Prelude to Despair: The Truth Behind The Mission
The next morning, they kept wandering through the forest following the registered mana from the All Direction in Reina's possession.
It came with the quest that Shugal gave to her. And whatever was registered there was their ticket to finishing the job.
Now the slope was a little steep.
They brushed through bushes and squeezed between trees.
They couldn't tell where they were, only what the All Direction told them. However, now they were deeper into the forest.
"Master, we've been walking for a while now... Where are we going?"
"We're following this All Direction. I'd like to know where it's leading us as well. Don't wanna run into elves."
She said, glancing at the All Direction, assessing the reliability of its lead.
As they continued to walk deeper into the forest, the terrain started to change, or rather, it seemed different from when they entered the forest.
Now, patches of flowers and smaller trees were visible, and the place seemed sunny.
Reina stopped before going any further and stared at the All Direction in her hand. She then looked to the right and then to the left.
"Hmm! Something is not right."
She said, still looking at the All Direction, hoping maybe it led them in the wrong direction, but that would be impossible.
As she was busy contemplating the off chance that maybe the All Direction was indeed sending them in the wrong direction, Marcus came closer and asked a question she never expected to hear.
"My lady..."
"Yes, Marcus."
"...is Krai... an Arch Human?"
She gasped, but there was no sound.
If you observed her when Marcus asked her that question, you could see her face tense up and her eyes open wide, but she quickly collected herself, and so Marcus did not see anything.
"Why are you asking?"
"Look at him..."
They both turned around and gazed at Krai.
He was holding his hand up in the sky, playing with little balls of light.
He just raised his hands and opened his palms, creating a place for the balls of light to stand on, but they just continued to hover around him as if they were attracted to him.
And he seemed happy too.
"He's no summoner, because we would have seen him summon animals or beasts..." He said. "And there are two types of people in the world who can attract spirits, summoners, and as history tells us, Arch Humans too."
"You fail to realise something, Marcus, Arch Humans have been wiped out a long time ago, 700 years to be exact. So what you are asking is not plausible."
She was intent on keeping the true identity of Krai's race a secret until the last minute, and to make sure it happened, she tried by all means to dispute Marcus' curiosity with a plausible claim backed by history.
"Right..."
Marcus did not argue; he just stared at Krai with a curious expression on his face.
Of course, his question was outdated. Unless the species were bred somewhere, there is no way it would come back to life, and as a teenager after 700 years.
It was just not possible, but since this world was filled with unexplainable things, one could believe it to be the work of a miracle.
She may have disputed Marcus' claim, but she seemed to be under a lot of thinking pressure. She stared at Krai and the spirit as if waiting for something to happen.
☆☆☆
At the mansion, Mary opens her eyes, lying on the bed face up.
She woke up the day after she had been bedridden from using her magic, which left her in a tired state.
She grimaces as she tries to sit up on the bed, but she bears the pain and manages to accomplish the task.
A demihuman butler walks into the room and finds her staring at the window, the light shining on her face as the open drapes move with the wind. He enters and closes the door behind him, and that's when Mary notices him and shifts her eyes towards him.
She was wearing a light blue gown.
"Good afternoon, Madam Mariada."
"Good afternoon?" She inquired with a puzzled look on her face.
"Yes..." The man said as he walked closer to her with a tray in his hand.
"You have been asleep for a day now."
"Hmmm! I see."
The butler put the tray on the table in the room close to the wall.
He exudes proper manners and discipline in the art of being a butler; even his face is gentle and etched with a soothing smile.
His voice was calm and unrushed as well.
"Are you feeling okay? Should I call Miss Veda to come look you up?"
"No, I'm fine, more importantly, where are Krai and Master Reina?" She asked, her voice calm but hasty.
"You mean the boy?.. The Lady of the house and Sir Marcus ventured into the Zeus Woods to complete a mission from the adventurers' guild, and they took him with them."
"What?!"
Her face was suddenly hit with a wave of confusion and worry. Her mouth was slightly open, and her eyes narrowed.
"I need to get out of bed."
She shoves the blanket over to the side, exposing her feet.
"No, no. The Master said you need to stay in bed until you completely recover, and that we must do all we can to make sure you follow that order."
"..."
"Don't worry about the housework either, we'll take care of that too... Here, have some tea."
All this time, the man was pouring Mary a cup of tea while talking to her.
