Azriel’s eyes widened upon hearing what the senior soldier had said. Not only did he know who Azriel was by name, but he also alluded to how Azriel defeated the monster.
Azriel was now in a tricky situation, a cross-road of sorts. He would either have to have doubled down on his lie and risk the consequences of being exposed, whatever those consequences may’ve been, or he would have to admit that he lied and come up with a rationale for why he lied on the spot.
“What can I even say?” he panicked.
Azriel opened his mouth, stuttering, “U-uh… I just—”
“Don’t worry,” the soldier whispered into Azriel’s ear. “I’m a reincarnation too. Jake is the one that told me about you.”
Azriel’s mood suddenly shifted, tensely demanding, “What’s your name?”
The man was silent for a few seconds. Azriel’s rapid change in mood had caught him completely off guard.
“Well… my current alias is Karl, my birth name was Abel, but in private, you may refer to me as Gian Patel, if you like.” Karl leaned back to a normal riding position.
Speaking louder, he continued, “Back to business. You won’t be accredited for the killing of the Nuckelavee. I order you to stay silent on the matter if you know what’s good for you.”
Azriel’s face remained blank, but inside he was relieved, taking great solace in hearing that his actions would be covered up.
Karl continued, “The official story will be that the door to your coach was broken before you rode in it. I recommend you don’t contradict that analysis.”
Azriel sighed. A wave of relief rolled over him.
Just as Azriel’s temperament relaxed, Karl ruined by saying, “Lastly, Ben, Josef, and Anna be expelled for wrongly accusing you of destroying the empire’s property.”
“What?!”
“They’ve committed the punishable crime of slander. Immediate expulsion is a generous punishment for committing such an act.”
Azriel shook his head, “What the hell do you mean?! They snitched on me, fine, but what they said is still the truth. How is that slander? Isn’t slander to say they slandered me?”
Karl leaned forward to whisper into Azriel’s ear, “Don’t be so naïve. This world doesn’t work that way. You’re now part of a secret society that must protect itself and cover up its tracks. Don’t go mouthing off, either. Even if you have that Godly Experience skill, if you become a liability like your friends have, we’ll have to cut you off.”
Azriel stayed silent for a moment, simulating how he could prevent this outcome, but ultimately came up with nothing.
Karl continued, whispering, “Don’t ever forget this moment. You made this happen. If you had stayed inside you’re cabin, everyone would be fine. My soldiers would’ve brought back the fresh water from the river and killed it either way—”
“Bullshit,” Azriel whispered with an intimidating voice. “Your men were weak, Gian. I saw ten of them get slaughtered like worthless trash in mere moments. You think you were protecting us by locking us up in little cages?! No-no-no-no-no! You were just wrapping a ribbon atop present boxes filled with defenseless children. This is somehow my fault? Don’t kid yourself, Gian. This is your fault for locking me up. If I hadn’t come out to destroy that thing, how many present boxes would that thing have unwrapped, broken into? How many innocent children would’ve died, Gian, because of the incompetence of your weak, useless so-called soldiers, Gian?”
Karl was speechless. He didn’t even know how to respond.
Azriel relaxed a little, sighing, “A good friend of mine probably would’ve been one of the first to die had I done nothing. I hadn’t any other choice; I had to act.”
Azriel felt Karl’s face curl up as if he were crying, but the man made no sound, so Azriel couldn’t be sure of it. He decided it wasn’t worth looking back to check. If he was crying quietly, it was for a reason.
***
Having made it back to the stagecoaches, Azriel was ushered on board, where he sat across from the three children. They couldn’t look at Azriel, shame written all over their faces. Anna was crying inconsolably.
As Karl headed around the side and out of view, Azriel felt him approach one of the bodies lined up a shoulder’s length apart. He knelt beside it, resting his head on the body’s chest.
“Perhaps it was his son,” Azriel thought as he laid his head back.
An intense feeling of disappointment overcame him. He never would’ve imagined that the state of events would unfold as they had. He wanted to have fun, experience new things, and maybe contribute something positive to the world other than fighting.
