Volume II: Unforgiving Kingdom
Chapter I: Traitors All Around
Location: Castle Vallera, 18th Floor of Goldenia
"I don't understand. Why did His Highness want us to leave?"
"Because it's probably best for us that we don't stay in there to hear Prime Minister von Bismarck's constant yapping about picking me to have control over the current situation instead of herself.'
Three days have passed since the battle on the eleventh floor. In the aftermath of the battle, Ragna and Monika were both apprehended and imprisoned upon being defeated. Meanwhile, upon Alexiel's request, Feena is currently on the way of receiving a promotion to Lieutenant for aiding her in defeating the former two. Later on that night, Alexiel returned to the eighteenth floor to begin explaining the situation to Cain, the current King over Goldenia, when suddenly Freesia arrived, furious about Alexiel being put in charge of handling the fates of the prisoners. Upon her arrival, The King asked that Alexiel, along with the two guards in the area, leave the room, and allow them to speak privately one-on-one. As of now, Alexiel and one of the two guards stand out in the hallway, as they await to hear word from the King or Freesia.
"Honestly, I don't understand why she's pissed." She said. "The Foxblood knows that she isn't fit for anything to do with combat or handling prisoners, like I am. So this shouldn't even be up for a goddamn debate." Alexiel sighs and turned to the guard that was standing across from her. "What do you think?"
The guard in question was a young boy in standardized armor that other soldiers have been seen wearing, though without his helmet, revealing his black hair. The man stood at attention upon being questioned by Alexiel.
"I'm... not sure I'm fit to answer this Prime Minister." He responded. "I'm just a guardsman."
"There's no reason for you not to be. It's just a simple question of your personal opinion. Whatever it is that you say about Prime Minister von Bismarck won't leave this place, and definitely will not be told to said Prime Minister. Whatever you have to say, I would use this opportunity to say it."
"Well... maybe the Prime Minister... thinks that she is more capable for the task you mentioned that you are...?"
"Hm..." Alexiel held her head down with her eyes closed as she spoke to herself. "I suppose. That would be her thought process. She does tend to try and prove herself better than I am in a lot of things."
"Is... that common?"
Alexiel sighs. "Unfortunately. But then again, I can't be too worried about the things she does. His Highness isn't going to let her have her way just like that. Oh, sorry, I... didn't mean to involve you this far, I was just thinking out loud."
"I-It's no problem, Prime Minister."
Soon another soldier approached them from the right. This one was also in standard uniform, wearing their helmet as well. Though instead of a sword they wielded a spear instead.
"The rest of the area is clear, Prime Minister." He said as he arrived. "As far as I'm concerned, we're the only ones around."
"It looks like we... have a chance to rest for now." the younger soldier said in response.
"Don't get too comfortable." Alexiel replied. "You never know when something can happen."
"It has been rather quiet up here for the past three days, Prime Minister. "The helmet-wearing soldier comments. "It would be rare for anything to break off now. Especially at this time of night."
"Goldenia has been peaceful for a long while now." The helmetless soldier also said. "We should be fine if we were to relax for a moment. Even if just a little bit."
"The moment I let my guard down is going to be the moment that something happens." Alexiel stated. "I cannot allow that to be the case. I cannot allow myself to be caught off guard. I am not going to show any weakness that'll allow something horrible to happen. And as Imperial Soldiers, that is your job as well, is it not?"
"It is, Prime Minister." Both soldiers answered.
"This shouldn't be up for debate if that is the case. Our orders were to wait outside of the throne room, therefore our duty should now be to guard the outside of the-"
"Wait a minute..." The helmetless soldier suddenly spoke up, cutting off Alexiel. "Did... Did you hear that?"
"Pardon?" The helmeted soldier asked.
"Hear what?" Alexiel also asked, having her hand on her blade.
The three all look around as they keep kept their ears open, listening for anything that might be nearby. About a good ten seconds passed by before a faint voice could be heard.
"S...me...ne. . . . . H...p . . . "
Upon hearing the voice in the distance, Alexiel quickly pulled out her zweihander, holding it in both hands as she looked around. The helmeted soldiers gripped his spear, looking around left and right for the source. The helmetless soldier had his sword drawn and held it out in front of him, standing with his back facing Alexiel and the other soldier.
"What the hell was that voice?!" Alexiel said sharply.
"It sounds like it's nearby." the helmetless soldier added.
"Eyes up you two! We don't know what's out there yet!"
"Pl..ase. . . . . . H..p me. . . . In...j...ed. . ."
"Wait a moment..." The helmetless soldier said. "I.. I don't think this is anything threatening."
"What makes you say that?" The helmeted soldier asked in response.
