The Xuthos’ gate now starts to be seen behind the strong wooden bridge with big chains on its sides, which moves up and down, filtering everyone who wants to enter Xuthos. Ermis stopped his step.

[Ermis] “Ah, finally we can reach Xuthos.“

He puts a smile on his face, then he sees that Silas looks weird, he is so enthusiastic. Then he moved his eyes to Nik. Nik, just be himself, no expression, and stay cool.

They continued walking and arrived in front of the bridge. There were two soldiers guarding the entrance with a lance and a shield in their hands, also hiding their identities by putting a mask over their faces. Ermis also sees some soldiers roaming near the gate. Those two soldiers then do an inspection of Ermis, Silas, and Nik to ensure they are not a threat to Xuthos.

After the gate’s soldiers finished the inspection, they did not find any threat from Ermis, Silas, or Nik.

[Soldier] “State your business here!”!

[Ermis] “We are soldiers from Roxandros. We want to meet the Queen of Xuthos to deliver news to her.”

That soldier asked them to wait until the Queen accepted them. The other soldier called a red-feather soldier who happened to be patrolling nearby to inform the Queen.

After waiting for a short time, the soldier came back to them and said that the Queen had accepted them into the Queen’s palace. The soldier takes Ermis, Nik, and Silas to the Queen.

They entered the queen’s hall. Ermis was amazed by the queen's charisma. Her brown hair matched the gold crown and red dress she wore. On the left side of the Queen, there is a gray-haired, hunchbacked old woman who uses a wooden staff to help her stand.

[Queen] “Welcome to Xuthos! What happened at Roxandros that made the King send all of you here?”

Queen, welcoming them warmly.

[Ermis] “Our Queen has a serious illness. The King sent us to ask for help from Xuthos’ soldiers to get the materials to make the potion for our queen.”

[Queen] “What kind of help do you need?”

[Ermis] “The potion will be made from Nemean’s claw and Lamia’s hair.“ The Nemean's very fast movements make it difficult to catch. Meanwhile, Lamia, if we are careless, she will manipulate and suck blood until the person dies. Therefore, we need help from Xuthos to catch them.”

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Ermis then explains the strategy to the Queen. At midnight, they will go to the Forgotten Temple first, which is Lamia’s habitat. Then they move to the Nemean Forest to surround and catch it.

After Ermis explains the strategy, the queen asks Ermis and the team to rest before starting the mission.

[Queen] “Nice strategy. I will order our soldiers to help you. I’ve prepared a room for you to rest before hunting Nemean.”

The queen calls two soldiers to lead them to the room.

They headed to the room, accompanied by those two soldiers. When they arrived at the room, suddenly Ermis and Silas were pushed by soldiers. The soldiers close and lock the door. The door is very thick, so their swords cannot break it, and it has a speakeasy window covered in metal bars that could be used to see the person behind it. Nik stood at the door and watched them through the speakeasy window.

[Nik] "Sigh. Finally, I can stop pretending to be myself again. For the Glory of Xuthos!!"

Nik places his hand on his heart.

Ermis is stunned and speechless. His eyes start to tear. However, his pride commanded him to hold back. He trusts his team for everything that they've been through. He still does not believe that Nik betrayed them.

[Ermis] “N..Nik??”

His voice was very weak and trembling.

[Silas] “Hey! Open the door, Nik! What did you do to us?! Hey!”

Silas flailing the door.

Nik doesn’t care about them .

[Nik] ”Have a good rest, maybe this is your last!”

He spoke in a mocking tone and left them, then he and the two soldiers went to the queen’s hall to meet the queen.

..At the Xuthos' throne room..

[Nik] “Queen, they are currently in the locked room.”

[Queen] “Good job, Nik! Xuthos has no better soldier than you. How foolish of them to put their trust in you so quickly?.”

She is standing on her chair, clapping her hands, and laughing.

[Nik] “Thank you, Queen. For the glory of Xuthos.”

[Queen] “Our Shaman did her part well until the Roxandros’ king couldn’t hire a better shaman than ours.”

She praised the shaman beside her.

[Queen] “I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time. With the queen's condition being very ill, the king certainly couldn't think wisely and focused on the queen’s health. We have a great chance to take control of the Roxandros area now. ”

The Queen asks Nik to prepare troops to strike Roxandross immediately.

..Meanwhile, in the room where Ermis and Silas locked up..

Ermis stood in silence, nothing came to his mind.

[Silas] “I didn't think Nik was a spy.”

He was annoyed and hit the table in front of him.

[Ermis] “Forget it. We already lost. Now what can we do to get out of here?”

He said it in a low voice.

[Silas] “Capt, lift up your face! I have an idea, Capt. I will call the guard and say that I need to go to the toilet. Then, when the guard came, we hit him and escaped from this castle.”

[Ermis] “Alright, I got it. Sorry, I can’t think straight now.”

[Silas] “Yes, no problem, Capt!”

Silas calls the guard loudly many times. After some time, a guard comes to their room. Then Silas told him that he needed to go to the toilet. When the guard opens the door, suddenly Silas smashes his body against the guard. The guard is falling down because of Silas. Silas’ physique is bigger than that of that guard. Hurriedly, Ermis and Silas run and find a way to escape from the Xuthos’ area.

After they escaped and reached a secure place, Ermis had to choose what to do next.