A/N: Hi everyone, this is the second chapter I've added to this story in about a week, so please go back and read the previous chapter if you haven't seen it yet!
Chapter Twenty-One
It felt good to have a home, Ramza thought.
Even if that home was currently a ramshackle, oblong hut that had only been meant to be lived in by humans temporarily.
By Mustadio's request, they had searched for their new home in the town of Tiridates in southern Ordallia. Their new town was rather like Ordallia's version of Goug Clockwork City in Ivalice, except the Ordallians had been mining in Tiridates since long before the modern city of Goug had even become developed.
At the far outskirts of the town, where the few existing homes were scattered at least a mile apart from each other, there were mines containing the ruins of ancient civilizations, which had already been picked clean of everything valuable or easily portable, and then abandoned.
Some of these mines were decades old, but Mustadio had specifically sought out one that had been just recently abandoned. Nearby, there was still the hastily-constructed hut that many of the miners had lived in during their work in what had been named the Oxylos Mine, back when it was still active.
With only a small amount of the massive fortune they had accrued during their adventures in Ivalice, Ramza had purchased the property that held and surrounded the abandoned Oxylos Mine. The owner of the developing company, who sold the property to Ramza, was overjoyed to make the sale. Normally, once a mine was picked clean, the land was virtually un-sellable. Ordallians did not want to settle their families on abandoned mine sites. It was not good farming land, and it simply made no sense to settle so far from the heart of the town.
The mine developer, a wealthy man with dark hair and bronze skin, called Rowland Berekyntia, had been kind enough to point this out to Ramza. In return, Ramza had been partially honest with the man. He told Master Berekyntia that he and his associates knew of potential uses for the massive pieces of machinery that were left half-buried in the mine, and believed that they could also develop a method to remove them from the mine, despite their unwieldy weight.
It had taken Ramza some consideration, to decide whether or not to tell the truth about this. On the one hand, having such a strange plan might draw unwanted attention to their group. But on the other hand, purchasing an abandoned mine while refusing to explain why he wanted it would probably draw quite a bit more unwanted curiosity from the townsfolk.
Ramza had decided that he would be honest, though he would not release every detail of their plan.
Master Berekyntia had been most intrigued. Still, he had made Ramza sign a contract specifying that he would not try to get his purchase money back from the mining company, if his plan failed. He had also told Ramza that if his plan actually did succeed, then his company would be pleased to make a financial deal with Ramza in the future, to learn his methods and increase their own profits in their other mines.
Ramza tried to remain vague as to whether or not he would be willing to do this, some day. Mustadio's plan for their mine would by necessity involve the zodiac stones, and he was not sure if there would ever be a way for them to share the original truth of their methods with anyone else.
Now, Ramza and his friends lived in the drafty hut that had once held the working miners. They planned to build a more comfortable home on the property, but they had only just gotten those plans in motion; it would be a while before their new house was inhabitable.
They had searched for a skilled carpenter on Main Street in the heart of Tiridates, and had paid the woman enough money up front to get her and a few of her best laborers to postpone whatever else they were working on, and begin work at their site immediately. Ramza, Meliadoul, and Rafa planned to help with the construction each day, to get the house built as quickly as possible. The others would be helping Mustadio and Besrodio with the mine.
The carpenter and her staff were beginning construction on their new home tomorrow. Soon enough, they would all have plenty of work to keep them busy. But today, there was not really anything important going on. Sitting on his bedroll in the hut, Ramza tried to take a rare moment to let himself relax.
Nearby, Mustadio was cursing while trying to prepare their dinner stew at the cooking fire, and Besrodio was exasperatedly trying to give his son advice. Mustadio wasn't listening.
Alma, Rafa, and Malak had gone for a late afternoon stroll around their new property. Rad was trying to teach Meliadoul to play backgammon, while they sat on the floor over by the doorway. Meliadoul generally lacked patience for such games, and she seemed to be barely tolerating the lesson.
Everyone was safe, home, and accounted for, and they didn't even need to do any traveling today.
Ramza couldn't remember the last time he had been in this situation. Mayhap it had been during the few days he spent at Lionel castle with Agrias and Ovelia, when they foolishly believed that Cardinal Draclau was providing them shelter and safety at last?
Whoa. That felt like it was a really long time ago.
