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I had gained a glimpse of the true forces aligned against us. I had foolishly thought the powers of the Goddesses and a strong alliance with the Aestori would be overwhelming in the fight for Axio…

But the Renaultians seemed to have their own ace up their sleeves, and were possible allied with the Ixians.

My footing was off and I stumbled out of the portal and into the streets of Umbraedomis. A sturdy pair arms rose to catch me, but I still managed to trip forward into the person just ahead.

“It’s been some time since I’ve had the chance to hold you this close, Airis. But I’m afraid if you keep clutching onto my chest like this you’ll give Hailey the wrong idea.”

I loosened my grip against the muscular frame and pushed myself back. Julius’ trademark smirk greeted me as I slowly turned my face up.

“Uhm, thanks for catching me, Julius. How long was I gone for?”

“Well, I’m not really sure when you disappeared exactly. Hailey called us frantically, in complete panic. Mei and I went off to search for you—oh hold on, she’s calling for me.”

Julius touched a finger behind his ear, “I’ve got her, Hailey. A portal just dumped her out by the food stands on the main plaza—No, I don’t know where she was I—I just told you, she really just appeared not but five seconds ago—Listen, if I had any more information I would’ve given—Then come over here and ask her yourself!”

He tapped his finger twice behind his ear and gave me an exasperated look.

“Your girlfriend will be here shortly.”

I started to feel a bit flush and turned away from him.

“Thanks, sorry for worrying you all.”

“Honestly, I figured you’d be fine. When Hailey mentioned she saw a glimpse of that lewd goddess of yours as you faded away, I was just glad none of us got pulled in too.”

“Lewd?”

“Don’t tell me you forgot the copious amount of lessons she dedicated to her weirdly erotic magick?”

A haze cleared away from a portion of my memory, and images played through my mind in lightning speed sending a chill down my spine.

“Ah, yeah,” I nervously laughed, “Of course. No way was I trying to repress that or anything.”

The resounding of hurried footsteps approached us, and Hailey sprinted around the corner of a building followed closely by Akari.

“Youuuu dummy!” Hailey screamed and nearly knocked me over, wrapping herself around me a tight embrace.

“Sorry, Hails. I’m back now, so please don’t worry.”

Akari paused her approach. She slowly leaned in and sniffed at me. “You smell like momma again. Not exactly though. It’s a little different.”

“I was with the one who taught me how to use chaos magick—or Ki, I guess you call it. I’m sorry if I worried you at all, kiddo.”

She shook her head at me, “I wasn’t worried. I knew you were fine the whole time.”

“So.” Julius nudged my shoulder, “What sort of weirdness did you get caught up in this time?”

“I’m not even sure I believe it all. I’ll explain it in detail when we’re back at the inn with everyone, but… We should probably call the Tribunal members and Aisling to hear it as well. We’re gonna need to deal with Renault sooner than we planned.”

“Oh, great. Time for another crazy suicide plan then?” Julius snickered.

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Assembled just beyond the gates of Umbraedomis were a mass of Aestori forces.

Four columns of armed elves stretched deep out of sight beyond the golden leaved silver aspens

Enormous wagons packed with supplies were positioned within the formations, and were levitating a few feet above the ground. At the rear, tightly packed carts held bound bundles of strange looking contraptions.

Within the Astral Knights was a core of artificers who specialized in the operation and engineering of the Aestori’s most devastating war power—ballistae. Consisting of a three-man crew from the Knight core and skilled spell-caster from the Mages, the team could hurl bolts of pure magicka through the battlefield at terrifying rates of speed.

Warder Lira had been all too happy to give me an extensive run down about every aspect of the ballistae. Though I knew they existed from historical records none of the weapons had made it to Axio four decades ago, and skill required to recreate them was too great for the artificers that survived.

The Divisionals had weapons designed in similar theory, but these massive bolt throwers were on a different level entirely.

“Knights! Arms to stars!”

The sound of metal shifting and the unified thump of soldiers moving to attention pulled my attention away.

The dozen or so armored knights nearby had snapped to position and presented their weapons high in the air.

A female knight was walking down the pathway towards me, clad in a crimson red breastplate and matching pauldrons. At her side hung an unsheathed long-blade of glistening silver metal.

“At ease. Don’t you knights see the Empress is just ahead on that balcony? It’s improper to call attention when someone of higher rank is already present.”

