That day, five out of the twenty-five men lost their lives. In terms of logistics, that was a great feat. But lives shouldn't be summed up by numbers and odds. Each one of them was held up on a gurney and passed through the mining village plaza. I did my best to clean them enough to their original state. It was a sinking feeling having been right about the identity of the dear brother of the first women I met arriving to this town. That similar and unprecedented kindness they showed, couldn't have gone unnoticed. I made sure to remember the sobs of Bruis' sister as she clung to his body and I watched from afar, incapable of shedding any tears. I felt that I didn't deserve to cry for them.
"I must say I am quite impressed." I looked grimly at the paladin who spoke through a handheld mirror.
"His majesty is also impressed with your work. This was a big win for our kingdom. Take some time to recover, I'll send your next assignment via pigeon in the coming days." Gauvain continued.
"Right." I clenched my jaw, trying hard to remain calm.
Once he disconnected I just couldn't take it and smashed the mirror to the ground.
"Bastard." I spat.
"Couldn't agree more." Melker stood at the doorway.
I stayed silent not knowing what to say.
"Just in case you haven't figured this out on your own, those men made the choice freely to fight knowing that it could result in their deaths."
"I know."
"I wish I could tell you it gets better, but truth be you just grow number."
"I-I know." I repeated, looking away from him.
I heard him take a few steps towards me and didn't look up until I felt his hand gently patting my head.
"As long as you know." he grinned.
Although we started out on the wrong foot, I was grateful for Melker. As emotional as I felt, I needed to acknowledge the fact that I had jumped over a major hurdle. It was way too early for me to break now.
He removed his hand and headed back towards the door.
"Those of us still able have also gotten our next assignment, so let's both try to stay alive until next we meet." he waved.
"You must come back alive."
His words reminded me of what the duke had previously said to me. Except these words weren't dripping with poison. It was more satiating, like some sweet honey.
~
Before I knew it, a year had passed. I continued to bring satisfactory results from my intel reports. I also started to notice the effects of messing with the future, as events were occurring differently from what I remembered them. One being Chaos joining in on the war earlier than anticipated. That proved to benefit me as I finally got an assignment to head to the border town Athelney of the Chaos kingdom.
The journey there took two weeks by carriage. Unlike most of the towns I visited this one was much livelier. Atheleny served as a pit stop for the soldiers, it had merchants selling their goods, street performers entertaining crowds, and prostitutes entertaining men.
"If that is all I'll be on my way." I nodded to the rogue captain of Chaos.
The assignment was simple enough, I had to report updates to squadron posted here.
"Sure, do stick around a while before heading off. You'll find a lot of interesting things here." the female captain nodded.
I was already planning on it. I had made sure to arrive earlier than expected for that purpose. I scoped out the area, hiding behind my cloak when passing other military personnel.
"If you are looking for history books, I would check over there." the vendor pointed towards a mansion located on the outskirts of the town.
"It's the merchant guild leaders' home. He's got a assortment of cool things there. Might be difficult to get in though."
I thanked the man and headed in the pointed direction. The place was protected by barrier magic, but it wasn't too hard for me to overwrite the script with my own mana. I waited until nightfall before sneaking in through the second story window of the mansion's library. It was almost comical how the moment I entered I tripped on my own two feet causing unintended ruckus. I prayed that no one had heard me and after a moment of waiting I went ahead a locked the door to the entrance.
It was an impressive collection; one I would expect from a high class merchant. For once it seemed like luck was on my side. Through my journey I didn't find out a single thing more than what Lennon had told me in Wargon. As time moved on, my anxiety grew with still no progress with what I would do after the war was over. I thought about just running away, but even that wasn't a possibility. Once that crescent moon marking appeared on my shoulder blade, there was no way for me to conceal my mana. Wherever I went they would be able to find me.
I was pinned to the ground face first. The clergy man kept me from resisting as he pulled down the sleeve of my gown exposing my shoulder. He followed the lines of the black ink that formed the crescent moon gently with his fingers.
"It's useless, your fate was determined the moment you were born, and that mark is proof of it. Although I'm quite impressed that this concealment spell lasted as long as it did."
I could see light start to illuminate around him, and with muffled screams I endured the pain as he incinerated the same tracings.
I shivered at the memory. That man was one of the main reasons I have pushed myself this far. I won't let him get his way a second time.
I began sifting through the books, not even knowing where to start. Most of the material was useless to me, but just as I was about to lose hope, I came across a black book with a rather interesting title;
The Story of Chaos
Right as I opened the cover, I was startled by rattling at the door, voices heard behind it.
Ugh they came earlier than I was hoping, I got to be quick.
I pulled out the monster book from my backpack and fed it some of my blood just as always.
"Yumm-"
"We don't have enough time to mess around! Now eat this." I whispered holding out the book over it's mouth.