"Just listen. Listen as close as possible. It... It sounds like it's someone calling for help. Whatever this is that has us alarmed might not be the threat..."
"That doesn't meant that there isn't one." Alexiel comments. "What's the point in calling for help if there isn't any trouble to begin with? More importantly, who would be on the eighteenth floor calling for-" Alexiel paused and gasped. "The Foxblood...!"
"A...xiel. . . . Help me. . . I'm i...jur...d. . ."
"That's her voice...! I'm sure of it!"
"Did something happen to the Prime Minister?" The helmeted soldier asked.
"There!" The helmetless soldier shouted as he pointed in front of them. "She's over here!"
The three were all turned around into the direction that the helmetless soldier pointed. In the distance walking towards them they could see Freesia walking towards them. However, it was plain to see that she wasn't as herself. She could be seen stumbling along slowly, walking to the three. Alexiel and the others stepped back in surprise as they could see blood dripping from the woman's abdomen, indicating that she was injured, badly at that. Quickly, the three ran up to her as fast as possible.
"Freesia?!" Alexiel called out in surprise. "What the hell happened?! What happened to you?!"
"Al...exiel, I. . ." Freesia struggled to respond. "I need you to. . . to. . ."
Freesia couldn't even finish her last sentence as she fell down to the ground, unable to move due to her injuries. Alexiel and the soldiers stopped upon reaching her, the redhead taking a knee, taking Freesia up into her arms.
"By the Gods, I..." Alexiel said, still in shock. "How did this happen, I... There shouldn't have been any way for this to happen."
"We just patrolled the area." the helmetless soldier added. "How could anyone have gotten through to target the Prime Minister?"
Alexiel's head suddenly shot up.
"His Highness!"
"The King?!"
Alexiel quickly shot back up to her feet and ran off towards the throne room, weapon in hand. Immediately the two soldiers ran after her, the helmetless one carrying Freesia in his arms as he did so. As Alexiel reached the throne room, she quickly kicked down the door and rushed inside, holding her weapon out in front of her.
"Your Highness! Are you-?!"
Alexiel stopped in shock, dropping her Zweihander and putting her hands over her mouth as she reached the interior of the throne room. Soon the two guards arrived, and were just as surprised as Alexiel was The entire room was a complete mess. The signs of a skirmish in this place were obvious and could be seen all around the room. Blood stained the floor and walls, as well as the throne. As for what really caught their attention, was the fact the Cain, the King, was left sitting on the throne with a large wound in the center of his chest. His body was limp as his sword was currently on the side of his throne. It was clear as the afternoon sky to see that the King of Goldenia was dead. He had been kick inside of the throne room and left here to rot. Alexiel had dropped down to her knees, the helmeted soldier slowly backed away in shock, while the helmetless soldier placed Freesia's body on the ground gently, staring with a surprised look on his face.
"The... King is..." The helmetless soldier began to say. "The king is... is dead..."
"This... That can't be true..." The helmeted soldier also commented. "This shouldn't have happened..."
"How did it happen...?" Alexiel asked quietly. "When did I let down my guard...?"
"The only ones in the area that we know of were us three." The helmetless soldier said. "Whoever did this must've snuck through when all of us left the Kin and Prime Minister alone."
'How the hell did they get through us so easily?" The helmeted soldier asked. "We patrolled the outer area back and forth, up and down. They shouldn't have been able to infiltrate the throne room like that."
"But that's the only explanation that we can think of for what happened. Although we don't know who did it..."
". . . There is one solution." Alexiel comments as she stood up.
"What is it?"
The two soldiers stepped back as Alexiel turned her blade in their direction.
"Which one of you was it?!" She said fiercely.
"Prime Minister?!"
"What the hell is going on?!" The helmeted soldier exclaimed in confusion.
"You were right." Alexiel began explaining. There weren't many people on the eighteenth floor at night. And I made sure that I swept this floor, front and back. If there was any assassination in Castle Vallera, it could come from the inside. Which one of you did it?! Which one of you had the motives and guts to kill His Highness?!"
"Wait Prime Minister!" The helmetless soldier pleaded. "This wasn't us. We wouldn't-"
"How dare you accuse us?!" The helmeted soldier responded, point his spear at Alexiel. "For you to point a finger at two guards without hesitation, you can only be hiding your true nature, Prime Minister!"
"What the hell are you on about?" Alexiel questioned, raising a brow.
"You are not just our Prime Minister. Without another member of the Goldenian Royal Family, you are the next in line to take the throne, and the next in line to rule Goldenia. You are the only one here who would benefit the most from the death of His Highness! The only logical reason is that you would kill the King so that you can easily inherit his position!"
