It wasn't until the sun had begun to set, did I realise that I have spent an entire day beside the entrance of the Ivy Cottage. All these while, my mind remained blank while I stayed beside Princess Violet. I took my time to slowly recover my stamina while waiting for her own recovery as well.
Suddenly, a small presence made itself known, leaping out of the greenery not far away. It aimed straight for my head, which put me on alert; but the colour of auburn distracted my attention which gave it an opening.
I felt a furry creature smack into my face before a slight pain was felt on my nose.
"...Is this how you greet me once we return to each other?" (me)
I gently grabbed the little fox by the scruff of the neck and held it before my eyes. The pair of eyes which looked back at me seemed to hold onto feelings of relief and lingering. Unmoving, it continued to look at me as though blaming me.
...Well, it isn't wrong that I had got too distracted by the sudden chain of unexplainable events. Ever since the Earl's Mansion exploded and collapsed, I seem to have forgot about its presence. It is indeed my fault as it's caretaker that I've left it alone for nearly a day, and during a time where Flurea went under a dangerous period of time.
I wonder where it went.
"Where did you go?" (me)
The reply I got was a shift of sight, showing that Candy intends to ignore me.
I felt myself fill with guilt.
"Sorry, Candy." (me)
Unfortunately, the eyes which return to stare at me begin to burn in hatred. The paws which originally hung down begin to reach towards me in a flurry of motions, determined to scratch up my face.
...Looks like it really hates the nickname I gave it.
Unintentionally, I leaked a small laughter. After such a crazy day, such a simple thing has simply relieved me of my fatigue and negative emotions.
Princess Violet, who has her eyes closed all these while, begin to rouse from her slumber. It must have been the disturbance caused by our reunion. She opened her eyes slowly and glanced at me. Startled, I return her gaze.
[…Till when, are you going to stop holding my hand?] (Violet)
Finally realising her words, I pulled my hand back in a fluster and lowered my gaze. The burning sensation that appeared on my face does not seem to disappear anytime soon.
Candy, who had somehow ended on top of my head without my notice, has apparently curled herself in an already comfortable position.
I hear a rustling of cloth and notice Princess Violet trying to sit herself up. Looking up, I try to help but stopped myself halfway before I could touch her. She pretends not to notice my weird actions as she properly props up herself without much difficulty and stretched.
A satisfying sigh blew through her lips. Princess Violet looks at me who seems to be in a daze, and playfully poked me in the cheek.
[Are you fine?] (Violet)
I shifted backwards to avoid her. In order to hide my expression, I stand up and did a quick stretch before turning around to inspect the rations Urkahn has left us.
[I'm definitely alright. More importantly, Princess Violet who has been out for a day is in a much more serious condition.] (me)
I can hear someone snort at my words.
[I don't really encounter mana exhaustion a lot so that was something unfamiliar. Now that night approaches, I will recover soon enough to continue our business.] (Violet)
Our business huh…
With Flurea in this state, I doubt we could do anything any time soon.
[Anything to eat?] (Violet)
I rummaged through what we have, but it is pretty clear that the rations are only meant for the general public and not catered to those with specific diets.
I placed some dried berries on my palm and held them above my head. I feel my hair getting messy as Candy got attracted to food.
[Unfortunately, there isn't wine or blood.] (me)
Princess Violet sighed as though she expected it, before she let out a playful giggle.
[Don't worry, I have you.] (Violet)
I feel embarrassment crawl up my neck before I realised what she actually meant, and how she's toying with me.
[Didn't you say that my blood tastes awful!?] (me)
[With desperate times, come desperate measures.] (Violet)
[Don't try to say some wise words when you're just lazy to go procure your own food!] (me)
I felt a delicate hand press down hard on my shoulder, enough to make it give off creaking sounds.
[You expect a patient to hunt for resources herself?] (Violet)
[Patients don't threaten others with brute strength!] (me)
A certain someone simply gave a yawn while sitting atop my head, as though everything was back to normal.
***
After consoling Princess Violet with some preserved meat, I start on my own rations.
As I slowly chewed on coarse bread, I had some time to review our current situation and think about our next course of actions.
Our initial goal of meeting the Earl of Flurea is a relatively simple task. What we need to bother ourselves over was only how to get ourselves an audience with him.
However, things took a turn when his mansion was attacked. Of all methods used, the assailants have chosen to attack using an explosion as a distraction, under the guise of the night firework event. Unfortunately, when we reach there, the Earl was nowhere to be found. Not even a corpse was left behind. Only rubble, debris and bloodstains were there.
