Fire Emblem : The Holy War Chapter 4, a fire emblem fanfic

Hello everyone. Welcome to this new chapter of The Holy War. The last two chapters were a bit carefree right ? You got to see gentle character introductions, little to no violence, joy and merriment. Good times… Fair warning though : There won't be any of that in this chapter.

With that said, there are only two (3?) more chapters to go before the actual story starts. Promise… I hope you're all ready for Sigurd and company !

Now, onto the reviews.

Guest on 02/17 : Thanks for that. Please, do tell if you see anymore of those in the future. If you're looking for other fics on Fe4 then I recommend "Memoirs of the Holy War". Check it out, it's an amazing one.

Shine 375 : Thank you for the encouragement. I hope you'll like the rest of the story too.

Friendly reminder :

Ishtar is the best ! = Text from the System

"Ishtar is the best !" = Talking

'Ishtar is the best' = Thoughts, Skills and Spells activation

*Ishtar is the best !* = Sound effect

Copyright Disclaimer : I don't own anything about this fanfic, except for its. All the rest belong to their respective creators and they're the ones that deserve praise.

Chapter 4 : How not to summon a Demon follower.

"Is everything ready?" Asked a deep and chilly voice, whose cold tone could send shivers down the back of anybody.

The person to whom the question was directed to was standing behind him, wearing a long dark-red robe covering him from head to toes except for his eyes. He quickly nodded his head and confirmed the situation. "Yes sir. Everything has been prepared per your instructions."

"Marvelous!" He replied with excitement and glee clearly present in his voice and face.

The other individual in the room also wore dark-red robes, although they were of a much darker shade than the other one. They were currently in a dimly lit room, with the only source of light being the moon outside shining through the crude windows in the building, although the storm that was brewing in the sky was hindering even the faintest moonlight glow on a night like this.

In such a dark room where vision was greatly limited, one wouldn't even be able to see their own path if they were not accustomed to low levels of light. The occasional flash of lightning that came from time to time often illuminated the interior more or less, but those brief flashes of light made it feel like a scene directly from a horror movie.

"What about their condition?" The chilly voice asked again, slowly walking forward towards the center of the room.

The light footsteps of the other person accompanied him, keeping a minimum of five steps behind him. "Except for some minor bruises they all seem to be fine. With the addition of those from today and tomorrow, we will be ready for the ritual soon enough."

Both of them came to a halt, almost at the same time. They stood in front of an array of steel bars that walled off a small space that looked cramped and uncomfortable to be in. Beyond the bars were a great number of figures, and the lightning that struck at that particular moment showed the battered and bloodied figures that made up a great number of children in the small sized jail.

"Lord Manfroy will surely be pleased by this. Huhuhuhuhuhuhuhu!"

Five months have passed since Dave and I first entered castle Nordion at Eldigan's behest. Having completed our mission a long time ago, I sometimes wondered why he decided to keep us in the castle despite knowing that we were part of the Isaachian nobility given the current relationship between the two countries. Knowing the nobles of Agustria, many of them must have voiced their displeasure towards our presence here, but King Imuka must have sided with Eldigan yet again to let us remain here for a while longer. Though, truth be told, it's more than likely because of what happened with those bandits that Imuka felt inclined to not send us on our way already.

It was three weeks after the town's festival. I haven't seen Sylvia since then but I managed to find Lewyn more than once and ask him some questions in regards to my training in magic and the like.

According to him, I had a very strong affinity with Wind magic despite me being from Isaach, which might be the reason why the wind spirits, the Sylphs, seem to like me so much. He also mentioned that I had a talent in Fire and Thunder magic, and although not as strong as my Wind affinity, it was apparently still pretty impressive. And a significantly rare trait for someone who comes from a nation full of capable swordspeople. However…

"Despite your affinity with the various elements, your progress seems to be relatively slow." He explained from his usual spot during our lessons, leaning against a tree. "You're a slow learner, yes, but you possess pretty sharp instincts. The theory part might be too hard for you, but you managed to grasp most of the concepts during training when given a clear enough vision of the technique ."

As usual, I was sitting cross-legged a few meters in front of him trying to enter into that deep-trance I usually enter when I focus on my magic. Lewyn's new lesson for the day was not strictly on magic, per se, but on something much more "important". His words, not mine.

"Try to feel it. They're usually a bit everywhere, but right now they seem to be attracted towards you like moths to a flame."

Following Lewyn's instruction, I tried to sense my environment one more time. Breathing sharply, feeling each inhalation and expiration in my body, I started to slowly but surely hear the sounds surrounding me.

*Breath in*

'At least now it feels easier than before…'

*Breath out*

I could slowly hear my breathing getting more and more deep, intensity growing with each second…

*Breath in*

As I continued taking each inhalation and exhalation deeply…

*Breath out*

I was not just hearing the sounds surrounding me any more.

*Breath in*

I started to clearly hear sounds, most of them voices, coming seemingly from all around me.

*Breath out*

"Hey, did you hear? Alfred's kids disappeared too. It'll be the tenth one this week."

*Breath in*

"Papa! Papa! When will you be back?"

*Breath out*

"Let's finish all our work today and go back home early."

*Breath in*

"I sure hope those criminals will get caught soon…"

*Breath out*

"Bring them in."

A series of alerts from the System came in at that. Unfortunately, that was the last thing on my mind at the moment.

[As the wind carries echoes to your ears, the system acknowledges your attunement to unseen whispers.]

[A new skill has been generated.]

Whispers of the Wind

- Rank : EX

- Cost : Varied

- Type : Active Passive

Whispers of the Wind establishes a symbiotic connection between your senses and the elusive spirits of the air. This skill allows the wind, guided by the ethereal whispers of the Sylphs, to carry sounds from the surrounding environment to you. Whether it's the soft rustling of leaves, the distant footsteps of an approaching adversary, or even the faintest heartbeat, Whispers of the Wind transforms the unseen vibrations in the air into audible cues. This heightened auditory awareness provides you with an unparalleled advantage in reconnaissance and combat situations.

