Once again, here I am in the familiar white world. I meditated for a long time, sacrificing my sleep because I needed to meet with the both of them. Thankfully though, they were willing to answer my call. Both of them can be quite fickle-minded, honestly speaking.
"You should be sleeping right about now," said Kirin.
"I needed an audience with the both of you. Please indulge in my request," I bowed to both of them.
"Speak your mind," answered Byakko as he sat on his favourite rock.
"Byakko-sama, were you aware that mother survived the Demon War?" I asked him.
He placed his paw on his chin as he took some time to gather his thoughts.
"Sorry, kid. From what I remembered, there was an explosion where I was separated from your mother. I called out to her through our mental link but she did not answer. Perhaps she was unconscious. I thought she had died but it would seemed that she survived, based on her diary. I won't blame her for not looking for me though as she have no idea where I was. The bastard demon who had taken me went into hiding inside the Demon realm. A coward demon who thought himself worthy to wield me. Bah," spat Byakko.
"I— see. I'm not blaming you, Byakko-sama. You need not worry. What I'm requesting from both of you is that you lend me your full strength in this war," I glared at them as I clenched my fist.
"Careful boy, your anger is spilling out of you. Control yourself," warned Kirin.
"Sorry, but that might be difficult. To discover that the Queen had a hand in murdering my mother just fills me with uncontrolled anger," I gritted my teeth.
"Let the boy be, Kirin. Even I'm furious that this Queen had murdered my previous host. By your grace, I wish to see it through that the Queen is dead," asked Byakko as he lowered his head towards Kirin.
Wow, that's a surprise. To think that Byakko would actually bow his head to Kirin. I definitely wasn't expecting that to happen. But I do understand his position. Kirin is technically the primary celestial that chose me first. Byakko just happened to tagged along. Fortunately, both of them were getting more accustomed to each other. They were no longer bicker among themselves, unlike the first time they met in such a long time.
Kirin sighed and stared at both of us.
"Boy, during this war, the both of us will certainly be supporting you. However, we are not at liberty to lend you our full powers. Your body, as of right now, is not capable of handling the full force of our powers. I would say not even half of our full strength," explained Kirin.
"Is it because I hadn't learned any Higher State of Mind?" I asked.
"That's one of the factor. Another is that your body had not grown accustomed to our powers yet. As you wield us more, your body will be able to tap into our powers even more. Take note on that. There is a reason why I kept insisting that you use wield me more. However— I'll grant an exception this time. Feel free to use either of us. I won't say a word," he answered.
To think the tsundere Kirin would actually give his permission? It felt as though we were all growing up. Kind of strange to be saying that when these two mythical beings had existed beyond time.
I gave my last bow to both of them as the world was starting to fade. I should get some sleep before the big day. Tomorrow will be the day that I'll be meeting the Queen face to face.
***
I opened my eyes. Gosh, why is my head is hammering. Where— am I? Oh right, I'm crashing at Lily's place. Why were we even drinking so much for? Sigh, I better freshen myself up before I end up puking.
I knocked on the washroom door, just in case. Someone replied from the inside asking me to come in. Huh? I was certain that this was the washroom and not Lily's room. I might be hammered but I am still aware on which room is which.
I opened the door to peek in and saw Lily wearing a tank top, an underwear and a towel covering her shoulder. It looks like she is washing away her blond dye which was used to conceal her silver hair. I might still be a little drunk but I can see why onii-chan is so enamoured with her. She is voluptuous and slim in all the right places. Not too muscular or thin either. No wonder he slept with her. I might have considered it too if she suddenly pushed me down. Wait, what am I saying? I must be drunk right now. I sighed unconsciously as I walked closer to the sink.
"Did you say something?" asked Lily as she swung her hair aside to look at me.
Why is there sparkling effects? And why is she looking so beautiful? Something is wrong with me right now!
"Marry me"
Huh? Who said that? Wait, I said it! Oh gosh what is going on with me? I can't think properly now because my head is spinning. Oh crap I am going to puke!
I rushed to the bowl to puke out the excess alcohol and some undigested food. Lily came over to rub my back.
"How are you fine? I remember you drank more than me," I asked while feeling horrible.
"Well, elves have higher alcohol tolerance in general. And our wine have much higher alcohol percentage than the beers we were drinking," she explained.
I wanted to ask more but I ended up puking again. Ugh, I feel miserable. Not even Onii-chan saw me like this before. Who knew vomiting will be this exhausting. But at least I feel much better after removing the alcohol from my body.
"You good? I'll make you some tea then. Please flush your vomit away before coming out," said Lily.
