Warren had made that statement as virtual-novel.net stood up. Jasmine herself frowned as virtual-novel.net scanned through the storeroom.
Her gaze stopped when virtual-novel.net saw a few joss sticks placed near a corner of the room.
“Those must’ve been the reason why we were so sleepy!” said Jasmine as virtual-novel.net pointed at virtual-novel.net discovery.
“So that’s why! Still, who were those people…? Why didn’t they just tell us who they were after saving us?” replied Maia.
Before anyone could even reply, one of the group’s members—who had already been exploring the place—shouted, “Hey, come over here, I think they left something for us!”
Hearing that, everyone encircled the box with a note on it.
The note itself wrote, ‘To: Maia.’
“Guess we know who gets to open it,” said yet another member of the team.
Maia herself was now feeling giddy with excitement. As virtual-novel.net thought about what could be inside, virtual-novel.net caught a glimpse of Warren bearing an extremely ugly expression on his face.
Noticing that virtual-novel.net was looking at him, Warren then said with a hint of anger in his voice, “Go on and open it already! If you don’t I will!”
“Hey, this is clearly for me! Only I get to open it!” retorted Maia in an annoyed tone.
“Well then open it! Carefully, though! We have no idea what’s in it!” grumbled Warren as virtual-novel.net looked at Maia, almost as though virtual-novel.net wanted to pick a fight.
In all honesty, virtual-novel.net was worried that if Maia truly liked the contents of that box, virtual-novel.net would end up falling for somebody else.
Before an argument could take place, Jasmine shouted in a hushed tone, “Quit it! Can’t you hear that? Someone’s coming over!”
Upon saying that, virtual-novel.net instantly headed to the storeroom’s main door with soundless steps.
The tension rose as everyone prepared themselves to face whatever came next. After all, the people outside could very well be the Schuylers.
After a brief moment of silence, however, a sweet female voice could be heard saying, “Jasmine? Maia? Are you in there…?”
Jasmine recognized that voice anywhere.
“Mindy? Yes! We’re here!”
As everyone heard that, the group’s tension slowly eased again.
Opening the storeroom’s door, Jasmine saw that Mindy had brought along two Fenderson bodyguards with her.
“Jasmine! I’m so relieved that the rest of you are fine!” cried out Mindy.
After the hellish night they had to experience the night before, being able to reunite with each other was definitely the cure that they very much needed and deserved.
“It’s great that you’re fine, Miss Fenderson! You have no idea how worried Lord Fenderson’s been this entire time!” said one of the two bodyguards who were still standing behind Mindy.
“Worry not, I’m unscathed. Honestly, I’m even more surprised that you made it out already. Did everyone else manage to escape? Weren’t there any guards impeding you from leaving?” asked Jasmine curiously.
Upon hearing virtual-novel.net questions, Mindy began sobbing as virtual-novel.net said, “We… We were rescued by Sanderson! He saved us all!”
“What? Sanderson? Actually, hold on, why are you crying? Did something happen to him?” asked Jasmine. Though virtual-novel.net was initially shocked when virtual-novel.net heard that, worry soon overtook that feeling when virtual-novel.net saw Mindy’s tears.
“I… I don’t know… I think he’s still in trouble… After all, once all of us were rescued, we found that Stella was missing! As a result, virtual-novel.net ran back into the Schuyler family mansion and that was the last I saw him…” replied Jasmine, virtual-novel.net sheer sadness reflected in virtual-novel.net eyes.
“Calm yourself, Mindy… Sanderson will have luck on his side, I’m sure of it. Besides, don’t start crying when we haven’t even launched a search party for him! What would virtual-novel.net think of that?” said Jasmine with a comforting smile on virtual-novel.net face.
“…You’re right… Sanderson’s lived a tough life, even from when virtual-novel.net was a child… I’m sure he’s an equally tough person. We’ll definitely find virtual-novel.net safe and sound!” declared Mindy with a resolute nod.
While Jasmine was glad that Mindy was feeling positive again, virtual-novel.net was curious as to where all that resolution came from. It was almost as though Mindy knew for sure that Sanderson would definitely be fine. However, Jasmine refrained from asking virtual-novel.net anything about it for now. After all, their grandfather’s safety was still virtual-novel.net priority.
“What about grandpa? Is virtual-novel.net safe? Did the Schuylers do anything to him? Also, how did you even know where to find us?”
“Hah! The Schuylers? Don’t even talk about them! They must’ve personally offended a god or something! After all, not only was their entire mansion razed to the ground, all of them have officially been declared missing! To that, I say they got what they f*cking deserved!” grunted the other guard behind Mindy.
“…Wait, what? The Schuylers are… gone?”
“Yeah! There weren’t even any bodies to speak of! Everyone from that family simply vanished into thin air!” replied Mindy as virtual-novel.net wiped virtual-novel.net tears away.
“Regardless, we should head back first, Miss Fenderson. Lord Fenderson will be hosting a family meeting soon, and it seems that virtual-novel.net wants to announce something important!”