- Distance : [N/A]

Before I could fully take in all what I just heard, Lewyn's voice broke through my concentration, forcing me to look back at him as he made his way towards me.

"Impressive… So, how was it?" He asked as he finally reached me, later taking a seat on the grass beside me.

I opened and closed my right hand repeatedly, as if I didn't yet get a full grasp on reality. I was still trying to process all that I heard after all. "It was like… I could hear everything. As though each voice was not far from here."

"That was the wind talking to you. You did well in your first successful attempt." He congratulated me again, although my mind was on something else at the moment.

"The wind?" I asked with a raised brow.

"To be more specific, those were voices carried to you by the spirits of the wind." He explained, bringing up his hands which got surrounded by a faint layer of wind.

My face stiffened as my brain was still busy piecing everything together. "… So, you're telling me that the things I just heard now were actual people talking?" Lewyn simply nodded, smiling, seemingly not getting what I was getting to.

Dread slowly crept into my voice as I realized the implication of what Lewyn just said, I stood up, thinking back to the very first voice I heard when concentrating.

'Kids…kids have been disappearing. Is it the work of the Loptr church?'

According to history, they've been using a great number of children for their dark rituals long before and after the fall of the Loptr Empire. Child hunts were pretty common in the past during the reign of the Empire, but right now the act has become illegal almost everywhere after they were defeated. As such, it would've been easy to pin the blame of all this on them if they were caught red-handed, but they couldn't realistically conduct child hunts again like they used to without worrying about some townspeople discovering their activities. Though to hear rumors starting to develop now meant that their activities were actually taking place right under my nose, a telltale sign that some of their members were working behind the scenes if I had to guess.

It wouldn't be long until they ramped up their efforts once certain events came to take place.

'They waited till the birth of the second generation when they had total control of the continent before bringing back that tradition out in the open with very few to oppose them. And it all starts with Grannvale..'

"Wait… Grannvale?" That was when I realized a crucial point that I've been overlooking until now.

We weren't in Grannvale right now.

'Hell, the actual story hasn't even started yet. So I can't judge anything solely on what I know from the game.'

Perhaps it'd be best to play everything by ear and act accordingly before I stumble into any serious plots against humanity. Maybe I could become more of a respected figure along the way so I won't be held back by much of the issues that come from being relatively unknown in a place full of both nobility monarchs. Or maybe staying hidden is what'll keep me alive should anything come to pass..

'Decisions, Decisions..'

"Is there something wrong?" Tilting his head to the side as he looked at me, Lewyn seemed to have noticed that my mind has been elsewhere for a while now.

Quickly getting up from the floor, I started running towards the town's gates, in the direction of the castle. "Sorry, I have to go. See you for the next lesson Lewyn!"

"So, let me get this straight." said Dave one more time as he was currently leaning on the bed in my room. "You're saying there might be people out there, an organized group most likely abducting children in towns and no one is doing anything to stop them?" At my nod, Dave's expression swiftly took a darker shade, looking deep in thought.

Having returned to the castle a short while ago, I managed to find Dave rather quickly and explained to him what I managed to hear through the Sylphs. Although I decided to leave out the part about me getting that information from the wind spirits.

"I did hear of the children disappearing but I simply thought they went missing when playing or something and were found later on…" His expression didn't change, neither did his thoughtful face.

"Isn't there anything we can do to help?" I asked again, for the third time since coming back, to which Dave simply sighed before getting up from his chair.

"We should warn Eldigan first." He said, already walking out of the room and most likely going to Eldigan's study, with me following closely behind. "If what you're saying is true we'll need his help in finding them. Plus, it's his town. He needs to know about this, if he doesn't already."

Despite appearances, Dave was much more attentive and caring than he seemed to be at first glance. That fact reminded me of that one time we were getting desserts from a food stand in town and when leaving he crashed into a little girl on his way, dropping her own pastry on the ground. Not only did he apologized, he also gave his own to the girl despite the insistence of the mother that it was her child's fault. That episode may seem simple and random to anyone, but it brought a smile on my face each time I thought of it.

Unfortunately, it was something that Dave didn't fail to notice. "Why are you smiling?"

"Nothing." I replied easily, walking faster in order to be in front of him in an attempt to avoid both his look and any other questions he might ask.

After a few more minutes, we finally arrived in front of Eldigan's room. Two soldiers were standing guard outside, armed with lances. They looked at us in silence before nodding their heads, a sign that Eldigan was inside. Dave knocked three times on the door before opening it.

In the room was Eldigan, as always behind a desk full of stacks upon stacks of papers. He looked up for a second as we entered, seeing that it was us before going back to work on the papers in front of him. Dave simply took a chair and brought it closer to Eldigan's table before leaning on said chair and signaling me to sit down on it.

"What do you need? I'm a bit occupied right now so if you could make it quick." He finally said after a minute of silence from both sides. He still did not take his eyes off his papers.

"Ray said he overheard some rumors when he was in town."

"I do not have the time right now for baseless rum-"

"Well, it's not really a rumor." I said quickly, cutting him off before he could get angry at us for trying to help him.

He finally dropped the pen he was holding. "Then what is it? Be more specific." He asked again, pinching the bridge of his nose with his now free hand.

I sneaked a glance at Dave, unsure on how to phrase it. He simply smiled at me with a nod as encouragement. "I heard that children have been disappearing recently in town…" I started saying, with Eldigan simply looking at me in silence, which prompted me to continue. "Apparently, the Loptyr church is behind those abductions."

"The dark sect?" Eldigan's poker-face was finally replaced with one of shock and a frown. I also didn't fail to catch Dave's inquisitive look on the side who noticed that I didn't tell him everything.

I ignored their questioning looks. "Yes. The very same."

Sighing once more, Eldigan finally dropped the paper he was holding too before leaning back on his chair.