Ramza felt a twinge of guilt now, thinking of Agrias. He still wondered if he had done the right thing, by continuing to lead his group to Ordallia, instead of going to Lesalia to check on Ovelia.
He also wondered if Agrias had done the right thing, though. She was risking the well-being of all of Ivalice, by messing with the royal couple.
Plus, Agrias might simply be blowing the whole situation out of proportion. Sure, Olan said that Ovelia seemed unhappy with Delita… but that did not necessarily mean that Ovelia was in any danger, did it?
After all, Agrias herself had often been unhappy with Ramza, while they were a couple. But Ramza had never threatened or abused her, or done anything to truly make her life terrible. She had just been unhappy because… well, Ramza still wasn't totally sure why.
People acted strangely, sometimes, he thought. That did not necessarily mean that they needed to be kidnapped away from their spouses.
He couldn't help worrying about Agrias, either way. He really hoped that she and the others would safely return to meet Malak at the Catillus Inn, during the appointed week. It would always weigh on his conscience, if he never found out what became of them, or if one day he heard that they had been captured and executed.
And, oh gods, Delita would almost certainly execute them, if he caught them attempting to kidnap his wife. That was one thing he knew for certain, about his old friend. Delita was possessive in the extreme.
Ramza had only to remember their days together at Gariland Academy, to know this.
Delita Hyral, despite his low birth, had quickly become popular with most of the other cadets. Delita was fun. Delita always knew the right thing to say. He was the best at every sport they played. He seemed more manly than the rest of them, honestly. The other cadets often tried, but never quite succeeded, to act just like Delita.
Ramza himself had bonded with only a few of the other cadets, being naturally a somewhat quieter person, but Ramza had never begrudged Delita his many other friendships.
The reverse, however, could not be said to be true. Having grown up together before attending the academy, Delita seemed to feel that Ramza was his. His friend, his brother, and no one else's. He always had a jealous eye fixed on Ramza's other social interactions.
There had been a day when Delita was out riding with a few of the other cadets, and Ramza had spent the afternoon talking to a high-born boy called Bartholomew, who Delita did not get along with. Ramza had not mentioned the conversation to Delita, when they met up later that day. It wasn't a big deal, but he knew Delita would make more of it than he ought to.
And he had been right. A couple days later, Ramza had accidentally mentioned something Bartholomew had told him. Delita had disgustedly yelled at Ramza for talking to someone he "loathed," and demanded to know that Ramza wouldn't make friends with Bartholomew, or even speak to him again.
Ramza hated that sort of petty bullshit. But in the end, it was easier to agree with Delita's demands. He was tired of his best friend glowering at him and making constant snide comments about Bartholomew. Delita had stewed over it for two whole days, until Ramza told him what he wanted to hear.
Ramza thought it was stupid, though. He didn't give a rat's ass who Delita made friends with, so why should Delita try to control his every move?
On the rare occasions that he and Delita did not get along, it was usually due to another conflict along that theme. If Ramza did anything that Delita had not anticipated, then Delita's friendly, easygoing manner quickly twisted into something raging and ugly. He seemed to utterly lose control of himself whenever things did not go his way.
Ramza well remembered the feeling of Delita's hands around his throat, right after Teta had been abducted. Of course, Ramza had forgiven that easily, since Delita had been facing so much hardship at the time.
But now, Ramza recalled, that throttling had not actually been the only time Delita attacked him. There had been other moments, as squires, when Delita was unhappy with a decision Ramza had made... He recalled a "jesting" shove from behind, but given hard enough that Ramza crashed to the ground and sprained a wrist. A punch from Delita that bruised his ribs, once, and blackened his eye, another time.
That had only been meant as roughhousing between friends, though, right? Delita just got out of hand with it, sometimes. Surely Delita would never act like that toward Ovelia?
Mayhap it was a good thing that Agrias was going to Lesalia, Ramza thought now. She would find a way to check on the queen, and she would find out that all was well, really, and then she and her group would come safely to join them in Ordallia.
But if Agrias did try to take Ovelia away from her husband… Gods. How much more possessive must Delita be toward his own wife and queen, than he had been toward his friend Ramza?
Hopefully, it would not come to that.
Ramza tried to stop worrying. He didn't really know how to just do nothing for a whole day, anymore. No plotting for tomorrow, no mapping of travel routes, no preparing to face a battle. His hands twitched, and his legs kept telling him he needed to stand up and be productive.