"D— don't tell Onii-chan," I pleaded to her.
"Don't worry, I won't," she chuckled as she headed her way out.
***
Ahh— nothing hits better than a warm tea after a hangover. Not that I wished to relive it again. Onii-chan should be meeting the Queen right about now, yet here I am recovering from a hangover. What a horrible little sister I am.
I sighed loudly. Lily was happily watering her plants on her balcony. She had an extremely spacious and luxurious room all to herself. The Elemental guild certainly did not held back in ensuring that their main headquarters is spacious and all fancy looking. I might had regretted a little in not choosing the Elemental guild over the Light. But if that were the case, I never would had discovered a method to improve myself further. The book that was given to me was a godsend but I can see why it was considered as a sacred book. Who knew that there were so many powerful spells that the Light guild declared as forbidden. Understandably in the wrong hands, we will be an extremely difficult opponent to fight against. Even I was surprised that I managed to beat Onii-chan during the sparring. I know very well that I had I caught him off guard, and he was certainly not using his full power; but still, I felt this happy that I accomplished this much in just five days. I should had seeked out the Paladin Lord for his advice much earlier.
Lily came back into the living room after she was done watering her plants. She no longer has her ridiculously long ponytail but her silver hair with greenish tips were certainly enchanting. I inspected my long hair that I had kept for the past four years. It has grown really long now. I should cut it to remove all distractions during combat.
"Lily, may I borrow a scissors? Would like to cut my hair before we headed out," I asked her.
"Oh sure, let me help instead. What style are you looking for?" asked Lily as she continued humming happily.
"Someone is in a good mood. A war is about to start yet here you are smiling uncontrollably. Did something happened between you and Zen yesterday?" I asked her without showing any sign of jealousy.
"Hm? Oh, nothing happened yesterday. Nothing at all. I guess I'm happy that the war is finally happening after all those years of planning. You can say I am happy for Zen, honestly speaking," she explained as she started laying some papers on the floor.
"You're probably the only one who is in such good mood for wanting a war to happen. Something did happen yesterday, isn't it?" I pressured her as I set the chair in the middle of the papers and sat down.
"If you followed Zen after he left the city, you will understand why I feel this way. He had nowhere to go and he has no other family except you, which is in this city. But he was exiled for just being the son of the war hero and couldn't come home. Yet waging war was always the last thing on his mind as he tried to find other alternatives. Hopefully we can win and he can finally start calling City Of Pines his home. That and— he also gave me his old cloak," she explained and started cutting my hair.
"You really think a lot about him. And here I am still wondering why the both of you are not together. He even gave you his old cloak rather than me who is his little sister" I pouted.
"It's— complicated. And he said it was protect myself from all the exposed skins during combat" she confessed.
"The both of you had literally slept together. What else do you need to seal the deal? And yes, I do agree with him, you certainly expose a lot of areas that are supposed to be protected. I can completely understand why he decided to give it to you instead," I chuckled.
"Actually, to his defence, I was the one who pushed him down. He did struggle to free himself at first but eventually gave in. I don't know what gotten over me that night. I'm sorry that it happened, Rose," she apologised as he gave me a hug from behind.
"Lily, it's alright. I'm actually kind of glad it was you and not some random elf woman. To me, you're like an older sister that I never had. I can't hate you, no matter how hard I tried," I told her honestly.
"Aww Rose, you're my little sister too," she petted my head.
"Which is why, should anything happened to me, promise me that you will take care of my brother," I asked her.
"Rose, what are you insinuating? I sense something else" she questioned me.
"What I'm trying to say is, date my brother, marry him and take care of him. You have my full support and permission," I pleaded to her.
"Then, what about you? Your own feelings?" asked Lily.
"I'll find someone else, don't worry. You're the best person for him, and I want the both of you to be happy," I turned to look at her and smiled.
She kept quiet and continued cutting my hair. A moment later, she grabbed a mirror and showed me her hair-cutting skills. Wow, how can she cut it so well? It looked as though I just came out of a barbershop.
Lily gave me another hug as I was still sitting down.
"I promise you that I will take care of him should anything happen to you. But— I cannot promise you that I will date him. In the end, it's still up to him to decide who he wants to date with," explained Lily.
"Besides, I'm not sure whether I want to date him anymore. I never realised that he often mumble weird things that makes no sense. Even his sleep talk makes no sense. Hahaha," laughed Lily.
"You're the only one that had ever heard him sleep talk. Accept your fate and date him. Haha!" I laughed as well.
"No! I'm changing my mind now! Hahaha" shouted Lily as she laughed.
