Fire Emblem : The Holy War

by RyanMk2

Follow Ray, sent into the world of his favorite game and the trials he will have to face in order to survive. However, this is not simply a story about his survival, but also about his desire to help and protect the bonds he made in this new world. Will he be able to save everybody ? Or will he succomb, yet again to forces greater than him ? Rated M just in case.

7. Chapter 6

WOAH. It's been so long.

Sorry guys, I did not expect this to take so long, nor did I want it to. A couple of things went underway, the biggest one being that I traveled out of town around beginning June. I was only supposed to be away for a week max, and since it was for a workcentric activities in an area with very low network coverage, I didn't feel the need to bring my personal computer. The one with all my writing material I mean. But the thing is, the week-long trip became a monthlong trip, and I found myself having to wait till the beginnings of July before being able to come back.

After that, I had another battle to fight : Lack of inspiration. I mean, not complete blank. This chapter was like 80% done before I left, and I already had the ending pretty much figured out in mind even when I came back. But I couldn't just put it into words. It was a bit stressful to see the days pass without putting any word into this.

Nevertheless, the chapter is here now. It is easily the longest one in the entire series. So I hope that'll make up for it's tardiness at least a little. And I'll try to be a bit more expedient with the next one.

Thank you for your time and patronage, and I hope you enjoy this. Good reading !

Friendly reminder :

Ishtar is the best ! = Text from the System

"Ishtar is the best !" = Talking

'Ishtar is the best !' = Thoughts

*Ishtar is the best !* = Sound effect

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

---

Chapter 6 : Bitter farewells and… A prelude to a very gruesome tale.

---

It was a fine day, with just enough shade to hide the sun and enjoy the breeze and cool air if one so wished.

"Explain yourself."

Really. It was supposed to be a day full of emotions and sentimentality.

"Why are you suddenly leaving?"

Full of tears, bittersweet memories and heartfelt farewells.

"I will ask you for the last time. Why. Are. You. LEAVING!?"

Instead of all that, I was cornered by Lachesis who nearly made the room tremble with how heavy her voice was at the moment. All of this coincidentally may or may not have something to do with me currently packing my stuff and refusing to answer any of her rather pointed questions.

"RAY ASTER!"

'Uh-oh'

*Vlam, Woosh*

She suddenly snatched the bag I was packing with a speed I didn't expect her to display and threw it at the wall. Quite violently at that. Fortunately, there was nothing easily breakable in my bag. At least that's what I thought until I saw the bag slumping to the ground and noticed the crack that had been left on the area of the wall that was struck.

'... I'll have to check to see if what's in there is still intact as soon as I can.'

And she was still there, repeatedly stomping the ground with her foot, her arms crossed and her face a picture of confused fury… Was that a pout on her lips?

"I don't get it." She started saying, frowning as though she was thinking about something quite intently. "Why are you packing your things? Don't you like being here?" She asked again, making it the fifth time this morning after she heard the news.

The crux of the problem is quite silly actually. This morning, Eldigan called for Dave and I in his office. I didn't think much of it at the moment, but the way the knight acted all official-like was very strange, to put it nicely. What was even more strange was that there was no guard beside Eldigan's office, neither outside nor inside. Knowing the triplets over-protectiveness, I expected at least one of them to be on standby inside, especially considering the presence of Lachesis sitting beside Eldigan in the reception area of his office.

"I have a very important task for the Twin Blades." Him phrasing it that way, using the name of our mercenary group rather than our individual names, meant that this was an official request. But it is what he said next that immediately told me that the situation was indeed grave. "What I am going to say next does not, under any circumstances, leave this room."

Which brings us back to our current situation.

"Why would you need everything? You're leaving, yes, but why take everything? Are you not coming back?" I received a request of a rather lengthy nature without any prior notice and now I have to contend with an angry princess. Eldigan you…

"Lachesis." She looked at me with those deep brown eyes that were the same color as honey. I stepped closer to her, taking her hands into mine. "You heard your brother too. The mission this time will be more dangerous than before, and in another country. It will take time. Not only for carrying out the mission, just the voyage alone will be one week at the very least."

"Still, you will come back, right? As soon as you're done?" The fire in those unflinching eyes of hers told me that she wouldn't take no for an answer. I didn't even know where to start telling her that anyway. Fortunately, I didn't have to do more than to imagine that scenario.

"Yes. As soon as I can, I'll be running back here." I reassured her as much as I could. She looked into my eyes, as if searching for any trace of a lie or a deceit on my part before sighing, seemingly satisfied for the time being as she pressed her head into my chest in an impromptu hug.

"I will miss you."

Not knowing what to do, or say, I just stood there. A few seconds later, my hand reflexively went to her head and started stroking her hair. "Yeah, I'll miss you too."

"Right!" She suddenly extracted herself from the hug before looking at me with a bright and cheerful smile on her face, the complete opposite of how she was a second ago. "I will help you pack your things then. I will also need to call someone to fix your room once you're gone. It is a serious mess."

She looked at my bag on the ground under the now cracked wall. I could only stare at the culprit behind this disaster, slightly bewildered, as our eyes met in silence for a short moment before we both started laughing. Rather loudly at that.

---

The town was as lively as always. I was a bit scared that what happened a while ago with the kidnapping of children will affect the people more deeply, but I'm glad to see that my fears were unnecessary. As I walked around, the townsfolk looked as joyous and satisfied with their livelihood as the day I first came here. Some of them even greeted me when they recognized who I was. Naturally, I greeted each of them back, making casual talk about their day. It was in the middle of one of those greetings that I nearly stumbled over a kid who was running around. Or rather, the kid nearly ran into me in his excitement.

"Ouch!" He cried out, holding his forehead and lightly massaging it as he stumbled back. One glance around me and I saw his friends some distance away snickering at the accident he caught himself in. Not all of them though. Some of them were worried about him and came forward to check if he was alright, and one of them knelt down next to him in case he needed help. I, too, crouched low to the ground in order to seem less threatening as I tried to check up on him.

"Liso, are you okay?" I asked, casting an inquisitive eye on his forehead, as that seemed to be the center of his pain. There wasn't any sign of injury. No redness, no swelling and no bleeding either. Thankfully, he didn't seem to have hurt himself when we hit each other.

"Yeah. I'm okay!" He replied hastily, his voice full of cheer and was quickly joined by those of his friends in the back who finally decided to check on him too.

That was when recognition finally hit the boy and his friends.

"Mister Ray!"

"Mister."

"MISTER!"

"Mister Ray?"

The cacophony produced by the overexcited voices of multiple children shouting simultaneously was really impressive. And concussive too. I couldn't focus on any of them for a full second even when I tried because another one will immediately demand attention of his own by shouting in my ear. At least I was glad none of them got physical… That's what I thought anyway, but my hopes were quickly dashed by a war-cry getting closer to me.

"Aaaaayaah!" The boy suddenly jumped on my back, getting ahold of my shirt with one hand and my hair with the other. Hurriedly standing up, I did my best to pry him off from my back as quickly and safely as possible. With little success.

"Hahahhahahah!" And the little jokester actually finds the whole thing amusing.

"Could you please get off now? You could hurt yourself by falling or worse." He didn't seem to have heard what I said. That or he just didn't care. At the same time, the other kids watching their friend having fun wanted to have their own share of the ride. One of them even ran towards me and jumped on my right leg, while another strongly gripped my left leg, making it nearly impossible for me to move unimpeded.

"Come on guys! I can't even guess if you're simply happy to see me or if you just wanted an adult to gang up on." As I tried to slowly remove them from my person without hurting them and with as little movement as possible, I noticed among them a little girl slowly walking towards me. She looked younger than the others by at least a year, or two even. I recognized her almost immediately. She was the youngest among them after all.

She approached me silently with tears beginning to form at the corner of her eyes. As soon as she was close enough, she stretched her small arms towards me in an inviting manner. I looked at her for a few moments, before something inside me finally surrendered.

*Sigh*

Crouching as much as I could in my current predicament, I picked up the little girl from the ground and carried her in my arms. I immediately noticed the smile that appeared on her face despite the tears. In the meantime, the other kids were still playing around us. Either on the ground or on me. It was a funny sight to see, especially in the middle of town. However, the passing citizens were all residents of this area of the town. They all more or less knew what happened to these kids, which is the reason why most of them were simply happy to see them still laughing and playing joyfully despite everything they went through.

"You seem quite popular with the ladies, Ray." Turning around slowly in the direction of the voice I just heard, I saw Lewyn moving towards us in his usual laid-back manner. He stopped in front of me, gracing us with one of his usual charming smiles. Some of the children playing beside me slowly stopped playing, looking at Lewyn warily. The bard simply smiled at them, which seemed to somehow placate the more scared among them who had already found refuge behind my back. Well, that was mostly the boys. The guys were looking at him with stars shining in their eyes.

"Lewyn. It's been a while. How have you been?" The last time we saw each other was last week I guess? It should've been a day or two after the tournament. He said he was going to teach me about the fundamentals of Fire and Thunder magic when we next meet, but it seems like that won't be happening anytime soon.

"I'm fine. Thanks for asking." He then looked at me in silence, as if contemplating whether or not to share a secret only he was privy to. The usual Lewyn-like attitude in short. Finally, he slowly opened his mouth before closing them, asking a question I didn't expect to hear from him. "I heard you'll be leaving soon?"

'How did he…?' In answer to the puzzling look on my face, Lewyn simply smiled mischievously. I continued running the thought inside my head for a while until realization dawned on me like cold water on a hot day.

"You listened to our conversation?" I asked him immediately, perhaps a bit too loudly as some of the passers-by looked in our direction for a moment. Even the children momentarily stopped playing around us to look at me strangely.

"It's okay kids. You can continue playing." At my reassurance, they gradually continued the tag game that they were playing around us. My focus went back immediately to Lewyn, who at least made an effort to look abashed. "So, tell me, what exactly did you hear? Apart from that I was leaving."

"Nothing much, don't worry. I only heard part of your conversation with the noble lady."

"Part? Which part?" I asked reflexively, my cheeks suddenly becoming a bit more red. The knowing smile on Lewyn's face, and his silence, really didn't help my situation right now. Or his either. "Ugh, what will I ever do with you?"

"Hey, it's okay. Really. I'm not here to tease you on your relationship with the princess anyway."

"We aren't in a relationship!" My reply came almost immediately, and this time I was sure I was way too loud as even little Felis in my arms, who was calm until now, started crying again.

I gently cuddled her against my chest, rocking her slowly back and forth while making cooing sounds. Her crying gradually stopped as I continued my attempts to calm her.

I sighed deeply as she finally calmed down, even though I had to bribe her with a sweet I had kept on myself from the castle's pantry. However, the sugary temptation was noticed by one of the other kids who promptly alerted the others. It was then that I was assailed from all sides by a group of children "forcefully" demanding sweets of their own. I didn't know what to do, so I simply smiled awkwardly at them before looking towards Lewyn with a pleading look. He laughed before crouching a bit down to address the children.

