“It’s a shame you cooked their leader” The elven ranger – who had revealed himself to be called Cinda – spoke, poking at the melted lump of metal and something else that used to be the armor and body of Baron Vernon with an arrow. “He probably knew about their contact.”

“It was the heat of the moment -” heh heh “- and I’m more likely just to destroy everything with one massive spell than use the same discretion and precision that I used here. The only reason I did was because I was thinking of Ella. I’m not exactly prudent when I’m panicked.” Isil rubbed the back of her neck, looking over their prisoners.

“Hmm.” Cinda hummed disapprovingly.

The two had interrogated the remaining three knights and found them sorely lacking in crucial information. It seemed that they had been kept on a ‘need-to-know’ basis, and only Vernon needed to know. They had yet to wake the sleeping knights, but both agreed that there was a very low chance of them having critical information. Unfortunate, but it wouldn’t ruin the plan completely. Cinda had found correspondences to the Vernon’s contact in his tent, one of which gave a description of a meeting place. It was vague and hard to understand, but it was a start.

“What’s the punishment for…” Isil spoke, hesitating to find a certain phrase before opting to simply gesture to the captured knights. “Well, all of their crimes. Probably hanging, yes?”

Cinda looked at her curiously. “You don’t know the laws of the nation you live in?”

“What? I don’t live in Ghent; my tower’s in the Deadlands. I’ve never had to bother with laws.” Isil arched an eyebrow, before turning her attention to her muddy boots.

“The Deadlands? That takes courage. What is it like in there?”

“Miserable, to put it lightly.” Isil sat down on a fallen log and began to wipe her shoes with a rag. “Monsters everywhere, farming is impossible, and the ambient mana is extremely thin. It’s a lawless frontier for a reason.”

“Why do you live there then?” Cinda’s voice grew further away as he searched the other tents.

“Like I said before, I don’t have to worry about laws. Proper wards can make a massive tower invisible to most eyes and repel monsters at the same time. It’s also great privacy, which I value highly.”

“That’s worth it?” He sounded incredulous.

“… I’m content with my decisions, if that’s what your asking. But enough about me, what’s the punishment for these folk?”

“I’m not the Ambassador, so I’ll just go with a conservative guess: hanging.”

“My thoughts as well.” Isil rose to her feet, walking over to the listless captured knights.

“...” Cinda remained silent, but kept his eye on her actions.

Isil snapped her fingers in front of their faces. They slowly snapped out of their daze, focusing on Isil. One of the knights trembled and refused to look her in the eyes. This was the same knight that had attempted to kill Ella with Isil’s dagger, and who had most of his torso bones broken. He had been brought back to a healthy condition by Isil’s healing, which only served to make him more afraid. As such, she didn’t ask him her questions.

“Your friends who are still asleep, are they privy to this... operation?” Isil asked.

“If they knew, they’d take it into their own hands to have our heads decorating the capitol walls. If you want to drag words out of their mouths, then be my guest.” One knight sneered.

“Why do you say that? You don’t like their white-knight attitude?”

“White-knight attitude?” The same knight asked, tasting the phrase uncertainly.

“Someone who stands up for justice, fairy tale knight that rescues the princess and lives happily ever after. The paragon of justice and honor.” Isil explained lazily.

“Yeah, that sounds like them. Don’t hate ‘em, but… they don’t have the guts to do the dirty work needed to make a better future. Cowards hiding behind flowery words and pacifistic ideals.”

“I won’t bother debating you on that. Nothing you say will stop me from handing you over to them. Bringing these deeds to light is beneficial for us as well.”

“… Figures.” He spat.

Isil waved her hand in an arc in front of her face, slowly and deliberately. She cast a Stun spell at the same time, causing the three knights to once again return to their dazed state. She sighed and rose from her squatting position. She clapped her hands together, wiping off non-existent dust.

“Enlightening.” Cinda remarked dryly, idly flipping through a leather-bound book.

“Well, I’ll just hand them off to their comrades – former comrades now, I’m sure. See if we can cut out some of the cancer that Ghent is growing.” Isil smirked, imagining a possible future.

“… You say a lot of unfamiliar words. What is a ‘cancer’?” Cinda asked, not looking up from his book.

“A disease caused by your cells splitting uncontrollably.” Isil recited the definition mechanically.