He looked at his ceiling for some time before finally speaking. "I did know about the abductions and planned to dispatch some of my soldiers and knights to look into it. That was, until I received orders from the castle."

"From the king I suppose?" Asked Dave from his point at the edge of the table.

"The letter carries his name and title but I don't think it came from him." He opened the first drawer before closing it then opened the third one, bringing out a neatly folded paper and placing it on the table.

Dave and I quickly went forward to look at it and read its content, and as we neared the end of the message, we finally realized why he said what he did… Or at least Dave knew.

"I see. He's telling you not to interfere in this matter and that he'll be sending the royal guards, despite this being your territory and the children your citizens."

His words seemed to light the bulb in my mind as I finally understood what was going on.

"So, you're saying someone sent this so that you wouldn't derail their plan? What happens then if the royal guards do find the children." I asked Eldigan, to make sure we were all on the same page.

He looked annoyed at that. "The knights and their's movements have been more or less erratic as of late. It's as if they don't know what they're looking for, or where they're supposed to look. Each time they manage to get a clue, it only leads to a dead end."

"Then do you know who sent you that letter if not the king? It does have the royal stamp after all, so impersonating him is quite unlikely." said Dave, looking back on the letter to check it once again.

Eldigan went back to the drawers on his desk, this time opening the second one. "There are two people that come to mind. But I don't have any proof so I can't accuse them of anything, and anyway, my job isn't to find out who…" Saying that, he dramatically slapped the piece of paper he was holding up till now on the desk, before adding with a smile. "But how to stop them."

"What's that?" I asked, leaning forward as curiosity was dominating my mind at the moment.

"Contracts." He replied simply, and after looking carefully I noticed that there were indeed two pieces of paper rather than one. "I recently hired a trio of mercenaries to find the kids that were kidnapped. One of them, their leader, has a reputation of never breaking a contract. And I happen to know another one of their group personally."

Dave pointed to the other paper. "And the other?"

"An agreement with a group of pirates. The Orgahil Pirates."

Eyebrows raised, Dave couldn't help but ask the question that was on both of our minds.

"You hired pirates?"

"They're not a bad bunch. Their previous leader was known as an honorable man… Or at least, as honorable as a pirate can be. He was known not to harm the poor and innocent and I've heard his successor is much like him. I hired them to transport the mercenaries and to help in finding, rescuing and bringing back the children alive."

"And they simply agreed to all that? You must have paid them quite the sum."

"A bit, yes. But I also said they could keep any valuables they found during their mission, so they agreed." Dave simply nodded at that, silently agreeing with Eldigan's decision on how to proceed while I was left thinking during their little exchange.

"I see you've been preparing." I said slowly, pulling both of their attention back to me as I continued. "So, when were you going to let us on the plan? We're mercenaries too after all."

"Initially? Not at all." His reply was so matter-of-fact that I nearly fell off my chair.

"Wha–"

"It was intentional." He said firmly, quickly cutting me off before I could form a rebuttal. "Don't forget that you were present during the last gathering of nobles, so some of them should already know that you're staying with me. They may see your presence as me interfering."

"That's fair." Dave quickly acquiesced as he moved his weight from my chair and made his way to stand before Eldigan. "But how about me though? I wasn't there that day." He asked with a confused look, to which Eldigan took note of.

Eldigan simply shrugged his shoulders at his question "I figured if Ray was not there then you would not see any use in going either."

"Hmm. You're not entirely wrong on that..." Seeing that that answer was enough to placate him, I turned once again to look at Eldigan, eyes to eyes.

The tone of my voice was sharp as I finally spoke my mind. "Still, I don't care. I'm going."

He frowned at me, as if I just uttered some unintelligible gibberish. "I just said you cou–"

"I AM going." I didn't wait a moment as I cut him off, seizing that chance to continue with my explanation quickly. "You can't expect me to stay put when kids are being kidnapped on a daily basis and brought somewhere dangerous for whatever reason."

I don't know if it was the tone of my voice, or the look in my eyes, but Eldigan's expression looked visibly conflicted. I could see that he was internally debating whether or not to allow me to go, not that I would be taking no as an answer.

Before he could come to a decision, Dave's voice turned both of our attention to him.

"Just let us go. I'll keep an eye on him during the mission and we will steer clear of any troops of the kingdom."

Still unsure whether to accept or not, Eldigan finally sighed, seeing that he had no other choice in the matter.

"Fine. You can go. Both of you." He finally said, after a minute of silence. However, the smile that appeared on his face shortly after that somehow made me more nervous than the bandits I had to face on my first mission. "Their ship will be arriving in Sylvale the evening of the day after tomorrow. The mercenaries will most likely already be there. Until then, I'll be sparring with you to ensure that you're as ready as possible."

I stiffened at that comment, eyes blinking, Adam's apple bulging as I tried to move down whatever fear was trying to come out of my mouth…

I was in for one hell of a training.

A new Quest has been created !

Title : Everything's okay. Why ? Cause the cavalry is there !

Type : Main Quest

Time-frame : Five days

Description : You managed to learn that children were being kidnapped in your town and in those nearby. The dark church seems to be behind it, and their aim is clear : they're hunting for sacrifices for their rituals !

Objective : Save the children held hostage and bring them back to their families.

Rewards : 5 000 Gold Coins, 500 EXP, Increase standing within Agustria.

Failure : Who knows ? You could die at sea. Nicked by bandits on the way. Attacked by some monster. Or even captured and tortured by the dark cultists.

Status: In progress…

Strangely, despite the gruesome work-out session I went through yesterday and this morning with Eldigan, my body was not aching as much as I thought it would.

"How are you feeling ?" Asked Dave beside me, who only glanced in my direction without actually turning to take a look, like he usually would.

"Not bad I'll say. Just a bit sore here and there." My reply was a bit muted, I feltfeeling somethe slight pain in some of my joints as I tried to move. They weren't that painful or debilitatinginconvenient, just distracting and uncomfortable.

