Appearing at the Blessed Battalion, Brenn appeared to greet us once more.
"Hi Brenn, an unexpected incident happened and we had to end out hunting early. Is Anna inside? Also, what happened with the woman we left here the other day?"
A sudden pain came from my left side, where Anise elbowed me as soon as I mentioned 'unexpected incident', but I ignored it and waited for Brenn's answer.
"Yes, the saintess is dealing with some business inside. The woman you two left with me was successfully cured of the demons' control. Anna said that since she was not under the demons' control for a long period of time and the brainwashing appears to have been applied by a weaker demon than Mezienne, it was quite easy to remove. Unfortunately, she kept causing a commotion saying she had to return to the south. We tried explaining her that it's not possible, but she wouldn't listen and even tried sneak outside once. Since we were afraid of her causing more trouble we ended up restraining her."
"It's good that we returned early then. Can we go inside? I want to speak to Anna and check on the masked woman as well."
Brenn nodded and teleported all three of us inside the city. After saying goodbye to Brenn, we headed straight towards the place Anna was living at.
Once we entered the main hall of her house, we found Anna looking through some files scattered on the table with a tired face while sipping onto a cup of tea. Seeing her exhausted face paired with her focused look as she was reading some document, it felt hard to believe she was the same silly innocent girl I met in the mountain village.
Feeling Anise letting go of my hand and giving me an encouraging look, I walked towards Anna's back, hoping to surprise her with a hug, but sadly she felt me getting closer and looked away from her document in my direction on her own.
Seeing me there, a smile replaced her previous tired face and she jumped in my arms like all the tiredness from before was just a illusion.
"Ethan, I missed you."
"I missed you too, Anna. You should rest more, you're looking like a walking zombie right now."
Anna nodded weekly in my arm before letting go and saying: "It's been quite a busy period. I've been increasing the number of attacks on the other cities to make them decrease the number of guards inside Kazim City so your hunt will be just a bit safer, but the stunt you pulled last night really made all my efforts for naught."
I scratched my head and apologized, feeling a bit embarrassed about being reprimanded by both Anise and Anna.
"It's fine. I would love to spend some time with you, but I have a bit more work to do and you must deal with that woman you sent here the last time. After I removed the demon's control, she went wild so we had to lock her inside the dungeon. Once I finish my work and you deal with her, you owe me some time together."
"Thank you, Anna. I'll go deal with her now and be sure to spend the rest of the day with you and Anise once we're done. Can you tell me where the dungeon is?"
"It's just under the teleportation platform, but it can only be entered and exited using spatial magic. Tell Brenn I sent you and he will let you in."
"Ethan, I'll stay here with Anna and try to help her a little. Come and let us know how it went once you're done. You also owe me some time together after ruining out hunting." Said Anise. I could tell she was trying her best to form a good relationship with Anna for my sake and I was really grateful.
"All right, I'm going now. Love you both." I said before walking out and heading for the teleportation platform. Once there, I found Brenn sitting down on the platform with a pensive look. Seeing me approach, he stood up and asked: "Did Anna sent you to the dungeon so you can deal with that woman?"
Seeing me nod, he teleported us both to a new place. I looked around and saw that I was in a small room with a circular staircase leading both up and down. In front of me, there was a small prison cell and the masked woman was sitting there, mask off and a sad look on her face.
Brenn nodded towards me and teleported away, leaving me alone in front of her cell. Feeling someone looking at her, the masked woman lifted her head and she immediately stood up as soon as she saw it was me.
"Ethan, you must get me out of here. Please, I need to go south and make sure my fiancé is all right."
Seeing the anxious look in her eyes, I let out a sigh and opened the cell before taking a seat in front of her. Seeing her look at me with expectation as soon as soon as I opened the cell door, I let out another sigh and asked: "Can you please tell me your name? I never got to ask the previous times we met."
Seeing the sad look in my eyes, she looked even more worried, but still stood up, bowed her head towards me and said: "My name is Redda Truven, first princess of the Truven Kingdom and fiancée of the crown prince of the Darsig Kingdom."
I nodded towards her and asked: "Princess Redda, can you tell me the last thing you remember before you fell under the demons' control?"
She thought for a moment before saying: "We, the members of the rebellion, were thinking about how to deal with the emperor getting poisoned, when you happened to contact me using the ring."
"Since I once told my fiancé about you and he wanted to meet you in person, I came up with the idea of letting you know of the duke being behind the whole thing in exchange for you agreeing to meet up with him. Since you agreed to the deal, I immediately went to inform my fiancé as well. As I was telling him about the meeting, I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head and don't remember anything that happened after that. The next thing I remember was me walking up next to that girl covered in golden light."
'So she really doesn't know anything..' I thought to myself as I asked: "Do you know if the Darsig Kingdom had any kind of deals with the demons or how a demon managed to sneak inside and take control of your mind?"
