Roan had been trying to reach Ocean through the communication device but he couldn’t get any response, he couldn’t even get his voice through.

"What the hell is wrong with this thing? Why can’t I reach him?" He grimaced while Kai who was also in the office trying to reach Ocean through his own personal communication device given to him by Ocean was also facing the same problem.

"I think Master isn’t wearing his communication device." Kai suggested, or else they knew it was impossible to not reach Ocean even through Kai’s device.

The kidnapping attempt on Kai wasn’t even that long back and suddenly there was a huge fire at the Oasis Foundation school. It wasn’t a coincidence nor was it an impulsively made attempt. They knew Ocean wasn’t around and they also knew that Kai and Oasis was Ocean’s weakness that’s why they specifically targeted them.

"Mr Roan, do you think there’s a mole among us?" Kai asked after a long pause.

It was already past midnight and he wasn’t feeling tired, he was just anxious and worried. Things were suddenly getting strange and Ocean not being here was making it worse. Even if they were able to contact him and tell him about what was going on they would have felt at ease hearing his instructions or even his voice. But even that wasn’t happening.

Roan had a grim look on his face and he walked over and sat down on the couch near Kai.

"There might be," he said, "I’ve already told Rose to check into the records of everyone who’s entered and left Oasis in the past six months. I’m sure she will find something."

They fell silent for a moment before a terrifying thought crossed Kai’s mind, he couldn’t help but shudder at that thought and Roan noticed.

"What if..." Kai whispered, "What if Master is in some danger?"

Roan frowned, he recalled Kai’s condition during his kidnapping attempt. Someone had messed with the mana flow in his body, rendering his power useless and exposed him to agonizing pain. At that time without Ocean’s help Kai might not have survived the mana disruption but having the same happening to Ocean instead would mean catastrophe.

Roan shuddered at the thought but then he realised that Ocean was a Dragon himself, stronger than anyone. Kai was a Dragon too but he was a child, he was yet completely matured and Ocean was also young but he had matured enough, after all he had been using his mana since he was a child. The kind of feat Ocean/Reina had done was enough to make them invincible but he couldn’t help but still feel the nagging feeling of worry.

He looked once at Kai whose face had gone all pale and fingers clenched tightly. He pushed his worry away and reached out placing his hand over Kai’s.

"Don’t worry, we’re talking about Ocean Ryujin here, there’s no one who could harm him. And besides, he’s not there alone, he’s with his family, Prince Davian and Prince Eric. Those people won’t let anything happen to him." He reassured Kai and even himself.

Roan watched Kai who looked relieved for a moment before he grew anxious again and Roan sighed.

"Why don’t you go and rest? You’ve been through a lot today. I’ll stay here and keep trying to get to Master." Roan offered and Kai looked at him.

"I... won’t be able to sleep." Kai admitted and Roan’s eyes softened.

He reached out and placed his hand over Kai’s head, ruffling his fluffy hair a bit.

"I know I said that after Master, you have to take his place but it’s fine for you to rest now. There’s still some time for that and Master will really kill me if he came to know that I wouldn’t let you rest after having you work so hard."

"But it’s my decision." Kai insisted and Roan smiled.

"Do you think Master will listen to that?"

Kai pursed his lips, he was worried but he knew Roan was right. The news of having a fire in Oasis would make him angry and having him worry about Kai on top of that would only make people receive unnecessary punishments.

"All right." He spoke, defeated and Roan smiled.

"Good, now, don’t worry too much. If we need your help, we will call for you." Roan said and Kai stood up after a nod.

Roan watched Kai leave the office before he sighed deeply resting back feeling the worry crash over him. He was supposed to look after such things before they happened, he was the one whom Ocean had left behind to protect Oasis in his absence yet, such a big thing happened and he couldn’t even know. Besides, how on earth did their security team not catch the mole who had infiltrated? And moreover, who had dared to betray them?

That person could only pray that he would be dead by now, because once Ocean returns and hears of this, that person would be found and Ocean would skin him alive and heal him to repeat the process at least ten times before he would throw him into the gallows to rot for the rest of his life.

Roan looked at the communication device in his hand and tried reaching out to Ocean again.

"Master?" He called, "Master, can you hear me? There’s been an emergency here! Master..."

He couldn’t reach him again.

"What if... Master is in some danger?" Kai’s words rang in Roan’s head again and he couldn’t help but grit his teeth feeling the vein in his forehead grow taut.

"There’s no way." He grimaced, "Ocean Ryujin is the Scion of Supreme Aqua Dragon. He may not be in his complete power yet but he is still one of the strongest people alive, stronger than any human or demon. I’m sure... he’s just drunk or something."

