6.21 p.m.
The sounds of the closing ceremony could be heard as Flare, Weiss, Marcia, and Boyd approach the coliseum. Each of them is tired from their journey, except for Flare, who seems to have gained a newfound purpose. Before they arrived, she asked them what they would do before boarding a ship to Atlis. Boyd told her they are free to do whatever they want until tomorrow afternoon at 11, as they will set sail then. However, the three of them were surprised to hear about their early departure; most felt relieved since they would leave this place, except for Weiss, who seemed a bit troubled. However, Boyd patted him on the back before he could say anything and told him to invite Owen and share a drink at the tavern. After their heated spat, the old armored man hoped they could reconcile and settle their differences by talking like two adults. Weiss smiled when he heard that and nodded, thanking them for helping him.
"…But you still have to pay back the money you had used to buy that bear fur," Boyd reminds him.
"Heh?" Weiss murmurs.
"That's right! I nearly forgot the reason we ended here!" Flare gasps, remembering the incident where Weiss carelessly used their travel money for his needs.
"It's a total of 500 gold coins, combined with our expenses to get here…"
"I count 1250 golds," Boyd declares.
"…Heh?"
"So you better grind your back to get back that money, or maybe you should ask Owen for some. It would make this meeting a bit more family-like," he jokes.
The four laughed, but Flare turned silent once she noticed Marcia giggling.
"So, Marcia…" Flare smiles, kneeling to look at the little girl eye to eye-..
"Before you join us, we should spend some time together. I'll explain the rules and things you should note when we are together, especially with that pervy-eyed guy guarding us," she suggests, then eyes on Weiss.
"…But…what did I do?" Weiss utters, confused.
Instead of an answer, he received two pairs of eyes staring at him dubiously.
"That was an accident!"
"…And I didn't do anything!" he defends himself.
"I bet he had dirty thoughts, men, right?" Flare teases.
Marcia nods, unknown whether or not she even understands what the two are saying.
"Now, now, pipe down. You're poisoning the little one here," Boyd jumps in.
"Oh…"
"…"
With just that, the banter finished, followed by a long, awkward silence between them while Boyd and Marcia talked. Flare glanced at them and smiled. How weird is it that the situation ends up like this? After Flare unraveled her mind, Boyd, Weiss, and Marcia were on equal terms about what would happen next. Boyd had agreed to bring along Marcia with him on his journey. Weiss agrees, though he did question how weird people see them. Currently, Boyd has Weiss, Flare, and Marcia under his wing, and Weiss jokes about how they are balanced now; perhaps the following journey would be more entertaining.
Meanwhile, while the two are talking, Weiss breaks the silence between them and asks,
"So, still set on taking back the throne, eh?"
"…More than ever," Flare answers.
"Although I am grateful to Celica for finding asylum for me, I am not planning to sit still and be content with it. I have to become stronger…"
"I know that the way I am now, I am still weak and unprepared to take it back, so…I'll train and be stronger," she declares.
"Hmm! Spoken like a true ruler!" Weiss approves.
"I suppose I'll get dragged along since I am your knight and all," he adds, offering his services.
"Offer accepted…"
The two suddenly turned silent. Flare had felt uneasy and intense since she returned to the world of the living, enough even for a dense person like Weiss to notice it. He had been trying to ask but never found the appropriate time.
"You good? You're looking kind of…weak ever since we came back."
In an instant, Flare rubs her face and smiles.
"Yes. Yes…I'm good," she answers.
"You know we're here if you want to…well, you know," Weiss tells her.
Then, her face turned serious in a split second, and she tensed up.
"…Nothing to say, Weiss," she responds.
Weiss turns silent once he receives it, and the two walk ahead as they hear both Boyd and Marcia suddenly talking about school enrolment. It surprised them, but they insisted on not jumping into it even after Boyd signaled them to help him.
"…"
"…"
"…Okay…"
"I'll wait till you're ready, Your Highness," Weiss responds.
He glances at Flare and notices she is adamantly looking forward, even if it seems a bit forced. Weiss smiles and walks ahead.
"You're my friend, and I'm your knight-."
