“Isn’t there anything we can do…?!” Amelia sighed and slumped against a stone sticking out of the mossy forest floor.
I wanted to answer to Amelia, but I couldn’t think of anything reassuring to say. Literally, every living and breathing thing outside this forest was an enemy. How in the world would we be able to do anything?! And even if there was something we could do, where were we supposed to even start from?
Saving the people? Fighting the golden knights? Destroying the siphon? Saving the Princess? Catching the advisor? The options were clouding my mind…
We sat in silence deep into the night. At some point, I noticed Amelia had fallen asleep, and I bet she was exhausted. I sighed and walked over, gently laying her down on the ground properly, placing the wolf pelt underneath her head to act as a pillow.
Maybe it was simply to distract myself from the dark thoughts for a moment, but I gently felt the back of Amelia’s head. To my surprise, her hair had grown back considerably. The tips of her hair were still charred and hard, but a visit to a hairdresser would surely take care of them. I figured even fantasy worlds must have hairdressers, considering how fashionable a lot of the people I had met so far were.
Suddenly, Amelia began sleep talking again.
“Whhait… Why do I know…this…place…” Amelia’s mumbling was a bit difficult to understand again. I instinctively grabbed onto her hand.
“Amelia…?” I questioned her quietly at first. “AMELIA!!” I shouted…and she didn’t wake up.
“Wher…were you not…just bones…last time?” She spoke to someone within her dream.
“WHAT IS IT?! What do you see?!” I tried to plead to her, but she didn’t react.
“Who…are you?” Amelia’s voice got clearer yet again.
“I am… What you yearn for…” The cold whisper exited her mouth breathlessly yet again.
I decided against screaming and panicking and chose to listen in a bit closer this time. As I focused, I felt the icy voice might have belonged to a woman.
“I don’t recall yearning for a withered corpse…” Amelia replied in a hushed sigh, but I could still hear the sarcasm in the tone. I don’t know what kind of nightmare hellscape she was seeing, but it was somehow reassuring to see how cool she was even in her dreams.
“How crass…” The voice seemed to almost chuckle.
“What do you want? Why do you keep feeding me these strange dreams?! I somehow lost my memory of the last one until I was brought back here again.”
“I’m sure you have plenty of questions…” More chilly air flowed out of the knight’s mouth.
“… And why do you look like this, when you were just a pile of bones last time?!” Amelia continued.
“L-like I said…” The cold voice seemed a bit annoyed.
“NO! I’ve had enough of this mystical nonsense!! IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING YOU WANT! NAME IT! OTHERWISE, LEAVE ME BE! I HAVE ENOUGH ON MY PLATE ALREADY!” Amelia was rather intimidating when she got loud, even while asleep.
A moment of silence followed, and what sounded a bit like a long sigh ensued. It was a bit hard to discern, but that’s what it seemed like to me.
“I have a few questions. They will not harm you in any way. Simply answer them honestly and I’ll let you wake up…” The voice was definitely annoyed now.
“Go ahead then!” Amelia declared loudly.
Another moment of silence followed. I was honestly a bit thrown off by this. Amelia’s force of will was truly nothing to laugh at! Somehow, she seemed to be in charge even with whatever this magic induced dream was… but wait…
Upon thinking about it, I tried to focus my eyes on Amelia to see if there was any unusual magic on her…but to my surprise, there was none.
“It’s not…magic?” I spoke to myself quietly. “What the hell is trying to communicate with her?”
“Question one…” The voice began again. “If you could return one person from death, who would it be…”
“Nobody. Death isn’t a game.” Amelia replied bluntly.
“Question two… If you were to find out…someone close to you has died once, only to reincarnate with their memories in-tact…what would you think of that?” A chill instantly ran down my spine. Who in the world was this person Amelia was talking to?! This sounded a lot like they were directly referring to me…
“My condolences to them.” Another blunt reply was provided.
“Condolences…? Why?” The voice questioned.
“A human mind isn’t designed to last forever. Even if the prospect of an endlessly repeating life might seem like a good thing on the surface, after some time everything will feel dull and meaningless when you have already experienced it endless times. Death is what gives life meaning, so a life without death is a life without meaning.”
“You seem to respect death a lot.” The voice somehow seemed a bit more energetic.
“I’ve been taught to do so by my parents.” Amelia’s tone of voice remained stern.
“Ah yes… Clement and Fatima… were they not?”
“How do you…?”
“Do not concern yourself over it too much… I see… I see. Is this respect towards the concept of death also the reasoning behind why you do not wish to see your daughter again?” The cold voice’s line of questioning went on.