Mary stared at the man with the teacup in his hands, and he stared back at her, but his eyes were closed the whole time. His eyes had been closed ever since he entered the room. It's like that's their natural state.
Mary reluctantly accepts the cup of tea.
She was anxious to get out of bed, even if it wasn't to go after Reina and the others, but to do some housework.
She chooses to do as the man says, after all, Marcus recognises him as his second-in-command.
She returns to the blankets and takes a sip of the tea the man brewed.
"Fine then, wake me up if something happens."
"You have my word."
The man bows and heads for the door, leaving Mary sitting on the bed.
He opens the door and gets out of the room, but stands right at the door after closing it behind him with his back facing it.
She didn't notice me until she heard the door close. The man thought and opened his eyes, revealing deep, dark brown pupils. Her senses must be dull from that injury.
☆☆☆
They walked for a bit, and then Reina stopped in the middle of the flower field.
Her face became tense upon stopping. Marcus's face also tensed up.
"We were followed." She said.
"Indeed." Agreed, Marcus, with his right hand on the hilt of his left waist sword.
Krai, who was oblivious to the situation, just followed their lead and also unsheathed his sword.
With no battle experience and magic training, he couldn't detect that there were other beings aside from them in that forest.
Reina and Marcus glanced to the side without their heads turning; only their eyes shifted from side to side, while Krai was moving his whole head.
A total noob move.
"They seem to be good at hiding their presence." Said Marcus.
"Are we really being followed?" Asked the unseasoned Krai.
"Stay alert." Edged Reina.
They stood there for some time waiting for the intruders to make a move, but there was no such luck.
And the waiting was not so good. It only made them even more tense.
What do they want? Who are they? What will their move be?
Questions like that tend to pop up in a person's mind when they're in that situation. So the waiting was intense.
"You might as well come out!" Said Reina in a loud voice.
She didn't know who she was saying it to or where they were.
Their presence surrounded them with no one specific position being more defined. Attacking was also going to be a waste of time and mana.
"It is earlier than anticipated, but oh well!"
A voice came from beyond the trees. It was a cocky voice with no sign of anxiety or weakness in it.
The sun was close to setting and had turned a dark orange.
His words suggested they were ahead of schedule, although it didn't matter.
Without any warning, knives came flying at them from all directions.
Reina covered herself with defensive water magic that swirled around her, repelling the knives.
Marcus caught all the knives with inhumane speed, and Krai barely managed to evade and block them.
He didn't find them fast or powerful; he just wasn't expecting them, and the lack of battle experience also played a part in his reaction time.
He was strong but lacked awareness.
"Cheap tricks like that won't work on us!" Said Reina.
She placed her hand in front and started an incantation.
"Water magic... Rising Waterfall."
After reciting the chant, a circular waterfall arose from the ground, shooting to the sky just about twice the height of Reina the caster, in a radius also of the same length.
"A defensive barrier, huh?" The cocky voice came once again. "You know you're head is worth a lot of money, Reina, the great mage of Vismagia.
Or should I say, Reina, the failed noble."
"You seem to know a lot about me... Why don't you come out and tell me who wants my head... And I won't take your head."
She said that with a cool, calm voice and a hint of hostility in it.
Her eyes were squinted, and her attention was focused on the voice and her surroundings. She was overly pissed, more pissed than the situation warranted.
"Hahahaha! Is that supposed to scare me? Don't underestimate us!!" The voice came back in a shout.
"..."
"Master, What is that?" Asked Krai, looking beyond the waterfall barrier.
He squinted his eyes and held his sword tightly.
"Those are salamanders... Lower-level flame creatures, you could even call them spirits."
"...Sp-Spirits!"
"Huh!" Reina sighed. Her face shifted from rage and anger to disdain and mockery. "I think you are overestimating your abilities if you think salamanders can beat us. You should do more research on your targets beforehand."
The salamanders were released by the people attacking Reina and company from the cages they were captured in. They were the size of a sports car, reaching about one meter in height.
They were engulfed in flames and walked slowly towards them.
Fireballs came out of their mouths as they launched their attacks, and the flowers in the path of the salamanders were burned to a crisp. The attacks couldn't break through the barrier and just steamed out.
"You two deal with the Salamanders, and I'll deal with the attackers."
"As you wish, my lady."
