Barren Cross Ch.V
Saint's Haven: Geraint the gold & Argenta the silver
After my mother had given me a scolding, she held me in her arms saying that she doesn't know what she would do if she had to lose me too. I felt so sorry and promised her that I would never get drunk again. She made me drink water and prepared a bath for me when she smelled the alcohol on my clothing, Nunally also needed a bath so mother had me watch over her in the bathing room. So I took Nunally and our bathing necessities and had her in the tub, she splashed some water on me while I still had my garments then I remembered I had letters in my coat. I went back to the changing room and put away my garments with the letters. Upon opening the doors back to the bathing room, a flying small tub hit me in the face.
That was the most horrible bath I had ever had in my life. I went North of town to go to black mountain path with Sorrow following me slightly behind, I usually wear my coat, scarf and boots but mother had me remove those and had me wear a regular civilian attire which she got from Dean and sandals from Russell. On my way to the Black Mountain path, I stopped by Kelly's store and bought an apple to snack on. Of course she was still scared of me, at least for the wrong reason so I'm kind of glad. When I arrived at the path, Argenta was standing underneath a tree with two other companions. One of her companions was a kid that couldn't just shut his mouth, so annoying that I wanted to kill him, and the other was the blonde swordsman I passed by yesterday. Geraint.
I was so glad the annoying kid wasn't Geraint or else I would've destroyed the Royal Castle by now. Ugh, what am I saying! Geraint and Argenta asked me where my weapon was, and I told them "I thought I wasn't going to need it so I left it at home." Argenta punched me on the back of the head while Geraint hid his face with his palm while shaking his head in my idiocy. I told them I could still fight without a weapon then this annoying creature of an idiot steps in and says that's it's impossible for me to fight without a weapon in my shape and that I was just trying to show off for Argenta. I agree with him with my figure part, but showing off to Argenta is just going too far. This kid's arrogant as hell! He told me that he would put me in my place. Even though Argenta had already warned him he still pulled out his sword at me. This kid kept blabbering about if I quit now that he might just let me live. I was so annoyed. When he charged at me, he reminded me of a goblin somewhere. I kept on dodging perfectly since his blows were so slow I could see where each and every strike will come from, after a couple of dodging, I slipped behind him and knocked on his noggin. Argenta told me to make it quick and end it already, and so this kid mistakes that Argenta said it to him and managed to laugh. He mocked me saying that all I could do is run away and dodge his strikes and that I was a coward and insulted my father of being a coward too. He crossed the line; I'm going to kill this little brat. I focused as hard as I can; I felt the heat of the aura I was emitting. I closed my eyes for a second and opened them up; I stared straight at this brat and saw his expression change from arrogant to extremely terrified. I asked him to kindly repeat what he had just said about my father, I could hear his rapid breathing and rapid heartbeats. He was so scared to the point where he snapped and tried to attack me saying "How dare you look down on me!?" he was too slow. I kicked his sword up and followed it with a roundhouse kick that made him fly and slam his back all the way to the tree and when his sword landed on the ground, I picked it up and walked closer to him. Argenta said it was enough that her slave was unconscious then Geraint contradicted her saying, "Come on Argenta, we both know that he's just pretending to be unconscious. I want to see how this numbskull will go." And stopped Argenta from stopping me. Like he said, I could still hear his rapid heartbeats, so I picked him up from the collar with my free hand and stabbed his shirt onto the tree and left him to hang there. I felt my aura dissipate as I calmed down, I heard Geraint whisper to me saying that I did the right thing while Argenta just pouted.
Argenta and Geraint took me to the base of Black Mountain and just left that kid David hanging on the tree. They brought me here to train, at least that's what they said. Old town folktales said that there was a very powerful orc that lived in these parts of the mountain, now it's time to see if the folktales were true. Geraint killed a skeleton and gave me its halberd as a weapon. As we were walking Geraint told me to look around and pay attention to my surroundings then close my eyes and listen. At first I was confused and didn't sense anything, but then I started seeing lights in the darkness, small lights, bright lights, and even lights of different colours. I saw Geraint's light, it was as a big blazing golden flame while Argenta had a silver flame. Something was wrong. Geraint and Argenta's flames suddenly disappeared as a huge crimson light drew near. The second I opened my eyes, an orc was running toward me ready to attack. I looked around for Geraint and Argenta however, no matter how hard I looked, they were nowhere to be found. I braced myself, for this was a test. A suicide test.
After all those folktales the elders used to tell us and the fear I had in me, I came to a realization that this orc was a wimp. With a single hack, I decapitated the poor thing. I closed my eyes once more and sensed a huge number of red lights coming from the west. I took a stand and fought through them all, until my halberd broke. I was surrounded, I had no choice but to use divine magic. I took one of the orc's mace and forced a large amount of my mana into it. Unexpectedly I forced too much mana into the mace and the rest of the mana formed a blade of energy sparking electricity, this gave me an easier advantage to killing these monsters. After fighting those hordes of monsters, I jumped over a cliff and found Argenta sitting down comfortably while sipping tea congratulating me for killing the feared orc of Black Mountain. No matter how I ranted at her for leaving me alone down there, all she could do was laugh.
