Aurelia Dawnbringer looked at the artifact which had picked up on the energy of the divine spear that Armaros had obtained, looking pensive at the thing as she wondered about what to do. The elders of the clan had wanted to go and retrieve that weapon for their clan, as it would be a good addition to them alongside the two divine weapons that they already have.
However, she didn't know if that would be a good decision to do so, as this move might provoke the other clans. All the weapons of the Hero clans were passed down from their progenitors and as such they are left alone by the other clans as they are rightfully their own.
But it isn't the same for a new source of divine energy that she had managed to feel and pinpoint with the artifact, and if one of them made a move, it might cause the others to move against them, as a divine weapon is a great deal to the world and its addition would grant more power to that clan.
She is certain that this is why the other clans are not moving to obtain the divine weapon, as they are much of the same mind as herself. Though, she did wonder if the one who had attacked her son had in fact gone to get the divine weapon, but she dismissed that thought after a few seconds of pondering.
That person would undoubtedly want to keep a low profile about themselves, as he did attack a member of the hero clan, and trying to claim the divine weapon would of course put him in the centre of the attention of all clans. This could work to his disadvantage as it might allow those hostile to him, specifically herself to learn about him, which would be a good reason to keep away from it.
Still, even though the divine energy was felt yesterday, it was no longer able to be detected by her senses nor by the artifact. So there is a possibility that the Church had taken it for themselves, or another faction might have done so. Whatever the case might be, she didn't care much about the divine weapon, as her focus was on finding out the whereabouts of her son and healing him of any damages that might've been done to his soul.
After all, being stripped of your divinity, which is present in a beings soul, is not something that can be done without grave consequences for the one being stripped of their divinity. Which is why she wanted to find him as quickly as possible, she wnated to find him but without the tether of divinity to pinpoint his location, she can't find him. And it frustrated her to no end.
None of the artifacts that the clan has is capable of finding him, even if they managed to find something like his hair or other things, they weren't much help as all the artifacts work on the principle of the energy of the soul, as the body retuans traces of the mana of a person. But the problem laid in the fact that he no longer possessed divinity, and as such his soul would also be different, so the artifact would not be able to find it.
She had tried one artifact of course, using a single strand of his hair to find him, butto no avail, as it couldn't find him which caused her to nearly destroy the artifact. But she stopped herself, and then decided to use the gifts that she had gotten from him in an attempt to find him, and they all failed, which only increased her frustration and anger, however she had to hide it all, lest the elders and the clan learn about it, and she didn't want her daughters to know about this as well.
Ever since he had left the clan, they had become even more detached and colder to the others, working more on their training and studies, and while the elders were happy about it due to the fact that they are becoming stronger and more proficient, she realised that they had changed from before.
Before, they were less colder than they were and were genuinely kinder to others, but after he had left, they were much more closed off and colder, especially for his little sisters. The only ones that the girls treat with any sort of gentleness and warmth as their nannies and herself, however there is one person that they are absolutely gentle towards.
And that is Mary, Armaros' nanny who now worked here as a high ranking maid in the mansion. She had noticed that all of her daughters now treat her more delicately and gently in comparison to the other people in the clan, his older sisters treated her curtly and with respect and talked to her softly, while his younger sisters were getting closer to her, and she would often find one of them with the woman. And Mary being who she is, would always obey them, which usually included talking about their brother and also serving them.
She had also found it to be true for his older sisters as well, as they would talk with the maid and learn more about their brother. And she had seen the shift in all her daughters after some time had been spent with the maid. They had become protective of her, probably due to the fact that she is the only one in the entire clan who had a functional and comfortable relationship with him.
Even Aurelia herself had to agree that out of everyone in the clan, the one who was closest to him was Mary. Even though she is his mother, she didn't have a close relationship to her son, neither did she try to deepen it when he was here and tried to become closer to her.
She treated him with the same cold clinical way that she treated everyone else, based on his merits and talent in swordsmanship and magic, the same strict way that she had been raised. After all, to those of the bloodline, being a part of the clan is a great honour, to them the name of Dawnbringer is of greater importance than even their given name. It was same for her, as she considered her given name to be an addition to her identity as a Dawnbringer, and excellence in magic and martial arts is a given for a Dawnbringer, it wasn't the requirement, it was the standard for them all.
And yet, her son was the exception. He didn't seem to care much about the family name or honour, and his own efforts on magic notwithstanding, his swordsmanship was the only notable thing about him, but even that was overshadowed by the fact that he wouldn't use his magic with his sword. This of course caused him to not be given much attention or respect from the clan, and even she had been a lot more detached from him. Even when he showed her warmth she just brushed it off as she didn't see it as anything notable, nor did she see it as being important.
But now that he is not here anymore, she missed his presence, immensely, and had wanted to get him back since she missed the warmth that she experienced from him. After he had left, it was like the entire mansion had become that much colder due to that. So when he had refused to return, she didn't know what to do, other than act like her usual aloof self, and then she banished him from the clan, not that the elders minded it as they didn't care much about him from the beginning due to how he is.
There was also the fact that a part of her was envious of Mary due to how close she is to her son. She had treated him like a subordinate, while Mary had taken care of him for years. Though she never thought that she would actually be jealous of a maid that she has under her. She wasn't even a warrior, nor an accomplished mage, she was not even as beautiful as she is. And yet, despite all the fact that she was "superior" to the maid, she was feeling envious, because that woman was closer to Armaros than she had ever been in her life.
And now she can't find him. And it was straining on her mind, even though she knew that he is alive, she is unable to find him. Because he had been stripped of his divinity, because he was turned into a normal person, his soul turned into ordinary instead of the extraordinary thing it was.
She placed her elbows on her table and leaned forward as her face was on her palms as she breathed out a sigh of suppressed suffering, the NEED to find her son was increasing day by day, the lack of his warmth that is slowly causing her daughters and perhaps herself to become much more colder than they used to be. She can also clearly see that they miss him, and also knew that in their eyes, Mary has become an important figure, all because she is Armaros' nanny, and they all knew that he cared about her, so they have become protective of her, something which the maid herself is confused about.
"To think, that his absence would cause us to experience such changes." Aurelia muttered to herself as she raised her face and looked at her armored hands and clenched them.
'I will find you Armaros, and then I will ensure your safety. And this time, I won't... I won't hide what I wanted to say. This time, I will have you in my grasp!' Aurelia thought to herself as she has a look of determination.
But she was also frustrated as she didn't know any spells that could help her in finding Subaru, as all the spells that their clan is proficient in and has knowledge on are more or less usefull for fighting and related to it. And even the other non fighting related ones are those meant to support them in combat, and other spells didn't help in finding her son.
It was the only time in her life when she was frustrated by the fact that her clan had focused on combat spells and had disregarded spells that didn't have much utility. As a warrior clan, perhaps that might have been enough, but it was clear to her that it doesn't help her situation.
The ones who would most likely have knowledge of such spells are mages and the mage hero clan of Ambrosias would be the one with the most knowledgeable in this regard. The problem would be on how she would be able to get the knowledge from the clan without raising any suspicions about it.
She also felt that she had to find Armaros before her daughters become impatient and would want to meet with him. If they did want to meet with him after missing him for long then it might become a problem that she doesn't want to deal with.
'It is just one after the other. But I must find him at all costs.' Aurelia thought to herself as she clenched her fists in contemplation.