"Moving back to the previous topic, what do you mean I show a lot of skin? All the right places are covered and protected," she asked as she checked her clothing.
"Lily, your exposed abdomen and your thighs are a clear examples of them. How had you not noticed the amount of stares you get from guys who kept looking at them?!" I explained to her.
"B— but.. I can move easier like this. And I didn't realised that humans were so infatuated with the stomach area, or my thighs. Ohh! That would explain why Zen kept looking at it! Why didn't I realised it sooner?!" she smacked her own head.
I started laughing excessively at what she just said. Lily had always acted human so it didn't crossed my mind that elves have a different way of thinking as compared to us. She joined my laughter when I could not stop laughing.
A firework went off which halted our laughter. That was our cue to begin the evacuation. There will be a festival today that many people is certain to be attending. Perfect for us to guide them out of the city without them realising it. The Queen and her soldiers will certainly be busy preparing for war rather than to bother the festival. Let's rescue as many civilians as we can before cannon balls starts flying everywhere. I hope Onii-chan had made it safely out of the castle by now.
***
It was the wee hours of the morning. Before I headed to see the Queen, there was someone that I needed to meet first. The meeting place was in a secluded area away from prying eyes. Someone in a brown cloak was already there waiting. I approached this person and carefully handed some papers to him. We never looked each other's eyes directly and spoke as though we knew not one another. He carefully read through the report with a cigarette in his mouth. A couple of minutes later, he gave a huge sigh.
"Who would had thought the little kid I granted entry into the city nine years ago would end up inciting a war," sighed Earl as he puffed out his cigarette smokes.
"I have my reasons. At first it was because of the Queen's involvement with the demons, but now, now it just got personal," I explained to him.
"Your report looks solid. And you said that two out of the four great powers vouched on this? Damn, this is way above my pay check," he lit another cigarette.
"Who would have known that the Queen is in cahoot with the Demons. Damn it, I never signed up for this," he gave a huge sigh once more and took a puff.
I didn't reply as there was nothing much to say. Earl was the only soldier that I trusted with this information. Perhaps the other guildmasters and other adventurers have more direct contact with other soldiers compared to me.
"Guess I'll be taking my leave then. I'll be bringing along a few other soldiers that I trust to lead the civilians out of the city. Hopefully none of them are demons. You can count on us to act when someone is acting way more suspicious than they should," said Earl as he began to walk away.
"Thanks Earl, knew I can count on you," I smiled.
"Send the Queen my regards," he waved as he walked away disappearing into the crowd.
Now that that's done, time to meet the Queen. Hopefully I am prepared for this. I will need all of my sneaking skills to go in and out undetected. Let's put what the elves taught me to the test.
***
"My Queen, we have reports that some soldiers had either gone missing or disappeared. A number of them were not at their designated post. We also have reports about civilians going missing. It was as though they had completely vanished overnight. Should we call upon the adventurer's guild for help, if there is a possibility of a monster inside the city?" asked the soldier giving his report.
"No need. Someone is planning something and I will personally find out myself. Whoever it is, I will personally execute him. Dismissed, soldier," ordered the Queen as she waved him away.
The soldier left the throne room. The Queen stood up and walked towards a highly decorated soldier in full body armour. This soldier must be the Captain of the soldiers and her most trusted side-kick. She whispered something to him and he walked off. There is about four soldiers left stationed in the throne room now. Should I wait for them to leave during their shift to ambush the Queen?
She sat back on her throne but suddenly started looking around. Is she— sniffing the air?
"Guards, be ready. We have some unexpected company here with us," ordered the Queen.
Awfully sus. For the Queen to have such pinpoint smelling abilities, she must be a Demon. I doubt even dogs are capable of smelling me hiding in the shadows. The thing is, what demon is she? Is it the same as what Sladar saw on the ship or some other worldly demon? Let us see who she really is.
I appeared in the middle of the throne room after cancelling my Conceal spell and deactivated Concentration. The guards freaked out at first but stood ready with their spears. I have no intention of fighting them. My purpose today is only to talk to the Queen.
"Well well, look who it is. I knew I smelled someone in the room with us. Who knew you would voluntary pay me a visit, Zen Hawthorn?" she smirked.
"Who knew the Queen had such powerful smelling abilities. Almost as though you are not a human," I insinuated. She even knew it was me with my face mask.
"Nonsense, elves always had powerful smelling ability on top of hearing and sight. Is your knowledge about elves this shallow when you were dating one, last I recall?" she explained herself while mocking me.
