The pink-haired maiden awoke from her slumber to the feeling of soft fingers going through her hair. Slowly rising from the bed, holding the blanket on her chest, the girl sat upright, coming face to face with Sung-nim, who welcomed her with a pretty smile.
"Did you rest well, Raynell?"
Gradually coming out of her drowsiness, her ruby eyes shone with realization at the person who spoke to her.
"I-I did, thank you." She replied softly.
Sung-nim nodded her head and walked over to the desk beside the table. Taking a tray containing a cup of tea and a spread of bread and bacon on it, she brought it to the bed and laid it before her.
"You must be starving. Aosaki-kun brought this for you."
"Toshirou-san did?"
"That's right," Sung-nim replied, smiling.
Raynell glanced at the meal once more before taking the bread and biting into it tentatively. She let out a pleased sigh and swallowed inaudibly.
"It's delicious." She said with a small smile.
"Why thank you," Sung-nim replied, equally just as pleased.
Only the munching of food could be heard between the two as they sat in silence together. Sung-nim occupied herself with reading a book and watching over Raynell as she steadily ate her meal.
"Thank you for everything, Sung-nim-san," Raynell said as she wiped her mouth with a napkin.
"It's my pleasure." She replied.
"No, I don't just mean for the meal. Ever since I was brought here, you're the only one who cared for me. I know I didn't talk much... but yet you still went out of your way to look after me. I'm sorry for being a nuisance but thank you, Sung-nim-san."
Sung-nim closed the book in her hand and took Raynell's palm in hers.
"I'm glad I could help you, Raynell. You're not a nuisance, and I am sure Aosaki-kun doesn't think you are too, same with Joel-kun. So please don't harm yourself, okay? Right now, Aosaki-kun is doing everything in his power to get you home, so just be patient. You'll definitely get home safely." Sung-nim said to her.
"B-But what about you? If I leave, won't the elders be mad?"
"Don't worry about that, I and my husband will make something work out," Sung-nim replied.
Sung-nim suddenly looked up as she heard sniffles coming from the young girl. Startled, Sung-nim watched her as she began to cry. Salty streams of liquid flowed down her fair cheeks as she sobbed her heart out. She suddenly hugged Sung-nim and buried her face into her stomach, wetting the fabric of her nightgown.
'Oh, Raynell.'
She understood the emotions the girl felt as she hugged her back with just as much passion as she.
"Thank you, Sung-nim-san. Thank you so much."
"You're welcome... Raynell."
...
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Toshirou-nii that hurts!!"
"That's what you get, you little brat. Don't ever pull a stunt like that again!"
"B-But she was almost naked!"
"That wasn't for your eyes, kid, or any of ours as a matter of fact."
The cooks and maids all looked in amusement as Toshirou pulled the hair of the boy. They didn't interfere, they simply did their work and watched on in mirth as Toshirou manhandled the poor boy.
"Geez, what the hell am I going to do with you?"
Toshirou freed the hair of the boy and sighed deeply.
The kitchen was fairly large, big enough to hold up to fifteen people at once which was alright considering that it belonged to a palace. Cooks and maids walked in and out, each performing one duty or the other.
After he met with Yeong-ji earlier that morning, Toshirou asked one of the maids to send breakfast to his room. Confident that Sung-nim would not allow anyone into the room and would receive the meal at the entrance, he calmed himself knowing that the innocent maid would not hurt herself from falling to the trap placed at the entrance of his room.
His talk with the elders, on the other hand, had certainly come off as really interesting.
After his conversation with Yeong-ji in the magnificent study room, he took a little trip down to the throne room of the palace. The room he was given resided within the palace and the rooms he had been in so far were much more spacious than its exterior suggested, much to the confusion of the blue-haired teen.
On his arrival to the throne room, he casually walked in without a care in the world and stood before the elders, with no greetings or salutations.
"Why do you come here, young man?" One of the elders, Byung-nim, asked Toshirou as he walked into the palace, where he had been the previous day.
