January 7th, 1554 ME
Order-Controlled City of Floria
Elise Maxwell
It was going to be a normal visit to my family home to visit my brother and father. My duties as a hero had left little time to see him, but that didn't bother me. My parents had taken good care of Eryn while I was gone, and while my mother had passed away, they had passed the torch to their experienced servants and caretakers, who I knew were capable of making sure Eryn would be okay. Yet, it became clear that fate had other ideas.
I was only about a mile away from the house when the arid scent of something burning reached my nostrils. I dismounted from my horse and looked around, worried that there might have been a brush fire. Then I remembered, it was January. Fires rarely occurred in the coldest season of the year. I did a little more investigating, suspicious that an Ignis might have set something on fire. The forest was completely empty, save for a few squirrels. I chose to solve the problem later, getting back onto my horse and riding to my house. As I got closer and closer to my destination, the burning scent only got stronger. A pit began to form in my stomach. I urged my horse to run faster.
My worst fears were confirmed as my family home entered my view. The large house was on fire, a giant pillar of smoke reaching into the sky. Several people I recognized as my maids ran around frantically to the well that we used for water, filling up buckets of water and desperately trying to put the fire out. I ran towards the house faster than I had ever ran before, reaching it in seconds. One of my maids ran up to me, her uniform covered in ash.
"Miss Maxwell! Thank the Chief God that you're here, we-"
"Is Eryn okay?! What about Allen?!" I shouted. I swiveled around violently to see if they had been evacuated safely. My heart dropped as I realized they were still in the house.
"Stay here. I'm getting them out." I said as I began sprinting towards the entrance.
The maid followed after me. "But Miss, you're going to hurt yourself trying to rescue them!" Their requests for me to stay away fell on deaf ears as I sprinted into the burning house. I knew my brother would be in his bedroom, but I had no idea where my father would be. I had to trust that he would find his way out, or at least survive long enough for me to come and rescue him.
The stairs were thankfully mostly intact. I dodged past the fires and traversed the slowly crumbling halls to get to Eryn's bedroom. "Eryn!" I shouted, hoping to get some sort of confirmation that he was there. Over the roaring of the fires I could hear a faint cry for help. I charged forth with renewed energy, stopping just a few yards short of his room, blocked by a hole in the floor.
Refusing to let the obstacle deter me, I drew my sword and frantically slashed through the wall next to me, entering one of the guest's bedrooms. I then tore through the wall that separated that room to my brother's room. Through a cloud of smoke, I could just barely make out the outline of Eryn. I scooped him up, backtracking all the way back to the entrance and breaking through walls when I had to. I laid him down gently on the grass.
"I'll be right back. I just need to see if I can find Dad." I shouted to him. I trusted that the maids would take care of him.
I leapt back into the crumbling house whilst trying to figure out where Dad could have been. The amount of smoke was making it hard to breathe, but I refused to give up. I eventually found him in the living room, backed into a corner by the flames. The fires reached so high up that jumping through them would be incredibly painful. I wracked my head trying to think of something. "Stay where you are!" I warned him.
I began hearing crumbling from up above. To my horror, the floor above Allen gave way, dropping several tons of debris onto him. He leapt out of the way, but his legs still got caught in the debris. He looked up at me, a pained expression on his face.
"Dad! Just stay there, I'm… I'm-" I said, a coughing fit interrupting my sentence.
"Just go. It's okay. Take care of Eryn for me." He said in an unnaturally peaceful tone. "I'll see you on the other side." He collapsed face first into the ground, dead. I barely had time to mourn his death as I narrowly dodged another piece of falling debris, just barely avoiding a similar fate. Despite the imminent danger, I walked through the house and back to the entrance. Eryn was waiting for me, his eyes watering when he saw me empty handed.
Eryn was lucky enough to have survived with only minor burns. A quick trip to the healer had gotten everything cleared up. No amount of healing spells would bring my father back, however. If anything, the fact that he had died peacefully was a consolation.
During his funeral, I stayed at his grave long after everyone had gone home, contemplating what would have happened if I had just been quicker, or if I had some sort of spell that could've prevented his death. I came to the conclusion that it was too late now. He was gone. Nobody could change that. As I got up to leave, I heard a monotone, almost bored sounding voice behind me.
"Grieving?"
