Chapter 4 - Royal Blood

I get back to my feet and the man rushes me and charges his fist behind his back as if he is gonna swing at me, I start to throw a kick and he recognizes this and tries to do the same thing that he did to Aloe, he must have specialized more in wrestling. The only problem with that strategy is that I am not so clumsy to just throw a kick at the head of a moving target, instead I aim for his ribs, after feinting a head kick of course, and he ducks his head down expecting a head kick, before he even knows it my foot is cracking him right behind his left ear, courtesy of his own head movement, causing him to fall to his knees instantly. He looks completely out, as he starts to fall backwards his body is unable to completely fall backwards and he just slings back and forth in an unnatural way, his spine seemingly being the only thing in the way of him falling completely down.

Gravity gets the better of him and he falls to his side. His body twitches slightly but his twitching gets more and more aggressive within a couple seconds, and he makes noises that sound like a combination of snoring and him swallowing his tongue while blood leaks from his mouth, presumably from the kick I gave him to the jaw.

“Holy crap Zee! Where the hell did you learn to do that?” Aloe questions me in complete surprise of what she just witnessed me do.

Before I could answer, people from the crowd broke their silence, and started to move forward to see if the man I just knocked out was okay.

Aloe grabs my hand and starts to pull me away in a rush, she stumbles slightly, probably due to being dazed by the punch she took earlier. She looks unsteady on her feet, and she keeps rubbing her head. She reminds me of a child who has never been hit before in their life, but also like someone too prideful to admit that they are hurt. Suddenly I saw her as a fellow soldier, not in reality, but often I was being led by people who were injured, at least compared to me who was relatively uninjured for the whole war. Even though my swollen eye is hardly an injury compared to her, she still is taking the lead and dragging me along the streets, with her balance completely gone, and after the back of her head was smashed into the ground. In The War I was more willing to let people lead, because I am just a mere private, a grunt, calling me a sheep is an accurate description of who I was in The War. This all still rings true, but seeing Aloe barely able to walk fills me with an even stronger urge, the urge to help her, to at least help her lead me to wherever she is trying to get.

I pull back on Aloe’s hand that she is dragging me along with, in her unbalanced footing she falls backwards easily, I reach over and wrap my arm around her shoulder, and I position her arm around my own shoulder.

“What the hell are you doing, commoner?” She says in an angry voice, but it seems weaker, not so commanding but more tired, to the point where I feel like she wouldn’t even have the energy to hit me.

“J-just helping you, you still have to steer because I have no idea where we are going.” I say plainly, unable to express any sort of care in my tone for a reason beyond my own understanding.

“W-whatever.” She says as she lets out a long exhale, as if she is finally able to breathe again.

My plain response to her question seems to have set her at ease, it almost feels like she would have been angry if I tried to be the hero coming to her rescue in this situation, and since I gave her the impression that I was being objective, she decided to let me help her. Though it wasn’t my intention to sound so objective, my inability to express any sort of tone besides being snarky or nonchalant seems to have benefitted me for the first time today.

“Hold on, it's somewhere around here.” Aloe stays as she comes to a halt and looks around the area.

“What exactly are we looking for?” I ask.

“You’ll see, it’s like my home base.” Aloe says while looking around still.

Aloe starts leading us down a plain looking alleyway, she seems to have regained her balance as she pulls away from me and walks ahead, she points at a single piece of paper nailed into a door, on the paper is a drawn picture of a hand pointing upwards.

“This means home base.” She says as she knocks on the door with the paper nailed onto it.

“I still don’t get why you had such a hard time looking for your home base…” I say as I look around the alleyway, nothing really looks unusual.

“It's my first time coming here, but you have to introduce yourself to everyone.” Aloe grabs my face and turns it towards the door.

The door has a slit about three fourths the way up, it is covered by a piece of metal from the other side of the door. A minute passes in silence and when I start feeling the need to question Aloe on what we are waiting for and why I am even here with her, the metal piece on the door suddenly slides open, revealing two red colored eyes in the slit as they peer at the both of us. The red color of their eyes is accented by their long, white eyelashes.

Red eyes are a common feature of people further up north, I am not totally sure why they all are born with red eyes but along with their red eyes, their skin is practically snow white, and so is their hair. Their country, Northal, is a snowy wasteland, they are the only people actually able to survive in such a climate, but many of them have come to Eccacia 50 years ago due to some trade contract signed between the nations. This was a play by the Eccacian Royal Family to have easy access to Northal’s natural resources, most people would say the people of Northal got tricked into something, but a lot of them wanted the ability to travel to Eccacia and the Capital City in order to sell their goods for more money or to work less and get paid more compared to their home country.

“Aloe… who’s this blondie?” The voice on the other side of the door inquires about me, clearly a woman's voice.

“Some guy I just met. Let us in.” Aloe says in a careless sounding voice.

Through the slit the eyes of the Northal woman squinted at me. She looks me up and down then back to Aloe.