He raised his eyebrow at my comment. "So you fared better in this training than in the previous ones, huh ?"

"Obviously. I didn't fall on my ass this time around after all." I replied jokingly, eliciting a chuckle out of Dave as we continued on our way.

"That's good. It also means that your reflexes and physical condition have been slowly coming back, if not your memory."

His words made me go silent for a moment as I thought back on the training sessions that I went through. My body was responding more acutely than it had been previously, there was no lag on what I willed myself to do but I still wasn't exactly in the right headspace for a fighter. As I struggled to balance both combat and small scale tactics to be able to fight as efficiently as possible, just as Eldigan proved to me not too long ago. Seeing my silence on the matterthis, Dave also grewbecame also silent quiet, now looking back to the road we were traveling on with little else to say.

The cart we were on was that of a traveling merchant who was going through Sylvale, our first destination on this rescue mission. Using cloaks to conceal ourselves as much as possible, we paid the merchant a small sum of money to transport us to our destination.

Despite taking a while, the trip was peaceful for the most part. We had to spend the night outside, seeing as we left in the evening, but thankfully there wasn't any sign of brigands or dangerous animals eagerly waiting to pounce on us.

We left early the next morning. With the route still as uneventful as before, we finally reached our destination that evening, parting ways with the merchant as we immediately started looking for the people Eldigan mentioned we will be assisting for this mission.

Our investigations brought us in front of a tavern who looked relatively clean and well-kept on the outside. Although the feeling of dread that was slowly taking root inside of me for some reason made me nervous.

Not feeling anything, Dave pushed open the door to the establishment before boldly walking in despite the cloak over his shoulders being inconspicuous enough once inside of a building. Sighing, I silently followed him inside, quickly looking all over the room before slowly following Dave who was already at the counter.

"Beer. For two." He said to the barman, throwing a golden coin on the table. The man nodded, pocketing the coin before serving us two large cups filled with beer.

Dave quickly drank half of his before he started questioning the barman about various things starting with random questions like "How was your day?",. "Is the place usually this full?", etc.

For my part, I was more focused on the other clients at the moment. Subtly, I started looking at each of them in turn, using my Observe skill to glean any information.

As I continued looking, I stumbled upon two names that were somewhat familiar, one of them more so than the other.

Voltz

Class : Ranger

Level : Blocked

Beowolf

Class : Free Knight

Level : 6

Clint

Class : Arch Knight

Level : 8

"You saw something interesting ?" Asked Dave, who finally finished questioning the barman and started looking in the same direction as I.

"Just a face that seemed familiar." I replied as I focused once more on the trio.

'A mercenary with blond hair covered by a strange hat. Either my Observe skill is wrong or this guy is the one we're looking for.'

"The guy didn't have much information regarding those we're looking for." I knew he was talking about the barman. Although knowing the nature of our mission, I didn't expect him to help us that much.

It looked like it was up to me to nudge our little ship forward. In a subtle way of course.

I took a sip from my cup before casting a glance back at the trio. "Maybe we can ask someone else ? Like those guys at that table for example." I said innocently,to which Dave responded with silence as he was drinking his own beer.

A minute later, Dave finally decided to follow my advice and try his luck elsewhere.

Telling the barman to keep the change, he made his way towards the table of those three I've been observing. I hastily drank the remainder of my cup before thanking the barman and following Dave as he neared the trio's table.

One of them saw us coming, the one with the hat, Voltz, and despite the easy smile on his face, his entire body showed that he was ready for anything we may throw his way.

"Hello y'all." Said Dave, looking around the table at each of their faces before stopping at Voltz. "Sorry to disturb your time here but my friend and I are looking for someone. Well, a group of them actually, and we were hoping you could help us a tad."

"I don't know if we may be able to help you but ask away." Voltz said after nodding once in the direction of both of his companions.

"Thank you." Dave slightly dropped his head in gratitude before sending one of his hands in his pockets. After rummaging for a bit, he brought out a folded piece of paper and started reading its content aloud. "So, the first one is a tall man named Voltz wearing yellow armor and some kind of hat. The second one is a blond guy wearing blue armor, Beowolf, and the last one has black hair wearing brown armor and his name is Clint."

After reading everything, Dave slowly looked back up to the group of three in front of him before quickly looking back down to the letter. He looked back up again, then down, then up, then down… He repeated the process two more times before finally sighing and hitting his forehead with the palm of his hand.

"Oh…" He said in pain.

"Hahahaha." One of them started laughing, the guy named Clint, probably due to Dave. Even Beowolf seemed to be holding back his own laughter whereas Voltz only smiled before downing the last of his drink.

In order to save Dave from further embarrassment, I decided to step in front of him, attracting the group's attention.

"It seems like you're the people we're looking for. It's nice to meet you, Voltz." I said as I extended my hand towards him. The man looked at me for a moment before getting up from his chair and gripping my hand in his much bigger one.

"The pleasure is all mine." He said, shaking my hand once before letting go and signaling to his partner to come over. We then went on shaking hands among our-selves before finally finding two more chairs to sit with them at their table. "Now that that's done, we still didn't get your names. I received a letter late yesterday night saying you guys were a last minute addition sent by that noble, and that you were mercenaries too. Nothing substantial beyond that."

"I see…"

'I guess he didn't want others to find out about the relationship between us. That must be why he didn't tell them anything.'

"As said, we're mercenaries sent to help in this task. Our main objective is finding the captives, the money is just a nice bonus." Dave then explained to them a little about what we did before reaching here, a bit of the stories about our life as mercenaries and a bit about Isaach. Voltz and Clint were very talkative, asking questions now and then and Clint even argued with Dave about the best way to trap wild animals in the forest. Beowolf was mostly silent, responding only when someone was talking to him directly or asking him a question.