"Okay kids. Who wants to get sweets?" The reply was instantaneous. Almost all of them flung their little arms upwards while screaming "ME! ME!" at the top of their lungs. One of them even tried to jump on Lewyn but was softly pushed down by the wind, leaving him confused for a second before he resumed shouting with the others. "Alright then! Let's go to the nearest store. I'm sure Ray will be more than glad to buy you all the sweets you want." He got up, taking the hands of two kids before walking in the direction of said store. I immediately glared at him, but he simply looked at me in silence, with a look in his eyes as if saying ; "You brought this upon yourself.".

Finally relenting, I simply shook my head before deciding to follow Lewyn. One of the kids, Abella, one of the youngest, grabbed my left hand beside me. As my right arm was occupied with carrying little Felis, I made sure to keep an eye on them and our surroundings using Detect Presence.

A dreadfully long ten minutes later—mostly because we had to stop multiple times to keep one child or the other from becoming sidetracked and getting lost than because the store was far—we finally reached our destination. The owner, a middle-aged lady with a rather striking hat, looked at the children with a smile before throwing me an understanding glance. She then proceeded by asking them one by one, in her most joyful tone, what they wanted. It took us nearly forty minutes to get everyone what they wanted, a rather long time considering that there were only eight of them. The lady was, thankfully, patient enough to listen to all of the children's demands, even though some of them changed their minds at least five times on their turn, like Liso did.

Once all that was sorted, and all the kids got their own candy, the lady finally turned towards Lewyn and I with the same understanding glance and bright smile as before. I squirmed away, feeling sorry for making her go through all of this so suddenly.

"Sorry for that. They can be a bit much."

"It's okay." She said, laughing lightly. "I'm always glad to have children stop at my store. Not only because it's good for my business, but because most of the time the children's cheer can be infectious. Especially with what happened some time ago."

Most of the town-folks were aware of what had transpired with the missing kids and the kidnapping case. Of course, they didn't know that it was the doing of the dark god's church but it was still a frightening thought knowing that your children have been kidnapped, no matter who the perpetrator was.

Agustria is not Granvale. So the knowledge, and the influence, of the dark church here is very limited. Who knows what they could have done to those kids if we were just a tad late in rescuing them? Probably sacrifice them.

"Thankfully, you were there to rescue them, weren't you? For that, you have the gratitude of the entire town of Nordion." She then bowed, low enough that her forehead nearly touched her counter. "Here, take some candies. On the house this time."

I pocketed the candy before looking at her with a fake-puzzled expression. "Couldn't you just offer the children's sweets free of charge then?" I asked her, to which she laughed heartily.

"This is this and that is that. I'm still a merchant, I'll have you know. I need to keep my business afloat somehow."

I chuckled at that, before going outside to join Lewyn and the other children, who were miraculously sitting in silence around him. Or maybe it was the sweets that were keeping them occupied.

"You're finally done?" Asked Lewyn, who noticed me as soon as I stepped out.

"Yep."

"How much did it cost you?"

"Everything." My reply was almost immediate. I didn't even think through my words, and it showed, as Lewyn was now watching me with a confused, but still amused, expression. "Well, thankfully I had some coins with me. It's okay."

"Good then."

"Hmm." I simply hummed in agreement, moving to stand beside him in silence as we watched the children starting another game not far from us. Little Felis looked like she wanted to join them, so I gently placed her down and called over her big brother who brought her into the game. As soon as they were gone, I removed two of the candies from my pocket and presented one to Lewyn who silently took it from my hand. I then threw the candy into my mouth, letting myself get submerged by its sweetness for a bit.

"You know…" Lewyn's words made me glance at him sideways. I didn't say anything, preferring to give him the time to find his words at his own pace. "I quite enjoyed our time together. Short as it was."

"Me too." Thinking back, It was true that we had rather good times. He was the one who taught me magic. It's concept and application. But not only that. He also somehow managed to show me the beauty of nature and how to enjoy life at a relaxed pace. The time spent listening to him play, then arguing with him about teaching me how to play, even walking around town during some of its festivities, plus a little bit of mischief here and there from time to time.

"I'm glad to have met you now, rather than later."

Lewyn looked slightly puzzled at my choice of words, and understandably so. I was the only one aware of the war that will soon embroil the entirety of the continent after all. Getting to know some of them in this peaceful context wasn't so bad all things considered. I had already debated with myself on how to proceed with some particulars in mind regarding certain events, though the difference between it being just a game versus an actual fight for life or death did indeed weigh heavy on my mind.

"I was supposed to teach you about the other two elements of magic at our next lesson. But it seems like it'll not be happening for quite some time, will it?" He asked, and I could swear I sensed a touch of hope in his voice. But I was that even he knew that it wasn't possible.

"Unfortunately, no."

He simply smiled at that. "Well, I'm not the best at Fire or Thunder magic, so perhaps it'll be better to ask someone else anyway." He was smiling, but I knew that smile. It was the same smile he had when he got me in trouble for trying to spy on women during their bagh with him.

"You still remain my favorite magic teacher. And I'm sure we'll see each other very soon." I quickly reassured him, and I noticed that his smile changed to a more pleasant one.

"Yes, and I look forward to it." After that, we remained in companionable silence, simply watching the children play around us. I could tell that Lewyn looked a bit better than he did before.

---

Lewyn and I parted ways an hour or so earlier. The parents of some of the kids were apparently looking for them and, upon hearing that they have been seen around town walking with me, thought that it'll be easier to look around for me instead. They finally found us, relief plain on their worried faces as each of them embraced their child. It was obvious to see that they were still affected by the recent kidnapping. I couldn't really blame them for being worried.

The parents who came were Milen's mum, and Felis' mum and dad. As soon as they finished checking on their kids, they made their way towards me. They greeted and thanked me for taking care of them, then proceeded to thank me again for saving them all those days ago. It got emotional pretty quickly and I could only look to Lewyn for help at that point. However, he was already gone by that time.

He disappeared without a sound, nor a goodbye. Just like the wind.

"Ah. I can't believe that guy. Vanishing like that." Like the wind, he was flighty and unpredictable. Still, I was glad to have seen him before leaving. Or rather, I was glad he found me? Lewyn can sometimes be quite difficult to find when he tries to hide himself, so I'm not sure I could have even if I tried.

It was now the afternoon, more or less before four from where the sun was positioned up high in the sky. The town was still as lively as always, but the number of people strolling around had noticeably decreased. Even the children that regularly played around couldn't be seen anymore, an unfortunate side effect of the past. However, it didn't stop those that were still out to enjoy themselves as much as they could under the watchful gaze of some store owners.

As I walked around town, debating whether to go back to the castle to pack the rest of my stuff or not, I saw a group of people forming a tight circle somewhere along the streets. Walking towards them, I quickly noticed two things ; One of them was that music was being played, and was getting progressively louder as I got closer. The second was that almost all of the people watching were males.

"What is happening…?" My question went unanswered, but I understood everything as soon as I reached them and saw what they were all watching. "Sylvia?" Yes, of course it's her.

Naturally, she didn't hear me. She was so focused on her steps that she barely looked at the crowd watching her. Behind her were those accompanying her dance with their music, a guy hitting something that looked like a drum, and a woman with a flute in hand. Both were playing in harmony, complemented by Sylvia's graceful movements. They weren't half-bad. I mean, their music was pleasant to the ear, synchronized and they made little to no mistakes. However, everybody's attention rested solely on Sylvia's dance. The way she moved, as if unrestricted by gravity itself, was indeed a sight to see. I quickly found myself transfixed like the others, watching her moves for who knows how long until…until the music stopped.

"Huh?" I said involuntarily as I stumbled out of my stupor. I heard someone clap beside me and noticed that Sylvia had stopped dancing and was now curtsying to the crowd. His lone clapping was soon joined by another, then another, until it finally became a cacophony of applause. Someone even threw a flower, but most opted to throw their coins into the hat that was placed by the musicians.

Gradually, the clapping subsided, and the crowd that was watching them slowly dispersed. I could see Sylvia talking to some of the onlookers in her usual cheerful manner and decided to wait for her to finish, but it didn't take a minute for her to notice me standing some distance away as I was watching her. She hurriedly bowed to those she was talking to, and I could even see one of them getting sad at her leaving, and made her way towards me.

"Heeeyyyy ! Ray ! I'm sooo happy to see you. Did you watch me perform?" As soon as she was within grabbing distance she immediately brought me into a hug. I had forgotten that she was a little touchy sometimes.

"Yes." She let go of me, looking towards her friend who called out to her about going to grab some drinks and telling them to bring her back something.

"So, what did you think about my dance?" She looked at me with hopeful eyes, as if she couldn't wait to hear the praises I had for her.

It was, admittedly, amazing to see. I've not watched many people dance in such a way before, but I don't think many of them will be able to replicate what she does. It's like…the dance itself was alive.

"It was nice. It grabbed my attention as soon as I started watching." I replied honestly, and I could see her face light up as soon as the words left my mouth.

"Ooooh. So I DID grab your attention, did I?" The coy look she was giving me, as well as the wink that came with it, made me blush for a second. I had to fake a cough in order to try and bring the conversation back on topic. Noticing my attempts to hide my embarrassment, Sylvia simply giggled.

"Anyway. You must have free time if you're here wandering around, right?" I nodded slowly at her question, not sure where she was headed to with it. "Great! Then come with me."

Without a moment's delay, and despite any protest I thought to formulate, I found myself being dragged by Sylvia who once again held my wrist tightly in her hand. She started walking around town rather quickly with determined steps. It was obvious that she was headed somewhere. However, she slowed down a little after she noticed that I was now obediently following her. She even let go of my wrist, but that was just because she decided to now grab my arm in order to walk beside me whilst clinging to it.

Occasionally, she would be greeted by a passerby who recognized her, to which she'll reply with a wave, a smile and a "Hello". Sometimes she even stopped to greet them properly when they came close enough. It happened enough times that I started to wonder if the whole town knew of her.

"You seem to be quite popular." I said, looking around to make sure none of her admirers were again coming towards us.

"Hmm, are you jealous?"

"Of course not." I hurriedly replied, to which Sylvia just smiled smugly before focusing once again on the road.

We had been walking for some time now and I was starting to wonder where she was going like this. We saw almost half of the town with the speed at which she was making us walk, and I still didn't have a clue as to our actual destination.

For her part, Sylvia seemed content enough just walking around. She even started humming a melody along the way and, as I listened closely, I noticed it was the one from the music she performed with a while ago.

"So…where are we going?" I asked at last, but I sure as hell wasn't ready for the answer I was going to receive.

"Nowhere."

"Nowhere?" I parroted automatically, my brain finding it hard to process the information.

"Yes. I just wanted company as I walked around the town. I was beginning to get bored of doing it alone and wanted a bit of a change. Plus…"

'Oh, so there's more…?'

"You still owe me an apology-date." She winked at me before finally letting go of my arm and running forward. "Come on!" She turned one time to urge me forward before resuming her jog.

I could only sigh, shake my head a little, and then follow her. It's not like I could run away again anyway.

We walked around a bit more, bought some snacks when Sylvia said she was hungry, and drinks when she got tasty. We watched flowers bloom, children running, another street performance, and even sat in silence for some time in order to contemplate the scenery of the sun setting. Well, I was silent. Sylvia was more than happy to do the talking for the both of us. And I was more than happy to just listen, really.