But did he not deserve to take a rest? They had done so much, since leaving Ivalice. Firstly, they had needed to bribe the right officials in order to obtain paperwork showing them as legal citizens of Ordallia.
They were pretending to be natives of northwestern Ordallia, where the spoken accent was virtually the same as their Ivalician accent. Settling here in southern Ordallia, random people in the town would excuse them for not knowing the culture and customs, since life was very different all the way up in northern Ordallia, where they were supposedly from.
On his documents, his name was now listed as Ram Belos. They needed to do what they could to blend in, and Belos was a very common surname in Ordallia. Ramza did not like to once more cast off the name Beoulve, but at least he liked that Belos sounded similar. He would tell anyone he met in their new homeland to call him Ram, but if they happened to overhear any of his friends calling him Ramza, then he could claim it was simply a nickname.
The rest of the group had made similar changes to their names, on their official Ordallian documentation. Meliadoul Tingel had become Melodie Tanmus, taking another common Ordallian surname.
Of course, she had not kept the fake surname of Tanmus for very long. Their next step, after getting the paperwork "proving" their Ordallian citizenship, had been to get married.
She was his wife now, Melodie Belos.
Ramza had not much liked that he had been "living in sin", with either Agrias or Meliadoul. He preferred to think of himself as the sort of man who did things in a chivalrous manner, when he was able to. He was happy that his and Meliadoul's lives had settled down enough to be able to safely go into a chapel and marry.
It was not the church of Glabados that had married them (many different religions were freely practiced in Ordallia, but worship of Saint Ajora was actually quite rare in this country), but it was still technically a church with a qualified priest, and that was what really mattered, Ramza supposed.
When he and his wife were alone together, she sometimes told him she was happy to be Meliadoul Beoulve, even if the outside world couldn't ever know that that was her real name.
That made Ramza happy, too. He was glad that she enjoyed being with him as much as he enjoyed being with her. And he still felt a strong attachment to the name Beoulve, even if he tried to avoid admitting that out loud. The name was his last connection to his father, to the parts of his past that he was actually proud of.
He hoped that maybe one day their children could safely bear the name Beoulve again. Who knew? Maybe five or ten years from now, memories of the heretic Ramza Beoulve would fade into obscurity, and he would be truly safe to use the name again?
For now, he could handle being known as Ram Belos, as they slowly established their place in this new land.
Mustadio seemed to have the stew-making back on the correct course, from the sound of his casual chatter with Besrodio, now. Meliadoul had gotten annoyed at losing that round of backgammon to Rad, and had declared it was "a stupid game, anyway." Now she stood over Ramza, where he sat quietly failing to relax on his bedroll, and she scratched her fingernails over his scalp; mussing up his shaggy hair and asking if he wanted to go for a walk before dinner, maybe catch up to Alma, Rafa, and Malak.
It felt so normal. Dinner, in their house. On their property.
They were home and they were safe.
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Agrias, Balthier, Wulfhilda, Alicia, and Construct 8 loitered outside the stone wall that surrounded one of the palace gardens. Lavian had reported to them that Ovelia's chambers in the palace overlooked this garden. When leaving the palace, Lavian would take them through a manned gate that was not far from here.
It was about three hours past sunset now, and with any luck, Agrias would be reuniting with Ovelia soon.
It was common for servants and guards to exit the palace walls at all times of day and night, and Lavian felt certain that the guards on the gate would not give Ovelia a second look, if she wore the garb of a servant as they were leaving. They would simply look like two chambermaids who had just been relieved of duty for the night.
The group had chosen this timing for two reasons. First, because they wanted Delita and the rest of the nobility to be asleep while Ovelia roamed the halls dressed as a maid. Second, because it was easier to sneak Construct 8 up to the palace walls under cover of night.
They waited here in this spot simply in case of emergency. If they heard any kind of commotion happening to ruin Lavian and Ovelia's escape, then Construct 8 would blast through this wall. Balthier had only to give their robot friend the word, and then they could jump through the hole and go in fighting, if they needed to.
Based on her experiences as a palace servant so far, Lavian felt extremely confident that she could get a willing Ovelia safely outside the walls without any drama. She said that this back-up plan was not even necessary.
They dearly hoped that Lavian was correct. If they did have to go in fighting, they might quickly become outnumbered. Construct 8 was worth a hundred men, but if they were all crowded in, then the robot became rather useless, since his beam might hit his friends as well as his foes. They would all be taking a great risk, if they entered the palace walls to fight.