“I’d greatly appreciate it if you didn’t misconstrue my words. I do not think there is anything in this world I desire more than meeting my daughter, but that will have to happen naturally. Circumventing death is not a fate I wish to bring upon my loved ones, even if it pains me to accept their absence.” Amelia’s voice was shaking a bit upon the mention of her want for seeing her daughter again…and yet, that noble conviction remained strong nonetheless.
A silence followed suit… it felt almost as if the ghost voice were gauging something up.
“Last question.” The voice then finally broke the silence. “Do you fear death?”
“I do not. Once it is my time, I will welcome it with open arms.” The shakiness in Amelia’s voice was gone.
“Very well. You qualify, so may we meet again.” The voice spoke and Amelia’s expression calmed down a bit.
She began breathing calmly again, until suddenly, her eyes jolted wide open.
“NNNGHHHHH!!” With a violent gasp, Amelia began grasping at her upper abdomen.
“AMELIA!!! WHAT’S HAPPENING?!” I panicked and helped her up.
“It… burns…!!” She seemed to be squirming in pain, so I pulled up her shirt, only to discover something bizarre.
Right about in the spot where your ribs split to give way to the stomach, there was a pitch-black symbol of some kind. Amelia was screaming while smoke rose from the dark pattern. As much as I tried, I still couldn’t detect a hint of magic in the marking.
What in the world was this bizarre non-magical energy?! Or maybe there was something concealing the magic somehow?
“Amelia!! What can I do to help!?” I tried pressing my hands on the symbol, only for it to heat up and cause the paladin to shriek even further. “I’M SORRY! I’M SORRY!!”
Before I managed to think on it more, Amelia began calming down. Her face was bright red, as if she had a fever.
“Wa….er…!” She gasped dryly.
“W-water?! WATER!! I’ll go get some!!” I dashed off and stumbled a bit as I filled the soup pot with cold water from the nearby stream. Amelia hastily grabbed the pot from my hands and began downing the water like she was possessed.
There was steam rising from her chest! STEAM!! People don’t steam!! The water did seem to alleviate her pain a bit, so she began gradually calming down.
“What…was that?!” I shook my head, unable to really do anything else.
“I don’t know… I was in a big field of…absolute darkness… There was white grass and… I think butterflies… In the midst of it all rested a strange white throne with a mummified corpse on it…” Amelia’s voice was a bit hoarse.
“A mummified corpse?! WHAT?! That’s so creepy!” I commented with slight hyperbole to my voice. Admittedly, I wasn’t even that surprised anymore with all the awful horrors we had been through.
“H-hahah… Not something I’d expect to hear out of a literal monster…but yes. It had a very strange air to it.” Amelia began observing the symbol on her body.
“Do you recognize it? Did it appear in your dream? Did you get cursed or something?” I bombarded her with questions. Amelia’s skin was bright red around the black marking.
The marking looked like it was a part of her skin now, almost like a tattoo. As mentioned before, it was black and consisted of squares on slightly different heights being connected by a thin line. There was an empty square on each bigger one as well.
“It looks like a branding mark…like a stigma.” She commented.
“A what…?” I worried while keeping my hands away from her, just in case my touch would make her burn again.
“It’s a sign of being touched by…something.” It seemed like Amelia was unclear on what the symbol signified. “I honestly am just as lost as you are.”
“Does it hurt? Feel strange anywhere?”
“No… My body feels fine now.” Amelia replied, while pulling her shirt back down. “Did you hear anything of our conversation?” She turned to look at me after finishing with her clothes.
“I did… The whole conversation, I think. The voice asked you a bunch of weird questions about death…” As the tension left my body, I realized how tired I suddenly felt. It was as if my limbs were made of lead, so I slowly wobbled to a resting position.
“I don’t understand a thing about what happened… but I remember now.” Amelia followed suite and laid down on the moss next to me. “The first time…the being was just a bunch of black bones. This time it was a mummy. It was almost as if…”
“It was…growing…or traversing back in time…?” I finished Amelia’s sentence.
“Back in time…? I didn’t think about that…but that would make sense! Interesting perspective!” Amelia piped up. Somehow, she seemed quite energetic about it.
“You seem unusually cheery for someone who just got possessed by a literal horror scenario.” I commented.
“Mmm… It was quite frightening, but at the same time… I feel like a small weight is off my chest.” She began speaking. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot… About death.”
“I can imagine.” I replied quietly.