After forcing me to fight a couple hordes of monsters, Argenta decides to send me to survey Marissa's Dry-spring. She said she needed some sort of crystal from Marissa's hut, and so like a poochum, I immediately followed her instructions. It was cold in that cursed place, I had to kill a few undead monsters just to find nothing. I returned to Black Mountain Path only to find that annoying brat David once again. Even after what had happened earlier, he still hasn't learned his lesson and so he challenged me to a fight saying "You're lucky I ate hallucinating mushrooms earlier so you caught me off-guard with your illusions." I got fed up. I focused my energy once more and closed my eyes for one second and opened it the next and looked at David straight into his eyes and accepted his challenge. Once again he was as white as the snow in Mana Ridge… wait… I've never been to Mana Ridge yet I see every detail of it in my memories. "You may have never been to Mana Ridge, but I have." Tristitia answered, then I laughed. As I approached David, he fell to his knees and begged for his life. I laughed maniacally. "Why should I?" I had asked him as he struggled to look for an answer.
"I-I'm still young and I'm scared to die!"
"And? Actually now that I think about it, Geraint or Argenta isn't here to save your little arse."
"I'm sorry! Please! I'll do anything!"
"Pathetic, I don't even want to eat you. Not only do you not deserve to live, you're also too pathetic to even deserve to die, in other words, you don't even deserve to exist." I said to him as I calmed down and turned away from him. A sharp pain pierced through my stomach, when I had looked down, David's sword had pierced through me. "That's for being too cocky." He said to me. Suddenly Argenta arrived from Black Mountain and ran to me. She pushed David away. Even with a blade in my body, David still went on bragging about how he beat me fair and square. Argenta ignored him and asked me how many times I've been stabbed and I replied "four times" with my voice still sounding clear, she panicked and pulled the sword out of me and threw it to the ground. She told me that I definitely need to replenish my strength at its fullest now, but then Tristitia interfered and told me to tell Argenta that there were three seals left and so I followed his instructions. Argenta then nodded and put my arm over her shoulders and had me stand up, then suddenly, Tristitia told me that he was going to release the next seal. I stood there and waited for it… the pain kicked in and I fell to the ground, Argenta not knowing what was going on panicked and held my hand while David stood there and said "Just leave him to die." Something was tearing my back. I was in so much pain that I felt tears of blood flow down from my eyes, Argenta rolled me over to see what was happening, then she calmed down and gripped my hand tightly. Finally, something from my back suddenly ripped open, flapping… I felt it… the pain ended with Argenta smiling at me saying "Congratulations, you're no longer completely human. You now have your wings." I passed out.
I woke up several hours later in a cave only to find Sorrow to be the one to keep me company. I noticed that sorrow had a collar with a piece of paper strapped onto it saying.
"Meet me in Port Hermalte after you're done being out cold, and hurry up! I only have three days to be teaching you.
Your Friend,
Geraint."
Since when did he become my friend? Then I remembered from Tristitia's memory that Geraint and Tristitia spent most of their time a hundred years ago, then after forty-three years Velskud met Geraint and Tristitia left for a duty he had to do. Man these guys are old. "Are you kidding me? A thousand years is still young, why not try two thousand on for size?" Tristitia tried to tease me. "Which reminds me… where did my wings go?" I asked Tristitia as I tried to look for them on my back. He told me that my wings will only appear if I focus hard enough and want to fly quite a long distance. So basically I can keep my wings hidden.
Before I went to Port Hermalte, I dropped by the house to grab more appropriate clothing for training and Lilith, and to my surprise, two sorceresses were there chatting with mother while having some tea. Mother looked at me and smiled as I walked closer, then one of the sorceresses stood up and ran to me and held me as tight as she could. Yuni. The other sorceress with her was her instructor, she was amazed at how Yuni could cast any spell at her will and only at her third day so she took her to Saint's Haven in order to further her training. I had no problem with that, but I am not used to seeing Yuni dressed like this, I mean, how indecent could sorceresses even get nowadays? Since her instructor needs to talk with Lady Kaylinn, Yuni's going to be sticking with me for a good while. Just like the old days.
As me and Yuni walk into Port Hermalte, She kept talking about what happened in the past few days. Her training, the sorrow between every rude remark sorceresses gave her, and the fun she spent with a few other sorceresses-in-training. Of course she didn't let me slide so she had me tell her every bit of what happened to me, and after I finished telling her, she had a very sad expression. Naturally I told her not to worry so much about it, but her expression never changed. She rued asking me about what happened. Geraint waved to me when we had reached the port, he asked me who the girl beside me was and so I introduced her, he kept a bored expression until I mentioned that she bears the mark of the Grand Arcane. He then turned to Yuni and told her that Kasarana would be very pleased to meet her, I asked him if Yuni could come along with us and surprisingly he said yes, however I was to be responsible for her and protect her at my own risk and that she needs to keep up with my movements. We sailed to an island that was desolate. A thick mist covered the island, the monsters were strong, and to my surprise, I never thought that I would ever see these Kobold pirates again. "I can only teach you to fight better in this form, as for magic, I can't help you because only you can develop the magic of which you use." Geraint had said to me and quickly I understood, "I'll be waiting for you at the other island." He added, then he burst his wings out and flew there. Yuni asked me who or what Geraint exactly is and so I told her everything that I know and that right now he is my mentor.