"I'm not going anywhere," he finishes.
"…"
Although Weiss does not notice it, or maybe pretending not to notice, Flare glances at him and smiles as they walk towards the cottage.
"But after you get back the money…," Flare quips, smirking.
"Oh, come on. We're still talking about that?" Weiss reacts.
The two chuckled for a while as they approached the forest exit.
"So…what did he say to you?" Weiss asks.
"Hmm?"
"Well, you told me you will tell me on the way back. What better time than now?" Weiss suggests.
"You can at least tell me that, right?"
"Huh…"
* * * * *
Hours earlier, inside the memory…
In the dark void, Flare sat next to her father, or rather, an apparition from her father's memory. As she sat there, bit by bit, her eyes adjusted, and she could see more clearly. Judging by the stone half-walls, statues, and relics placed there, Flare deduced that she may be in a crypt. Due to this, she was a bit sad since the last memory she ever had of him was just a few days before his death. Nevertheless, she tried her best to force a smile as the two talked.
"It is sad to see him again, in that condition," Mitchel laments as he and Boyd observe Flare and the silhouette of the late King Bjorn Edwen talking to each other.
"…But it was his wish to talk to her again, so…we have to uphold it," Boyd answers.
Meanwhile, Flare is sitting beside the king, looking at her worriedly.
"…What's wrong?" he asked, worried about his daughter's condition.
"…"
Despite Flare forcing a smile, the old king could see the sadness passing through her saddened face. She was saddened by the grim truth that she had seen, the truth that her father and her brother wanted her to know, the truth that she tried to uncover so eagerly despite the warnings she had been given. Despite that, Flare still held her brave, smiling face before her dad as she sighed.
"I…"
"I-…"
"I did something bad, Dad," Flare explains.
She frowns, a bit uncomfortable recalling the scenes that she had seen. At first, she wanted to blame it all on someone else, but now…after what she had seen, she could not do a thing except confess to her dad that she had done something wrong.
"…I hurt somebody. Somebody I cared about," she adds.
The king, looking very worried, quickly tries to comfort her.
"It wasn't your fault," he says.
"…It was Dad," Flare denies her father's response despite his best efforts to comfort her.
Without thinking twice, the old king stretches his arms and hugs his little girl, patting her back and reminding her that it is alright, that the world is not crumbling down on her shoulders, and that she will be fine.
"Then, I forgive you-."
"I forgive you," old Bjorn says as he comforts her.
Flare buries her face on his shoulders, burying herself in the grasp of his warm arms despite the armor he is wearing. For a moment, she smiles as she dwells inside the apparition of her father like all the trouble seemed…lost. She quickly wipes the tears that try to escape her eyes as her dad stops and leans back. He puts his hands on both sides of her cheeks, trying to cheer her up from her tearing eyes.
"I can see it in your face."
Flare feels safe and warm as her dad softly rubs her cheeks and comforts her. She gently grabbed both of his hands and held them tightly in hers. She kisses his hand and accepts his gesture.
"I know you'd never hurt anyone or anybody on purpose," Bjorn consoles his daughter.
Flare grips his hand tighter as the old man smiles at him. Then, Flare's eyebrows furrow closer together as if she notices something is wrong and that reality is striking back at her.
"Do you know who I am, Dad?" she asks, slightly upset.
She is not angry. Instead, she is worrying about something.
The old king just looked at her, not saying a word. His lips stutter a bit as if he is trying his best to arrange his words. However, he still could not answer that question.
"…It's Flare," Flare states, looking a bit troubled as her eyes became tearful.
The king smiles warmly and nods. He hugs his daughter again, saying,
"…Of course."
For a second, Flare smiles widely as she hugs him back. It is as if a burden was lifted from her body. Her dad pats her back, comforting her, but Flare seemed troubled then. Her expression turned back to it was, tearful.
"My little daughter's name is Flare," the king reveals as he comforts her.
"…"
Flare did not say anything. Instead of smiling widely like her father, she cries as the two hug each other.
…..
"Pre-senile Dementia, early onset stage of Husking," Boyd says as he looks away, giving Flare and her father some privacy out of respect.
