Disclaimer : It's been long time since I last wrote this, but I do not own Ragnarok Online (but I own this story).
Chapter 21
Author notes : I'm sorry for some swearing in this chapter, that's why I rated this story T for language and violence.
Elraven was helping Sohee to prepare the breakfast for the temple at the temple's kitchen. But because the conversation they had at the forest yesterday, the two didn't talk much.
"Um, Sohee...can you pass me the knife?"
"OK..." She said as she gave the knife. The two fell into silence again.
"Damn, why can't I talk to her? Because I didn't answer her question yesterday? What should I say? Move on? Get over with it? No,no,no!" The gunslinger thought to himself. But, another problem arriving as Fiorentin entered the kitchen.
"Morning" The yellow haired girl greeted the two.
"Morning..." But, only the black haired man replied. He then felt someone staring at him. It was the Claymore wielder, staring right to his neck. He had a bandage covering his neck,which means that the last night 'expressing' wasn't a dream. It was real. But to avoid unnecessary conflicts, Elraven chose not to respond, and went back to cook the breakfast.
"Hm, his neck is injured. So, it wasn't a dream after all." The former princess ensured herself as she slowly approached the gunslinger.
"Oh, crap! She's coming, first Sohee and now her! I bet the next is my vi...hey, wait. I already lost mine, didn't I?" Elraven foolishly thought to himself. But, before Fiorentin could reach him, a loud shout came from the temple's gate. "I don't care about your opinion!! I want her!! Where is she?!!".
"That voice, it can't be.."Sohee surprisingly muttered to herself, much to the attention of Elraven & Fiorentin. "Who?" Elraven asked, but before he could get an answer, a short grumpy old man entered the kitchen. "Ah, Sohee!! Long time no see!!" He shouted with a smirk. Sohee seems scared of him and hide behind Elraven's back.
"Now, now. Don't be so scared, Sohee. I'm not here to hurt you, OK? I'm going to give you some..honor." The bald man said devilishly.
"No, no. Please, not again. Please..leave me..alone!!" Sohee begged slowly from the back of confused Elraven. "Hey, Sohee. Is this the 'Do' head monk you told me yesterday?" Elraven asked the fromer pet monster. Sohee nodded.
"Sohee, I'm not here to ask you to become the lead prayer for the festival again, I'm here to ask you to be..more than that!"
"What...what is it?"
"I ask you to become...the sacrifice herself. Isn't it nice? You will have the honor to meet the god yourself!!" Do answered menacingly.
"NO!" Sohee screamed in fear. Several monks entered the kitchen, begged do not to do his ill intention. "Head monk, please!! This is wrong!!" "You can't take one of the monks here as a sacrifice!" "Please, stop this sacrificing things, head monks!!" Were several protest the monks expressed.
But, the devil head monk easily replied with, "Shut up! First, you told me not to pick sacrifice from the town's residents! Now, you told me I can't pick this monster as a sacrifice?! She's not even human to begin with". Sohee began to cry as she heard the head monk.
"Hey, pops. Would you mind to shut your crap? I mean, Sohee is more human than you are, you bald headed short bastard! Didn't you know anything about something called manners? Your voice sounded like a big foot shitting in a forest while making out with your mom with his eyes blindfolded!! Not to mention that your face looked like a grumpy savage smoking weeds!!" Elraven shouted to Do.
"HEY! What did you call me again?! What did you call me again?! Don't stick your nose to my business, brat!!"
"OK! Then let me stick this to your business!!" Elraven replied as he aimed his Tristan right in front of Do face. The head monk widened his eyes seeing the automatic handgun. "Hey, hey. Put that thing away from me, put that thing away!!" He asked Elraven to no avail, because the gunslinger gave him a closer look of his gun instead of aiming it some other way. Do suddenly felt a cold metal touch his neck from behind. It was Fiorentin with her Claymore.
"Sir, it seems that you're unwanted here. Please leave now. Or would you like to find out how long it will take for me to cut your head off?" The former princess asked coldly. With a gun and a sword ready to take his life out, Do ran out from the temple while shouting, "This is not over yet!! I'll be back!! You heard me?! I'll be back!".
The monks thanked Elraven & Fiorentin for their act at the kitchen. But of cousre, the most thankful was Sohee. "Thank you, thank you so much you two! If you weren't there, I would have been taken by him right now! Thank you so much!!" She said while repeatedly bowing her head. Elraven responded with smile,"No, no. You're right about him. He's a bastard. He deserves that".
