Some saw the battle, some saw the pole at the gate, and the red hair swaying in the wind. And so the news spread. People who saw first told their neighbors. The fathers ran home to their families to flee. With their children, with what they could carry they fled the city on foot, on horse, on carriage.
She saw a man cut a horse's harness off a carriage, jump on it and ride off leaving the coachman dumfounded. She saw families climb the roof of a coach as it speeded on. She saw the humans hiding, but the beastmans couldn’t do the same for they knew what was coming. She heard men and women screaming, she saw them dying. She saw a horse gallop with a smiling soldier. She saw his sword swing, taking lives. She saw adults crying.
"Come on mom. We have to go."
She pulled at her with all her strength, but she wouldn't get up.
"You go~ on honey~" Mother said crying and wheezing with each word. "I can't~ can't~ I can't~" Her mind trembled, small words of prayer escaped her lips as she watched her mother cry. "You’re strong Elizabeth~ you're strong I can't~ anymore~"
She’s never seen her like this, she put all her strength pulling at her arm, but they wouldn’t budge, her mother kept covering her face. Her wrists are thin, but they wouldn't budge.
"MOM! We have to move! I can't~" She yelled stinging her own throat, she was choking up something too. Holding it all in, it was a vow after all. The yell must have gotten through; mom finally looked at her. In her mother’s tear-filled eyes, she saw... fear. In that moment Elizabeth felt abandoned, she visioned her mother’s body naked. How many scars does she have, they’ve bathed together and she couldn’t recall. How much pain does she hold? "Mom~" She whimpered her lips trembling. Mom only looked at her for a moment, Elizabeth couldn’t tell what her mother saw in her eyes, but mom quickly hid behind her hands again. "Mom~"
She tried to get her to show her face, tried to hold her hand.
"LEAVE ELIZABETH!" She punched her daughter, making her stumble back and fall. Elizabeth saw her eyes again, reddened eyes and tears. "GO AWAY!"
Her mother screamed at her, and that's what she did. She got up and ran away, turning her back to her mother.
She didn't run for long before she turned a wrong corner and saw a man with a smile. His teeth were so white. She froze in fear, she didn't run from him in petrification. But he leapt at her, tackling her to the ground.
She saw his fist.
♦♦♦
With no guards in front of the estate, Omewa had to knock on the steel plated gates and hope one of the maids heard him. He could hear the sounds of chaos all throughout the town. It is a dangerous day to be out galloping around in the city. He banged on the gate again, this time louder.
"Master Danial sent me!" He shouted at the gate hoping one of the maids would hear. He banged on the door again, and the gates clicked open just as he went for another swing at the door making his knuckles hit at an angle. "EaHE~" Grunting he clenched his teeth. The maid fully opened the door for him to enter along with the horse. Putting his pain aside he asked. "Has everything been okay here? Has anyone tried to break in?"
The town was in chaos, it wouldn't be surprising if a few greedy merchants or guards decide to break in here.
"No, nothing of the sort has happened. If the Master has sent you... Warrior Sir, may I ask what's happening?"
He directed his horse inside, thinking over the maid's question.
"We've killed the Red King. The city's in a state of havoc right now, and Master Danial told me to get William." The maid listened while closing the gate. The maid paused for a moment staring at the gate, her face turned away from Omewa. Spinning back, she spun around with a bit of spunk and showed her beautiful teeth.
"That's great!" Her radiance got him off beat, lost in her eyes and her teeth.
"Uh~" The rate readjusted returning him to normal functioning order. "Hum* Wh-where's Master William? I came to get him."
"He's in the guest room. Follow me."
He tied the horse to the front porch. He couldn't think of anything to say and the girl led him in silence. Soon they reached the door to the guest room. The maid knocked gently on the door, a refined tick of knocks, but no reply. Gentle turned to a stern and steady clack of knocks; no reply again.
"Master William!" She raised her voice to the door, but no reply again. "I'm coming in. Sorry to-" The door is locked, and she is stopped before she could intrude. "H-he's locked the door... He's never done this before." She told the man waiting on her, sounding concerned. "If you can wait a few minutes I'll go get the head maid."
"Oh sure."
With his thumbs up of an approval, she took to the hall, lifting her gown to get a good jog.
♦♦♦
I left his office having wasted enough time reading Catcher in Pie, towards a spot that still remained dark in my map. The NPCs mentioned it in the report, so I'm curious enough to take a look myself. I reached the end of the hall where a giant set of golden doors stood before me.
On the doors, 3 keyholes formed a triangle. There are indented carvings on the golden doors. Carvings of many angels, all floating in the sky, with one of their eyes closed. The angels on the left door had their right eye closed, and the angels on the right had their left eye closed. But all their eyes looking directly at me, or where I was standing. I stared back at them the best I can, but playing who blinks first with a carving is just stupid, so I stopped. They had a very eerie feeling to them.