The knight who had called attention tensed up.

“It doesn’t bother me in the slightest, Lady Aisling. Actually, I find it quite wonderful to see how much respect your knights give you.”

I tried to minimize the stress as much as I could for the poor guy. Adjusting to having your highest ranking military figure being one step down because a new leader shows up without advance notice isn’t typically how rank structure works. And beyond cutting them some slack, I didn’t quite care for standing on ceremony such as that anyway.

“Empress, I hope this morning has been good. Before you is the newly formed First Aestori Divisional Core, a combination of Astral Knights and Astral Mages.”

“You went with Julius’ suggestion, I see.”

Aisling let her guarded stature drop and smiled.

“Yes, it would seem my submission was in close second.”

“The, uh… First Unified Core of Knights wasn’t it?”

The Matriarch sighed and hung her head down, “That is correct, Empress. It seems that most the knights and mages had preferred my submission until Sir Julius had it translated into imperial common… Suffice to say, once the majority saw the way the name would be displayed on record as an acronym, the vote swung in his favor against me.”

“Oh… Oh! Hah! Ahaha!”

I let out an ugly laugh and doubled over with my arm over my side.

“Oh my. By the Goddesses, Aisling that’s too funny—I’m sorry! Sorry! I’m not laughing at you. Phew!”

“It’s nothing to worry about, Your Majesty. Everyone had a good laugh about it at the time as well. It is just a temporary name for the group until we fully integrate with the rest of the imperial divisions anyway.”

“That’s true. Once we have secure Axio and confirm our numbers then we can worry about restructuring the military.”

The sound of feet shifting in metal plate sounded down the corridor again and we turned to see a familiar face walking towards us.

“Empress, Matriarch, all forces are ready to mobilize.”

“Thank you, Varla.” Aisling placed her hand on my shoulder, “On your command, Empress. Let’s head down there and get this army moving.”

We walked through the main gate’s barracks compound, heading down to the ground floor. I pestered Aisling with some last minute questions about the city and the troops who’d remain in garrison.

“You don’t need to worry so much about us, Empress. My sister will be here with plenty of talented retainers and politicians. That imbecile, Dailyn, won’t do anything that would hurt the people as a whole. The worst you can expect is some political turbulence.”

“That does put my heart at ease a little.” I sighed in relief. “To be completely honest I’m unsure if I’ll be much help with the situation, even though I’m supposed to be in a position with a responsibility to resolve it.”

“We may have gotten ourselves into this mess in four decades, but we’ll get it handled. The world was a smaller place to us when we began these squabbles.”

Walking down the rows of readied soldiers, a constant noise of metallic armor shifting trailed just ahead of us as people clambered from a resting position to attention. The buzz of nondescript chatter died down and a weighty aura fell over the area.

Aisling, Varla, and I walked the remainder of the way to the head of the formation in silence.

Waiting at the front were my companions and the other two Aestori leaders traveling on with us, Lord Adellin and Lady Sara.

“This marks quite the turning point in our modern history, Your Majesty.” Adellin remarked.

“Reunification of the Aestori and the Vanixians is but one step to restoring the Empire. A minor one at that. You scholars are always hyping the most trite things beyond their station. The true momentous occasion is not a mixing of forces, but the return of a Archmagus to the imperial court.”

Lady Sara’s sharp-tongued and egocentric response wounded the nobleman, who began to argue with his counterpart.

I stifled a laugh and made my way to the others.

Julius approached we, pulling a horse behind him.

“Didn’t forget anything in town, did you? Might be awhile before we’re back here again.”

I checked my pocket, feeling a familiar weight, and shook my head.

“Got everything I need. Anything left behind is something that didn’t matter.”

I gave the signal to Champion Varla, and a horn sounded the start of our march to Tolin.

About four hours into our ride Akari started to fidget uncomfortably on her horse next to me.

“Momma Airis, I can’t get comfortable on these riding beasts. Don’t your legs and behind hurt?”

“I’m sorry, kiddo, you kinda get used to it over time but that’s over a few months and not a single trip.”

The pained look on the little girl’s face gripped at my heart. She barely fit in the saddle and was clutching her tail along her lap. There was no way riding a horse the same way as the rest of us was going to work for her.

“Akari, how about you ride along with me?”

My saddle was quite a bit larger than a typical military-style one, and seemed to be designed for comfort over function. The rise in the cantle was less prominent and wouldn’t bother her so much.