"What about this sacrificing things? I haven't heard of it before." Alexandria asked without seemed to care about the joy of Sohee. "Well, it's..." But before Sohee could answer, George, Olivia, and Felicia showed up. "Hey, what's with the noise? Did someone start fight here?" George asked reluctantly. "Good timing, you three. Sohee and the whole temple will tell us something we don't know about this town, right?" Fiorentin said with a killing glare to the monks. They had no choice but to explain everything they hide.
"My god, and you didn't do anything to fight back? What are you guys? How dare you called yourselves monks!!" Olivia expressed her disbelieve. "Couldn't you at least let us know? We could do something with this immoral sacrifice, you know?" Felicia shared her opinion. "A bunch of cowards trying to protect themselves. You didn't do anything to stop him, huh?" George asked the monks sarcastically.
"No, no. He is supported by the Lethe Guild. If we tried to stop him, he will kill all of us!!" One of the monks defended himself. "So, you choose to live as coward rather than die fighting for your beliefs? How shameful. Did you ask to be the part of Sagramore to further protect yourselves, too?" Fiorentin cynically shared her anger. The monks couldn't reply. They knew it was very coward of them to use their own people for their own safety, yet they couldn't do anything about it. "Princess, please stop. It's not the monks fault, but it's Do's fault this sacrificing happens!" Sohee finally spoke to break the cold silence. The others paid their attention on her.
"It's not that we didn't regret our doings!! Because we knew it was a mistake, we decided to support you!! Please understand!" She continued. Fiorentin suddenly thought to herself, "Killing the people they should have protect. Come to think of it, maybe I'm no different from them". She then stared towards the gunslinger, who got himself injured trying to tell her to strengthen her hearts. She remembered the parts about, not burdening this all by herself.
"All of you!" She said with a high tone, making the monks turn their attention on her. "It's a shame you used your own people for your own safety!". The monks didn't dare to look at her as she continued, they chose to looked down to the floor.
"Sacrificing others when you know you could do something was the wrong things to do! I'm sure you realized that! But you still did it, though."
The whole temple paid their attention on her.
"But, we live not to regret our doings! We live to make up for our mistakes!!". The monks started to feel some forgiveness in her words.
"It's not too late right now. You can still make up for your doings. By protecting the remaining town folks. Or to be short should I say, move on! Fight! Do something!! Regrets won't make your feelings better!!" The former princess declared to the monks, who were starting to cry.
"But, how? We don't have power to fight.." Asked one of the monks.
"You don't need power to fight. Courage and faith would be enough. Tonight, we from Sagramore will ambush the Lethe Guild headquarters. All we need you to do, is securing the town residents in the forest to a safer place. Can you do that for us?" Alexandria replied to the monks.
"Yes, yes. We'll do anything to help you!" The monk answered with teary eyes. They cheered because they got another chance to redeem themselves. "Fio, you forgave them! Why?" Felicia whispered her leader one question.
"Well, we make mistakes. That's a given. I'm not going to complicate this problem any further. We're not much of a human than they are. Rather than let our anger got the best of us, let's help them correct their mistakes, shall we?" The Sagramore leader replied to her group. Her three friends surprised when they heard her. Especially Felicia, who widened her eyes hearing her leader saying such things. The Fiorentin she knew would have made the monks cried for their sins by telling them how much cost they gave to the town folks rather than simply forgiving them or sarcastically commented their doings, much like she did to Elraven. "Wow, what happened to her? She's not talking about sins anymore" The paladin thought to herself.
"Well, if you said so. You're the boss, after all." George concluded, followed by the nod from Olivia. "But, Fio. How about our deal with Palamedes? If they refuse to join us, would you still attack Lethe Guild? Palamedes could be our enemy, you know?" Felicia warned her leader.
"Well, that's a possibility. If they refuse us, we will sent Olivia by using the warp portal to Alberta to bring our soldiers here. Meanwhile, we can defend ourself by using..him." Fiorentin pointed Elraven, who fell into a deep silent since the beginning of the conversation with the monks.
"Me?" The gunslinger narrowed his eyes.
"Yes, either by using your strategy to kill all of them or using you as a shield so Frea won't attack us." The lord knight calmly replied. Elraven dropped his jaw hearing the answer, but he quickly regained himself.