"I was just…" I turned around seeing a gray skinned woman in a purple cloak floating in the doorway. A Lich, if my knowledge of monsters served me correctly. Immediately I drew my sword. Liches were considered one of the most dangerous monsters in the world by the Order, mostly because of their affinity for magic, especially their ability to bring people back from the dead as zombies under their command.
"I don't expect you to say yes… But I could bring your father back. I could even bring your mother back." The Lich explained.
I pointed my sword at the Lich's neck. "Leave." I commanded her. The necromancer seemed completely unfazed, instead continuing to talk.
"I am not leaving. I can see you're clearly the one to put family above all else, staying at the funeral grounds so long after everyone else left. What happened to your mother and father was tragic. If you turn down my deal, you might not ever see them again."
"I'd rather they stay in the afterlife rather than return to the realm of the living as a shell of their former selves. Go back to where you came from, corpse." I growled back at the monster. The Lich rolled her eyes, looking more annoyed than intimidated.
"You humans and your misconceptions about necromancy. Our magic does not turn our subjects into mere puppets. At least, not anymore. Both your mother and father would retain all of their memories. They'd both be stronger, more beautiful."
"And I'm just supposed to believe all of this. I know better than to fall for a monster's lies." I snapped at the walking corpse. The Lich sighed in irritation.
"I guess I'm the one at fault for thinking a veteran hero of the Chief God would listen to me. You seem to love living life the hard way. Blasphemy this, heresy that. Why do you always insist on being mis-" I took the chance to charge forward, attempting to decapitate the monster. The corpse's eyes widened. Her hands quickly grabbed a green orb out of her pocket. She was then enveloped in a bright green light, vanishing shortly afterwards.
I stood motionless in the center of the room. I sheathed my sword and sighed, knowing I'd have to report this to the Order.
March 17th, 1566 ME
?
Elise Maxwell
My awakening was rather peaceful, taking away the fact that I was still trapped in some Chief Godforsaken cave full of monsters. I looked around, noticing that the cave ceiling was much closer to me than usual. I managed to get up, the Ushi-Oni silk that had kept me restricted strangely absent. The only things in the room were the mattress that Amaya had provided for me, a small table with some books, a plate of food and a note on it, and my now-corrupted sword laying against the wall. Across from the bed, was a door shaped hole leading out.
…Why give me my weapon back? I wondered. I opted to leave it where it was, scared it had become a piece of cursed equipment. I refused to become a Cursed Sword. Turning to the exit, I tried to leave only to be stopped by some sort of barrier. Try as I might, I couldn't go past. I was trapped. Seeing no other option I decided to read the note on the table.
Hello, Elise. You're probably quite confused and upset right now, and I understand that. While what you did to Delilah was unforgivable, I've done some reflecting on my actions and realized I was rather harsh to you yesterday. Me and Nikolas are meeting with the ruler of Floria to discuss the terms of his surrender. In the meantime, feel free to help yourself to the food.
As soon as I finished reading that sentence, I pushed the food as far away from me as I could. Food made by a Lilim was bound to be full of corruptive ingredients. The cost of satiating my hunger would be my humanity. I decided to continue reading the note.
No, the food is not corrupted. I had Nikolas make it. He is not an incubus, or "Addicted" like you say yet, therefore it's safe for you to eat. If you don't trust me, feel free to starve. Your choice.
Despite everything, that last part got a bitter chuckle out of me. I looked over at the bowl. It was filled with various vegetables, along with bits of roasted pork slathered in a sweet smelling sauce. Nikolas was aware that roasted pork was one of my favorite foods, so either Amaya was trying her hardest to trick me or Nikolas actually made the food. I pulled the bowl closer to myself, focusing on the ingredients to try and spot anything suspicious. After a few minutes, the most suspicious thing that I had found was the dressing. It smelled sweet but I couldn't tell what it was made of. Unfortunately it had covered everything in the bowl, so I couldn't risk eating any of it.
I decided I would occupy myself by reading some of the books. I had half expected the books to all be about corruption, completely turning the lives of pious, celibate members of the Order into uninhibited, hedonistic monsters, but half of the books were all human on human romance. I flipped through one of them and realized that while the story was about humans getting together and living happily, it had the mark of having a monster as an author. All of them ended with the woman deciding to monsterize. I threw the books into the corner of the cave room, disappointed.