It probably would not come to that, though.
True to plan, they eventually saw Lavian and Ovelia come strolling along to meet them, safely outside the wall, with Ovelia dressed in plain brown clothing and a chambermaid's headwrap, matching Lavian's outfit.
"Agrias!" Ovelia hissed excitedly, picking up her pace as she hurried to meet her old friend and guard. She threw her arms around Agrias' neck, squeezing her tightly.
"Oh, thank the gods you are safe!" Agrias sighed. She let herself press her face to the side of Ovelia's headwrap, breathing her in for a moment. Even through the cheap fabric, she could smell that flowery scent of hair wash that she always associated with Ovelia.
To the others, Agrias said, "We can finally leave this cursed city!"
They all grinned. It had taken a lot of plotting initially, but this mission had turned out to be fairly easy, in the end. An entirely bloodshed-free rescue of their endangered friend. It was a happy change, after spending so many months slogging through battle after battle with Ramza and the others.
"All right, Construct 8, now—" Balthier began.
BOOM!
Apparently thinking that Balthier had just given the command, Construct 8 blasted a hole through the tall stone wall. The sound of the explosion in the quiet night air was deafening, and dust and debris was floating everywhere now.
"Ah. Shit," Balthier said.
Agrias stared at him for a moment, in shock and horror. They had just alerted the whole damn royal city of their location!
But there was no use crying over spilled milk (or rather, crying over comrades who didn't think carefully about the verbal instructions they gave to a robot). Agrias quickly made an assessment. Construct 8 could carry Ovelia and one other person to safety. She decided that, out of the rest of them, Alicia was probably the least street-wise.
"Balthier, Lavian, and Wulfhilda, run. Now! Stay together, stay out of sight, and meet at the camp. Construct 8 will carry Ovelia and Alicia."
"But—" Lavian began.
"Do not argue with me, any of you! Get the hell away from here, now, before the guards show up!" Agrias shrieked.
As the others dispersed, Agrias showed Ovelia how to sit in the sturdy crook of Construct 8's arm, with one of her own arms looped around his thick metal neck for stability. Alicia took her place in the robot's other arm. Agrias hurriedly explained to Ovelia that Construct 8 was an ally who could run faster than a chocobo, and he would take her and Alicia to a safe place where they had previously camped, well outside the city limits.
"You have potions, in case either of you get hurt?" Agrias demanded of Alicia.
"Yes! Of course!" Alicia said.
"Agrias, no!" Ovelia said, looking frightened. "I do not want to leave you behind! Can you not climb on, as well—"
"He can only carry two people," Agrias insisted. "I will escape the city on foot."
"No, Agrias—"
"I will see you in a few hours, Ovelia! Keep these two safe, Construct 8, and take them back to the campsite as fast as you can!" Agrias pleaded.
Construct 8 took off, with the two women clinging to him.
Surely guards would show up any moment, to investigate the loud noise at this scenic section of the wall. Now, she just needed to get the hell out of here herself.
Right at that moment, however, Agrias felt something she had dearly hoped she would not feel during this mission. The tug of another Holy Magic user, and quite nearby. It was like the warmth of the sun on an early spring day, pleasantly tingling on her tense skin.
One Holy Knight could always recognize the presence of another, based on that sensation. In her old life as a guard to the royal family, the feeling had used to make her happy, as it meant a powerful comrade was nearby.
Please gods, do not let it be Delita, she prayed.
She should have just started running. But curiosity held her in place for a quick moment, and she squinted around the damaged edge of the huge hole in the wall, to see that a handful of armed men and women were starting to cluster in the garden as they peered at the blasted-down section of the wall. They were probably very confused as to why no intruding rebels were pouring through the hole.
Even from this distance, and through a haze of dust, King Delita stood out among the slowly-forming group of panicked guards. Agrias saw that he wore only what looked like a hastily-laced pair of trousers and his boots. She guessed that he must have already been undressed for the night, when the commotion began a minute ago. He clutched his sword, though he was otherwise as naked as a Monk. A manservant was timidly chasing after him, trying to offer him more clothing, but Delita smacked the servant away as he strode closer to the site of the wall damage.
Damn! He was only perhaps thirty yards away from her!