"How odd, I've spent two years with so many of them yet none of them have your smelling capability. I wonder who are you trying to bullshit here? Me, or the soldiers?" I asked her.
The Queen started laughing while placing her hand on her face. Was it really that funny?
"State your business, Hawthorn. I do not believe you are here to talk about this. For you to risk yourself coming here; I'm certain it's not because you want to become my slave, do you? Oh, the things we can do together. And you've gotten even more handsome over the years," she licked her teeth.
Is this really something a Queen should be doing? I am surprised the soldiers are still willing to serve her. Perhaps some of them here are demons in disguised. I decided to remove my face mask as there was no reason to keep it on any longer.
"I'm here, to declare war upon the City Of Pines and more importantly, upon you," I glared at her.
Silence engulfs the throne room. It was the Queen who broke the silence with her evil laughter. What a villain.
"You?! Declaring war upon the City Of Pines? You— alone? AHAHAHA!! Oh, my stomach," she said as she continuing with her laughter.
"Ah, Mister Zen. And here I thought you were planning to assassinate me or something. To think you would be making a joke instead. Your father will be rolling in his grave knowing that his son became a court jester," she chuckled.
"I don't know about my father, but I am certain you know what happened to my mother," I said.
"Your mother?" she asked while raising her eyebrow.
"Jane Gladiolus, was my mother," I spat the words at her.
She gave some thoughts with a hand on her chin. I guess she murdered so many that she no longer knew who she had killed.
"Ahh— that brute of a woman. Now I remember. It's been so many years. To think that brute is your mother," she said.
"What did you do with her? Knowing you, you would had her executed on the spot," I said.
"Executed? Now, why would I do such a thing? She barged into the throne room and demanded me to stop the extermination of the Hawthorns. She even had the guts to approach me with a weapon. My captain was the one who removed her head before she even reached these very steps," she pointed towards the bottom of the stairs.
"And what did you do with her body?" I gritted my teeth as I asked.
"Her body? Most probably crushed and turned to fertilisers or something. Her skull, on the other hand, I thought you would had noticed when you passed through the castle gate. Those skulls hanging above the gate belonged to traitors who attempted to murder the Queen. If only I knew that she was your mother then I would had personally hung her skull in my throne room instead," she started to chuckling.
I closed my eyes. Every cell in my body was demanding me to kill this bitch of a woman right before my very eyes. While that might be what I want, giving her a quick death is not something she deserves. I want to enjoy torturing her when this war is over. Another reason is because her captain is hiding somewhere in this throne room. He had came back and thought I wouldn't noticed. But the deadly aura he's emitting was a dead giveaway. This captain is certainly no ordinary human. Fairly certain he is a demon in disguised. No human that I know can emit that kind of aura. That captain is strong, very strong. I guess my mother was caught off guard or perhaps not fully healed to fight this captain. But rest assured mother, I will avenge you in seeing these two dead.
I had said what I needed to say. Time for me to escape from here before I get caught.
"To any soldiers listening here who do not wish to die in the upcoming war, I would suggest that you escape from the city while you still can. This war is to bring the Queen down. Your death is unnecessary. And it is pointless for you to die for a demon," I said loudly for all the soldiers to hear.
Mummers could be heard all around. I am certain there are many soldiers outside of the throne door behind me, all of them waiting for the Queen's orders.
The Queen's eye bend downwards after I mentioned the word demon. Did she think she can keep up this farce forever?
"You made this personal when you killed my mother. Wait here, sit back and relax while I tear apart your precious walls and castle. I will personally be back here to take your head along with your precious captain," I declared to her.
"And you think I'm going to let you escape once again? How arrogant of you to come in here and spout your nonsense. Guards! Off with his head!" she shouted her order.
Just then, a soldier barged through the main door and shouted.
"Armies! Armies approaching from the East and South!" shouted the soldier.
That's my cue. Thanks for opening the door for me. I instantly activated Concentration and casted a spell. Now that I'm a Dark Wanderer, which is an alternate version of Dark Knight, a new and final spell was taught to me. In the East, adventurers learn a different path. The West focuses on strength while the East focuses on skill. Since the Queen decided not to knight me to become a Dark Knight, I was knighted in the East and became a Dark Wanderer instead. Aside from Dark Slash that was taught to me, the other spell was called Illusion. With the buff from Imperfect Concentration, I can cast Illusion on anyone who is looking directly at me.
The Illusion spell I casted was to trick everyone's vision that it was going pitch black. Then I casted Conceal to hide myself in plain sight. As this is a defensive spell, it is perfect for me to sneak away. Not really useful during combat unless I wish to run away.
