I blinked away the vision of Nenvari and felt like throwing up. That person had been so determined to do the right thing and find a different way, but one super long conversation and a Star Trek-esque phrase and the man just gave up? I’d never respected him, and now that I know he has a reason for kidnapping children, I still don’t respect him. People shouldn’t do bad things because it’s convenient or because it’s not illegal.

Also, I really wanted to punch him in his too pretty face. Maybe it was just my bias, but people shouldn’t look that good.

Briefly, I considered that he’d been charmed somehow, but he’d made precautions against it. Also, he hated his stepmother, so him believing that she would do such a thing in his obviously over paranoid mind made sense.

From what I’d seen, though, Queen Fedreicio was a woman in love who just wanted to help her new country. Sure she was doing the wrong thing, but to that woman’s limited perspective it was obviously the correct thing to do, even if it was awful. That didn’t mean that I wouldn’t stab her if I could.

It irked me that I didn’t get to hear the conversation between them, but I figured that the important part was its result, not the contents.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

At least now I knew what was happening. The kids they kidnapped were being trained as mages so they could fight for Goraitheshselan when they were adults, or, if the queen was correct, in just a few years.

This also let me see how off-base I was with the dragon eggs. While I’m sure they could help, they were nothing compared with the safety of an entire nation the size of several Earths. I just needed something equal to that.

I slumped.

A hand rested on my shoulder and I jumped. When I turned Korren stood behind me with a look of sympathy on her face.

“You must realize now how ridiculous it is to fight against people that powerful. If you want to, you can give up.”

I shook my head. “No, Korren. Now more than ever I understand how much I have to fight, and I’ll keep searching for a way to do so. Maybe I’ll find something in the caves.”

She looked at me with sympathy and regret.

I took up my bow and smiled weakly. “Hey, before I go, is there any way you can recharge my armor? It looks like it’s still zero out of two.”

“I apologize but, I cannot. The game recharges your items or removes charges when you come into a boss room, but besides that, there is no reset.”

I snapped my fingers. “I knew it was a long shot.”

With a quick wave goodbye, I dove into the fourth and final floor of my mine.