Chapter 214: The Task!

The grass was cool beneath Albedo’s shoulders, faintly damp with condensed mana, carrying the metallic warmth unique to blood-aspected domains.

He lay there without tension, one knee bent, the other stretched out, bottle loosely balanced in his hand as if he hadn’t just been dragged across space by a vampire matriarch powerful enough to redraw borders with a thought.

Raven watched him for several seconds, wanting to see what was so special about him to enrapt her daughter after just their first meeting, and to keep her so clingy to him after all this time.

Not a single movement escaped her notice.

His breathing was even, no hyperventilating or anything. His mana wasn’t flaring defensively. No subconscious killing intent leaked from him, no coiled violence waiting for permission. Even his eyes that were very sharp and observant held no trace of panic or resentment.

Most people, when pulled into her personal domain without warning, reacted in one of three ways.

Fear, Anger, or desperate politeness, trying to curry favor with her to avoid any negative outcomes.

However, Albedo did none of them and that was what interested Raven the most.

“You are far calmer than most,” Raven said at last, breaking the silence as her voice carried easily through the grove, causing the crimson leaves overhead to rustle faintly despite the absence of wind.

She took a single step forward, then another, her boots never quite sinking into the grass, as though the ground itself refused to inconvenience her.

Albedo took another sip, swallowed, and glanced at her from where he lay, “Yeah,” he replied casually. “I’ve noticed freaking out rarely improves the situation.”

A corner of Raven’s lips twitched, it wasn’t a smile, but it was definitely something close to that.

“Do you know where you are?” she asked.

“Somewhere expensive,” Albedo answered calmly,”And private.”

Raven let out a soft, amused breath. “You are within a sealed BloodHaven sub-domain. An extension of my authority. No one enters without my consent and no one leaves without my permission.”

He hummed thoughtfully, “Good acoustics. Feels… old.”

“That is because it is,” Raven replied. “Older than the Northern Capital. Older than the Everglade estate. Older than several of the so-called ’ancient’ families that like to boast about lineage.”

She stopped a few paces from him and looked down, crimson eyes measuring him with the same scrutiny she might apply to a battlefield or a treaty clause.

“And yet,” she continued, “you behave as if you were invited for tea.”

Albedo shrugged, the motion subtle. “You didn’t kill me. That usually means someone wants something.”

That did earn her a real smile.

“Very well,” Raven said. “Let us dispense with pleasantries.”

With a flick of her wrist, the air rippled. A thin black folder appeared midair, spinning once before dropping toward Albedo’s chest.

He caught it easily with two fingers, the blood-sealed crest on its surface warm to the touch, pulsing faintly like a restrained heartbeat.

Albedo raised an eyebrow but didn’t open it immediately, instead looking towards the Vampire that was near the Peak of the World in terms of power and influence,”Should I be worried?” he asked.

“Yes,” Raven answered flatly. “But not for the reason you think.”

That got his attention causing Albedo to sit up, his legs crossing loosely as he broke the seal with his thumb. The blood-aspected mana peeled away without resistance, recognizing him as an authorized recipient—something that alone spoke volumes.

Inside of the folder were reports. Almost all of these reports were incomplete, fragmented and very vague. They detailed the disappearances of various tourists, and even merchants who had entered the Northern Region, but vanished, never to be seen again.

There were also adventurers whose guild records ended abruptly, marked only by unanswered inquiries and sealed compensation payouts.

Dates overlapped inconsistently and locations were extremely scattered. Witness accounts contradicted each other just enough to muddy patterns rather than clarify them.

However, the folder also specifically lead Albedo down a specific path, the data narrowing more and more until it reached a single point, “Everglade territory,” he murmured, eyes scanning, “Border zones. Transit routes. Neutral districts.”

Raven watched him closely. “Correct, this information is far more detailed than you’ll get from most investigators.”

“These weren’t meant to be solved,” Albedo said calmly. “They’re meant to be ignored.”

“Correct.”

He flipped another page, “Too sloppy for random predators. Too quiet for open trafficking. Someone’s cleaning their tracks, but not perfectly.”

“Also correct.”

Albedo closed the folder and looked up at her. “You were going to send your people.”

“I was,” Raven confirmed. “And they would have found something eventually. Perhaps even enough to justify action from me and council,”

Her gaze sharpened. “But I want you to do this instead,”

Albedo tilted his head slightly. “Because of Lilian.”

“Yes.”

No hesitation rang in her voice as she responded, and neither was there any attempt to soften it.

