[ ~ Chapter • Start ~ ]
Patton was more furious than worried. Simply, you could say that hearing of a report of 300 soldiers betraying the empire is enough to make him slightly paranoid. What happened to L'Zille? Did the soldiers eventually find out and killed them yet? Then that would be good enough news.
What if more of the 3rd Army's Soldiers, the army with the force of 30,000 who followed him to capture Leazas and the Free Cities for his own glory to finally become the next and greatest king of Helman, suddenly betray him?
He also had requested for reinforcements to his empire, but there was no response from the Empire yet.
"Noce, Noce!!!" Patton yelled, as the said person.... no, Dark Lord approached him. "Where are the reinforcements?! They're taking too long!"
Somehow, without him noticing, the moustache behind Noce's veil lifted up mysteriously.
"It seems the Royal Family and the Council of Helman have both rejected your request for reinforcements, at a time like this." Noce's voice sounded like a deep rumble, that Patton still couldn't get used to, yet due to what he spoken, Helman's Prince could not help but lean and fall back to the throne he was sitting on. "That also means you won't receive their support.... Prince."
There was a small tone of mockery present on Noce's voice, yet Patton didn't mind, or completely ignore what he was talking about.
"No way..... Argh!!! Father....! Stessell...! Sheila....! Why?! Why must you turn your backs to me!!!"
Patton grit his teeth, clutching the armrests of the throne hard enough to make them squeak, even for a few moments. A tear flowed out of his left eye.
He couldn't do anything. So he growled in harsh frustration, unable to accept that.
"Haaaaagh.....! Damn it! Just you wait, all of you! There must be some way..... some way...."
Patton began to rub his temple to relieve himself of the frustration, beginning to think about something else.
"Call Thoma here." Patton spoke between harsh growls, just before the said person entered the room. ".... Oh, forget that, you're just in time, General of the 3rd Army, Thoma Lipton. Have you got anything to report?"
"Your highness. Henderson is dead, and L'Zille has been taken from us. Speaking of which, the brainwashed Leazas soldiers have broken free, and sadly, more of our allies betrayed us. Days before Henderson died, he sent us a message saying that we're completely on our own."
"Grrrh....!!!! Fuck!!!!"
Patton Helman began to breathe heavily, his head was slightly hurting now, too.
"Thoma.... is that all? If that is..... I.... I need to rest.... I've had enough of this....."
"Of course." Thoma agreed, and then bowed. "I'll take my leave now. Go on and rest, I'll take care of whatever I needed to do."
"...."
The giant turned around, exiting the room which they were in, leaving Patton with Noce and the soldiers here... along with a certain, black haired Kalar.
[ ~ Line • Break ~ ]
In a room somewhere in the Castle, Ithere stared at his apostle with worry.
Said apostle, Sapphire, had been sitting on the bed with both her hands resting on her thighs. He wasn't worried because of that, it was simply because of her expression.
It looked like she had done something that she was too ashamed to be talking about.
"Lord Ihere..... I.... I'm sorry."
"For what? Tell me, Sapphire. I am kind to my apostles, after all."
Ithere approached his apostle, lifting her face up by pressing his finger on her chin.
".... I.... It was that human.... I don't remember much, but he has brown hair, and is wearing a coat under his green armor. He.... violated me while I was defenseless!"
The Dark Lord narrowed his eyes in disgust, not towards his apostle, but to whoever he was.
"Ah.... so my apostle has been defiled by such a mold in bread, hm? Do not worry, my apostle..." Ithere knelt down to give Sapphire a hug, ".... Soon you'll take your revenge against him, or I do."
Ithere became determined in punishing the filth, though due to being a man of his word, a promise of his is a promise needing to be kept.
Sapphire reciprocated the hug, by crying on his shoulder. Eventually they'll meet again.
[ ~ Chapter • End ~ ]
Sad fact: it's actually pretty hard to write Ithere.