Lila was still feeling numb as the guards apprehended her. She did not resist, she didn’t even utter a single word as they pushed her out of the room she foolishly thought was safe. They tied her hands and covered her eyes with a strip of fabric. With her vision blocked, there was nothing to focus on except the jeers. As they left the tavern, the good people of Cimia were eagerly waiting for her. They called her a murderer, a betrayer, a backstabber, all kinds of accusations and vile insults. She even heard the barkeep wishing that she had choked on the breakfast he gave her.

Yet none of that mattered, Roland was dead. All his hard work, legacy, dreams, sweat, and blood… are gone. It was that beggar, wasn’t it? She was right about him. He must taken action after Lila walked past him. Another innocent life was claimed by the consequences of her recklessness. She might have not been the one who killed him, but she was the reason they killed him.

The guards hurried her, hoping to avoid a public lynching and chaos that would cause. They entered a building and walked down some stairs. After that, they took her through so many turns and twists that Lila forgot which direction was which. After they reached their destination, she heard a jingling sound followed by the creaking of a heavy gate. They tied her to a chair and removed the cloth around her eyes. She finally took her first look at the dungeons. It was dark, damp, and made out of stone.

It reminded her of that damned cave. The only light source in the room was a candlestick on the wall. It revealed five men that stood in front of her, their shadows stretching towards her like the fingers of a giant hand. Two of them were clearly guards, flanking a tall man in ornate armor. The other two were clad in embroidered cloth robes. She only recognized Proth the Preacher out of the group. The light colors of his clothes stood out in the bleak room.

The unknown man in cloth spoke to her coldly,

"You are being accused of the murder of Roland the Carpenter. Normally, there would be a trial but numerous eyewitnesses are swearing on their honor."

He waited a moment for her to deny it. Seeing that the girl was unresponsive, he continued,

“The owner of the restaurant, Lucky Shot, swore on his honor that he heard you yelling how you needed to run away before being caught. The staff at the restaurant are also backing up his claim.”

Nothing. Not a single word out of her. He added,

“The barkeep of your current place of residence claims on his honor that for the entire duration of your stay there, you never came back early except today, the day of the murder. And on top of that, he saw you shaken and pale when you entered the tavern.”

No response. The man was starting to get annoyed by her silence at this point but he continued reciting the evidence,

"Nobody else was seen entering the carpenter after you left, until the discovery of the corpse. Your chances of being acquitted are slim. Confess your crime and your execution will be swift and painless. This is a show of goodwill, I advise you to take it."

Still nothing. All Lila did was stare at them emotionlessly. This time, Proth continued,

"Mine child, I know thou, yet I know not what pushed thou to commit the gravest of sins. Confess, so thou may find peace.“

Lila did not show any emotion. She kept staring at them like usual, lifelessly. What was the point anyway? Even if she managed to prove her innocence, they would just find another crime to catch her for. Everyone she cared about died, so maybe they would kill a random innocent person next?

The group inspected the girl for a little while before the person in ornate armor broke the silence,

"Perhaps we should try my method. She will confess, one way or another."

"What? You may be the Captain of the Guard, Aerlath, but I must remind you that the City Hall forbade torture before we were even born."

"I will not torture him, dear Official, I will simply make her talk," Aerlath coldly answered.

"Thou shall not torture, Captain. A child of God didst nought to deserve such suffering no matter the sin, lest it be from God."

"As I said, I will commit no such atrocity, preacher, but it is my duty as the Captain to interrogate the accused. Do I make myself clear or do you need to be reminded of your duties?"

Proth clicked his tongue in frustration. He took a glance at the girl before leaving and started to pray silently for her well-being, but he knew she would need more than that. The town official though, remained and hung his open palm in front of the Captain, which soon went back inside his robe’s deep pocket to lighten the load.

"Just don't mess up her face," the official said as he was escorted out by the two guards, locking the door a moment later.

With the men gone, Aerlath waited a little while before he started sneering at her. She may have been emotionless but he certainly was not. He had been waiting for this opportunity for a long time. It was too early for her to break yet, he wanted to see her suffer. Without delay, he removed his plate gauntlets and landed a backhanded slap on the girl's cheek, strong enough to rock her chair to the side.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Ready to talk now? Or do you need more?"

The taste of blood and the stinging in her cheek was definitely enough to snap Lila out of her apathetic state. Anger filled her eyes and she looked at Aerlath defiantly. This prompted him to slap her again on the other cheek but Lila kept her defiant look and spat on the man's armor, staining it with blood.