However, everything had to come to an end. Especially the good ones.

"I guess this is it. My friends should be waiting for me right now for our next performance."

Getting up from her seat, Sylvia moved in front of me, somehow blocking part of the sun from my view with her usual bright smile. But… I couldn't help but notice that it somehow seemed forced now.

"I had a lot of fun, even if it was an improvised date."

"I did too." Thinking back, it was indeed pleasant to be with her today, even if it was for a short while.

"But it still doesn't count fully, okay?" She looked at me fiercely, hands clasped behind her back. "We'll have to do a proper one next time. One where we're not rushing from start to finish just because we don't have enough time. And I won't take no for an answer either." She started walking away, waving in my direction, without even giving me the opportunity to say anything. "I have to go now. Bye Ray!" And with that, she was gone.

"Goodbye Sylvia." I uttered after she left, but I'm afraid that only the wind seemed to have heard me.

With all that happened, I didn't even have the time to tell her that I'll be leaving very soon and for a long while too. We will definitely see each other again in the future, but that'll be several months from now. Years even? Perhaps I could still catch her?

'No. Let's just go back. I'll apologize to her when we see each other again.

I chuckled at that. "I seem to only ever do that. Maybe I'll find something that she likes to do for us next time we meet." With that final thought, I looked one last time over the town I've spent the past few months in, knowing that the next time we met will be for a war.

---

The castle was quite noisy tonight. While I was making my way to my room, I noticed the castle staff and several servants walking around purposefully. It made me wonder for a time what the fuss was all about, but I didn't have he energy nor the will to investigate, so I simply continued on my way to my room in order to rest.

Once inside, I threw a quick look around to see that everything was as I left them this morning. I then flopped myself on the bed that I've been using all this time, that I'll be using for the last time tonight, and thought back on what happened today with Lewyn and Sylvia. And Lachesis too.

"..."

My thoughts were however interrupted by a knock on my door. I didn't react at first. I didn't want to be disturbed at the moment and hoped that the unwanted visitor would take that as a sign that I was perhaps sleeping or something and then leave. Unfortunately…

*Knock knock knock*

It happened a second time…

*Knock knock knock*

Then a third time…

*Sigh*

Finally relenting, and before whoever was behind the door could make that irritating noise one more time, I got out of bed and moved to open the door and see who it was. Noticing that it was one of the servants, I was of half a mind to lash out at him right this moment. Perhaps sensing my discontent, the servant hurriedly bowed towards me and relayed the message he was sent with.

"I beg your pardon milord. Lady Lachesis bid me to come and fetch you rather urgently." His near robotic voice made me pause for a second, but my attention was quickly caught again by the contents of his message.

"Lachesis? Why? What happened?" I ask quickly, a frown slowly forming itself on my face.

"I do not know milord. She simply told me to bring you as quickly as possible."

I inwardly sighed. The nature of such a sudden summon was unknown, sure, but seeing that the servant was neither panicked nor scared meant that there wasn't any danger to Lachesis.

Stepping out of my room, I closed the door behind me and made sure it was locked before signaling for him to lead the way.

"Let us go then."

The servant was utterly silent on our way to Lachesis. The only sound which could be heard around us was from the cacophony happening in the castle which didn't seem to have decreased one bit. I opened my mouth for a second to question the servant about what was going on, but quickly closed it again after remembering where I was going. After all, if I had any question, Lachesis would be better suited to answering them than him.

"We're here, milord." He gestured to a rather big double door beside him as he quietly stood guard against the wall. I involuntarily swallowed whatever saliva I had in my mouth as realization dawned on me.

'Isn't this my first time going into her room?' I wanted to laugh at that. I mean, she's been to mine so many times before, even barging in without knocking and sometimes with the poorest timing possible. 'Like that time I came out of a bath and only had a towel wrapped around my waist.' The image of a flustered Lachesis made me chuckle, if only briefly.

The servant merely watched me stoically before placing his hand in front of the door to knock three times.

"Princess, I've brought him as requested."

"Show him in."

With a light(?) push against one of the doors, he gestured for me to move forward.

Slowly shoving my head inside, I sneaked a peek around the room and noticed the woman sitting on a chair. In front of her was a table with a tray containing a teapot and two cups.

Finally making my way inside, I spared a brief glance at the room once more. It looked far more simple than what I expected of the room of a princess. But it was something else that grabbed my attention.

"No guards?" Neither inside nor out, which was unexpected. I've heard that Lachesis' room was one of the best guarded in the castle, just after Ares' nursery in fact. So, to not see a single one right now was a bit surprising.

"I sent them away." She didn't look my way. She simply moved towards the teapot and started pouring some in both cups. I also noticed a few pastries in the tray, with her picking up one of them. "You can sit." I followed the simple instruction, sitting in the chair directly opposite her.

"Have some of this tea." I took the cup from the tray, drinking far more than a sip as the warm liquid made its way down my throat. "Take a pastry too." Again, I did as she said, picking one of the buttery treats and shoving it in my mouth. It wasn't long that I had finally noticed Lachesis staring at me, and it looked like she'd been watching for a while now.

"So how is it?"

"Hmm?" I asked absent-mindedly, still a bit focused on the treat in my mouth.

"The pastry I mean." She asked yet again, with a more purposeful tone. I hesitated a bit about what to say before swallowing.

"It's good. Really tasty." I thought about saying more but something told me to refrain from making any unnecessary comments. However, Lachesis managed to notice that I had more to say.

"But?" She asked, with her usual genteel smile. "You can speak freely."

Hesitating for a second, I finally relented to her demands. "Well, if I had to nitpick everything, then I'll say that it's a bit too…sweet."

"Too sweet?"

"Yes."

"Good." She took another sip of her tea, clearly satisfied by what she heard. I was confused for a second, unsure of what was happening. "And the tea?"

Thinking for a moment about its taste, I could only reply simply as I wasn't a tea aficionado. "The flavor is rich, the smell is pleasant to the nose and the taste soft to the mouth. All in all, it's rather well-made. You'll have to give my thanks to the cook who made those. The pastries too." I grabbed another one of the tasty snacks and placed it in my mouth.

"It wasn't made by a cook." Her statement stopped me from chewing. I looked up at her again, but she was simply sipping on her tea with a relaxed expression. That's when I noticed a single, small bandage wrapped around the ring finger of her left hand. My thoughts started moving at very high speed, going through all the evidence I've been presented up till now. A single conclusion came to mind and the only reply I could utter was:

"Oh."

What could I say in this very moment after coming to the inevitable conclusion out loud like a giant oaf stumbling around town after dark? It also didn't help that the awkward tension of the room kept me paralyzed, so I simply mimicked Lachesis and slowly drank my tea in an effort to play it cool, occasionally picking up a biscuit on the side to eat. The silence continued for what felt like an eternity, but it wasn't oppressive or anything given that she has always had good intentions for private discussions such as these. Eventually, Lachesis spoke again, in a more measured tone which is what I'm most used to from her. In fact, she was speaking like the day we met for the first time.

"I first started making these around five years ago. My sweet tooth is one of the rare things I have in common with my brother, so one day I asked a castle maid to help me in making some particularly sweet snacks for him as he was getting back from a week-long visit to the royal castle." She suddenly got a sad look in her eyes, one I could sense even though she wasn't looking at me but at the cup she was holding close to her mouth.

"As you could expect, I messed up the first five attempts so badly that we had to throw them out to prevent any case of food poisoning. Even the maid looked like she wanted to give up. But I persevered. The seventh attempt looked marginally better than the previous ones, and the tenth batch was finally—and thankfully—edible. It was one of the happiest days of my life." She slowly smiled as she confided to me about her experience. It was a somewhat sorrowful thing, but I was glad to see her smile nonetheless.

"I brought the baked goods to my brother as soon as I could. I was nervous the whole time when he picked one up to eat. I couldn't help it." She got silent then, as if thinking whether or not to finish her story. She then sighed. "He said they were the best pastries he'd ever eaten, and went on to eat everything. Of course, I knew he was lying." She placed her cup down and finally looked at me. "But it still made me smile. So I've been practicing ever since, asking my brother to try them out from time to time… You're the only person apart from him to have tried my pastries."

I think now I could see where she was going with all this. The admittance made me fuzzy for a second, unsure of how to react. I tried to hide the smile that was trying to form itself on my lips by drinking some tea, but noticed that my cup was empty.

"And the tea?" I moved towards the teapot, pouring some in my cup before looking at Lachesis for permission. She nodded once and I promptly refilled her cup too.

"Pastries taste better when you eat them with a hot drink, and tea seemed the easiest beverage for the situation." Her matter-of-fact tone implied that the answer should be obvious enough.

I didn't say anything. I knew she had a great deal of care for me given the fact that she confided in me about something that was close to heart, yet something in me felt lacking when I thought back to my own experiences. What have I been doing these past few months ? I had yet to reach a satisfying level in my sword training—or magic for that matter. Sure I may have improved a fair bit since I first arrived here, but how will I fare when the inevitable darkness of war shrouds the entire continent? This lingering doubt rolled itself in my head as silence permeated the room. However, those thoughts were slowly washed away by the rich texture of the biscuits as well as the tea's blend of flavor.

It wasn't long until Lachesis and I started talking about more pleasant topics. The conversation was light and fast, punctuated with some of my jokes before promptly being accompanied by Lachesis with her laughter. I don't know how much time we spent discussing, and we likely would have continued with this if I didn't notice that the tea grew cold during our conversation.

"Well…" I slowly got up from my chair. "I should probably head back now. Don't want any rumors circulating about me being in your room at night." I awkwardly scratched my head as I tried not to laugh at the thought of said rumors.

"Let them talk, see if I care about what others think. I am free to do what I want, I'll have you know." The defensive edge to her words made me wince, and I got reminded of what her personality was like originally.

"Still, I should probably head back and get some rest. We'll be leaving early tomorrow after all." I tried to placate her as much as I could, already making my way towards the door. Lachesis simply followed behind in silence, which was strange enough on its own.

I opened the door and came face-to-face with a servant that was about to knock. He was not the same as the one who came to look for me earlier this night.

As soon as he saw Lachesis and I he bowed deeply before opening his mouth.

"Milady. Milord. Everything is now ready."

"Ready? What's ready?" I asked, confused. I turned around to see Lachesis approaching behind me with a mischievous grin on her face as she ordered the servant.

"Thank you for telling us, I will be bringing him to the hall. You can go now." The servant bowed once again before quickly scurrying away. I simply stood there, staring at his retreating back before Lachesis took my hand and nudged me forward. "Come. The others should be waiting."

"What will they be waiting for?" I was getting more confused as time went by, but it didn't seem like she was going to answer my question. She just giggled and continued to drag me with her.

I followed clumsily, taking care not to trip as we made our way through the various corridors. Most of them were familiar, after all, I've been here for a long enough time. So I could somehow guess where we were going.

"The dining hall?" I thought aloud, to which Lachesis didn't react. I decided to just let the matter be and simply follow her along.

Our steps quickly led us to the dining hall, as I surmised. However, what was not expected was the throng of people already waiting there. Knights and servants alike were either drinking, eating, dancing or bringing in more food and drinks through a door.