Reassuring himself, Roan sat there for a long moment until the exhaustion and worry from the entire day’s ordeal caught up to him and he dozed off.

The next morning, Roan woke up with a start as Remi touched his shoulder and he blinked several times pushing away the traces of sleep and exhaustion.

"Here, wash your face and have some tea and breakfast," Remi placed down the tray on the table and then took the basin of water from the maid nearby.

Roan splashed the lukewarm water on his face and Remi gestured for the maid to leave.

Roan sighed deeply as he took the towel from Remi’s hand and wiped his face.

"Did Master respond?" He asked cautiously and Roan shook his head.

"It’s strange that we can’t reach him even after trying for whole night." Roan said and Remi could sense the exhaustion in his voice.

He took the towel from Roan and watched as Roan stared at the steaming plate of eggs, bacon, toast and the fruit salad. Remi crouched and started pouring Roan some sweet tea as he liked. He made a mental note of bringing him some pancakes later to ease his tension.

"Master must have put his device away for the night thinking it was fine enough for everyone to enjoy. I’m sure if you try some time later, you would be able to contact him." Remi said and handed the tea cup to Roan.

Roan took the cup and patted the seat beside him, Remi sat down beside him.

Roan took a sip, contemplating over Remi’s words for a moment before shaking his head.

"No," he said, "Master is not the kind of person who’s laid back over such matters. Young Master’s kidnap attempt had him worried so, it’s impossible that he would think everything is fine. Something must have happened for him or his communication device that’s why we can’t reach him."

Remi nodded, "But, I’m sure, Master is all right. It’s Master, after all, who on earth is capable of hurting him?"

Roan, Silas and Enora hadn’t let many people know about the severed arm marked with curses found at the school to avoid chaos and probably even Remi had no idea about this. Everyone knew it was a big incident which was probably behind them and that the capable security team will take care of everything.

"Besides, it’s a bad thing that the school was caught on fire though, the people of Oasis were going to have the New Year party there." Remi spoke and Roan sighed.

"I hope they’re not too distressed, without Master here it’ll be hard but we’ll manage somehow."

Remi smiled placing his hand over Roan’s, "I’m sure everything will be fine, Master’s most capable aide and vassal is here after all."

Roan stared at Remi’s warm brown eyes that somehow reminded Roan of the blazing sandy world he was a part of not too long ago. Remi was also of Mordino so he had the signature sunkissed warm hue to his skin, at first he was a weak, skinny boy who had large doe-like cautious eyes.

Even though he had also grown in the past few years, his body was still lean and though his face had lost the boyish touch, it still retained the delicate look that Remi always carried. Roan always wondered how could this young man have such delicate, feminine air to him, he knew he was a man for a fact but something about him reminded him of Ocean’s androgynous beauty.

"Mr Roan?" Remi called and Roan blinked, snapping out of his trance feeling his heart picking its pace.

"Ah, it’s nothing." Roan spoke before he took a sip of his tea, feeling the heat rush up to his face and ears, and wondering if he was going crazy because of the stress and anxiety.

In the afternoon, Roan had a meeting with Ocean’s vassals, the three Underworld leaders along with Archmage Silas. Kai had also joined the meeting to discuss about their next move as they still hadn’t managed to get through to Ocean.

"So, what’s our next plan of action?" Lord Hawke asked, "Have you found the mole yet?"

Roan sighed, "There wasn’t a mole, someone had infiltrated Oasis. I don’t know how but that’s the only information our guild was able to secure. We’re still looking."

"Did you find him then?" Lord Snake asked, his gaze sharp.

Roan nodded, "But he was already dead... We have his body, Archmage should have a look at it..."

Silas noticed as how Roan’s face paled when he mentioned the dead man and nodded.

"All right."

"The people must be distressed after what happened." Lord Devil mumbled and Kai looked at him.

"Yes, but, I’ve sent some people to reassure them and after the meeting, I’ll be heading to Oasis myself." He assured them and Lord Snake frowned.

"Isn’t it dangerous for you to go by yourself?"

Kai nodded, "I understand but Master has already assigned some strong people around me, they will be there with me so, it won’t be a problem."

"I thought everything would be all right in the New Years and we will enjoy watching the Golden Serpent mortified, but what’s all this?" Lord Snake sighed running his hand through his hair.

"Is it her doing?" Lord Devil asked in a grim tone.

The bleak silence that draped over the hall would have made someone suffocate and they all looked at Roan.

"We still haven’t found any evidence, but if it is her then," he said, "she should count her days when Master finds out about this."