Within a small open yard outside the back of Rinas’s mansion, Kiran took in a deep breath and began to exhale. He repeated this process for a while as he stood up entirely straight with his eyes closed.
Snow fell and hit his face. He ignored the cold focusing instead on manifesting a sword from his mind. It took form within his mind with the steel possessing a rippling sheen and an edge that would cut through practically anything if enough mana was poured onto the blade.
He thrust out his arm and opened his palm beginning to summon the sword. Within a second, the pulsing energy hitting up against his gloved palm became replaced with the solid pommel of the sword he envisioned in his mind.
Kiran took one step back with his right foot and began slicing at the air focusing on his form as he did so. He recalled the lessons Asum drilled into him countless times during their periods of training together.
It was too bad that Asum was dead. He would’ve liked to have gotten a chance to do a bit of training with them again. Without them, all he could do was train with himself focusing on what had already been provided to him.
As snow continually fell on him, he did a slight twirl and sent mana into the blade itself to enhance its strength. He jabbed the sword forward and released the mana. One of the things he always had to be cognizant of was to not keep sending mana flowing into the sword the entire time during a fight. If he did so, he’d run out of it far too fast. It made fighting just a little more complicated since he had to know when to enhance the blade and when to relinquish from doing so during an engagement.
If a fight were as even as possible, the person who utilized the scarce mana their bodies naturally absorbed over time in the most efficient manner would likely win. He had to make an effort to also utilize his lessons with magic from Lorek intermixed with his sword fighting techniques to create a cohesive whole.
He began to lose sight of the time that passed. After finding himself tired from training his body, he unsummoned the sword allowing it to fade away. Unsummoned swords always faded away in a brilliant manner. The sword that once manifested in reality began to turn into a bunch of golden dust flowing upward and dissipating entirely several seconds later.
Someone from behind began to clap. He twisted his head around his shoulder only to spot Regina standing comfortably beneath an arched ceiling that wrapped around the perimeter of the small squarish snow-covered yard at their mansion.
Rather than wear her normal maid-like attire, she wore more warm clothes to cover herself. She had nice warm mittens, a big scarf that nearly hid her head, and long warm black boots. She eyed him with a somewhat twisted smile. “Is there a reason why you even bother to train out here?”
“I like it out here.”
“You do? It looks quite miserable.”
Since he just stood there, the cold began to hit up much harder. He decided to walk out of the snow and enjoy the ceiling above him even though it didn’t completely help against the cold brushing up against him.
Regina’s cheeks appeared a bit red having been outside for a bit. She must’ve been watching him train for a while. “I’m guessing you’ve been observing me for a bit.”
“Maybe.”
“I don’t mind if that’s the case. But shouldn’t you be inside doing chores or something?”
She perked up her nose at him.
“I’m just joking,” he said. “Where’s your brother at? You two always seem to be together usually whenever I see you.”
“Who knows who cares.”
He still found it amusingly how different she was compared to her brother. They were truly quite the opposites.
“Say,” she suddenly said. “Would you be able to teach me how to fight?”
“What, you?”
She furrowed her brows at him. “Laugh at me all you like, but I see how things are in this city even if I’m supposed to be somewhat oblivious. I believe I should be able to fight considering the danger here.”
“You should probably talk to your father about that.”
“Can’t you just teach me yourself? All you have to do is teach me how to use a sword or rather anything of use.”
“Do you not have anyone you know that could do that for you?”
She began to bite her lower lip. “I’ve tried asking plenty of times before but no one ever takes me seriously.”
“How about this then,” he said crossing his arms. “Ask your father whether he’d approve of me teaching you a few lessons. I will admit though, I don’t have any experience teaching so don’t get mad at me if I’m not any good at it.”
For the first time since he met her, the young Regina’s face lit up towards him. “You really would if I am to get approval?”
“Sure.” I can’t promise it’ll be the most productive lessons whatever these lessons would surmount to, but it can’t go that badly or so I hope at least.
She puffed up her cheeks and put her hands on her hips. “Then expect me to inform you Sir Kiran at a later time, that I expect you to keep your word.” She stormed off eagerly likely to immediately gain approval.
While the last thing he needed was another thing on his plate, he could afford to devote a little bit of time to teach her a few lessons. He’d keep it simple and straightforward relaying the things he knew.
For now at least, with his early morning training done, he decided to take to his main task for today which was to try to convince Silvy if at all possible to aid him in his primary goal. Such a task however might prove difficult.
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There was but only one way to find out.
He found himself outside of her cell staring up at him. She appeared quite tired and her eyes squinted as the candle in his hand proved too bright for her at the moment.
“How are you doing in there?” he asked.
“Oh I’m having the greatest of time in here. Why, are you thinking of grabbing a nearby cell to stay in to keep me company? I could even share this cruddy bucket over there if need be as well.”
“I’ll pass on the bucket but as for staying in the cell next to you, I might consider it if someone pays me enough to stay in one. But on a more serious note, I wanted to stop by so we could perhaps work something out.”
“Like what?”
“A way to get you out of here and make things right.”
She looked towards the ground for a moment eyeing the bars that kept her bound to this enclosure. They eventually met his once again and he thought he saw true kindness within those eyes of hers that reflected a bit of the candlelight. “You mean to grant me a way to seek redemption?”
“If you want. But you have to be the one who chooses it. I can’t choose for you.”
