The Butterfly Trap

The Side Story 1

After two years of the Dakota kingdom led only by Crown Prince Felix, finally the day of his coronation as Emperor will arrive, but in the midst of joy it appeared a young man with a cold face up the steps of the palace .

" Congratulations on your coronation, your majesty" he said, bowing to pay his respects.

The man called to the majesty smiled as he instructed to get up, then allowed his guests to sit down, some servants entering the room with food and drink.

" It doesn't have to be too formal, we've known each other for a long time" she said, crossing her legs and asking the servants to leave the room.

" You're not the Crown Prince anymore, how could I talk informally to you"

" You're too rigid Grand Duke Zurich Dagaras, my coronation is still a few days away, you have to learn to relax for a while, there's only the two of us in this room", he said again while lifting the tea glass that had just been served by the servants.

The man called Grand Duke Zurich Dagaras only sighed.

" What did you call me?" ask in the end.

Felix, who had been relaxed, immediately turned his expression serious, "I heard the news that the last heir to the Mcgnagal family is still alive".

" What about the source?"

" It's still uncertain, but there can't be any smoke if there's no fire, what do you think about this?"

He was silent, no expression was drawn from his face.

" I think it's worth investigating, we need to find him quickly!"

" Is that all the information? age ? genders?".

Felix shakes his head, "This information is only about him being alive and according to my intuition, this man is right, considering that the Mcgnagal family is very close to the demon race, he said, I think he'll choose to live in their territory, because there he'll be safer".

" Do you want me to investigate?"

" Of course, although our relationship with the demon is quite good after the agreement but the relationship between humans and monsters is still chaotic, judging by the large number of people who died because they were rampaging into the village. You have to pass through the territory of the humanoid monsters to get to the demon territory, so I think this journey will be our expedition"

" It makes sense, that way the nobles will not be suspicious of the true purpose of this expedition".

" Let's not let the twelve zodiac know about it, let alone the situation of the Capricon faction, given its emotional character, it would be very dangerous if he heard news about the Mcgnagal family !" he said as he stood walking towards the window, "it's best that the expedition members follow only those whom you trust, but the purpose of this mission is enough that only you know".

" What about Claude?"

" Deputy commander of the Taurus faction huh? hmm", he momentarily thought of turning towards Zurich, "now don't just, then when you've reached the demon territory!".

" What about the Pisces? they will be very helpful in this expedition, there are some of them who know the topography of the region, considering they are former members of the leadership of the Mcgnagal family first?", he added.

" I don't trust the people there except Alfred of the Morcant Baron family, only he looks wise" Zurich replied with a quick glance.

" The Morcant Barons? I remember Baron Morcant and the Mcgnagal family were pretty close before".

" It's not about closeness, Alfred is smarter in topography and also in the decision-makers he is a wise man, I don't understand why he chose the Pisces faction, he has the much-needed power of healers in other factions".

" It sounds like you really like the kid" he said with a chuckle, "probably because the Morcant family used to be subordinates of Noah Mcgnagal so they are still loyal to the faction, which is why, given how successful the Pisces faction was in Noah's leadership age".

" I'll just go with twenty-something small teams including Alfred, don't you mind?"

" Aren't twenty people too few? this trip will be quite risky!" .

" I will bring all the talented in my faction except Gawin, he who will replace me as the main command of the faction, that boy is very talented in analysis and directing the other members", he said as he stood up and walked closer to Felix.

" We will leave after your coronation, before leaving we will strategize and prepare first, so the possibility of leaving next month" he added.

" Good, it would be better if he went by horse, when he came home just use the teleportation scroll ".

" I think so too".

After they finished discussing the mission, they talked about random things while enjoying snacks that had been on the table for a long time, then half an hour later Zurich asked for permission to return to his faction.

The crown prince's coronation as Emperor was accompanied by a seven-day festival, with everyone rejoicing in the new leadership, the streets filled with decorations and flowers, proof of the coronation celebration was something that people had been waiting for, in the midst of the celebration Zurich asked Alfred to meet him, he gave a letter with a royal stamped, he gave a letter, the sign explained that the letter was an official letter sent by Emperor, after receiving the letter Zurich asked him to meet her at the meeting hall of the Taurus faction within two days.

Alfred gave the letter he received to the commander of the Pisces faction, Ditrian Halstead, after reading his letter he asked his assistant to make a letter of duty and give it to Alfred, he did not ask anything, he asked, he believed that the Emperor's decision was absolute and he as a subject had to obey with all the Emperor's orders.

Two days later Alfred appeared in the meeting hall with a letter of service from his faction and handed it to Gawin, who was busy preparing the meeting papers, nineteen people were gathered at the long oval table, moments later Zurich entered the room and gave a salute.

" Please sit down!" he said after receiving respectful greetings from his members, "Our meeting this time will discuss the expedition mission that has been entrusted to our Faction, he said, first of all I welcome our colleague Sir Alfred Morcant of the Pisces Faction who will help us as a Guide and healer, welcome to join Sir" he added at length.