The captain rushed out of hiding and ran towards me at full speed like a ninja. His speed was ridiculous for someone wearing a full metal armour. But too bad, Conceal spell finished before he swung his sword at me. Now I can run away while everyone's vision was still seeing darkness. Hopefully the captain is also affected by it too, otherwise I am gonna have a tough time escaping.
***
Phew, I was able to sneak out the same way I came in. So glad my rope is still here. I had surveyed the castle based on the layout plan that Peter had provided me. There were a few windows that was mostly neglected by the guards as it was at an angle that was difficult to spot from below, which was perfect for me to sneak out from. After that, all I had to do was stay in the shadows. But my time was extremely limited. I doubt the captain would just allow me sneak out of the castle that easily. By now, I'm sure that he'll be rushing towards the castle gate and demanding them to prevent anyone from escaping. Too bad though, I obviously won't be heading out through the front gate. I'll be taking the waterways out of the castle instead. To think the elves were able to build something like a personal submarine made of wood where you can breath underwater and propel yourself forward. They are certainly living in the future.
***
Alright, I reached my destination outside of the castle. Glad that my plan had worked out successfully. I can literally hear the sound effect in my head of me achieving my Sneak level to 100. It certainly puts a smile on my face.
I am outside of the city now. Using the waterways and sewers, it was easy for me to sneak out without the soldiers detecting. Not to mention I was submerged the whole time which further reduces the chance of me being discovered. But in return, my clothing smells really badly now. I made sure to keep all my important clothing in a waterproof bag made from some sort of snake monster's leather.
Someone reached a hand towards me when I reached shore and wanted to pull myself out of the water. Who is this person? The sun was shining behind him and I could only see his silhouette. That's odd. I told very little people about my location after I escaped from the castle. After a moment of staring at his hair style, I knew who this was and reached out my hand to grab his.
"Fancy meeting you here, Rick. Did the Dark Lord informed you on where I will emerge?" I asked.
"Indeed. He told me about this super secret task that can only be assigned to me. He also told me that my very naughty underling had decided to start a war in the City Of Pines. Who knew the little kid from that time would be so daring," chuckled Rick.
"Haha— never assume you know everything about a person until they shows you their true colours. So, what did the Dark Lord assigned you with? " I smiled.
"He told me to ensure that you're safe throughout this entire war. Should I need to, I will have to be your meat shield too," he told me.
"What? Don't throw your life away because of me. Besides, I can handle myself. Don't you worry," I told him.
"Oh, don't I know it. I saw you fighting in the tournament. To think you were able to defeat both Daisy and Rose at the same time. Someone is getting cocky," smirked Rick.
"Doubt I can do that anymore. They are both strong now. Not to mention Rose just kicked my ass recently. Heh heh," I chuckled.
I started heading towards East while Rick followed after me. I need to meet-up with Peter to update him that everything is going according to plan. Hopefully the guild members and defected soldiers are helping us to evacuate as much civilians as possible before the war officially starts. I'm certain the Queen and her soldiers are busy preparing for war to even bother themselves to check on the civilians.
"Soo— are you dating Daisy or Rose?" asked Rick.
"Why? Why is everybody asking me this?!" I shouted to the heavens.
"H— hey.. I'm just curious, that's all. No need to be so dramatic about it," shrugged Rick.
"Sigh, you're interested in either of them?" I asked him with squinted eyes.
"Well— both of them are gorgeous and not to mention Rose had grown significantly more matured ever since I last saw her. Daisy was stunning when she beat Rose last year. To think I did not heard about her before. Any men will be looking for an opportunity to mingle with either of them," he confessed as he rubbed his chin.
"Rick, under no circumstances will you bring up Daisy or Rose anymore during the course of this war unless it's really necessary. If you bring them up once again to talk about dating or ploughing them, then you will feel my wrath, do I make myself clear?" I glared at Rick with red eyes.
"O— of course sir! I won't mention them ever again!" stuttered Rick as he cowered in fear.
"Geez, someone sure is enjoying himself with two beauties," he whispered.
"What was that?" I squinted at him.
"N— Nothing! Let's walk faster, shall we?" Rick gestured me to quicken the pace.
It's gonna take a long walk to the East. Unless there is a caravan that is coincidentally heading towards that direction, it will take me a day or two to reach Peter. From where I am standing, there is no army approaching towards the city yet. Only from the height of the wall surrounding the City Of Pines that you can view the armies approaching from both sides. Let's not delay any further, Peter awaits. No wait, might need to delay a little to cleanse these filth from myself first. Can't present myself with such filthy smell.