"...Well, George told me all about Palamedes last night. And I've met them in person so, I don't think they are a corrupt person like Do or Lethe Guild. I'm sure they'll join Sagramore if you ask them politely...and give them payment of course." The gunslinger responded.
"We already gave them a million zenny from you. Would you like me to add you as the part of the payment?" Fiorentin replied without looking back to Elraven.
"If that means I could be together with Frea, then I don't mind." Elraven simply answered much to the shock of his comrades. "Wait, wait! Does 'huhu' this mean you really 'huhu' in love with her?!" George asked while holding his laugh. "Hm, who knows. But, I don't mind her company and I like her attitude. Although she can't see me." Elraven replied with a smile. George laughed like crazy hearing the answer.
"Oh? You realized she is blind?" Fiorentin asked again, still not looking on him. "Yes, mostly because she remembered me by recognizing my voice in our latest encounter. But, it makes her even cuter." The Angel of Darkness gave his respond. "Wow. Is this the true power of love? You don't even care about her handicap? Don't tell me you're going to marry her?" Felicia tried to tease the gunslinger. "I wonder how you will propose her? Fiorentin took her turn. "Can I be your best man?" George asked loudly. "Let me decide your children name if you two really married!!" Olivia proposed her idea to the frustrated Elraven (frustrated because the non-stop questions).
"Well, I don't know about that. I only said I like her company, I didn't say I love her. And I promised her a dance, it's not like a marriage will come soon, OK?" Elraven grunted as he leaves the room. Fiorentin giggles seeing the gunslinger irritated. "That serves him right. Now, let's do our parts for the plan. George & Olivia, you two escort the monks, Sohee, and the town folks towards the outskirts of the forest. Felicia, you come with me as planned yesterday, and someone please tell Romeo to wait here and inform you with his talkie if something goes wrong, OK? I'll have him light some fire signal using his grenade to let me and Felicia now if something goes wrong" Fiorentin ordered her group.
"Who is Romeo?" George asked reluctantly. "Elraven, you dummy!" Olivia answered as she goes out from the room.
****
Not long after the morning shock by Elraven-Fiorentin, at the Lethe Guild castle....
"Yes, master Gloom. No doubt about it!! Those people must be some rebellions member or whatsoever!! You must kill them immediately!!" Do asked in madness to Gloom Under Night inside the castle's hall.
"REBELLIONS? ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT SAGRAMORE?" Replied the gigantic monster.
"I..I don't know, but our plan on resurrecting 'him' won't be executed properly this way!! We only need one more sacrifice but they are in our way!!"
"HMPH! FIRST PALAMEDES, AND NOW SAGRAMORE. FINE! I'LL TAKE THEM OUT BY MYSELF. CECIL! TELL DARKTROCE TO KEEP HIS EYES ON PALAMEDES, AND TELL CENIA TO TAKE EDDGA AND MOONLIGHT WITH HER TO THE FOREST WHERE THE TOWN RESIDENTS LEAVE. IF THEY REALLY ARE REBELLION SOLDIERS, THEY MIGHT HAVE PREPARED SOMETHING THERE. I WILL GO TO THE TEMPLE AND DESTROY IT ONCE I KNEW WE HAVE SECURED SOHEE!!!" Gloom Under Night declared his order to his vice leader, who nodded and leave the hall to inform the whole guild about the order.
Do smirked seeing this. "Hehehe, now you will all pay for getting in my way!!".
****
Later that afternoon...
Felicia and Fiorentin used the pass they won from the fun house to enter the guild area. The guild area is full of gorgeous and luxurious looking building, in contrast to the town itself. "Well, looks like 'the has' of Payon have made luxury for themselves, huh?" The Sagramore leader commented the view she's watching. "Now, how are we going to find Palamedes? If we ask the residents one by one they will be suspicious of us." Felicia asked her leader.
"This will sound stupid, but all we need to do is to find people with an unfamiliar clothes while looking for Frea. Taekwon Master, Star Gladiator, Ninja, Stalker, or Soul Linker, they are all wearing an unfamiliar clothes for us, right?" The leader answered calmly while looking around the premises. Felicia just nodded without much asking. They tried to find the soul linker and at the same time an unfamiliar clothes.
"Ah, there's one of them!" The paladin said while pointing her fingers to Wendy the Stalker, who is feeding her drops with orange juice. "I've never seen that kinda clothes before. It must be..one of the Palamedes, right?" Felicia asked her leader.