A pained nodded and a little squeak was all I got as response, so I turned to Julius and asked him to ride between us and help her over.

He lifted her off one horse and placed her behind me.

Tiny hands gripped my sides and her head came to rest on my back.

“Is this a little better?”

“Mhmm.”

I turned my head back and caught sight of her tail resting comfortably around the back of the leather.

“I’m glad. I don’t mind riding with you for the rest of the trip, so if you’re happier like this then let’s plan on this, okay?”

“‘kay.”

I reached a hand back a squeezed her leg softly.

Only four days of riding. We’ll be okay, I hope.

Towards the end of the first day of travel I was left stunned. Julius, Hailey, and Rias had similar expressions on their faces.

Following a similar route that we had taken into Aestori territory, we expected about three days of traversing the forest before we’d cross the Nariyn River, and into the Southern Plains—basically the outskirts of our newly claimed territory.

But with an hour left of today’s budgeted travel time, we’d managed to already arrive at that border line.

“H-how?” Hailey’s voice cracked as she stared at the water rushing past.

Julius was staring at a map in his lap. He looked up at the open plains ahead, and then back to the map. After a triple check, he finally folded it up and slipped it back into his bag.

“There’s no doubt about it, there is no way for us to have accidentally come out somewhere else. We’ve made a three day journey in a single day.”

I sought an explanation from Aisling.

“It’s a passive skill most of the officers in the Knights have. Champions beyond a junior grade are required to develop the it, otherwise we don’t allow them to lead other knights.”

“A passive skill? I don’t think I’m following, It didn’t feel like we were moving faster than normal? Wouldn’t the horses get exhausted quicker if that were the case, or shouldn’t we be able to notice the change in velocity?”

“I’m not sure I can explain it in a meaningful way since it is a skill granted by our God. The skill is called FOREST-STRIDING and it allows nearby raid members to move swiftly through dense forests. A similar skill, FLATLANDS-STRIDING, is held by some of our order. Though it’s less common than the former.”

“Wait, then why did it take so long to get to Umbraedomis? We were traveling in a party with you—or do you not…”

Aisling shifted uncomfortably in her saddle and cleared her throat awkwardly.

“Not all the Aestori can develop the skill. There are a small percentage of us who can gain neither striding ability. It happens occasionally, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“I’ll, uh, keep that in mind. Sorry for asking—Wait, doesn’t that mean we’ll reach Tolin tomorrow evening?”

“We’ll likely see the rooftops of the city before the sun begins to set.”

We crossed the river and set up camp out in the open plains. The size of the encampment dwarfed the handful of times we made camp with the Divisionals on our way to Tolin.

After the commotion died down I found a spot outside of our tent and asked a pair of guardsmen to set up a campfire for us.

Akari hadn’t left my side all day, and she snuggled up close under a blanket. Hails and Rias found their way over to me after half an hour and joined in for body warmth as the sun set and the cold night air settled in.

The crackle of dirt being crushed underfoot behind us alerted me to Julius’ arrival, and he placed some more wood on the fire. Sparks flew in the air and the satisfying snap of charred logs set me at ease.

“It’s funny.” he said while falling backwards onto the ground.

“Hmm?”

I barely acknowledged him, struggling to keep awake.

“This is the opposite of what I’ve ever experienced when traveling with the Divisionals. Even in some of the more specialized smaller divisions, humans to elves are one-hundred to one.”

“Heh. Yeah, and we’re about one-thousand to one here. Elves to humans. You’re right, that is funny.”

The bundle of wood Julius brought was burnt to the last log, and eventually the fire was just embers. The warmth began to die down, and we shuffled into the tent to bundle up with as many blankets as we could scrounge up.

Back in Tolin by tomorrow. I wonder how the city has been since we left.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

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Red-clay tiles came into view just over the horizon a little after noon, and within the hour the walls and towers around the city became clear enough to make out the shapes of guardsmen running hurriedly across the city ramparts.

Above the main towers flew large imperial banners that hadn’t been there when we left. Someone must have found them holed up in the Citadel’s storage rooms.

The faint holler of unintelligible shouting could be heard as we progressed closer to the city’s main gate.

The gatehouse to the city proper was sealed. Though its size once held an air of intimidation, having just come from the elven city—our defenses seemed second-rate.

