Taisei watched the Amin, Gerhard, entered the maze without hesitation, no sign of fear or ill ease, his calm strides betraying no sign of a man about to face trials that even young Elves are hard pressed to survive. One could simply assume that it is because of the human's lack of understanding of the dangers he will soon face or because of the characteristics of his race with their famed inherent ignorance and arrogance once again manifesting itself as they have often shown themselves to the Elves over the millennia. And yet Taisei detected none of this from Gerhard, only… an aura of one who is about to greet an old friend. Of going to war.  

The human that his daughter brought back did not behaved like any of the others of his kind were wont to do, only showing proper decorum and respect at all times when even Taisei admitted that the Elves of the Shadow clan are in the wrong for bringing in guests… only to threaten them with death. Although it was the rogue actions of his daughter, this still affects the Clan's reputation as a whole, however for the Amin, Gerhard… there seemed to be a well of actual understanding lying behind those clear blue eyes of his. Not the false world weariness of youths often filled with unjustified cynicism, spouting lines of 'hard earnt' wisdom… no, it was the weight of Gerhard's words, hammered and laced with experience, as though Taisei was speaking to a Wise Sage from another Elven clan, burdened by the long passage of time.

And it was unnerving to feel that Taisei… was forgiven.

"Father?", Mist called out, "Are you alright?"

"Hmm?", Taisei answered in a daze.

"… you have been gazing at the same spot where the Sainür last stood for the last few minutes, father"

"I wonder… do you think what we have done is wrong, my child?"

"… isn't it too late for regrets, father?"

Taisei gave an audible sigh, "I know your views on this, so I don’t need a subtle reprimand from you, my daughter. Bitterness is unbecoming of your beauty"

"We have just sent our first Sainür in nearly a thousand years to face a trial of almost certain death because he is unschooled in the ways of our Clan. Skills that were taught to our brethren since BIRTH in preparation for their rite to adulthood. No, I am not bitter father… I am furious"

"… if he really is Sainür, then this is a good opportunity to test his courage, cunning, intelligence… and most of all, his affinity with nature, the core of the Selvari "

"But-.."

"I know you feel responsible for this… but listen well, my child", Taisei turned to face his daughter, "do you really think that the Amin whom you truly believe is a Sainür, would be so easily defeated in a child's rite of passage?"

"… all I know is one thing father… that I was forced to betray him"

"This", Taisei grimaced, "is only a portion of what the humans have done to us over the long millennia. And he accepted this task willingly"

"Only when there are no other options left!"

"He had a choice", Taisei looked at her wearily, "he choose life".

Meanwhile on the opposite side of the field, on the platform where Gerhard's party had made it their own semi-private observation deck, Max suddenly slapped himself repeatedly on the top of his head which was followed by a low groan as though he finally realised something. Everyone looked at him, the definition of 'weirdo' and 'creep' clearly expressed on their faces… even from his own friends. Except from William of course… the young are still innocent after all.

"W-what is it, Max?", Lydia asked warily... eyeing him like he was a serial stalker about to level up into kidnapping an unrequited love.

"You guys…", Max looked to each of his supposed 'friends' in turn, "did anyone give my grandfather any health potions…?"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"No… more to the point", Max continued into the stunned silence of the girls, "Does he know what they actually do, if he even finds some?"

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INTRO SONG: Trust Me

http%3a%2f%2fi283.photobucket.com%2falbums%2fkk285...0173b8.jpg [http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk285/black_ferrus/Blut%20und%20Eisen/Intro22_zps150173b8.jpg]

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Past the entry way of the proving grounds, Gerhard was greeted to a view that was surreal in the heart of the Elven woodlands. The almost flat grassy field spread out before him, and as he soon discovered, patches of the plains were shrouded in an almost unbroken blanket of a variety of flowers in varying stages of bloom that were growing at just about below chest height. In the middle of all this however, stood his objective, a lone towering hill rising out in the middle of the grasslands. The field was criss-crossed with what appeared to be deep furrows and Gerhard's first immediate instinct was to dive down into a prone position in amongst the flora, crawling on his belly until he came within finger touching distance on the lip of one of the trenches. And as it turned out, this was what the furrows were; manmade trenches.

