A week later, the heroes and the battalion have gotten near the Kingdom of Ylsfu to exterminate the Demons there or that, what they thought, they were going to do.
So currently, they were about an kilometer away from the kingdoms walls and had made a camp there. Their green and large tents had been set just set up and everyone was now working on their equipment.
While everyone was working, the scouts returned from their recon. The leader of the scout group walked up to Walther and whispered near his face"We have a problem. We need to talk. Now."
"Okay. Come to my tent."Walther told him and so they walked towards the dark green and entered. Walther sat down on his chair and looked at the Scout leader, who was standing in front of him, with his hands behind his back.
"So tell me."Walther starts"What did you see there, to get you so worried."
"When we got to the walls, we saw streets full of dead civilians with a few knights with them. But we didn't see no demons there."
"Who did you see then?"Walther asks him.
"We saw Ylsfu kingdom soldiers, slaughtering people and marching towards the castle. Sir. It wasn't a demon attack, but a coup d'etat."
"Coup d'etat? Are you serious?"Walther asks the leader, who only nods to him.
Walther leans back on his chair, while holding the hand over his forehead.
"Why would they turn on their king and people?"Walther asks himself, while looking at the ceiling of the tent.
"Maybe because they aren't in control."Is said behind the Scout leader.
They look at the person, who said that and see Echo there, with his hands crossed.
"You shouldn't be here."the Scout leader tells Echo, who replies"I go where I want. You can try to stop me."
"Echo. Don't start a fight. We don't have a time for it."Walther tells Echo, who nods, showing that he understands him.
"Good."Walther says"Now tell us what you said before."
"I said they may not be in control of their actions. There might be someone who is controlling them."Echo answers him with a serious voice.
"And what makes you think that? If I may ask?"Walther asks Echo, who answers him"You said it was a coup d'etat, but did you see soldiers fighting with each other?"
"Uum no."The Scout leader answers him after thinking a few seconds.
"If you didn't see it, it means, that someone must be controlling them. Its highly undoubly, that all of the soldiers have decided to go against the king. Coup d'etat point is to throw over the ruler, but according to you, they just seem to slaughter everyone on their way towards the castle. What's the point of overthrowing a ruler, If you kill all of his people. It just doesn't make sense."Echo sighs and continues"My guess is, that there is someone, who is pulling the strings behind the scenes. Like a demon."
The two knights start to think about what Echo had just said and after thinking for a while, they come to a conclusion, that he may be right.
"Lets assume you are right, then could you prove it?"The Scout leader asked Echo, who shaked his head slightly and answered"No. If there is a demon, he or she could be anywhere in the kingdom. But most likely option where he or she could be, is the castle itself. It's the most defended place in the kingdom and so it would be the best place to hide and collapse the kingdom."
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"We can't let the kingdom of Ylsfu fall. If we do, then we will lose a valuable ally. We need to save the royal family. At least one of them is probably alive as an hostage."Walther says, after hearing Echo.
"I guess so."Echo replies."I will leave the planning to you. I can't make a plan with this many people."
He leaves the tent, while waving to the two people behind him.
Outside, he looks around a little and then walks towards the forest. He enters through the treeline and keeps walking straight for five minutes. During his walk, he doesn't hear any animals, which feels very suspicious. As he walks, he stops in front of a river.
The water of the river is clear and not too cold or warm on touch. Just the right temperature. Echo could see the bottom of the shallow river. He puts his hand into the water again and lets it flow through the gaps between his fingers.
As he does that, he looks at his reflection and sees his face. A short ashen-blond beard was growing and his eyes showed signs of tiredness.
After a minu of staring, he got up and decided to wash himself in the river. So he took of his armor and clothes and put them at the side of the river. He took his first step into the water and it felt pleasing.
With a few steps, he was in the water and from waist down, he was in the water.
He scoops up some water with his hands and throws it at his face, making it wet. He then takes out on of his cards and mutters"Never thought I will shave with a fucking card."
Reason for why he uses a card, is because he doesn't have any blade, beside the dagger, with a deadly poison effect on it. So yeah. Only choice was the card.
After a few cuts, he finishes shaving his face and it once again is as smooth as he likes it.
Echo then submerged into the water and once he resurfaces, he sees Evelyn next his clothes, standing there.
"What?"he asks her, while pulling back his hair.
"I wanted to talk about that."Evelyn answers him.
"And I don't. I said the first time. I don't want to do anything with it."
"It's your fault to begin with!"Evelyn shouted back at him.
"First of all. How the fuck am I supposed to know, that you ain't fucking with me. You seriously chose the wrong time to tell that."Echo replies with an angry voice.
"What do you think of me. That I'm some slut, who fucks around?!"She shouts back.
"I only think that you are an annoying woman. Nothing more. Nothing less."Echo answers back at her.
"How the fuck is someone so young, such a fucking asshole?"Evelyn asks him pretty seriously.
"Well maybe it has something to do with my fucking past. Maybe you people, born in first world countries, aren't forced to kill when you are fucking five years old. Maybe you people haven't killed people, because someone told you. Maybe you haven't committed so many war crimes, that you could easily get ten life sentences for it. Maybe you, Evelyn, haven't been raped four time. Only one of them, being a woman. Maybe you haven't killed the only person, who gave a shit about you, with your own fucking hands."
Evelyn doesn't know what to say and is just frozen there, not knowing what to do.
"You know Evelyn. You're the third human in my life, who I don't have any thought about killing you."
'Is that supposed to be a good thing?'Evelyn thinks to herself, after hearing him.
"But to be honest here....I fucking hate humans. Every. Single. Fucking. One. Of. Them. I just Gate some less then others. So I'll say it out loud: I don't give a shit If every one of you die. I will just watch it happen and do nothing."
A silence falls between the two and the only sound there is now, is the sound of the river flowing.
She looks at him, with tears in her eyes and says"You're just sad." And she then kicks all of his stuff into the water.
She then turns around and runs out of the forest, while crying. As she runs, she runs past a tree, where behind it, Mari is hiding, while holding her hand over her mouth.
She had came here, because she had seen Echo going here and Evelyn going after him a few minutes later. So obviously she got curious and decided to follow. She expected to see something romantic, but instead she heard the truth about Echo.
Because she didn't know what to do, she forget herself here and by the time, she noticed, that she should leave, he saw Echo in front of him, wearing a pair of wet pants and wet shirt.
"You didn't hear anything if you want to live."Echo tells her and walks away, but stops, when Mari asks him"Why. Why do you push her away, If she obviously cares about you. You aren't dense enough to notice. So why?"
"Hmm."Echo then says"Because being with me, brings misery to her and me. Also If you gonna say, it is her decision to do, then you are right. But I'm gonna deny her making a shitty decision. She belongs to Earth and I, on Terra."