The other half of the books were romance novels about monsters and humans getting together, the humans being part of the Order as a recurring theme. I flipped through a few of them out of morbid curiosity. One caught my attention, a Lilim slowly gaining a cynical and untrusting Order hero's love by doing his laundry, cooking his meals and taking care of his house. Another one being how a man's little sister monsterized into a Baphomet out of her love for him. I threw the books in the corner with the rest of them and groaned. Amaya's apology had seemed heartfelt but now I knew she was just trying to get into my head again, with gifts instead of words.
I turned my attention back to the food, its smell gradually driving me insane. Amaya must have put some enchantment on it to make its scent more fragrant and hard to ignore. All the more reason not to eat it… I reasoned. I pinched my nose to block out the smell but I couldn't stop my stomach from growling incessantly. I got back on the mattress and laid down, staring at the ceiling.
An hour passed by agonizingly slowly before I heard a familiar dragon's voice. "Elise. I'm back. I want to talk to you again."
I threw a pillow in the direction of the voice, hearing it drop to the floor unceremoniously. Delilah entered the room, picked it up and tossed it back to me again. "I'm sorry for how I acted yesterday. Both me and Amaya just talked, and we agreed to let you return to Floria after they officially allow Mamono through their gates."
"Don't give me this apology shit. Amaya tried that with me, and then she went right back to being herself." I pointed towards the desk. "Look at this. The food. The books. She's trying to fuck with me, I just know it. Well, she's going to have to try harder than that if she wants me to willingly monsterize."
"...I'd like to start over, Elise. I want to regain your trust. We got off on the wrong foot, with you nearly killing me and me gloating while you were powerless and restrained yesterday. We don't have to be enemies, and I'd actually prefer if we weren't enemies, since we're going to be ruling your city in a few days or so." The Malef Dragon held out her claw for me to hold. I slapped it away.
"Go to hell. At the end of the day, you're just a monster, looking for your next victim to corrupt." I growled at her. Delilah looked genuinely hurt by my insult, putting one claw on her chest. She went to the corner where I had thrown the romance books, picking up the one with the Lilim as the main character and leaving without another word.
Strangely enough, guilt began to rise up inside of me. I ignored the weird feelings the best I could and
…Why am I feeling this way? She's trying to get in my head. All of them are.
March 17th, 1566 ME
Order-Controlled City of Floria
Kenton Liu
Many people have reasons for wanting to become heroes. Some want fame. Others want a challenge. A few people were even forced into becoming heroes by their family regardless of whether they wanted it or not. As for me, I despised monsters with every fiber of my being. They had terrorized the village I had grown up in since the day I was born. Always watching, but never full on assaulting the village. It made everyone terrified to go anywhere where the guards weren't watching. To make matters worse, the brave few people that were willing to go out and attempt to slay the abominations went missing, making us even more terrified.
One day, I came home to find my mother had been monsterized. Her legs were gone, having been replaced with a disgusting looking spider half. She had wrapped my father in spider silk and was violently ravaging him. I quietly left the room before they noticed me and did what the priests told me to do whenever a monster broke into the village. I reported them to guards, who promptly chased them out of the village and into the forest. When they returned, they said they had dealt with the threat. I never saw them again. For all I knew, they weren't dead and the mamono mana was enabling them to have sex all day and night and they had forgotten about me.
Everything had changed when Elise Maxwell came along. She liberated the forest around the village, scaring off or defeating all the monsters. She'd come back to the village every day with proof of her victories, like a claw of a Werewolf or an insect leg of an Arachne. In her, I saw an opportunity of a lifetime.
Just as she was about to leave I ran to her and begged her to train me so I could become a hero like she was. She brushed me off, but I was not willing to give up that easily. I packed my bags and ran away from home, telling her that I was willing to do anything to become a hero. After a full week of begging, she finally acquiesed. I didn't care that the training was brutal. I didn't care that my fellow heroes looked down on me for being a commoner. Through sheer determination, I had proven that I was worthy of being a hero.
The sounds of shouting interrupted my daydreaming. I blinked, realizing I had been staring at a framed portrait of me and my family that I had drawn as a kid and given to my parents for a full three minutes. It was crude and badly drawn, but it held insane sentimental value to me. I walked over to the window of my small apartment; No need to have space I'm not going to use, I had told myself.
