The soldiers looked at the state of their Lord from afar.

They wanted to run at her side, but instead, they simply looked at the man slowly walking toward the two girls in front of them.

The expression on his face was terrifying to them.

Amelia and Karteira simply watched in silence as Orion walked to them.

The moment he stopped in front of them, Amelia asked him.

"Are you alright? What happened?"

She had a worried expression.

"He got away."

Shock appeared on both girls face. Did Orion really said that he let an Apostle get away?

"I'm fine by the way. Kamala too."

Still in shock, they looked at the woman in his arms, unconscious.

She was a real beauty. Brown colored skin, silver hair, and clothes that highlighted her forms.

Orion continued.

"I've healed her on the way, her life is out of danger."

The soldiers heard him, and tears of happiness fell from their eyes. They had lost many friends defending the city, so losing their Lord would have lead to the end of the world for them.

"You. Walk forward."

Orion pointed his chin to a soldier that was standing still, looking at the bodies of the covered corpses of the deceased guards of Hocride.

The man looked at Orion and hesitantly walked toward him.

"Yes, sir? What do you need?"

He kept his composure as a guard, and did his best not to anger the man that saved his Lord. He remembered him running on the wall, and toward Kamala an hour ago.

"Lead us to her house, she still needs to rest. My arms are not the best of places for that."

The soldier grabbed his spear strongly and planted it in the ground, the tip pointing at the sky.

"Gladly, sir! Please follow me."

The guard made a gesture of respect, took his spear from the ground, and turned to the gate.

The other soldiers all sheathed their weapons, also expressing a bowing gesture to welcome the people who helped them.

'I need to calm down. These people are showing respect, I should do the same.'

He looked at Amelia, then Karteira. He forced his current mood away, and stared at them until his heart felt at peace.

"As expected of you two, defending this place was a piece of cake. Good work."

He smiled, easing the girls feelings. They both smiled back, happy to be praised.

"Yes!"

They spoke at the same time.

"Let's go in."

The three followed shortly behind the soldier. The man turned around after walking past the gate.

"Welcome to Hocride. Without your help, this city wouldn't be standing anymore."

He turned around after thanking the girls that ran everywhere to help earlier. They were considered heroes in the eyes of the guards.

"Let me give you a little explanation about Hocride on the way to Lord Kamala's house."

The three nodded behind him.

He glanced in their direction to confirm they would listen. Once he saw them nod, he continued.

"As you can see, this is a port city. The sea in front of you, the Palafas Sea, is our main way of revenue. What you see in front of you is the port, where we trade with merchants from different city, even continents."

'They even trade with other continents?!'

Orion was intrigued. He wanted to now about the rest of the world. But now was not the time.

They were walking a slight incline, which gave them a beautiful view of the port and the many boats returning with the citizens of Hocride.

"Lady Kamala was the one to build everything, bringing new knowledge, and making this city prosperous."

"The merchants all follows the rules, and anyone not respecting them either find themselves banned from trading, or is asked to pay a fine corresponding to the offense made."

"Compared to the previous lord, who treated everyone like slaves, this city grew to become one of the richest and easy to live in city on the continent."

Orion asked a question to the soldier.

"I have a question, but first, what is your name?"

The man seemed to be surprised.

"Me? My name is Vincent sir."

"Vincent, alright. I'm Orion. At my sides are Amelia and Karteira."

The least he could do was to introduce himself, and the girls.

"Sir Orion. Lady Amelia, and Lady Karteira. I'll be sure to remember it. What was your question?"

He acknowledged their names, and politely asked Orion.

"What about the other factions?"

Orion wanted to confirm what he saw before defending the city.

"The other... Oh! The beastmen? As per Lord Kamala's request, anyone wanting to help the community is accepted, and anyone showing prejudices against them is to be excluded from trading at the port. It applies to the residents too."

'That is one tough rule for merchants and citizens to abide to.'

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"This is something incredible. I haven't heard of such good treatment until today."

Amelia said, entering the conversation.

"In all honesty, it is nothing new. There are three other cities that display the same amount of respect to other factions. Leaving like this, it makes you wonder why we oppressed them until now. Once you live with them, you start to realize that they aren't that much different from us."

'Just like us.'

Amelia looked at Orion, remembering their childhood in Auro.