Cinda looked up from his book and stared blankly. Isil recognized his uncomprehending look and realized that he probably thought ‘cells’ meant prison cells. She cleared her throat and simplified the definition.

“Just think of it as corruption. I’m not ready to do a lecture today.” Isil waved her hand dismissively, and turned her attention to a tent that had a sleeping knight in it.

“… I’ll remember that.” Cinda remarked.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“You won’t need to, I doubt we’ll meet again after this mission.”

“I have a feeling we won’t be parting ways for quite some time.”

“Ominous.” Isil chuckled, ducking inside a tent.

She crouched down next to a sleeping knight. She didn’t bother inspecting his condition like she did Ella, and instead opted to simply cast an Apprentice Cure spell. The dim green light of the spell rose on his body and quickly faded. His fingers twitched, and then his eyes fluttered open. He blearily looked left and right, then rubbed his eyes with his right hand.

“Urgh… what…?” He groaned weakly.

“Wake up Praxic Knight, we got a revolution to incite.” Isil said in the deepest voice she could muster.

“… Huh?” The knight looked at her in tired confusion.

“Yeah, no, I need to stop making references people won’t get. Eh, that one was too different from the original anyway.” Isil clicked her tongue.

“No, I mean, who are you?”

“… I had that little of an impression on you, huh?”

“Huh? Oh! Oh! Now I remember… What are you doing in my tent?”

“Your entire troop turned out to be traitors – or maybe not, but they tried to assassinate the Ambassador’s daughter. That looked like treason to me, so I put them out to pasture.”

“What are you on about?!” Incredulous, he sat upright, exposing his nearly naked form almost completely.

Isil rolled her eyes, unimpressed. “Save your voyeuristic tendencies for someone who gives a damn.”

“What have you done to my comrades?!” He roared, unaffected by her comment.

“Christ, calm down, would you? I told you, they made an attempt to kill the Ambassador’s daughter, so I killed them back.”

The knight scrambled out of his sleeping roll, grabbed Isil by the shirt collar and hoisted her up. Isil was more surprised by the man’s strength than his actions. He stared daggers into her, but it failed to affect her apathetic expression. Of course, if he tried anything, she had already prepared a Mana Bolt aimed directly at his torso. The knight stared at her for a few minutes, her feet barely touching the ground before he let her go. Isil nearly stumbled back, but managed to stay on her feet.

“You’re telling me that my entire squadron was involved in high treason? And that you slew them all?” The knight spoke in a calmer tone that still resonated with fury.

“Not all of them, no, for both. Some were drugged to sleep, while I captured three of them. If you need to, you can ask them yourself. More importantly, you can ask the Elven King’s ranger if you don’t believe me.” Isil jerked her thumb behind her as she spoke.

“Elven King’s ranger?” The knight lost most of the anger in his voice.

“Yeah. I can’t remember the full title, and he just called himself a King’s ranger, so I added in the ‘Elven’ part to make the distinction.”

“I’ll believe your words… for now.”

The knight sighed and turned around, picking up some discarded clothes to put on. He paused as he threw on his shirt, turning to give Isil a curious glance. She just waved him on and continued to wait. He grunted, and finished up his dressing. Isil left first, noticing Cinda moving over to her fallen tent. She didn’t interrupt what he was doing, and simply watched.

Cinda knelt down next to the tent and peered over it, closely inspecting the little girl who laid on it, still sleeping. He inched closer, and gently picked up her arm, and began checking her pulse. Frowning, he put him finger in front of her nose to check her breathing. This only seemed to make him more upset. He scratched his head and put his ear to her chest. Isil rolled her eyes and began to walk over.

“Like I said before, she’s just asleep.” Isil called out to Cinda, who flinched in response.

“I agree that is what it seems like, but is it not strange that she had not awoken? I don’t know what poisons they concocted, but this sleep is unnatural.” Cinda growled.

“...” Isil stared at him, wondering if she should tell him about the efficacy of an Apprentice Cure spell.

Isil looked over Cinda with her mana sense, finding his mana to be flowing normally throughout his body. She let out a small “ah” sound and nodded her head, understanding why the ranger was so concerned. Without magic, he would be at a loss as to Ella’s condition, and would only be able to rely on Isil for any understanding. If he tried to fix it himself, he could actually make her condition worse. She hid a smug smile and squatted down next to him.