'Interesting', Gerhard thought as he examined the surrounding area and tried to determined why, as a rite of passage for the Elves, was such open terrain used which goes counter to all that the Selvari specialised in. And that was warfare in amongst the forest. However he had an epiphany… what better way for Elven warriors to prove themselves that they are ready to face the barbaric human filled world, than by devoiding the Selvari of the one thing that gave them an overwhelming strategic edge in combat. And that was cover.

Having understood this, Gerhard became quite impressed with those who came up with this particular 'exam', as he saw this. When he was in the Heer , Gerhard devised training schemes in which his men had only a quarter of their ammunition, unknown enemy strength numbers and told that he, as their commanding officer, was 'killed in action'. This was to examine if his men had the motivation, initiative and capabilities to complete the mission… as well as keeping many of themselves alive as possible, otherwise the whole exercise was moot. Thankfully Gerhard never did get to test out what would have happened if he was 'killed in action', however there had been countless times that he or his men were cut off from one another and had to rely on their training to survive. He was very strict in instructing his men… but because of this, many were able to eventually grow old and play with grandkids of their own.

The trench seemed like a logical choice to travel across this open field however this didn't mean that travelling by using the trenches was a viable option. Gerhard scanned along the inner walls and the muddy bottom cursorily, his keen eye and instinct having kept him alive and hunt down murderers from the time when both was honed by the madness of the battlefield and his subsequent career in the Austrian police force, the hard earnt skills reawakened due to him being immersed in this incredibly realistic VRMMORPG for such a prolonged period of time. Finally he noticed some peculiarities that were so unremarkable but nevertheless felt so out of place in this trench, that Gerhard almost raise an eyebrow in consternation.

From what he could see, Gerhard noticed pieces of flat stones scattered in what seemed like random intervals on the bottom of this trench system, but in actual fact were grouped quite tightly together from which only the brown moist dirt separated one patch from another. What caught his eye though was the fact that some sections of the dirt patches looked slightly disturbed and, crawling along the lip of the trench carefully while gazing down, Gerhard almost whistled lowly in appreciation.

'Very clever these Elves', he praised them internally as Gerhard noticed the 'traps' and how each one is different from the other and yet from one trap to another they all took into account of what a potential victim would do to avoid them and their makers had planned ahead. One such trap was actually a combination of three working in tandem, where if one were to take a running leap to avoid the area of disturbed dirt, he would never detect the thin fine line that was almost invisible to the naked eye at the perceived landing point, nor if he did noticed and just landed before it on one of the flat stones… Gerhard threw a small rock the size of his palm which landed on the stone. Immediately the suspicious dirt patch exploded and a dozen long spears emerged… points angled and facing the imaginary back of it's would be unsuspecting imaginary victim. Gerhard first realised that the stone was far too large in comparison to the others at the bottom, that the victim was meant to notice the dirt patch and if the thin line was avoided, the victim would have landed on the flat rock to trigger the trap anyway.

But that wasn't all… Gerhard then pulled out his sword silently and slid carefully into the trench, beside the jutting spears. He then proceeded to hack one of the bottoms of the spears off to free it and sheathing his sword, he used the sharp point of the spear to lightly massage the area before the jutting spears, touching more areas of the suspicious dirt patch. And once again, spears violently pierced upwards towards the sky, almost wrenching the spear from Gerhard's hand although it nearly broke his wrist. With a grimace, he looked at the thin almost invisible string on the other end of the trench and sighed, thinking that confirmation is better than just speculating and used his spear tip to land on top of the line. To his surprise nothing happened… until he smelt gas.  