There was one keyhole right in the middle of the double doors, then a keyhole on each door.
"Need 3, got none." Should I... It wouldn't hurt to try. "Open says me." Nothing as expected, but maybe... "Open sesame~"
No, nothing makes sense. How did the NPCs get in, did they pick all 3 locks at the same time. It's probably 2 at the same time, then the other one, otherwise the Sorcerer’s going to have a hard time too. Or one at a time, but has a certain order to it. I guess there's only one way.
I haven't gotten to use this skill since I came to this world.
"[Explorer: Open]"
A skill that can be activated only once every 72 hours.
The moment the skill activated I felt myself chasing infinity. A glimpse into the unfathomable world of infinite combinations, trying every possibility in the ever expanding universe. Where did it start, how long will it go till it opens. Phantom keys stretching out far and wide never reaching the horizon. An ocean of keys! No, an ocean is too small, too minuscule. Where did they all come from? Where do they all belong?
Click*
It all vanished as if it had never been, and here I am again in front of the doors slowly creaking open. I gasped for air, I felt an eternity had gone by since my last breath. What time is it? It felt like I was out cold for some time. It never felt like this in the game, things just opened in the game. I feel so taxed, but I can also tell that I can use the skill again. It wasn't like the game at all, I feel like I'll die if I use the skill again, but I think I can use it again. Then what about the- This isn't something you should think of now, you can consider all that later.
The fatigue I felt disappeared right away with a simple stretch. But I could still feel it somewhere, like a pain you only feel if you touched it, otherwise, everything is fine.
Opening wide what greeted me is a... conference room? Gold and magical items spread about in the room but in the middle of the room is a round table, and on top of it is piles of gold. It looks very much like a conference room. Maybe he converted it into a treasury.
[God Slayer: God's Eye]
High-end items laid about in the piles of gold, Sky Feathers, a Demon sword, and even an Angel summon figure. These look to be the rarest items here. I picked up everything that caught my eye. Bracelets with strange hieroglyphics and ancient writings that reviled nothing with my God's Eye, and translated to nothing using the Bookworm class.
The pictures meant words that didn't make any sense. Moon Earth Dog Star Evil Man. That's all the hieroglyphics around the bracelet meant. Gems with carvings, and swords with strange writings; there are many items of this type, but God's Eye reviled nothing about them. They might have some historical significance in this world but in terms of power, they were useless trinkets.
With this part of the Sorcerer’s base recorded on the map, I headed back. As I climbed the stairs back up to the narrow passage, my Ki Master skill picked up people within my room.
♦♦♦
"She gave me the keys." She said speed-walking past Omewa. "Let's see..."
Sorting through the large key ring, she picked the guest room key. She knocked one more time to announce that she was entering, and turned the key. No one was inside the room. She even went as far as to flip the relatively flat bed sheets, and check underneath the bed.
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"Could he have gone to the bathroom?"
"Maybe..." The maid was a bit perplexed, she opened her mouth to speak but said nothing. She turned to the windows and parted the curtains. She looked at the window, not through it. "It's locked." losing herself in thought, she silently turned back to face Omewa. "The bathroom...?" She mumbled, "The door was locked. How could he have closed the door from outside?"
He doesn’t have the keys was what she was hinting at.
"Hum~ that's true."
Omewa finally understood the reason for her confusion, as he pondered the same problem.
"What's going on?"
Startled they turned to face the voice, and there he is William Shipudan.
"How did you...?"
"I got bored of sitting around, so I took a small stroll." He told the maid ignoring her half question. "Hope I didn't cause any problems." turning to the warrior Omewa, for the maid stared at him with an open mouth stuck in the middle of a word.
"Ah~ No problem at all... Master William."
"That's good. Now can I ask why you're in my room?"
"Yes, Master Danial told me to come get you."
"So everything went well at the castle."
"Yes, Master William. We have secured the castle but the city might still be a dangerous place, it's best if you come with me."
"And how did you come here, is there a coach waiting on me? Did you come with a group?”
"No, nothing like that Master William. They let me use a horse."
"Isn't that a bit dangerous?"
"You have nothing to worry about Master William. I'll protect you with my life, after all, I am Master Zejimal's disciple."
"Is that so...? Is it fine if my coachman comes along?"
"The one that brought the Golem?"
"Yeah him, you guys took his carriage for the raid in the morning. Can he fit or..." William turned to the maid "do you guys have a spare horse?"
"Ah~ they took all the horses within the estate to the castle today morning."
"And I don't know if the horse can handle 3 people."
"Is that so...?"
