April 04, 1410

Ray woke up to knock on his door, he could see it was already morning, he quickly got up, and put on a shirt, before telling the person who was knocking to come in. Viola pokes her head in.

“Mind If I come in?”

“Yeah, come in.” Ray said.

Viola went into the room, and sat on the end side of the bed.

“How do you feel?” Viola asked.

“Good, I still have the scorch marks, but they don’t hurt as much as yesterday.” Ray said, as he looked inside his shirt.

“You just need to rest a little more, and you’ll be fine.” Viola said.

“How was the village yesterday, when you left the house?” Ray asked.

“The damage, and the fires were taken care of, they already collected the bodies of the people who died that night. In total fifteen people are dead.”

“Wait fifteen? I don’t think I killed that many?” Ray said.

“No, you killed thirteen, the other two were because they’re houses fell on top of them, crushing them to death. The other villagers have been accounted for.”

“So eleven knights, the deacon, and that one woman.”

“Yub, to be honest Vincent seems proud of that, probably thinks you are learning to become a hybrid.”

“I didn’t know.”

“You didn’t know, she was Paul's wife right?”

Ray nodded his head.

“Let me ask you Ray, if you did know she was Paul's wife, would you still have killed her?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well it's a good thing you did, I wouldn’t have been able to retrieve you, if you hadn't killed her.”

“I orphaned those kids.” Ray whispered.

“You did.”

“I did to them, what the church did to Eda, and I.”

“I know what you think is bad, but you had no choice in the matter, those two were just simply in the wrong place, at the wrong time.”

“...No, I can’t accept that, I ruin their lives. They were innocent, I am ok with the knights, because this is what is expected, but not innocent villagers.” Ray bitterly said.

“It is who we are, who you have to be.” Viola said.

“... Ok, I have to try anyway. I have to see Eda again.”

“That is good, Vincent headed out again, to deal with the damage you, and Sierra have caused.” Viola said.

“Oh, right, I need to apologize for that,” Ray said.

“No, it is what he wanted remember. Though it comes out of his pocket, mostly all the villagers will be in his debt.”

“I guess everything worked out the way he wanted huh?” Ray said.

“Well technically everything happened the way it did because of you Ray.” Viola said.

“No, it didn't, you saved me, remembered, I doubt that was part of the plan.”

“I retrieve you, after you were done with your mission. You did what you had to do. Kill Sierra, and anyone else that attacked you.” Viola said.

“Viola can tell me why you saved me?”

“...” Viola was looking at the floor, refusing to answer.

“Vincent told me clearly that I shouldn’t expect any sort of help. I am grateful you saved me, but we both know if that group of knights had gotten to me, I would have died that night. I don’t want you getting in trouble because of me.” Ray said.

Viola stood up, stretching her arm, and made a deep sighed. “I just picked you up, because you completed your mission, there was no point in you dying just because you were reckless, wasting all your energy on simple knights, or getting poison in the middle of the fight.”

“They won’t accept that, how am I supposed to be ok, if something happens to you?” Ray said.

“I’ll be fine, plus we still have that promised between us, remembered?”

“Yes, of course.”

“You completed your end of the deal, and I will do the same. When you are completely healed up, I’ll take you back to my place.”

“I look forward to it.”

“Good, now you should rest a little more, Vincent is going to want to talk to you about your mission, after I am done talking to him, about how you did.”

“Wait, I thought you already talked to him?” Ray said.

“No, we hadn’t gotten a chance, he’s been busy with the village, he hasn’t been left alone. He should be free when he comes back soon.”

“I want to be there, when you tell him how I did.”

“Sorry, but that is a no. Vincent will kick you out of the room, before you hear anything I have to say about that.” Viola said.

“Can you at least wake me up, when he gets here I want to talk to him afterwards, at least.”

“Sure, now then get some rest.” Viola said.

“Ok, goodnight Viola.” Ray said, as he yawned.

“Goodbye Ray.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Ray covered himself with the blankets and fell back asleep.

***

As Ray woke back up, he looked at the window, and saw it was already afternoon, he sat on his bed rubbing his eyes.

{Damn I slept a lot, Vincent still hasn’t arrived yet, Viola said he will be here soon, something must have come up.}

Ray got up, and got dressed. He went out the door, and headed downstairs. Ray went to each room, calling Viola, until he heard a voice calling him, in the study room.

As Ray entered the study room, he saw Vincent was in the chair reading a book.

“Take a seat, we need to discuss what happened yesterday.” Vincent said.

“...Ok, where is Viola?” Ray asked.

“First thing, first. Tell me in your own words how your mission went. Give me the exact details.”

Ray wanted to argue, but decided against it. Ray told Vincent everything he went through during the mission. Vincent's face never changed, he just simply nodded as Ray went on. As Ray finished telling his story Vincent took a couple of minutes to think before speaking.

“Alright, first of all tell me, why did you let Viola rescue you, when you were clearly about to fight a group of knights, after Sierra stupidly wasted her life trying to stop you.” Vincent said happily.

Ray got uncomfortable because of the tone Vincent was using.

“I, I don’t think she wasted her life.”