"I am a loyal warrior, and loyal to the powers above me. I do not want to be a ruler. I would never take the life of His Highness, The King, a man that I considered my friend! And for you to insult me by saying that only adds suspicions to yourself."
"It's your single word against the two of ours!"
"By my authority as Chief Prime Minister, I will have both of you placed under arrest for this! You will be taken by force if you do not-"
Before she could finish, the helmeted soldier rushed at her, holding his spear out in front of him. Quickly, Alexiel swung her Zweihander in front of her, blocking the spear as it reached her. As the two went back for another attack, the helmetless soldier hopped in the way, holding his sword out between the two of them.
"Stop this, please!" He exclaimed. "We're all on the same side! What reason would we have for accusing each other like this?"
"His Highness is dead, you idiot!" Alexiel shouted. "His death must be avenged! And I will take down anyone suspected to be his killer!"
"And that goddamn ruthless attitude of yours is what places you at the top of the suspected list!" The helmeted soldier also said.
The helmetless soldier jumped back in surprise as Alexiel moved her hand around, knocking his blade away. Before she could swing again, he dashed out of the way, just in time as the helmeted soldier swung his spear, colliding with Alexiel's blade. He rushed in once again, holding his spear out in a defensive stance as Alexiel readied herself. She then charged the soldier, swinging left in right, in which he responded with by moving his spear in each direction, blocking her swings. As he attempted to retaliate by bring his spear down over her head, she moved out of the way and caught it in her arms, following by her kicking the soldier in the chest, knocking him away and taking his spear from his hands. Alexiel flips the spear around and throws it at the soldier, who caught it in his hand, spinning it around to parry another attack by the Prime Minister.
As the two engaged in battle once more, the helmetless soldiers moved his blade between the two combatants, trying his best to try and keep them from fighting. However, the option for peace went out the window as a mirror blade slid across his face, nearly cutting him, followed by Alexiel shoving him back. As he regained himself, he dodged out the way of the Prime Minister's zweihander coming down on him with a vertical slash. The spear-wielding soldier used this as an advantage and rushed Alexiel, who managed to avoid and follow up with sending a barrage of mirror blades down on the two soldiers. Both immediately ran out of the way of her assault as Alexiel landed on the ground.
Alexiel immediately rushes back up to the two at max speed, swinging her blade horizontally at them. The two quickly rolled under and both went after Alexiel, who formed two shields out of mirror blades to block their attacks. She then slams one of the shields into the spear-wielding soldier's chest, knocking him away as she turned around to face the sword-wielding one. He held his sword as tight as possible as Alexiel began swinging hers. He held his up and swung back and forth to parry her attacks, but was caught off guard by the last one and knocked away by the size of her zweihander. Just before he fell he managed to stop himself just in time and stay on his face. However the moment he did so he jumped out of the way as a giant pillar of mirror blades extended from the floor under him.
As Alexiel continued to summon mirror blades, she was suddenly forced to stop as she was impaled from behind all of a sudden by the spear soldier's weapon. Able to still stand she spun around, causing him to let go of his spear as she kicked him in the face, forcing him to stumble backwards and fall. She then ripped the spear out of her backside and prepared to throw it. However, before she could the sword soldier tackled her down to stop her, causing her to drop the spear and allowing the soldier to pick it back up. Alexiel managed to throw the sword soldier off of her and pull herself back up as the spear soldier rushed at her once again
Her sword and his spear collided immediately upon reaching within two feet of each other. Breaking away from their deadlock, Alexiel and the speared soldier engaged in several more slashes before entering another deadlock, both of them trying to push the other back, with Alexiel succeeding more than the soldier was. The speared soldier rolled backward in an attempts to toss Alexiel around in a circle. However that failed as upon being flung into the air, the Prime Minister somersaulted around and landed on her feet, followed by sending another barrage of mirror blades, which the speared soldier deflected. Soon Alexiel charged in once more, but was suddenly interrupted as the sword soldier blocked her attack as well, leaving her open as the spear soldier rushed. However, Alexiel manages to catch the spear under her arm and kick the man away. She then follows up by tossing the sword soldier across the room and chasing after him.
The sword soldier landed directly beside the throne where the currently deceased King sat. As he pulled himself back up to his feet, he paused for a moment as something caught his attention, causing him to examine the King's dead body. Suddenly he fought a weird spearhead-shaped hole in the center of the King's chest.
"That's an odd shape for a spearhead..." He said to himself. "It almost looks like a..."
He was suddenly cut off from his thought as a mirror blade flew past his face. Turning around, he was met with a kick to the face from Alexiel. He immediately got back and tried to force the other two to stop fight.
"Wait! stop for a moment! I think we have a clue!"
The two slowly lowered their guard as Alexiel walked over slowly.
"A clue?" She asked.
