Chapter 57: Magna Carta
Vincent
Milly
Since the time we left the palace, 5 months have passed.
We arrived in their capital, my new home. We spent the days chatting away. I didn't say much.
On the days I saw mother Victoria she kept pressuring me to try and win him over for their sakes. When I told her I now work for him and he assured me of our safety, she said 'The only way to be sure is if you marry him, he's going to be the next emperor after all'.
I do remember something else that happened on the way here.
Felmina and I went to ride with general Kaijuu, but instead a woman got in the carriage with him, she was wearing all black, her face was covered.
When I asked Felmina she said that's commander Shizuku.
When we arrived, general Kaijuu gave Felmina some money and said 'You two stay somewhere else for a few nights, you know why right?' Felmina responded with 'Roka'.
He nodded. We stayed at the palace that night. And spent the next few days in town shopping before returning to the palace.
3 days later
We all moved in together, well kind of.
I was given my own room on the other side of the field.
What's with these dents in the walls. Did they keep monsters here. I think they let me live on my own since I complained about the noise from those two during our nights on the road.
They let Grace join me as my live in servant. The guy working for them is called Sebastian, he's really nice.
We all eat breakfast together, usually it's just general Kaijuu, Felmina and I.
His other wife Roka joins us for lunch and dinner.
Is this any way for a future emperor to live, something's off here. This place should be bigger and more fancy, he should also have many more wives by now, according to the spies I read, the king or should I say emperor Raymond only has about 7 years left. I still haven't personally met him, I know what he looks like from the images I saw from contact with the spies though.
5 Days Later.
I'm deep underground, that Shizuka lady I saw before is here. She's standing behind me. A bunch of those Kaijuu Bear guys are here standing in their shorts, the women are wearing shorts and their chests are wrapped with white bands.
"How many general?"
The king is to the right behind me observing from what looks like a throne.
"88 Emperor Raymond. but there may be less in a few moments."
"You never cease to surprise general, please proceed."
He starts taking off his clothes until he's dressed the same way as the others.
The place is lit using stands with 3 legs holding a metal bowl containing fire.
The door we came through is about 40 meters to my right. There's 10 benches lined up.
To the front of them there's a table for each bench about 10 or so meters away with a white line drawn before it.
There's what looks like a bunch of HP potions on the tables there and a black flat box with numbers on it.
This feels a bit dangerous. There's this huge guy standing next to general Kaijuu.
He's like twice his size. Behind them there's a big fire with a greatsword over it heating the blade.
"Welcome Kaijuu Bears, I trust you thought long and hard about this decision. Milly If you don't mind come over here please."
He's calling me. Shizuku leans over and whispers to me.
"general Kaijuu will disable you choker in a second, we need you to read the surface thoughts of those men, if any one of them aren't sure they want to be here after general Kaijuu explains what's about to happen. Please point them out for us so they may leave. He also hopes that in part of what you are about to witness you may find it in your heart to begin to forgive him for the role he played in the death of your father."
This feels wrong.
What is about to happen?
I join him.
They are instructed to line up about 3 meters behind the benches.
general Kaijuu takes out a small black square object with a button on it then presses it.
The red jewel on my choker feels a bit hotter.
All of a sudden thoughts come rushing in:
'I won't let Aniki down' 'what is this place' 'what's the sword for' 'getting your arms broken will hurt like hell'
I grab my head and calm myself. the thoughts drown out.
"Are you ready Milly?"
I lift my head and nod.
"Kaijuu Bears this is the Magna Carta, a ritual the covert ops use to select operatives. In a few moments you will, 10 at a time have both your hands and feet chopped off using that sword"
He points at the Greatsword suspended over the fire.
"I will personally see to this, after which you will crawl to the tables over there where I will assist you to drink a HP Potion. The hot blade will cauterize your wounds, so you won't bleed out. You will remain limbless for the full five minutes after you make it past that line. I will put you to sleep which restore your limbs. If any of you are having second thoughts you may leave now. I'll warn you, if word of this ritual gets out. We will find you and kill you. This is top secret, got it!"
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""Yes, Sir!""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
They all answer as one. Three from the back make their way to the door then another 5 follow.
"Let's begin Milly, tell me if anyone is unsure."
We start walking past the first 10.
We are done.