"Then, I will have to discuss this in more detail with your Lord when she wakes up."

Vincent stopped and turned to look at Orion. He bowed to a ninety degree angle.

"Thank you very much for saving Lord Kamala's life. Without her, this city would revert to it's former state. The whole city thank you."

Orion was lost for words. Humans rarely showed this much humility. Or that was what he thought, because of the Apostles being the ones dictating what was good or bad.

"No need to thank me. I had to save her if I wanted to discuss with her."

He straightened his posture and smiled.

"This is Lady Kamala's house."

Vincent switched the spear to his other hand and stretched his arm on his right.

Orion and the girls looked toward the house pointed by Vincent.

'This is a... pretty house. Simple at that.'

They were looking at a house bigger than the ones around, but not by much. The house was painted yellow, and mostly made of bricks. There seemed to be two floor, with a balcony.

"Please, enter. Her aid should take her from your arms and place Lord Kamala in her bed. He should authorize you to stay inside until she wakes up. I'll be sure to notify the guards about you three when I return."

Orion nodded.

"Thank you, Vincent."

They watched Vincent return the way they came from, toward the entrance. At that moment, they heard voices coming from behind them.

They turned around, seeing the citizens returning to their houses, slightly worried.

"We should get inside."

Karteira said, to which Orion and Amelia agreed.

Amelia opened the door, and kept it open for Orion. Once Karteira entered, she closed the door.

"Lady Kamala! You are finally bac-"

A man walked down the stairs of the house hurriedly, expecting to see Kamala.

Indeed, he saw her, but there was also three other people that were with her.

"What happened to Lady Kamala? Is she alright?"

With anxiety, the man walked slowly down the stairs, looking at the three people to find any kind of trap.

"We've arrived to Hocride earlier, and we happened to help your soldiers at the entrance, while also saving you Lord from death's grasp."

Orion explained to the cautious man that closed on them.

"She lost consciousness at one point, so I took the liberty to bring her to her house to rest. My name is Orion by the way."

"Oh! I'm sorry, my name is Timothy! I am Lady Kamala's aid and financial helper."

"I've already healed her injuries, so she is out of danger. Could you take her out of my arms?"

Timothy looked at his Lord, and shook his head.

"I'm afraid it won't be possible. I don't have the strength necessary to lift Lady Kamala. Could you follow me please?"

'I forgot humans were weaker than me.'

Having a rare rude thought, Orion silently followed Timothy upstairs. The girls stayed downstairs. They found a place to sit, and waited for him to come down.

After two minutes, he came back down. He found the girls sitting on a piece of furniture unknown to him. A couch.

'Humans have so many interesting things that beastmen don't have.'

He thought will sitting next to Amelia.

"Soft."

The girls laughed.

"We had the same reaction."

They joked for a minute, enjoying the softness of the couch. After a minute, they became serious.

"So, what happened Orion?"

He lifted his head, looking at Karteira.

"About Ivan and how he fled from me?"

The mood completely changed. Orion was back to his anger, that was only concealed until now.

Amelia gulped, she actually never saw him in this state.

The only one that saw Orion in this state was Tiohr-nam, when she ask what Orion would do if Amelia was attacked by a Remnant.

"Yes. We'll tell you about our own part once you're done. Try to stay calm, please."

Orion looked at her, a dark look in his eyes.

*Sigh*

He sighed, easing his emotions. There was no point in staying angry anyway. He placed a hand on her head and stroked her golden hair.

"Well."

Orion told what happened from the moment he saved Kamala.

~

"You stay here, I'll take care of this for you."

"Wai-"

'She lost consciousness?'

He glanced at her lying on the white sand. Her blood was soaking the sand rapidly.

'I don't have much time. I need to finish this fast.'

"Ah! That woman is out cold! I should get rid of you, then finish her. An easy task isn't it?"

Orion turned and stared at Ivan with a gaze colder than the Frigoria Plains.

'Alcyone.'

The white crossbow formed in his hands.

"That weapon! Are you trying to kill me too? That won't happen!"

Lightning began to crack around Ivan. Purple sparks began to appear, surrounding the man as if to protect him.

Orion was ready to shoot, so he did just that. He ran left and aimed at the man's right arm.

The arrow left the crossbow, and with tremendous speed, it hit the lightning shield.