"Monsters aren't evil, only misunderstood!" I heard chanted over and over again from the people outside my window. I found myself balling my hands into fists as I watched the civil unrest unfold right outside my home.
How dare you try and justify our mortal enemies!
"Chief God, what the hell is wrong with these people…" I muttered to myself. Something caught my eye. Jerald, a priest that I was good friends with approached the crowd and began to call them out for their stupidity, likely trying to resolve things peacefully. I began to quickly get dressed to go outside, my gut telling me that this wasn't going to go down well. I focused and sent a telepathic message to the nearest group of guards, telling them to come to my position immediately.
"Citizens of Floria, the monsters have deceived you. Those beasts seek to destroy our way of life! They are simply attempting to get our trust so that they can take over our city and turn us into their slaves for all eternity. Please, stop what you're doing and pray to the Chief God for-" Jerald began, before catching a fist to his face, knocking him to the ground. A group of four people joined his assailant, bludgeoning him relentlessly.
"Enough of your lies!" The violent protester yelled. I threw open the door to my apartment, grabbing my sword. I rushed towards the group of protesters and pointed my blade at them. They looked at me and quickly stopped what they were doing, and backed away from Jerald.
"The five of you." I uttered, livid. "Just what do you think you're doing?"
"Oh, how noble of you to rescue your fellow liar." The one who started the assault growled at me.
"Assaulting a priest is grounds for imprisonment. Get down on your knees and put your hands behind your back. I'd like to resolve this peacefully." I commanded. I took a quick look around, searching for the guards that I had called earlier. I spotted them rounding the corner to the street we were on, surrounding the protestors.
"Look at you, being such a pacifist. If only you were so kind to monsters. You heroes call yourself protectors of the innocents when one of your main jobs is to kill the innocents." One of the protesters snapped at me.
I felt enraged. Me and my team had risked our lives going beyond the walls of Floria countless times to assist villages that couldn't protect themselves against monsters. I thought of what had happened to both of my parents. "Those monsters aren't innocent and you know it."
Before the protester could respond, the guards snuck up behind them and butted them in the head with the hilt of their sword, knocking them unconscious. The rest of the guards quickly apprehended the people that were attacking the priest, with the exception of one that managed to slip out of their grasp. They took off down the street. One of the guards began chasing after him, but I stopped them. I motioned for them to give me some of the rope they were using to restrain the others.
"Allow me to do the honors."
I charged after the fleeing protester, rapidly gaining on him. He looked back, his eyes widening when he saw how close I was. I tackled him to the ground and tied the man's arms together.
"You fucking bastard, I'll-" I stomped his head to him to stop talking. The sheer force knocked the man unconscious. I hoisted the man over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes and carried him back to where everyone else was. I tossed the protester to the guards and watched as one of them dragged him away. Normally, I would've been proud of myself for a job well done, but all I felt was sadness. Sadness that my beloved Floria was being torn apart before the monsters even arrived.
I walked over to Jerald, who had recovered from the violent beating and was leaning against a wall, gingerly rubbing his injuries. "Are you alright? Do you need me to get a healer?" I asked him. Jerald nodded, gritting his teeth. I looked down at his left leg, the limb being bent at an unnatural angle. I shook my head and began helping the priest to the nearest healer, which thankfully wasn't too far away.
"Thank you, Kenton. I won't forget what you've done today. May the Chief God reward you for your acts of bravery." Jerald expressed his gratitude as the healer worked her magic on his broken leg. "The people of Floria have become… increasingly aggressive towards me lately. They accuse me of being a liar, of spreading fear. I only wish to help. Tell me, has your team been experiencing any aggression from them?"
I thought about my team. I had waited an entire hour yesterday waiting for Elise to show up to the barracks so we could continue planning our moves against the Lilim and the Dragon, but strangely she never showed up. I had traveled to her brother's home, and he hadn't seen her either. Suvina had been absent too. I had a sneaking suspicion it had to do with what I did with the Ratatoskr that we had caught a few days ago. Nikolas had left a note saying that he had someone he needed to meet, and never showed up either. Any attempts to telepathically communicate with them were met with silence. The way my team was acting made me furious.
I put my head in my hands. "Two of them have gone missing, and one doesn't seem to give a toss that monsters are about to annihilate us." Jerald looked at the ground, an expression of dismay and hopelessness on his face. A few minutes later, the healer had finished her work.