The night went on in the same fashion, everybody drinking and laughing and talking merrily. Before we knew it, midnight went by without us even noticing if not for Beowolf saying that he needed to get enough sleep before getting on the ship. Voltz followed soon after for a similar reason, and I had no choice but to go too since I've been yawning for the past ten or so minutes. Bidding goodnight to the two chatterboxes of the group who were still in the middle of their argument, I went upstairs in one of the rooms we had reserved earlier and fell lifelessly on bed, with sleep catching me almost instantly.

Morning came by much earlier than I wanted, or expected actually. One look out of my window and I could see that the sun itself was not yet up. Turning around to glare at the reason for my unwanted awakening, I was greeted by a smiling Dave already carrying his bag and ready to rumble.

"Why are you up so early ? I thought the ship would come at midday at the very least. And how come you're up earlier than me actually." I asked with a bit of annoyance in my voice, the last part being said a bit more forcefully.

Dave simply chuckled at me before responding. "Don't know. Voltz went out earlier today and came back saying we should get ready to go. Everyone is ready actually, everyone except you." Having said his piece, and made sure I was up and going to get ready, he made his way out of our shared room. I was still wondering how he managed to wake up before me and to get ready without waking me up.

Once done with my morning ritual, I tidied the bed as much as I could before proceeding out of the room and going downstairs, where I noticed that everyone was already waiting for me.

"Good morning Ray. Glad you could join us on time. How was your night ?" Voltz didn't look like someone who just got four hours of sleep. His face, voice and posture was the same as yesterday.

I never envied that sort of readiness more than today. "Well enough. But I won't say no to more sleep."

He laughed at that. "Thankfully, the ship is going to spend another four hours or so if we want to reach our destination undetected. Let's hope you'll be able to catch your sleep then. You and Clint." He nodded his head to the side at the guy in question who was already dozing off against the wall, nearly falling now and then.

I chuckle at this sight, thinking that it might have been me in his place. "I hope so too."

Dave came back from the counter, his coin pouch in hand, sadly shaking his head. He muttered a simple "Let's go", prompting everybody to move out of the inn. Even Clint seemed to hear him without anybody waking him up.

"Are you alright ?" I asked him quietly as I moved beside him on our way out.

He waved off my question with his hand. "Just a headache. And not enough sleep. I'll be fine." I couldn't help but wonder if he really would be fine but that was neither my place nor my job to worry about. Plus, Voltz said we'll have time to sleep a bit more on our way so Clint could rest there.

A few minutes after we left the inn, we were already at the town's port. There was a single ship present this early in the morning with its sails unfurled, most likely our transport ship. The skull and crossbones on its flag was a dead give-away too.

"So it really is a pirate ship… And they're showing their black flag so brazenly." Muttered Dave who managed to make his way beside me, his eyes fixed on the flag during most of the walk.

"I've heard that the band of Orgahil are kind of legal pirates. They're getting paid to get rid of suspicious and dangerous vessels in these seas. Although some people don't approve of them."

Dave rubbed his chin, looking pensive. "Well, at least it's better than real pirates who destroy and pillage any town and ship indiscriminately."

His comment made me think back to what will happen in the future with Orgahil. How most of them will go back against their initial creed as noble pirates because of their greed for money and destruction.

"What are you doing? We need to go." Beowolf voice brought me out of my mind, and one look to the side told me that everybody was already on the ship beside us two. Picking up the pace, Dave and I climbed onto the ship who immediately started shaking left and right as it was getting ready to set sail.

Once abroad, I saw Voltz discussing with a blonde-haired woman with a white bandana and a quiver at her back. I immediately recognized her as I moved towards the both of them.

"As previously agreed, we'll be carrying you to your destination and bringing you back here with whatever captives you manage to bring."

Voltz slightly lowered his head, despite knowing that she too, like him, was paid for doing this. "Thank you for your help. My group and I will take care of freeing them as fast as possible so that we can leave without being seen."

"Don't thank me. Yet. And don't count me out of the action either. I'll be coming along to help free those children." She replied, crossing her arms before her chest.

A frown appeared on Volt's face. "But you were only paid to transport us to and from the fort."

"I'm not going to stay put while children are being tortured a few meters away. I am coming with you." I couldn't help but chuckle at how similar our thought process was. Knowing her personality and judging by her posture and voice, she too was not going to take no as an answer. But, looking at him, neither was Voltz going to accept easily. So before the situation could escalate into something unnecessary, I approached Voltz from behind and placed a hand on his shoulder before he could say anything else.

"There won't be any harm in letting her come with us, Voltz. She seem capable enough to take care of herself–"

"You bet." She agreed easily. Got to admire the confidence.

"And we will need whatever help we can get. We don't even know yet what's waiting for us inside there, so I wouldn't mind having another archer to back us."

Voltz simply sighed, seeing that he was now outnumbered. "Fine. Fine. You guys win, she can come. I'll be going now. I need to do a final check-up and catch some sleep too."

"Rest well." I waved at him as he went into one of the rooms on the ship. Turning around, I noticed Brigid looking me straight in the eyes.

"... What is it?" I asked but she didn't stop staring at me. After a moment, she finally did, lowering her head slightly as if to thank me.

"Although I could've taken care of that myself, thank you for helping me… My name's Brigid. I am the captain of this ship and leader of the Orgahil pirates."

"The name's Ray. I'm a mercenary too, like the others with me… And you're welcome. I was mostly trying to prevent any argument from arising before we even left the port."

"Well, thanks to that I got what I wanted." She then grinned at me, hands at her hips. "So, shall we go and save those children ?"

I mimicked her grin before doing a military salute. "Aye aye captain."

She laughed at my failed imitation of a sea pirate, placing her hand on her mouth to silence the sound as much as possible, while guiding me towards the rooms available on-board.

I woke up, again, after only a few hours of sleep. The smell of salt permeated the entire room, but it wasn't that unpleasant. Just…different.

Getting up from the mattress on which I was lying, I made my way out of the room towards the deck in order to see if I could see any piece of land on the horizon.