"Yeah…what happened hit him hard. Then, the Demon War happened," Mitchel responds, doing the same as Boyd.
"All that…I guess it took a toll on him, hard…"
"Then, the last thing he said to me is to find Alex, wherever that stubborn oaf is," Mitchel states.
"So, how are you with that?"
"There are no leads. Sometimes, I wonder if I am the best tracker of Whitefall," he jokes.
"You'll find him. After all, look at who trained you," Boyd joked.
"Hah hah hah, the old fossil still knows how to land a joke," Mitchel quips back.
After that, Mitchel seemed distressed as he kept shaking around nervously. Once Boyd sees this, he smiles and says,
"Go."
This surprised Mitchel, but at the same time, he felt a bit relieved.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure she arrives in one piece to Atlis," Boyd assures his student.
"…"
"Thank you, old man," Mitchel nods.
"It seems the energy I gave you has run out," he adds, looking at his fading apparition.
"I'll send her your regards," Boyd suggests.
"Thanks…"
"…Guess I was wrong," Mitchel adds, chuckling.
"I told you. Now, you have to pay for my drink when I get there," Boyd adds.
"Hrgh!"
As Mitchel's apparition dissipates into thin air, he looks at his little sister and smiles.
"…I think I shall believe in you after all…Flare Edwen…"
…..
Flare returned to normal once the two of them had finished talking. Although it pains her to see her father in this condition again, there is something else she must ask him about—not as his daughter but as a princess, as the royal and rightful heir to the Throne. She sat in front of him in that dark crypt again, forcing a smile on her face, and tried to layer her words carefully.
"…"
"…Our…king, he died," she states.
Then, Bjorn's smiling face turned serious, as though he was acting like a true ruler. His stern face transformed from the gentle smile that befits a king.
"How did he die?" he asks.
"…He…he was poisoned. The current king poisoned him," Flare explains.
Bjorn remained silent, waiting for her to explain it further in detail.
"The previous king, he did…he did many things. Some of the great things are good, but most were bad."
"What do you mean by bad?" he asked.
"…He… had to do terrible things to restore the kingdom to its former glory, to get it back on its feet."
"The days that he worked once he became king were when he worked the hardest. He was hated all over, and there were several assassination attempts on him from the people who once served him before his ascendency…"
"He tried to bring peace, but the events after the war crippled the kingdom, so he had to commit his atrocities to restore it, even if it meant…"
"Even if it means…"
She shook her head and looked at him again.
"…But one day, after he finished chasing down the ones who claimed to be his enemies…he changed…"
"…The atrocities he committed seemed to have successfully caught up to him…"
"…He lost his son, his mentor…"
"...His wife…"
"…The events that happened seemed too sad for him to recover completely," Flare adds, trying to prevent tears from leaking from her eyes.
"…But, he tried his best to not fall down…as there were…there are still people who needed him…"
"By his deathbed, he had completely lost everything…"
"Work, faith, luck, friends, hope…"
Flare quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at her father again. The old king listened to her carefully as he focused on every word.
"King Bjorn Edwen…" she called out.
This caught his attention.
"I want to understand!" she declares.
"…"
"…This kingship, this kingdom of yours…"
"Hmm…?"
"He sounds not that different from me," Bjorn answers while rubbing his chin.
Flare remained silent, trying her best not to say anything out of respect for her father's memories. The person standing in front of her right now was nothing more than an apparition, and she knew that nothing could be said that could change what had happened…even though she wanted to scream out of her lungs that everything was unfair. She had to suddenly adjust to it too fast because there was too much weight on her shoulders. Nevertheless, she kept silent as Bjorn contemplated what he should answer.
"…Hmm…"
"Seeker of the Throne, may I ask of thee?" The amnesiac Bjorn asks Flare for permission to delve deeper and even gives her a name to ease himself.
"…Sure, sure, yes," Flare nods.
"What do you see in the throne?" he asks.
"…"
His sudden, cryptic question puzzles Flare. She tried her best, but she could not find the answer to answer her father.
"…Take it, and find your answers," he adds after not hearing an answer.
"The throne holds the strength of lords from long past-."
