‘How do you know?' Alon looked at Edmund puzzled.
‘They give me the same feeling Eliza does; they have six nobles, maybe a subjugation force aiming at this fortress.’ He opened his eyes, looking at the northwest.
‘Angel-6 to all units; Velvent is coming from the northwest; fallback to where we came from, now!’ Alon turned around and started to walk.
All of the soldiers started to walk in the direction Alon was going, leaving the A-Dam behind with Edmund and Eliza, who were still treating one of them.
‘Our mission here is over. Walk that direction and you will find the Velvent soldiers. You don’t know what happened; if they pushed, just tell the truth: the soldiers of the goddess saved you all. Let’s go, Eliza.’ Edmund turned around and walked away, puling his sword from the ground as he passed by it.
‘Ah,ok… Have faith and trust in her; she will be with you like I feel she is with me right now.’ Eliza put her hand on top of her heart and nodded to the people before turning around and walking away.
As the two walked away and the soldiers passed around them, they looked in the direction that Edmund pointed at and started to walk slowly and steadily going to the ruins of the fortress walls, but now with a smile on their faces, now that they would return to their town.
‘Edmund, you can sense people that can use magic?’ She looked up to the sky.
‘It was in the middle of the mission on the other fortress; my body just sensed one of those that they call mages and now I can do it. Interesting, isn’t it?.’ He smirked.
‘Humm, when I was healing those people, it wasn’t as fast but when you started to talk and show things to them, some would heal faster and one even the same as one of our soldiers.’ She looked back for a moment.
‘Maybe, just maybe what makes the link between you and the person you are healing is her highness and that effects the effectiveness of your healing powers.’ Edmund stroked his chin.
‘What do you mean?’ She looks at him curious.
‘It needs testing, but even a person that can use the device has tiers of loyalty to her highness, like some call her goddess, others her highness, or just our leader.’ Edmund looks forward deep in, though.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
‘That means that if you want the healing to be more effective, you need to see her highness as the god that she is becoming; this is so beautiful.’ She put her hands on top of her chest.
‘Well…’ Edmund scratched his head.
As Alon’s company walked out of the fortress and into the forest, they started to head to where they came from in the same formation in an arrow shape, with Eliza in the center protected by the Alon squad, and right behind the mortar squad, Edmund was just talking with her; she became more curious about his actions.
‘Why did you preach to them about her back there?’ She looked at him with a serious look.
Some soldiers around them look too, curious of his answer because they too saw what he said. Alon wasn’t really paying attention to any of it, as he was concentrating on the coordination of the platoons.
‘It's simple; they are a seed; now in Velvent we have a large group that can spread word about Ariadne; the situation was perfect.’ Edmund turned his head like he was trying to listen to something.
‘You are thinking far a head, hum? Are you trying to sense the people from before?’ She extended her hand to Edmund.
‘Yes, they are not following us; I think they are at the fortress; I don’t really know for sure and it's not that I’m thinking far ahead; I just did because it was a good opportunity.’ He got her hand and helped her get over a small fissure that she couldn't jump over.
As he was helping her, Edmund had the impression that she was probing him or something like it; he can’t say anything about how he only sees the duchess as a leader and nothing more; in his mind, this would completely make everyone against him on the spot.
Their views on Ariadne are becoming more religious; even Eliza, who is a childhood friend of hers, was saying that the people back there should have faith in the duchess and he remembered that they already have a story about him in their minds and he can’t go against it.
He smiled at Eliza after helping her and continuing to walk. The soldiers around them looked at Eliza from time to time and at him too, maybe waiting for them to resume the conversation but it would be some time before Edmund opened his mouth.
‘We learned a lot on this mission; after listening to you talk, I will give some recommendations to the duchess.’ Alon looked behind for a moment as he continued to walk.
‘What recommendations? That they all need to worship her as a god? Well…’ Edmund scratched the back of his head.
‘That would be wonderful.’ Eliza spoke in a chearful tone.
‘I already do that, captain.’ A soldier raised his hand.
‘Me too,’ another one said.
Some others raised their hands before Edmund started to be concerned, not because they were viewing Ariadne as a goddess; that is expected and even wanted, but it was happening too fast; his thoughts were full of speculation. But one thing is certain: this connection Ariane and now Eliza talked about is becoming stronger.
‘Yes, that is one of the recommendations, which is a huge advantage. I wonder if daily prayer would improve it somehow.’ Alon looked behind again for a moment.
‘I think I do; my healing improved greatly after I began to pray to her highness daily right before going to bed.’ She began to smile, like she had a feeling of relief.
‘I don’t know about healing, but I feel way calmer now that I pray for our goddess.’ A soldier to the right spoke.
‘Me and my wife are feeling so much happier now that we pray thanking her every day for everything we have.’ Another soldier spoke but now from the left of the group.
Edmund was shocked at how they were talking about Ariadne; it made no sense; this ability was deeper than he thought. With his sword resting on his right shoulder, he was trying to take in what everyone was talking about, but he felt more and more like an outsider.
‘What is happening?’ Edmund thought to himself.