“I asked you a question.” Vincent reminded Ray.

“I didn’t let her save me, she just… retrieved me when I finished the mission, I killed Sierra, and everyone who raised a hand against me.”

“Do you honestly believe I would accept that?” Vincent spat.

“No.”

“Then why are you wasting my time?” Vincent asked.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I told Viola to just take me back.”

“If you lie to me again, I will kill you.” Vincent warned.

Ray forced his anger back, and spoke calmly.

“She didn’t accept no for an answer. She just picked me up, and took me to the house, after dropping me off, she went to look for you, that is everything I promised.”

“....Ok, so I have a few things I have to point out, the first thing is you being reckless, and getting hit by poison arrows.” Vincent said.

“Yes, I didn’t expect that, they hit me when I was shrouded in smoke.”

“Thanks to that, you almost fail your mission, hybrids like you, who are barely starting out, tak a lot of effort to heal the poison from our system, you are lucky they didn’t have a stronger poison.”

“Yes.”

“Also, there is the matter of you exposing your identity, never do that again, even if they had an idea of your true identity. Never expose yourself again.”

“Yes.”

“You wasted too much energy fighting those simple knights, you shouldn’t be wasting your energy on anyone who isn’t a blessed knight.”

“Yes.”

“Lastly, you, and I both know you were supposed to die yesterday, if Viola followed the rules you wouldn't be here right now.”

“Yes.”

“I told you before, though yesterday was an exception, you must fight only for yourself, there is never going to be another Viola to save you, do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Good, now there is some good thing you did, like destroying the church, killing all those knights, and killing Samantha.”

“Samantha?” Ray whispered.

“The wife of Paul. Now those kids are orphaned so even though you didn’t mean to do it, good work nonetheless.” Vncent said.

“Yes.”

Vincent sighed before he continued. “Ok, that is everything, your story aligns with Viola, and the knights. So I have everything I need to report back to your master.”

“Where is Viola? I need to talk to her.”

“She left.”

“What! Where?!” Ray said, frantically, as he stood up.

“I am not going to say anything until you sit back down.” Vincent said.

Ray reluctantly sat down, and waited for Vincent to continue.

“I need you to listen to me, Viola broke the rules, when she saved you.”

“But-” Ray tried to say.

“Let me finish. I told you before we have strict codes whe we are doing our mission, had it not been for Viola you would have died. She knew what she was doing when she saved you. You have to accept what she did was unforgivable, even if it meant you being alive.” Vincent said.

“What is her punishment?” Ray said.

“It is going to be the same as everyone else who breaks the rules. She will have one chance to redeem herself.”

“By doing what?” Ray asked.

“She will be given a suicide mission.” Vincent said.

“A suicide mission! I have to go catch up to her.” Ray said, as he stood back up again.

“You go out that door, and I will take it as you abodening the hybrids.” Vincent warned Ray.

“I can’t let her die because of me. I-”

“Be quiet, and sit back down.” Vincent said.

Ray was furious, but had no other choice but to sit down, he sat back down, his hands curled up in fist, while he took in deep breaths to control himself.

“I understand that you are angry, but this is something she decided to do, if she dies, then she dies. You are not responsible for her actions,she decided to save you, she decided to go against the rule. I can’t understand the reason for it. But she decided to do it, there is nothing you can do or say that will change her mind. As well her master needs to know.”

“It still doesn’t change the fact-”

“That is enough, there is no point in changing what has been done.” Vincent interrupted Ray.

“Just two things, and I promised I won’t mention her again.”

“What is it?” Vincent asked.

“How will her master know about Viola saving me?”

“Because of me, I gave Viola a letter explaining to her master that she failed her mission of training you, and I sent her on her way.”

“So she might die because of you.” Ray said.

“No, because of her choices.” Vincent corrected Ray.

“What will I do if she dies?” Ray asked.

“I don’t know, I suggest letting it out on a knight you come across, I’ll be sure to let you know if she passes or not, but I don’t want you getting your hopes up. Only a few hybrids had managed to complete a suicide mission.” Vincent said.

“Oh, ok. Also, am I going to be punished as well?” Ray said, as he continued looking at the floor.

“No, technically you did what you were supposed to do, it was Viola who interfere in your mission, you have nothing to worry about.” Vincent reassured Ray.

They continued to sit in awkward silence until Ray broke it.

“I’m going to take another nap.” Ray said.

“Do you want something to eat, I can go get a deer?”

“No!”

“...” Vincent stared at Ray, confused.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it to come out like that, but it's fine, if you don’t mind I’ll take a light snack with me to my room, and head to bed again.” Ray said.

“Alright, we will talk more tomorrow, you should be healed up, and ready to go, we have some things to do back at the village.”

Ray wanted to ask about what, but decided against it, so he left the study room, grabbed a couple of fruits, and headed to his room.

As he sat on his desk, he went over the talk he had with Vincent, and the punishment that awaited Viola.

{Why couldn’t I be stronger, why was I so stupid, if she dies, it is my fault in the end, though why is it necessary to tell her master about that? It's not like she would have known. If she does die, I don’t think I’ll be able to forgive myself.}