The burning smell of corpses and the cries of their loved ones, hearing it was an everyday occurrence for Lumiere now.
He tried to roll sideways on his bed made of hay, trying to sleep again despite hearing the commotion from below and outside of the tattered lodge he was in.
Lumiere cursed while he got up, not getting a rest, maybe even a breakfast. He looked at the filthy room he just rested and noticed that there's nothing good to look at here.
Roof full of holes, pest infested rooms, even the floor might collapse if you put too much weight on it. The smell was just as bad as the service here.
Lumiere took his brown bag, hooked on a chair and took a rolled up paper inside. He then unrolled it like a letter from someone you know, but you never even met.
It was a map, filled with marks of circles and crosses on it. And Lumiere was now investigating this city called Nazareth, ruled by the Kingdom of Kraresh.
'Where are you, Mohammed?!', Lumiere thought.
At the start of the journey to nowhere, he expected that it will only take a month before he finds the Prophet that Leopold wanted Lumiere to look for. But then, the war started only one after he went with his mission.
It has been six months now, with all this chaos and slaughter. The Empire's soldiers spared no lives except the women they wanted to play with or the children that was good to be sold as slaves.
Lumiere watched with his own eye how the Empire hunted down humans like the demons that were cleaned up a year before Leopold took the crown. He lamented for their poor innocent souls that was easily cutted down by the merciless soldiers of Regulus like grass.
If it wasn't for the mission taking so long, Lumiere would have easily advised Leopold to not take the path of tyranny. But someone got behind the Emperor's ear and was greedy enough to advise a conquest again, except it's the human nations' turn now.
"Ahh! Please don't! Mother, help me!"
Lumiere heard a girl's voice coming from downstairs. He wanted to check what's happening, so put his shirt on and simply tied his hair in a ponytail.
"Hahaha! I didn't know that there were some girls from Kraresh that are good looking. Isn't it a good find, eh, brothers!"
A fat soldier with his bearded face was grabbing the girl by her face when Lumiere went down. Four soldiers with ugly faces surrounded the lodge owner's daughter with a perverted gazes.
"No, please! Let her go..! I'll pay you, please! Just let my daughter go!", the owner came rushing up from the cellar of the lodge, never having a chance to even wipe his bloody hands from the pig's blood.
"... Why would we accept your payment in exchange for your girls life when we can just kill you and have fun with her in front of your headless corpses?", the fat soldier said, with a devilish smile.
" I, I...", the lodge owner's old knees felt numb from fear and fell to the floor, with despair on his face.
Lumiere watched the seen unfold in the corner of the lodge where the soldiers can't clearly see his face. He's hoping that they will let her go if the owner pays them, but things weren't looking good for the girl.
"Thought so...", the fat soldier said.
"I can't wait anymore, Rufus! Let me have her!", one of the three soldiers behind the fat guy shoved him away and slammed the girls face on the table!
"Don't!! Please, sir! Let me be!", the girl pleaded while crying. She struggled to escape from the skinny soldier's hands, but her strength was useless against a warrior.
"Shut up, you wench! You should be glad that you'll get screwed by me, Deli, a future platoon leader of the Regulus Army!", the skinny soldier slapped the girl's face as he got ready to have some fun.
"You guys... That's enough of that!!"
The owner suddenly stood up and tried to tackle the skinny soldier who was unlacing his bulged pants! He put all his strength on his butcher's knife with a desperate look as he charged.
But then, one of the four soldiers kicked in the guts even before the owner reached the skinny guy. The force of the kick was enough to cause some internal injury on the owner.
"Dear!!", the owner's wife screamed as she watched her husband slam at the lodge's counter. She can't even move because of fear.
"Fucking bastard! Trying to hurt my brother, eh?! Let me show you what's the feeling of getting hurt for real."
The one who kicked the owner to the counter tried to kick him again! This time, he has the intent to kill.
The lodge owner tried to move his head with his remaining towards someone drinking a cup of green tea from a dark corner of their lodge. 'Ah, what a bad service coming from us... Our best customer even watched a show while drinking a cold tea.', he thought, as he closed his eyes and awaited his death.
However, the death that old owner wanted never came. He just heard a loud sound, like someone just flicked a cup but the noise was amplified. There was only silence before he opened his eyes, or maybe, it was only because of his ears ringing.
And then the owner saw it... The tall soldier who tried to kick him again, even his fellow brothers. They were all dead and headless!
"I'm sorry about that. I tried to control my anger, but seeing a soldier that was under me, killing an innocent man was just something I can't watch further."
Lumiere took the tea cup made of clay from the floor as it rolled towards his feet. He blew the dust off of it and gave it to the girl, watching him with awe.
"Are you okay, my lady?", Lumiere asked her with a smile on his face.
"Yes... Yes, my lord. Thank you!", seeing Lumiere closely, her face became red in embarassment and ran towards her mother holding the cup on her hand.
"I'll heal your wounds and have some breakfast after, but please, don't tell anyone about what happened.", Lumiere turned towards the weak old owner on the floor and used his gracia to heal him.
