That night, the group found themselves herded into a large, well-decorated room covered lavishly in the skin of the various monsters native to the forest. The room, having several bedrooms connected to it, is more akin to a large apartment than anything else.
“BEDTIME” Lin yells, immediately running into a room and jumping facefirst in the bed, Aisha following Lin and doing the exact same thing.
Giving the girls a quick confused look, Valen turns to the Light elf.
“Arjun, what exactly is going through your mind?”
Arjun, shakes his head and blinks, finally realizing his location.
“Ummm… right, I was thinking about the tree and I believe that it may very well have a mana engine.”
Valen turns to Gang who also has a confused look on his face.
“Right, let me explain. As we were heading towards the central tree, I noticed that the number of muskrets was extremely low. So much so that the tree itself could not possibly create enough light. Thus, the tree evolved even further, creating itself a mana engine, something extremely powerful, which old monsters have a tendency to create after living for thousands of years.”
Valen readjusts Diva’s body on his back and walks towards an empty room, plopping her carefully on the bed.
Arjun turns to Gang,” Was it something I said?”
Gang snorts.
“We are kidnapped. We don't know what our captors want from us or what our captors will do to us. All we know is that they shoved us in a room with no explanation.”
Gang folds his arms.
“And you are more focused on the stupid glowing tree than our safety.”
Arjun gives Gang a good long look before looking away, a blush on his face.
Shaking his head, Gang walks towards the last empty room, entering and closing the door behind him.
Sighing, Arjun looks towards the other two rooms. Valen is carefully laying diva’s sleeping form onto the bed, while in the other room, Lin and Aisha are… already asleep.
“I guess I’m taking the couch,” he says with a frown, laying down, quickly allowing sleep to overtake him, still exhausted since the Barghese attack.
*********************************
Circadian rhythm, a rather interesting aspect when concerned with the city of Milos. A city constantly bathed in light all of the time. Thus, many people sleep at different times because they do not know when it’s night outside.
But that does not matter to them as much as it matters to the group who is all sleeping peacefully in their rooms… except for one.
Lin’s ears twitch, a soft patting sound coming from outside her bedroom. Getting up, Lin stretches on all fours, immediately realizing that she is wearing Pajamas.
A smile forms on her lips, thinking about Valen who had changed her clothes while she slept.
Turning towards Aisha, Lin finds the little dark elf hugging a pillow.
*Pat Pat*
Lin’s ears twitch again, noticing the sound once more.
Frowning, she walks towards the door and slowly opens it, finding the living area. At the central area is a couch with Arjun sleeping… or at least half of him is.
His upper body is laying on the floor while his lower body, his legs are still on the couch. Apparently, he had fallen sometime during his sleep but had not awakened from it.
Exiting out of her room, Lin tiptoes outside, not even making a sound.
And then a figure drops down from the roof, quickly moving its hand over Lin’s mouth.
Lin attempts to yell, but the hand is closed tightly around her mouth. With quick reflexes, she extends her claws and attempts to scratch through the dark garb of the assailant. But the material seems to be extremely resilient to her nails.
So Lin is forced to squirm and shake…
An entire hour passes by when Lin’s energy finally starts to run out, her body going limp from exhaustion, her fur damp with sweat.
“Finally,” Llarain says, annoyed at the little tigress child.
“An hour. You have enough energy to squirm for an entire damn hour.”
Llarain looks down, lifting an eyebrow,” Can you stop licking my hand, it's very uncomfortable.”
Lin, exhausted, glares angrily at the assassin.
“Look, I came here to help you all. They plan to kill every one of you tomorrow, but I am going to need your help to save you all.”
Lin stops licking, giving the assassin a confused look.
Llarian twirls around, pointing Lin’s head towards the couch and the items next to it.
“Those are your weapons which had been confiscated. I have returned them.”
Lin, takes a good look at the items, finally relaxing and then slowly nods towards the assassin.
Llarain sets Lin on the ground and removes her hand, brushing the saliva away.
“Now, weapons alone aren't going to be enough to save you all. But you can save everyone,” Llarain says, taking out a small container and hands it to Lin, who immediately backs off from the sheer horrifying smell.
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Llarain chuckles softly, making sure to create as little noise as possible.” This is known as Laren extract,” she says, holding the vial up for lin to see.” It is very strong, so much so that it will awaken even the most heaviest of sleepers.
Lins' eyes widen.
”Diva!” lin says rather loudly, quickly covering her mouth with her hand.
Waiting a moment, finding that no one has awakened, Larrain hands the extract to Lin.
“When everyone awakens, you will open the stopper and have your Amazon smell it. She will awaken.”
“When the time comes for you all to come to the king's throne room, make sure your amazon is armed and ready. From there, I will require you to yell a few things to the king,” Llarain says, explaining the exact words for Lin to say.
******************************
Ralamyn Maneiro, Current king of Milos, sits upon his throne, watching as nobility trickles in on the stands, sitting down, giving him confused looks.
But Ralamyn just sits on his throne, relaxed, his eyes focused on his younger brother, who sits agitated and annoyed. Arms crossed while watching the nobles take their seats.
As the last of the nobility trickle in, Ralamyn sends mana to his lungs.
“Residents of Milos,” he pauses, making sure that he has everyone's attention, “I have called you here in such urgency because we are in a grave crisis.”
The nobles, murmur between themselves, attempting to figure out what could possibly be the reason, most believing it has something to do with the holy kingdom.
Unfortunately, they are wrong.
“My brother has allowed a different species to enter our city!”