*Bzzt*

The arrow disappeared. For the first time, Orion was shocked at this display. His power was insufficient?

"You don't know a thing about me do you? I am a pretty cautious man. I am known for my reinforced defense. No one has been able to injure me with ranged weapons so far."

He laughed, mocking Orion's attempt at hurting him.

'Then, I just have to hit you so fast you won't be able to defend!'

He ran using the remaining strength in his legs around Ivan.

Arrows of light began to hit the lightning shield rapidly.

'What is this speed. Am I going to protect against everything he throws at me?'

Ivan was sweating.

'Taygeta!'

Out of nowhere, Orion cancelled Alcyone and switched to his dark crossbow.

A slower, dark arrow hit the shield. It disappeared like the others before, but caused a slight problem to the lighning shield.

'That 'Silence' ailment could be helpful.'

Was what Orion thought. He tried, and indeed, a part of the shield began to open near Ivan's left leg.

Orion took this chance and shot an arrow with a new ailment. One he developed after sharing with Amelia his elements.

He applied a bleeding effect to the dark arrow, and aimed at the opening.

The arrow passed through the shield. Ivan reacted instantly by creating a lightning spear and stopped the arrow.

Ivan expected the arrow to hit the spear, and evaporate like it did for the shield, but the spear only broke it in half.

In reality, what happened was that he deflected a piece of the broken arrow, which flew straight to his face.

"AGH! IT HURTS!"

'Moron, he injured himself more than I could hope for.'

Orion stopped running and stared at Ivan holding his face.

The tip of the arrow grazed his left cheek before hitting the top of the shield, evaporating like all arrows did until now.

The bleeding effect still applied, causing tremendous pain to Ivan. He was bleeding profusely from his cheek.

"I can't believe it! Me! Hurt by a weakling!"

He tapped the horse and transferred lightning magic to it. Riding the horse, he turned around.

"I'll remember this! I'll come for your head later!"

'No you won't!'

Orion tried to stop Ivan.

'FUCK! My leg! Not now!'

His leg refused to move. The burning was too strong. He forced too much on it, and now he had to watch his prey flee from him.

Ivan left with his horse with absurd speed akin to lightning, leaving Orion feeling worse than ever.

He gritted his teeth in anger.

Orion walked to Kamala, wobbling from the pain. He sat at her side, lifted her body and began to heal her injuries.

After completely healing her, he tried to heal the burning feeling, but he couldn't. It simply wouldn't calm down.

His only solution was to return to the gate with Kamala.

'I'll have your head. I swear I'll have you dead in front of me!'

With extreme spite, Orion returned to Amelia and Karteira.

~

"So that's what happened."

Orion nodded at Karteira. She had a gentle expression on her face. She continued.

"This will sound bad to you, but that is not a bad outcome. Protecting Kamala was already a difficult task. Hoping more is just foolish."

*Sigh*

Another sigh left Orion's mouth.

"I know. It just left an awful taste in my mouth, that's all. I was so close to bring another one of them down."

Amelia looked at a dejected Orion. The only thing she did was stroke his hair. She did the same thing Orion did to her each time she felt bad.

"Thanks."

He smiled at her, enjoying her stroking his hair.

After a minute, Orion looked at Karteira.

"So, what happened on your side?"

Amelia, with a pride never seen before, exclaimed.

"I won!"

Orion looked at her as if the sky had fallen.

'What is she talking about?'

"Not that! What are you bringing out right now?!"

Karteira, frustrated by that, stood up from her couch and walked to Amelia, who stood up in turn.

They both were face to face, intimidating each other.

'What are they doing now?'

Orion was calmly watching the situation.

The starring contest continued in silence, until Amelia began to laugh, and Karteira sigh in defeat.

"We made a bet to see who would kill the most. I won."

"And I lost. By thirty."

Orion blinked a few times.

"I... see."

He smiled. While he was having anger issues, they were having fun. Killing.

"So, what else?"

He asked, trying to change the subject.

"You were right, they are not humans anymore."

Karteira sat back on the couch she was before.

"They all possessed a dar purple core like all corrupted have in their body. We've confirmed it."

"That confirms a lot."

An elegant yet weak voice entered the conversation.

A weakened Kamala was moving down the stairs with the help of Timothy.

"Please continue, I wish to have more details."

The three of them waited until Kamala sat on a couch near them, and nodded.