"Maybe, just wait and see."
"Because it will be a bad move if we ask her without knowing Palamedes is Lethe's right now?"
"Exactly, Felicia."
The two waited Wendy to make a move for quite a while. Until finally, Frea approached her soldier. "Speaking of the devil!" Fiorentin muttered with smile. "Too bad Elraven isn't here. I want to see his expression!" Felicia thought to herself as the two approached the soul linker. But unknown to them, the soul linker noticed their soul presences. "My, my. Isn't it the princess who came along with Elraven back at the fun house? But, I don't know your friend. Judging by the footsteps, you're a lady!" Frea said much to the two surprise.
The reasoning was more than enough to impress Fiorentin. "Wow, never thought you would notice. Nice to meet you again, Miss Frea."
"Same here. Nice to see you again, Miss Fiorentin. Would you like to introduce your friend?"
"Oh, right. The lady beside me is Felicia, my childhood friend."
"Nice to see..I mean meet you, Miss Felicia."
"Well, it's an honor seeing you. Nice knowing you, Miss Frea." The paladin replied the introduction.
"And this is my friend Wendy, with her drops, Willy."
"Nice to see you all." The stalker greeted the Sagramore group.
"It seems that Elraven isn't here, huh?" The soul linker expressed her disappointment. Fiorentin gave a code to Felicia, asking Felicia to let her do the talking.
"Well, actually...we're the one in need, that's why we didn't bring Elraven with us."
"What can I do for you?"
"We already found out about you being the Leader of Palamedes, that's why I need to discuss something with you."
"Oh, do you need my help for something, Alexandria of Sagramore?"
Fiorentin & Felicia shocked to hear the soul linker words. "She...she knew?! But, how?!" Fiorentin hardly thought to herself. Wendy gave a little smile seeing the two friend panicking, but she decided to let her leader took care of them.
"How do you...know about me?"
"Well, simply because I've been wanting to see you."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I've been suspicious since I met you at the fun house. Why would someone throw a silver made head band just to gamble? Like, she doesn't even care about herself? And above all others, she's seems to be accompanied by some skilled warriors. So, I presumed if you're not a mercenary group like us you must be a rebellion army. Because commoners or Valdomir soldiers wouldn't do that. So, I asked my right hand man, a ninja named Kirigi to follow you from shadow, or to be more precise to spy on you."
"What? We were being spied but we didn't notice at all? Palamedes isn't just a name, then!" Felicia thought to herself as she admitted Palamedes.
"So, you knew about us all along?" Alexandria asked again.
"Yes, I knew about your plan to enter the town. And I knew about Elraven killing 15 dozens soldiers, their souls cried all night long. I couldn't even get a proper sleep because of that. Scary, huh? To think that such massacre could be done by one man?"
Fiorentin and Felicia didn't reply her words.
"Well, anyway. Since Elraven & his friend named George didn't seem to be a bad guy, I ask Wendy to steal their money and help the injured Willy to see their true nature. It was all a setup. And since they were not a bad men, I chose to help them entering the town."
"Well, you pretty much a brilliant thinker, huh? Are you going to tell Lethe Guild about us?"
"No, I'm on your side. They are boring and corrupt! My whole comrades will rebel against me if I took their offer."
"Is this some kind of joke?"
"No. I didn't want to join them. All they care is about prosperity and power. Palamedes is a group consist of people who wants a better life because Valdomir ruined theirs."
"But, your mercenary status as one of the strongest? How did you gain them?"
"We gained our mercenary status because we helped Valdomir's Erebus Guild to slay the entire Orc Village, who was never friendly to begin with. We defeated 500 Orc soldiers by using 50 soldiers, that's why!"
Fiorentin and Felicia didn't really believe her story.
"How do we know you're not lying?" Felicia asked the cheerful Soul Linker.
"How about I order Palamedes to join Sagramore?"
This shocked the two even more. But, Fiorentin quickly pulled herself.
"You are mercenaries right, what about your payment?"
"Elraven already gave me a million zenny, right? And besides, we've been dying to meet Sagramore. Because we don't like Valdomirs to begin with. All the jobs we took for them were only slaying monsters, not human. That's why I refused to join Lethe guild."
Fiorentin stared to Frea's blind eyes. She knew the soul linker can't see her, but she could feel honesty and courage in those eyes.
"And besides, If Palamedes join Sagramore, I can spend much more time with Elraven!!" Frea happily thought to herself.