“Want me to wake her up?” Isil asked in a whisper.

Cinda’s head turned so fast Isil was afraid it would snap off and go flying. “Can you?!”

“I-I mean, yeah, it’s just a simple sleeping drug,” Isil confirmed, somewhat unsettled by the man’s enthusiasm. “It’s not like they have some sort of coma-inducing poison. At the most, it has just a little bit of magic in it to make them sleep longer. Even if I didn’t do anything, she’d wake up sometime later today.”

“Wake her now! Please!” He added in the ‘please’ almost as an afterthought.

“… You’re overreacting, it’s not that serious.” Isil mumbled, not even bothering to use any fancy hand movements as she cast Cure.

“I would beg to differ!” Cinda paused, then cleared his throat and corrected himself. “No, no, I-I see what you’re saying. I understand why you can think that.”

“Mmmm…” Ella moaned and shifted, her eyes slowly opening.

“Sa nu loruda?” Ella spoke in a language Isil didn’t recognize.

What? Isil blankly wondered when she heard the unfamiliar language. Is that Elvish? I’m an elf too, so I’ll need to learn that or I’ll look weird. Isil didn’t bother to understand that language isn’t a package deal with a race. Neither Ella nor Cinda would think of it as unnatural that an elf from Tyverra did not speak Elvish. After all, Elvish was useless when nearly everyone spoke the common tongue.

“Elott iu dehurojo.” Cinda responded in the same language while Isil stared at both of them uncomprehendingly.

“Guvae Cinda?” Ella opened her eyes fully, focusing on Cinda’s now smiling face.

“Ket.” Cinda nodded happily as Ella threw her arms around him.

“Guvae... Guvae!” Ella burst into tears and clung harder to Cinda. “Ty usse, ty usse! Ty usse Li yeraas zen. Ty usse Li nefuru dettotat ji poda! Ty usse!”

Ella continued to sob and speak in her own language, mostly starting every sentence with “Ty usse”, which Isil guessed something similar to “I’m sorry” due to its frequent use and the apologetic tone of Ella’s whole speech. Isil continued to listen to the crying girl, uncomprehending. She picked up the knight finally leaving his tent with her mana sense, and went over to him. The knight turned his head and watched the scene with some shock and confusion.

“Just ignore them. Touching reunions aren’t meant to be interrupted.” Isil put a hand on his back, and guided him to a different tent.

“… Where are you taking me?” He asked, hand creeping closer to his sword handle.

“You dressed up in your full armor just to feel unsettled anyway?” Isil shot him a look.

The knight remained silent, opting to brush some of his hair out of his eyes than respond.

“I’m waking up some of your friends who were put to sleep as well. I’m hoping you’ll talk to them, so there isn’t a repeat of last time.”

“Maybe I acted like that because you said you killed all my comrades?” He asked rhetorically.

“No, it must be because you didn’t get my reference.” Isil brushed that statement off, rubbing her chin and pretending to look contemplative.

“Do you… do you have any regard for life or people’s feelings?”

“Yes, just not yours.”

“… Good to know...”

Isil snickered and ducked into the tent, almost immediately tripping over a sprawled out sleeping knight. She bit back a curse and glared at the unconscious knight. She’d would’ve saved him for last if she hadn’t cares about looking petty.

“Careful around Johnny, he sleeps like he’s fighting someone in his dreams.” The knight added offhandedly.

“Oh, wow, how enlightening. I never would’ve realized.” Isil said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Imagine how he’s going to wake up.”

Isil’s eye twitched, but held back on giving him the best withering glare she could manage. She sighed and worked her magic, but held the spell right before she cast it. She turned and gave a hard look at the fidgety knight.

“Anything else you want to inform me of?” Isil asked dryly.

“None, go on ahead.” The knight kept a straight face, and Isil couldn’t tell if he was lying or not.

Here goes nothing, Isil mentally sighed, and cast the spell. Johnny awoke in a flurry of limbs, and a skull ready to dish out concussions. She managed to lean back and avoid what certainly would’ve been an audible clacking of skulls and a splitting migraine. She clearly saw the look of disappointment that covered the knight’s face.

“What- who the hell are you?!” Johnny glared at Isil, darting back, searching for his sword with his left hand.

Isil rolled her eyes. Thankfully, the day couldn’t get any worse than it already was.