"You have nothing to worry about Master William, I'll protect you with my name: Omewa Nolle!"
He got his sincerity across with the volume of his voice.
"Alright... I'll leave it to you then."
♦♦♦
The maid was still giving me a weird look as I got behind Omewa on the horse. I hope nothing happens, I don't want to have to blow my cover this far in the game.
"Hold me tight." He says... The last time I did anything like this was on a motorcycle with my uncle back on earth when I was like 10, and I didn't like that, so I'm clearly not going to enjoy this.
Why couldn't they have sent over a female warrior?
Because there's like 2 of them.
No, there were a bunch of female wizards.
Yeah, wizards not warriors, and trust me you wouldn't want to be around those female warriors.
Don't tell me what I wouldn't want.
Look, would you want to be with any of the female warriors you did see?
I saw one with a tattoo on her face.
I rest my case.
No, I'm not saying I would want to beee~ with them; I'm just saying if I have to wrap my arms around a person I just rather do it with her than this asshole.
"I'll be off then."
Don't interpret my thoughts asshole.
"Take care. You too Master William."
"Thank you for all your help. And don't worry about Master William I'll be sure to protect him."
"Thanks."
"Good luck."
She opened the gate for us.
"You guys too, lock the gate and stay inside. I'll try to get Master Danial to send a coach for all of you."
Omewa sounded very serious and concerned.
"Will do."
That smile seems to have gotten to him that he blanked with his mouth open for a second. He squeezed out an "Uh~", before turning away from her to flick the rein, commanding the horse to a sprint.
"Master William, may I ask you something?"
"Um. Sure, go ahead."
"This might be rude but it's very important to me." Okay, are you going to ask or not. "Do you happen to know that maid's name?" You have to be fucking kidding me. Why don't you just ask her yourself? I'm not helping you get a girl. "I understand if you don't."
Fine.
"I think it's Alex."
It's either that or Alexandra, could be Amy too. It starts with an A.
He became silent after hearing my answer. Probably thinking something along the lines of 'that's a beautiful name.' They always think that.
"Thank you."
For fuck sakes.
▼▼▼
Going straight would lead to the back of the castle, but we didn't go straight or even use the main roads. He took the horse through narrow paths behind the commoner's houses. Avoiding any scream, screech, and clack.
"Help me! Help me! Please help me!"
A man jumped in front of our horse, screaming and begging. It was so sudden the horse almost jumped into the wall to its side. Omewa had to pull back the rein, stopping the horse and almost throwing me off the horse. Then this man started to desperately claw on the horse, trying to climb on top it, pulling on both of us. Omewa gave him a good kick, dropping him back on the ground.
"There you are."
Came a deep voice from within the house.
The man spun on the floor in utter stupefaction and stared at whatever was beyond the door he had just come out of.
"No! Please! Please! I'm human~" Frightened and sobbing he begged the voice. "Why're you doing this~? I'm-I'm human..."
The voice finally reviled itself coming out the same door the crying man had, while the crying man kicked at the ground and crawled underneath our horse on his bum.
The man was wearing a guard attire of Tengai.
"Who're yous?"
A bleeding sword in one hand, he took hold of the Omewa's rein.
"You have to kill him! He's a murderer~!"
The man screeched from underneath the horse.
"You shut up."
The guard said looking underneath the horse, trusting his sword a few times to shut him up. He made a few odd sounds and kicked around a bit making the horse a little unruly; which he managed to control quite skillfully with his one arm on the rein. Perhaps instinctively Omewa unsheathed his sword, noticing the danger we are in. Drawing and attacking in a single move, he aimed for a kill.
The rogue guard jumped back almost falling into the house, but he managed to grab the side of the doorway, stabilizing himself. He gave us a sickly laugh and a crooked smile.
We have a horse, come on let's run away.
Omewa seemed to have become a bit too invested in the fight as they both stared each other down. The crooked smile disappeared in an instant along with his laugh, replaced by bloodthirsty anger.
The rogue launched at us. Omewa swung to defend, trying to deflect the sword coming straight at him. Kicking the ground with his back feet, the rogue suddenly changed his trajectory. Omewa's sword defending against air, the rogue stabs into the horse's neck.
"AH!"
Realizing his mistake, he goes for an attack at the rogue's head. Rogue jumps away from the horse, probably not even noticing the sword coming at his head, but dogging it none the less. The horse violently juddering between a jog, a run, and a hop, it goes down the narrow path to the end of the line of houses before tripping to a collapse on the ground.
For fuck sakes, this is why I wanted to run. I push off the convulsing horse and stand up while Omewa was still having a hard time getting it together. Something bumps into me, I turn around to look and he screams.
"AAAHHHA!"