A minor contingent of divisional soldiers waited for us before the gates, nervously griping at the handles of their weapon’s.

“Stand down, Pearson. Sound the call that the Empress has returned.” Julius rode ahead of us, calling out to the apparent leader of the small force.

“Ah—Commander Julius, Sir! Welcome back to Tolin. You heard the Commander, head back and get the entryway prepared.”

Knight Murphy Pearson gave her orders in her usual austere raspy voice.

I rode up next to Julius and gave my hellos to Pearson, “Aeko isn’t with you? You two are usually posted together.”

“Welcome home, Command—err, Empress,” Pearson snapped into a crisp salute, “Aeko is currently handling a situation with the Captain, otherwise you would’ve been spot on. She was called away about three hours ago for something important… Uhm, if I may ask, what’s the situation with the child sleeping behind you?”

Akari’s tiny frame was wrapped in an over-sized cloak, in part to keep the sun off her face as she slept as well as hide her interesting features from prying eyes once we’d made it through Tolin. Even after resting all night the jostling of horse-riding was exhausting her at a terrible rate, and so she was still snoozing against my back soundly.

I reached around and gently patted her head.

“Do you like kids, Pearson? This little one is in my care for the time being, her name is Akari.”

“Acknowledged. And the large force behind you are soldiers from the Aestori village, I presume? There sure are a lot more of them then I expected. Did their whole village come back with you?”

After a throwing a sly glance at Mei, I motioned at the massive army, “That, is the First Aestori Divisional Core. And it is only about a third of the Aestori forces.”

“Just a third!?”

“Empress!” “Commander!”

Two knights bobbed into view from beyond the gatehouse’s smaller entryway. Alistaire and Soren came running towards us.

“Lieutenants.”

“Good to see you both, looks like everyone managed to keep the city from burning down while we were absent.” I teased.

Both boys shared nervous looks with each other and Alistaire stepped closer.

“We’ve got somewhat of a ‘city-on-fire’ level situation brewing at the moment. Luke was pretty sure you were returning so he sent us ahead to escort you and fill you in… on the… way?”

As he spoke, Alistaire’s words trailed into a question. He eyed the sleepy girl tucked behind me and gave me quite the confused expression.

Soren had been focused on the bundled figure since they arrived, and was now looking at me for an explanation as well.

“Too long of a story to tell if there is an emergency. I’ll explain in detail later, but for now just know she’s under my protection. What’s going on? Pearson said Luke had pulled Aeko away for something, is that the same thing?”

“Yeah, Knight Monroe is still with him providing healing support.”

“Healing support!? Is there another intruder in the city?”

“Ehh. Let’s talk and move.” Alistaire suggested in a hushed tone, “We’ve got an outpost just past the gate where we’re handling the situation.”

I left the drowsy-headed Akari with Rias, and asked Pearson to handle getting the Aestori soldiers rations while we resolved whatever crisis was going on. Aisling had already begun having the soldiers break camp, so they would be fine to wait a few more hours for us to start getting proper lodging sorted out.

The basics I understood from Alistaire’s rapid-fire rundown was that a faction of dissidents had begun to form under the Minister of State, Ridwan Bashir. But before Minister Bashir could begin doing anything of note, Luke had agents infiltrate the meetings and headed off potential recruitment targets with the help of Primarch Karina and the Church’s backing.

Once the scheme had been exposed, Bashir fled with the remaining few members and holed themselves up in a refurbished office building near the center of the market district.

The Order of the Scarlet Wing set up a small center of operations in a still abandoned building a block away and had surrounded the would-be traitors.

We arrived at the OSW’s base and I was greeted by Waystrider Tomin, the ranger who’d assisted me during the bandit raid turned ambush.

Tomin ushered us inside and closed the door. Seated on a makeshift bench were three of the ministers who’d traveled to Tolin with us, Jacob Hay, Hannah Fuller, and Yuji Tsuki.

He lifted a finger up behind his ear and informed someone of our arrival.

“Captain, Her Majesty has arrived at the FOB–of course, sir, I’ll tell her right away.” He motioned towards his ear and then at mine. “Captain asks that you tune in through the communirune.”

The light shocking sensation of the rune energizing sent a sharp jolt through my neck. I focused on contacting Luke and the familiar background static crackled in my ear.

Luke’s voice came in loud and clear.

“I’m glad to hear you’ve returned safely, unfortunately the state of the city is just one small issue away from the pristine condition I was hoping to return it to you in.”