A few minutes after we killed the pirates, Argenta flew in with a stuffed bag. When she told me I needed to eat, I never expected that she would even make the effort of bringing food to me. "I'm pretty sure you haven't eaten yet and that you don't know what you're supposed to eat so I brought you these." She had told me then she opened the bag which was full of jewels, diamonds, and meat from monsters. I understood the meat from the monsters part but not the jewels and diamonds. Yuni asked her the question of what were the jewels and diamonds for, and Argenta replied by taking a piece of diamond and ate it right in front of us. I never knew I could eat jewels. Argenta asked why Yuni was already out of training and Yuni explained. After all that Argenta just left without even a word of goodbye. I wanted to try out eating a jewel so I took a purple jewel and ate it, surprisingly enough it was very delicious and refreshing. Yuni just watched me from the side as I devoured everything inside the bag then I saved a couple of diamonds later in case I needed it. We began venturing again.
As we were walking around, I felt the presences of monsters lingering around. I took Lilith out of her sheath, Yuni went close to a flower and smelled it, I tried to pull her aside but I was too late. The spitflower popped up from the ground and tried to swallow Yuni. I tried to open the spitflower's mouth but it wasn't big enough of a gap for her to move, so I tried to look for a spot where I can cut the spitflower without harming Yuni in the process. Suddenly the spitflower was emitting so much heat that I felt like I was going to burn. After a few seconds, the spitflower burned to crisp ashes. Yuni laid down flat on her back pouting about how disgusting the experience that she just had. I laughed and asked her if she was okay then she pointed a ball of fire at me and asked me if I wanted to go next, I told her to calm down with sweat flowing down from my face. She then stood up and flicked my forehead then we began walking again.
We reached a cave full of these spitflowers, without hesitation, Yuni burned them down to the ground. We took a little break inside the cave. We sat down and had some laughs, then she leaned forward and looked me in the eye with curiousness in which I didn't understand why. "Since when have your eyes been red?" she had asked me and I was surprised so I asked her what she was talking about. She took some water and froze it to make a mirror and showed it to me. My eyes were red, blood-red like the other day but this time Tristitia's Mark was nowhere to be seen. "I released the next seal, that one is painless. Changes in your body are going to start to appear, eyes, hair, fangs and most of all, emotions." Tristitia had told me. "What's it going to do with my emotions? I asked him "You'll find out soon, I know that you may think that it is going to be a huge loss, but it will be to your advantage." I didn't bother to ask anymore. After our short little break and the conversation with Tristitia, it was silent. We just kept pressing on through the monsters without making an utter sound coming from neither my lips nor hers. The thought of what's going to happen to me lingered through my mind, my emotions… we encountered a cliff at the end of the island with a lot of vegetation. Another spike of presences came to my senses; it's like all the plants around us were moving. Unfortunately, I was right.
An overgrowth of spitflowers popped up from the ground and began to attack us, huge annoying plants that I just want to burn is craving for me and Yuni's flesh and bone. Yuni was having a hard time killing them while I disintegrate each and every one of them. It took me ten minutes to finish them all off, it was a big pain in the arse. Having to free Yuni from their vines I mean. At the end of the island we found a boat already prepared for us. Geraint was waiting for us in the other island, I thought to myself that I could just leap off to the next island but I didn't want to leave Yuni behind so we had to take the boat. I sat her at the back of the boat so that she could just relax while I row.
While we were half-way to the next island when something suddenly rocked the boat, I stopped rowing and pulled Lilith out of her sheath while Yuni sat there worried, Frightened rather. Slimy arms that looked like the tails of snakes with cups underneath its arms. The boat was rocky so I asked Yuni to freeze the water surrounding the boat so it wouldn't rock so much and so she did. The boat was very less rocky. I cut all the slimy arms down, however they keep on growing back. I got sick of it. I told Yuni that I would be right back and dived into the water, I found a gigantic squid in the water, I tried to stab the creature's eyes but it released a lot of black smoke-like substances and got me lost. I felt something slimy grab hold of my neck and limbs, before I knew it, I was pushed out of the water; suspended in air. Yuni threw a fireball at the tentacle that had my right arm and my right arm was free. I broke completely free when I had slashed the other three arms and landed back in the water. I closed my eyes and saw the light of the squid's life; quickly I swam to its direction and successfully stabbed its eye. I ran my blade from the eye through its whole head. I killed it. I surfaced and climbed back on the boat, however, because of that fight, the boat was damaged and was sinking. I took Yuni in my arms and leapt to the next island. She got so scared that she cried and grabbed onto me for a few minutes even if we were already on land. I sensed a great force in the next area. Geraint was coming to say something.