"Well, if that the case...I'll let you join us, what do you think Felicia?"
"Huh? Well...they didn't seem to lie, so...it's up to you leader!"
Wendy, who've been stood silent seeing how the thing progress, smiled seeing the Sagramore warriors.
"So, they aren't a stoic group, huh? This should be fun!" She thought to herself.
"So, shall we shake hands, Alexandria?" Frea asked the Sagramore leader.
"Well, ok." But, before they could do the shaking, they felt an enormous strength coming for them and quickly dispatched. Darktroce gigantic slash didn't hit any of them because of that.
"What? An Atroce with 2 butcher knives?" Wendy shouted seeing the mosnter.
"No, he's not ordinary Atroce. He's two times bigger than an Atroce!" Fiorentin answered as she prepared her Claymore.
"That's right. I'm Darktroce. The combination of two Atroces. I came here to kill you all, especially you Palamedes!! How dare you betray our offer this way!?!" Darktroce explained with a menacing voice.
Before the others prepare their battle stance, Fiorentin already declared, "Let me handle him. Consider this as a service for joining us", with a smile on her face. And with that, she dashed to Darktroce and slashed her sword.
****
At the same time, in the outer forest....
George and Olivia were helping the monks escorting the town's resident. They were told that Lethe Guild will search for another sacrifice so they better hide with the help of the monks in the outskirt area with Payon. Olivia and George used the bridge area to make their job easier.
"G, come in G. How's the thing going out there?" Elraven talked through the talkie he gave George earlier. Elraven waited at the temple as planned.
"So far so good, El. The people of Payon is quietly walking through the bridge, copy!" George replied seemingly enjoyed the talkie.
"G, what about Sohee?"
"Huh? She's still escorting a group of kids with Olivia. What's up, El?"
"No, nothing."
George went back to guide the residents. But, suddenly..
"Gyaaaaaaaaakkhhh!!" One monk screamed much to the shocked of the entire place. George and Olivia hurriedly saw what happened. In the other side of the bridge, the monk was already dead. Eddga thrust his claw to the monks torso.
"Kyaaaaaaakh!!" The town folks panicked and scattered everywhere in the bridge seeing the monster. "Damn, this isn't good! Olivia, bring Sohee with you!! Go with the monks to escort the residents through the back woods heading to the fun house, I'll take care of him!!" George said as he rushed towards Eddga, who threw the monk's dead body on him. George catched the monk, but Eddga gave him a slash, knocking George several steps back and cutting the monk into three.
"You shouldn't let your attention caught by another things when you fight, moron!!" Eddga shouted as he gave George another slash.
Meanwhile, Olivia was running with Sohee using the other route, along with the town folks.
"Olivia, will it be alright to leave George alone fighting Eddga? Eddga is strong!!"
"Don't worry about him! George is a dummy, but he is no weakling!" Olivia answered with smile. But their attempt to escape was stopped when they and the town folks witnessed something in front of them. It was Egnigem Cenia & Moonlight Flower standing right in front of them.
The whole town backed several steps seeing the two S-Class monsters. "Oh,no!" Sohee muttered to herself. "This is not good!!" Olivia thought when she saw Moonlight Flower slowly walking into her.
Meanwhile, at the temple....
"George, what's happening?! George?!!" Elraven shouted through the talkie, but nobody answered.
"Damn, something bad really happened!! I need to inform Alexandria!" He said to himself as he prepared his grenade launcher. But suddenly, he felt a strong aura suppressing him.
What? What is this?! This aura...it's like.. when I met Ktullanux!!" He thought to himself . Unknown to him, Gloom Under Night is already standing in front of the temple, casting his gigantic fire ball.
"FIRE BALL!!!" He shouted as he shot the giant fire ball to the temple.
GLAAAAAAR!!!!
The attack destroyed the whole temple into pieces. Gloom Under night walked slowly towards the ruins
of the temple, and checked whether someone is still alive or not by checking the soul presence.
" SURVIVORS, ZERO. MISSION COMPLETED." He said to himself as he used the teleportation spell to leave the spot.
****
Well, the next chapter will be Eddga vs George. I don't like to say this because it will spoil the story, but don't hope all the protagonists will win, OK? I made Gloom Under Night could feel the soul presence because he's a ghost type monster.
Anyway, thank u for reading (and if you don't mind, PLEASE REVIEW!!!^^). SEE U NEXT CHAP!!!