“I’ve contemplated taking my own life too.” She spoke rather nonchalantly, considering the severity of the topic…and yet. It didn’t really surprise me.
“I figured.”
“But… Now that I lay here in the moss with you… I’m glad I didn’t.” Amelia quieted down a bit. “I felt like my life was completely without meaning after I was betrayed by my love…and forcibly torn away from my child.”
“…” I remained quiet.
“But somehow, I feel like putting my thoughts about the situation into words in front of whatever that thing in the dark was, has cleared up my mind.” Her voice cheered up a bit.
“I am sad Amy died… But maybe I still have things to do in this world, before it is time for my passing.” She shifted to her side to look at me.
“You’re pretty cool…” I mumbled without thinking, then blushing and slapping my hands over my mouth.
“PHUA…!” The paladin mom chuckled. She began giggling a bit louder, until she was howling with laughter.
“H-hey… Shut up.” I mumbled grumpily, face beet red.
“Yverna…!” She sighed after she was done with howling at me. “Thank you for not leaving me by my lonesome… If I had died there in that hut, I’m sure I would have never come into terms with the death of my daughter. Who knows what kind of evil spirit I’d have become.”
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Mmmph…” I pouted, blushing still. “I’ll make you commit more petty crimes as revenge for making fun of me!” I threatened her.
“Oh nooo…!” She began laughing even more.
She kept making noise for a good hour or so. Eventually, it caught onto me too, and we rolled around in the moss and hollered like lunatics, until the day broke properly.
“So…we’re just gonna ignore the unholy symbol that now decorates your skin?” I asked Amelia as we were dressing up in our disguises again.
“Is there much else we can do to begin with?” Amelia did have a point.
“Just let me know if it starts burning again or something.” I mumbled. “I’ll come and scream like a headless chicken, since that’s all I seem to be good for when it comes down to this stuff.”
“I’m counting on you!” She gave me a stupid thumbs up.
image [https://i.imgur.com/UfGcVCX.png]
Looking up at the stalagmite range reminded me once again of the lunacy of our mission. While Amelia seemed to be okay even after the events of the night, we were still pretty much without a plan.
I sat down on a rock and peered up at the structure extending all the way to the ceiling. This world truly didn’t let up, and it was as if there were monsters and horror behind every corner. How did the people of this world stay sane surrounded by this mu…wait…
“Wait… Amelia…” I pointed at my companion. “Do you still have that notebook from the dwarf?”
An affirming nod was provided as a response. “I do.” She dug up the notebook for me.
I began hastily browsing through the pages. “Here… I thought something was weird. I just had to confirm to make sure.” I browsed further, until I came across the page explaining how curses work. “It says black magic is something exclusively monsters can cast.”
“Ohoo…! And what’s that going to do to help us?” Amelia tilted her head at me.
“WELL! It means there is a monster in the dwarven kingdom…and guessing based on the other clues we have, I bet it’s the advisor.” I shared my thoughts with my companion with a mild sense of excitement.
“OH!! I see!!” The knight smacked her fist in her hand. “I…somehow started normalizing the thought of having a monster companion because of you! But…that’s not normal at all, is it?!” She nodded eagerly.
“YES! I AM NOT NORMAL! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!” I sassed at her in response to her choice of words. “But…yes. Why would the dwarves suddenly let a monster inside their castle, when it was a monster that cursed the princess to begin with.”
“… Mmm… That is a good question.” Amelia crossed her arms and began to ponder. “What if they’re somehow disguising the monster as a dwarf somehow?”
“Are there monsters like that? Like some sort of shape-shifters or something?”
“There certainly are. I have encountered plenty of such when I was still on duty. Doppelgängers, face eaters…not to mention the hollowed.” She began listing various kinds of monsters I had never heard of. I can’t say I was really up for finding out what the hell a ‘face eater’ was to begin with.
“Even if the people in the kingdom can’t tell the monsters apart, we still can!” I mused, leaning back.
“We do?!” Amelia turned to look at me from her position of contemplation.
“I can see mana. If we find a creature concealing itself with magic, I should be able to detect it.” I laid on my back against the moss.
“WHA?! That’s spectacular! As expected of a witch!!” Amelia bounced up.
But then, a moment of silence fell upon us again. I think both of us realized, that even if we ended up being able to detect the monster, if it truly was the king’s advisor, that would mean we’d have to most likely infiltrate the stalagmite castles.
Who knows how far up the king’s chambers were.
How would we ever be able to go through while remaining undetected?