"Seek adversity…" he continues.
"As befits you, Seeker of the Throne."
"W-What do you mean, from lords long past?" she asks.
However, the late king did not seem to hear her question as he continued to mumble.
"…Mmm-."
"Seeker of the Throne…"
"I am no king."
"I am more fit to be a jester," suddenly, he belittles himself.
His tone changed. He sounded…defeated.
"Seeker of the Throne…"
"Do you intend to rule? First, you must take the Throne."
"I, too, sought the Throne once…" he utters.
Flare kept silent and listened carefully.
"With power, they say, a true king can harness the Husking curse-."
"A lie, but I knew no better."
Then, he turns to look at Flare right in the eye.
"Seeker of the Throne, you know not the depth of the curse within you."
"It grows deeper still the more you covet the Throne."
"…Throne, oh…, Throne…" Bjorn sighed as if he regretted his past decisions. He looked away and stared at the floor.
"I subdued the Demons and claim their strength…so that I may be able to stop the curse…"
"…As I walked further, the journey became more perilous…"
"I was unaware of my blindness…"
Flare remained silent this time as she waited for the king to continue explaining.
"Seeker of the Throne, I see that you have met a foul creature," Bjorn states.
"Foul creature…?" Flare bumbles, recalling her past journeys.
"One of them. That…confounded quintessence of humanity…"
"That man…the Archbishop…"
"…Lincoln…" Flare mumbles.
"A feeble, tiny thing that thirsted for power more than any other…"
"Driven by an insatiable lust for a worthy vessel," he adds.
His tone was more profound and more intimidating. The king was angry with Lincoln…and Flare could understand why. The memory she experienced…he was there.
"…One day, the Throne will be no more, and Husking will become conventional-."
"Men will be free from death, left to wander eternally…"
"We will become one with the Husks and in our true shape…"
"…We can bury the false legends of yore…"
"With it unshackled, we would cast aside the prop of life, only to face greater hardship…"
"Such is the way of things," Bjorn rationalizes his thoughts.
"W- What are you talking about?" Flare mutters, unable to understand what her father is telling her.
"…Only…"
"I often ask…"
"Is this…our only choice?" he asks himself.
"Seeker of the Throne, I have fought for a very long time to withhold the curse…"
"…But I was betrayed by my council…"
He raises his head once again and looks at Flare.
"Seeker of the Throne…"
"…Are you another such fool?"
"Or something more?" he asks.
"…"
Again, Flare could not answer his cryptic questions. Suddenly, the old king began to fade, and Flare quickly grabbed his hand.
"No…don't go..." Flare breaks out of character as she pleads for her dad not to leave her.
The amnesiac king smiles and gently puts his hands on her tiny shoulders. His stern, ruler-like expression disappears when Flare looks at him and becomes benevolent.
"Seeker of the Throne…" he calls out to her.
"Seek strength…"
"The rest will follow…"
Then, as the man slowly dissipates into thin air, despite being against Flare's wishes, she can hear one thing she will keep forever.
"…You can do it…" the king assures her before disappearing completely.
Although her eyes were teary when she heard that, she instantly wiped them off and stood up. She turned around and saw Boyd waiting for her, her eyes filled with newfound determination.
"…"
"Thanks…dad…"
* * * * *
9.56 p.m.
"…"
"…"
"Ace of Spades, top that," Owen chuckles as he puts his card on the table.
"Oh, come on!"
"I'm going to pass!"
After looking at his two opponents, he turns to the left to look at his last opponent, the one sitting beside him, snickering widely.
"Hah…2 Diamonds!" Weiss challenges, placing his card on the table.
However, despite this, Owen looked unfazed by it. He even smiled as he drank another glass of whiskey before turning to Weiss and saying,
"You're ten years too early to win against me, boy!"
Right after that, he places the 2 of Spades, the most powerful card in the deck.
"…"
"No, no. Don't tell me..." Weiss says, looking at Owen's remaining cards.
"You guessed it," Owen laughs and slams the remaining five cards onto the table.
"…Full House, people!"
"Oh!"
"…That's the third time already."
"Did you rig this deck?"