“Aloe, this ain’t like you, bringing random men back home.” The woman says, clearly concerned for Aloe, but also untrusting of me.

“Jeez Shira, it isn’t like that, he’s the kid who keeps sending that old hag the letters!” Aloe exclaims in an annoyed tone.

“Wha-!” I shout.

Just how many people know about those damned letters?!

“The boy called Zebedee Levin? The one that sis always talked about when she came back?” The woman who I now know is called Shira says with a hint of curiosity.

The door opens suddenly, revealing the full figure of Shira. She is extremely tall, taller than me and she wears revealing clothing, her muscular abdomen is on full display, and her legs just as muscular are in full view as her shorts only reach down to the top of her thighs. More surprising than her build is her hair, it is jet black just like Aloe’s and Angela’s, for some reason her eyelashes are the expected color of someone from Northal. Her face is soft looking, and she is comparable in beauty to that of Angela.

“Having fun checking out my sister?” Aloe says to me.

“H-huh? Oh, no I am not? Your sister?” I say plainly.

“Yeah she’s another illegitimate child, except no one has found out about her… whatever! Anyways, are you not having fun or not checking her out?” Aloe says as I look at her, a smug look on her face.

“Hey stop conversing and get inside already, what if someone sees you both!” Shira motions us inside with urgency in her voice.

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On that note Aloe leads me inside the doorway. The inside of this supposed “home base” is a dusty looking bar, with red tinted lights sprawled around the bar leaving some spots with no lighting at all. Six people sit around the bar not including the person standing behind the bar, a big muscular guy who lacks any notable features besides the bushiest mustache I have ever seen in my life. Everyone else looks unremarkable besides the fact that all their clothing looks suspiciously common, like they tried so hard to look like commoners but overdid it.

Aloe leads me to a seat and sits me down.

“What the hell happened to your face Aloe?!” One of the men sitting at the bar exclaims.

“Did this blonde mongrel do this to you?” A woman sitting to my left says.

“No way this dumb looking commoner could do this kind of damage to Madam Aloe’s face!” Another man sitting at the bar yells.

The reason for their “overly common” look is clear to me now, even an idiot could hear their voices and know exactly what they are, these people are very obviously royals. They spoke in reference to me and insulted me before they even shot me a single glance, all their focus on the injured Aloe, none of them seemed to have even noticed my swollen eye. The people sitting at the bar all pester Aloe about her injuries relentlessly.

“Everyone, I am alright!” Aloe shouts in order to shut everyone up.

“You couldn’t have chosen somewhere less dusty and old as our home base?” Aloe questions the people.

“We can’t risk being seen by higher class people, sister.” Shira says while still standing at the door.

Aloe sinks into her seat as if she is a child throwing a silent tantrum. I clear my throat as I get ready to start questioning the scenario I am in, and every person in the room suddenly stares daggers into me, I gulped nervously.

“S-so, where the hell am I?” I ask

The people of the bar all collectively gag at the sound of my voice.

“Ugh, I really do hate hearing commoners speak!” a woman at the very right side of the bar says.

Looking at Aloe it is clear she is enjoying the verbal assault I am getting from all these royals in disguise, and I can feel the frustration build up in my heart.

Aloe lets out a laugh, “Did you guys not hear me before?” She questions everyone.

“This is THE Zee.” She says while pointing at me with both her hands.

Everyone gasps in sync. Everyone in the bar is now looking at me with different looks in their eyes

“The real Zee in the flesh?” A couple of the men say in sync.

“What? You all know me too?” I ask.

“Of course we know you! Madam Angela spoke about you all the time when she came back to the castle 10 years ago!” The man who called me a “dumb looking commoner” says.

Something about his words strikes me as odd.

“Wait. What do you mean she came back to the castle?” I question the man.

The woman to my left speaks up, “You didn’t know? Miss Angela was sent to the outskirts by King Harold in order to hide her identity as her Illegitimate child, following the death of Miss Kayla she was summoned back home to the castle.”

I had heard of Princess Kayla when I was a child, she was said to have suddenly died from illness, and a nationwide grieving commenced. We all had to sit at home and listen to the king give a speech about her on the radio, it was soon after that when I got drafted into Early Development.

“Miss Angela was summoned home in an attempt to hide Miss Kayla’s death from the public, as they looked very similar! But Miss Kayla’s death was leaked to the public before they could ever disguise Miss Angela as her, and before they could secretly transport Miss Angela back to the outskirts, The War broke out!” The woman to my left continued to explain, “This all culminated in her identity as an illegitimate child of King Harold being leaked to the public a few years later.” The woman looks down and shakes her head.

The room was silent and I had a hard time processing so much information that I just stared at the woman. I look to my right at Aloe, she is looking down along with everyone else. They all looked sad, but I get the feeling that they are not sad about what they just told me. No, they are sad about something else they haven’t told me. Before I can question them, the woman on the very right side of the bar speaks up.

