My Plan?

The table shook violently as it changed form once more. I quickly stood up, and the dining table changed from an oak table to a stone one, and the Old Chapel removed all the remaining stuff. It was like resetting the dining hall into a meeting room.

In the middle of the table was a thick sheet of green crystal. My eyes did a quick scan of the mysterious thing.

"Notice. That is known as a Map Crystal. The Arks' Founders use that to survey the Five Domains from a map's perspective. The bright dots you see are the members who have been confirmed workers and are on patrol. Those members are high in ranking and hold a Signal Crystal."

"Once the Map has been activated, those Signal Crystals will shine for the Map to hone in on their signals. For example, the Founders used it to plan out Missions or find missing persons. Using the Map Crystal gives a mass signal that someone important has been deemed missing."

I froze. Do the Five Kings have those Signal Crystal?

"Negative," replied Vania.

That idea went down the drain before it could even start. The Map was mesmerizing as Mavislin, Z, and Raiyen were scrambling to figure out the next move. I wondered if you could zoom in to the Map to get a closer look at an image on a smartphone.

"Elizabeth, what do you think we should do? I haven't heard a peep from your for quite some time," asked Z, turning to me.

"Yes, Elizabeth. You're going on your first Major Mission, so I would love to hear how you handle this case. What's your plan?" agreed Mavislin.

My plan? I plan to get out of this mess without gaining an extra pair of wings, and h lo! Getting called out like that was nerve-racking for me, but I had no choice but to figure out a plan. I gazed at the Map and placed my hand on top of it.

Similar to how I zoomed in on my phone, I enlarged the Map. There were a few bright dots that were lighting up. However, the area we were headed to looked blacked out or dulled from the rest of the jade Map. And there were no green dots near that area.

With curiosity getting a hold of me, I got closer to the boundaries of that blacked-out area.

"That's the area we need to head to, the Prisoners' Den. But, unfortunately, there is no way we can get in without having any altercation with the guards there. The Midford Family is quite strict about people coming out from different districts. Especially the last one," explained Mavislin.

"Even if you are part of the Mission? I thought you and the Family were on good terms. And being in charge of the Five Kings should give you a free pass into the area, right?" I asked, confused.

"No, it would end up alerting the Midfords, and I don't like having the nobles involved. If they find that their daughter was missing, I would never hear the end of it. They might back out of the Five Kings since we are dealing with Magecraft," explained Mavislin.

"Taking charge of the Five Kings is like a double-edged sword. Very well, we'll come out with another plan. Hang on, Bryan and I could sneak in from the forest area, and we could be next to the house in a few days. Lady Roydon, you can fly overhead within the cover of night," I said.

I paused for a second before speaking my mind.

"Hang on. I thought Mavislin was invited to see the new house on the hill? And you were just on your way there. So how about we split, and Mavislin can head into the area via that invitation while Bryan and I infiltrate using the cover of night."

"Our meeting place would be at the house. I'll make sure that we would both be at the place to scout out for any other dangers," I explained, trying to picture how the plan would go through.

"That could pull off if everyone does it right and stars align, but I'm still worried about letting the juniors do the scouting. So that place is still undefined in my books," said Mavislin, looking conflicted.

"No, the two of you won't be infiltrating the forest. It's much too dangerous, and there are guards posted over there. And because the forest is out of reach of the Midfords' eyes, the guards are allowed to do anything they like to trespassers."

"And for your understanding, killing trespassers are not on their list of fun. The last time I went there was years back," said Z, looking at the Map.

"Tunnels!" yelled Bryan, barging through the door.