"Oh yeah!!"
Reina was indifferent to the sloppy plan the people came up with to kill them, or whatever their mission was.
She didn't even deem them worthy of her attention. They were nothing more than small fry, and she had her eyes on the big fish.
Krai was eager to finally test his mettle in a fight against monsters. He swung his sword in front, creating a swish sound, breaking the wind barrier.
Marcus only unsheathed one sword.
"Wait for my signal and then move out."
"Got it."
"..."
"In my hand, I hold water magic, and its purpose is to destroy that which is not aligned with... Rain Cage. "
She started another incantation, and a swirl of water appeared on her palm. She then fires it into the sky.
When the swirl of water reached a certain height, a magic circle appeared.
It was as large as the field of flowers and had all kinds of patterns woven into it.
The moment the magic circle appeared, it started to rain inside the area covered by the magic circle. The rain was magical and didn't influence the weather; the sun was still out, though it was close to disappearing into the horizon.
This was a large area of effect spell that was designed to fight a large group of mages, especially fire users, and in this case, for the salamanders.
When the rain touched the salamanders, their fires were snuffed out slowly with every drop that connected, and they broke out into screams of pain. Their fires were like a life force, and losing them was painful and weakening.
"Now!" Said Reina.
**Swoosh!**
They all carried their feet heading for their assigned targets. Since the salamanders were coming from all directions, Marcus and Krai split up in opposite directions.
**Swing!**
One salamander dies at the hand of Marcus. Blood spewed from the side of its neck.
Another one dies as quickly as the one before. Its head was lopped off.
Krai waited for them to attack him with their claws, and when he dodged, he saw an opportunity to swoop in and slice it from the side belly.
The salamanders were no problem since their strength had been reduced exponentially when they lost their fire, and the pain made them uncoordinated in their attacks.
"Were you the one talking?"
Asks Reina with her foot on a man wearing full-body concealing clothes: Like a ninja of sorts.
Her hand was facing the man's face.
"..."
"Won't say anything, huh?"
The man was trying to escape her grasp, but no such luck.
When she saw he wasn't answering, she fired a spell at him.
Instantly, the man is engulfed in ice and lets out a scream.
One by one, the salamanders fell without even putting up a fight. Marcus and Krai stood triumphant over 8 salamander corpses, swinging their swords to get rid of the blood.
Reina looked over and saw that they had finished their task. She was icing the 7th person who came with a salamander each.
"Come out from hiding, you are the only one left!"
"Tsk!"
The cockiness from the man's voice was no longer evident.
"Don't move or the boy dies!"
The man was now holding a dagger to Krai's neck from behind. His voice was now threatening and wavering. He lost all his companions and was about to meet the same fate or worse.
"Drop all your weapons!" The man ordered.
He tightened his grip on Krai and made contact with his skin with the dagger in his hand. He wasn't afraid of the man, even with a dagger at his neck; he was calm.
The man's hand was shaking, and he couldn't hold the dagger still.
Since the man was a head taller than Krai, rapid panting and breath assaulted his hair. Even his eyes popped out in fear and frustration.
**Sigh!**
Reina let out a loud sigh, slowly shaking her head and looking down, eyes closed.
She then lifted her head and stared at Marcus with her side eye, and he immediately understood the meaning of her gaze.
"Didn't you hear me? I said Drop your weapons?" The man was fuming at the mouth.
"You're nothing but trash thrashing about in the wind." She said with disdain in her voice and gaze. "You won't kill your only lifeline for escaping."
"..."
"One, because you let your men die and hid during their deaths..."
"Tsk!"
"And two, you won't have the chance."
**Swing! - Slash!**
"Aaaah!!" The man screams in pain.
Marcus had appeared from behind, leaving the wind and dust restless in his path, and slashed his back.
The pain was enough to let go of Krai.
He lay on his back, coughing up blood through his mask, and a lot of it was coming from his back.
"Now, tell us with your last breath before you die, who sent you?"
Reina squatted, and Marcus and Krai stood just close to see.
**Cough!**
"Your day of reckoning has come, Reina Stacia." The man said in a low, grimacing voice muffled by the blood in his mouth.
The man said his last words and passed on. His words were chilling to the three of them and left them wondering what he meant by them.
It would be easy to digest if he said that while still alive, but to choose those words as his last was a bad omen.