It's the rogue, he has his arms wrapped around my waist. Oh! I step back and collapse on the ground, and the rogue falls on top of me. He was heaving on top of me while trying to hold on to his shoulder.
Sorry, I didn't realize.
The rogue was trying to tackle me but I acted too late, so he hurt himself instead, running into me with all his strength. He must have confused himself because his pain soon turned to anger aimed at me. But before he could throw a fist, Omewa had freed himself from the horse and came to my rescue. Omewa jumped at him, thrusting his shoulder into the rogue effectively pushing him off me. Then he went into a barrage of punches leaving the rogue with a broken and bloody face. I got up and dusted myself off.
"Are you alright?" He asked catching his breath having left the rogue unconscious in a near death state. "Really sorry about that Master William. It's my fault. I should have ran when we had the chance."
That's what I thought.
"I'm fine, so it's not a big deal. It's good we're both fine."
But the horse is dead now. He went to get his sword, which was thrown a few meters in front of the horse when it collapsed.
"This is mostly his."
I must have stared at his hands for too long, for he showed me the blood on his fist and pointed at the rogue. I wasn't particularly paying attention to anything but okay.
"The horse is dead." He announced the obvious. "If it's okay with you Master William, we're only a few kilometers from the castle so we can reach it on foot within 10, 15 minutes."
It's not like I can refuse unless you can magically make a horse appear.
"Alright."
"Thanks. Ah~ let’s see..." He sheathed his sword while looking all around, working out our location. "Um~ if we go that way, I think we'll be able to get to the castle without any problems."
"AAAAEEEEE!"
"Okay, maybe not that way... Hy hy hy..."
I judge it took us about 30 minutes to get to the castle, with the twists and turns we had to take to avoid another run in with the locals. But we eventually made it to the castle, which was to my surprise a non-violent zone. The sorcerers and wizards at the top of the walls and watchtowers kept a look out around the castle. They supported the warriors on the ground patrolling the areas around the castle.
The moment we entered this safe zone, everyone helped out and we smoothly entered the castle and was guided to the Sorcerer's location.
♦♦♦
"So they won."
"That's good?"
She pours the steaming tea into the little cup.
"I suppose so."
The maid half mindedly says chewing a biscuit. Whether they won or lost, it was going to become complicated.
"We warned'em and them still couldn't... Do ya think we should'a went straight ta'the king. Instead of them guards."
"I hope Olly doesn't get caught."
"If he does he better keep his mouth shut."
The regret and consequences of trying.
"As long as no one snitches everything is fine."
"The wages are going to go down."
"The beast people have it a lot worse."
Disappointed frowns are cast on the young selfish maid.
"We should have never taken part, we should have just done nothing."
The fat maid who opposed it all along now gets to say 'I told you so'.
"The king should have just stopped him from the get go. The moment he heard it. If I heard someone was trying to kill me, I'll fuck them up first."
"Language."
"But the King called him, he called him over a week ago. What did they talk about? He should have put a stop to him then. Maybe if we acted sooner..."
The smart one, Alexandra, listening to the conversation decided to say a few words:
"There is no point punishing ourselves over it now. I think we were all glad when the Sorcerer returned safely that day, we hoped things changed but it might have been too late for things to change at that point." Now they wondered what they were trying to accomplish in the first place, having acted halfheartedly on a problem they never knew how to solve. What would the solution even look like? Desolate questions. They never knew why they tried, and they can't tell what to feel now that it's failed. No, they couldn't even tell if it had, since they never knew why they were trying in the first place. "I'm thinking of asking Master William to hire me."
"You think he will."
"Well I think he likes me, and I’m a hard worker. So why wouldn't he? With how it's going we're going to get laid-off, or have our wages cut."
"Alex's been playing chess with him."
They gave her looks of sarcastic envy.
"It's not just that, but he acts differently... You've noticed too, haven’t you?"
She looked to the head maid for confirmation.
"Hum... Yeah..."
Some of the other maids had question marks on their faces, annoyed and curious, feeling they had been kept out of something.
"Master Danial's nicer when people are around right? Well if you can use the word nice to describe him." She mumbled the last bit, and the maids nodded along in agreement. "But Master William's the opposite, he gets nicer when people aren't around. Especially when Master Danial or Master Zejimal isn't around. It's like he's... putting on an act."
The girls went silent in thought as they tried to recall their moments of encounter with the man in question.
"You might be mistaking indifference for something positive." The head maid tried to bring them back to the grim realities of men. "He did help them after all."
The maids understood the wisdom in the head maid's words.
"Well, I'm still going to try." Alexandra still had some confidence in her deduction. "There's something else about him that..."
That has made her curious, something about him that she couldn't quite place. She drifted off to her thoughts again, a habit of hers the other maids had grown to accept.