“I see…” the Count said as he looked seriously at the large Demon skull in the office, “then I suppose that we were lucky you were here to quickly deal with it, instead of having to wait for the Imperial Holy Knights from the capital.”
Thomas was standing next to his father, nodding along after listening to both the recount from Natalia about what had happened with the fight, as well as agreeing with him about the dangers of this large skeleton. “I’d go as far as saying that the Empire would’ve lost a few Holy Knights in the process of eliminating this thing, so we came out better than we could’ve expected.”
Marie and her servant girls standing at the side, far away from the skull as they looked warily at it, while on the other side stood Kent, quietly watching after having only shared a few details of the fight with the Demon. Eden was standing closer to Marcus, who seemed to not be interested in either retelling the events of the fight or talking with anyone in general, and Natalia was standing at the front, sharing everything that she remembered with the Count.
“Are you going to keep that skull as a trophy?” asked Marie while looking at the skull with the same fear that the servants next to her were sharing by their looks.
“Gods, no!” the Count responded, taken aback and heavily shaking his head at that prospect. “To keep such a foul thing within the walls of the city would be both a sin and a crime in the eyes of the Holy ones. It shall be quickly disposed of once we’re done here.”
“It seems to be a very tough bone…” Thomas followed up, his hand on his chin as he tabbed the bones a couple of times with his staff.
“Wouldn’t it be enough to use some fire magic on it until it’s completely gone? Or at least throw it in a furnace?” asked the Count with one eyebrow raised.
Eden shook her head almost at the same time as Thomas, but she spoke before him, “This one was from a very powerful Almarian, so you will need just as powerful magic to destroy it.”
“Exactly…” Thomas followed up with a slight nod of his head, not taking his eyes off the skull. “But if we use a combination of Holy magic and fire, we might be able to completely get rid of it…”
“Or…” Eden said, while she shifted eyes to look from the side at Kent. “You could use black magic to erase it.”
“Black magic!?” the Count quickly responded, taken aback and furrowing his eyebrows. “I’m not sure what would be worse! To have a Demon skull in my city or to use black magic on it.”
Marie scoffed from her side of the room as she looked at Eden with disdain. “This is why we can’t have a dirty Chaerian in this place.”
Natalia furrowed her eyebrows as she gave a sidelong look at Marie, who simply looked to the side, avoiding Natalia’s eyes. Eden on the other hand pouted while looking at the floor.
“It’s all just magic thought…” she said under her breath.
The Count also furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at Eden. “Even if we wanted to, I don’t believe anyone in my city can use black magic anyway.”
Thomas cleared his throat, calling everyone’s attention to him. “I believe Lord Kent should be able to, from what I remember seeing.”
Kent had an awkward smile on his face when he was called out, but still nodded. “Yes… I might try, if you wish for it.”
“To allow black magic…” the Count pondered.
“It should be fine, father. He’s working for His Highness, and I’ve seen that it works on the Demon, so might as well make use of it,” Thomas said, lookin at his father.
The Count looked back at Thomas, a thoughtful expression on his face as he considered for a few seconds the suggestion, before eventually sighing. “Very well, but please do it somewhere quiet where nobody knows about this.”
“It shall be done,” Kent responded with a slight bow.
“Then I guess it’s time for us to move on. We’ll resupply and head for the capital with Marie,” Natalia said as she turned around to leave the room.
Thomas, and the Count were both left stunned as they watched how she was simply leaving like that, with Marcus at the side chuckling while shaking his head. “What are you doing Natty? Doing work for free here or something?”
Natalia stopped to look from the side at Marcus. “I didn’t do it for a reward, I simply did what was right for both the safety of the people and the sake of the mission.”
Marcus laughed out loud this time, crossing his arms. “Are you that fucking stupid, Natty? You do realize who we work for, right? There’s no way we can put in so much work and not get some profits out of it!”
Natalia shook her head in response, closing her eyes and sighing slightly. “That might be so for others, but not for me.”
She started leaving the room again, with Marie smiling as she watched with a pleased expression at the leaving Natalia. Eden was slightly confused, with her head tilted to the side, and both Thomas and the Count were left stunned from the way that Natalia handled her business, something that Marcus didn’t share as he scoffed in Natalia’s direction before turning to look at the Count.
“Well so she said, but I ain’t going to leave without a reward.”
The Count snapped out of his daze and turned to look at Marcus. “Right. I agree with you, good work should be properly rewarded.”
