Chapter 313: Old Painting
"You really put me in a lot of trouble, Selina." Rowan led them into his private office. He shook his head repeatedly.
"Really? Do you want me to call off the event? I can put someone else in charge." Selina said.
"Are you crazy? This must be the biggest LARPing event ever in AE Forges. I ain’t going to back down because of a little trouble.
Me and Sparrow have created a list of potential participants. Let me show you that."
Selina nodded.
The black cat looked around in Rowan’s office. His office was nerd certified. A full suit of armor in the corner of the room. Many longswords hanging on the wall. A painting of a fantastical party right behind Rowan’s desk.
Mater blinked a few times as he noticed the familiar scene in the painting.
’This is... me!’
The painting depicted the Court of the Moon, Telara’s Court. They had a banquet in the night with trees that glowed like stars and a gigantic moon above the sky.
Telara sat in the middle, pouring a giant gold cup of wine down the throat of a tall man with dark hair.
Telara’s beauty couldn’t be communicated entirely via the painting. But it was her, alright. And that man with dark hair. That was Mater.
’How could this be? Only Telara’s loyal subjects were in that party.’
Selina noticed Mater’s shock. She reached out to him telepathically.
’What’s wrong, Mater?’ Selina’s voice echoed in the black cat’s mind.
’This painting... That man... is me. Someone in the Fae Court painted this picture.’
Rowan saw Selina observing the painting and mistook it for her admiring it.
"Cool, right? This was a very rare painting. Depicting Queen Telara and his consort. Unfortunately, that man was told to be a charlatan. After fooling Queen Telara and seducing her, the man disappeared without traces." Rowan said.
Selina glanced over to Mater.
The cat raised a paw into the air.
"I swear I won’t do it to you." The black cat meowed.
"Queen Telara. I’ve never heard of her." Selina said.
"That should be the case. Queen Telara belonged to the Fae Tales, a more unknown mythology out there. The Hymn of the Battlefield actually originated from Fae Tales. Daniel is extremely obsessed over them.
That was why he founded the AE Forges and the Hymn event."
"I would like to meet him some day." Selina said.
"Certainly. I’ll introduce you two when he’s in town. The man is busy flying all around the world."
Rowan sat down at his table and powered up the computer. He stored the details of all the practitioners inside it.
He pulled up the list.
"These are all the information of people I think might be suitable for the event. Some even provided their CVs." Rowan chuckled. "For a second, I thought this was some movie audition or job interview."
"That wouldn’t be too far from the truth. Can you send a copy to me via email?"
"Certainly."
Selina and Rowan began to go through the approved applications. There were actually a few hundred applicants. Most of them were background actors that came for the pay.
It’s hard to get a job as an actor in Aeliz. When they heard that this LARPing reenactment might be a secret movie project, they flooded to the AE Forges like flies.
Even if it wasn’t a movie, they probably wouldn’t care because the pay was good.
"Better get on with it." Selina cracked her fingers.
The black cat groomed himself on the couch while they’re doing all the work. Being a cat for too long had given him habits of a cat.
’Crow is Rank-2 now. Aurora and Bash are also Rank-2. I still have thirty plus Chaos Singularities. I can raise the Abyssal Helmet to Rank-2 also but I would need another spiritual item to add with it.
Evelynn, Sparrow, and Solarix haven’t mastered their power entirely yet. Raising their rank now would be less than ideal. Maybe I should bring them for a hunt.’
The black cat thought about what he was going to do. Selina was going to accept some Institute Challenges and went hunting with her class.
He obviously couldn’t make use of the servants in these hunts. It would blow his cover and also make the hunt too easy. Selina’s classmates needed some obstacles to grow.
’I can still locate wraiths via the ACPD Database. Killing them won’t bring me any credits though as I need Selina to accept those bounties. I don’t need credits that much either. With the Dark Syndicate, they can provide me with a huge stream of credits.
I guess I’ll be going hunting with my servants then.’
Selina and Rowan spent the entire day going through the applicants. Sparrow was there to help but there were simply too much to do. It would cost them a few days to finish everything.
Selina left the rest to Rowan. He cried in desperation but still took the job anyway.
The pair left and returned to the Underpark.
Erin had woken up. Solarix had notified Mater about this.
They went to Erin’s chamber to talk things through.
Erin looked much better now and was chatting with Solarix when they arrived.
"How are you feeling, Erin?" Selina said.
"Selina! You’re finally here, bestie!"
The platinum-haired girl rushed to the Goth girl and hugged her tightly.
"Oh my god! I have so many questions to ask you! Are you some kind of demoness? Or are you a wraith? No!"
Erin gasped. "Maybe you are similar to me? You’re some kind of hybrid?"
"Haha..." Selina sweated. Erin was as jumpy and excited as ever. "I almost forgot how excited you can be."
"Of course, I am excited! I thought you were some kind of cultist, you know. That Octagram behind your back. That sinister aura you always have. And when you beat the Black Professor. I was so scared that you might kidnap me or something."
"Why would I kidnap you?" Selina laughed.
"Because you want to sacrifice me!"
"Hmmm." Selina tapped her chin. "Actually. I did save your life. So you do owe me now."
Erin covered her chest instinctively. "What do you want?"
"I want to sacrifice you, of course." Selina smiled, revealing her perfect white teeth.
"To who?"
"To my cat!"
Selina picked Mater up.
"Meow?"