She relaxed a little allowing her shoulders to lower as she sat there. A few seconds later she stood up from the ground to come stand near him. She grasped the bars with her hands keeping her face just a foot or so away from his with the bars acting as a barrier between them.
“What do you propose then?” she said appearing adamant to hear of what he has to offer her.
He began to tell Silvy of his plan. She was to deliver him directly to the queen bypassing a lot of typical safeguards. She was one of her most notable and adorned knights. If anyone was to bypass a lot to gain him access to the queen directly, it was her. However, doing so meant betraying the oath she swore to uphold and be complicit in either the apprehension of her majesty or death. He made it clear to her that he would be willing to apprehend her, but considering what that would entail, he saw little other choice than to merely kill her as she rightfully deserves.
While betraying a sacred oath was a monumental task for someone, the queen had turned her back on her own devoted people. She was supposed to uphold the innocent and be virtuous in her actions as the sole ruler of the last remnants of humanity within the fifth domain. She had in effect forsaken her duty as queen by acting in a murderous manner with no care or empathy towards her subjects. And she might see that in doing these actions, she was ultimately doing what was right, but Kiran made it clear to Silvy, that this was nothing more than a poor excuse for unconscionable behavior that even someone like her, knew to be true in her own heart.
The question then became quite clear: why uphold an oath to someone who had broken theirs? The thought of upholding it was rather silly in his opinion. If one side breaks their side of a contract, the contract was in effect null and void. In this case, whatever oath she owed to the queen was null.
“I realize that doing this is a complete betrayal of your sworn duty,” he said.
“Duty,” she said sadly and then scoffed turning away from him. “I stayed silent I don’t know, how many times when she did things I saw counter to her stated goals. All I did was stand there and watch. I never protested or said a word to suggest I didn’t approve. I’ve also told myself plenty of times that her actions weren’t mine own, but I believe that’s just me trying to forgo any responsibility. By serving her as I have in the past, I turned my back towards the people much like herself. My duty is to the people, not her.” She turned back around looking adamant in her words.
“Then you’re willing to help me?”
“I am if it means doing what’s right.”
He was a little surprised that she was so willing to help him. He thought he’d at least have to convince her multiple times to get a mere chance at her accepting his proposal to hand him to her majesty.
Kiran lifted a hand to his chin. “You’re uh, not going to betray me are you?”
She was a bit taken aback by him saying that. “Are you really asking me that now after everything?” She shook her head and pressed one of her hands to her hip. “If you believe I’d betray you, you should’ve probably not even approached me with this to start with.”
“You’re right. I don’t think you will. I just can’t help but ask.”
“I should’ve known better considering how you acted when I first encountered you.”
“What could you ever mean?”
“You acted somewhat oblivious and carefree outside of Liall.”
“There are valid reasons for that. But now that you’ve mentioned it and reminded me of back then, what were you doing out there anyways?”
“Yes, oblivious is the right term for you,” she said somewhat jokingly. “Every now and then a group of us go out there to slay whatever monsters have spawned relatively near to the city. While the fog stops the majority of any monsters from ever spawning in the first place, some still appear out there so we have to go and kill them to prevent them from one day reaching the city or potentially amassing a sizable number to plan an assault. And while they may not look like it, they’re very much intelligent enabling opportunities to make plans that you’d think a monster would never be capable of doing. As a result, we have no choice but to hunt them down after a long enough period of time has passed to ensure they don’t pose a threat to the city.”
“Where do they even come from anyways?”
“You just asked a question we’d all like to know. No one really knows the why behind it. They’ve just been spawning out there since The Great Fracturing from my understanding and their numbers kept increasing throughout the years until eventually, the queen had to create that toxic fog as a way to suppress it. It certainly works but at a great cost.”
It made him wonder whether this phenomenon was solely a problem within the fifth domain and not a problem in the other domains. Everything surrounding the state of the world and reality still was one big question mark that he would like to have answered.
“I do want to warn you though Silvy,” he said with a sigh.
“What?”
“Your role in this is incredibly important. The fate of the domain is on your shoulders now choosing to assist me.”
“Wow,” she said, “you really have a way to make a woman feel important and immediately reconsider things. You know, I actually might like this cell. I’ve got this wonderful bucket over there,” she said with a kick of her foot, “I’ve got this shabby blanket and these nice cold floors to sleep on every night. Maybe I should resign myself away to staying in here instead of helping you.”
He smiled and nodded his head. “Nonetheless, I’m glad you’re wanting to help. I believe Liall will be better off. We’ll have to see but I’m hopeful.”
“You’re a strange person Kiran,” she said bluntly.
She wasn’t wrong. He was strange and a somewhat miraculous being considering his circumstances.
“While I say that though,” she went on to say, “I think I might like you. Just could you maybe get me a different location than this one before we’re to carry out this plan of yours?”
“I’ll talk to them about it and see what can be done. Are you sure though? You did just say you liked it in here.”
She rolled his eyes at him and he managed to have a nice hefty laugh as he eventually found himself leaving.
All in all, he was glad Silvy was going to assist them. It was a way for her to potentially achieve some sort of redemption. She admitted that she was witness to plenty of cruel crimes that the queen committed. She had been put in a troublesome spot where speaking out against the one she found herself devoted to would prove immensely troublesome.
Kiran would like to think had he been in her position, he would speak up and do what was right, but at the same time, it was hard to truly know what he would do. It was one thing to think about doing the right thing. It was another to actually do it in reality and stick by what he deemed to be moral and good.