“The truth is that Miss Kayla was not taken from us by an illness.” She pauses as she looks around at everyone sitting at the bar, they all nod at her.

“She was killed by her own brother, The First Son, and Savior of Eccacia, Prince Lucius.” The lady finishes.

Silence fills the bar once again. This revelation is hard to believe to me, especially as a former soldier. Prince Lucius led us into battle many times, he fought fearlessly on the frontlines with us, his hands were stained with more blood than any soldier combined but all that blood spilled was righteous, those enemy soldiers would have killed any one of us in a heartbeat, he was protecting us. His activity in the war meant you can ask almost any soldier if he had saved them at least once and they would all say “Yes” without any question, that includes me.

:”I’m sorry everyone but that’s kinda hard to believe without any proof.” I say apologetically, seeing their sad expressions, I felt bad for not believing in them.

“It’s true! Angela can tell you when she gets here!” Aloe yells.

“Angy is coming here?!” I question Aloe and she nods.

“W-where even is here?!” I question Aloe again.

“OH! Sorry I forgot to tell you!” Aloe smiles and looks at everyone, they all smile back at her.

“We are the High Order! This is our home base, and we are gonna overthrow the Royal Family!” Aloe says plainly, almost like what she just said is completely normal.

My mouth is agape for more than a few seconds, everyone in the room seems to giggle and laugh with pride at such a statement. I hate the royal family more than anyone but such a plot is suicide, and completely bonkers. They all look at me, waiting for my response.

“You’re all crazy! Let me out of here there is no way I should be here!” I shout, the idea of going home and instantly chugging a beer crosses my mind.

“Hey this was all Angela’s Idea!” Aloe yells.

A plan to overthrow the royal family being Angy’s plot is hard to believe, but on top of that it wouldn’t make sense that she fled with Dane and her servants last night to somewhere besides here, only to show up here at a later time. No, something doesn’t add up.

“What was all that with Dane then? Why did he knock me out and why did she run off with him and her two weird ass servants?!” I yell with my eyes closed

The room goes silent and I open my eyes. Everyone is looking at me with confused looks on their faces, like they have no idea what I am talking about,

“What are you talking about? Why would Dane be in the Capital City?” Aloe questions me.

“Huh? He was with Angy last night, I saw her making a ruckus with her two idiot servants and I followed them. Dane hit me out of nowhere and they just ran off.” I explained.

Everyone looks at each other, confused at my words.

“You are making no sense! That old hag was running away to get out of marrying that asshole, and to officially start the coup! You must be lying!” Aloe yells at me as she stands up from her seat.

Everyone follows in suit and berates me with questions, not believing what I tell them. Moreover I’m starting to get a bad feeling, this feeling is the same one I would get during The War, when things would go quiet, not literally, but in the moments where we are least suspecting of something forgetting we are in the middle of a battlefield. The calm before the storm people call it. My gaze shifts to Shira, she is not looking out at the door anymore. Instead she is walking over to me and berating me with questions as well.

Time feels as if it is slowing down, I can feel sweat pouring down my face and it gets into my eyes but I feel like if I blink I will surely lose my life, the people around me aren’t getting the same feeling. They all keep yelling at me and yelling at me, Shira completely abandons her post as guard, leaving everything exposed.

“Shira, wait!” I scream

She stops in her tracks, and everyone goes silent. They all stare at me like I'm a crazy person. Nothing happens, and I can feel the feeling subside a bit, but not entirely.

“S-sorry, I don’t know what's going on with me.” I say while shuddering.

*CRACK*

A window breaks near the front door and something whizzes past my face.

“AHH!” Aloe yelps behind me in pain.

I look behind me to see a knife stuck in the arm of Aloe, before I can even think all of the windows shatter around us and the people of the bar all start screaming. To my left the woman who was once talking so much is laying face down in a pool of her own blood, a knife in the back of her head. In another instant, three people jump through the broken windows. Before I can even react Aloe falls on the floor and all the men who were sitting at the bar have knives stuck in their throats.

The woman who was sitting on the very right of the bar starts to scream, one of the men throws a knife at her and she reaches forward with her hands acting as a shield, the knife pierces her left hand and she goes silent in shock. The man who threw the knife dashes at her with inhuman speed and stabs her in the neck; she never makes another noise besides a choking sound as she falls to the ground. With that everyone who was once so lively asking me questions laid in pools of their own royal blood, completely silent.

Aloe is still screaming and Shira attempts to run towards us, she gets stopped by one of the men attempting to stab her. She has her back against a pillar and uses her strength to overpower the man. Suddenly she coughs up blood, the third man snuck behind her and starts to stab her in the stomach repeatedly. In the commotion I fall to my knees seeing the once lively bar turn into a bloodbath within a minute.

Aloe continues to groan in pain as a glass falls from the bar, smashing onto the floor. Shira has now fallen to the floor, her royal blood begins to pool on the floor under her.