Like a man being chased by the entire Russian Army, (which is quite unpleasant, trust Gerhard's experience on this), he clambered ungracefully out of the trench in a hurry, almost losing his foot as the entire section of that particular trench erupted into flames as Gerhard rolled forward and away from the inferno. However in a matter of seconds, the flames died out and Gerhard could only thank luck that there was a draft which blew the smell towards and alerted him. But now he faced another problem, the fact that the ball of flame would have alerted anyone unsavoury towards his position. Clutching his newly acquired spear close towards his chest, Gerhard knew it was only a matter of moments until he was discovered and quickly but quietly, leopard crawled himself deeper into the flora away from the trench until he felt safe and covered enough by the vegetation. The next thing he did though was to make sure he had visual coverage of the trench to identify any pursuers.

What he saw next almost made him gasped in astonishment.  

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The actions of Gerhard brought a low murmur of approval by many of the watching Elven audience, high above and secluded from below with magical optical illusions to appear like formless clouds in the sky, although his inexplicable actions caused the members of Gerhard's party to they look to one another in bafflement. Before Masumi could speak out loud the unspoken questions burning in their minds, a shadowy figure seemingly materialised right next to her to provide the sought for answer.

"He thinks like an elf", Mist said with a slight curve of her lip, which looked suspiciously like a smile.

"K-kuh!", Masumi glared at, what her feminine instincts warned her  was a supposed love 'rival', before Mayumi asked.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Exactly as I meant", Mist explained, her face becoming unreadable, "all his current actions proved that he is cautious, inquisitive, suspicious and most of all, brave enough to verify a threat with his life. Traits", Mist eyed each of them in turn, "which the Selvari foster in their young warriors."

"Well", Max snorted, "forcing my grandfather into this stupid game of yours will at least prevent genocide from happening here."

Mist's face became slightly confused as her emotionless mask broke, "But Gerhard doesn't seem to be the unreasonable type?"

"… You are worried about the wrong person", as he tilted his head slightly towards Masumi, who had a murderous aura with what seemed to be a dragon appearing behind her back. Must be a trick of the eye… must be.

"Er… quite", as Mist replied in bafflement.

However their group soon became aware that there was a strange tension slowly filling the air and all abruptly fell silent as they turned to gaze down at what Gerhard was observing. Figures were converging on the position from where he had set those traps off, but they were moving oddly, almost in complete coordination without any form of signals to one another. They seemed to lack… individuality.

Lorelei whispered to Max, "Eh? Those people look kinda strange. They look like you Max… but not."

"I don’t know what they are too", Max replied out loud as he finally noticed a disturbing thing. They had no shadows.

"They are the Aerytir Guard", Mist answered solemnly, "Majority of whom are human souls enslaved by the forest when their physical forms perished here."

"That’s… that’s inhumane!", Lydia for once roused into some form of empathy for these spirits even though they were NPCs. Working without being paid is a crime in her mind…

"If you hadn't noticed, we are not human", Mist replied bluntly, "Besides, they were all former invaders anyway. We just use their spirits to simulate the foes that the Selvari will be forced to fight in the coming future."

However the party was used to dealing with monsters of various kinds in the game, so they quickly regained their composure… all except for Mayumi when she saw the oddity amongst the oddness. When she caught sight of the towering figure leading the Aerytir Guard, it's single eye on its forehead blinking up once towards the observation deck before moving on, Mayumi paled before nearly collapsing, Masumi quickly hugging her sister from behind after noticing the figure too.

"Shhh, neechan its' ok",  trying to quell Mayumi's trembling, "its' ok, its' ok", she repeated tenderly.

All Mayumi did was whimpered softly before her body disappeared, apparently having logged out of the game. Max and Lydia stood stunned, while William could only tug on her sleeve and asked, "Where did strong lady go?"

"Eh? What was that?", Lydia stated in worried confusion.

"O-oi! Masumi! What happened to her?!", Max asked anxiously, "Why did she suddenly-"

"Don't get involve in our business, Max", she bluntly interrupted.