* * *
Marcus was walking down the halls of the Fort with a smirk on his face as he tossed up and down a heavy bag of coins, which clinked as they fell back down on his hand. In front of him were Natalia and Marie, who couldn’t help but half-turn their faces to look with annoyance at Marcus.
“What? I went with something that we could absolutely turn into real money back home,” he said as he stopped tossing the bag to look back at them.
“This was not necessary… Do you even need more money?” Natalia asked, looking forward again.
“Hey, this is part of the core values of the Corporation,” he responded with a shrug.
“Those aren’t the core values of the Glo—Corporation. We’re more about doing what’s right, uniting the people, and making sure that everyone is treated equally,” Natalia said with a shake of her head.
Marcus laughed, scoffed and shook his head in return. “You can’t be that naïve, Natty. The fuckers that we work for only want to control everyone so they can get the most power and money in the world.”
Natalia looked back at him with a glare, but decided not to answer when she saw his taunting expression. From the side, however, Thomas couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. “Control the world? Do you also have an emperor in your lands?”
A short laugh came out of Marcus when he heard that. “Are you kidding me? An emperor would be easier to kill than those fuckers.”
“Huh? 'An emperor would be easier to kill'? Are you led by holy beings?” Eden asked from Marcus’ side as she tilted her head.
“No, they’re common ass people that would die just like everyone else. But getting to them and killing them, now that’s a whole other deal, which honestly, I don’t want to try again,” Marcus responded with a frown on his face.
“‘Again’?” Natalia asked Marcus, turning again to look back at him.
“Oh yeah, a while ago I felt like killing one of those assholes, but well, shit didn’t work out,” Marcus said matter of factly with a shrug, as if he was recalling a trip to the store.
Natalia hummed, considering her next words as she looked at everyone else walking along with her. “We’ll talk more about that later…”
“Awh, I want to know more!” Eden said with disappointment as she dropped her shoulders.
“Speaking of getting to know our country, why was it again that you’re still following us?” Marcus asked, turning to glare at Thomas, who couldn’t help but half stumble on his steps.
“Well… I figured that you should get a bit more than gold, so me coming with you to the capital would make things easier,” Thomas responded as he stabilized his steps by holding on to the metal staff he carries around.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
“Yeah… sure…” Marcus responded with one eye narrowed as he looked back at Thomas. “Are you some kind of weird stupid or something?”
Thomas stumbled harder this time, almost falling to the ground as he looked back at Marcus with surprise. “What?! Whatever do you mean, Lord Marcus?!”
“Really? Don’t you remember how I went after you when we first met? And how careful you were about me even while fighting? And now you expect me to believe you just ‘wanted’ to come with us?” Marcus responded with a scoff.
“I-I had just misjudged the kind of person that you are, is all,” Thomas said, trying not to look at Marcus.
Eden couldn’t help but hide a chuckle behind her hand as she cast a glance over at the stiff walking Thomas. Marcus scoffed while everyone else seemed to ignore whatever they were talking about.
Leading the group at the front was the same old butler that serves the Count, he had now stopped for a moment to look back at the group, no particular expression on his face.
“Here are the rooms where you can spend the night,” he said, showing them off with an elegant move of his hand to the side. Then pointing to another group of maids and butlers at the other side with a similar movement of his hand. “And should you need anything, please don't hesitate to call out to one of them.”
“Right,” Marcus responded, quickly moving to a room and shutting the door in a swift move.
Everyone else also started quietly doing the same, since for people like Kent, the trip and the fight had been exhausting, same as for Eden, who despite being a bit more physically stronger than Kent also felt that the whole ordeal was stressful. Natalia also wanted some time alone and so she went to a room to unwind as well, preparing herself for the next trip.
* * *
As Natalia sat down on the bed, she felt the texture of the sheets on top of it. She still had the full Imperator armor on her, and yet, she could feel how the soft fabric caressed her skin. She could also feel the soft bed under those sheets, which didn’t quite compare to the average bed from Earth, but after a few weeks of traveling on the outdoors, she felt as if she could just lay down and fall asleep right away.
She dropped herself on the bed with a heavy thump, letting her hair fly all over the bed as she looked up at the stone ceiling of the room. Her arms were spread to the side and she kept a calm expression as her eyes were looking straight ahead, detailing the patterns on the rocks. A few seconds later, she closed her eyes, trying to let herself sleep now, even if there were still a few rays of light coming from the setting sun.