"Keep your head down, Jerald. And stay away from the protests." I warned him.
"But they-"
"I know, I know. You want to resolve things peacefully. But you can't do that with these people." I interrupted him. I felt bad, shutting him down like that. He nodded his head and walked off. I began walking to the barracks. If nobody wanted to protect the city, I'd have to do it myself.
On my way there, I spotted someone familiar. Across the street, Nikolas was talking to someone in an alleyway, a woman with red hair wearing a cloak. Nikolas turned around, and the two of us made eye contact. The red headed woman walked back into the alleyway as I approached Nikolas.
"Nik, who was that? What were the two of you doing?" I sternly questioned my teammate.
"She's a friend." Nikolas responded noncommitedly. The vague answer only made me angrier.
"I asked, what were the two of you doing? You better not be keeping secrets from me, Nikolas." I growled.
"We were discussing what the two of us were going to do today." Nikolas's calm tone was the straw that broke the camel's back. I punched him in the jaw, forcing him to take a few steps back. A few droplets of blood stained the ground as Nikolas rubbed his jaw. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the red haired woman stare back at Nikolas, worried, before disappearing from my sight entirely.
"I can't believe you. Floria is about to get annihilated by monsters, half our team has gone missing, and our city is being carved into pieces by our own damn citizens. Meanwhile, you're here talking with your fucking girlfriend, without a care in the world. This is your home, damn it! Do you not care at all about protecting it?!" I reprimanded him. "I can tell you've changed for the worst. What happened to the man that stayed by my side through training when everyone else was ridiculing me for being a commoner?"
Nikolas silently stared at me as I ranted at him, a glare on his face. "You know what, Kenton?" He said, his voice lowering.
"What?" I snapped at him.
He got up in my face, unworried about his jaw. "Those people saying monsters aren't evil, only misunderstood? However flawed their reactions might be, they have a point. The Order's been lying to us this entire time. Maybe if you opened your mind a little, you would've noticed that." My mouth opened to respond, but no words came out. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The man I had fought alongside for years was sympathizing with our worst enemy.
"Do you remember a year ago? When we were told to capture a missing Order scientist and bring him back to Floria? Do you remember why he left, Kenton?"
I instantly knew what he was talking about. "A gremlin seduced him into betraying the Order. She was getting him to leak sensitive information about our magical defenses to the extremists about us."
"See, that's where you're wrong. That gremlin was his childhood friend. I talked to them in secret. They weren't collaborating with the extremists. They just wanted to see each other again, and we tore them apart. For fuck's sake, we raided their wedding ceremony!" Nikolas shouted at me. "I realized, right then and there, that we were on the wrong side of history. We've been idiots for so long. So guess what, Kenton? He had the right idea. I'm leaving. I quit." He stormed off.
"Quit?! What do you mean, quit?! Being a hero is a lifetime commitment, you can't just-" I yelled, running after him.
"Yes, I fucking can. Watch me." He said, before casting an invisibility spell on himself. I tracked him the best I could, but after a few minutes, I had completely lost his trail. There was no sign of the woman he was talking to, either.
"Nikolas! Nikolas!" I had no idea what to do. Normally, I would report Nikolas to my superior, Elise. But Elise was missing, which meant I had to solve this on my own. Over the next few hours, I began a wild goose chase trying to find Nikolas or the woman he was with. All that I accomplished was getting myself hot, sweaty, and irritated. After passing by the same cafe for the sixth time in a row, I gave up. I sat down at a bench nearby, and put my head in my hands.
Chief God, give me a sign…
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone looking at me. A woman with long orange brown hair with golden eyes, wearing a dark brown trench coat. The two of us made eye contact, and she beckoned for me to come over to the table she was at. I looked at her, confused. I had never seen her before. Not wanting to chase Nikolas for another three hours, I sat down at her table.
"...Who are you? Why did you call me here?" I asked the mystery woman.
"I'd like to talk about the state of this city, Kenton." The mystery woman responded, taking a sip of her water. "My name is Valerie, by the way. Nice to meet you." She held out her hand for me to shake.
"How do you know my name?" I asked Valerie. Only Elise, Suvina and Nikolas were on a first name basis with me. Everyone else simply called me by my last name, or just "Sir". "I'm not that well known amongst the Order's heroes. I don't like being the center of attention."
