Jaid laid in bed with an arm draped over her eyes. She’d been there for a few hours already, but there was no hope for sleep—too much on her mind. It was shocking that she was even in her room to begin with. She had anticipated at least three days of debriefings and meetings with Representatives, spouting zjik excuses for her failures in an attempt to placate them.
But the moment she returned to the Central Peace, she’d been dismissed to return to her quarters, and she had been told she didn’t need to report in again until she was summoned—that it would likely be a few days at least. Another thing to endlessly worry about that wouldn’t let her sleep.
She would have thought they’d at least want a status update on Laurim. The other two Fiends were released unharmed, teleported to the edge of Bisomote when Jaid crossed the town’s border. Izma had to be carried the entire way back since she’d forgotten how to use her legs after so long, and Dura talked about his experience in good spirits the entire way back.
Laurim, however, never returned. Hell, Jaid didn’t even know if she was still alive. If she’d been fighting Kada, odds are The Mermaid would have gone easy on her. But Kada’s power was quite unpredictable and destructive. It was quite possible an accident happened. The reported casualties were lower than the anticipated number, less than a hundred, so there was that at least.
Apparently Tize—who Jaid still had a grudge against, though she couldn’t quite remember why—made sure that all of their dead received a proper burial. He then brought all of their dog tags to the Hedgehind police for shipment back to the CP. How odd. Why would she hate someone like that? It seemed like they’d get along quite well.
Most of her time in bed was spent mulling over what had just happened. What she’d done. What she’d done wrong. What she’d change. What she absolutely wouldn’t change. The feeling of beating Drim down with her own strength would never not be satisfying regardless of the circumstances.
Her arm finally slid down from her eyes after all this time merely to touch her lips. After all that, she never got to ask about the main thing that had been weighing on her mind all these months. In the heat of the moment, it got lost in everything else going on, and never seemed that important. Maybe it was trivial after all.
Seeing Drim in person again, though, brought back some memories surrounding the event. Not the circumstances of the nexus itself, but a few other irrefutable facts that she’d been repressing all this time, and not just because of their memory manipulation.
Jaid finally slid out of bed, sat at her computer, and opened her email. There were a few hundred emails from other soldiers wanting to talk about what had happened, wishing her well, or ranting about her lack of leadership during the mission. Interestingly, there was even one from the proprietor of a restaurant in the CP headquarters that she was a regular at. The woman was checking up on Jaid since she hadn’t been there in a few days.
They’d have to wait, and Jaid scrolled past them all, somewhat skimming as she did until she reached the only already-read email at the very bottom of the inbox. It was from Phon, with a password protected attachment that Jaid had never been able to open. At least the sadist had given her a clue in the otherwise short email.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
‘For when you’re ready to accept the truth. To open the attachment, answer the following: Who ordered the assassination the day you became a fiend?’
『Lyke Guzmeir』 Jaid finally typed in the correct answer. She had tried hundreds of other names up until this point, even though deep down, she probably knew that was the right one all along. She’d tried every political rival Guzrinn kingdom ever had, Princess Parano and her family, the king, hell, even Phon herself. But until now she’d never allowed herself to type her first love’s name—a love that was now dead for good.
As soon as she clicked on the attachment, she could already feel tears welling up in the back of her eyes. But before she could even read the first sentence, the doorbell rang. That snapped her back to reality, and she jumped in her chair. Though, she should probably be thankful. That may have just saved her from spiraling into a deep back hole that would have taken a long time to recover from.
Jaid took a moment to recompose herself. She couldn’t answer the door looking like she was about to have a mental breakdown. A quick look through the peephole just made her even more confused. Her guesses were either it being General Breach or someone delivering food to make sure she ate something.
“Yes?” she opened the door and coarsely greeted the assistant of Gort Hower, Representative of Horage. Unfortunately, she had never learned the name of the assistant, himself, and she wasn’t about to embarrass herself by attempting a guess.
“Delivery,” the assistant shoved an already-opened package in her direction. “We have inspected it per protocol. Have a good day, Captain Luciri.” Once Jaid had taken the box, he turned around and left without another word. Just how important was this delivery that someone so high up the chain would be delivering it himself?
She brought the box inside and set it on her bed. There was a letter at the very top after she undid the flaps, though she could see a glint of metal underneath. Had the package been heavy? She didn’t even notice.
‘Your armor looked like a pain to take on and off, so I had Nathym make these for you as soon as he got back. - Drim’
That clingy bastard, he doesn’t know when to give up, does he? Jaid wanted to pelt the letter across the room, but after a bit of exaggerated flailing about, she set it down on the bed next to the box.
Once the protective wrapping was out of the way, Jaid pulled out a pair of metal boots and a pair of metal gauntlets. Both looked quite solid, like they’d be hard to put on and maneuver in. Once she debated the morality a bit in her head, though, she reluctantly slid them on, finding it understatedly easy to do so, probably because they were so absurdly oversized.
Then per the included instructions, she tapped the base of her wrists together and the adornments activated. Metal plates slid up along her arms and legs until they were entirely covered. The underlying fabric shifted and tightened until the armor fit her perfectly.
She wiggled her fingers and moved every joint. It was like the armor wasn’t there at all. She could feel the weight of it, and it certainly felt strong, but it didn’t restrict her movement at all. Nathym’s absurd Curse could always be relied on. For whatever reason, she felt much better since she started wearing it, and a new wave of exhaustion suddenly hit her.
Jaid cleared away the box and letter, setting them aside for now. She then returned to her computer but didn’t sit back down. Instead, she deleted Phon’s email and the attachment since she didn’t need them anymore—she knew the words by heart.
Unable to resist it any longer, Jaid climbed back into her bed. She didn’t even remove her new armor since it didn’t make her uncomfortable at all. In fact, she felt rather calm because of it—safe and protected. And her consciousness finally slipped away.