"Heh, you're braver than that blonde bitch from Gladeside I'll give you that."

At the mention of Gladeside, Lila froze again as she looked at Aerlath in confusion and shock. Seeing her reaction, Aerlath continued,

"You heard me right. I know of that godforsaken backwater you called Gladeside. And what was that blonde idiot called again? Eliar, Eliam, I forgot…" He stopped for a moment to watch her eyes widen in realization. The name that still hurt to remember spilled from her lips.

“Elias...”

"Ah yes, Elias. What a sad little twat he was. You should have heard him squeal like a pig from each stab."

"Don't you dare take his name in your mouth! He was twice the man you could ever be!" Lila roared.

He ignored Lila's remark and continued to recount the massacre, "Funny, when they ordered me to march to those infamous mountains and bolster my ranks in Rath, I thought we would be facing monsters or maybe barbarian warriors. I was hoping to finally get some achievements in my name." He said as he clenched his fist, "You could not fathom my disappointment when the hardest challenge we had was running peasants. You, on the other hand, have proven to be a lot harder to catch."

“Untie me and I’ll show you a challenge!” Lila yelled as she tried to lunge at Aerlath.

“Hahaha! I’m afraid I can’t do that. I can’t let someone who slit an innocent carpenter’s throat go free.”

Lila’s anger froze as soon as she heard that,

“No… you wouldn’t…”

“Don’t worry, he didn’t suffer like those poor sods back then,” Aerlath’s face showed a slight hint of regret when he mentioned Roland’s demise,

“A decapitation this time would have been too bloody to hide. It is hard to get it out of clothes.”

“Why would you do this? Why would you do any of these?” Lila asked, utterly horrified.

“Why? And you’re asking that? You took something important and now this kingdom is suffering for it.”

“Then why not just kill me and be done with it? My people didn’t do anything wrong!”

“They weren’t too keen on telling me about you. Well, except that Elias fellow. He thought he could save his own skin after me and the boys planted a priestess tree.”

“You’re lying! Elias would never do something like that!”

Aerlath bowed a little, enough to look Lila directly in the eye. With a mocking smirk on his lips, he continued,

“But he did. He told us about the cave, about you, and how much of a fool you were for going there.”

Upon hearing this, Lila headbutted him right on his nose. Aerlath recoiled from the unexpected hit. He cursed at the girl and began to punch her uncontrollably until Lila’s face was battered and bloodied.

“You’re lucky you’re the only one who knows where that damn crystal is. You’re going nowhere until you tell me where it is.”

“Thethn… you’ll… habf to… kill me…” Lila barely managed to blurt out.

“Oh no, you misunderstand me, my dear. Once I’m done with you, death will be the reward for your cooperation.” Aerlath composed himself and wore his gauntlets, continuing his monologue.

“It was a pain to catch you. I wanted to give your description to all the guards, but no! ‘This needs to be discreet Aerlath! You failed once, leave the rest to us Aerlath!’ The result? No sightings of you since the day you left for the cave.”

“But.. thathn begga?”

“Ah, yes. Fortune favored me when I asked a few lowlifes to report to me if they ever saw someone carrying a crystal. He served his purpose well. All of that for a handful of silvers. Quite a bargain, don’t you think so? Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go clean up this mess you caused.”

Aerlath continued as he started walking towards the door,

“You should rest. For your sake, the sooner you talk the better.”

He knocked on the gate a few times to let the guards know he was done. They locked the gate again after he left the cell.

“I was right,” Lila thought, a moment later.

It took a few seconds for her to remember that Crystal was no longer with her. She was alone with her thoughts now. She had nothing else to do but think, so she did exactly that. Something Aerlath said was bugging Lila. No sighting of her? He did not mention Nure at all. He didn’t have a reason to not reveal that, he had her right where he wanted to and he certainly didn’t look like a humble person who wouldn’t gloat over his victory.

From this, Lila deduced that he wasn’t involved with the people who were chasing her, at least not directly. They were a separate group from the captain and the guards. Remembering the things Aerlath was muttering, it was a group that he wasn’t particularly fond of.

However, this also raised a question in Lila’s mind; how many people were aware of Crystal? It didn’t look like anybody was going to come for a while. But that was a question for later as Lila had a more pressing matter at hand. She raised her head and looked at the iron bars in front of her, smiling. What they didn’t take into account was that this girl was no longer the fragile village girl but an apprentice wizard. She may have been beaten, but not broken, not one bit. And he just gave her a good reason to keep on fighting.