Valerie leaned back in her chair. "I can tell. It was rather tedious finding records of you or your deeds. I was originally going to ask your captain, but she appears to be out of the city right now. Do you happen to know where she might be?"
I shook my head. I knew I had to begin looking for her but I had zero idea where she could've gone. "No, I don't know where she went. How the hell do you know she went missing? Who even are you really, Valerie?" I asked, curious.
"I will tell you, but you must promise to keep everything I'm about to say secret." Valerie looked around the cafe, populated with dozens of people. "We must go somewhere more private than this place. Someone could hear us."
Valerie grabbed my hand and began dragging me down the street and into a nearby inn. She dropped a small bag of coins on the desk in front of the innkeeper. The innkeeper gave the two of us our keys and the two of us went to our room. Valerie closed and locked the door behind us, pulled the curtains over the window, and began casting a spell. The din of the outside city went completely quiet.
"Now, I need you to swear to me to keep everything I'm about to tell you a secret." Valerie whispered to me. I nodded my head vigorously.
"I want to hear you say it, Kenton!" Valerie said, raising her voice slightly above a whisper. She looked at me with a glare so intense it could melt the entirety of Northern Zipangu.
"I swear to keep everything you're about to tell me a secret." I promised quickly, intimidated.
"Good." Valerie cleared her throat. "Are you aware of the invasion of Lescatie?"
"O-of course! Who in the Order isn't aware of that disaster?"
"Well, it didn't go unnoticed by the Chief God. Approximately two months after Lescatie became a mamono realm, twelve nobles across the world were contacted by the Chief God on the same exact day, and told to travel to the Capitol. We witnessed an angel coming down from Heaven to send us a message." Valerie paused for a moment. "The angel told us we were to prevent any more major Order cities from falling to the monsters."
"That seems like an incredibly large job for just twelve people to manage…" I wondered out loud.
"The Chief God does not just choose people randomly. She made sure to pick the most intelligent, wealthy, and most importantly, empathetic people the Order has to offer. All twelve of us realized something about Lescatie. It was corrupt. Monsters are attracted to suffering, which was why they invaded. So all of us reasoned that if we were to keep corruption and suffering in Order cities at a minimum, monsters wouldn't invade. It's why there hasn't been any disaster like Lescatie in a long time." Valerie explained to me.
I began feeling hopeful. Someone so important that the Chief God had entrusted them with the responsibility of keeping the entire Order from being overrun had to be powerful. "Are you here to help us?"
"I am. But your foolish king rejected my offers for help." Valerie's expression darkened. "He claimed that he was disillusioned with the Order, mainly because of us lying about the monster's true nature. He doesn't understand that the lie is a necessary evil to keep chaos from breaking out, which is exactly what's happening in Floria."
I tilted my head in confusion. "But why contact me, though? What part do I play in all of this?"
"If King Emyr won't listen to me, maybe he'll listen to you. I sent a letter to your partner Nikolas a few weeks ago since he was a good friend of Emyr, but he seems to have ignored me. You are relatively close to the king, is that right?" Valerie asked, a tiny amount of desperation in her voice.
I had talked with King Emyr in the past. We knew and respected each other, but to say we were close felt like a stretch. "We're relatively close, I guess."
"Good. Because I have a plan to keep the monsters out of Floria, and it involves you. Tomorrow, you are going to visit King Emyr and convince him to call off that stupid surrender deal of his. Tell him that the Order is willing to help fix Floria, and that the monsters are deceiving him and plan to make him their slave. Do you understand?"
Being ordered around by a member of the Chief God's own council was not how I had expected my day to go. But it was a welcome surprise. Valerie seemed incredibly powerful, the exact type of person we needed to drag Floria out of the hole it had fallen into.
"...I understand."
Valerie looked relieved. "Thank you, Kenton. I promise you will be rewarded if everything goes right. Now, let us go over how we are going to convince your thickheaded King to accept the Order's help…"
March 18th, 1566 ME
I watched as Valeria looked over her notes for the fifth time. "That should be everything… Remember, I'll be scrying you the entire time to see how things go." She uttered, staring out the window of our inn at the King's castle. "Let us pray to the Chief God that your king has some sense left in him, Kenton."
The two of us kneeled down in front of a small statue of the Chief God that Valerie had brought with her to Floria and clasped our hands together and said our prayers silently. After a short breakfast together, Valeria sent me on my way.