Some noticed our appearance at the door, raising their cups in our direction with various shouts of appreciation or acknowledgement. I turned around to look at Lachesis and noticed that she was already looking at me, carefully studying my expression.

"Is it…someone's birthday?" I asked, casting another furtive glance at the crowd in the room. But that couldn't be right. No one's birthday that I remembered was around this period.

"And here I thought you were pretty smart." She giggled at her own comment before moving towards a crowd. She looked around a bit as she walked, occasionally talking to the people along the way. One of them pointed towards a table on our left, and Lachesis started heading that way.

It wasn't long till we saw the table in question, and I was met with Eldigan's small smile and Dave's grin, which seemed to brighten when he saw me approaching.

"Look who finally decided to come!" He walked up towards me and passed his arm over my shoulder. I could smell traces of alcohol from his breath, but I knew he wasn't drunk. Not yet. Not him. "You sure took your sweet time. But don't worry, WE'RE ONLY JUST GETTING STARTED."

"YEEAAAHHHH!!!" His shout elicited a quick and roaring reply from the rest of the room who raised their cups up as well.

Dave chuckled at their reaction, moving to sit back on his chair and pointing at the two empty ones between Eldigan and himself. "Come sit."

Before I even managed to take a single step, Lachesis moved past me with such refined movements that it seemed like she was walking (she wasn't) and took the seat closest to her brother. I stifled a laugh and went to the chair beside Dave and Lachesis.

On the table was more food than I'd ever seen on a dining table, even when taking my past life's memories into account. There were various kinds too, from meat to poultry, seafood and even fruits.

When I was contemplating what to start with, a rather large cup was slammed on the table before me, a few drops of its yellow content dropping the table. I followed the hand holding the cup to Dave's face and stupid grin.

"You should start with a drink." He tilted the cup towards me in encouragement. "Food always tastes better after you've had a few drinks first."

Speak for yourself Dave. Not everyone is a heavy drinker like you.

I gently pushed the cup aside, careful not to spill its content anymore. "Says you. Common sense says that it's actually the reverse."

It was true. Drinking too much without (or before) eating allowed one to get drunk fairly quickly, something about the alcohol being absorbed much quicker than how it would be if the food in your system already absorbed most of it. Actually, after thinking about it more carefully, that may be the reason why Dave does it each time a feast like this takes place. Good for him I guess?

"Now, where are the plates?" As I started to get up and look around for said material, a soft voice interrupted me and made me stop on my tracks.

"There is a clean one here." I turned in the voice's direction, and was slightly surprised to see Granhye sitting at our table. She was holding a toy in hand and using it to entertain Ares. "Just beside my plate. I'm sorry I can't grab it for you." She jotted her chin on said item on the table, and there were indeed two plates. An empty one with cutlery on its side, and one with food still inside.

"It's fine." I quickly glossed over it, after all, I could sympathize with her somehow. Dealing with a baby was not an easy task. Dealing with one at a party was even more complicated. "He's not being too difficult I hope?" I walked over her side, bending slightly forward to place my face in front of his. The way he smiled after seeing me made me smile too, even though I knew he wasn't doing it intentionally.

"No, thankfully no. He's been playing most of the night. I tried to feed him a bit but, well…" Her words trailed off at that and I had to glance up at her before twisting my face toward where she was looking at. At the side, on a chair, was Eva, his usual blue scarf now sporting a yellow blotch.

The sight reminded me of a similar event a while back, which made me chuckle. "Poor Eva."

"He said he didn't mind. That he was going to clean it tomorrow anyway." Then, he's going to walk around with a dirty barf scarf on a night like this? Talk about dedication. Speaking of, are they wearing the same scarfs every day or do they have spare look-alikes? Argh, I shouldn't question fantasy world logic about clothes. Or is it really a fantasy if it's been made real? Ugh me and my overthinking mind really can't catch a break.

"Well, at least one of you three is definitely having fun." I glanced once more at Ares, who tried to get a grip on my shirt. I picked up another one of the toys in his crib and was hovering it in the air above him. Of course, his focus immediately shifted to that.

"I didn't want to miss it. Ares too." Ah, that was rather unexpected. I didn't think she was so considerate. Granted, the only aspect of her that was mentioned back then was her love of Ares and her jealousy towards Lachesis. She's a big softie after all.

"I'm glad the both of you could make it then." I gave the toy to Ares and stood up. Picking my plate and silverwares followed by a slight incline, I went back to my seat leaving the mother and son behind.

The night went by rather quickly. The fun and merriment continued for a long time, and even though most of the knights and maids already went to sleep, the real party goers were still either drinking or eating. Dave was doing the former.

Granhye went back first, saying that she needed to put Ares to bed and claiming to be exhausted herself. Lachesis followed an hour later. I didn't know where the triplet went.

As for me, even though sleep was an alluring prospect at some point during the night, it seemed like a fleeting dream right now. The reason being this was that I was currently sitting in Eldigan's study with a bottle of wine in front of us.

"I hope you don't mind." He tilted his head towards the bottle of wine and the two glass cups sitting on the table. "I'm not much of a drinker myself, as you know, but I supposed the occasion warranted it a little."

"It's fine." I replied easily, thinking back on the last time we had a drink together. It doesn't happen often, but on those rare occasions that we do, we generally have something non-alcoholic. I could guess this was really special.

"Then let's drink." He uncorked the bottle and poured its contents into the glasses. I took mine from the table, looking at the liquid swirling inside and the rich aroma coming from it. I took a sip, savoring its sweet taste on my tongue.

As I looked forward once again, I noticed Eldigan observing me in silence, as if he was contemplating something.

"You know…" He finally spoke, eyes still glued to mine. "It's been close to a year that you've been here." True. I didn't even see the time fly past me. "During this year, I've seen you training in swordsmanship and tactics. I even heard you found a magic instructor too." Ah. That must be the reason why I didn't notice.

"Well, it's never a bad thing to get stronger." I shrugged my shoulders innocently. I couldn't really get the point he was trying to make, so I had no choice but to let him finish his thoughts.

"Fair enough. And you've been a decently good student at that." He finally smiled, which in turn made me grimace as I remembered his gruesome training program. Did no one REALLY ever tell him that it was too much for a normal person? "Your sword-arm will need some polish, of course, and it's always good to brush up your tactics and strategy lessons whenever you have time."

He was right. I needed to get stronger, and quickly, so I guess what he was saying was good advice. Magic was relatively fine, but I was still getting used to the idea of using a sword to this day.

"Still, I was surprised when you suddenly announced that you wanted to go to Yngvi and asked me for help. But I suppose, the mercenary life is one of constant travels." He emptied the content of his glass with one move before filling it up right again. He finally seemed to notice my raised eyebrow and his hand stopped pouring the wine. "What is it?"

I did my best to suppress the laugh that almost got out. "Nothing." I wheezed out, which made him slightly frown before continuing to pour more wine into his cup to refill mine. "I already told you. There are just some things I want to investigate there." Namely, the timing of Verdane's invasion. We were already in the year of the attack, Gran 757 and I recently heard that the various Grannvalian knight orders left for Isaach last week. They were more than likely preparing themselves right now.

"Have you been to Yngvi before?" Technically? I haven't recovered this body's memories yet so I couldn't be sure. And I couldn't depend solely on my knowledge of the game for this kind of thing.

"I have not." I replied after a while, "But I've heard stories and rumors about the place." He looked at me in silence and with a raised eyebrow, as if asking for further explanation. "I heard about what happened to the eldest of Lord Ring."

"Ah. You're talking about the disappearance of his daughter at sea years ago?" I nodded at his expectant tone, mentally asking myself whether something else happened to Brigit that I didn't know of. "It is quite unfortunate. Especially since his son is such a scoundrel."

"He can't be worse than Elliot." I almost laughed at my own comment, but stopped once I heard another sound.

"Hahaha!" Eldigan was laughing. He actually did laugh. In the year I've been here, I could easily count with the fingers of one hand the number of times he laughed, and eat a banana with the others. "It seems he left an impression on you at that time."

"That's the least of it." I snorted, launching into a diatribe about the guy. "You remember that the fool actually sent Lachesis the very next day another marriage proposal and a crappy poem. He didn't even apologize in the message!"At this point, my body was already accompanying my speech as I continued to rant.

The night continued like that, although we quickly changed the subject to something more agreeable. It was a refreshing night, especially for my last one.

---

It was midday and the weather was particularly pleasant. The breeze was cool and our bags were somehow packed with food and other supplies, courtesy of Eldigan. The last thing left to do was to set off.

"WUUUAAAAAHHH!"

"Sshhh. There, I'm there. It's okay Ares."

Granhye was trying her best to calm down Ares who, for one reason or the other, decided to be particularly grumpy at the moment.

I walked towards her and made funny gestures in front of him, but he didn't seem interested and just continued crying.

"WUUAAH! WUAH!"

"I fed him this morning though, and he accepted everything without problem too. Is it his diapers?" Granhye shook her head with a pained expression, swinging her body from side to side. He couldn't just be crying for no reason whatsoever.

"Maybe he's sad that you're leaving." Dave said aloud, a few meters behind me as he looked with a grin. Lachesis giggled at his comment and even Eldigan smiled.

I shook my head, brows furrowed n thought. "I don't think one year old babies can already recognise people's faces." That couldn't have been it…right? It's not like I made such an impression on the baby or anything like that.

"His first birthday is still to come." Granhye's words picked my attention. "It's in three weeks."

Lachesis clapped her hands together, as if she finally figured something out. "Maybe you could wait until after that before you have to leave?"

Eldigan chuckled and came up to me, grasping my shoulder with his usual strong grip. "It seems like both my sister and my son want you to remain with us."

"I don't!" came Lachesis' reply, to Eldigan's apparent amusement.

"Yes yes. You should be off now, lest yesterday's farewell party and the efforts behind it come to naught."

Granhye, Dave and I laughed at the same time, although Lachesis was still pouting.

"We'll be off then. Take care everyone." I grabbed my bag once more, looking back at them as a whole one last time.

"Do continue your training. I look forward to our next spar." declared Eldigan.

"Take care of yourself okay?" asked Granhye.

"Come back soon." demanded Lachesis.

And with that, Dave and I finally left castle Nordion. Walking side by side, I could feel Dave's gaze on me as we trekked.

I finally opened after a full minute of him watching me.

"…What is it?"

"Nothing much. I just didn't expect you to get so attached to them."

"We did spend a year there though." Anyone could get attached to someone if they spend a year with them. It wasn't that surprising, really, so I was not sure of the implied meaning behind his words.

"True," He quickly agreed, turning his head to finally look ahead as he carefully thought of his next words. "…except that you don't usually trust others."

"...Oh." Truthfully, I've been thinking about this from time to time. How did the previous owner of this body interact with others? How did he act in general? Those were questions I couldn't bring myself to ask the only person who could know. Am I truly being the person I am or the one I should be before this whole thing happened?

The subsequent silence hung heavily on my shoulders as I tried to come up with a coherent reply. Dave spoke first.

