We were just about to set off from Zaid Town when we received an unexpected visitor.
A single knight in silver armor and armed with a claymore approached us, the morning sun reflected off her gleaming armor. I immediately recognized her as someone I had fought alongside before, back when I was part of the Hero party. Back when we worked together with the other Hero parties.
"Rafaela."
"What? That's Rafaela?!" Stella was utterly taken aback. "You can't mean…that Rafaela? The number 5 warrior in the Organization?"
"What organization? And since when did we rank warriors?"
Stella cleared her throat and composed herself, looking sheepish.
"Forgive me, my lord. I mixed her up with another Rafaela. I meant, isn't she one of the strongest knights who served alongside one of the Hero parties? Was it Hero Howard's party, if I recall correctly? But they were supposed to be annihilated during the battle against Tiamattra."
"Evidently not." I shrugged. I gestured for the vampires to stand down, Larson and his knights having stepped forward with their guard up. I had ordered them not to be so hostile toward humans, so as not to draw their suspicions. If we wanted to continue moving around Havan Kingdom undetected, we needed to fit in.
I did understand their need for caution, though. They were a disciplined regiment of knights famed for their sword skills. It would be a great dishonor if they allowed any harm to befall their liege while he was supposed to be under their protection.
"She's an old friend," I told them.
"Understood," Larson replied, showing impeccable discipline. Having served under Duke Gregory, he was used to obeying orders without question. Yet at the same time he was flexible enough to push the limits of those commands in order to keep his lord safe. I could trust him and his subordinates to have my back without worrying that he would overstep his boundaries.
Stepping forward, I bowed my head.
"Rafaela. Are you all right? You seem…pale. What happened?"
"I'm sure you already know what happened." Rafaela snorted and folded her arms. "Well, not entirely. I'm here to tell you not to worry about Sister…Luciela. I have taken care of her."
"I see. Thank you very much." I could see the grief on her face, so I decided not to pursue the matter. Instead, I bowed my head to display my gratefulness and condolences. "I'm very sorry."
"You have done nothing to apologize for. If anything, I'm the one who should apologize on the behalf of my sister. She has done quite the…unforgivable things."
"I don't think she was in full control of herself. All those who have been possessed end up having their personalities warped by the demons that possess them. I do not think Luciela was at fault for any of the things she has done under demonic influence."
"Thank you. Even though I do not agree, I still appreciate your sentiment."
There was a brief, awkward silence after that. I had no idea what else to say. I wanted to ask her how she survived in the battle against Tiamattra, why she disappeared after that and why she didn't show up if she was still alive.
However, if I did that, she might ask me the same thing. She would probably be curious as to how I survived the battle against Vincent Lucard, and why I didn't return to the Havan Kingdom when I was clearly still alive.
So we were stuck in a weird stalemate of sorts, unable to interrogate the other for fear of being probed ourselves.
Fortunately, I had Stella by my side.
"Are you really Rafaela?" She rushed forward, and bowing politely. "I have heard so much about you! I'm honored to be able to meet you!"
"Eh…er…? You are…?"
"I am Stella Nightsworth," the red-haired knight introduced herself quickly. "I used to be from the Bravia regiment. I'm a knight like you. I was following in the footsteps of my sister…I don't know if you've heard of her before, she is Shirley Nightsworth. She would tell me all sort of stories about you. You are a legend among knights, especially female knights! An idol we all look up to, and aspire to become! That's why I always wanted to meet you!"
In a few seconds, Stella defused the awkward atmosphere with her passionate ramble.
"My sister told me about how you defeated Galatea the demoness – that's one of the legends they teach us about in the knight academy. And how you joined the Hero party, helping the Hero Howard subdue the Divine General Drakon! Your skills as a knight, particularly your swordsmanship and claymore techniques…they are second to none!"
"That's an exaggeration. There are far more warriors who are more skilled and stronger than me."
"That's not true! You're rated above even Bradley! The knight belonging to the strongest Hero party!"
Well, Bradley was unskilled and pathetic, so he was a low bar to begin with. All he had going for him was his brute strength. Otherwise he was just an idiot swinging his axe wildly. It wasn't difficult for any knight to surpass him.
The only reason why he had such a good reputation was because he had the fortune to join the so-called strongest Hero party, and that was only because nobody else wanted to join a Hero as young and inexperienced as Herman. They weren't even that good. They had to resort to sacrificing innocent people to power up Herman and rely on schemes to manipulate the other Hero parties into weakening the enemy before stealing the kill on the Demonic Emperor.
In terms of strategic brilliance and ruthless scheming, Herman's party was certainly the strongest. But I couldn't say the same for their magical power, combat strength and battle skills. And I was including the period of time when I was inside their party. Herman, Bradley, Miranda, Yvonne and Irene were all carried by me and Alan.
"The praise is undeserved," Rafaela insisted. "I'm sure all those stories about my reputation have been exaggerated."