I had my sword out and so did Geraint. In the blink of an eye, Geraint was right in front of me and he swung his sword at me, naturally, I defended myself by blocking his sword with mine. I pushed him away with all my strength and he flew out. He told me to focus and fight him, I was confused. I focused my mana on my left hand accumulating sparks of lightning on my whole entire left arm. I ran toward Geraint and he ran toward me, we clashed swords and magic. Yuni was confused and threw a fireball at Geraint, but Geraint deflected the fireball towards me. I got hit. I forced some of my mana on Lilith to cast a spell. Geraint attacked me once again and when our swords clashed, I quickly grabbed his arm and flipped him. I saw a glimpse of a surprised look on his face but it suddenly turned into a smile. Before he even fell to the ground, he turned his whole body and me with him. I fell to the ground with Geraint standing over me with the tip of his sword at my throat. I'm going to die I thought to myself. Then he took his sword away and sheathed it then offered me a hand to stand up. "You fight like an old friend of mine back before the dragon raid." He said to me, I never even knew he had a friend other than Argenta.
Quickly after the fight, Argenta arrived and gave us the news that the Black Dragon is about to return. So we rushed back to Black Mountain, Geraint asked me to scout around with him in the Black Sovereign Domain while he ordered Shian and the others to head straight to the Black Sovereign stronghold. Geraint and I swept through the domain quickly and decided to help Shian and the others in the strong hold. Unfortunately, we were too late. A huge wave of energy blew at our direction, it blew away the soldiers who were about to invade the stronghold. "Has the Black Dragon revived?" Geraint mumbled to himself, then told me to tend the soldiers who got injured from the blast as Geraint charged into the Stronghold. Most of these soldiers were already injured even before they got here. I commend their bravery, however it was also stupid. I saw Shian and the others pass by on their way to Saint's Haven, I didn't even get to say hello to them. After I was done, I returned to Black Mountain Path and found Argenta. She told me to rest for battle, and so I did. I went home and once again Lady Lena visited my mother. I sat at the table with them and opened a letter that was from a group called Cold Snap. The letter was an invitation to a part and it was before sunset today. It didn't say anything if I should dress formally so I wiped down my cloak and went without Yuni. On my way there I opened the other letter which came from the three other adventurers I ran into. It also contained an invitation, but this one invited me to come together tomorrow at the beach.
I entered the café that where they held the party and was surprised at how calm and collected it was inside. A girl about my age came up to me and welcomed me to the Cold Snap guild café. I showed her the invitation and a shadow grew one her face as she read it in a serious manner then switched back to her "happy go lucky" expression and led me to a room on the second floor. A man who calls himself "JM" was waiting for me, he had me sit down at a chair as we had a little chat. He suddenly changed the subject and cut to the chase. He had the girl lock the door and windows, I was on high alert. "Be at ease child." He said to me. He showed me a picture of him and my parents. I asked him how he knew my parents, so he told me of all the mischief and the stupid things him and father did together. At the night when I took part of that drinking competition inside that one tavern, he took advantage of my drunkenness and talked to me about my father. After he had confirmed I was my father's son he gave me the invitation to this party. Now he wants me to join Cold Snap as an "Owl." I was intrigued so I took up his offer. He gave me gear for the guild, a concealable blade, a uniform and a mask. I was confused so I asked him what "Owls" do and was shocked by the answer. "Bounty Hunters." He told me that I could choose a nickname to be called. As a beginner, he instructed the girl to accompany me in every commission we do. I was excited yet also felt deceived, I thought that this guild simply worked as a café. As for an initiation, I was assigned on an S-Class commission and that commission was to take Lady Lena's necklace. I could've refused but being an "Owl" caught me by surprise. The only problem about this commission was that I had to do it in broad daylight.
I didn't know if my plan was to be a success, but I had to try. I had the girl following me closely behind acting as an escort of such. I was walking toward the castle gate then she pulled me back and asked me what I was thinking. "It's fine, trust me." I told her. I walked up toward Joey and told him that I had business with Lady Lena so he let us in. the girl was surprised when he just let me pass without suspicion at all. The maid led us to Lady Lena's room and as always, Lady Lena was cheery as possible. The girl couldn't believe that Lady Lena was standing right in front of her as Lady Lena greeted me as a friend would.
Lena had us sit down with her at the balcony. It was cool, the breeze was just right and the sun was bright. I began the small talk and actually started a conversation which took a bunch of wrong turns. I then complimented her on her necklace and she didn't seem to care for it. I asked her if she valued the necklace and she said no. I was surprised, and asked her how she couldn't cherish such a necklace. So she shocked me with another answer, "I have dozens of these necklaces, to be honest I gave one each to your mother and sisters." She told me, so I cut to the chase and asked her if I could have one for a friend and the girl with me and she gladly gave them to us. I tied the necklace around the girl and she became flustered. Lady Lena asked me who she was and I introduced her as my assistant. So we started another conversation as I pocketed the other necklace she gave me. Another thing she surprised us with was her awareness of Cold Snap.
"I've been to that café before." She told us, "I recognized the mark on her arm. I usually go there and look at the dragon cultist commissions on the second floor."