"It's fine. We can't really force your memories to come back anyway, as much as I may want to at times. Plus, I also like the new you. You're more open to others and socialize more. Remember when that girl, Silvia, held your arm against her bosom?" My body immediately stiffened, the sound of my heart beating becoming more rapid and forceful. "Yep, that's exactly the face you were making. Hahahaha!"

I groaned at Dave's childishness and pushed that particular memory aside. Come to think of it, Silvia also laughed at my reaction…

The days were, thankfully, uneventful. Without horses, the speed at which we could walk was relatively limited, so I wasn't really shocked when we finally arrived near Yngvi a whole two weeks later. According to Dave, we were faster than most. Most people don't usually travel so far on foot, but we couldn't find a carriage that was going that way, nor could we ride on horses, so there really were not any other options besides walking.

I didn't just walk though. I continued my training on our journey, following a revised version of my training schedule. In the morning, I would train with a sword and physical conditioning, then breakfast and we left shortly after.

When walking, I always practiced the mana circulation technique, as well as some other things : expelling mana outside of my body, solidifying it, sensing ambient mana, etc. My mana training took most of my time since the majority of it was spent walking. Dave rarely, if ever, needed a break. After the first three refusals he received when he asked me if I wanted to take a break, he decided not to ask anymore and let us power through from morning to evening.

The last part of my training came whenever we decide to set camp for the night. Another round of sword and physical training for the night followed by supper. I always took the first shift, deciding to use the camp's fire to read some of the books Eldigan gave me on tactics and strategy. After half the time had passed for the night shift, I would wake Dave up then go to sleep.

The entirety of the journey went in this manner, with Dave brightening up regularly with either jokes, casual comments about things that picked his fancy on his way, his love for alcohol, and anecdotes about all our time spent together on the road.

"—and that was when the guy just up and left." He finally concluded, the grin on his face portraying his amusement at the story.

"Did I really say that?" I asked him, slightly bewildered by what he just said.

"Absolutely." The cheerful tone of his voice wasn't really helpful as I tried to picture the scene.

Apparently, during one of our mercenary work in tandem with another team, I lashed out at one of them after a particularly brutal fight where Dave almost got killed saying, and I quote 'If you can't even tie your shoes properly, then you'd better stay at the rear carrying our bags !'

"Good times, really. If the past you saw the current you, I bet he'll do some screaming at you too." He snickered at that. "Though you're slowly coming back to your old habits.

I wondered what he meant by that. "Old habits?"

"Yeah." He nodded, before suddenly wincing. "You've always been a perfectionist. You had a training schedule before too, and quite a harsh one at that, and always made sure that everything was set up perfectly. You'll regularly sharpen your blade, frown at the amount of alcohol I consumed, take care of cooking by saying we needed to eat healthier food than 'just meat' and you were extremely wary of strangers."

I absorbed all that information in silent contemplation as my brain tried to imagine such a person.

"It's not like I missed them. I mean, I always thought you were pushing yourself a bit hard with your training, and I don't have to listen to your daily sermons about why alcohol should be consumed moderately." He chuckled at his words and I followed soon after. If the past me was preventing him from drinking too much, then I understood why he was not that worried about the sudden change in personality. "Though, there are some things that I miss, like—"

"KIIIAAAHHH."

A shrill voice broke through the forest's canopy and interrupted Dave. We simultaneously turned our head in the direction of the sound and, after a silent eye contact, broke out in a run in that direction.

[The skill 'Presence Detection' is being used]

I used the skill as soon as we started running, and a now-familiar popping sound followed the System's message.

Enemy detected ! x5

Civilian Detected ! x2

They were clearly outnumbered. And judging from the voice, at least one of the civilians was a woman who was now in danger. Or scared. In any case, we needed to get there fast before they got overwhelmed. I deliberated whether to activate Gale stride or not to increase my speed, but decided against it in order to conserve my MP as the enemy's identity was still unknown.

Our run made us stumble upon quite the gruesome scene. There was blood splattered on the ground and on trees. Eight corpses were scattered all round, two of them with knight's armor and the remaining six with barbarian's clothes. Just the fact that they managed to subdue six of their assaillants was a testament to the strength of the knights.

Past that sight, a man was slowly being surrounded by three rough-looking people, each armed with an axe. The green-haired knight was trying his best to aim at them with his bow, but the gash on his left arm made him unable to hit them accurately.

On the side, the other two ruffians I sensed were approaching a blonde-haired woman wearing a white dress. The grin on their faces and the way they were just dragging their axe behind them was proof that fighting was far from their mind at the moment.

Dave sprang into action before I could even say anything. He stealthily made his way towards the woman's side, careful not to attract attention and reveal our presence to them. I mentally applauded his thoughtfulness as I summoned my sword.

"You're finally going down." One of them managed to sneak behind the knight and was about to strike him down with his axe. No way was he going to block that, not with a bow anyway. I had to intervene, and quickly.

The sword in my hand disappeared immediately as I thought about the skill I needed to use. "Tsk."

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

The wind blade surged forth, traveling the distance in the blink of an eye and cleanly cutting off the bandit's arm before splitting his head in two.

He barely had the time to scream, but the blood that gushed out of his severed arm reached everyone in its vicinity. The attention of everyone present shifted to the now-dead bandit, and Dave didn't miss out on this chance.

"AARRGH!"

"Keukh."

In less than three seconds, two more bodies fell down. Their death-throes were loud enough to divert the attention of the remaining two, a grave mistake really, who soon met the same end as their friend a moment ago with two well-placed wind blades.

'That's what I call brutal efficiency.ʼ

The knight, without even confirming the death of the bandits, immediately ran towards the woman who was kneeling and hugging herself.

"Lady Edain! Are you unharmed?" He approached the young woman who was breathing deeply.

After the third exhale, she got up and looked at the knight with a smile. "Yes. I am fine Midir."

The knight quickly inspected the lady for any sign of injury or aggression and, upon seeing none, let out a relieved sigh.

[The skill 'Observe' is being activated]

Edain

- Class : Priest

- Level : 3

Midir

- Class : Arch knight

- Level : 2

I didn't expect a chance to meet them personally would so easily fall into my lap. Was it fate? Perhaps. Was I going to exploit this chance? Absolutely.

"Hum, excuse me?" Midir, who was enthralled by Edain's eyes, suddenly jerked away and faked a cough to hide his embarrassment. However, he couldn't hide the slight blush on his cheeks. "Well, I'm glad to see the both of you at least are well." I sneaked a glance at Midirs arm and the blood that was still dripping from it. "Or as well as can be."

Edain also noticed the injury and went over to take a look at it. She didn't panic, freak out or flinch. She just inspected the injury for a moment before pulling out her staff and placing it over the injury. A soft, glowing light started to shine from the tip of the staff and flowed into his injury. After a few seconds, Edain nodded to herself and kept her staff back again.

"There, that should be enough for your injury. Thank you for protecting me Midir, and I'm sorry you got injured in the process."

The knight swiftly hit his chest with his close fist in a kind of salute. "It is my duty to protect you with my lady. By all means."

"And my heartfelt thanks to the two of you for coming to our aid." She was bowing towards us, and her voice too was full of sincerity.

"Me too." Midir stepped forward, making a deeper bow than Edain. "You have my gratitude for saving the princess. I owe you a huge debt."

Dave was preening under the thanks of those two like a duck underwater, "Oh, please, don't worry about it!" So it was left to me to be the logical one among us.

"He's right, it's fine. We were happy to help. Although, I have to ask… What would high nobility be doing deep in this forest with so few guards?"

The smile on Edain's face changed into a more strained one, as if she was painfully reminded of her mistakes.

"It's my fault." She spoke clearly, although there was a slight trembling in her voice. "I was in need of some medicinal plants that only grow around here so I decided to come over and pick a bunch of them. Midir decided to accompany me."

"I didn't expect to find bandits so close to Yngvi." The knight added helpfully. "I asked two other knights to accompany us as a precaution. If not for their heroic sacrifice, the lady may have been lost to us by now."

"I see…" A heavy silence descended upon us. I didn't know what to reply to that, and neither did Dave.

Probably sensing the depressed mood of everyone, Edain spoke in a more cheerful tone than before.

"Do you two mind coming with us back to Yngvi? I would like to thank you properly for your help." There was no reason to refuse. By being in Yngvi, and so close to Edain at that, meant that it'll be easier for me to protect her when Verdane inevitably attacks.

"It'll be our pleasure." Dave gave his assent too, and Edain led the way back to town to our little group. Midir made sure to bring back the bodies of his now deceased friends with a little help from Dave who, surprisingly, insisted on helping him carry them back, despite Midir's reassurance.

---

Two days went by rather quickly.

As soon as we got in town, the first thing Edain and Midir did was to apologize to the families of the dead knights, and hand over their bodies for a proper burial. The families were understandably heartbroken, and although Edain emphasized repeatedly that she will help them with whatever they might need, both families refused her offer and replied that it should have been an honor to die protecting her.

I couldn't really understand that sentiment.

I mean, it was difficult enough to live for yourself while staying alive. But going out of your way and actually dying for someone barely linked to you was kind of an alien concept for me.

Granted, I was not in the best place to say this, having repeatedly risked my life saving others since I came here. But there was a difference between both of these. Perhaps it was the blind devotion to someone whom you only had—at best—a fixed relationship with. You only had your own motivations for doing so rather than a bond that could be forged.

"What are you thinking so hard about?" Dave's question made me snap back to reality, the pen in my hand falling as a result. "You have been on that page for the last twenty minutes." I looked back at the book in front of me and involuntarily groaned as I saw ink smeared on various areas. "Isn't it a rare book Eldigan gave you?"

"It is. Or was. Ugh." I huffed back in frustration, trying my best to remove as much of the smudged ink as possible without damaging the book any further. It was a book summarizing the pros and cons of various types of troops and their utilization in the battlefield. It was also one of the only five existing copies in Agustria, or so Eldigan said.

"So, again, what's on your mind that you'll nearly ruin such a precious book?" His question made me momentarily stop what I was doing, my mind going back to those thoughts once more.

I sighed, closing the book and tucking it back in my bag. "It's just…what happened the other day…"

He didn't respond, giving a subtle nod as if to tell me to continue.

"That mother, and those parents, why were they so insistent that it was fine and they were happy knowing that their son died just like that?" He still didn't open his mouth, but I didn't care anymore. I needed to vent. "I mean, how could someone be so stoic upon learning that someone you hold dear? Your own child? It seems like that boy was the only one really affected by this."

The mother didn't cry. Although she was shocked, She did her best to rein in her emotions and even gave Edain a smile, telling her that it was alright. The other family did the same thing. Only the young boy, one of the knight's little brother, started wailing when he heard that he wouldn't see his brother anymore.

"I… just don't get it."

Silence followed my words as my head was hanging down. I didn't even know why I was feeling angry in the first place. I didn't know them. But does that mean I should just ignore the pain of others on the simple pretext that I don't know them? Or that their sacrifice was justified for the sake of one who was above their station?

"You know…" Dave's calm voice came from above me, and I looked up to see him standing a few centimeters away. He then placed his hand on my shoulder. "You used to say something similar before." I did? "Something along the lines of 'Why are those idiots so hell-bent on risking their life for others when they can't even save themselves!?'. Then you'll proceed to do your best to save everyone anyway."