She shook her head and said: "That's impossible. I've been living with the royal family of the Darsig Kingdom for quite a long time and I could tell they were kind and honest people. There's no way they would get involved with the demons. Even the rebellion was initiated since we mistook the Grand Duke's actions as being perpetrated by the Emperor. That's why I want to go back and make sure that Leo is all right. Please Ethan, you must take me back to the Darsig Kingdom with you. If the demons controlled me, they might have controlled him as well."
"That's… Sigh. Let me tell you what exactly happened…" I said before I started telling her everything that went on and eventually, how I ended up killing her fiancé."
As my story ended, Redda looked completely broken as she fell to her knees and started weeping, her cries of grief resounding through the entire prison. Since I couldn't really do anything to comfort her, I just stayed there and waited for her to vent out her grief. Eventually, after crying for over half an hour, her voice was the first to give up and she looked at me with a lost look and tears falling down her cheeks. She tried to say something, but her lips just barely had time to open up before she passed out and started falling down towards the ground.
I quickly caught her falling body and placed her gently on the nearby bed. Even unconscious, tears were still slowly dripping down her cheeks. Not willing to let her wake up alone, I took a seat with my back resting against the cell's wall.
'Ai, was there any way for me to save that guy?'
[Maybe. I don't know exactly what kind of spell the demons used to control him, but even so, you didn't have the time or luxury to consider saving him. If you wasted time on saving him, that meteorite would have destroyed the entire city and killed a lot more innocent people.]
'I know, but seeing her like this, is purely heartbreaking and, in the end, I was the one who killed her fiancé…'
[…]
I then proceeded to rest there in silence as I waited for Redda to wake up. Eventually, after a few hours, her eyelids slowly trembled and she opened her eyes.
"Leo?" she said as she looked confused around the room, but she then saw me and seemed to recall everything. Bitting her lower lip, she asked: "That wasn't a nightmare, was it?"
I shook my head and replied: "No. I'm sorry princess."
She nodded while doing her best to stop herself from crying once more.
"Ethan, can you please give me some time alone?"
"Sure. Let me get you out of this cell first." I replied as I stood up and was about to teleport us both to Anna's house when Redda shook her head and said: "No need. I just need to be left alone for a moment. Here's fine as well."
I nodded silently and just teleported out of the dungeon, not really bothering to close the cell door. Once outside, Brenn asked: "What happened? I heard a loud cry all the way up here. Is she fine?"
"I just told her the news that her fiancé had died. Brenn, please keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't do anything stupid but don't let her notice you."
Brenn nodded and I teleported back inside Anna's house. The girls were just looking through some papers, but stopped as soon as I appeared.
"How was it?" asked Anise.
"I don't know." I replied while shaking my head. "That guy that was possessed and I killed was indeed her fiancé and she broke down as soon as told her he was dead."
"And you let her alone?" asked Anna.
"She said she needed some time alone and I thought it would help giving her some time to sort her thoughts out. I asked Brenn to keep an eye on her as well so she won't try anything stupid."
"I'll go and talk to her. No one want to be left alone with their thoughts while griefing…" said Anise as she just teleported away right after.
Anna also sighed and said: "Sister Anise is right. Come and help me finish these."
I couldn't understand, but maybe it was because I just got used to deal with my feeling on my own. Walking up to the table, I started helping Anna deal with official Bastion business in silence. It took a few more hours until both Anise and Renna appeared inside the room out of nowhere. I was about to say something when Renna interrupted me as she asked: "Ethan, can you please teleport me to Truven Kingdom? I want to be with my family right now."
I turned towards Anise and seeing her nod, I replied: "Sure. Give me a moment."
With Ai's help, I obtained the coordinates to Truven Kingdom and teleported us both up above Truven City, the capital of the kingdom. We gently floated down and after reaching close to the main gate, Redda turned towards me and said: "Here's enough. Ethan.". She then walked towards one of the guards at the gate without saying another word.
I really didn't know if I should say anything so I let out another sigh and teleported back to the Blessed Battalion. Once I entered back inside Anna's house, I found both girl chatting at the table with Anise doing most of the talking and Anna listening.
"Did you take her home?" asked Anise seeing me enter the room.
I nodded and asked: "I did. Does she blame me?"
"Not really, but you must understand it's not easy for her either. He might have been under the demons' control but you are still the one who ended up killing him. It might take a while. but she's be fine."
"I wish I had a choice but the situation was… sigh…"
Seeing my downcast expression, Anna stood up and, grabbing the surprised Anise's hand, started dragging her towards me.
"Well, since you've both helped me and most of my work is done, how about we go upstairs and spend the rest of the day together? I think we could all use a day to relax."
Her idea didn't seem that bad and I nodded in agreement. Seeing me agree, Anna turned towards Anise and waited to hear her opinion as well.
"We can't really hunt now since the demons are on alert and I could use so time to relax as well. Let's go."
Anna smiled happily and grabbed both of our hands before dragging us up the stairs.