"How do you know about that" The girl with me jolted up as she asked.
"Whoops, it would seem that I had said too much." Was the only reply Lady Lena had mustered, she asked the girl another surprising question, "So are you a 'Dog' or an 'Owl'? Or maybe both?"
The girl was shocked and didn't know how to respond. Then Lady Lena directed her attention to me. I swallowed my own saliva out of fear. She knew more of the guild than I did. She warned us that our conversation should never leave the room. Afraid of what might happen and knowing the consequences, we agreed to her. And right before we left, she surprised me and my companion once more. "They usually sneak through the castle in order to pass the test, but you simply walked in my front door. I'm obliged." All along she knew that I came for the necklace, and she played with us the whole time. I stood up and bowed my head in apology for trying to deceive her, and all she did was smile.
She sent us off with a letter for the guild master. The girl with me still couldn't believe everything that happened right in front of her eyes. "I still don't know your name yet…" I had told her. It took her a moment in order to respond. Then with a soft embarrassed tone, she introduced herself as "Chicky." She was flustered; embarrassed by her nickname. So I patted her on the head in order to relieve her of embarrassment, the side effect was painful. She punched me in the stomach and pouted at me as we went back to the guild and in the end, she requested to be separated from me in the guild operations. I didn't know if she wanted to separate from me out of hate or for another reason.
JM gave me a patch for the sleeve of my uniform. That looked like a silver "S" or a "Z" or a lightning bolt with a slash in the middle part of it. He assigned me to a squad with Chicky, him and another person. Tonight was my first real mission. The commission came from Lady Lena herself, an assassination. A noble who's acquainted with a dragon cultist was leaving by ship on Port Hermalte to escape court martial. The Lady wanted us to carry out the execution of every dragon cultist present in the ship. We've been warned that the noble hired three innocent people to protect him. I lost the sense of caring if I was going to have to kill people. I went to the restroom and looked in a mirror and saw the differences in the length and colour of my hair. Lines of red appeared on the edges of my hair every time light shone on it. I can start seeing the changes Tristitia had been talking about.
I went back home and mother held my shoulders and closely examined my eyes then held me in her arms. She told me that I was slowly taking "his" appearance. I asked her who this man was and she had me sit down with her and talked about something I did not expect. On the day I was born, mother and father were traveling to Saint's Haven from some place in the orient. Mother went into labour on the way there and I was born into the world however, I was week, and frail. I've been silent for three hours. My mother had been praying to God to not take me away so quickly, and that's when "he" came in. A very wounded man in a black cloak was passing by when he had seen my mother and father weeping. He offered a way to save me, but there was a price. As I grow up, I will fail to resemble neither mother nor father, I would take up the man's image and everything that was set before him. Neither me nor "him" had much time left in the world so he casted a final spell. Wings sprouted from his back and a pillar of dark light blasted through the heavens, then a little ball of dark light entered my body and fused with me. After a few seconds, I began to cry. "His" presence was still in the air and whispered to my parents your son shall become a part of Altera's history as its saviour as well as its destroyer. I am Tristitia, heed my words, for this boy is a gift from God." Then his presence faded. My mother was grateful to Tristitia for saving my life.
I asked mother if she could sew the emblem JM gave me onto my uniform. As soon as I gave her the uniform and emblem, she had recognized them and seemed to hesitate to say yes. She told me to accompany her in her chamber. She gave me a box from their wardrobe and instructed me to open it, and so I did. I was surprised by the contents inside. It contained the same painting JM had showed me earlier. "So I'm guessing he's still alive in that old place?" mother had asked me and told her everything about my encounter with JM and the guild. In return, mother told me the same stories JM had told me about. Only then did I know that the name "Owls" came from them.
Our chat about the fun things that they have done in the guild ended when mother finished sewing the emblem on and asked me the question lingering in her mind. "Who are you killing tonight?" she asked me and I answered her honestly.
"Are you sure about this? Getting blood on your hands?" she asked me another question with traces of sorrow in both her expression and voice.
"I already have…" I replied with my head facing the ground, "I decided to take the commission for a cause, a righteous cause…"
"You sound just like me when I joined that guild with your father in a commission."
We both laughed then she handed me the uniform. She asked me for the concealable sword and mask JM gave me and examined them. Since I didn't know how the sword worked, I asked mother if she could help me with it. With a push of a button, a blade emerged from what had seemed like the handle. And with another push of a button, she concealed it in to a handle small enough to fit in pockets. She knew so much of how to operate these things that I was amazed; she even showed me a hidden hood from inside the coat. Lastly she gave me an advice that she considered most important, "Always keep your mask and hood on at all times." Those words rang in my ear, and the conversation went into a deeper turn. "Mother… have you ever assassinated some—" she had cut me off and said yes. "It was when I was two years younger than you. The reason why I met your father in my homeland… Yorokobi."
