The king reigned his horse-drawn carriage in by the time they reached the gates. "Oh? Do you lot not intend to let your king in?"

Ora stepped out, along with Rel and Aren.

This time, it was the king and his defense of 8 elite mages, along with 20 other elite knights. Several other nobles also arrived, but they largely remained behind the king. It must have been their curiosity that brought them out here.

Or hadn't realized, but behind him, many of the townsmen had gathered. In fact, several of them bled out through the gates to stand right behind Rel and the others.

"Hello hello, Ora. To meet the king at the gates, how foul. I'm hurt, honestly~"

"What do you want, 'king' Veilix," Ora asked mockingly. The rest of the people also shared the same resentment towards this king, for it showed on their faces.

"I came to simply check up on my city. I'd heard of the recent events transpiring between Baerim. Did you end up slaying them all yourself?"

"No thanks to you and your army," Ora added. 

"While you were holed up in your peaceful city of Luxe-Sei'O, the rest of us fended for ourselves."

"Come now, I had no idea of what occurred or when it would occur."

"Or so you claim." One of the denizens added. The king could only glare at them.

"What has become of my Head General, Galtz?"

Rel raised a hand as if to grab attention to himself. "He's currently recovering. The man had done quite a number on the battlefield. Unfortunately, he'll be out of commission for a while."

"I see... then I guess I'll have to talk this over with you, Ora."

"What is it you want from me? If it is to recruit me to your group, I'm not interested in following a coward."

The King yawned. "Insults are not what I've come here for. It truly does hurt me to see that you dislike me so."

The nobles behind him were shaken by the bold manner in which Ora disrespectfully spoke to the king. But they too had heard the stories, and not a single one of them wished to verify the validity of the statement. 

"I've actually come here to make a proposal for you. You see... yet again, your actions have caused trouble for me."

"Explain."

"You've let quite a substantial amount of personnel escape. Not retreat, but escape."

Ora wasn't quite getting what he was coming on to.

"The ones who fled could not return back to their countries in fear of desertion charges. So they've spread out around most of the countries." 

He paused real quick and sighed. "There are, however, quite an abundant amount here in Sei'O. They've taken to terrorizing the smaller villages and stealing and thieving. I've sent most of my personnel on missions to take them out... but there are some that are quite powerful."

"As a weakened military, I do not have the resources to lose so many valuable fighters. Some of these mages are proving too potent. I'd have preferred if Galtz had been sent out to dispatch of them, but... I'm assuming he's out of commission for at least a couple months. That is time we do not have."

"You understand what I mean to tell you Ora?"

"This is not an order from your king, but a plea on behalf of your people. I am indeed royalty, but my fangs have weakened tremendously over the years."

Ora sighed. "I'm tired of seeing your face. Leave me."

The king and Ora and met gazes for several intense seconds before the king smiled as cheerily as he always did and clasped his hands together. "Well!" He got back on his throne of a carriage. "I trust you'll take care of things from this end. I shall see you if you require any forces ~"

The king slapped the reigns on his horse and they began to turn around, leaving the scene promptly. Ora sneered. He fucken hated those upper-class fucks. The ones who sat above everyone and believed their world to be so much better. 

Every time the king had insulted himself, it was in an ironic manner that still elevated himself above Ora and everyone here.

The gates opened up behind him and everyone made way for Ora and Rel and the others. The first thing he had in mind was to talk to Galtz. Rel and Aren followed as well. 

When they finally reached Galtz room, the man eagerly ushered them in. They came to find him bedridden. The old man was lying shirtless in his bed. It made him seem like a child. The man's pectorals probably took up a majority of space in his bed. It didn't seem like he could turn left or right without falling off. 

What's more, he was riddled with scars. The amount of training he must have gone through to reach his peak physical capabilities must have been tremendous. 

"We just had a meeting with your King." Ora stated.

"Oh? How did it go?"

"I can't stand him."

Galtz chuckled under his breath. But his face seemed pained. It hurt to laugh. "I see. Was there anything important he had to say?"

"He wanted us to venture off and kill off some of the escaped Baerim soldiers. They seem to be wreaking havoc everywhere."

"As expected. There's probably only a few of them. I wasn't there to witness, but I heard a bit about your endeavors on the battlefield. I wouldn't stick around in the same country either. If I was stronger, I could get up and begin to deal with the problem..."

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Its fine. I can take care of it. Though I'd hate to give in to that coward king's orders, there's not much of a choice."

Galtz cut him off. "You can't" 

"Huh? What do you mean. There's no one else powerful enough to deal with the situation."

"Ora, you best believe me when I say you are under global interest. Everyone's watching. We have no idea who our next enemies are, but you'd be a fool to believe we have none." Galtz flew into a fit of coughs. "If you leave, and word gets out that the capital city is defenseless, they will indeed come."

"...I see. Then how else should we proceed with the process-"

"I'll do it." Rel said from behind Ora. "The King did say he'd lend us knights as well. But if me and Aren were to leave, we can definitely take down any magician." 

"My relic is especially useful in a mission like this. And actually, Aren has been waiting to use his relic in actual combat. It is also incredibly powerful. I'd say it landed in just the right hands."

Ora hesitantly looked at Rel and Aren, who both seemed very eager to make the journey and take down some elite Baerim magicians. They were not as weak as the guards they had encountered before. 

"I don't know about this." 

"Tch. When have you known me to be weak, Ora."

"I'm not calling you weak." Ora sighed. "Then do you plan on taking Alel with you?"

"No. Alel has other matters to attend to. I would hate to interrupt her." I see. 

Recently Alel had been spending much more time with Lin. They'd sit down, eat and create stories to share with each other. It was an odd way to pass time, but Alel figured if it kept him away from his depression, it is definitely the best way.