Somehow, the lack of armor did not make Delita look any less dangerous. He was nearly as tall as Ramza, and he appeared to be built stronger than your average man. Not only that, but his rangy movements seemed to scream that he was excited for violence. Agrias was fairly sure that even someone who had never met Delita before would be able to recognize that he was a bigger threat than any of the confused and armored guards around him.
He hadn't spotted her face yet, peering around the edge of the ruined wall. Only a few seconds had elapsed, really, since she sent off Construct 8, Ovelia, and Alicia.
If she felt the presence of Delita's Holy Magic, then he surely felt the presence of hers, too. But Delita was probably accustomed to having other Holy Knights around him all the time, in the palace. The feel of her magic might not really register to him, right now. This might still be able to end peacefully.
Agrias turned and ran away from the scene, through the maze of lantern-lit Lesalian streets, past the city-homes of the country's wealthiest residents.
And for a couple minutes, she thought she had escaped cleanly. She had always been a great long-distance runner; she was certainly making good time as she wended her way from the palace walls.
But then she heard the sound of a single pair of boots, running behind her in these deserted sleeping streets, at nearly her same pace.
She dared a quick glance backward, and was horrified to see a shirtless, sword-wielding man running under the streetlamps, about two hundred yards back. He must have felt her Holy Magic after all, and followed her trail.
Ajora, I cannot believe he came after me without his guards! Agrias thought, frantically.
But then, what guard could stop their king from running off into the night, if he wanted to run off into the night? Delita was not the sort of man who let others hold him back, when he wanted something.
Not many people in this world were capable of earning Agrias' notice, let alone her regard. But she had to admit that there was something special about Delita-fucking-Hyral, the commoner king of Ivalice. She despised him, but she also couldn't deny that the world seemed to bend to meet his very whims. She couldn't believe he had managed to find her in these streets, and with the head start she had been given.
He had not even called out to her, or demanded that she surrender. Mayhap he preferred the ominous tension of this silent chase. Her quick look behind had shown her that Delita moved like a born predator, like a sinewy jungle cat, supremely confident in his ability to catch his prey.
And right now, that was her.
Agrias darted left, down another lantern-lit street full of grand townhomes for rich nobles. She was tempted by some of the dark alleys she ran past, as potential mazes where she might be able to make Delita lose track of her…
But those alleys might also dead-end, and then she would have no choice but to fight him.
Finding some extra energy, which she had not even known she was holding back, Agrias increased her speed. It sounded as though Delita did likewise, and he was definitely gaining on her. She leapt over a huge pothole in the road, not slowing at all.
Gods, she couldn't keep this pace going for long, though. She was weighed down by armor, and he was not.
Finally, she decided to risk darting into an unlit alley. She crouched behind some refuse bins. Whoever took out the trash here was clearly not very careful about it; the spot she stood on was as full of stinking refuse as the cans themselves were.
Delita would find her here (there was no way to hide, really, with him able to sense her Holy Magic from close range), but at least it gave her a few seconds to catch her breath.
The clopping sound of his boots stopped at the mouth of the alley. She saw his menacing shirtless body standing there under the streetlights, peering into the darkness of her hiding place. After a few panting breaths of his own, Delita called quietly, "Agrias Oaks!"
She might as well answer. There was no escaping him at this point; they would have a confrontation one way or another, now.
"How did you know it was me?" she asked, wearily.
"I never met another Holy Knight with hair like yours… Or, one who would attack the palace walls. Is Ramza nearby? What is the meaning of all this?"
"No. Ramza and I parted ways."
"So, he lives?" Delita said. Agrias wasn't sure what to make of his tone.
"I believe so."
"Do you know of any way in which I may reach him?"
"No."
"Damn it. Though you would say that, would you not? Mayhap a few weeks in my dungeon will convince you to tell a different tale?"
Agrias said nothing. The arrogant cad still stood in the light at the mouth of the alley. His sweat-slick skin was alabaster-white; a bright, shining target for her. His broad chest was still hairless as a youth's, and the muscles there and in his abdomen were well-defined.
Delita ran a hand straight back through his rigidly-shellacked dark hair. "Why are you here?" he demanded again.
"Because I tasked you with keeping Ovelia safe. Do you not remember, giving me your word back in Zeltennia? Oath breaking bastard," Agrias spat.