The only ones present were the crew members responsible for moving the ship, and Brigid who was looking down at the sea for some reason. I moved quickly towards her, careful not to disturb any of the workers on my way despite them moving up and down rapidly and without stopping.

"You okay?" I asked as I finally managed to reach her, leaning against the ship beside her. She didn't move. She didn't reply either. She just continued staring at the sea for a long while, prompting me to look into it too.

We stayed like that, in silence, for almost twenty minutes before she finally said something.

She sighed. "We'll soon be reaching our destination. Castle Orgahil. I can't believe that people could be kidnapping children and using Orgahil as their hideout. Worst is I wouldn't have noticed anything if that guy didn't contact me…"

So, a bruised ego? Or was she angry at herself that those cultists were performing their deeds right under her nose? "It's alright. There are some things that are often out of our control, and there is nothing we can do about them." Not that humans do not try their best to act when the odds are placed against them. But very few actually manage to make a difference.

"...I really want to hit something right now." Unconsciously, my body slightly shifted away from her as soon as I heard her saying that, which in turn made her laugh.

"I didn't mean you, but I wouldn't mind either. You seem tough enough."She then proceeded to slap me on the back. Roughly.

I barely managed not to hiss, although I couldn't hide the wince of pain that followed as I started gently rubbing that area. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"It WAS a compliment." She then started laughing which in turn made me chuckle as I was still reeling from the pain. Yes. It was that strong of a hit.

"... So, I heard you've been a pirate for a long time. You love the sea that much ?" It's not that I didn't already know her story, but it would be strange for me to blabber about it later by accident. Plus, I wanted to hear it from her and to connect on a more personal level.

"Don't know." She shrugged nonchalantly. She was suffering from memory loss, so this answer was kind of expected. "As far as I can remember, my father has always been the leader of the Orgahil. So I spent most of my life on a ship at his side."

"Your father… You mean the ex-head of the Orgahil pirates who died recently ?"

"Who else ?" She looked up at me, eyebrow raised as if I just asked something stupid.

I awkwardly scratched my head, looking sheepish., "Eh, sorry. I should have phrased it better."

She just waved her hand, telling me it was alright and that there was no need to fret.

"The truth is I don't have any clear memories from when I was little. Everything is fuzzy… But every now and then I get random images appearing in my mind of people whose faces I can't see clearly. The one thing of note about them is their hair color which is the same as mine." she pointed to her hair as emphasis.

"So you don't know who they are ?"

"No clue." She shrugged. "It's mostly annoying, since each time I get those images they're always accompanied by headaches."

"Well, I hope you'll find out what those images mean soon." And I knew she would, one day in the near future. But for now, there were more pressing matters to deal with.

"... Look." She said, pointing to the side of the boat a couple meters away, where a huge shadow and a castle at its top could be seen even from this far out at sea. "Seems like we're almost there. Go and get your friends." She herself made her way to her crew, most likely to prep them about the situation

"On it." Parting ways on that, I went back to the rooms where I was most likely to find each of them, rounding them up and telling them about our situation.

The sun was now at its zenith. The lack of good hiding points was not helping us and we had no other choice but to leave the ship farther away from the shore and reach ground level using small boats in order to not be noticed by anyone watching the area. Hoping that three of those boats will be enough to ferry all the children, our little group of mercenaries, plus Brigid, made his way towards the castle, thankfully unnoticed.

"So, what's the plan ?" Asked Clint, when our group was finally reunited after everyone came back from his scouting of our immediate surroundings.

Beowolf crossed his arms in front of him before looking back on the castle. "I couldn't find anybody keeping watch. Seems like either they don't think they'll be discovered, or they're not there at all."

Shaking his head, Voltz brought out a piece of paper from his pocket before reading through it rapidly. "Our information can't be incorrect. Remember that we're dealing with cultists, so perhaps they're more active at night. There's even the chance that they might be hiding underground and only using the castle itself as a decoy."

Brigid stepped in with a determined look on her face. "There isn't any other hiding point in the surrounding area. So if they're not on the mainland then they're most certainly in that castle."

Voltz folded the paper once more before tucking it in his pocket. "Anyway, we won't be certain of anything until we actually went in. So let's do that."

Everybody nodded at his words, doing one final check on their weapon before moving out.

A quick check of my Inventory reassured me that all the stuff I prepared before coming was still there. I brought five Iron swords to leave in my subspace, in case I was to lose the first one like that one time in a cave...

"Is everybody ready ?" Everyone nodded one after the other, each eyes filled with various looks of determination. Voltz smirked at that, before pointing at the castle which was only a hundred meters away and almost shouting. "Let's go !"

I noticed, with a bit of surprise truth be told, that I wasn't the fastest of the group. Brigid and Voltz were far ahead of everybody, with Clint and I close behind. Beowolf and Dave were behind us, occasionally checking our surroundings to see if there was anything of note.

Thankfully, we reached the castle without any problem. The side entrance that Brigid managed to notice during her scouting earlier was now closed, but a bit of brute force, courtesy of Voltz, got it open in a jiffy and without making much noise either.

Once inside, as the one in charge of leading the mission, Voltz instructed everybody to form a circle around him as he started giving out instructions. "We'll have to divide ourselves into three groups. One will check upstairs, the other will check this floor and another will be checking the basement."

"That should be the best way to proceed." I readily agreed, continuing as everyone's focus turns towards me. "This castle is already large enough, and we don't know exactly where the kids could be kept OR if there are any enemy forces present. Let's separate without weakening ourselves too much."

"Yes. I'll be checking the basement with Brigid to see if we can find the hostages. Chances are they'll be there. Ray and Dave, you guys are used to fighting with each other, check this floor for any enemy forces. Clint and Beowolf, go upstairs and see if you can find anything worth anything, take it and bring it back with us."

Everybody nodded his agreement at the established plan and went their way almost immediately.

To one side, I could see the figure of Brigid going down the stairs towards the basement. I could only hope that they would find what we were looking for.

