"To accept an apprentice, one must mix their blood and offer it to the goddess Myrtia. That dagger is enchanted to amplify the wielder's deepest desires. Although, this might be the first time it had driven Allen with such intensity."
That was, without a doubt, the longest sentence Darius had uttered since Xion had known him.
Xion ran a hand through his dark hair, brushing aside the unruly strands that tickled his eyes. Sitting quietly in the carriage had given him the clarity to reflect on the chaos of the day.
Hearing Rael's soft voice, carefully telling him the ins and outs of the situation, had already soothed half his anger and lingering fear. The rest dissipated when he glanced across the carriage.
Unlike the first day they had met, when Rael lounged lazily against plush cushions, his posture now was alert. He sat there with his back ramrod straight.
And for a moment, Xion noticed the way Darius rubbed his fingernail over the tender skin of his thumb.
His long hair was still cascading carelessly over his shoulders, yet those green eyes looked at him straight.
If one thing was evident to Xion, it was the blatant worry in that intense gaze.
A child who ought to be fretting over which snack to eat next was worrying about the burdens of his people. Not only that, Rael also did not want him to harbor any ill intent for Allen.
Such thoughtfulness, without any doubt, was the rarest.
Such a considerate child... and so very cute!
With a deep frown, his delicate face scrunched into an expression so tender and childlike that it resembled a soft, round bun.
An inexplicable urge surged through Xion. He wanted to reach out and poke his cheek. Maybe even pinch it lightly to see the always cold-faced Rael's reaction.
While restraining himself from doing something that might potentially land him under yet another gleaming sword of a particular knight, he sighed.
"Got it," Xion said with a gentle smile. His oceanic eyes twinkled under the streaming golden sunlight.
Rael blinked and then said no more. Though, Xion could see how Rael's back had relaxed.
Xion had a very simple thinking process. Survive.
If something was not immediately life-threatening, he would set it aside to deal with later.
Anyway, if they were important enough, he would have to think of them, and he would do so when urgently needed.
If they did not spring up in his life later, that meant they were not that important to worry about in the first place.
So, just like that, a certain silly activist threw the recent situation in the corner of his mind and focused on something more interesting.
"Your Grace, have you learned swordsmanship?"
Back on earth, Xion had a hobby. It was movies and animes. He especially liked to watch those showing cool fighting scenes with weapons like swords, bows, axes- you name it.
Earlier, when he almost lost his life and was about to say bye-bye to this world, a little twig- no, the little angel saved his life.
That, too, in such a cool way!
Xion was not the least bit ashamed to admit that he was impressed by a kid of eleven to the point that when he looked at Rael, his eyes shone even brighter than the brightest star in the dark night.
Darius, meanwhile, had been observing Xion carefully.
How peculiar, he thought. Xion did not act like the usual healers Darius was accustomed to.
Unlike the bloodshed and greed, he was familiar with, Xion had a certain innocence in the way he saw the world.
It was as if in this silly healer's world, saving others without any personal gains was normal. He expected the world to be kind. Xion had been so gentle and so strangely warm.
It was baffling. Suspicious, even.
Darius had initially assumed that Xion's actions were driven by a desire for fame.
Yet, the meager amount this absurdly naive and humble boy charged for his treatments had long eliminated any notion of greed for gold.
Greed. What a delightful little word.
It was one of his favorite words too. To him, greed was a tool, a leash he could use to control anyone.
Be it wealth, power, beauty, or even nobility, Darius had the ability to bestow any of it, or to snatch it away entirely at his whim.
He, Darius Rael Darkhelm, had always been looked upon as a devil. A man who could directly peer into souls, and as those fanatics in the church proclaimed, one who lured the weak into damnation.
Was Darius guilty of dragging people into hell? Perhaps. But what of it?
In truth, he relished the dance of corruption.
Those tainted, desperate creatures drown in the intoxicating allure of the power he offered, only to return with their ugly crooked teeth bared in a futile attempt to betray him.
It was entertaining in a way. At the very least, hearing their screams brought him pleasure.
It was all so easy. To use their weakness against them. Yet, in such a long span of a week, he could not see past this doll-faced boy.
He could not see his soul, nor could he see those dark tendrils flying around the body.
Even his own people bore them. The wisps of greyish-black miasma. The darker the color, more intense the desire.
Xion had none.
Looking at the radiant smile that made him squint his eyes; Darius repeated the sudden question in his mind. Swordsmanship?
"I suppose I've learned some." Darius tilted his head slightly and rested his chin on the back of his palm.
"But the instructor... well, he didn't teach me much. He was far too scared to come near the devil."
Darius smirked slightly and Xion could tell the devil was little Rael.
"Then there was the mana explosion," he continued smoothly as if recounting a particularly dull afternoon.
"Some people died. My instructor included. Not that I care about them. It was nice, honestly. The silence."
Darius' eyes had been fixed on Xion. They were dark just the way when he had told him about the ritual of apprenticeship.
Darius was not just telling Xion. He was observing.
The ritual he had described earlier was common knowledge, known even to beggars on the streets.
Yet Xion's reaction, a slight widening of his eyes and the softest look of dawning realization, proved this was the first time he had heard of it.
Curious about the healer's upbringing, he waited for the response.
He recalled telling this same story to one of his servants, and that male had passed out from shock and fear.
And now he wondered... How will you respond to this?
But what came out of Xion's mouth was something entirely out of the archduke's anticipated outcomes. Those soft, red lips parted, and the words that tumbled out left Darius utterly stunned.
Black Box-
Darius brutally killed his enemy. Covered in blood stains, he went back while a little beast followed behind the scent of blood.
Lady Nazia, "Not doing it."
Alone, Ray went to clean the mess, willing himself not to gag. "I am strong!"
Allen did not even step inside, "Don't want nightmares."
Meanwhile silly Xion, "You saved the puppy!"
Darius looked at the bloodhound and then at his naive Xion.
Suppressing his smile, he held Xion's hands. Looking sad and afraid he spoke, "Can you help me wash? I don't want to see blood."
The silly Xion, "Rael, you are such an angel!"
Ray, Allen, Nazia, "... Are you blind? He is the devil!"