'Holy Magic!.. He must be a Paladin!', the owner thought, while gasping for air as his cracked ribs returned to normal. Even though Lumiere was helping him heal, the pain cannot go away that easily until the injury was completely mended.
"Thank you, M'lord! I'll never forget this day... I'll always tell my grandchildren that our family was saved by a Paladin from the Church.", the owner gratefully thanked Lumiere.
Lumiere wasn't surprised that he was easily recognized as a Paladin. Only the warriors who were affiliated with the Church in someway are the only people that can use Holy Magic. But there are still existences that contradicts that known fact.
The greatest example of that will be the few members of the Zodiacs that can use Holy affinity gracia to heal their comrades or their own injuries.
"Just don't let the soldiers know that their people were killed in here. And you better leave this place as soon as possible. The tides of war are upon us.", Lumiere suggested.
"But, we have nowhere to go to, M'lord. This is where I was born.", the owner said to Lumiere.
Lumiere stood up and checked the girl, not even seventeen years of age, and closed his eyes to think.
A moment later, Lumiere opened his eyes and pointed westward; the direction of Vider, the capital of the Church of the Holy See.
"Do it for your family if you must. Remaining here will only expose you to more dangers."
Lumiere looked at the owner with a serious face. He's not joking when he said that staying will endanger their whole family.
The owner looked at his wife, hoping to see a nod from her. And she nodded as he expected, so the owner stood up, with more resolve in his eyes.
"I hope you will be safe from your ventures from now on.", the owner offered a handshake to Lumiere.
"So do you... Take care of your family.", Lumiere shook the owner's hands with a smile.
There's an awkward silence after the two shook hands, fortunately the lodge girl broke it, "Let's get you some breakfast first, My Lord! This is a one time only event for you!", she said with a cheerful face.
Afterwards, Lumiere had his first wonderful meal in the last month he has been here at Kraresh. He then went upstairs to get ready for the journey that was waiting for him.
Then suddenly, there was a knock on his door; it was a soft knock. Lumiere was attaching his monocle back to visit the Regulus Army's camps outside Nazareth, wanting to check the situation on the Empire's side.
Lumiere opened the door and saw the lodge owner's daughter wearing a revealing dress. Her breasts, that weren't even fully matured yet, complemented her cute flushed face.
"Umm.. I wanted to thank you for saving me and my family earlier, My Lord. But, I couldn't think of anything that would satisfy you so, I thought that only my body would suffice as a payment for saving my life.", she said, while her tone was completely filled with embarassment.
Lumiere sighed in frustration, 'I saved her from getting fucked, and now she wants me to fuck her? What irony is this?'.
"Why would you do something like this? The way your doing things is simply not applicable. You must give your body to the man you love most.", Lumiere lectured her.
Her impulsive behavior was due to her being young so she could not think clearly. Lumiere had been there, but most of his life was mostly dedicated to his sword training.
"But, I'm sixteen now! I'll be eligible to get married in a year or two. I think there will be no difference about me marrying off as a maiden or not.", the girl looked at Lumiere with teary eyes.
"Our age gap are too far apart. I can't make love with someone who is seven years younger than me. Go back, I'll never tell your mother about this.", Lumiere tried to close the door but, the girl stopped it using her foot, hurting herself.
She whined and sat on the floor from the pain. Her eyes became more teary.
Out of guilt, Lumiere carried her to his bed so that he can mend the pain. "Why are you forcing yourself on me? I can even be your older brother. You should find a great man other than me."
"Gina, the mayor's daughter, got married to a nobleman who was twice her age. And I'm not going to marry someone great if there's a better one in front of me.", the girl put her arms around Lumiere with smiled like she had already won.
"I still have to obey the rules of a kni--...!", Lumiere argued but, the girl kissed him on the lips.
"Shut up and kiss me...", the girl said.
Lumiere sighed in frustration as he was taken advantaged by a girl and just get on with the mood. He kissed her while laying her down on the bed.
They made up sloppily on the beginning, but the girl got better and better as they went on. The two pleasured each other the whole day and only stopped at night when the dinner was ready.
On the next morning, the girl woke up on Lumiere's bed, stark naked and clearly exhausted. She then reached out to find Lumiere was nowhere to be found.
Only a letter was left in the room, being held still by an insignia of the Church, a special one at that. Containing the words of Lumiere:
"Mary, if you're reading this letter, that means I was gone. I'm still in a mission that needs to be finished in a hurry and I have a little time left. I will leave my insignia, the White Eye, to you. Head straight towards the capital of Vider and find a guy called Alphonse. He will know what to do when he sees my insignia. Tell your father to always be careful when you're traveling as we may not know if what we did will bloom a new life.
I'll return to you when I finished my mission, immediately.
-Lumiere Von Narulan Argent"
Mary took the insignia and immediately get downstairs to tell her parents to pack up. She will not choose to stay here anymore, as her beloved was not here.