We arrived at the orphanage and saw the Chimera sitting by the front door, he had fallen asleep leaning against the wall. As if he had sensed that we had arrived his eyes whipped open and he came running towards us.
"Master! You're okay! I was so worried, I felt you die and come back to life but couldn't get in contact with you and you told me to stay here and protect the kids so I…" His words of worry tumbled out of him, I felt a sort of warmth spread inside me at the thought that I once again had people who cared for me.
"It's alright, take a deep breath, I'm alive and here now," I said while I patted on top of his head to help calm him down.
"Okay… Huuuu, we should go inside. I see you brought back the other children… I'm glad they're alright too." The Chimera opened the front door and we all walked in.
"Oh, you should take a look at the children from the basement. I moved them all to a bedroom on the ground floor, I thought it would be better if they were more comfortable." The Chimera spoke out.
"That was a good idea, let's go see them." Everything happened so fast that I didn't even have the time to think of helping the children feel comfortable.
"Wait, I don't think you should go in by yourself, we should go get a priest or something. You'll get contaminated by the dark magic, it's just too strong." He said, stopping in his tracks.
"We can go in, I can purify them, and don't worry about being contaminated, I can put up a shield," I spoke and stopped for a moment to give the twins a task.
"Oh and Rein can you gather all of the children to the dining room and Reuben can you go into the director's office and see if you can find any information on the children and anything that might be worth looking at." They both nodded and moved to where they needed to go.
We arrived at the room furthest away on the ground floor of the orphanage, before we even opened the door I could see the contamination spreading outwards through the cracks.
I put up a shield around both myself and the Chimera and then opened the door, the smell of dark magic contamination was far worse than anything a human being could imagine, the putrid rotting smell permeated from inside out and no matter how much you tried to block your nose, there was no way to stop the assault.
"They're in a pretty bad situation, I hope the awakening you went through was enough to cure them, they all look like they're on the edge of life and death." The Chimera spoke up in a hushed voice so as to not awaken any of them.
"Wielder I think you might need to purify them one at a time, in fact, you should use me as a medium." The artifact came out of nowhere and joined the conversation.
"Staff I don't think using you would be a good idea, these children might become frightened if they wake up and find the director's staff in my hands," I said while scanning the condition of the children.
"Don't worry about that Weilder, I can change into whatever object you want me to become." The artifact said excitedly.
"Ummm, perhaps a clip of some sort?" As soon as those words left my mouth the staff transformed itself and clipped itself onto my hair.
"Weilder! You can start now." The artifact spoke up.
I went up to the boy in the first bed, pulled my hands towards him, and started the purification process, as I went on from one child to the next their condition was much worse, from the 3rd child onwards I could tell that they had been forced to take a monster core.
I got to the 12th and last child, a boy something about him seemed so familiar to me. I reached my hand out and purified him, once the golden light subsided I pulled my hand back and took a look at him once again.
'Carl?! What is Carl doing here? Was he also a victim of the orphanage? But… He never said anything about it' I was shocked and confused, then came the realization that I really never knew much about Carl and he was the closest to me after Lu.
I pushed his overgrown bangs out of his face and tucked him into his bed to rest.
"Chimera can you go bring the fairy and tell her to stay with the children, alert me when either of them wakes up," I spoke as I left the room and closed the door, I walked down the corridor a little and looked out the window there was a heavy feeling that settled in my heart.
"Wielder? What's wrong?" asked the artifact.
"I just have a lot on my mind that's all, let's go back to the dining room now," I said as I simply walked away and pushed the thoughts into the back of my mind.
- - -
When I awoke in the morning Mother was still looking out the window, I wondered if she had even slept… for the first time in my life I had thought that my mother at this moment looked so very small and lost. I had always thought that my mother was the strongest but at that moment I realized that she too was very much human.
"Mum… Did you get any sleep at all?" I went to her side of the bed and hugged her, afraid that she might break.
"Al, when did my baby grow up so much? Yes, I just woke up too. Let's go down and have breakfast now." She was telling me a white lie and I could tell she was lying but I did not push her further on the matter.
When we finished getting dressed and headed down to the dining room the ducal family had already gathered, you could tell there was a sliver of tension in the air with a mixture of despair. I headed over to my seat and started eating in silence.
The silence didn't last long as the dining room door whipped open and footsteps rushed in with a letter, the letter was clearly from the palace as it was stamped with a golden seal. The man holding the letter was the head butler of the main palace.
"Your majesty, I have been tasked with escorting you back to the palace along with the young Prince, his majesty is awaiting your arrival." At his words my mother took the letter from his hands and upon reading it, she put the letter back down and spoke.
"Tell his majesty that as long as that thing sits in my daughter's seat and sleeps in my daughter's palace I will not be returning to anything."
"Your majesty, this is not something you can simply refuse to do, frankly your putting us servants in a tough spot by acting so juvenile. Please return to the palace or at the very least send the young Prince back." His attitude towards my mother was never soft but now he was showing his disdain for her out in the open.
"I will not repeat my words, return to his Majesty and tell him that as long as he lets that fraud stay in the same palace as myself, we are not returning," she spoke firmly.
"Your Majesty, I will have no choice but to use force if you do not adhere to what the letter states, or is it that you wish to show the young prince such a pathetic sight." His words enraged me.
"I will not have you insult my mother the Empress like this, you do not have the authority to tell an imperial family member what to do! Go back to his majesty the Emperor and tell him exactly what I say, word for word. If you wish for a family reunion then perhaps you ought to send a servant that knows his place before trying to threaten my Mother." I spoke as calmly as I could and used my authority to press him, something I had never done before as I disliked having to use my title to pressure another human being.
"Your Highness! Your mistaken I could never…" the butler started to stutter unlike how he spoke to Mother.
"Shut that vile mouth of yours before I shut it for you! How dare you try to correct something we and the ducal family have clearly heard with our own ears, are you trying to insinuate that we are all deaf?"
"No your Highness I would…" He started to panic even more than before at my newfound behavior.
"I said shut it, and you in the back. You are knights of this empire, what are you doing not arresting this bastard that dares insult the very masters that you swore loyalty to? All of you get out and do not return, if I see your faces again I will have you punished for challenging my authority." I pushed everyone else out of the room and shut the door.
The ducal family and my mother looked at me wide-eyed at what I had just done, I had essentially told the Emperor to eat one. My mother went from shocked to breaking out into laughter and everyone else in the room couldn't help but giggle.
Mother came towards me and knelt down to hug me she patted my hair softly and kept giggling.
"My Al, you truly are all grown up now enough to defend your own mother. I feel so safe with you around to protect me." How long had it been since I last saw my mother truly laugh out loud like this?
"Mum, I will protect you from now on so don't worry. We'll find Eva together and then return home together." I said while I hugged her back.