"I was fifteen years of age when my homeland underwent a civil war. I served with my family and the revolutionists while Tristan was one of the King's knights as they were having peace talks with our emperor, in which the revolutionists were against. We didn't want the people from the west to enter our land, so our last hope of preventing that was to destroy the peace talks. The way we wanted the peace talks to end was to assassinate not our own emperor but the King, but they were too strong. Half of my clan was wiped out by a single knight. It was him. Once I clashed swords with him, our strength were equally balanced. When too many casualties had been inflicted in my clan, we had no choice but to retreat. By the end of that day, the Furukawa clan was decimated to a quarter.
In order to redeem my family's honour in that defeat, they sent me to go and spy on the royal family. By God's grace, Tristan and I clashed swords once again. Even though he had only cut me a few times, the stings of the cuts were too much that tears began to roll down my eyes as we battled. At that time he asked me a question in his language that I couldn't understand. I felt mocked, and caught me off guard. He was fast. He quickly got in front of me with his blade on my throat. He removed my mask and seemed surprised of what he had found underneath. He leapt back and took a few steps so I took the opportunity to run away.
A day later, we learned that the King from the west left temporarily so it got a bit calmer. However I was walking around town to run an errand for my father, and that's when I met Tristan once more. I tried my best not to be noticed and failed. His eyes and mine met the he chased after me. After he had caught up, he suddenly introduced himself in our language. I was surprised, I didn't expect that someone would have the ability to learn an entire language in a single day. After I had also introduced myself, I then quickly turned away. But before I could have left, he asked me if I would like to join him for tea. In that era, refusing an offer like that would mean complete and utter disrespect to the person offering it. It was my father's fault for teaching me not to be disrespectful no matter whom it may be. That day, I was really glad I did.
He took me to a tea house in the middle of town. This was a bad situation for myself for some of the people in my clan usually spend their time there. He talked to me so casually and friendly that I was enticed by him, and for once in my life I was actually having fun. I was having fun with him yet I was also depressed. Depressed of the fact that this may never happen again. Father didn't suspect anything when I returned home, I simply gave him the sword he had sent me to retrieve for him and dismissed me.
The next day was also a tranquil day with no turmoil in sight. I wandered in the town again somehow hoping that I would see Tristan again, but I didn't know why. I even went out of my way to check if he was in the tea house, but he wasn't there. I became melancholic. But God has a way with playing with fate. I bumped into him when I was leaving the tea house. I was surprised, and also happy.
Now that I've spouted all this nonsense and got off track of what you have asked me, I'll go back and cut to the chase. I killed the King's wife on the night of King Cassius III's birth. Since I had killed all her servants, she begged me for a last wish to help her at least help the child be born. As soon as she gave birth, I let her touch her child and spend her last minutes with him. Once the time was up, I took the baby and laid it down on a cradle. After that, she accepted my blade with a smile. I regretted that day. It haunted me when I was having you."
I couldn't believe how my mother went through what she went through. I had a lot of questions in my mind like, "how was she not arrested?" but either way, I'm pleased that she is well and alive. I held my mother in my arms and kissed her forehead. "May you be blessed upon." I gave her the good luck charm she always gave me when I was little and left. I went to the Black Mountain Path to check if Argenta had a task in hand for me, however she told me that she already sent out her slaves to do the work for her. So I took the liberty of roaming around Port Hermalte. There I found the three adventurers again heading for the ruins, and after I caught up with them I had offered them my assistance. Of course they gladly accepted.
A very thick mist covered the ruins so I cautioned them not to drift afar as we went through. The fog kept on getting denser and denser that I could barely make anything with the visibility. Suddenly I saw eyes beyond the fog, glowing eyes. The Elf released an arrow at one of the eyes in the fog and hit a monster. We were in the middle of an ambush. I took Lilith out of her sheath and the fight began. I stayed as calm as possible in dealing with the monsters attacking us until I realized I wasn't even trying to be calm anymore. Everything seemed like a flow of movements. I killed the monsters one by one alongside the adventurers without fail.
We kept on pressing forward through the hordes we kept on facing. Everything felt so easy for me until we reached the end of the ruins. Two lamias came from the river and attacked us. I miraculously managed to fend off every strike of one of the lamias while the other lamia was occupied by the three adventurers. I focused my mana to strike. The tables turned when I broke two of the lamia's swords and began to strike back. I leapt and grabbed the lamia's head. I sent a large shock of lightning through the hand I was grabbing its head and electrocuted it. At the same time, the three other adventurers had killed the other lamia as well.
They took five scales from the two lamias as proof of them killing the lamias. I went with them to turn in their commissions that required them to hunt down the lamias. The only problem was that the commissioner doubted them because he thought there had only been one lamia. Even if I had vouched for them, the commissioner still wouldn't have any of it.
In the end I got the commissioner to give them their reward. We wandered around town as they thanked me and introduced themselves. Jay was a free paladin, Xam was a swordsman since he was thirteen years of age, and then there's Sunrise or as we just call her Sun an elf who specializes in her bow and arrow. The three of them have been together for two weeks already and they seem to get along pretty well.