"..."

"It's a part of you I've always admired. Although it did lead us to a few close calls." He chuckled, likely at the memory of one such close call. "I think that somewhere, deep in you, you already have answers to your questions. You just have to think carefully."

He then gave me a light tap on the shoulder before moving out of the library. His steps echoed in the room even after he disappeared behind its doors and I was alone with my thoughts once more. Or at least I thought I was. Until I heard the sudden sound of glass breaking.

*CLANG*

I jumped immediately from my seat, rushing towards the windows with apprehension. Knowing my luck, it might be the attack I've been expecting up till now.

…Or not.

"Ah, what am I going to do now…" It was neither an attack nor a robber. It was Edain on the ground gaping at broken pieces of glass and a strangely colored liquid in front of her.

My body relaxed so much I wondered when it even got tense to begin with. I approached the blonde, kneeling beside her and helping pick up the bigger pieces.

"Are you okay?" She might have been wounded by one of the fragments, although, if that was the case, she wouldn't be focusing on the shards of glass.

"Yes, I am fine. Thank you." The reassurance was appreciated. "The bowl just slipped from my hand as I tried to get up."

I raised a brow at her statement. "What were you doing with a bowl in the library?" I was genuinely curious.

She suddenly looked embarrassed, with the tips of her ears reddening. "I was mixing some ingredients together for one of my medicines, and I…fell asleep." She blushed furiously at her words, which in turn made me laugh.

"Don't you usually do this in your room? Why didn't you do that today?" As we had gathered the last of the big shards, I walked towards the trash to get rid of it.

I got back to find Edain still crouching and fiddling with a cloth in hand as the blush on her face changed to embarrassment.

"...I overheard your conversation." The surprise on my face must have been very obvious because she quickly got flustered. "I didn't mean to! I swear!" Her arms were flailing wildly.

It's not like I was accusing her of anything though, so I didn't get why she was so nervous.

As I noticed that she might be feeling too guilty to speak first, I decided to be the one to talk about it. "Then perhaps you could answer my question?"

She seemed hesitant. I knelt down at her level, took the piece of cloth from her and started soaking up the liquid on the floor. It wasn't until I've cleaned everything that she finally decided to speak.

"I am sorry." I didn't get why she was apologizing, especially to me. "The truth is, I am of the same mind as you. I don't wish for others to sacrifice themselves for me. Life, in itself, is precious and equal for everyone. I never understood why hundreds of people were so intent on risking their lives for me." Tears were welling up in her eyes, her voice gradually breaking down. She did her best to refrain herself from crying.

After a silent while, she seemed to have regained her composure. She looked at me with slightly red stained eyes, but her voice when she spoke was firm. "That is part of the reason why I decided to become a healer. If others were willing to endanger themselves for me, then the least I could do was make sure they won't die."

Her words struck a chord within me. It was like something finally made sense, even though I couldn't figure out what it was.

Edain got up from the floor gracefully, took the dirty cloth from my hand, and bowed deeply. "Thank you for helping me with the broken pieces. I will leave you to your books." She scampered away, without giving me any time to respond at all.

I stood there for a while with various thoughts swirling in my mind.

---

"You know, it's been roughly a year now, and I never spoke about it before today, but I'm still amazed by the fact that you can now use magic." The bombshell dropped by Dave made me involuntarily stop whatever spell I was chanting at the moment.

Silence ensued for a couple of minutes as Dave didn't speak another word, and neither could I. The room we currently were in was mine. Dave decided to drop by because he was 'bored' while I was in the middle of magic training. I told him as much and he just 'Hmm' at me before dropping on my bed.

The fact that he was bringing this up now, after all this time, must mean that he might be willing to finally talk about some of my past, right?

".. I wasn't able to use magic before?" I cautiously asked, probing him with his own question.

In truth, I myself wasn't sure about it. I mean, I didn't know about swordsmanship before, and I was really bad at it at first, but I still managed to survive my first fight. But magic was…different. It was like meeting an old friend I had forgotten about for the first time in years.

"You were always interested in magic, for as long as I can remember. However, you never were able to use it yourself, no matter how hard you tried." So the old owner was a magic fan, even though he couldn't use it himself. Heh, that checks out the reason why I had that Wind tome on me when I first woke up here. "Ever since you were young, you've been reading books on magic every time you could. Although it wasn't as obvious as you grew older, I was still aware of the fact that you will sneak out sometimes to go and 'train' your magic."

So, I've been studying magic since I was young? Was that the reason why I was able to 'grasp magical concepts on a subconscious level with relative ease' as Lewyn puts it? Ugh, this was all so confusing.

"... I don't really know how to reply to that. I mean, it wasn't easy at first either, and if not for Lewyn I don't think I would've been able to use magic at all." I could've thought about something else if I didn't meet him when I did, but there was no guarantee it would have succeeded.

Dave did not look satisfied with that explanation though.

"Speaking of Lewyn, I actually spoke to him a few times…" Oh? That was news to me. I was not even aware that these two knew each other, much less talked together.

I finally turned around to face him, giving him my undivided attention. "What did you talk about?" It was the obvious thing to ask, and I admit I was also curious. As an unknown variable, anything Dave did could have the potential to drastically change the future as I know it.

"Oh, nothing much." He waved his hand in the air as if to emphasize his point. "I just asked him what he thought about you and how your magic training was going." Why would he want to ask that to Lewyn of all people?

I pressed him. "And what did he say?" At that, Dave just looked at me with a grin that had become all too familiar in the past months we've spent together.

"That's for me to know, and for you to find out." I groaned, slowly breathing in and out as exasperation threatened to overwhelm my now agitated mind.

I turned around once again to continue my training, with Dave remaining silent in a corner for the rest of the time. I didn't object, seeing as I needed the calm and peace for what I was trying to do.

Lewyn once told me that magical aptitude in a person was like certain colors spread on a blank canvas. Each individual possessed a certain color at their core, although this was more easy to perceive in mages as they are more attune with their inner self. He also told me that those colors could be perceived, even at a distance, if one was sensitive enough.

What he was trying to teach me on that day was the ability to sense those colord, the magic in an individual, from afar. He emphasized that this application of mana detection was actually the easiest point and that experienced practitioners could actually see each individual color in someone in the form of aura, not just the color of their magic.

I jokingly asked him if he was able to do that himself and he replied, not with words, but with a smug face and a smirk. Should've expected him to brag…

'He said that wind mages had an easier time perceiving surrounding magic than others, so why is this so hard !?'

It's not like I didn't succeed at first. When I close my eyes to concentrate, I will be able to see colors in the shape of humans in the dark expanse of my mind. As I've been doing this for a while now, in more than one place and situation, I was able to figure out the significance of some of these colors.

In this castle for example, the predominant colors were white, brown and a little gray here and there. The white, as I've surmised after looking at Edain, was for those versed in healing magic, although she was peculiar in that a small splodge of gold could be seen in the center of her canvas, surrounded by all that white. The brown was for the archers and the gray was for Dave and soldiers. Unfortunately, I couldn't see the color my body was shrouded in, but I expected it to be orange like most swordsmen I observed when I was still in Agustria.

The colors disappeared again after five seconds, which made me nearly cry out in frustration and disbelief. I heaved a sigh and got up from the ground, stretching a few seconds to stimulate my tired limbs before heading to the door.

I stopped as my hand touched the doorknob and spoke to Dave, "I'm going for a walk. Maybe the fresh air will help clear my thoughts."

"Okay. Take care."

I hummed in reply before finally opening the door and closing it behind me with a click. I then started walking in the corridor, with no particular destination in mind as I thought about our situation. It's been four days now since Edain welcomed us to the castle. During this time, I was able to ascertain the state of their military and economy. In many ways, Yngvi was quite similar to Nordion. The citizens were happy, adored their lord and the crime rate was so low it almost touched the ground. But, even with that, there were still some things that were plaguing this city, like any other actually.

For one, there was practically no military force present. Only a handful of knights and a dozen or so of militiamen who barely looked like they were able to hold a weapon. With these numbers, it was no surprise that Verdane would be able to easily conquer Yngvi during their invasion. I was slightly surprised that they didn't think about hiring mercenaries for added protection.

The second point was not really as pressing as the first one. It's just that, with the ruling lord and most of his troops away in Isaach, talks of war have become commonplace among the citizens. Some were happy about it, asking for vengeance for what happened in Dahna, a few were a bit reluctant to resort to violence so quickly without any understanding of the situation. Nevertheless, both groups weren't on particularly good terms with each other.

My steps into the castle corridors eventually led me to the knights training ground.

*Thwaaack!*

*Twaack!*

*Thwaack!*

A single sound could be heard from there, repeating itself in a rapid, yet well-timed manner. I decided to check out who the person is, although I already had a guess about his identity.

"Good evening Midir." The Arch knight let go of his last arrow before turning towards me with a relaxed expression. The sweat on his forehead and his quick breaths through pursed lips were hard not to notice. "I see you're training hard."

"Yes." He placed his bow on the ground as he sat down, picking up an arrow and tinkering with it. "As a knight, it is my duty to hone my skills everyday so that I will not fail to protect my lady again."

Oho. "You're still thinking about what happened the other day with Edain?" He didn't reply, but his silence was enough on its own. This guy… With him being this stubborn, it is no surprise he almost died when Munnir attacked.

I sighed as the thought crossed my mind, and I secretly crossed my fingers for his fate as I spoke. "Listen." He reluctantly threw me a glance, nervous, but firm in his beliefs. "I've already told you. What happened was not your fault. You couldn't have known bandits were in that area at that particular time. Plus, Edain was not harmed either." I took a few steps towards him and plunged downward so that our eyes were at the same level. "Two of your friends were killed, true, but that too was not your fault. They were knights weren't they?" I waited for him to nod meekly at my words before continuing. "That means they were ready for that eventuality. They died, yes, but they did so while protecting Edain. And for you that should be more than enough."

Midir's eyebrow twitched for a second until he took a breath and spoke in a voice more serene than before. "Thank you. I will keep your words to mind from now on as I practice."

I nodded my head and stood up, ready to depart. I was stopped in my tracks by a faint flicker of hostility directly on my back. I hurriedly looked behind me and only found Midir, bow resting in his right hand and an arrow in the other. A dead silence reigns over the area.

"There is something I am curious about though…" His voice when he finally spoke again was more chilling than I expected. It was a strange yet familiar feeling that somehow reminded me of my time in Nordion. Although there was no time to reminisce about that as the prickling sensation I felt was still present.

"Yes?" I asked hesitantly, careful not to make any sudden movement that may jeopardize the situation. And why was I in this kind of situation to begin with actually?

"Since when were you on a first name basis with the princess?" His question made me pause. Was this really what had him so serious? I could barely refrain myself from laughing by keeping my mouth closed. But it seems like he noticed. "What is it that you find so droll?"

"Pff! Nothing. I'm sorry, I have to go." I could still feel Midir's sharp gaze on my back as I moved away from the training area, still caught in my laughing fit. I mean, seeing how serious he was, I just didn't expect him to be jealous just because I called Edain by her name. His infatuation was making him act like Frederick, the thought of which made me laugh even more.