“I think our best bet is to start a commotion.” Amelia spoke up.
“UM!?” I was a bit surprised about the lunacy of the plan, but even more so, a plan about being a public nuisance coming from Amelia?! AMELIA! THE PARAGON OF MORALITY! I was definitely a bad influence on her.
“How about we take care of two birds with one stone.” Continued Amelia. “We hit the hourglass with something, for it’s clear it’s important to the golden monsters. Considering the strangle hold they seem to have on the dwarves, I imagine they’d have the authority to mobilize all the troops to come after whoever is putting the hourglass in danger.
“Hmmm… That’s true, but wouldn’t that essentially be a suicide mission? How in the world would either one of us escape from a situation like that?”
“You can activate magic from a distance away, right?” The paladin asked, and soon I think I was starting to understand what she was after.
“You want us to like…build a bomb or something and detonate it from a distance away?”
“You caused that big explosion in the cave with the insects too… Do you think you’d be able to do something like that again?” Amelia’s tone of voice was quite hopeful.
This damn paladin basically seemed to think I’m some sort of terrorist… While I certainly wanted to be threatening and cool… I DIDN’T EXPECT IT TO END UP LIKE THIS.
“Mmmghh… The issue is that we don’t have dust this time. To make something explode, you need…you know. The explosive material.” I pondered aloud. “What could we possibly find underground that could make for an explosive?”
“What exactly can blow up like that in the first place?” Amelia questioned.
“Mmm… Stuff like flammable dust… Gas… gunpowder… and so forth.” I replied.
“Hrrrmmm…” Amelia began pacing around as she pondered. “What exactly constitutes as a gas? Like something that smells bad?” She had a somewhat archaic understanding of chemistry.
“W-well… Not alw-“ I bounced up and began pacing around too. “WAIT! YES!! Maybe we could use methane? I wonder if that would blow up?”
Thinking back… I really hated going to school. I had to take classes remotely online even when I was in the hospital, and I absolutely despised all of it because it felt so pointless. What’s the point of learning all the completely irrelevant information…when you’re going to die soon anyway?
Now, while if I had been just… normally dead after my passing, I guess my argument would have been sound. But here I was, remembering a class about cow poop… and it was probably going to be helpful in the most unexpected manner.
“Methane?” Amelia repeated the strange word.
“It’s a gas that is produced by stuff like…animal…droppings.” I explained. “If we had a way to confine some of said droppings in a tight enclosed space, the gas would start building up inside.” I went on. “We could place a piece of something with the magic sigil of fire drawn on it ahead of time inside the makeshift bomb.”
“And…then detonate it from a distance away!!” Amelia’s face brightened up.
“Exactly. With enough fuel, it might even crack the surface of that massive hourglass, and even if it didn’t, the blast should be big enough to cause a considerable commotion with the guards.”
“THAT COULD WORK!!!” Amelia’s shining justice eyes were lit on fire once more. “Let’s get to it right away then!! I can go find some manure! I’m sure the dwarves grow some sort of livestock somewhere.” The paladin was already ready to rush out.
“WAIT!” I stopped her. “Remember! While the dwarves around are in a…lowered cognitive state, we did almost get caught yesterday. We might already be wanted people in the kingdom, so don’t show your face around too much, even when disguised.”
“You…are correct. Thank you for reminding me.” She calmed down a bit, then nodding and waving at me. I suppose my role was decided for me. Amelia seemed to be down to do the literal dirty work, so I’d needed to find a container to seal our bomb inside.
Soon after Amelia had departed, I left on my own mission. I waddled through the plains towards the kingdom. Instead of getting close to the gates, where Amelia and I might have been recognized, I instead sat by the road where a number of travelers and such walked into the kingdom through.
I watched a bunch of meandering dwarves drone on mindlessly. It was important to focus on their mana… Focus on the ones with some mana remaining… I had to find someone who would have enough energy in them to be able to at least hold a conversation.
Mana did seem to recover naturally in ones’ body over time, judging by how some of the dwarves with greyed out hair still had mana left. But it was slow, which was why being drained of it to this extent was so dangerous.
“Mmmh…? What are you sitting around there for?” An armored dwarf slowly walked up to me.
“Ah. Forgive me, brother. I am simply trying to find someone who could sell or trade airtight containers of any kind to me.” I replied in my awful dwarf voice.
“A container? What for?” He seemed a bit suspicious.
“W-well…recently my wife…” I sighed deep to emphasize my acting. “She… Has taken a lot more…ashen form. If you understand my plight, brother.”
