"Leon, you will take her with you, and I will talk to Krampus." Amon said.
"Wait, I don't want to be alone with this guy." Thessia shook her head and tried to pull Krampus along.
Krampus eyes were still fixed on the floor, and he sat. He neither moved nor talked; he did nothing.
Amon stood up, walked over to Krampus, and spoke, "Krampus, we need to talk; better said, I want to talk to you from me to you. I want to know if you are truly ready to melt the glass and reshape it."
In a matter of seconds, Krmpus eyes were fixed on Amon. In their conversation, every word they talked about rang in his head again, as Amon said those words.
Thessia was confused; nothing Amon said made sense to her; she did not know what glass was meant or why Krampus had to melt and reshape it, but he left.
"No, don't go!" At the top of her lungs, Thessia screamed. She pulled onto his hand and fell on her knees in front of Krampus.
"Please don't hate me again; I know they helped us, but I need you, please."
Thessia was on her knees; she buried her face in Krampus think fur; her cry loudened; Krampus crouched down and hugged her.
"Don't be afraid; I will protect you no matter what happens, and what you did was a mistake—a mistake far less than what I did. Look into my eyes."
With both of his hands, Krampus gently took Thessia's face and looked at it. What Thessia looked at right now would scare every grown man in this world. For Thessia, however, this was the only face she could calm down while looking at.
'How can you forgive such a mistake? I took everything from you; why are you still looking at me like this?'
His green, shining eyes seemed so kind that she felt at ease, and at the same time, she wanted to keep this sight for herself.
"You only have to answer his questions, and I will answer the questions of the other guy. Trust me, trust in yourself, and give answers you won't regret later."
'I never would have thought that you would ever say these words to me, Krampus. Fate truly is interesting sometimes.'
Krampus let go of her and walked away. Until his last step, he never let his eyes out of Thessia; he watched her and Leon. But at the same time, he never forgot the person who walked beside him. After Amon had been a person he respected and feared at the same time, he did not know why, but as Amon said that the price for his wife was 500 lives, he knew that his man was ready for everything.
Amon brought Krampus around a corner; the place they were at led to a dead end. He remembered this part of the tunnels well, and after what he and Leon talked about, Amon should also be able to feel the dead end with some methods.
"This place seems far away; now tell me everything you know about these portals, Krampus."
"I thought you wanted to find out if I was ready to reshape the glass."
"No, I saw that you are ready and willing, and don't get me wrong, because I understand why she acted the way she did and why you acted this way." Amon spoke while gazing into the dark tunnel in front of him. Anyway, he turned and spoke, "If I were in your position, I would have already killed us the moment I knew that trapped me here is not here anymore."
"But you had a I don't condemn her for what she did, but I hate her nonetheless. When I think of leaving my wife, daughter, and everyone else who means something to me in this rotten world, I would rather be tortured for 48 hours."
For Amon, the case was clear: this world was rotten to its last corner, and he would either kill or leave the people he cared about alone.
Without him, the guild would probably fall apart, Roxanne would probably hang herself, maybe Personia too, Victor would do his best to keep everyone together, Dorothea would become a noble again, Meng would resume his mercenary life, Arthure would become a professor again, Cedric would move on and look for new opponents, Björn would open a forge somewhere, Vlad would be angry and spit on Amon's grave for being a lier, Niles would become a normal wandering mage again and earn his living just like Jeanne, and Leon he could not estimate.
These were at least the scenarios he could imagine; what he didn't know was that one day he would find out if he was really just a link that held everything together or if they were all standing on a cliff, ready for each other even without arms and legs to climb the cliff again after falling.
"I understand, but this could take some time. Are you sure that you want to be the only one knowing about it?" Krampus asked
"Yes, Leon is asking his questions, and I am asking my questions; that is everything I need to know."
"In this case, sit down; this will take a lot of time."
Amon sat down and listened to Krampus explanation.
"These portals were once built after they discovered an item, and for some reason, this item is now in your hands. This item was for the elf who built the first two portals based on research, and based on this, he created the portals and"
"When was that?" Amon asked, not knowing that he interrupted Krampus mid-sentence.
"Not my generation; this is what I can tell you, but it was at a point where we were milimeters away from losing."
The Second World War lasted 158 years; according to Amon's knowledge of history, this day should be around the time when the war had already lasted 152 to 157 years. In the time from 147 to 152, the elves were short of losing the war; however, from one day to the next, the elves found a way to move fast and escaped their fate for a few years.
"And?"
Krampus was a bit annoyed that Amon interrupted him, but then decided to let it slide; after all, he had to answer the question, even if he did not want to.
"These portals are a mixture of arc magic and two other items from which I don't know what items they are. The item allowed us to set conditions, and that no human would survive entering them was our first condition; the second one was that they could only be activated with a special arc magic, but before you ask, I signed a soul contract that had the conditions that I am not allowed to tell you which arc magic."
"Then are you allowed to tell me how many exist?"
"Yes, Amon, but I can't tell you where they are."
'Well, this was to be expected.' Amon thought.
"This was everything I am allowed to tell you."
"Alright, this is everything I need to know for now. Take her with you, and I will discuss what I know now with the other two and make her happy. Maybe then she won't try to kill us anymore."
Amon still did not blame her for what she did, but trusting her was now a different thing. He was glad that he signed this contract with these conditions.