Meanwhile, Flare, Jojo, Solaris, and Marcia sit at the cottage, discussing their previous matches and experiences. When Flare, Weiss, and Boyd arrived, the first person who greeted them was Solaris, who ran towards Boyd and dragged him back to the cottage like a heavy sack. Jojo seemed heavily injured during the final battle, and Solaris wanted to ask Boyd for help. At first, she bargains with Boyd, telling him that she will pay a lump sum to heal Jojo. However, he refused the offer once Boyd checked on his wounds.
"He told you you were just exhausted and a little bruised…" Solaris said.
Nevertheless, she instantly smacks Jojo on the head right after she says those words.
"But he also said that your diaphragm hemorrhaged, though I do not know what that even means; from the looks of it, you were bleeding internally," she nags.
"If you want a head-on fistfight, don't be so reckless!"
"When he comes back, you have to thank him. Understand?"
"…Yes, Solaris," Jojo mumbles while rubbing his head.
While the two of them were grappling with each other, Flare and Marcia just looked at them, filled with bewilderment.
"Jojo is completely outgunned," Flare mumbles.
"…It kind of feels like seeing a parent disciplining her child," Marcia adds.
"But sure, I lost to that jester. I guess I am still leagues behind in experience…," Jojo states.
"Anyways, I am not going to stop. I'll keep on being strong," he adds.
This surprises both Flare and Marcia, but for some reason, Solaris's expression looks like she was already expecting the answer he gave to her.
"Jojo…," Marcia calls out.
"Hmm?"
"I have been thinking for a while now."
"Why do you seem a bit…obsessed with strength?" she asks.
"Huh-?" Jojo mumbles.
"Well…to get stronger and keep winning, of course," he responds to her question.
"I-I see…"
"I'm sure you have your reasons," Marcia puzzlingly rubs her head.
"Huh? Reasons?"
"Uh…Uhm…" Marcia nods.
"…Do you need a reason not wanting to lose?" Jojo asks, looking at her with a straight face filled with adrenaline.
Marcia's body trembles, a bit scared by Jojo's sudden expression.
"Hey, Solaris. Is there a reason you don't want to lose?" Jojo asks Solaris, unaware of his own words.
"Wha? How would I know? Is there a reason you want to eat when you're hungry?" Solaris asked him back.
"…"
"Right? Hmm…" Jojo crosses his arms, trying to respond to Solaris's mind-blowing question.
"…"
Marcia turns and looks at Flare, who is also puzzled.
"So, this is the same level as hunger?" Flare mumbles in her head.
"Never mind that. So, Marcia. This time, it is my turn to ask questions," Jojo suddenly asks.
"Wha?"
"So, from what I know, you will join Flare and Weiss on the next voyage to Atlis. After the show of power, it is clear that Princess Flare is looking for asylum here. Weiss is following her since he is her…bodyguard of sorts."
"So, what about you?"
"Why are you following?" Jojo asks.
"Well…Mister Boyd offered me to join until I can get back on my feet..." she stammered as she arranged her words, panicked.
"…Hmm…I should reiterate that…"
"Have you met that old man before?" Jojo emphasizes his question in a more specific manner.
"Heh?"
In that instant, Flare's eyes popped open.
"This is my chance!" she thought.
"That's right. I've been wondering about the same thing for quite some time!" Flare enters the discussion.
This adds to Marcia's panic even more.
"…Sis Flare, I thought you had my back," she mumbles.
Solaris remained silent, but her body gesture hinted that she was intrigued by the discussion as she pretended to sip her coffee calmly.
"But…but…."
"Oh, no. There's no running out of this," Flare blocked her path once she noticed Marcia eyeing the door.
She did notice that due to her actions, Jojo is now even more interested in knowing what is between Marcia and Boyd because of Flare's actions. It is unknown why Jojo would even want to know about someone who is not even contending in the Knights' Mausoleum; it is probably his random, kid-like curiosity.
After realizing how futile it is to avoid the question, Marcia sighs and breathes deeply, trying to arrange the words in her head.
"…Huh…"
"Fine…"
"I'll tell you how I met Uncle Boyd…"