All the members in the room applauded Alfred, and stood and bowed to pay their respects.

" Our mission this time was instructed by the crown prince to build a strong alliance with the demon race, the, to get to their territory we have to pass through the monster territory that makes this Expedition very dangerous, fortunately we have a map of Noah Mcgnagal's legacy to get to the stealth region with a lower risk" he added.

Gawin unrolled the old and dull-looking paper on the table, "from here we will set out on horseback through the territory of Marquess Elston and Baron Neville, this will take two months" he said while making invisible lines on the map, everything in the room was watching him closely.

" From the territory of Baron Neville we will reach north in the territory of Duke Abelard the leader of the Aquarius faction, we must be careful because this region is directly adjacent to the territory of the Orcs and Chimera, the territory of the Aquarius faction, this is where we will decide which path we will take" he added.

" Sir, why don't we just use the teleportation scroll to get to the border? that'll cut our time by a few weeks?", asked a brown-haired, little-eyed man.

" Well Sir Dominic, although it looks like an alliance, the mission this time is secret, to avoid the attention of the spy who watches us with magic, it would be better if we were only with horses and disguised as mercenaries, this would keep us from unwanted things during the journey" he replied.

" Are we going to continue using the horses until we arrive at the stealth territory, sir?" said another gray-haired member named Alvino.

Zurich nodded.

" What if we pass through the monster territory by air course, sir? I can summon Spirit to help us?", added the young man closest to Zurich who is a summoner named Chris.

" Your advice has a point but unfortunately the airway is a Harpy territory, we will be more exposed if we choose the path" he replied wisely.

They nodded their heads, "So if we calculate this mission will take two years to complete, even if there are no monster attacks that can cause significant damage to the team".

" So we will spend the remaining time preparing everything needed for this trip" he said before closing the meeting.

All teams are busy taking care of the preparation for departure, ranging from accommodation, medicine and also small things such as guidebooks, it takes less than a month to prepare, until the departure time arrives.

The journey to Marques Elston territory went smoothly without a hitch and they arrived at a predetermined time, after a break of several days they continued their journey north to Duke Abelard's territory through the Baron Neville region, it took them two months to reach the north but they were blocked by some Chimera warriors when they reached the border gate.

Their team is very reliable, they are able to kill Chimeras that are larger than them, that is the team of choice Archduke Zurich Dagaras, very reliable. They reached the north, the weather there was very cold because the snow that covered the region was longer than the rest of the region, even though summer came, the temperature there was still cold.

The snow-covered white streets made the horses they rode more easily tired, they decided to camp there while resting their horses, but a flock of Orcs came attacking suddenly.

The battle of visiting the Orcs was intense, as their sudden attack left several people on the team injured including Alfred who was a healer.

" It looks like they're targeting our healers!" claude said half-screaming in the middle of his fight. Some people moved closer to Alfred and another healer named Penelope, one of the two women who participated in the mission.

" Are you okay?" asked a woman who tried to help Alfred and Penelope.

" Yes we're fine, Aria" Penelope replied.

After finding out the direction of the arrows, two yeti monsters and several humanoid monsters carrying arrows confronted them, one of them looked like their leader.

" Be careful, the arrows are poisonous!", Zurich shouted to its members, they nodded their heads then waited for the cue to strike from it.

" Attack" he shouted while running towards the humanoid monster.

The battle was fierce again, some of the team members were already exhausted, not only because they had not rested enough due to the long journey coupled with the Orc attack, not only because they had not rested enough, coupled with the attacks from the humanoid monsters made their combat power weaken.

Zurich killed the humanoid monster so brutally, his sword style was more dangerous than the attacks of the monsters, no wonder that people called him a cold-blooded killer, he slashed his sword without hesitation. Until he finally fought their leader.

Although it looked balanced, the monster was already quite overwhelmed against it, seeing its already overwhelmed leader, the yeti monster who was busy attacking the other members instantly blocked Zurirch which made him retreat a few steps, and the monster was a bit more, realizing that he was behind the Yeti, the Humanoid monster attacked the other members with a dart that shot quickly pierced Alfred's lower thigh which was treating Aria's wound.

Alfred fell to the ground, Penelope cried out in surprise which made Zurich's gaze diverted to them, the big hand of the yeti smashing into his stomach so that he slammed about five meters away, Claude who saw the condition of Zurich immediately ran against the Yeti was helped by Dominic and another named Kanye, while the other five people are still busy fighting the other Yeti, the other one is, Penelope provides first aid to Alfred aided by Aria and the rest are busy fighting other humanoid monsters.

Two hours later they managed to defeat the humanoid monster which left one Yeti and their leader who retreated after realizing all its members were dead, they did not chase the monster and were more worried about Alfred's condition that looked in pain.