"How can I not?! I never thought that red 'Demon' could get so terrified!"

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

"Max… ask one more time", Masumi whispered silently, her mere words so sharp as though a knife was cutting the air, "and you will regret it ever leaving your mouth."

Max gulped reflexively, for the first time aware that probably, maybe Mayumi was the wrong person to be scared of. He could never imagine that the usually docile twin would harbour such a personality that reeks of controlled violence just waiting to be unleashed. The stance that Masumi had unconsciously assumed looked like she was ready to separate his head from his shoulders as her hand started drifting towards her sword.  

Finally it was William who innocently broke the tension, "I think Angel is in trouble."

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'This is not good', Gerhard rolled aside as his position was impossibly quickly discovered, the blade of the halberd hammering into the ground  where he was before, narrowly missing cleaving him in two. Even rolling out of the way, he was in the state of mind to quickly thrust with the spear, managing to impale the Aerytir Guard in the neck in a stroke of good fortune.

Critical Hit!

The system message was unnerving but Gerhard had gotten use to it a long time ago as he continued to twist the spear in the struggling creature's throat. For that is what Gerhard now viewed these 'things'… a parody of what it meant to be human which for some reason seemed to anger him on the more personal level. The fact that he hadn't started 'drifting', as he now calls his frequent trips to a past filled madness and back, meant that he had full access to his mental faculties because the threat before him couldn't be classed as living. Gerhard was fighting a spirit in physical form.

As the creature lay dying with the spear stuck in its throat, Gerhard stood and quickly drew his sword as another one of those things appeared suddenly behind him. Swaying to the side to avoid an axe stroke Gerhard then spun around and used the momentum to have his sword edge biting deep into its neck, the head parting and falling to the ground as the body remained standing twitching for a moment as though unable to believe it was dead before it finally toppled to its knees.

Critical Hit!

'Well that is a given isn't it', he thought wryly at that system message when without warning, Gerhard received a notification icon on the corner of his eye that indicated that someone was trying to 'whisper' to him.

The only two people who he had listed as friends… immediately Gerhard responded, "Accept."

- "Opi ! I am glad I can reach you even though it looked like another form of dungeon down there. Anyway… Get out of there!", came Max's urgent voice.

- "Max. Explain in ten words or less. NOW!"

-"Mist right next to me explained that the one's that attacked you are called Aerytir Guard and they are led by something called a Seeker, their leader, a Cyclops kind of thing, a relic from the beginning of time or something like that. He can hunt you down using sight and sound while coordinating the others through mental telepathy.  Did I forget to mention he is an 'insane', 'nightmarish', 'god mode' level of tracker?", Max finished in a rush.

-"…That is over ten words. I get the general idea though".

-"Huh? What are you going to do grandfather?"

-"What else? Kill the Seeker. Direct me towards him since you have an overhead view of the situation."

-"Eh?... Isn't that cheating?", Max looked around furtively to see that no other elves were overhearing their conversation. For Mist's part, she was just nonchalantly whistling. As far as she was concerned, Gerhard receiving such vital help will offset the guilt she feels from having to force him to endure this farce in the first place.

-"… Seriously? Is this somehow one of your gamer logic again?", Gerhard replied confused. He had never considered that military intelligence was cheating, only a necessity to survive. He didn’t even view this as a game, but an actual life and death struggle.

Masumi and Mist both elbowed Max in the stomach. All Gerhard heard on the other end of the 'chat' was a gurgle before he heard his grandson's strained voice.

-"Opi , turn 30 degrees to your right and start running."

-"Verstanden", bending over and running so that his head and upper chest were no longer visible.

-"Take a sharp left for 30 metres then turn back to your original heading."

Gerhard instantly did as he was told as Max continued to guide his grandfather away from the other Aerytir Guard closing in on him, slipping past the net that was being set. After a few more detours, the words that he wanted to hear were announced in his ears.

-"At the current pace you are going, you will reach him in thirty seconds."