Gasps are quickly heard from the nobles as they all turn to Morendos, who is glaring daggers at his brother, teeth grinding in utter anger at the sheer idiocy of his brother.
Ralamyn gives his brother a sneer before turning towards the entrance.
“Send them in.”
Immediately, the double doors of the throne room open, allowing a group of five to enter, followed by several very wary guards, eyes focusing on the armed Amazonian, glaring dangerously at the king.
Ralamyn’s eyes widen,” why are they armed! Guards!, Seize their weapons!” he yells but the guards merely unsheathe their blades, unwilling to get anywhere near the Amazonian.”
Immediately, from the upper stands, several guards enter, readying their bows, aiming towards the group.
Within a half second, Diva unsheathes her sword, slicing the stone floor with utter ease, causing all of the guards to pause.
“Do not attack!” Morendo’s yells, making sure that none of the guards make any moves.
Several moments pass and nothing happens, neither the guards nor the group is willing to react.
“Morendos,” Ralamyn says, turning to his brother,” why are they still armed. Is this one of your plans to usurp me? This is treason! Answer me!”
A panicked expression quickly forms on Morendos face as the nobles all turn to him.
But before he can answer to the accusation, a little tigress interrupts the audience.
*********************
“HEYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!”
Lin yells, jumping up and down, waving her little arms in the air next to Valen.
“Helloooooooo, I need to say something!” Lin continues yelling, getting the attention of the king.
“Hello, king person. I am Lin,” she says with a smile.
Gang snorts while Valen suppresses a laugh as Lin gains everyone’s attention.
“I uhhhh, need to say some things… ummmmmm… hmmmm,” Lin stops, putting her hand to her lips, trying to remember exactly what to say,” I think I forgot…”
Llarain, hidden in the shadows, silently smacks her face, though still unable to hide her smile even if her plan is going to shit.
Ralamyn, annoyed, turns his attention back to Morendos.
“HEEEEYYYYYYYYYYY! I remember now. HEYYYY.”
Lin starts jumping and waving her hands again.
Ralamyn, angry, turns to the little tigress.
“SILENCE,” he yells, his voice reverberating through the chambers.
But Lin isn't one for following anyone's orders except for Valen's.
“You are really really mean,” Lin says, puffing up her cheeks.
At this point, Gang can't take it anymore and starts outright laughing, causing Valen to chuckles as well while Arjun just looks confused.
At this point, Ralamyn is fuming, but Lin isn't finished yet.
“You kidnapped Diva!” she says, pointing at the cool and confident amazonian.
“And now you want to kill her dis… dis… dishonorably,” she says, trying to pronounce the last word.
Ralamyn, extremely angry, stands up,” How dare you insult me! I will have your head for th-”
He stops, the air dense with mana as all eyes turn to the Amazonian. Her horns glowing, mana dispersing around her, engulfing the chamber in its entirety, giving her vision of everything around her. Her sword, sheathed in mana, glows menacingly as she looks up at the king.
“You dare dishonor me! I am a proud member of my race and I will not be executed!” she says, taking a step forward, causing all of the guards to take a step back.
Valen slowly releases his own mana, spreading it out, ready to create his armor and summon defenses.
Gang takes on a fighting stance, mana converging around his weapon, forming particles of ice.
Arjun just stands there, looking worried and confused.
But most of all, the loudest of this all are the whispers coming from all of the nobles.
“Earth Burial.”
“Asmodeus.”
“Amazonian Elder.”
Fear can be heard in the whispers of the nobility as they all stare at the Amazonian, her which could cause the complete and utter destruction of the city, something Ralamyn is now realizing as well.
At that moment, Llarain, wreathed in shadow, emerges beside the king, whispering in his ear.
He turns to towards the audience, a smile forming on his face.
“Normally, invaders to our home are dealt with execution… but I will make an exception this once… but not for free.”
“You all are clearly quite… powerful,” he says, feeling the astronomical amount of mana coming from the group, not able to pinpoint that practically all of it is coming from Valen.
He sits down and leans forward,” Thus, you will work as hired mercenaries for my kingdom in exchange for your crime of trespassing into our city.”
He looks to Morendos,” And my brother, who has allowed you all to trespass, will be punished.”
“Do you accept?”
All eyes turn to Valen, who merely looks at Lin, nodding up and down very quickly.
“We accept,” Valen says.
Ralamyn nods, waving his hand, causing all of the guards to sheathe their weapons.
The group, finding that no weapons are pointing at them, relax and stop sending their mana out.
Diva, taking a long angry look at the king, finally relaxes her mana and sheathes her sword.
“Good, I will have my guards escort you all back to your room.”
The group finds themselves escorted out of the throne room, followed by Morendos an hour later.
_____________
“Llarain, you planned this, didn't you?” he says, walking towards his chambers, a frown on his face.
Llarains form becomes visible as she appears, walking beside the prince, a cocky smile on her face.
Morendos gives her but a quick glance. Not even interrupting his stride,” he is sending me with a meager two thousand soldiers to attack the Holy kingdom whose army exceeds my own by twenty times. He expects me to die.”
Llarain says nothing as she disappears next to him as he passes a few guards and enters his chambers.
“You misunderstand, your job isn't to defeat the Holy Kingdom, it is to stop them from invading us.”
Turning around, Morendos finds Llarain, visible in her black garb, sitting atop a comfortable chair.
“And how am I supposed to do that?” he asks, interested.
Llarain leans forward, a confident smile on her face,” Why, with the help of the chancellor of course.”
Llarain presumes to explain the details of her plan, proving to Morendous that the punishment he must undertake is far from a suicide mission.