"Good luck. I pray for your success." I heard her say, as she watched me exit the inn.
As I walked towards my destination, the city seemed peaceful for once. Almost every day there had been some sort of conflict on the streets, big or small. Yet, it seems that today was the day that everyone decided that they were going to be peaceful. I cherished the tranquility, taking it as a good omen from the Chief God.
I reached King Emyr's castle, the building standing tall and proud despite all of the chaotic state of Floria. The two guards stationed at the front gate let me in as soon as they saw me. They knew who I was from my repeated visits to King Emyr in the past. He was a good man. A bit desperate at times to make sure everyone was as happy as possible, but well-meaning and competent. At least, that was what I had thought of him in the past. The fact that he was collaborating with monsters soured my opinion of him greatly.
I came across a few other guards on my way to his office, where he usually was at this time of the day. I knocked on the door. "King Emyr. It's me, Kenton. I wish to talk to you immediately." A few seconds later, the king opened the door.
"Ah, Kenton. It's nice to see you again. How has life been treating you nowadays?" King Emyr asked, his tone strangely content and happy. "Can I get you anything to drink?"
I shook my head. "Life has been fine. Not much monster activity to take care of in our territory nowadays. Do you think they finally got the hint to stop attempting to settle in Floria?"
The king seemed slightly disturbed by my last sentence. "Maybe." He said, all but ignoring my question. "Why are you here, Kenton? Is there something that requires my attention?"
"Yes. The riots from the pro-monster and anti-monster citizens. Has the Order contacted you about any potential solutions?" I asked, eagerly awaiting his response. I would know if he was lying or not.
"Yes, I have." King Emyr said after a few seconds. I was surprised that he didn't lie.
So you told the truth. Doesn't change the fact that you're planning on throwing your citizens to the wolves. I fought to keep my composure. "Based on the rumor going around that you're surrendering to the monsters outside of Floria, it seems like you've chosen not to accept their help. Why is that?" I interrogated him.
King Emyr leaned forward. "Kenton, this might be difficult for you, a hero of the Chief God, to hear, but I've become quite disenchanted by the Order lately. Mainly, their insistence on maintaining a harmful lie that's losing its effectiveness. Monsters aren't what you think they are, Kenton."
"...With all due respect, I know exactly what they are and what they're capable of. They lie, they deceive and they manipulate. I urge you to reconsider your decision to surrender to the monsters. The Order is willing to help."
"And if I accepted the Order's help, I would be angering half of Floria."
"Angering half of Floria would be a better outcome than letting the monsters rule. You know they don't have our best interests in mind, Emyr. Both choices will inevitably cause conflict with our citizens, but one leaves a chance to recover while the other doesn't." I rationalized.
"You're wrong, Kenton. Monsters are willing to compromise."
"You don't know that."
"I do." King Emyr took a deep breath. "I talked with their leader just yesterday."
"You what?!" I couldn't stop myself from yelling at him. They were here just yesterday?!
"A Lilim came into my office with N- her husband, and she was very polite. The two of us managed to work out a deal that would benefit both sides. As much as this might anger you, Kenton, surrendering to her is the best course of action."
"You damn well know what she's going to do to Floria. Once you give her control, there is no going back. Floria is going to be ruined forever." I snapped at him. "Don't you understand?!"
"I do understand-"
"I don't think you do. You're the ruler of the fourth largest Order kingdom in the world. The Order offered to help you, yet you turned them away and are selling us out to our mortal enemies. What kind of king are you?!"
"One who cares about his people, and not about the misinformation the Order gives out." King Emyr shot back. "I believe coexistance is the next step to making Floria a better place."
Before I could think of a response, a voice echoed in my head. Damn it all! Kenton, get out of there. He's too far gone, I don't think you can convince him at this point. Head back to the inn. It's time for Plan B.
Hearing that, I got up from my chair, and walked towards the door. "...Fine, King Emyr. Have it your way. Just know you're making a massive mistake. Don't expect me to clean up the mess you'll inevitably cause." Before he could respond to that, I left the room. I leaned against the wall. I felt enraged. King Emyr was dead set on selling out to the Order's worst enemy. Yet, there was still hope. Valeria had a Plan B. She was clearly prepared for this scenario.
Chief God help us all in the coming days… I thought to myself as I left the castle.