I made my way towards the library feeling a bit better than before.

The library became the third area in the castle I frequented the most. I had to alternate between my room, the training grounds and here, although I couldn't stay for long. Today, I came looking for reference books about Yngvi and it's geography. Considering that a fight was soon going to break out here, knowing the terrain will give me an edge over our enemies.

I quickly found what I was looking for, thanks to the precise help of the librarian, and was ready to depart to read it in my room when a lock of blond hair coming from the corner of the room caught my attention.

"Ooh. Edain !"

"SSSHHHHHH!" The timely reprimand from the librarian following my loud salutation made me wince as I pushed myself to quickly join her tables.

It seemed like she heard me when I called her and saw everything following that, hence why she was giggling right now.

"It's not even funny, you know…" I sighed in resignation, dropping the book I had in hand on the table before taking a quick look at what she was currently reading.

Mandragora : It's Origin, Uses and Cultivation

"That's an interesting book you have there." I think I remember reading somewhere before that Mandragora was a plant used as an analgesic.

"Yes. I've been going through it since this morning." She replied softly, not tearing her eyes away from her book.

'This morning?' Confusion settled itself into my face as I noticed that she was barely halfway through the book. Considering that it was almost evening right now I would've expected her to be almost through with the book. But that was when I noticed another, smaller, notebook beside her. The ink on that one was still fresh and the notes in it stopped midpage, midway through it. There were also multiple annotations, underlyings canceling. That was when I knew that she wasn't just reading the book.

She was trying to memorize and summarize its entirety in a smaller, but lighter setting.

"Do you always do this?"I found myself asking her without even realizing it, my index already pointing at the notebook beside her. She dropped her book to look at where I was pointing before she replied.

"Yes. It gets easier to memorize this way, and easier to carry around too. I won't always have the time to come to the library and patiently search through each book."

'Makes sense.'

I stayed with her for a bit. Reading through my own book for a bit, then trying to help her in her work in some way. As I was about to leave and let her continue her work as she was before my arrival, I noticed that her complexion was a bit paler than usual. And despite the focus and sharpness in her eyes as she devoured each word from her book, I could tell they were losing strength.

My hand lashed out without me even knowing. Again. I grabbed the wrist of her right hand a bit too harshly perhaps, which made her drop the book she was holding as she was pulled closer to me since I need to take a closer look.

"What are you doing ?" She yelled at me, anger filling both her voice and her face. No, not quite anger. Surprised and embarrassment most likely. And, was she blushing? She was actually.

"Have you eaten yet."I asked her quietly, unbothered by her current emotional state.

"What…?" She mumbled confusingly. It seems she was at a loss for words.

"I asked : Have you eaten since morning ? At all ? "

"No, I haven't. But I will as soon as I finish this. So can you now, please, let go of my hand?"

And now she was barely even looking at me at this point and I couldn't but be confused, at least until I realised our closed proximity and quickly retracted my hand and coughing the embarrassing moment away.

"Sorry. I didn't realised we were—I mean I was just worried you were, you see…"

Why was I even fumbling? The thought made chuckle unknowingly. I left Edwin collect and rearrange herself as I left in direction of the castle pantry. Rummaging around a bit, I managed to find a couple of fruits that I placed in a bowl. An apple, a banana, raisins, and the like. Stuffs that can be easily eaten without dirtying oneself and one's immediate surrounding excessively.

I went back to the library with my loot, barely twenty minutes later. I placed the bowl on the table before Edain with a bang loud enough for her to be distracted, but not enough to catch the libradian's attention.

"At least eat this until dinner. You might faint at this rate."

Not even waiting for her reply, I picked up my book and left the library, this time heading to my room. I thought I heard her thanking me as I moved away.

---

"We left pretty quickly this time." Dave's casual remark made me glance at him over the fire between us. "Not that I mind. It's just that we usually only move according to a job. If there wasn't any, then we'll stay at the last place for as long as it was necessary." I didn't reply. I didn't know what to say to that. "… Are Verdane's actions as worrisome as you think they are?" I thought about his question for a bit and debated whether or not to tell him what I know.

Over the week we've spent in Yngvi, it was Dave who insisted on investigating the whole area for any sign of Verdane activity and the report he came up with was, in my eyes, more than enough to act on it.

However, should I really tell him everything? Would he not think me a madman? Or some sort of evil spirit who killed and possessed his friend? This decision was a heavy one, and something told me I shouldn't make it carelessly. So I did the only thing I had left.

Bluffing.

"You said it yourself that the numbers of bandits and ruffians in Verdane has been decreasing recently at a rapid pace. Even the amount of them crossing the border to attack nearby villages was zero." On the day we saved Edain and Midir, Dave told me that the guys they killed were not just random bandits, but actually people from Verdane, most likely scouting out the area.

"Doesn't that just mean they've been taking care of the criminals on their home turf?" If only it was that easy.

"Or that they've been conscripted into Verdane's military."

Dave looked at me with raised eyebrows, and I couldn't blame him. After all, to him, I was simply conjecturing. "Think about it. Isaach did something foolish, Grannvale replicated by sending almost their entire military forces, leaving the country barely defended. What other time than this would be perfect for an invasion?"

I could see Dave, based on his facial expression, connecting the dots in his head until he finally came to the same conclusion as me. His face immediately took a more somber look. Granted, Verdane and Grannvale were under a treaty and were thus technically allies, the same could be said of Grannvale's relationship with Agustria and Isaach. And still here we are with this mess. Ugh, politics was a nightmare and I was not fond of it now being an integral part of my life.

The rest of the night went on in silence. Dave didn't utter another word for the entire night, and I was left thinking if perhaps he was reminded of Isaach and its situation

The rest of our trip to Verdane went on in a pretty similar way to the one to Yngvi, except with three peculiar, but oh so important differences. The first one was that Edain agreed to give us horses. Thing is, I originally wanted to buy a mount from a seller in town, but Midir intercepted me as I was leaving the castle and, with the help of Edain, roped me into just taking two of the ones in their stables . They were quite adamant on it, and I didn't really see a reason to refuse either, so I just graciously accepted their offer to take one for Dave and I since I didn't know how to ride a horse which rapidly devolved into Midir asking to teach me how to ride which made us spent an extra day there.

The second difference with this journey was that Dave and I were more, way more, cautious with our surroundings than before. If Verdane really was in the middle of preparing themselves for an invasion, then they wouldn't look fondly at strangers entering their territory, especially if said strangers were coming from the direction of their target.

This being my first time traveling on a horse at full speed, I couldn't believe that it only took us a mere four days of non-stop riding for us to reach our destination. At horseback, the trip went by way faster than I expected it to.

The last difference was, well, I didn't expect to be welcomed by dozens of people pointing the sharp end of their arrows towards us and ready to let loose at a moment's notice.

"Halt! Move no further, lest my soldiers decorate you with arrows." The man in front of the group looked at us with clear suspicion, but I could feel that he bore no ill will.

He was carrying a bow too, wearing green clothes and a white headband covering the top of his brown hair. Looking at him I could easily guess who he was without even using my skill.

"State your name and business in coming to Verdane." He declared, prompting Dave to push on the reins of our horse to trot towards him. The arrows were aimed at us the whole time.

"We're mercenaries." Dave started his usual spiel, resuming our long experience on the road to potential clients. "We heard Verdane was hiring so we came to take a look." Dave sometimes likes to brag that his precise explanation, his physique and, surprisingly, his smile, were always enough to convince everybody who ever asks questions like these. Half of them hire us on the spot. It must've been a real shock to him that it didn't work this time.

"You heard? How come? We made sure that this information didn't leave our boundaries. And you two certainly aren't locals." I wasn't sure if it was the logical rebuttal, OR the rebuttal itself, but Dave was currently speechless. This rarely, very RARELY, happen.

"I–uhm, it is–you see–argh." Jamke was frowning more and more by the second, and it was clear that the situation was going badly. So I did what I had to.

"We're already on a job!" I blurted out of nowhere, causing everyone to look at me with confusion, even Dave. I wouldn't blame them really, since we just told him we were there specifically looking for work.

"What kind of job brought you to Verdane?" Yep, I completely expected this. I guess I could still make use of this situation anyway.

"We're looking for…cultists of the Loptyr empire." He may not know of anything of the sorts since he hasn't met anyone yet declaring themselves as such, but he is smart and level-headed. So I just needed to be convincing about this. "The one we're pursuing has a habit of posing off as a talented mage in order to trick people, then slowly charm and corrupt their mind using dark magic."

This was surely enough of a revelation for him to connect the dots with what he knows. Sure enough, after a few seconds of tense silence, he signaled to his men to lower their bows. They complied and started walking back.

"You two follow me. We need to talk." I guess the hunt has started.

'Let's just hope we aren't the prey this time.'

We were led to Verdane by Jamke who decided to "escort" us personally and a near oppressing silence prevailed over us since Dave and I made sure not to talk uselessly. Thankfully, we weren't that far away to begin with so the short and cloudy trip went by quickly.

During that moment of silence when I was left alone with my thoughts, I managed to organize what was on my mind about our current situation. I also decided what amount of information I needed to share with Jamke in order to have him as an ally. Though I was sure that his hate for Sandima would be more than enough to do that.

Surprisingly, or not now that I think about it, Jamke led us to Verdane castle. I didn't know if it was wise to speak about such things in here but I wasn't going to question our luck. We needed first-hand information about Verdane's current military situation, so where would it be better than directly at the heart of the country? From one of its prince's to boot ?

The room we were in was small and minimalist. The only thing inside was a table and three chairs, its sole window leading to a training area. Jamke wasted no time, quickly locking the door behind us and sitting on one of the chairs. He did check outside a bit to make sure that no one was loitering around and did the same with the window before closing it too.

"This is one of the forgotten rooms of the castle. I use it whenever I need time to think alone and I've never been found here before. So I believe it'll suit our purpose well enough." Dave and I made eye-contact before slowly taking place in the chairs across the table. Jamke looked at us once more in turn before opening his mouth.

"Now, I'll hear the full story. Talk." And we did talk. Dave mostly did actually, and for close to an hour since Jamke asked a few questions here and there. I pitched in when I could but Dave looked like he had it all taken care of since the story only started at the part where we left Agustria and reached Grannvale.

"And now you've come to Verdane looking for a cultist you said?" He asked me after Dave reached the point in the story where we met.

I nodded, mentally going through the script I made on the way. "His name is Sandima. He is a high ranking member of the Loptr church, in close relation to their current leader. Like I said, he has a habit of first gaining the trust of his victims with pleasantries and well-placed suggestions before slowly corrupting their minds, and overtime turning the suggestions into orders."

Jamke stayed silent for a long while. I could see from his eyes that he was deep in thought and his emotions were jumbled right now, but then he sighed.

"What a relief."

"Huh?" Was the only thing I could utter at the moment.

"A relief you say?" And it seemed like Dave was in the same state as I.

Who would be relieved after hearing that their parents were being slowly mind-controlled.

"Yes. From your explanations, it means that my father didn't do all those things of his own free will and that he was in fact controlled." Ah… "Which means that by killing this Sandima, my father will go back to the kind-hearted man he always was." This guy… he really is something else, huh?