“…!” The dwarf in armor was taken aback. “I… I see.” It was clear even the armored guards weren’t doing this because they wanted to. They were unable to go against the word of the king. That was all. “How about I go asking around for a bit?”
“I’d greatly appreciate it.” I patted his shoulder. The armored man rushed ahead a bit.
After about fifteen minutes, a carriage of sorts stopped next to me. It seemed to be stocked full of various kinds of items, ranging from kitchen utensils to shovels and such.
“Ay! You the guy who needs a container?” A voice rang from on top of the carriage. A weakly smiling dwarven lady with greyed out hair peeked her head out to greet me. I looked towards the gate, and the armored dwarf was waving at me from there. He must have informed this merchant, so I gave him a thumbs up and then turned my attention to the dwarf girl.
“Aye…!” I nodded a bit shakily. It was my first time talking to a dwarven girl. They were pretty cute. Almost like walking dolls, just like how Amelia described them.
The lady jumped down and walked around me for a bit, as if to gauge me somehow. Then she clapped her hands together and pointed to a small plain not too far off.
“How about we go conduct our business over there?” I had no reason to refuse her offer, so we did as she suggested.
She guided me to the outer side of the carriage, almost as if to hide me from the crowd walking along the road.
“So, what’s it gonna be, miss?” She began speaking.
“!!” I stepped back a bit. She figured me out?!
“Oi! Don’t look so shocked…if not for the current state of our kingdom, nobody would fall for your stupid disguise…” She chuckled a bit tiredly as she began rummaging through her stuff.
“If you…already knew, then…why?”
“Why am I not reporting you? What’d the point be anyway? Our beloved home is withering away like a dying animal.” She had a noticeable tone of pessimism to her voice. “So, what’ll it be? What are you planning? Hurting our people more, like the rest of your kind?”
“I…” I stepped back, thinking on my words… What should I say? Just be honest? Would she even believe me? They had been hurt by people enough already…
“Yeah?” She interrupted my thoughts.
“I want to…create an explosive…” I admitted. “Something big enough to cause a commotion…” The dwarf cocked an eyebrow at me.
“You’re planning on blowing us all up? Suicide bombing?” She chuckled tiredly. The poor creature seemed to have completely given up on life. Her eyes were dull and empty despite their doll-like visage.
“To blow up the hourglass.” My words caused her to stop moving.
She tilted her head a bit, not even looking at me, almost as if to gauge if she had heard me correctly. “You…what now?”
“The hourglass is not accumulating mana to cure the princess. It’s a lie. I know a thing or two about curses…” I spoke rapidly. “I want to destroy it…and use the chance to sneak into the royal castle.” I decided to lay my cards on the table.
“W-what the hell are you even saying…!?” The woman finally looked at me, rushing over. “What do you mean?! The hourglass isn’t to save the princess?!” She gasped hopefully, almost as if she were waiting to hear this.
“No, it’s a mana siphon. It just consumes your magic power… I don’t know why, but the golden-haired humans in the kingdom are using the princess as an excuse to drain your magic.”
The dwarf went silent. She kept shaking her head slightly, her head was most likely trying to parse through the information all at once. “… And why should I believe a human? You’re the cause of the problem in the first place…” The hopeful tone remained in her voice, almost as if she wished to be proven wrong… To be given a reason to help me.
“Because I’m not a human…” I pulled my goggles off for a moment, revealing my eyes. A while ago, back in the hut, Amelia told me it was easy to tell a witch apart with a close look because they have burning orange eyes with sharp pupils. The dwarf girl clearly understood the implication as well.
“A witch…!” She gasped and stepped back. “B-but why!?” She shivered; her complexion had turned even paler than before.
“I have a grudge towards the golden scum infesting your kingdom… I don’t care whether it saves your lives in the process or not…but I want to ruin those knights.” I spoke with my best cool-witch impression, and for the first time, it seemed to work. The dwarven lady was completely convinced.
She gulped deep, then walked around to the back of the carriage and opened a big container that was sort of attached to the carriage itself.
“How big a container do ya need.” The girl spoke in a stronger tone.
“Enough to carry about ten to fifteen kilograms of explosive material.” I nodded.
“Kilo…whatnow?” She tilted her head.
“Mmmmggg….” I groaned and walked over to her, and she was just about to scream as I reached out to her. Even with just one arm, I was able to lift her with some effort.
“W-what are you?!” The poor little creature whimpered.
“About half your weight.” I confirmed.