"What do you mean?" The other soldier said as he picked up his spear.
"Whatever weapon used to kill His Highness still left its imprint. I can see the shape of the blade that was used to slay him."
Alexiel seemed a little confused but played into it for a while. Being the one who was standing the closest to Cain's body at the time, she took a knee as she searched for the wound. From there, she could see the odd shaped marking that was left in his chest.
"It's a spearhead." she said gripping her blade. "That's all I needed to know."
"So what?" The speared soldier asked. "You're just going to immediately blame me?"
"You're the only spear wielder around here as of now. Who else could've done this?"
"Actually, Prime Minister..." The sword soldier butted in. "I don't believe that is was him either. The spearhead used doesn't look like any spearhead I've seen. And it's certainly not anything that the Goldenian Imperial Army would use." He looks up at the speared soldier. "Hey. Let me see your spear for a minute."
The speared soldier complied and tossed his speared over to the other soldier, who caught it and placed it right next to the wound on the King's chest. Soon the speared soldier walked over and examined along with them.
"You're right." Alexiel said. "It doesn't match any of our spears." she materializes a mirror blade out of thin air and holds it in her hands like a leaf. She held it up to the spear wound, and was able to see that the spearhead did not match her mirror blade. "And it doesn't match my shards at all."
"Then..." The sword soldier started to say. "Does this mean none of us are responsible?"
"Fortunately for all of us it does." Alexiel sighs. "Listen, I'm... sorry for jumping to conclusions like that. As a Prime Minister and an old friend of His Highness, seeing what happened to him really made me take things a little too far."
"It's understandable Prime Minister." The speared soldier. "I apologize for trying to attack you myself personally. Guess it's a good thing that not all of us jumped to conclusions like that."
Alexiel turned to face the sword soldier.
"You." she said. "What's your name?"
The man straightened up upon hearing her speak to him, not expecting for this to happen.
"U-Uh..." He stuttered. "J. . . Juri. My name is Juri, Prime Minister."
Alexiel turns to the spear soldier, silently asking the same question.
"Jick." He responded.
"Juri. Jick. I want the two of you to alert the other Prime Ministers of what happened. I have my hands full already, between tomorrow's interrogations, and having to take care of the Foxblood right now. I could use some more assistance from you two and the Prime Ministers. I can't do all of this on my own, as much as I hate to admit it."
"Yes, Prime Minister!"
Both soldiers saluted as they headed outside of the castle, making their wa to the lifts in order to head downward to the lower floors. As Alexiel watched the two leave, she suddenly heard groaning coming from behind her. Turning around she saw Freesia slowly waking up and try to stand.
"Foxblood." She responded. "You... You okay?"
"What... do you think...?!" Freesia coughed as she sat up.
Alexiel walked over to the girl, and picked her up, letting Freesia lean on her shoulder as they began to walk outside of the castle.
"What the hell happened?" Alexiel asked her. "How did all of this happen? Who did this?"
"I. . . " Freesia began to say as she looked down. "I can't recall... Everything just happened so fast I couldn't process it. The next thing I know, a weapon was being rammed through my abdomen by an unknown attacker. The moment I was able to pull myself together, His Highness... he had already been... He was..."
"I know. . . I feel terrible about this."
"He sent you three out. It should've been me who protected him."
"I understand that. And that it is true. But I won't completely fault you. You're not a fighter like most of us. I shouldn't have just left the room so easily." Both Prime Ministers sighed, realizing their mistakes. "Can you stand?"
"Not entirely, no.'
"Looks like I'm taking you to the infirmary."
"Looks like you have a lot on your plate again."
"Between this, and dealing with the two prisoners, there is."
"Perhaps I should take one off your hands for you."
"What do you mean?"
"As much as I hate to admit, dealing with assassination type situations is more suitable for you since, well, you're the hardest of the Prime Ministers to actually kill. If there's nothing stopping this person from killing His Highness, there's nothing stopping them from killing off the Imperial Court. You should allow me to handle these prisoners, and you can begin looking into this yourself."
"Well... you do have a point. But, with your condition, I doubt you'll be in much shape to handle anything else right now."
"What? I assure you, I am fine. A little injured, but I'm fine."
You say that now. Yet I still say it's best to rest up for a while. You aren't like me, Foxblood. You can't just shake off any injury like it was nothing."
Freesia sighed. "Fine. I submit. Good luck takin care of everything."
Alexiel nodded as the two made their way to another lift, and began heading downward to another floor. As they were heading down, Freesia looked away from Alexiel, currently having an angered look on her face.
"You stubborn idiot." She thought to herself. The hell's wrong with you? Thinking you can handle all of this alone. You damn idiot... Why do I even bother... Why do I even bother trying to use reason with you...?"