It growled, not too happy to hear my command.
"Don't be defiant now, if you don't eat this, you're not getting anymore blood."
It whimpered before finally complying and opening it's fang packed mouth wide open. I dropped the book inside and let it take a moment to digest. I found out only recently a new feature of this thing. I was reading the morning chronicles when suddenly the pages disappeared accompanied by chewing noises. To my surprise when the monster book opened the words I had read earlier were printed on the pages. There was a chance, especially being a merchant's home, that their belongings had an enchantment locate to catch thieves. This feature came in handy sooner than I thought.
The monster book spat out the book it was fed and growled again.
"Not yummy."
I slipped it back into my bag and started for the way I came as the rattling grew louder. Before I could escape my attention was caught by a large group portrait hung on the wall. I moved up closer and focused in on one young women in particular.
"Lennon?"
The door slammed open as shadows began shouting.
"Show yourself!"
On queue I leapt out the window. There were a couple other bodies at the bottom, as I tried my best to evade them.
Looks like I'll need to use this thing after all.
I made sure I was outside the barrier before pulling out a pink looking marble. I threw it hard on the ground and no sooner than I had arrived, I said goodbye to the border town of Athelney with a gust of smoke.
~
At one of the passing towns, I came upon a small magic shop. They mainly sold frivolous magic items, but I did end up purchasing a couple of these teleportation marbles. They could transport one anywhere in the Serenitatem kingdom. One fault, you had no idea as to where that would be. It was basically a location roulette. Since using for the first time I came upon another fault, you had no idea how you would get there. Hence me now falling from the sky. I tried to brace the impact of the fall on the surrounding branches that came closer in sight. It wasn't until I fell onto something hard that I finally contacted the ground.
I'm seeing stars.
I thought with my head spinning. I almost didn't notice the grunting figure underneath me.
"Oh my, I'm so sorry I-"
I moved a little too quickly for someone who had just fallen from the sky. I watched as the world slowly faded to black, catching on the last sight of glistening dark armor.
~
"Ugh." I groaned as I lifted my body off the ground.
My whole body ached, as if I was hit by a carriage.
I shifted my gaze until I came face to face with a helmet.
"Eek!" I shrieked and pushed my body back.
A large figure covered head to toe in black armor knelled close by. They didn't say anything for a good while, the air getting more awkward with each passing second as I found myself in a staring contest.
"Are you alright?"
It spoke…
More so he spoke, I guessed from the masculine tone is his voice. I remained silent until I watched him start to grab for something.
I-Is this the end for me? All because of a pink marble!
I put up my arms in a defensive stance for a blow that never came. I stared at the hand that held a jug of water.
"Here."
As if sensing his suspicion, he retracted his hand and set the jug down. He started removing his helmet that uncovered locks of hair as blue as the night sky. There sitting in front of me was probably the most beautiful man I had ever seen. He took a swig of the water before attempting to hand it to me again.
"It's not poisoned."
He looked at me with dark brown irises, and I decided that it would be rude to reject such an offer. I grabbed the bottle from his hand and took a sip.
"T-Thank you." I spoke.
His flat expression shifted to a smile that beamed with innocence. I suddenly had this great urge to pet him.
"I'm also sorry that I suddenly…crashed into you." I blushed remembering the embarrassing encounter.
"It definitely took me by surprise."
He went ahead and put his helmet back on.
Aw what a shame.
"Are you a solider of Serenitatem?" he asked.
"You could say that." I was careful with my words.
"And you?"
He hesitated for a second before replying.
"I'm fighting on the same side, but I don't really belong to a certain group. People could refer to me as a lone wolf."
His reply made me think of a story I overheard on one of my missions. There was said to be a knight donning black armor that single handily brought down hundreds of men. At the time it seemed a bit over exaggerated, but it was also said the he traveled alone. They called him the angel of death, for if you came across him you would surely meet your death. Not very original but it works.
The description seemed to match the person in front of me, but angel of death...
I don't sense much blood-lust from him.
"Since we know that we aren't enemies, fill free to stay the night."
It looked like he had brought me back to his base camp. Frankly, I was too exhausted to be on guard and took him up on his offer.
If he wanted to kill me, he would have done it by now.
"I'm Laemise by the way." I said as a peace offering.
"S-Sayoko."
The name was quite feminine, but somehow it fit him.
"My mother really wanted a girl." he added, guessing at my thoughts.
"I think it suits you." I smiled.
Way more than this angel of death nonsense.
"You're the first person to ever say that." he sounded stunned.
"Oh sorry I meant it as a compliment, I'm not saying you-" I began panicking.
"No, I…thank you."
He was indeed still wearing a helmet, but it was like I could see a hint of a smile beaming from underneath.