"I have kept my word!" Delita cried. "You dare! You dare accuse me— you wretched— So, this is your reason for breaking my wall? Yes? You thought to rescue her from me?! Well… it appears you've no stomach for such a bold maneuver, after all! You dared not even step through the hole you made, to face me! You ran! Like a coward! And now you will sit in a cell until the Church finishes making your pyre and we parade you through the streets, heretic!"
Agrias laughed delightedly. "Coward, am I? That is rich, coming from the man who had not the stomach to fight demons with us. The man who hid behind castle walls while we risked our lives each day!"
"And now you accuse me of hiding from danger?!" Delita shouted. "You have not the slightest idea what I have risked, over and over again, to build this kingdom anew! For Ovelia! And are you not the one hiding in an alley, now, Agrias Oaks? Which one of us is truly the coward?"
"Say what you will, Delita. Better I am a coward than a fool, I suppose… Which is what I have made of you, I think you will find! Ovelia is already gone from the palace! You will never see her again, no matter what my fate!"
As Agrias had figured he would, Delita blindly shot into the alley, in a rage, aiming Divine Ruination at the spot he heard her voice coming from.
Agrias rolled to the left, through the squishing trash and debris, avoiding the hit entirely, and preparing her own Hallowed Bolt to send at the now-hyperventilating figure still standing at the mouth of the alley.
Hallowed Bolt wouldn't kill a big strapping horse of a man like King Delita, even without his armor. She remembered her promises to the others; she would not kill Delita and send Ivalice spiraling into chaos… even if at the end of this fight, sparing Delita's life meant forfeiting her own.
But neither would she be meekly captured! She couldn't kill Delita, but she might yet be able to hurt him enough to escape.
Her Hallowed Bolt struck him full-on, only a bare second after he had released his Divine Ruination.
If it takes him off his feet, Agrias thought, then I will run again. He'll surely not be as quick as he was earlier, after taking that strike.
However, Delita barely showed the effects of being hit with her Hallowed Bolt. He was already recharging! Fuck, he was—
Agrias was hit head-on by Delita's second Divine Ruination attack. How in hell had he managed two strikes within only a few seconds of each other?! Even Agrias herself needed at least twenty seconds or so between her own blasts of Holy Magic!
Funny, in all her many battles and all her training, Agrias had never actually been on the receiving end of a Divine Ruination strike before.
Ajora fucking Glabados, that hurt! She couldn't stop the scream of pain that tore out of her, as her gloved hand barely stopped her from bashing her face on the ground.
But there was no time to whine, she had to push the pain aside, because Delita was already recharging again, already preparing the next strike, which would surely send her into the hereafter if it managed to land…
Agrias sprang back up to her feet, though the motion made her injured body feel terribly nauseous. She sheathed her sword and grabbed hold of one of the metal garbage bins nearby. Lifting it in her arms, she hurtled toward the mouth of the alley, quick as anything, and when she was only six feet away from a focused Delita, who seemed almost ready to let his next attack loose, she viciously threw the metal bin as hard as she could.
He did not manage to get his sword or his free hand up in time to block the projectile. The trash bin flew out of the darkness, connecting with Delita's face with a satisfying, reverberating slam.
He was thrown backward, sword flying out of his grasp, as he whuffed out a sound of pain. His body had barely hit the street when Agrias followed up with another Hallowed Bolt, which left the man spasming for a moment, before he fully lost consciousness.
Agrias stared down at him, momentarily stunned that the fight was truly over, and she appeared to be the victor.
She had to get out of here. Their argument and their fight had been noisy; there would surely be a few brave souls who left the safety of their extravagant homes to investigate, soon. Not to mention that Delita's guards, who must be scouring the streets now to try to find their runaway king, could stumble upon this scene at any moment.
Agrias opened her pack and chugged down three X-potions in a row, feeling the strength return to her limbs, and the painful tremors stop quaking through her. She sheathed her own sword, and she picked up Delita's as well.
This, she would keep as a trophy. Besides, it was probably better that Delita did not have a deadly weapon at hand when he next awoke. His fury would surely be phenomenal.
Remembering the importance of keeping this loathsome man alive, Agrias also took a Phoenix Down out of her pack. She administered it to Delita, who began to groggily stir to wakefulness. Even so, she knew he would not be in fighting shape any time soon, with the minimal healing she had offered him.
Agrias dashed off into the darkened city streets, making her way out of the royal city for what she hoped would be the last time in her life.
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