Not a few seconds later after closing her eyes, she found herself staring again at the ceiling, a frown floating on her eyebrows, since there was a system notification coming out of her armor. She sat back up straight on the bed and reformed the helmet to have a better look at what this was about.
“Incoming call from the Porta Paradisi Command…?” she said to herself in a low voice.
The soft sound of her breathing followed her words as she stopped to listen at whatever this call could be about. She only heard a couple of seconds of static before it got quiet again.
“—llo?” she heard after the static.
“Imperatrix Natalia Laroy here, please repeat,” Natalia responded as she looked to the side of the floor, waiting for a response.
“Hello?” repeated a feminine voice from the other side.
“This is Imperatrix Natalia Laroy, do you read me?” she repeated, hoping to be heard this time.
“Oh! Natalia!” responded the voice from the other side, “We finally got the communications on this base working!”
“Is this Commander Han?” Natalia asked this time, an eyebrow raised as she looked forward.
“Call me Jeong-Hwa, Natalia!” Jeong-Hwa said with a bit of a disappointed tone. Natalia had a wry smile on her face when she heard that and was about to respond, but Jeong-Hwa continued, “Still, it’s good to know that you’re still alive and well! How’s the mission going?”
“We’ve made contact with the natives and we’re currently traveling to meet with the higher powers that rule over them,” Natalia responded with a nod.
“That’s good! That’s good! We’ve also made great progress on our side as well. This is quite the interesting world, isn’t it?” Jeong-Hwa said, speaking as if this was nothing more than a chat between friends.
“Yes. The people of this world seem to live in a less technologically advanced time, however, it seems like they make up for it with the use of magic.”
“Right! We’ve also noticed that—” she stopped as a voice from somewhere in the room interrupted her. It was too far away from whatever equipment they were using, so Natalia couldn’t quite listen to what they were saying, but Jeong-Hwa responded, “Fine, I was hoping I wouldn’t have to though…”
Natalia had a confused expression for a couple of seconds before it was cleared by the message that appeared on her helmet.
“Hanny, what’s up?” said Marcus as he joined the call.
“Ugh…” Jeong-Hwa responded from the other side. “This is nothing more than a communications call, to ensure that our systems are properly working.”
“Oh, so nothing important then. I’mma hang up,” Marcus said, followed up by his channel being quickly cut off.
“Well that works for me, I didn’t want to spend more time talking with that guy,” Jeong-Hwa said with relief. “So anyway, as I said to Nossa, we were just connecting for the check, and it seems like your mission is going well.”
“Yes, I hope we can make an amiable connection with the natives,” Natalia responded with a nod.
“Speaking of which, there was this—”
A knock on Natalia’s door interrupted Jeong-Hwa, as Natalia turned to look at the door as well. “It seems I have a visitor.”
“Oh well, we’ll talk about this later. You keep up good the work. We’ll let you go on at your own discretion, and if anything comes up, you can communicate this way.”
“Roger that,” Natalia responded with a nod as the door was knocked again. “I’ll see what this is about.”
“Very well, Commander Han… Out!” Jeong-Hwa said right before the communication channel cut off, prompting Natalia to raise an eyebrow to that last bit, but she didn’t stand still for long, as another knocking came again, making her start walking over to the door.
“Lady Natalia?” a female voice from the other side of the door shouted, “It’s Marie, I wish to speak with you.”
Natalia nodded and calmly walked over to the door. “Coming…”
When she opened the door, behind indeed stood a serious looking Marie, accompanied by both Joy and Lyra, who still wore the same black servant outfits; however, they kept more of a stoic expression, compared to Marie.
“Can we come in?” Marie asked, looking around the room from the door.
Natalia nodded and stepped to the side to let the three young women in, closing the door once they were inside. She walked to the side of the room as she removed the helmet.
“What do you want to talk about?” she asked.
The servant girls stood by the door, standing quietly as they both looked at Marie’s expression, who seemed to be thinking deeply about how to answer Natalia. Marie paced around for a bit, while Natalia patiently waited for the girl to speak her mind, who eventually stopped and looked around the room.
“Um, do you mind if I sit on the bed? I don’t see a chair to sit in…” Marie said with a bit of an apologetic tone.
Natalia nodded. “Go ahead.”