"Let's go." whispered Dave, pulling my shoulder towards him as we went on to inspect each room on this floor. Dave wasn't particularly good at moving unnoticed, but at least he was silent. So I had to take point and make sure we were moving as stealthily as possible.

Most of the rooms we checked were either empty, filled with books or other such items or filled with objects worthy of a modern day laboratory. Very few of them had anybody inside and those that did were too occupied with one thing or the other to notice our presence.

Time seemed to go by at a slower rate than usual, but I didn't have the luxury to worry about that right now as we neared the last room we didn't check. However, the door was closed, and any action to force it open could alert whoever was on the other side and even those in the nearby rooms. Thankfully, we could faintly hear sounds from the other side, meaning that at least one person was inside.

[The skill 'Presence Detection' is being activated]

[ERROR! An Unknown power is interfering with your skill]

Before I could even read through the System's message, a splitting headache overcame all my senses, making me stagger to the point where I thought I had fallen. My left hand reflexively tried to find support from the wall to the side as my other hand went straight to my head.

"What's going on!?" Dave murmured with urgent concern as he tried to reach for me. I shook my head and pointed at the door, prompting him to walk towards it to try and get it open. Without any success. "Drat. Now what ?"

The pain I felt was quickly disappearing, so much so that I was beginning to feel like it didn't happen in the first place. However, I didn't have the time to worry about such a thing. I had a mission to accomplish after all.

"Let me see if I can't hear anything." I did my best to ignore Dave's concerned and quizzical look as I threw myself into a trance-like state.

If I couldn't get who was behind this door through some trap or the other, then maybe not focusing on just this room, but the general area, will make me circumvent the trap beyond the door. Eh, it was worth a try anyway.

My surroundings gradually became more silent until I could hear each individual noise. I started focusing on the sound of my breathing first.

*Breath in*

*Breath out*

*Breath in*

*Breath out*

[The skill, 'Whispers of the Wind', is being activated]

As I continued my breathing motions, the sound I was getting from the other side became clearer as I was focusing more and more on them, to the point where I could listen to the entire conversation.

"As you predicted, Sir, we have intruders in the castle. They seem to be aiming for the children in the cells." Whispered one of the voices, to which the other simply laughed.

"Hmm. Send all the dark priests and soldiers we have here down there and kill all the intruders. We can't decently present ourselves before Lord Manfroy after letting some upstart in and out of our home, can we ?"

"No sir."

"Good. Now get going. In the meantime, I'll be dealing with the rats on this floor. It shouldn't take long anyway."

"As you command."

At that, the two voices ceased their conversation, which was replaced by the sound of rapidly advancing footsteps.

Getting out of my focus, I looked around alarmingly. Dave must have sensed the urgency as he started shaking me almost immediately.

"Hey. What's wrong ?"

I got up from my crouched position, slowly stepping back in order to give us some time without alerting the enemy on the other side of the door that we've just overheard them.

"They know we're here. They'll be sending all of their forces against the Voltz group."

Dave looked worried for a second, but he didn't panic. He simply acknowledged my words before responding in the same calm manner he always did whenever we were on a mission. "They're the strongest of us all, but it'll be difficult even for them if they're outnumbered too much… Should we go and help them ?"

"…" My brain pondered the thought for a minute. If Dave and I could go and help them then chances are the four of us will at least be able to get out of this place safely with a kid tucked under each arms.

'But I can't bet on that without even knowing their numbers, nor how many children are kept captive. Plus the guy on the other side wouldn't let us go just like that…'

I had to make a choice, so I picked the one with the most chances of success for the mission as a whole.

"Go and fetch Beowolf's group, then you three will go downstairs to help Voltz and Brigid."

He nodded, tapping on his axe."Got it. What will you be doing in the meantime ?"

"Me ?" I asked back nonchalantly as I unsheath my sword from its scabbard, turning around to face the door which was about to get open. "I guess I'll have to keep our host company."

Dave stayed silent for some time and I feared he might refuse my directive, but he just nodded and ran off in the direction we came from. Almost at the same time as his figure disappeared from the hallway, the door finally opened itself, revealing a tall man in dark-red robes.

[The skill 'Observe' has been activated]

Kulir

Class : Dark Priest

Level : 10

The guy was tall. That was as much information I could give on him at the moment. His entire figure was draped in the robe, and only his eyes, mouth and nose were visible. He looked down at me with cold, hateful eyes.

"So you're the pest who infested my little garden." His voice was sharp, like the strident sound on someone grating his fingernail on a board. It was impossible not to wince the first time you heard him talk.

I shrugged, careful not to move the sword I hand in hand too much. "Truth is, I kind of got lost while wandering here and there. Mind showing me the way to the nearest town ?" My main objective right now was to gain enough time for Dave to find Beowolf and Clint and warn them. Enough time for Voltz and Brigid to free the children and escape.

"Of course." He snickered, and the sound was even more unpleasant to the ear than I thought it'll be. "Let me show you the way."

"You're a real lifesaver." I managed to say as casually as I could. I felt relieved that he was willing to play along, effectively giving us more time to work with.

He then started slowly walking towards me, which caused my body to stiffen involuntarily and the grip on my sword to tighten. He stopped after walking a bit, his eyes focused on me. Or rather, on what I had on me..

"Do you mind keeping your weapon away ? I'm a bit scared of blades you see." He pointed towards the sword in my hand with a long, bony finger.

"Ah, yes. Of course. Excuse me." Sheathing back my sword, the robed man resumed his walking towards me, visibly emboldened by my gesture.

However, my body was still as tense as before. He must be thinking that I wouldn't have enough time to remove my sword now that I kept it away, and he probably didn't even acknowledge the fact that the book on my waist was more than a simple decoration.

The man continued his advance towards me, but stopped yet again a few steps away.

"Oh, right. I almost forgot. I was told to eliminate any and all the intruders found in the castle. That includes you, so I'm afraid I can't just let you out. Darkness overwhelming everything ! FLUX ."