"Not at all," I replied. "Considering that you were able to slay one of the Abysmal Rulers – something which I failed to do."
I immediately regretted saying that, especially when I saw Rafaela's reaction. She was doing an admirable job of holding back her tears, but I had just done the equivalent of cutting open a freshly sustained wound that had yet to heal.
"Sorry, I didn't mean…"
"No, don't worry about it. And you give yourself far too little credit. You weakened my sister considerably and defeated her in direct combat. If you hadn't already forced her to expend all of her strength in the battle yesterday, there is no way I would have been able to finish her off. I was never a match for her in combat. I merely took advantage of the aftermath of your battle with her to deal the finishing blow."
She hesitated, and then bowed her head.
"That's why I'm here. I wish to thank you for giving me the opportunity to wipe the taint from my sister's honor, and for allowing me to put her to rest once and for all."
"It's nothing, really."
Inwardly, I was relieved. I had initially been worried when I failed to kill and pursue Luciela. I had also been drained of my mana and too severely exhausted to catch up with the fleeing Abysmal Ruler. That had haunted me because I had half-expected Luciela to return, stronger than before, and seek revenge on me.
She was a dangerous foe. I would rather not leave her alive if possible. Thankfully, her sister Rafaela had taken care of that for me.
"I owe you a lot."
"No. I'm the one who owes you."
"Still, I'm kind of surprised." I stared at her. "For some reason, I thought you would be embracing your sister and accidentally let her corpse absorb your life force when you killed her, and then the two of you would physically merge to form a powerful destroyer…ouch!"
Stella had pinched my side, abruptly causing me to stop talking. I winced and pulled away. My aide then stepped forward to interrupt.
"Don't mind my lord. He has been reading too many web comics lately. He's mixing you up with someone else."
"Clearly," Rafaela remarked, looking a little shocked. Then she began laughing, to our astonishment. We watched her laugh for a while, clutching her gut. After a few minutes, she finally suppressed her laughter. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she shook her head and turned back to us. "Sorry. I haven't laughed like that in a long time."
"Glad to help," I said, only for Stella to nudge me.
"Anyway, I've also come to you for another reason." Rafaela turned serious. "Now that you've defeated the Possessed, there remains another enemy."
"What other enemies can there be, other than the demons?" Eleanor asked ironically. She was playing her part, keeping up the façade of us being human, and feigning ignorance of the vampire infiltration into the Havan Kingdom.
"You might be surprised to hear about this, but…" Rafaela took a deep breath. "After putting my sister to rest, I have decided to tackle the problem involving the governess of the southern provinces. Yvonne and her hunter tribe."
"Their corruption," Stella whispered angrily, evidently recalling the tyranny Bradley imposed upon his province.
"That is correct. Even though there are literally demons attacking towns in her province, Yvonne does not care. She murders ministers who try to advise her, throwing innocent civilians into the forest to hunt them. Even when the southern provinces are facing a crisis, she ignores all that just to entertain herself with hunting her human subjects. She favors her tribe and corruption is rampant. Non-hunter tribesmen are being oppressed and driven out of the south."
"That's horrible," Eleanor said. I bet she was enjoying herself, acting like a human. I could almost detect the mocking in her tone. She was deliberately making understatements and choosing cliché and cheesy lines. "We have to stop them!"
"The corruption runs deeper." Rafaela took a deep breath. "I don't know if you've heard, but a few weeks ago, when four surviving mages of the mage corps returned to the capital to report the corruption and atrocities of Miranda Miller, they…disappeared."
"What? Chris Redfield and the others?!" I jolted up at the news. I didn't think they would be in trouble. They were so confident that the royal family would listen to them and do something about the corruption. Furthermore, I had already eliminated Herman, Irene, Bradley and Miranda, so there was little to influence the royal family.
If possible, I had to save them.
"Well, that's the official news, but I did some digging on my way here." Rafaela dropped her voice to a whisper. "The royal family has merely detained them in an estate, to prevent the news from leaking out. Apparently there will be huge damage to morale…to the citizens' confidence in the kingdom, if they learned that the strongest Hero party has been committing all sorts of crimes and abusing civilians. The mages are all right, but the royal family is censoring the news for now because they don't want there to be riots and panic."
"Not to mention, nobody is going to believe them anyway." Stella frowned and pondered. "So the royal family is actually also protecting them from people who would attack and stone them for slandering the Hero party's reputation."
"Exactly. So you don't have to worry about them." Rafaela must have caught the surprise on my face. "You seem to be friends. And I did hear rumors that you were involved in helping them defeat Miranda Miller, so I knew you would be concerned about them."
"Phew." I exhaled in relief. "As long as they are all right."
"Yeah. But right now the ones who need help the most are the citizens in the southern province. That's why…" Rafaela lowered her head. "Please help us defeat Yvonne and her tribe."
"Don't worry." I grinned and glanced at Eleanor, who nodded. "We already have a plan for that."