“Ah…” Her eyes focused again; a glimmer of light seemed to return, so she began rummaging.
After a bit of digging around, I was presented with a large box. It looked a bit like a small coffin that was made out of some strange material I couldn’t quite recognize.
“It’s a magical coffin.” The girl spoke, confirming my suspicions. “It can be sealed by injecting some mana into it. They are used to keep our people's remains preserved better in death.” She glid her hand over the surface of the item, staring at it a bit solemnly. “It’s complete sacrilege to make a bomb out of one. But if there is even a small chance to help our kingdom with this, then take it. As a witch, I’m sure you can at least move mana around, so locking and opening it shouldn’t be an issue.
“I’m sorry to have dropped this upon you.” I sighed and put my goggles back on.
“Psh! What the hell kinda witch even are you!? Apologizing to me? Seriously? I must be going crazy…!” Chuckled the girl. “The coffin is made of mythrite. It’s a magically conductive mineral. It’s more decorative than sturdy, so it shouldn’t hold when enough pressure builds up inside it from the ignition of…whatever you plan on blowing up inside.”
I slid the coffin inside my bag and hid it under the game and herbs I still had there.
“What do you want for payment?” I asked the dwarf, but somehow, I already knew the answer.
“Our home back…” She spoke softly, almost as if on the verge of tears from simply saying it.
“Stay away from the kingdom for the following few days. I don’t care what excuses you have to make. Keep everyone you love outside the castle walls.” I spoke to her as I began dragging the coffin.
“Please…” I could help a soft whisper growing more and more distant. “Please help us…”
“I won’t promise anything…” I bowed at her a bit in response.
I eventually managed to reach our camp again. Amelia was there…and she was covered in…what I could only describe as ‘waste’.
“That’s the container? It looks like a coffin…!” She looked a bit taken aback by my haul, as if her appearance wasn’t shocking as well.
“It is one. I was given it by a dwarf lady.” I nodded sternly.
“I… I see.” Responded Amelia. “I feel a bit bad about what we’re about to do with it.”
I decided against telling Amelia about my encounter with the dwarven girl because we didn’t need any additional stress to build up on top of what we already had going on.
In total silence, Amelia began shoveling her… acquisition into the coffin. We did as we had planned, filling it up with a bit over ten kilos of rather…fresh dung, and then a wooden piece with the fire sigil on it was placed inside the stinky bomb.
I channeled some magic into the chest, focusing on only the coffin itself…and in an instant, the seams on the lid seemed to meld together into a completely airtight seal.
“And now we wait for the gas to build up?” Amelia asked.
“Yes. And you need a bath.” I waved my hand around. God, it stunk to high hell.
The coffin was left in the warmth of the open spot we had chosen for our camp…and then we waited.
“Who’s going to stay back and create the commotion?” I asked Amelia after her bath. “The other one will have to go find the advisor.”
“Isn’t it obvious it has to be me?” Amelia sat down somewhat close to me. “I can’t detect magic like you do. It has to be me. I’m in better shape and sturdier than you are in the first place, so I have a much higher chance of running away from assailants successfully than you do.”
“True…true… I’m sorry. I’m just a bit nervous, I guess. It’s clouding my head.”
Doubt filled my mind. We had everything ready for our plan, but how would we actually be able to pull it off? Even if I were to find the so-called advisor, how would I even convince the king that they’re a monster? If they truly were to be a shape-shifter, I bet there was no way to discern them apart from your average dwarf.
The drunkard in the bar we were to yesterday was also convinced the king had already gone mad. If there was any truth to his words, trying to use sound reasoning to get through to him didn’t seem like a particularly effective plan either.
Not to mention Amelia having to deal with a majority, if not all the kingdom’s armed forces, and the golden trio of morally bankrupt lunatics.
Maybe my knightly companion didn’t care too much for her health, but she meant much to me already. I was not mentally ready to lose her.
I had ‘friends’ back in my previous life, but they never lasted. Whenever any kinds of disagreements happened, the friendship was instantly over.
I had never in my life ever gone through hardship or challenges with a friend.
Yes, now that I thought about it… I had always been secondary in importance to my friends. Whenever things got rough, whatever was more important to my friends than me came first, even if that thing were to destroy them in the end.
I was afraid…this would repeat with Amelia. Her sense of justice was becoming self-destructive.
We owed these people nothing, and we had no reason to help them, outside our self-serving sense of justice, so why did we have to risk our lives for this crap?
Why did I have to risk the wellbeing of my only friend for this?!
I didn’t want to…
It was too risky…