Racing through the grass field, his sword in the rest position behind him, Gerhard practically sprinted, still haven’t caught sight of his target but still trusting his grandson all the same. By all rights he should have seen the Seeker already however the reason soon became apparent.  The long grass parted and immediately a trench yawned out horizontally across him, the one eyed creature, its lax facial features gazing upwards with no expression whatsoever. It didn’t even register a shock as Gerhard, flying through the air, slammed his sword point into its single eye and his knees shattering the Cyclop's chest with such force that they both tumbled end over end till the rough walls of the trench painfully halted their momentum.  

Spitting dirt from his mouth Gerhard heard Max congratulating him.

-"Good work Opi! The elves around us are totally slacked jaw at your supposed 'divine' like hunting instinct! Haha, they say it's even beyond the level of their top trackers." For some reason, Gerhard felt that Max was doing a :3 expression on the other end of the 'chat'.

-"What are the other Aerytir Guard doing?"

-"The ones that were chasing you are just standing there unmoving… but I think you are about to enter the range of another Seeker, because some of his Aerytir Guard are drifting closer to you."

-"Verstanden, I will be going into radio silence once I head out back into the field just so that they can't hear me", as Gerhard hurriedly tore thin strips from the clothing of the dead Cyclops he pilfered from, tucking some small glass bottles with various coloured liquids he also found into his pockets, 'Looked important' as he continued, "just tell me where the other Seekers are in relation to that hill and their possible range."

-"Yes, grandfather. But what will you do now?"

-"Time to use some old tricks from the Eastern front", he sighed in melancholy as he then cut some of the surrounding grass.

-"Opi! You have got to move now! The Seeker is getting closer. Mist said he will soon catch your visual life force trail, whatever that means."

-"I am done. I will go into radio silence. Remember Max, just their position in relation to that hill", as he slipped ghostlike into the tall grass.

Gerhard, for all intents and purposes to the watching audience, vanished.

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A wooden door opened and a tall powerfully built man was guided in by a servant, his uniformed figure settling heavily into a chair pulled by one of his following retainers as all eyes from the other seated figures that occupied the length of the table turned to the head of it where this obviously influential man was eyeing the others with disdain.  

"Duke Kanus", said a man opposite him from the other end of the long bench, "glad you can finally grace us with your presence", which he ended caustically.

"Shut it Count Albrook", Duke Kanus replied in contempt, "a merchant like you have no right to question when and IF I choose to attend".

"Now now", one of the seated gentlemen, a heavily aged man in his seventies interrupted, "let's not bring our old enmities into this emerging problem we are facing. After all", the old man eyed cannily back and forth between the two current rival powers of the Rosenheim kingdom, "you wouldn't want a third faction returning from obscurity whilst you both bicker blindingly".

"Tch", Duke Kanus expressed his annoyance, "that bloody old codger just doesn’t know when to give up, does he?"

"I thought he was finally collared and left to forcefully retire out in the middle of nowhere, but it seems your old master, Ernst Rommer, has other plans", Count Albrook  chuckled spitefully at the Duke.

The room seemed to be filled with suffocating murderous tension as Duke Kanus nearly stood up and drew his sword in rage before one of his retainers, a cousin, grasped the Duke's arm gently to calm his master. The blood madness disappeared from his eyes as Kanus forcefully sat down on the chair and spat out, "he is NOT my master. I OWN the army now! Not HIM!"

"But he never made you the heir of Military Affairs, now did he", the Count continued, wilfully oblivious to the tension before, "You stripped him of that position and had him reassigned to a backwater region by claiming and petitioning to the King that the wily old Eagle is too aged and infirmed to continue to command the army."

"Hmph", the Duke grunted, "which is only the truth."

"Sure, if you weren't also an ambitious snake."

"I take that as a compliment, MERCHANT since after all", Duke Kanus pointed with a thumb towards the heraldry on his tabard which had a snake entwined around a rose, "the Serpent Clan is the true lords and guardians of the Kingdom."