We were then greeted by assassins which we presumed to be the same force that is after the Earl. Though we successfully repelled the attacks, the most we could conclude was that the Earl is still alive. This is because the assassins' presence back at the mansion hinted that. In the absence of the Earl, corpse or not, their presence meant both sides, ours and theirs, had the same objective: hunting down the Earl.
However, due to the collapse and massive destruction caused by Princess Violet, it is impossible for me to figure out where is the Earl.
Afterwards, we escaped using the approaching knights of Flurea as cover, and left. We rested for the night since we have decided that we should collect information the next day due to our fatigue.
However, the following day, there was a commotion in Flurea. It was loud enough for us to hear it from inside the Ivy Cottage. I cannot accurately say what it is, but if I have to hazard a guess, there are two possibilities.
One, the news of the Earl's mansion has spread about Flurea, causing panic among the people. Even if the news was desperately covered up, the morning light would be sufficient in showing the collapse of the Earl's mansion.
Two, due to the absence of the knights keeping law and order in Flurea, the multi-racial community of Flurea begin to rise in tension, and arguments broke out. As to where the knights went, it is probably to chase after the Earl or his attackers.
It might even be possible that both occurred together.
But that commotion didn't matter. Immediately, the town is under assault by a rare Erden Hydra, which is known to make itself scarce. What made the entire incident weirder was strange aggression it showed, to the point where it isn't wrong to conclude that the beast had lost its sanity. There must be a reason for its active rage and destruction.
Normally, Erden Hydras wouldn't appear at all, and even if it did, it did not actively attack others. As such, I can only conclude that its rage and aggression is a man-made cause, and probably a timely one. As to how this is done, I do not know.
After that, we somehow manage to defeat it, and here we are right now.
However, there are a few things which I am very puzzled and suspicious of.
Firstly, though it makes me an ungrateful bastard, but I honestly doubt my saviour. The appearance of Zenador, dubbed as 'a mere coincidence' by himself, is simply too unbelievable. I am thankful for his healing, but his presence then and there is a point which I found to be worthy of suspicion. Someone with a title as grand as 'Divine Healer' simply appearing in Flurea of all places, at a time where a living disaster rampaged, is either pure luck or just a literal planned conspiracy. Personally, I would rather not take my chances and believe in the theory of conspiracy.
However, I do not know of Zenador's true motive or circumstances. Healing me could be part of a plan or simply something he decided on a whim while still achieving his objective. Which brings me to my next point.
Zenador mentioned the word, 'counterattack'. What did it mean? After he healed me, he had clearly mentioned that then was the time for a counterattack.
Who was the counterattack against? Was there some sort of signal he caught on that notified him of the target? Could it be coincidentally the assassins we encountered, or the other way round? Or was it simply the Erden Hydra?
What exactly was the counterattack? The way and the timing Zenador said it, seems to make out that the method of counterattack is me. If that was true, then it makes it more certain that the Erden Hydra is somehow related, since it is the only thing I fought. Or was it some other person which he predicted I would come across?
If it is the latter, it means that Zenador must have known me to the extent of being able to predict my future actions.
The more I think about it, the warier I get. A headache seem to grow as I considered how his presence has definitely complicated the situation.
Lastly, and most importantly, the strange occurrence during the battle which I could not get off my mind. At the peak of the battle where all hope is lost, where we all thought that destruction and annihilation is imminent, the battle took a turn. The magic of destruction which the Erden Hydra spent its life force casting seemed to be forcibly halted, and the magic ceased to exist just like that. And then, the hydra collapses into a gigantic heap while roaring. But that should not have been the case. If the hydra really used its life force as a medium for that magic of destruction, then the last moments just before the magic circle realises the phenomenon, the hydra should have been near powerless, to the point where roaring isn't something that it can manage.
Unless, it did not use its life force at all. I am not experienced in magic to know or tell. But even so, that didn't explain how the magic formation it casted ceased. There was no reason to believe its mercy when it was so bent on killing everything on sight. Or at least, that was how it seemed to us.
There must be an external factor that stopped the battle. Who was it then?
It couldn't be Princess Violet. She was busy casting magic to deliver the final blow, which would have been useless without the external interference.
I don't think it is Zenador either. His actions during battle obviously showed that he was too preoccupied. While actively attacking, he was also passively supporting the people around him. During the retreat, he was busy with the people around him.
If those two strong candidates are unlikely, the person who did it must have been an expert in stealth. The fact that these all occurred while I had a bird's eye view, proved exactly that.
If it was anything out of all these worries, I am just grateful that we made it out safe and alive.