" We're going to Duke Abelard's castle as soon as possible, Aaron, can you take us all there with your teleportation abilities?" Zurich told the man, named Aaron.

" If everyone can't sir, but not if it's only three people" he replied.

" Well, then I, penelope and Alfred head first to the castle, the others continue on the horses, the castle is not far away, you can arrive tomorrow!"

" Okay, sir", they answered in unison.

Arriving at Duke Alfred's castle they were welcomed by the Duchess who helped prepare the room for Alfred so that he could be treated as soon as possible.

" The arrow is poisonous" Penelope said after plucking Alfred's arrow, "I will try to treat it" he added.

Zurich nodded, leaving Penelope and Alfred in the room and several servants who helped Penelope to stop her bleeding.

" The Duke is still busy in the camp to the south, because lately a lot of monsters are attacking the residents " explained the Duchess after they came out of the room.

" I've been informed of that before and I hope we don't trouble Duchess Marina during our stay here".

" Of course not, we will provide whatever noble needs while you are here" he replied again and then he resigned to prepare for the arrival of other members.

The next day all the teams had gathered in the meeting room of the Aquarius faction except Alfred who was still lying on the bed.

" What about Alfred?" Ask Zurich to Penelope.

" The situation is more alarming than I expected Sir, it seems like they are slathering dangerous poison on their arrows, due to the limitations of my science, I think, I don't know what kind of poison went into Alfred's body" Penelope explained.

All in the room were silent to Penelope's explanation, "Is it just a coincidence that they are targeting our team's healers?" said Claude

" When I helped Alfred and Penelope, I felt something strange about their attack patterns" Aria replied.

" They were like targeting Alfred and the attack was focused on us from the first moment we met the Orc herd" he added.

" It is impossible for Orcs to be that smart, perhaps the humanoid monsters that commanded them, given the pause they attacked very close ", Zurich said.

" Alferd is a Guide who has knowledge of the monster territory, plus his extraordinary healer ability, making us lose the main key in this team, we have to find a way to get the antidote, do any of you know any poison specialist healers?"

All speechless.

" I.", there was a voice that broke into silence, "I know someone" He said, although still hesitating, all eyes looked at him.

" I don't know the person but I've heard rumors about someone who has reliable knowledge of poison, patients who have been treated always recover even the rarest poison" he added.

" Where did you hear that, Sir Aaron?", asked Zurich.

" Friend of my friend Sir, no one knows he's a man or a woman, he's famous in the dark market and only treats the lower middle class, just as much as I know about him Sir" The answer.

" Can't we ask a friend of your friend?"

" No sir, they've signed a magic contract so that every patient and his family should not tell anyone else about him before he treats the patient, it's an oath that Sir has not broken, if they tell anyone else about him, their mouths will be instantly sealed by Sir's magic"

" Alright, let's try to meet him or we won't be able to save Alfred" he said with a sigh.

" Sir Dominic, you have a lot of connections with those in the dark market, can you find this guy? I'll give you a week, but I hope you can find it sooner".

" Prepared Sir" Dominic replied as he bowed to receive the order.

" Take some people with you, just in case there's a problem on the road, Aaron will help you teleport to capital so that the time spent is also more efficient".

" Good Sir" .

****

Four days later Dominic returns to the castle, holding a long-haired black woman with a clean milky white skin.

" Greet the Commander" he said as Zurich approached him.

" Was he the one?" ask Dominic.

Dominic nodded and Zurich asked Dominic to lay the woman in the room at the very end of the building.

" He was known as the Gold Butterfly, and backingan he was a Humminbird guild" he explained after laying the woman he was carrying on the bed.

" The Hummibird Guild? the guild run by Miranda? where is all the information collected?"

" Yes sir, I don't know for sure what their relationship is, which is clear that if we need his services we should contact the Humminbird guild first, that's where they'll select the patients to be treated " he replied as Claude walked in to join them.

" Is he a awakener? " ask Claude.

" We've been looking for her data in the country's data center but this girl's data is just an ordinary little merchant, her real name is Sicilian Agatha an orphan. According to sources, Marques Rafael raised her since she was eleven years old, she was close to her daughter Lady Prophet and Lady Stella of the family of Count Alberto" she explained.

" She started living her own life since she was seventeen and started doing illegal treatment from two years ago" he added.

" What about his parents?"

" We didn't find his track record before he was raised by Marques Rafael Sir, his past is still a mystery, I've been trying to extract information from people who have worked at Marques Rafael's residence but no one knows, the only way is to ask Marques himself or Miranda", Answer at length.

" Let's first say the most important thing, why is he in this situation? " question Zurich while pointing at the lying girl.

" It was because he was trying to escape, so I made him faint Sir, otherwise we first would have made him fall asleep by his dope powder".

" Well, now that he wakes up lest he find out our identity, we should use a pseudonym and an infusion to the others!", Zurich said.

" Good Sir "Answer Dominic then left Cloude and Zurich.

***