"Dismissed, next row. the 10 in front move to the back around the sides then the next 10 step forward.
We get to the 5th row.
I point.
'This one is a spy from the Frozen Kingdom, and this one want's to go home but is too afraid to speak up."
"Shizuku!"
The spy tries to stab me with a small blade he took from his pants, general Kaijuu grabs his arm before it reaches me, then breaks it.
Shizuku's behind him.
His blood goes spilling to the ground.
2 more start running for the exit. Shizuku jumps in the air and throws 2 knives at them, one goes through the guy's throat the other misses.
Where's general Kaijuu.
*snap
"AAAAARG!"
a bloodcurdling sound echoes through the room.
I look over. General Kaijuu caught him and broke his arms.
"Shizuku."
"Yes general."
She walks up and slashes his throat.
They both return.
We go through the rest.
No one is scared in fact they seem more motivated than ever.
They let the guys that walked off including the one I pointed out leave.
They then shut the doors behind them and lock it with a brace like the castle gates.
"There are 68 of you left."
We all went back to our original positions.
"As many of you know, in order to use the sleep spell on someone, trust is required."
He smiles wildly as he points to himself with his thumb
"and I intend to earn it... That is why I'm going first."
Everyone from the Bears me included is surprised, that David guy can't stop rubbing his eyes, is he crying.
General Kaijuu looks at Shizuku behind me.
"Commander Shizuku"
"Yes General"
"I am still your commanding officer and law dictates that my orders are absolute correct."
She takes a knee and bows her head.
"Yes general, I am at your command."
"So if I ordered you to kill the king right here and now you would do so, without hesitation."
"Yes general. Your orders are absolute and your authority supersedes the king in times of war, and since you have not officially declared the end of the war, your word is law."
"Good. As my proxy I choose my wives Roka Kaijuu and Felmina Kaijuu"
He raises his arm and points to me.
"That girl and I aren't married yet, so I'll have her excluded from this."
What the hell is a proxy?
"Understood"
"You can stand up now."
She nods then stands up.
He turns to the bears.
"Listen up all of you, here's a tip to get yourself through this extreme trail, select as proxies the people in your life that mean the most to you, if you fail this trial they will be killed, so failure is not an option."
I look at the king, He looks bored. Aren't those your daughters. Show some reaction at least.
Maybe he's seen this scene play out numerous times before, or maybe he has amazing faith in the general, I can't tell which.
When I look back at general Kaijuu he's already on the bench in a stretch position. His hands and feet are over the long side of the bench sticking out.
"Commander Shirley, If you'd please"
That huge guy puts on his gauntlets and picks up the greatsword.
As the sword leaves the light, it has this faint red glow which disappears as soon as the lights from the fire stands illuminate it again.
He stands at his position, lifts the sword above his head.
*Slice
*sizzle
No scream.
general Kaijuu looks up I can see the pain in his face. He goes red and the veins are popping out. He climbs off the bench and starts crawling on his elbows and knees.
I stare at his face and focus.
'Roka, Felmina... I'll keep you safe... no matter what... ... ... I need to keep going... I'm sorry about you father... Milly... I hope... you can... forgive me...'
He's sweating profusely. I look away from his face.
I don't feel good about this at all, I don't like seeing him suffer, I should, but I just can't.
For what seems like minutes he crawls one agonizing step after another.
He's finally across the line. Shizuku's there waiting and starts the clock.
It starts counting down.
10:00 09:59 09:58...
Shizuku helps him drink a potion.
09:31 09:30...
She returns to stand behind me. This goes on forever. He's breathing heavily. but very little noise escapes, he's leaning against the table with his back...
...
...
...
03:29 03:28
Enough of this, I try to go over, Shizuku grabs my belt.
"not yet."
I look at the king, he's also rubbing his eyes.
David is flat out crying now so is that big guy Shirley.
...
...
I look at the clock.
01:12 01:11
I look at his face.
'Just breathe you got this... Oh god it hurts... This is... nothing... you got this... just breathe...'
She's still holding my belt.
...
00:35 00:34
...
00:08 00:07 00:06
She lets go.
"Go ahead, but wait for zero"
I rush over.
00:03 00:02 00:01
"Milly, I'm"
00:00
*beep
"Sleep"
I touch his forehead.
His thoughts come rushing in.
I need to calm myself.