I look at Princess Violet beside me, who is sulking while trying to chew on the tough and lukewarm preserved meat. Having a sudden idea, I picked the sleeping fox off my head and tossed it at Princess Violet. Her face lit up with immediate effect almost simultaneously with the bad mood Candy begins to radiate.
The whole scene looked so comical that I subconsciously leaked a smile, but that changed into a frown soon after.
Despite all that, worries are still worries.
We have no means to locate the Earl.
His assailants are aware of us.
Zenador being around worries me.
Lastly, a mysterious person lurks around, capable of stopping an out-of-control magic circle the size of Flurea. We have absolutely no idea what his intentions are.
Putting all these problems together, I have just one solution which could resolve all of them in the short term and give us a safe position.
[Princess Violet, do you think we should leave Flurea? I don't think we can locate the Earl with this mess and it is likely we will only waste time.] (me)
Princess Violet looks at me and pondered awhile. Candy, who has been in her embrace, was let go.
[If possible, I would rather not.] (Violet)
Her answer startled me, but I remained calm on the surface while trying not to be agitated. I had thought that with such a serious situation upon us, she would give a much more reasonable answer.
[Please, allow me to know your reasons.] (me)
She seems to realise my thoughts. Keeping her eyes in contact with mine, Princess Violet slowly spoke.
[The Earl is the only person capable of helping me in achieving my goal.] (Violet)
She paused, as though collecting herself, before continuing.
[My real intentions in my travels, is to seek assistance against the king of vampires.] (Violet)
And out of nowhere, she dropped such a shocking truth on my head. I had to consciously regulate my breathing trying to look normal.
She intents to rebel against her father?
[The Earl of Flurea is well known for his kindness and compassion. Most importantly, he is willing to listen to any circumstances that allows him to, giving him the best judgement over almost any situation. I sincerely believe that I may be able to garner support from him, and regardless of his intentions, if the success of going against my father is realised, all else matters not.] (Violet)
By the time I had finished digesting her words, I found myself staring into a pair of determined eyes.
[Do you not have any questions in mind?] (Violet)
Of course it will be natural for this question to pop out. Anyone would be curious about another's purpose in waging war against their paternal kin. In the past, I would have emotionlessly and mercilessly fired off questions in order to garner information in my grasp. After all, information is of utmost importance.
However, strangely to me, my curiosity of her isn't my priority right now.
[...I have no intentions of asking.] (me)
She looked into my eyes, but hers never did shine crimson. Princess Violet must have caught onto the meaning of my words and returned my respect in privacy with her trust.
I pretended not to notice her look of gratitude and sighed instead.
I could have found another person to help me forge a new identity in this world. After all, all I wanted is a life of simplicity and realising my dream. This can be possible by simply searching for another person with authority.
By leaving Flurea, I can search for a new person. I can also shake off the assailants which may prove to be an annoyance. On top of that, I can avoid Zenador, and staying away from the mysterious person with an immense power to overcome the Erden Hydra makes me feel more at ease as well.
However, these cannot be realised when Princess Violet decides to continue her search for the Earl.
...If it was me in the past, I would have thrown her away without any regard.
Currently, I hold a longing for this small group which we have. I dislike the thought of separation, and somehow this feels so weird to me when I'm conscious of such a thought.
I realised that the current self I possess has greatly changed from the past. I do not know if it is positive or not, but I am aware that change is resulting in me stepping into a foreign boundary.
And such a thing, seems ever so fearful.
[...even if the Earl is dead?] (me)
As a last resort, I asked her, in hopes that she would reconsider and see things from my standpoint.
[Even so, I must locate him.] (Violet)
I felt myself slightly taken aback by her overwhelming determination. It felt, ever so slightly, as if that an obsession of a miniature scale has taken root within her.
[We won't until we try, right?] (Violet)
Seemingly realising that herself, Princess Violet quickly followed up on her words, at an attempt that failed to fool me.
I silently nodded to show my agreement. There was something about her behaviour that is nagging the back of my mind, but the more pressing issues that could potentially harm us definitely requires more attention.
As I finished my bread and drank some water, I sense a presence behind us. The tasks given by the orphanage has indeed not failed to train me in detection.
As someone who has worked as an assassin before, having assassins after you sure seems ironic.
I heaved a sigh.
[Here they come.] (me)
[I know.] (Violet)
Before I could even share my thoughts about the problems with Princess Violet, one of the problems has already arrived at its own accord.
Feeling time slowly ticking, I placed my hand on the hilt of the dagger hidden beneath my coat.