“Don’t be so dramatic, Luke. The only ones to blame here are the traitors who desired to take the city for themselves. Honestly, only a few months have passed since the factions in Axio betrayed us, how Bashir could even consider a plan as foolish as this defies any conventional logic.”

There was a spike in the static noise and Julius joined in the conversation.

“Foolish indeed. What options are on the table to resolve this?”

“At present, we’ve got the complex completely surrounded. I have more than enough force to overwhelm them if needed. Waystriders are at the ready, as well as a number of paladins and other spell-casters. We haven’t been able to establish communications with Bashir and his gang, but even without knowing the Empress has returned I don’t think it’s likely he’ll agree to bargain.”

“Hmmm,” I started, “Who else is involved, and to what extent?”

“The two consulars, Liam Byrant and Yenifer Lewis. A Knight-Lieutenant Cadrin, and a few of his underlings.”

“Cadrin? I don’t recall that name. Is he one of your guys?”

“Negative. He’s a Second Division officer who got caught up with our retreat from Axio. Seemed like a nice enough guy, but never really found his footing under Hailey’s command.”

The mention of the Second Division pulled me out of focus and I told Luke to standby. I muted the communirune and motioned for Tomin.

“You were Second Division, did you know this Cadrin person?”

“Not at all actually. I assume he was probably in a different raiding branch than I was—but as far as I know, other than the little clique he associates with, none of the other Second Division members made it out of Axio. The unit’s garrison was city-center, just under Central Spire. They would’ve had to have made it past both the Renaultian and Maarin districts to get out of the city. Only reason I got caught up with the refugee group was because I was returning from a personal leave of absence.”

I glanced around the room and caught the eyes of the sitting ministers. Not able to shake the suspicious feeling I had, I motioned Tomin and Julius towards a side room.

The light static returned as I unmuted and connected back to Luke.

“Luke, do you remember when and where you picked up the Ministers and Consulate members? Did they already have divisional soldiers with them?”

“Hang on, give me a sec’ to think.”

“…”

Five minutes of silence passed. The only noise was the ever present static and the sound of two men breathing nearby.

…

“Luke?”

“Sorry, Your Majesty. I’m here. Hanna says she’s certain they had armed guards when we came across them in the city, and that Cadrin was the party’s lead.”

Julius and Tomin had strained looks on their face. If they were thinking the same as me right now…

Minister Bashir and Lieutenant Cadrin have been colluding even before the coup in Axio.

There was no reason for soldiers of the central government’s divisional core to be escorting key members that far from the city-center unless they knew what the Renaultians had planned ahead of time.

Julius must have sensed the blood-rage coming off me and came to the same conclusion.

“There’s no way to know for certain they had anything to do with your father’s death. Airis—hey, listen to me, okay? I don’t think they’re surrendering without a fight, so we’ll probably never find out anything.”

“I don’t care about those traitorous scumbags. We’ve got the other ministers in the room next door. If there was any collusion between the Republics, we’ll get it out of them at the Citadel.”

“Airis…”

I glared at Julius, “Take them to the cell block. I’m leaving the OSW in charge of investigating this matter to its fullest.”

“I—” He faltered. “By your command, I’ll take those under suspicion into custody.”

Julius left the room, and a loud commotion broke out. The remaining ministers shouted in shock as the divisionals in the room executed Julius’ orders and apprehended them.

Luke’s voice crackled in over the static, “What are my orders, Empress?”

“I refuse to entertain the weak-willed and treasonous filth tainted by the Renaultians. Clean it up—but capture Bashir. I want to speak with him.”

“…It’ll be done.”

Tomin led me down the block to the scene of the incident. Rangers were encircled around the building with weapons still drawn, keeping anyone from approaching. A junior officer noticed Tomin and I walk up, and guided us to Luke’s location.

We found the rogue standing out on the street opposite the structure. The main door was still blocked with a make-shift barricade, and some of the windows were still boarded up from the inside—but there was a blackened hole on the building’s face that stretched from the ground to roof, exposing both floors.

I spotted Hanna near the improvised entrance managing some soldiers moving in and out of the building.

Bodies were being carried out on stretchers.

I raised my gaze from the covered corpse towards Hanna, “What of Bashir?”

“Inside. Luke has him secured in the basement.”

“Any other survivors?” I asked coldly.