“She chose you,” Raven said. “That alone elevates you from ’useful outsider’ to ’variable that must be measured properly.’”

He considered that. “And this is the measuring stick.”

“This,” Raven replied, “is the first one.”

She turned slightly, gesturing toward the distant edge of the domain where shadows thickened like coiled ink. “Magnus Everglade and his family believes themselves clever. They hides behind deniability, proxies, and tradition. They assumes that as long as nothing can be proven directly, the great houses will hesitate.”

Her eyes flashed, brief and cold, “He is wrong. Isn’t the Everglade Family one of the most influential families in the Council,”

Albedo studied her face as she spoke.

“However, I need to give them a reminder that even if they’re so influential, they’re nothing under the power of the BloodHaven’s. If I crush them openly, they’ll just retreat into martyrdom and grievance. They learn fear—but not obedience. And they will try again in subtler ways.”

She looked back at Albedo, “I need clarity. Evidence. A knife placed precisely at the throat rather than a hammer to the skull so I can cut off one of their arms and negatively impact their influence,”

“And you want me to be the knife,” Albedo said.

“Yes.” Raven responded, her gaze didn’t waver as she answered him, the word settling into the grove like a verdict already passed.

The silence that followed wasn’t tense, but deliberate. The domain itself seemed to listen, crimson leaves barely stirring as blood-aspected mana flowed in slow, patient currents around them.

“This is your test, Albedo Neverwinter,” Raven continued, her tone even, unhurried. “Not of raw strength. I have more than enough ways to measure that.” Her eyes flicked briefly to him, sharp with meaning. “And not of loyalty. I do not expect loyalty from someone who does not yet belong to my house.”

She stepped closer, stopping just outside his reach. Up close, her presence was overwhelming in a subtler way than force, an inevitability that pressed against the senses rather than crushing them.

“This test is about worth,” she said. “Judgment and restraint.”

Albedo didn’t interrupt. He simply listened, blue eyes steady.

“You will investigate the Everglade Family,” Raven went on. “Not their public face. Not their council theatrics. You will look beneath the veneer they’ve spent generations perfecting.” Her fingers curled slightly. “You will find where the disappearances lead. Who benefits. What purpose these kidnappings serve.”

She paused, then added quietly, “And more importantly, why now, when the Abyss is beginning to extend their reach across the world,”

Albedo’s gaze sharpened. “You think it’s escalating.”

“I know it is,” Raven replied. “Magnus and his family is not acting alone, and this is not mere indulgence or profit. Something is being prepared. Something that requires bodies, silence, and plausible deniability.”

She straightened, the air around her shifting subtly as authority settled back into place. “You will do this without being caught. No trails. No witnesses who can trace the knife back to BloodHaven, or to you.”

“And if I am caught?” Albedo asked.

Raven met his eyes unflinchingly. “Then you will have failed, and you’ll be dead,”

There was no cruelty in her voice. Only clarity.

“The Everglades will deny everything,” she continued. “They will cry conspiracy. They will invoke council privilege and ancient accords. Which is why I need something they cannot talk their way out of.”

Her gaze hardened. “Proof of intent. Of planning. Of a goal that threatens the balance of the Northern Region.”

Albedo exhaled slowly, glancing down at the folder in his hand. “And once I bring it to you?”

“Then I decide how much of the Everglade Family survives intact,” Raven said calmly.

The weight of that statement lingered.

“This must be done before the exchange ends,” she added. “Before you and the others leave the region at the end of the week. After that, the political landscape shifts, and opportunities close.”

She studied him again, more intently now. “If you succeed, you prove yourself worthy of standing beside my daughter, not as a liability, but as a force capable of surviving the world she will inherit.”

Albedo was quiet for a moment. Then he closed the folder, tucking it under his arm.

“You’re really not subtle about the stakes,” he said dryly.

Raven allowed herself the faintest smirk. “Subtlety is for those without power.”

He stood, brushing invisible dust from his coat, meeting her gaze head-on. “Alright,” he said. “I’ll do it.”

Something flickered in Raven’s eyes—approval, sharp and fleeting.

“Good,” she replied. “Do not disappoint me.”

The blood-aspected mana around them began to stir, the domain loosening its grip. As the grove started to fade, Raven’s voice reached him one last time, smooth and edged with warning.

“And Albedo,” she said. “If at any point you believe Lilian is being targeted directly…this is no longer a test,

Kill any dangers to my daughter on sight,”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep