After feeding Samantha and she was now asleep, Lithanya was sitting outside and waiting patiently for her supper. The investigators were also sitting next to her but they weren’t hungry as yet. Plus, the food the villagers were making wasn't appealing to the investigators at all. In fact, the food was making the investigators lose their appetite every time they looked at it. A woman came to Lithanya with a big plate of food.

  “Thank you.”, Lithanya took the plate.

  The investigators looked at the food. “We aren’t eating this.”, Carina said firmly.

  Lithanya looked at her. “Eat something otherwise you’ll get sick.”

  Carina showed a disgusted expression. “I’m eating that disgusting food.”

  Lithanya hated hearing that nasty comment. “Excuse me, that was very rude of you to say that when these villagers spent hours providing food for us. Since you said that the food is horrible then starve.”, Lithanya said with full frustration.

  Carina and the others remain quiet after getting scolded by Lithanya. Then they smiled at the woman indicating that they would love to have some food. Lithanya was eating that she really missed so much because it was food cooked with firewood. Two women came back with two plates each. She handed the plates to the investigators then went back to the villagers. Carina and the investigators were skeptical about eating the food. But when they watched Lithanya eating the food, they decided to give it a try.

  “I always thought the people in Tellus eat fancy food. Because fancy food is a must in the standards.”, Carina mentioned.

  “That’s correct. But in Vacanta, we’ll eat anything even if it doesn’t look appetizing at all.”, she answered.

  Carina shook her head. “You’ve an iron stomach.”

  The woman appeared with a big loaf of enriched bread. “I forgot to give you bread.”

  “Thank you.”, Lithanya appreciated it. She ripped the bread into pieces then handed a big piece to her companions.

  The woman walked away, leaving the group alone. Samantha came out of the house, holding her growling belly.

  “Food, I need food.”, she cried.

  Samantha sat next to Carina, holding her growling belly. Luckily, the same woman already had her food dished out so she just ran to Samantha with the plate. Samantha took the food immediately and started gobbling her food like she hadn’t eaten for a few months. Eventually, Carina started eating her food since everyone else was eating their food.

  Lithanya picked up a big meat with a bone. “What’s this?”

  “Lamb shank.”, Carina answered.

  Lithanya nodded and took a big bite. Everyone was stunned that she never had lamb shank before. Everyone else continued having their supper in silence. The villagers also appeared with their plates and ate with the group.

  Carina, Samantha and the three investigators were lying on the ground, holding their full belly. While Lithanya was eating a big piece of warm chocolate saucy cake with vanilla ice-cream. Samantha looked at her with a strange face.

  “How do you still have room for dessert?”

  “I’m tall and slightly muscular so I need to eat more.”, Lithanya answered. “Plus, I didn’t eat lunch or had snacks.”

  Samantha nodded. “When does the humming song happen?”, she asked Christian.

  “At midnight.”

  “Oh look.”, Carina pointed at the other mountains. “Full moon tonight.”

  Everyone looked at the full moon. “Where’s Mr Norman’s mansion?”, Samantha asked.

  “That black and white building over there.”, Christian pointed at the building that was now looking golden.

  “I’ve never heard of that person before.”, Carina said then looked back at the mansion.

  “He isn’t a famous merchant like most merchants. He likes to keep to himself.”, Christian answered. “He doesn’t like to be in public so much.”

  Lithanya nodded. “He loves living a private life.”

  Carina looked at Samantha. “I wonder if we’re going to be hearing the roaring sound again.”

  “It was probably those animals trying to catch their prey or mating.”, Samantha said. “How many more hours till midnight?”

  “Less than four hours.”, Christian answered.

  Lithanya looked back at Christian. “How long did those teenagers work in Yuxuan’s business?”

  “Almost two years.”

  “Did they complain about anything in the work place?”

  “Not really. Except that the workers would treat them a bit badly because the teenagers were younger.”

  “I’m surprised that Norman knew about this but he didn’t solve it.”, Samantha mentioned.

  Samantha made a really good point. Lithanya didn’t even think of that. “Maybe when he grants our permission to see his employees, we can ask him that question.”, Lithanya suggested.

  Samantha fully agreed. “Remember that.”

  More villagers joined the group with their desserts. The woman, Isabella, who gave the food earlier to the group sat next to Christian. Christian wrapped his arm around Isabella to keep her nice and warm. Carina watched the couple cuddle while sharing their dessert. Carina didn’t need to ask whether they were married or not because she could see them wearing their wedding rings.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  _____________

  It was almost midnight and Lithanya was the only person outside. Isabella lent Lithanya her thick grey shawl to keep Lithanya warm. Christian was going to remain awake to keep Lithanya company and also listen to the humming song. Samantha was having a discussion with the four investigations about how they were going to snatch the teenagers before they could disappear.

  Suddenly, her attention went to Norman’s mansion. If only she had powers, she could sense what was going on in his mansion and his workplace. Christian came out of his house and walked to Lithanya with a bright smile.

  “Do you need anything else, your majesty?”, he asked.

  “No, thank you.”, Lithanya appreciated it. Then her attention went to the mansion again. “This is Mr Norman’s mansion. Where is his workplace, where does he do mining?”

  “He does his mining in the south on this island and in Novaria. Have you heard of The Land of Novaria?”

  “Yes, the land is filled with diamonds.”

  “Yes.”, Christian was happy to hear that.

  Before Lithanya could continue, a strong wind slammed their bodies out of the blue. Christian found that strange because he didn’t predict any strong winds for tonight. It was getting colder and colder by the minute.

  “Should we go inside?”, Christian asked with stress.

  “Not now…”, she was about to talk when she heard a soft humming song from a distance.

  Christian started getting anxious. “Here it is again.”, he answered.

  Samantha and the four investigators came out to also hear the humming song. They tried to listen to it from a distance since Lithanya couldn’t hear better than them. Samantha was finding it hard to figure out who was singing it because it sounded like multiple humming.

  “There are multiple people humming.”, Samantha answered.

  Loud chimes were heard across the island. The chimes were so loud that it caused everyone on the island to block their ears.

  “What’s going on? For the past eight nights, this never happened.”, Christian mentioned.

  Lithanya removed her hands by her ears and listened to the humming song properly. There were multiple people humming but in different tones and notes.

  After three minutes, the song was slowly getting softer. Christian slowly removed his hands from his ears and he was so confused about what just happened. Carina also removed her hands by her ears and her main focus was only on the bright full moon. Suddenly, one of the investigators from the other village communicated with her and was stunned to hear the new discovery.

  “Lithanya, new discovery in this case.”, Samantha said immediately.

  Lithanya turned to her. “What discovery?”, she asked.

  “The group that gets possessed by the humming song aren’t teenagers. It’s just a group of people who love singing songs in the middle. Because the full moon is out, they’re celebrating the day of the full moon.”, she explained.

  Christian looked at them with more confusion. “Then how come three teenagers are going missing when this event is occurring?”, he asked.

  A brown owl appeared by Lithanya. Lithanya let out her hand and the owl landed on her elbow. Lithanya pulled out the envelope from its mouth. Samantha took the owl from Lithanya so Lithanya could open the envelope properly and faster. Lithanya ripped the envelope quickly, pulled out the paper then started reading quickly but every word.

  Lithanya, Norman Forestburn died many years ago with his parents and wife when their mansion was burnt. Norman was never a platinum merchant. His family owned hotels and inns. Now their businesses have been taken by Norman’s children.

  Ashok

  Lithanya finished reading the letter and looked at her companions. “Norman died with his parents and his wife many years ago.”, she handed the letter to Samantha.

  Samantha took the letter and read it thoroughly. Everyone surrounded Samantha and read the letter together. “Then who’s this Norman?”

  Lithanya was staring at the group really hard while coming up with an idea.

  Norman and a few guards were walking in the dark dungeon. As they were walking, a few young hands came out of the cells and were trying to grab him. But the guards slapped the hands and made the hands go back inside the cells. Norman ignored them and went straight to the cell right at the end.

  Norman stopped in front of the cell where a young man was standing in the middle of the cell with his hands tied with ropes that were hanging from the ceilings. The man’s face was covered with his messy and wet long pitch black hair. His bare muscular body was drenched with sweat and some parts were covered in blood. One guard opened the cell gates for Norman. Norman walked into the cell staring at the unconscious man.

  “I heard that you tried to escape again.”, Norman hissed. “You know that there’s no way you can escape from here because this premises is heavily guarded. Even though you’ve powers, you still won’t have a successful escape.”, he hissed.

  The man slowly opened his eyes and was trying to say something. Norman came closer to him to hear what he was saying. Instead of trying to hear what he was saying, Norman was reading his mind. They’re coming.

  Norman looked at him weirdly. “Who’s coming?”, he asked and the man didn’t answer. Norman was getting impatient and gripped the man’s throat. Norman made the man look at him. “Tell me who’s coming or I’ll ask my guards to beat you to death. I'm being serious this time.”, he growled.

  Four small daggers flew across the passage and struck the guards on their backs. Since the blades of the daggers were covered with sleeping ointment, the guards immediately went unconscious. Norman shot spells at Samantha and the investigators, but they blocked his spells by using a shield. Then Samantha shot a spell at Norman and the spell slammed on his chest. Lithanya used the opportunity to help that man while the investigators were opening the cells that were filled with the teenagers.

  Lithanya came into the cell then sliced the ropes with her glassed dagger. Then she grabbed the man before he fell on the dirty and muddy ground. This man was so heavy that Lithanya’s legs were starting to tremble. Luckily, Christian appeared and also held the man. Christian and Lithanya placed the man’s arms over their shoulders then walked out of the cell with him.

  Samantha and the investigators were escorting the teenagers to the entrance. A few more investigators appeared, grabbed the guards and Norman. Everyone was sending the teenagers back to their homes while Samantha, Lithanya and Christian were taking the man to the academy. They were also taking the guards and Norman to the academy to be put into the dungeon.

  Norman and his guards were thrown into the dungeon in the academy. The dungeon building was further away behind the academy but it was in a mountain like the market. The man was immediately taken to the hospital that was in part of the physician section and five physician investigators were attending to him immediately. Lithanya was waiting in the passage to get some news about the wounded man. In the meantime, Haoran appeared with a thin book in his hand.

  “Lithanya, we found the real background of Norman.”, he said.

  Lithanya walked closer to him. “Tell me.”

  “Norman, whose name is Heston Fireforge, is a diamond mafia. Have you heard about Novaria?”

  “Yes. That continent was stolen by twenty-five diamond merchants because that continent produces millions of diamonds.”, she explained.

  Haoran decided to test her. “Do you know the reason why they stole that continent from the Novaria people?”

  “Because they didn’t want to pay the Novaria people because that type of diamond is expensive.”

  “That’s one reason. Another reason is that those diamonds have a special power that’s very precious to the environment. Hence it’s also so expensive.”, he explained.

  Lithanya nodded. “May I ask what power does the diamond contain?”, she asked.

  “I’m not sure. All I know is that it contains a specific special power.”, he answered honestly.

  She was getting really interested in the diamonds. “Then we’ll need to do some investigation on those diamonds.”

  The door opened and a woman came out of the room. “The man is well-stabled. We managed to sort out his wounds and stop them from getting infected. He’ll be fully recovered in a week.”, she explained then looked at Haoran. “Mr Xiao, you better come and see this man. This might recognise him.”, she said and walked back into the room.

  Haoran walked into the room with caution but with confidence. Lithanya followed behind him but kept her distance. They both were in the room and walked to the big bed where the man was lying on. Just by the distance, Haoran’s eyes widened when he saw the man’s face. Despite the bruises on the man’s face, Haoran still recognised him. He stopped a few metres from the bed with a stun look.

  On the other hand, Lithanya really wanted to know who this man was. “Who’s this man?”, she asked.

  Haoran stared at the man with shock and some sadness. “That’s my younger brother.”