"Still won't call me by my name, huh."
"You were asked a question, young man!"
Toshirou put his right hand in his pockets and his left at the back of his head. Looking left and right, he purposely averted the gaze of the elders, much to their irritation.
"Do you guys just sit there all day? I'd have no trouble believing you actually grew old on that royal chair of yours." Toshirou said to them with a cheeky tone to his voice.
"This is your last warning!" Another elder, Byung-hoon, shouted at him.
"Oh really? Then that's good." Toshirou's gaze suddenly became tilted. He drew his face downwards with a sinister smile written on it and his cobalt blue eyes flared with a look and both cunningness and malice.
"You're planning on overthrowing Yeong-ji-san, aren't you?"
The stillness in the air was claustrophobic, like a wall closing in on both parties, only that, one had no fear of being crushed and the others tried to think of ways to escape this predicament.
An elder with long-flowing grey hair and dark, beady eyes, accompanied with a thin grey beard, spoke up for his peers.
"Our loyalty lies with the king first, then the people. Nothing will make us compromise." The elder, Byung-joon said.
"Isn't that the exact reason you're willing to take over the kingdom? Your loyalty lies with the king, in other words, your loyalty lies with power first. Am I correct?"
"How dare you make such an assumption!"
"Would you rather it be a fact instead?" Toshirou replied with a sadistic grin.
"You!! Just who do you think you are?!" Another elder, Byung-woo, shouted.
"If you knew who I was, you'll tremble in fear. Own up right now, the Thessalonica never really was your goal. It was only a means to an end."
"Such heresy!" Byung-woo replied back.
"It's convenient to say that isn't it? I mean, it's funny how you hired a particular adventurer behind the back of the Feudal lord to save your village. If it even needs saving."
At this statement, the eyes of the elders widened in bewilderment.
"Signing up a deal where you'll forge a certain somebody a divine weapon and capturing Raynell at the same period, you really are sneaky bastards."
"Young ma-"
"Don't cut in." Toshirou interrupted. " Seven months ago, you waged an attack on Min-ae. You took Raynell hostage and didn't return her. Soon after, you issued out a quest for Enel in particular, but that was wrong. It is illegal for anyone, no matter who you are, to ask for a specific individual to partake in a quest - Chapter 1, page 9 of the Adventurers Code. Even though Enel's a jerk, he is still an honourable adventurer, so he refused. But an offer of a divine weapon was too much to pass upon."
"What are you insinuating?" Byung-woo asked him.
"I told you not to interrupt me. You'll seriously die if you do it again." The pressure in the room suddenly increased. It was as if something was pinning them to the ground, rendering them unable to move. An invisible aura held everyone and everything in the room down to the ground. Even their ability to speak was almost cut by the pressure.
"I-I u-u-understand." Byung-woo managed to choke out.
"Very well," Toshirou replied.
The aura disappeared, just as quickly as it had come. Acting as nothing happened, Toshirou continued to speak.
"As I was saying, after you offered Enel the possibility of a divine weapon, you expected him to come here wanting to fulfil the request. But unfortunately, you didn't count on someone else defeating him in such an unexpected manner. Yeong-ji-san does not know of this. From what I've seen around the village, he is a faithful and compassionate lord. So why go behind his back, why overthrow him?"
"Because he is weak. His ways are soft!!" An elder named Byung-Chul shouted in anger.
The elders were finally displaying their true colours.
"So now you tell the truth? How exactly are his ways soft?" Toshirou asked.
"He's unwilling to shed blood, he's unwilling to destroy, he's unwilling to have an iron fist!" Byung-joon exclaimed.
"Isn't it enough that he's kind and honest!? Why must killing always be involved in everything!? Why do people have to die!?"
"That is naive thinking. In this world, blood must be shed. It's an unfortunate event that has to occur in this world that we live in."
"Is that right?!"
"I'm afraid so."
Toshirou scratched the back of his head in annoyance. He was getting irritated by this rubbish talk by the elders. People will always die - that much he knew - but why does it have to be innocent people? And for the sake of ambition?