"I only allied with you to get rid of him because I can now use other "paths" across our now security lax borders so I can trade and avoid the King's Customs", Albrook sniffed in annoyance as he steepled his fingers together, "and you also said that he will soon be met with an unfortunate 'accident'."

"Ha! With the way the border was deteriorating in the east, and the lack of reinforcements from us at Central Command, he would have been buried alive by your hired thugs", Duke Kanus replied knowingly, "after all, only YOU could have arranged it so that the Orcs and brigands could cooperate together, armed, supplied and organised deep within our borders."

"I have no idea what you are referring to", Albrook replied with a look of pretend innocence, "what's this about invaders?"

"Huh, this is why I hate you scheming snivelling cowardly merchants."

"Better than the fool who claimed the majority of our army was preoccupied with the rescue expedition, when in fact only 200 men were mobilised and the rest were made up of Foreign Mercenaries to deal with that pitiful 'threat' at Baran village."

"Well it is hard to get the old man killed if he receives reinforcements, now won't it?"

Albrook sighed, "You and I know the main reason is because it would be next to impossible to get those men back", the Count eyed him accusingly, "because the majority of the army is still loyal to him. With the appointment of an heir, this one Gerhard von Natzmer", Albrook glanced briefly at the report on the table, "it can be said that the old Eagle is grooming him to eventually take command as head of the army."

"SHUT UP!", Duke Kanus roared back, "THE ARMY BELONGS TO ME! ME! NOT THAT WASHED UP OLD CRIPPLED EAGLE-"

"Calm yourself Lord", the old gentleman from before spoke up, "and you too Count Albrook, stop baiting the Duke. This meeting is to address the issue at hand, not to practice your verbal abuses at one another."

The two Lords just glared at each other from opposite ends of the table as the old man continued, "Might I offer a suggestion?"

"Speak then" "Lets hear it", they replied grudgingly.

"We should just officially execute Ernst Rommer."

This idea immediately piqued the interest of the Duke and Count as they both turned to look at him.

"And how can this be done? Like Albrook said… I cannot actually rely on the army to apprehend the Eagle let alone restrain them from preventing his execution."

"Exactly, and I don’t see how we can convince the King that Ernst Rommer is a viable threat to the Crown. He is practically powerless."

"That is not exactly true", the old man replied mysteriously.

"Well out with it, Edward. Don’t keep us in suspense", Duke Kanus demanded in annoyance.

"We shall declare him as a traitor."

The length and breadth of the table erupted in consternation as the other lords interjected and declared this declaration as foolhardy however both Kanus and Albrook maintained a look of interest before Edward raised both his old arms to get some silence to continue.

When it came, he forged ahead, "We have all the ingredients necessary to implicate him as a traitor already", Edward nearly smirked, "Ernst has been demanding time and time again for reinforcements in response to a 'threat' emerging in the East. Towns and villages are raided, the King's Road is dangerous and tax officials are unable to get to the east. I could… put forth to the King that Ernst is actually planning a rebellion, that there really is no threat in the East. The destroyed towns and villages are only on the outlying fringes of his territory as 'evidence' of a 'threat' and the King's Road is actually being raided by his own men; with his desire for reinforcements actually a ploy to gather an army to use against the crown. The king will have to deem this as true… as he too knows that the army is still loyal to Ernst. Of course we can't use the army to capture him and without their backing, we will probably be forced to rely on the Foreign Mercenaries to bring Ernst to the capital, funded by our esteemed Count naturally, and where Ernst will in all likelihood be tortured then executed", Edward cooed happily.

There was a stunned silence at the table before Duke Kanus started clapping slowly, "And of course the King will believe you."

"After all", Count Albrook chuckled, "the King will never suspect your patriotism is actually a deep hatred for your brother."

Edward Rommer just gave a serene elderly smile.

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Ending Song: Kore wa Koi

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