The girl sat on the side of the bed with a soft movement, trying not to mess the covers more than they already were from Natalia laying on them before. She took a couple of deep breaths as she closed her eyes, slowly opening them a few seconds later to look at Natalia. “I haven’t told you much about my family, have I?”
Natalia shook her head. “I only know that your father is the ‘Great Field Marshal’ and that your sister betrayed you with the aid of the Crown Prince.”
“Yes… that’s true…” Marie said, lowering her eyes to her clenched hands, which were holding on to her dress. “However… I’ve not said it all.”
“Yes, I figured as much,” Natalia calmly responded, standing on the side of the bed, looking down at Marie.
There was a moment of silence as Marie contemplated her next words, Natalia standing patiently as the girl was thinking. “You see… I was never my father’s favorite daughter, that had always been my sister. The reason I was forced to run was because my father wasn’t going to really put up a fight for me beyond what the imperial courts would find necessary, especially when my sister is married to the Crown Prince.”
Natalia crossed her arms under her chest when she heard that, raising her eyebrows slightly. “So, you’re pretty much alone in this… ‘fight’ with your sister.”
Marie shook her head. “No, not quite. My mother and my uncles would rather support me than my older sister, but they could never compare to the Great Field Marshal, for his military achievements outweigh far more my family’s court ones.”
“Your family?” Natalia asked, one eyebrow raised.
“My mother is actually my father’s second wife. His first wife died soon after giving birth to my older sister, and because of that, he dotes on her far more than he does me, which is something that my mother and my uncles—her brothers—cannot stop,” Marie said, looking down at her clenched hands, “So in a battle between me and my sister, he would never go against his dear first daughter, and he would definitely not use his military merits with the Imperial Holy Family to go against the Crown Prince. So in the end… I’m left alone…”
“I see…” Natalia responded with a nod, “and the reason you’re telling me this is because you’re expecting trouble at the capital.”
“Yes… There’s a high chance that the Crown Prince or even the Imperial family is going to act against me, so…” Marie said before turning to look up pleadingly at Natalia. “Please, I beg you, protect me once we get there!”
Natalia calmly nodded as she looked at Marie’s eyes. “I’ll do everything I can to ensure things go well.”
“Do you promise me you will?” Marie asked, her expression of worry not disappearing from her face.
“I’ll do everything I can—”
“Please, promise me you will!”
Natalia furrowed her eyebrows, looking down at the almost tearing Marie on the bed. “I—making a promise…”
“Why not?!” Marie shouted, almost screaming while keeping her eyes focused on Natalia. “Lord Marcus made a promise to take that... ’Chaerian’ to her lands! Why can’t you make a promise with me!?”
Natalia didn’t let Marie’s outburst get to her as she kept a composed expression on her face, shaking her head as she said, “A promise made by Marcus is not worth anything. He’s the kind of man that would promise anything to get what he wants, only to ‘forget’ about it later when he doesn’t care. And… that promise was made by Eden to Marcus, she’s the one that’s going to pay dearly later on if he doesn’t find her useful anymore.”
“But! But—!”
“I cannot make a promise like that to you,” Natalia continued before Marie could go on.
“Lady Natalia!” Marie pleaded, dropping herself to the floor at Natalia’s feet.
“My lady!” shouted both Lyra and Joy, distressed at seeing how Marie had dropped herself hard on the floor.
“Please! I beg you I—”
Marie couldn’t finish what she was about to say as she suddenly clutched her stomach and brought a hand to her mouth, feeling nauseous. Natalia was taken aback this time, quickly crouching to lift up the girl and carefully placing her on the bed again as the servants also quickly moved over to have a look at Marie.
“Hey! Are you okay?” Natalia asked with a worried expression as she looked at Marie.
Joy responded for Marie, taking a few herbs and medicines out of her pockets. “Yes… My Lady has been feeling a bit unwell of the stomach the last few days, so we’ve been giving her a few things to calm her pain.”
Natalia couldn’t help but frown as she looked at Marie and her symptoms. “Could it be…?” she asked herself in a low voice as the maids looked at Natalia with a confused expression.
Natalia’s helmet reformed again, surprising the maids as they opened their eyes wide, but not doing anything as Natalia carefully grabbed Marie’s wrist, looking at it for a few seconds, then turning to look at Marie up and down, stopping on a few parts of her body, while Marie couldn’t help but look back at Natalia with a slight frown as she said with difficulty, “What’s the matter…”
“Are you…?”