As soon as he finished chanting, he hurled a black ball at me with the hand he was hiding in his robes. Since my body was already prepared for such an eventuality, I had little trouble jumping to the side in order to avoid his spell, which ended up blasting part of the wall behind me.

"Now that's not nice." Lightly tapping the Tome in my pocket, the book immediately got out of its case and started floating beside me Black Clover-like.

[The skill 'Blades of Zephyr' is being activated]

Before he could even try and comprehend what was happening, a wind blade had already formed itself in my hand before flying at him at extreme speeds, catching him off-guard. He barely had enough time to dodge, but the wind blade still managed to cleanly cut off his left arm.

"How—!?"He croaked, holding his shoulder with his still intact hand as blood was spilling everywhere.

"How what ?" I asked nonchalantly, still trying to save some time for the others, but I couldn't help the grin that was forming itself on my face.

"Don't play dumb, you brat !" He shouted, his face turning into one of pure rage. "How can you cast spells without chanting ?! That is a privilege reserved to the most powerful magic users of this world. Only those descending from the Crusaders themselves should be capable of such a feat!"

I simply shrugged. "Who knows ? I just can. Deal with it."

He became silent, though the look of indignation on his face was worth it.

"Are you another bastard of that trash Victor ? No, no. The hair color doesn't match. And neither does that of Ced. Edda perhaps ? They're magic users, true, but they're mostly healers. What is it then? What am I missing!? " He shouted to himself, still focused on his thoughts.

I couldn't comprehend his obsession with knowing which crusader lineage I was descended from. For all I knew, I was a descendant of Od.

Of course, the current situation was advantageous to me too. As he continued thinking aloud, other sounds managed to reach my ear as I was slowly getting more and more used to the voice of the Sylphs.

"Don't worry now, you guys are free. Follow us." I could hear Brigid's voice from downstairs, calming down the captured children with Voltz.

"Guys, let's go. This place is a ticking bomb and we should quickly get the heck out of it." Dave's voice as he guides Beowolf and Clint to the basement to help the others.

"Find them. Quickly. We can't let them run away with the sacrifices." Even the cultists' voice was reaching me and I was thankful to know that they didn't yet catch up with the others.

"No… NO !" I stopped listening to the voices. I didn't know why, but my instincts told me to focus back on my opponent.The first thing I noticed was the mounting horror and incredulity in his expression as he looked at me. "You can't be here. You are supposed to be DEAD." Huh ? Dead, he says ? Is that a way of cursing people unique to this world or am I still missing something ?

I briefly contemplated asking him what he meant by that, but this was neither the time, nor the place. Plus, I couldn't trust any of the words coming out of his mouth anyway. If I wasn't splitting my attention then maybe I could've gleaned something from him.. Oh well, what mattered now was that we achieved our goal for the most part. All that was left for us was to make a clean getaway.

I tapped various areas of my body, as if wondering if I was still there physically. "I'm very much alive buddy."

"Never mind, I will just capture you then and deliver you to Lord Manfroy. I believe he will be satisfied to have you at his mercy."

"I'll have to respectfully decline." I replied almost immediately, earning a chuckle from the robed man.

"Foolish child. I do not need your permission. If you don't want your friends to be tortured and killed in the most gruesome ways possible, then you will sagely co-operate without fault."

"Blackmail… I see. You do know that threats of that kind only work if you have effective leverage? That's a bit of an underhanded tactic too by the way." He only looked at me vaguely amused. Then I remembered that he sent all of his forces to the basement a few minutes ago and I finally understood why he was feeling so confident. "Right." I sighed and ran my hand through my hair.

"I suppose you will surrender, then ?" he took a step forward, and I noticed that blood had already stopped spilling from his injury.

"Sure. Why not." I decided to humor him a bit. "But before that, I'm going to need you to do something for me though." He looked askance, but nonetheless nodded his head.

Here we go.

"There's this thing that people do when they're sorry for their acts." He didn't reply. "You know, that word that starts with an "a" and ends with an "e"."

As he seemed to be deeply thinking about my words, I remained focused on his facial expression. The confused look never left his face.

"… You want me to apologize."

"Yes ! Exactly."

"You want ME to apologize ? To YOU ?" I could tell that he was struggling with various emotions right now, chief among them being anger and amusement.

"I mean, aren't you gonna ? You did throw a dark spell at me." Granted, it was kind of hypocritical coming from the man who was uninjured to ask that of the now-crippled mage. Especially if said person was responsible for the injury, but he was the host of this castle. It's not exactly my fault if he tried to blast me on the spot after I kept my sword sheathed.

The robed man didn't respond for some time, despite how his eyes were still completely glued on me. However, as I was thinking about saying something else, a black ball of darkness was hurled towards me.

"Hey !" Again, I managed to dodge at the last second, watching as the black ball impacted itself on the wall which was behind me, leaving a deep mark on it. "Careful with that. You almost got me with it."

"Like you got my arm?" He deadpanned.

"… I don't make the rules for cause and effect, whatever happened– happened."

"I've wasted enough time as is. I'll be taking you in. NOW." Before I could stand up, he started launching black projectiles towards me with fluidity, each one coming almost immediately after the last. I managed to dodge each of them with precise timing and minimal effort, owing to the fact that dark magic was relatively slow.

The fact that he still didn't touch me even once after he launched close to a dozen spells must be getting irritating. "Stop jumping around like a damn monkey!"

"And you stop throwing those at me! I thought you wanted me alive?!" I shouted back immediately.

"Stop whining. This won't kill you even if it hits you squarely on the chest. Plus, you won't let yourself be captured easily, will you ?"

"Well, maybe if you try to ask nicely..."

Even though I was doing a pretty good job of not getting hit, I was slowly, but surely, getting tired. Plus, the hall we were in wasn't that big anyway, so I didn't have that much room to move around. That was when an idea managed to worm its way into my head, and I quickly capitalized on it.