Coincidentally we ended up at the Cold Snap café and spent the afternoon there. Unfortunately Xam had to leave suddenly because of a family matter, which was understandable since he was only fifteen years of age. Jay, Sun and I had small talk and humorous conversations, however all I could do was smile at their jokes and tomfoolery. I wanted to laugh but was unable to. Soon I realized that the changes Tristitia had been talking about were already taking place. I was losing my urge to express my emotions. A few minutes after the conversations, Jay had taken his leave leaving me and Sun alone. We sat there with an awkward silence. She asked me if I could help her with another commission in Marissa's dry spring. I couldn't leave her alone to do it so I decided that I would give her aid.
We found a huge crystal at the entrance of the dry spring. I chipped it to a hundred prices and put some in my pouch while I ate the rest. She looked so clueless while I ate the crystals right in front of her. As we were passing through, I was emitting a faint aura so that the undead monsters would not dare to approach us. "What is your commission supposed to be about?" I asked her. "I need to find Marissa's corpse or grave and purify it with this" she answered as she pulled out a vial of powerful Holy water. I could see that the blessing could have only come from the archbishop or the pontiff, however the pontiff has been missing for about forty years now. A mist suddenly formed around us, a mist like the one at the river ruins. I already knew my aura wasn't sufficient to keep the monsters away so I took Lilith out and threw the crystals that I was eating away. Something was coming.
I heard footsteps, a dozen of them slowly approaching. I took Sun and ran for it. I was getting anxious. I kept hearing the footsteps getting closer but as we ran, we couldn't see a thing. Neither monsters nor humans. We ran farther and farther on our way to Marissa's hut. "Fret not, for the footsteps you hear are from Marissa's hut. It seems that you have company there." Tristitia informed me. Yet I still couldn't believe that my hearing was amplified to that extent. I was an idiot. I remembered the time when I had Yuni with me on the boat. "all you have to do is get to Marissa's hut correct?" I asked her as we were running and she replied "yes." Quickly I stopped running. "Pardon me." I told her as I carried her in my arms. "Grab hold of me tightly." I warned her then I leapt to Marissa's hut.
She had the same reaction as Yuni earlier. She held on even after we landed with her eyes closed shut out of fear. I let her down to ease her mind and she immediately settled down. As we neared Marissa's hut, we heard fighting taking place. Shian and the others were fighting off Marissa's restless spirit, however I felt something that wasn't right. I sensed a presence very alike to Marissa's spirit. Sun and I went ahead and helped them out as that other presence still lingers. A few moments later, the presence decided to reveal itself. At first I didn't want to believe my own eyes but it was already right in front of me, another Marissa had appeared. They were already having struggles fighting one Marissa, I couldn't imagine them being able to battle two. I needed to think. "Purify the grave." Tristitia whispered to me. I took action my taking Sun to Marissa's grave and told her to purify it. So she instantly sprinkled the Holy water on the grave. The fog was dissipating and so did the other Marissa. Because of the purification, Marissa's spirit weakened instantaneously so Edan and the others quickly ended their clash. Marissa was finally sent to rest.
Shian and the others expressed their gratitude to me and Sun and gave us gold coins as a token of appreciation. I asked them what they were doing in a place like this and they all told me the same thing. "Argenta sent us to collect crystals necessary in order for us to infiltrate the Black Dragon nest." Now I understood. I remember talking to Argenta about nests, and based on what I've learned these crystals should be the catalysts to enter his nest. I wondered who the dragon was. I helped them collect crystals with Sun who had been awfully quiet. I looked at her as she tried to chip some of the crystals away with her arrows. A few seconds later, she unintentionally cut her hand with the crystal. I examined the cut and it wasn't anything critical. I casted a healing spell on her hand. She smiled at me as I was healing her hand. I had the urge to latch my eyes into hers, but my eyes averted and looked back at her hand. She giggled. She thanked me as soon as her wound completely healed. I stood up and went back to the crystal I was collecting. In my mind was the thought of her soft warm hand which had captivated me.
After collecting sufficient crystals, we went back to Black Mountain Path and gave the crystals to Argenta. She had a surprised expression when she saw me and Sun arrive with Edan and the others. After we gave her the crystals, Edan and the others ran in Saint's Haven to report to the castle. Argenta turned to me and asked me who I've been "frickle-frackling" with and looked at Sun. Sun tried to be polite and introduced herself to Argenta. I could see it in Sun's face that she was nervous. I then turned to Argenta and asked her if she was planning on eating the crystals to tease her so she gave me an annoyed look. After she had finished the first three catalysts, she gave me two and one to Sun. "I want you, Yuni, and this elf to guard our rear." She told me as she gave me the catalysts, "we attack at daybreak tomorrow. Now leave me and get yourselves some rest." I looked at Sun and her confusion and told her that we had to leave. She followed me to the café and had me explain almost everything to her. I informed her that we would have to cancel our trip to the beach and that I would pay her as if tomorrow's campaign was to be a commission. Surprisingly she agreed at a very fair price and made me promise one thing. "Make sure we don't die tomorrow." She smiled at me as she added "that's an order." As if she were to be a queen, so I played along. I knelt down and bowed my head with my arm across my chest and said, "As you wish my queen." We looked at each other eye to eye and laughed.