“None.”

“Good.”

I was escorted through the battle-worn building to a flight of stairs which lead downwards into a dark abyss.

Tomin pulled a small lantern-like device from his side. He turned a series of nobs and a dull light flickered to life, growing in intensity gradually until the hallway was washed in a comforting glow.

The darkness receded from the stairwell and we descended, with Tomin in the lead.

I heard Hanna tell one of the soldiers to stand guard at the top of the stairs and prevent anyone from coming down after us.

Luke carried two slightly charred, but still serviceable, chairs with him.

At the back of the room, tied up and flanked by two guards, was Ridwan Bashir.

His shirt was torn and I could see there was a deep purple bruise forming around his shoulder.

The noise of our arrival stirred the man’s attention. He raised his head and a frown took hold in an instant once he’d spotted me.

“So, the heretic queen has returned. I wondered what must have changed for the divisional dogs to bite with such fervor.”

Bashir’s voice sounded rough and strained, likely hoarse from smoke inhalation judging by the soot stains that covered his skin and clothing.

Luke silently placed one of the chairs down before the prisoner then stepped back and remained at the stairway with Tomin and Hanna.

I took a seat and stared at the heinous man.

I motioned for the guards to loosen the restraints, and he collapsed to the floor.

“I would’ve never guessed you were a rat, Bashir. What in the Goddess’ name did you hope to accomplish here? Selling out our people to murderers… Haah. It’s such a disgrace.”

“The only one here who is a disgrace is you,” he sneered, “You spout your fabricated stories about meeting with the Gods. Well, we’ve all heard about your twisted magicks. Turning men into blood colored dust. There is nothing divine about such a wicked power—”

Ridwan was disrupted by a fit of coughs. His body convulsed into a curled position.

Once the fit had ceased, he tried to straighten up but flinched in obvious pain.

“You’re an apostate. A false queen, corrupted by the temptation of power. I know the truth, oh yes,” Bashir’s face twisted with a crazed look, “Airis Vanixi died and you’re a pretender—an impostor. A woman slain by a demon, raises from the dead and resurrects the fallen around her!? Only a demon could perform such an act. You’re all demons wearing human skin!”

The man was practically rabid, struggling against his bindings while shouting his sham of a story.

“Are you finished?”

His only response was a scowl of contempt.

“That can’t be all this is about, right? You’d hardly be able to gather your little collection of seated consulars, nobles, and praetorian guard of divisional soldiers if decrying my supposed demonic possession was all you had. So, lets cut the bullshit, Minister. I know you conspired with the Renaultians, and in the eyes of the law you’re a traitor. You’ll hang before the day’s end.”

The fire in his eyes paled, his façade of righteous anger began to flake away.

I continued, “Now, tell me how deep this rabbit hole of conspiracy goes. When I take back Axio and free those who remain, I bet I’ll find the families of the co-conspirators who lie dead upstairs, as well as yours, in thick with the Renaultians. If you don’t want them all executed as kin with guilty blood, their bodies mutilated, and tossed into an unmarked ditch—you’ll unravel this ill conceived plot to me.”

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With the aid of some externally applied persuasion techniques and the threat of danger to his family, Bashir relented and told us everything.

Well, at least we believed it was everything.

By the end, the man was in such a sorry state that Hanna and Luke had to excuse themselves. If the man had the will to keep to lying and spinning tales of demon possession at that point, then there was no way we’d get the truth.

The wretched man was currently lying on the hard floor in a pool of his own filth and blood, unconscious from the burden divulging the truth had on his body.

A streak of crimson slowly made its way across the grouted stone. A bead of red formed at my heel, and I turned to leave the foul basement.

“Julius.”

“As you command, Your Majesty.”

The raw sound of steel piercing flesh echoed in the chamber as Julius struck the traitor’s heart, finally ending the cruelty.

After Hanna and Luke had left, Julius had come to take their place halfway through the interrogation.

He’d clambered down the stairs while Bashir was being particularly forthcoming about the aristocrats in his coterie’s feelings pertaining to my closeness to Hailey.

Evidently, a number of nobles who had sought refuge with the third division had numerous complaints her. The main two grievances were how a ‘mere laynoble’ could command a division, and her ‘unseemly’ behavior around me.

Though the nobles residing in Tolin had their complaints, only the consulars had officially backed Bashir’s schemes—but it did indicate a deeper fissure in the stability of Tolin.

