something normal.

He didn’t know what to do.

Seeing him panic, Clara narrowed her eyes. ’One more push.’

"Are you refusing a direct question from someone called by the Principal?"

"N-No, ma’am! She’s still in the cellar wing. Room 12C. Two guards posted at all times."

"Good. You didn’t waste my time."

The servant fled, and Clara smirked.

"Found you," she whispered.

But then she paused, her expression turning cold. ’...she?’

.....................

[Alex]

Alex was lost.

He swore the corridor split into two when he clearly remembered taking a left.

"Dammit," he hissed, hugging the wall. His knuckles were white from the strain of him clenching his fists too tightly.

But suddenly, the sound of a door creaking open echoed, and he instantly ducked into a closet.

Two guards strolled by, chatting.

"Still can’t believe Sir Gerax kept that thing alive."

"Well, we gotta do what we are asked to."

"Still, man, she doesn’t look like anything human. Screams like a banshee."

They laughed darkly as they passed.

Alex’s blood ran cold.

Then burned.

He emerged from the closet, not lost anymore.

He knew exactly where to go.

.....................

[Rufus]

Rufus was supposed to disable the backup rune core.

Supposed to.

But what he found was more horrifying than any trap. There were dozens of vials of blood, tagged with Vaise family crests... and notes.

"Blood resonance from Sample 023 confirms partial success. Stability remains uncertain. Surge capacity rising. Will initiate partial release for combat trial."

He stepped back, bile rising in his throat.

They were experimenting on the blood of his family members.

’Is it just blood, or...?’

A sudden question passed through his head, and a chill ran down his spine.

If the person behind all this were a Vaise family member, as they had concluded, then this would be bigger than anything they had thought.

Rufus clenched his fists, shaking.

Then he drew a deep breath, picked up the closest vial, and rushed out, looking for other clues.

Before leaving, he looked back one last time. ’I’ll come back to take all of this.’

Then, he dashed, while whispering, "Bastards."

.....................

[Raven]

Raven slipped in through a side window and made his way down.

Down.

He ignored the opulence.

The marble walls.

The crystal chandeliers.

The preserved elegance.

He went where none of that reached.

The basement.

It was where his instincts led him, and there was no way he would ignore his instincts.

’A protagonist is always supposed to find the main clue, so my senses would lead me to where I want to go.’

Suddenly, he saw a door, and after opening it, he saw stairs leading downward.

"Damn..."

He muttered, now sure that he was going the right way.

After all, most villains hide their secrets in places like this.

The air turned damp, the walls turned rough, and the silence turned thick.

No magic lights here. Just torch sconces and old chains.

He heard it before he saw it.

A hum. A low, soft, unstable vibration in the air.

It was like power barely held in check.

Then a voice. Whispering. Fragile.

"...who... am... I?"

Raven stopped in front of the reinforced steel door.

12C.

A runic lock glowed faintly.

Intricate, brutal, and multi-layered.

’Fuck...’

He never thought about this.

’How am I supposed to open this?’

The key to this lock was probably in the Principal’s hand. There was no way he could get his hands on it.

Thinking about ways to get rid of the lock, Raven tried heating it.

Fwoosh!

Flames roared in his palm as he touched the lock, but the moment the fire touched it—

Whoosh!

—It vanished.

The fire vanished.

’Shit! Anti-magic barrier!’

This was the worst type of barrier, as even magic like enforcement gets undone once someone touches it.

’What do I do...?’

But then, something clicked.

He looked at his palm and gritted his teeth.

’Whatever, let’s give it a try!’

With that thought, black shiny scales covered his wrist as he grabbed the lock.

Click!

His scale clicked against the lock as it snapped open in one go.

’Huh?’

Raven, however, stared at it with his eyes wide, too shocked to believe it was happening.

’It worked?’

He was reminded of a phrase from his past life: the more complex a trap looked, the simpler its solution was.

That’s why he tried a simple approach using brute force, but, in reality, he was simply trying his luck; who knew it would work?

’It was this easy—?’

Before he could complete those words, a sound was heard.

It was the sound of footsteps.

Step.

It was a single step, but Raven tensed as he sensed the presence of the person.

’Fuck... why did I have to raise a red flag?’

Looking at the person coming down the stairs, Raven smiled, waving happily.

"Hey, fancy seeing you here."

.....................

[A while later, above]

Jake, Clara, Jessy, Alex, and Rufus arrived before the door leading to the underground cellar.

"This is the place," Jake said.

"Yes, it seems like we got the same coordinates," Clara confirmed.

"It must be the right coordinate, then," Jessy added.

They blinked at one another.

Then smiled.

"This is the right place?" Alex muttered, letting go of the two guards he held. One couldn’t tell they were dead or alive by looking at their black and blue faces. "So, these two were the guards, huh?"

"You didn’t know that?" Rufus asked, and seeing Alex shrug, he tilted his head. "Why did you beat them, then?"

"Well, I didn’t like what they were talking about so I followed them, and when I found them alone, I beat them up," Alex replied, and the others just stared at him for a while.

After all, they were all shocked to find out Alex was here first. They even thought that it was an imposter, but hearing his reasoning—

—They nodded their heads.

"It’s him, alright," Clara spoke before she turned toward the door, and so did the others. "Let’s go."

Others followed, including Alex, who still didn’t understand what Clara meant.

They didn’t know it yet, but unlike what they had thought, the situation below wasn’t looking good.