"Aye. It'll be me, Aren, and Zephise. With just us three, we can take out pretty much anything."

"Hmm...very well. But you'll have to explain to me your strategies before heading out. Also.... I have been thinking."

"Oh? about what?"

"I don't want this to be a mission for the king. You guys will be going out on a recon mission. I want you to gather all the other plague children, and bring them back here."

Rel's face grew wide. This was not what he was expecting, but the smirk that appeared on his face was apparent. He loved the idea. 

"Oh, and... should you guys run into any enemy mages. Destroy them. But reconnaissance is your first and foremost mission." 

"Hehe, Got it, leader." Rel gave a thumbs up and grabbed Aren with him to go and alert Zephise.

The two of them will be departing in a week. "Hoy, General guy."

"Hm? What is it, Ora?"

"How could you stand working for that king?"

"Heh, do you really dislike him that much?"

Ora nodded. This was the king responsible for silence during all these events.

"King Veilix is a very complex man. You'd have to have been around him to truly understand...but he's a man who would do anything for his country. Swallow his pride, comply, and even abandon his own life if it meant that the country would prosper."

"This was why we had surrendered to Baerim for so long. It is alright to lose the battle, so long as in the end you win. If we had fought back then, we'd have entirely lost. He put up with everything, frustrated each night because of his lack of ability. In the long term, however, he was always fighting. I truly believe, if a year had passed by...our alliance with Lakia would have held up, and we would win."

"That's the type of man Veilix is."

"Tch. So that's why he shamelessly asks for my help, despite knowing what we have been through at his silence. I despise that king."

"I cannot blame you."

"I'll be leaving now."

Ora shut the door behind him. So he was confined to the inside of this city...it was quite pitiful. He had never ventured to the outlying villages. He'd have actually liked to do that.

He spent the rest of his day's training within his room with Alucarde. Occasionally Sela would come to visit, but it was a very lonely time. Everyone was constantly busy and Ora had nothing else to do except train and train. 

"Alucarde... is there a way to bring Lin his limbs back?"

Alucarde smiled in a creepy manner. "If Sei'O has magicians advanced enough. Have you tried asking the king?"

"Tch. Funny joke."

"At this stage, there is no healing his limbs. There are very few magicians in the world who have the ability to reconstruct... and they get paid very well. Unless times have changed greatly, there is no way to do such a thing."

"I see. So I made a promise that I could not hold up.."

"During my last era of activity, I recall you humans were constructing artificial limbs. I believe they were calling it prostatics... Perhaps you've advanced enough to create prostates much more efficiently now."

".....come again?"

"Did I say something off? Prostates, the artificial limbs. The artificial limbs!"

"Did you mean to say prosthetics?"

"Oh... did they change the term?"

Ora stifled his need to laugh. "Oi. You're really bad with names, you know that?"

Alucarde yawned. "Anyways. Prosthetics should be a very powerful option. They were strong but rare during my time."

Alucarde rose up from his sitting position.

"Of course...I may actually have a different idea."

As he got off, he externalized a shadow from within him. The shadow rose up to make a completely different body. He continued to do so until there were 5 different shadows.

"You learned control of each individual shadow earlier. Now learn to give it shape."

The shadows moved individually from alucarde. By simply giving them instructions they were able to act on their own accord. 

They performed various actions with efficiency, including running, jumping and even combatting against each other. This was a power Ora was definitely interested in learning. 

"teach me."

"Very well. This training, however, will have to be much much harder than last time."

At that moment, Alucarde manifested an entire army of shadows. "Try and mold your shadow with all your might. In the meantime, you must make sure it holds form while you try and do one thing."

The shadows all transposed their hands into blades. "Survive."

As the hordes ran at him, he attempted to fight each of them off while using molding his power into a human shape. It was much much harder than it appeared. While he could easily change the shadows into standard shapes, forming a human torso proved much harder than he thought. 

He was eventually overwhelmed by the sheer amount of forces upon him. They moved efficiently to dodge every one of his shadow attacks. He could not defend against the countless different blasts and stabs that were sent his way. Eventually, he crumpled under the pressure.

He woke up in his room, exhausted, but opted to go back into the training with Alucarde. They continued right where he left off. 

Yet again, he continued to train with Alucarde. It was not like the external world offered him anything better to do. At the very least, he can learn to fight better.

This vicious cycle continued on until, before long, a week had already passed.

Ora stood at the gates with Rel, Zephise, and Aren preparing their final departure. The tailor had yet again offered them very nice clothing. Which reminded Ora, he had to pick up the outfit tailored for him. But he dreaded seeing that tailor again.

They wore huge white cloaks that covered most of their body, including their legs. The cloaks seemed to be extremely warm and were made out of material that was resistant to rain. They were very much ready for their travels. They each carried a wooden backpack that held various supplies, medicine, and food. 

"Oi. Ora. We'll be back within a month's tops with our progress."

"So please don't worry about us too much!"

"Aye. We'll bring everyone back to this sanctuary and defeat all the mages!" Zephise boldly exclaimed. It was an odd statement to say since Zephise was much more of an intellectual than a fighter. He preferred to gather information and record logs of many things. 

His backpack was just full of books, medicine, and food. 

Several of the other plague children and citizens came to see them off. They offered them various gifts for their journey. The trio left first for Luxe-Sei'O, then to finally depart on their mission. 

They fled on Baerim owned horses. The horses were left behind long before Ora's battle with them, so they were pretty much fair game. 

"Good luck, Rel, Zephise, Aren."

"And Rel.."

"Hm?"

"It's alright to lose the battle. So long as you can win in the end."

"Heh. What's that all suppose to mean?" He smirked and nodded. "I never lose."

With that, the trio rode off. What lay in wait for them in this country of Sei'O, is something that no one could truly predict.