I escorted her to her house after we had some tea while still playing the role of a knight and his queen. I reminded her about our little skirmish tomorrow, and she told me that she wouldn't forget. She smiled at me as I was walking away, waving her farewell. I told myself that I would never forget that smile, however I was wrong. All the excitement and happiness I felt this day, was soon forgotten.
I arrived back at the café to prepare for tonight's encounter. We all wore different masks, and surprisingly a red haired man appearing to be the same age as me seemed to be helping as well. Another unexpected surprise is that another person was joining us. "This is the guild master, Rhyllai" JM introduced him to us. "But I thought you were the guild master." I said to JM then Rhyllai grabbed me by my collar. "Well apparently I'm the guild master, is that clear noob?" Rhyllai told me and so I just bowed my head. I took my concealable blade which they gave me and made a quick examination. So far everything was fine. All we needed to do was wait. The more the time had passed, the more my emotions faded. I couldn't feel happy anymore when they were saying jokes while we sat around. Someone even asked me why I was boring. I tried to smile as hard as I could, but I couldn't. All I could do was fringe the tip of one side of my lips.
Midnight finally arrived. Our masks hid our faces as we snuck our way to the ship where the noble was. I took the liberty of entering the ship via water while the rest of us snuck their way through the front of the ship. I put the guards to sleep one by one with the man in white following me closely behind. We reached the lower deck where the noble's room was kept. So far I've killed no one. "Do we really have to kill him? Wouldn't it be better to have him cooperate with us to find the dragon cultist?" I asked the man in white. I got two answers from him, "Yes and no." I pulled out my concealable sword and opened it. I opened the door and found the room with two guards pointing their muskets at me with the noble and a girl. They fired the shots and I received them. I charged in and sliced their muskets into pieces, and killed the two guards.
I swung the sword in the air to clean the blade, but when I neared the noble the man in white pushed me aside and pulled out a white rose that turned into a blade. I could see the terror in the eyes of the noble as well as the girl. "Any last words Count Byron?" the man asked the noble. "A request… please spare my sister, make sure she escapes the cult safely… I beg of you." The noble looked us all in the eyes to which the man in white agreed to keep his sister safe. The noble kissed his sister's forehead. "May you be blessed upon." Those were the noble's last words. The man in white then beheaded the noble without a hint of remorse. Then the noble's sister went into shock from what she had just witnessed and began to scream. Sorrow filled my mind. I felt the grief and despair of the girl. I involuntarily approached the girl and knelt down to her as I placed my forehead on hers, then all of her past hurts flowed into me and I began to weep. "Think of different past for her." Tristitia whispered to me and so I did. Right after I parted my forehead from hers, she fainted. I felt bad for the girl. She looked like she was in the same age as Nunnaly.
As soon as we finished the job, everyone had gone home. The man in white suggested that I leave the girl with Irene however I thought that leaving her with the Church would be much better. So I took her to the Church and gave them some gold for an offering. Before I went home, I knelt down in front of the altar and prayed to God for forgiveness of every sin I had committed. I went home and found myself restless. Tracy slept on my bed while I sat down in the corner of my chamber, thinking of what I had just done. I wept. Wondering if I could persevere through nights like these. I cried myself to sleep hoping that that sorrow would disappear.
It was still dark when I had woken up so I went outside for a brief moment. After refreshing myself, I went back inside to awaken Yuni and prepare her for us to depart. I informed her of one more person that will be joining us in the skirmish. I knocked on the door but there was no answer. So I looked for around and saw an open window and decided to go through it to look. Yuni waited outside as I intruded. It was a stupid move for I almost got killed. I was unaware that Sun had already been awake and didn't recognize me. So she had her bow stretched and an arrow pointed at me. She released the arrow. Coming into realization, she panicked. The arrow pierced my left shoulder. I pulled it out and told her it was time to depart. She apologized to me and neared me to look at the wound, but I told her I was fine. The sweet aroma of roses was still with her.
We ran to the Black Mountain Path and met with Argenta and the others with haste. They surprised us by bringing two hundred foot soldiers from the king were with them. Geraint, Shian, Edan, and the others led the charge, the soldiers were in the middle with Argenta, and then there's me, Sun, and Yuni thwarting any monster that followed to attack us from behind. Our combination was perfect. Yuni provided protection with her ice spells, Sun providing an eye on my back as I fought through the monsters. An impregnable defence.
An hour had passed and we finally reached the main domain of the Black Dragon. Me, Yuni, and Sun were still in the rear. Then a moment of amazement struck us all. "Argenta! Take command!" Geraint exclaimed as he burst out his wings and transformed into the Gold Dragon. Argenta commanded the troops to attack while she strives to retrieve the so-called prophet. As the two dragons clashed, Argenta came out of the stronghold with the prophet. The black dragon's wing was torn off while it inflicted a fatal blow on the gold dragon's eyesight. Argenta told me to go to the castle basement as she handed me the prophet and ran to Geraint as he fell from the sky. As much as I wanted to help, all I could do was follow orders. After all the books I've read about the gold dragon and the silver dragon, I finally got to see them in action.
