Max turned around to go to other sides to help, but at the moment, he felt tremors running down underneath him. He felt a chill all over his body and stopped.
'The battle is already over? Wait! Yeah, the Black Knight is still there so it means they are in stalemate for now. That's good! Take your time, buddies.'
As his thoughts churned, he caught sight of both Charlotte and Stelle coming out of their side of the castle. Judging from the looks on their faces, they didn't seem to have found the Earthen pot.
'Big Sis, you aren't playing a prank, right? Because I clearly remember that this was a condition. The Earthen pot can't be destroyed easily and it also can't be taken outside of the castle,' Max asked.
[I don't play these little things, boy. The remains are still in the castle. I just made it in such a way that you would have written.]
'I would have written, huh.'
"I didn't find anything," Charlotte reported in a tired voice. "Are you sure it's there?"
"Yes, I'm sure of that. That pot can't be taken outside of the castle," Max answered.
"Oh yeah, I didn't find a single Earthen pot but many of them," Stelle said, scratching her cheeks. "I didn't know which one it was so I thought it'll be better to report first."
"Of course! Mixing real with many fake," Max couldn't help but smile hearing that. That was exactly what he would have done. "Take us there!"
"Sure!"
The trio once again passed through many fallen ceilings and corridors before they reached a rather safe room. Surprisingly, it was in a good shape, with its ceiling intact and only dust covering the things inside of it.
As they entered the room, Max scanned the room with his judgmental gaze. If anyone could find the Earthen pot here, it would be him and no one else.
The room was apparently an ancient museum containing many monuments, statues, and weapons covered in rust and dust lying around in different parts.
The walls were carved with beautiful sceneries representing the ancient culture and traditions. To make it even more beautiful, the paintings were done by pasting mud and other stuff on the wall.
'The pot!'
Indeed, there were Earthen pots in the room but there were tens of them, without even counting the Earthen pots curved in the wall as part of the painting.
"How do we recognise the Earthen pot you're talking about?" Charlotte asked, her eyes shining in excitement when his gaze landed on the various weapons and ancient objects.
"You can't. Let me do the work," Max responded without even turning his head. "Stelle, go to that room and check what the Black Knight is doing."
Stelle nodded and left the room. She didn't ask why he meant that particular room, as they didn't have time for that.
Ignoring Charlotte who was looking through the paintings and statues, Max began his search. However, he didn't search blindly.
His mind was racing and trying to find the way he would have hidden the Earthen pot here.
However, as he checked everything in the room, he didn't find anything wrong. Even the Earthen pots were quite normal.
'Where is it?' Max frowned and continued his search, trying to keep his cool.
Just at that time, Stelle returned and reported, "The Black Knight... it's powerful, alright. And currently, it's standing on a large boulder in a dashing pose."
"Great! So the battle hasn't started yet," Max said, still keeping his attention on his target. "The Black Knight can't leave a certain area just like other areas so others are probably taking time and trying to find a way to defeat him. It won't be eas—"
All of a sudden, his steps came to a halt and he also stopped talking. Max finally found the odd thing in the room, or rather the way he would have hidden the Earthen pot.
He spun, as his gaze landed on the carved paintings on the walls. They were made by mud splattering on the wall by artists. They were beautiful, but there was a glaring mistake.
"That's it!" Max exclaimed, barely suppressing the urge to shout. He pointed at the paintings and said, "Check out the Earthen pots in the painting.."
Charlotte and Stelle quickly got to work before they began their questioning. The Earthen pots in the painting should be only half, but it would be different for a real one.
"Can you explain?" Charlotte asked, as she checked the pots in the painting.
She also looked at the painting closely to find any clues but found nothing important.
In the painting, there was a couple wearing beautiful clothes she had never seen. A long white cloth connected their clothes, with a knot in the middle.
They had smiles on their faces as they looked at a fire burning in a square-shaped hole. It was a strange scene she didn't understand, but she attributed it to be part of ancient traditions.
"The painting depicts the wedding ritual of an ancient civilization and Baron Marcus belonged to that civilization. Their culture included the couple taking seven rounds around the fire, signifying the bond for seven lifetimes and also seven divine promises," Max explained with a light smile on his face.
"Seven...wait! Do these Earthen pots represent those too? Then why are there eight..." Her eyes widened as realization struck her. "No way! You mean..."
"Yes, one of the Earthen pots is actually real and we need to find it. There should only be seven pots but whoever hid the real one, they chose this place. No one would even suspect," Max said with a nod.
[Good one!]
"That's actually a smart move. Unless one was really lucky or knew the ancient traditions, they wouldn't even find the weakness," Charlotte muttered in amazement.
"Then, how did this dummy know about it?" Stelle asked, as she simply smashed the fake Earthen pots to check them.
"It's a secret, hehe," Max winked at her and focused on his task.
Just then, the whole castle shook as if an earthquake had hit it. But they knew what it meant.
The battle outside had started again and this time, it would only stop with the Black Knight's death.
"FOUND IT!!"