"But you're saying you believe us, just like that?" Dave's question brought Jamke out of his reverie with a renewed look on his face. And he was smiling too.

"Yes. I prefer to believe that there is still hope for my father, rather than to believe that he became so wretched all on his own. To be completely honest with you, I've been suspecting that something foul was at play in our home for a while now, which strangely coincided with the day that Sandima asked to stay with us. To have my hopes and worries validated as such is like a weight off my shoulder."

"I see… Then what are you going to do?"

He stood from his chair, pacing in the room with one of his hands on his cheek.

"We'll have to act fast, before Sandima's magic gets a stronger hold on my father's mind. I'll find a way to isolate him from the others. Can I have faith that you two will see to his demise ?" He stopped in his tracks and looked at me, only me.

"Yes. We will make sure of it."

He nodded at us then started walking towards the door. He threw one last glance to the both of us, his eyes lingering on mine for just a second longer, before he opened his mouth.

"Wait for me here. It shan't take long." He closed the door behind him, leaving Dave and I alone in the room.

Silence was the only thing present throughout the room for thirty minutes. But even with that silence, or rather due to it, I quickly noticed that something was wrong with Dave.

"...Are you okay?"I looked at him with as much worry in my eyes and voice as I could. After all, it wasn't normal for him to be this quiet for such a long time. Especially after all this.

It took him a few seconds to answer, and rather than his usual cheerful replies, or even his occasional pointed questions, he just said "I'm fine." Then silence descended once more in the room. It was like that for the next thirty minutes.

*Vlaammm*

Then suddenly, the door of the room burst open so violently that I feared it was kicked off of its hinges. Soldiers came in after surrounding Dave and I, each one of them armed with either an axe or a bow. Once all the soldiers were lined up before the walls of the room, slow and deliberate footsteps made their way into the robe. Their owner was a man garbed in a dark-green robe. The temperature inside of the room went down a few degrees, and I could feel the hairs on my arms and back standing progressively on end.

[The skill 'Observe' has been activated]

Sandima

Dark Mage

- Level 13

- Fenrir

- Magic Ring

'So this is Sandima…'

"Good afternoon to the both of you." His voice was low, yet somber, and it managed to make my skin crawl. "I am Sandima, advisor to the king of Verdane. But you should already know that." Ugh, even his smile managed to be both scary and disgusting.

"Why all the soldiers?" Dave looked around after his question, most likely eyeing and evaluating the weakest ones which will permit us to break through.

"Huhuhu. Do not fear. These fine gentlemen are only there to help you to your lodgings. I heard that you two will be staying here for a while, so of course we prepared a place for you to stay." His words were honeyed, but unfortunately he wasn't fooling anyone. The castle servants would've been more than enough for that after all.

"A bit much to have soldiers escort your guests. In such numbers and armed to the teeth to booth." I could see some of them becoming more tense, the grip on their weapons strengthening slightly. Seems like I was spot on.

"That too is for your safety and peace of mind. Verdane is currently plagued by bandits and brigands that attack anyone that seems even remotely defenseless. Which is why all our soldiers have been instructed to always be armed." Cunning bastard. Seems like he has prepared his script well beforehand. I soooo want to hit him right now.

One look at Dave however told me that there was currently no way for us to make it out of here using force. So we had no other choice but to cooperate.

"Fine then. Let's go see those lodgings." I replied as calmly as I could, to which Sandima's crooked smile only broadened itself.

---

*Chiiiing*

This couldn't be good.

*Ching Kichiing*

The first sound that I heard as I regained consciousness was that of chains ringing loudly, as if in my head.

'Ugh, too cold.'

The first thing that I felt was the chilly touch of metal against my wrists.

'Aarrgh.'

The first thing I saw was a blinding light, painful and invasive as I opened my eyes.

As I slowly woke up from my sleep, groaning all the while of course, there was another thing that I noticed as I looked around.

I was in a closed room, with walls on three sides and steel bars on the left. I couldn't recall what was going on and, for a second, I feared that I was struck by another bout of amnesia. That wass when the headache stepped in.

"AAAARRRGGHHH!" It was a pain so deep and visceral that I thought my brain was about to implode.

ALERT ! THE USER'S BODY AND MIND IS CURRENTLY OVERLOADING. EXPULSION OF THE EXCESS IS RECOMMENDED.

"Are you okay !?" I barely registered Dave's concerned voice as I was busy clutching my head and hoping for the pain to subside. It didn't.

"AAAAAHHHH. Aw ! Oorgh !!!"

"Huhuhu." As the pain was getting more and more overwhelming, a creepy laugh was heard from the other side of the steel bars. It was Sandima. "Tell me, how do you find my little gift?"

"You're the one doing this !? Stop it!" Dave roared at the mage, to his utter amusement. I almost expected him to squeal.

"Why should I? He's reacting so well to my new creation that I had him drink, even though I didn't expect this. Totally the opposite of something like you." His words didn't make any sense. Maybe that was because I couldn't think straight at the moment.

A couple of steps further in, he was now close enough to the bars that his face could even touch them if he wanted.

His expression was one of delight as he looked at my crouched form, screaming in pain with saliva coming out of my mouth and blood coming out of my eyes.

ALERT ! THE LOADING HAS FAR EXCEEDED THE USER'S MAXIMUM CAPACITY. FORCED SHUTDOWN HAS BEEN ACTIVATED.

"I wonder what makes him react as such. Ooooh, I can't wait to experiment on him."

"I won't let you do you sick bastard !" Dave's anger was almost palpable, the gritting of his teeth quietly adding itself to the cacophony of sounds.

*Chuckle*

"As if you could stop me even if you wanted to. Now, I'll be off. Our little king asked something of me and I need to be close to him to work. I'll come back later to play with you." His steps grew more faint and distant as he moved away, or perhaps it was just my consciousness drifting away. Dave was over me, shouting, and probably shaking me too, but everything was blurry. As though I was underwater. It didn't take long for me to lose consciousness once more.

My body was shaking. As I opened my eyes once again, the scenery had changed. More importantly, I was moving.

"Where do we go next ?" Dave's voice made me focus on my surroundings once more, and I finally noticed that I was on his back, in town, following behind someone.

"You're awake. Good." My head followed the direction of the voice, landing on a slightly sweaty Jamke. How long have they been running ? "I hope you can walk, because we have to part ways here."

I got down from Dave's back as gently as I could, reeling a bit from the pain I felt.

"Are you going back?" Jamke's attention shifted from me to Dave at the sudden inquiry.

"Yes. I will try to attract their attention for as long as I can, hopefully, this will give you enough time for you to run away from here."

"I see… I'd like to apologize for putting you in this situation. What's more, we couldn't even accomplish what you asked us to do."

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm the one who led the two of you in this situation by bringing you to the castle. If someone has to apologize, it's me. Especially since…" His words trailed off as he suddenly looked at me with what seemed to be worry and guilt.

Dave did the same, and I only just realized that I haven't opened my mouth a single time since waking up.

"Don't—Argh, don't worry about it. We will sort it out. Somehow." My throat was burning and itchy at the same time.

He didn't reply. He just nodded, before looking at Dave and thrust his hand forward in a handshake. Jamke left us shortly after that, going in the direction which we seemingly came from.

"Let's go. We shouldn't drag our feet any longer."

'Agreed.'

But the word didn't leave my mouth. Couldn't. It was too painful. So I simply nodded.

We departed immediately, Dave leading the way as if he already knew which route we were supposed to take to get out of here as quickly as possible. I simply followed behind, trying my best not to stumble since I just woke up.

Some hundreds of meters later, after several minutes of running, waiting or looking around, my throat was finally good enough for me to speak normally.

I waited for a moment when Dave and I were hiding behind a particularly large tree for any sign of our pursuant before asking my questions. "What happened when I was unconscious?"

Dave turned around to look at me, staying silent for a moment then returning his attention to his surroundings with a sigh. "It's a long story."

"Then give me a summary." I insisted, not deterred by his flippant attitude.

"When you lost consciousness and Sandima left, I tried all I could to ease your pain. But you were still writhing and crying in pain with nothing that I did working. Thankfully, you calmed down on your own after a couple of minutes and we're sound asleep. Jamke came some time after that to bail us out, telling us to leave the kingdom immediately."

As I listened to his explanation, I was suddenly reminded of that painful episode in the cell.

"How did he do that…" I thought aloud, thinking back to that mixture he used on me that brought so much pain.

"I have no idea."

Silence once again descended between us except for the occasional rustling of leaves and chirping of birds. That is, until Dave stood up from his position with a determined look.

"We should be safe now. Let's move, we have to get back to Yngvi quickly and warn them ab—" But Dave was cut-off by an arrow passing between the two of us and lodging itself on the trunk of the tree we were using as cover. "Shit !" He cursed, looking towards the direction the arrow came from before he grabbed my hand and started to run once again at full speed. The noise soon followed.

"We found them!"

"Move out! Bring them alive."

Even after running for ten long minutes, it didn't seem like our pursuers would let us go. I could still faintly hear the sound of tens of people moving towards us, and it was steadily getting closer too.

"I don't think we'll be able to outrun nor lose them."

'Then what, should we just surrender?'

But I couldn't speak. I was already panting like crazy from all that running, I didn't have any energy to spare talking back. Although it didn't seem like I'll have to.

"We need a diversion… I'll go back and save you a bit of time. With your speed, you should be able to get out of this forest fairly easily like this."

"Wait, what!?" I blurted out immediately, barely holding myself from stumbling in shock.

"They'll catch us soon, and you know it too. Someone has to warn Yngvi, and I'll sooner bleed out than let you get captured in my place and let that guy do whatever he wants with you."

I couldn't say anything against it. I had a hundred different things running through my mind, but none of them was able to get through my mind, and for the love of Yune I didn't know why.

"Now, go. GO !" He roared, practically pushing me into running once again as he himself went in the opposite direction. In the direction of the approaching soldiers that is.

I ran. With everything that I had, not sparing a single glance behind, I ran with all my strength.

I didn't shout. I didn't cry. I couldn't… Because I felt that doing so would be like saying we won't see each other again.

---

{ Preview }

Next time in Fire Emblem : The beginning of what felt like the end.

Ray has just received treatment from Ethlyn and was ready to join in the fighting once more.

Quan : What will you do now?

Ray : I'll catch up to Sigurd. He should be closing in on castle Yngvi around now.

Quan : Then do you want to ride with us?

Ray : Nah. I'll just run.

Quan : …

Ethlyn : …

Finn : …

Quan : … You'll be running from here to Yngvi, is that what you're trying to say?

Ray : Yup.

Ethlyn looks back at her husband with her mist incredulous look. Just before I disappeared in a gust of wind, leaving nothing but dust behind me as I disappeared before their eyes in a matter of seconds.

Quan : … Well, I guess now I understand what he meant by that.

Finn : Milord, he might arrive before us actually.

Quan : Quite…

{ End Point }

---

Alright. Done. So, how was it?

As I said at the beginning, this is the longest chapter yet as it covered three different parts into one, as well as three different countries.

Do not hesitate if you have any question, doubt, recommendation, anything really, that you'll like to make about this chapter, and about the next one too.

See you soon. Bye !