Bashir revealed that a growing number of mednobles in the city were grumbling about my lack of proper retainers and my own behavior was unfit for a ruling archnoble or royal.

A loud resounding of ‘This is why I despise nobility.’ repeated in my mind while we’d wrapped up our interrogation.

Julius followed me up the stairs and into a cleared common room, in which the majority of my companions had gathered. One especially concerned face stood out in the crowd, a mix of worry and revulsion.

Ah… this’ll be hard to worm my way out of. Please don’t be too upset, Hails.

A guard handed me a clean rag, and I scrubbed my face and body of any filth the traitor may have left on me. As I cleansed myself everyone in the nearby area shuffled awkwardly to different rooms or left the building entirely, leaving me alone with Hailey.

Rosy-pink eyes glowered at me from across the room.

I quickly glanced towards the exit, earning me a bitter look from the short priestess.

“Oh, come on!” she huffed.

“Hails, I—”

“Don’t even start right now. I’ve been in a fret since you were whisked away at the city gates—which, by the way, I don’t appreciate the complete communication blackout since then. It took an hour to get someone to explain this situation properly and by the time I got to that poor excuse for a forwarding operating station, I find out you’ve had all of the ministers locked up!”

Her voice raged with burning ferocity. And by the end of the outburst, she was shouting.

But the intensity did not let up.

“I was so confused. Any sort of reasoning eluded me. Despite that, I just kept thinking to myself, ‘Airis must have a good reason for having such a harsh response.’ That is, until I arrived here to a disgusting pile of covered corpses and was barred entry to a stairwell emanating the dying wails of a tormented man.”

“Hails, if you heard half the vicious shit that traitor—”

“No! No. I don’t want to hear your excuses. Airis, you murdered a man. Not even going so far as to have it done under a farce of execution—just raw, trial-less, cold-blooded murder!”

Hailey seethed at me, her face twisted in a loathsome grimace as if I was some abhorrent monster, and stormed out of the building.

I slumped to the floor. My heart raced with anxiety, the blood pounding in my ears felt as if they’d rupture any moment.

Shit shit shit!

The previously dulled and repressed feelings of guilt began to swell and a sense of regret threatened to flood my emotions.

I clenched my fist so tightly my nails drew blood from my palms. The sudden shock pulled my mind free of the messy internal conflict, and I remained in a state of turbulence for a few minutes before collecting myself.

I did what needed to be done.

If not me, then someone else would’ve had to extract information from him anyway. Whether it’s done on my orders or handled personally—it’s the same.

Hailey just… She doesn’t understand the severity of letting the corruption of treason fester. I won’t let these venomous snakes in the grass harm those closest to me ever again.

After dusting myself off, I quietly headed towards the improvised entryway to this viper’s lair—but stopped short at the sound of two familiar voices.

“Didn’t know you smoked.” Julius’ gruff voice reverberated in through the opening.

“Ah, I don’t usually,” the gentle sounding Luke replied, “I bummed one from Tomin. When I get stressed out, it helps control it a bit.”

I continued to pause, not wanting to interrupt them and cause more stress to an already strained day. I leaned back against the wall and drew in a few steady deep breaths to calm myself down some more while I listened in.

“Tonight felt like it was one of those nights. A creature comfort only a few of us can even take advantage of, as our dwindling supply of tobacco trickles ever lower.”

A tense silence followed, and I could hear Luke fidget as he flicked the ashes from his cigarette. Julius sighed, and I knew he was struggling with what he wanted to say.

“Ya’ know, there’s really no need to let it get too far under your skin. At the end of the day you’re just following orders from somewhere up the chain, right? In this case, the Empress declared it so—and so it had to be. Personally, I think the world is less unsightly if you focus your eyes on her path.”

“Her path?”

“I’ve been following after the flames that girl leaves in her wake for over a decade, so trust me when I tell you it hasn’t always been filled with happy days and sugary treats. But when things seems hopeless, even when facing down the executioner’s axe or the gates to the underworld, somehow her spark manages to propel us to unimaginable heights.”

“Sure you’re not a little biased? You were raised from the dead by her, after all.”

“It’ll take more than death to keep me from enacting her will.”

I cringed a little on the inside, but I appreciated the confidence of my steadfast second-in-command.

Now, hurry up and wrap up the macho man stuff so I can go home and crawl into bed.