"I knew it, you people really do disgust me after all." Toshirou scoffed with a bittersweet smile.
"It's not about the killing, young lad. It's about being strong in both mind and spirit. We do not hate Yeong-ji, but he is merely a boy. The people cannot be safe under such a ruler. A time will come when you will understand the need to take an innocent life." Byung-hoon said.
"When that time comes, I'll decide for myself on what to do," Toshirou replied. "As for now, keep this conversation between us. It'll be painful if otherwise is done."
"Are you threatening us?"
"No, not really," Toshirou said and walked to the gate that led in and out of the palace.
"I've gotten what I need to know. My next objective is fulfilling the quest." He said and walked out.
Coming back to the present, he also recalled sending Joel to get a map, though the boy was already on it before he asked him to.
"Toshirou-nii, are you alright?" Joel's voice jolted him out of his reminiscing.
"Hm? What?"
"Are you really okay? You've been staring at Li-san's butt for some time now."
The pretty maid blushed heavily and quickly ran out of the kitchen with a water pot in hand.
"Ah! No, wait!"
But she was already gone.
Toshirou sighed both in regret and tiredness.
"S-sorry for calling you out like that," Joel said, feeling remorse for making such a snide comment.
"It's alright. It doesn't matter, more like, that's not our problem right now." Toshirou replied. 'But I'm still going to apologize though.'
"Toshirou-nii, I got the maps."
In an instant, Toshirou placed his hand on Joel's shoulder and appeared at the door of his room.
Joel, startled by the instant movement, lost his stability for a couple of minutes and almost hurled on the floor.
"Sorry about that."
He took a minute to reply as he tried to calm himself. His stomach was greatly upset by the sudden and unusual speed.
He felt a warm glow and looked up to see Toshirou casting a blue light from his palm over his stomach, calming the upset he was having.
"Are you fine now?" Toshirou asked.
"Y-Yeah, I am," Joel replied.
Toshirou left him and stood up. Facing the wooden door, he knocked three times, paused for two seconds, and knocked four times.
The door gently swung open, revealing Raynell wearing a beautiful cream-coloured gown that accentuated her figure. Her dark pink hair had been neatly done and flowed over her shoulders. The dullness that was once in her eyes was replaced with a look of hope and expectations.
Hope, Toshirou thought. He will do his best not to make her eyes become like his. He will give everything he's got in making her hope become a reality.
"Wow! You look really pretty, Raynell-san."' Joel exclaimed brightly, fully cured of his stomach upset.
"I-I do? Thank you." She replied and pat the boy's head softly, much to his embarrassment.
"Good to see you're not trying to seduce me, Raynell," Toshirou said to her with a little smile on his face.
"I'm really sorry about earlier. I... just didn't know what to do. I hope I wasn't a nuisance." She replied with her head hung low.
'She's... just like her, Chiyo.' A bitter smile crept onto his lips as he remembered his best and only friend. 'And just as short too.'
He placed his hand on her chin and tipped her face up to meet his gaze. Her ruby red orbs stared brightly into icy cobalt ones which radiated loneliness and yet some hidden kind of warmth.
"I made you a promise. I intend to keep it to the fullest. We're going to get you home, Raynell, even if it costs me my life."
She took the hand on her chin and closed both her palms over it. Tears filled her vision, as she gazed up at him with a heartbreaking smile.
"I don't want you to die, but... I believe in you, Toshirou-san."
She felt someone tug on her dress and a pair of orchid purple eyes met with her own.
Without a word she understood. She knew deep within the depths of her heart, down to her very soul, that she was not alone, she was safe, and most of all, she was loved.
Removing her right hand from Toshirou's, she brought it down and held Joel closer to her, basking in the feeling of the warmth and compassion all around her.
'I'll do my best.' She said to herself. 'I'll be strong and be by your sides until the very end. I'm glad... I'm glad you are the ones who rescued me, Toshirou-san, Joel. Be safe, the both of you.'