The realization that the place he was headed to was exactly what he had tried so hard to move passed was beating him over the head; he could no longer pretend to be ignorant of it. He knew since the second trial, he knew since the fight between him and that belligerent noble’s son, he knew since he heard the words ‘Knight’s Academy,’ yet, somehow, he convinced himself to disregard it.
He wanted to blame his decision to pursue this path on the pressure put on him by his family and everyone in Hildenfreide, but deep down, he knew that was just an excuse. At any point, he could’ve refused or backed out, yet here he was now, right where he promised himself he would never go back to.
“Why am I here?” he wondered aloud.
Then it hit him. He realized something that rattled him to his core, something which made him curse his existence, the mind, the urges that bind him, the war inside him; what had he become but war itself?
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So used to war he was; to attempt escaping the inescapable was a fool’s endeavor. He was the fool. He was war. No matter what path he walked in life, what decisions he made, who he befriended, confided in, all roads led back to war. There was no alternative outcome.
A cow bred for milk and meat cannot survive without a farmer’s close protection, neither can the sheep without their shepherd. He was the cow. He was the sheep, an innocent youthful lamb, bred for war, his only purpose in life, the thing he was made for. Without it, he served no purpose at all.
Without purpose, why would he have been created, fostered to the age of ten? A farmer, a shepherd, does not feed and protect their livestock for naught, does he? They always seek a return for their investment, Azriel was obliged to provide. Like the cow and the lamb, he hadn’t a choice in the matter.
What started as a low snickering became maniacal laughter. It was the first time Azriel had laughed so heartily. He didn’t even realize he was scaring the children.
The horn blared, and the stagecoaches started rolling forward.
Azriel’s laughing went on for minutes. Tears welled in his eyes, pouring down his cheeks as his watery vision showed a blurry picture of the ceiling above him.
“I’m less than livestock, a merciless killer of billions.”
***
They had arrived at their destination in the evening. A small village surrounding a collection of fanciful marble and brick buildings many stories tall, along a long flat field of vibrant, well-maintained green: The Azurellione Knight’s Academy.
Azriel was sleeping, having drained himself mentally from all his crying. The other three children were careful to not wake him up as they slowly stood up to turn and look out the window. Azriel’s head shot up, having sensed their movement.
They hadn’t yet noticed Azriel as they were looking the other way.
Azriel warned, “Don’t be afraid of me; your future relies on it.”
Anna let out a surprised yelp as the three mechanically turned to face Azriel. Their dismayed eyes widened, their throats painfully clenched, their hearts pounding in unison.
Azriel sighed, “I understand that you are afraid of me, but if you don’t want to be kicked out, you cannot show an ounce of fear, or they will believe you.”
They silently sat afraid and befuddled, oblivious to the plan Azriel had conjured up.
“When we get there, you guys are going to be expelled on the grounds that you slandered me, which means they are going to expel you for lying about me damaging the door.”
Josef and Anna looked worried, but Ben didn’t seem convinced, countering, “W-Why would they believe a commoner like you against nobles like us? It is three against one.”
“They do believe you. That is the problem,” Azriel explained. “We need them to not believe you. Otherwise, they will expel you as soon as we get there.”
The children were confused, completely confounded. What he said to them seemed the exact opposite of the logical conclusion.
Ben angrily shouted, “That’s stupid—”
“You’re stupid! You’re idiots for opening your big stupid mouths when I told you not to. Why do you think I told you to lie? I gave you that log for a reason. It was to cover up what I’m capable of. Why would I want to hide my skill if not for a good reason? Think about it,” Azriel irately stated, pointing to his brain.
Realizing he was getting, Azriel took a breath to cool down. He didn’t know why his emotions were getting better of him over the last two days when he would’ve typically been very stoic.
Ben’s scowl faded; their faces relaxed.
Azriel sighed, “Look, I like you three, and I don’t want to see you get kicked out over something so pointless. So just listen and do exactly as I say, or… or I’ll kick your asses out myself.”
They weren’t sure whether to believe Azriel’s claims, but they were, at least, willing to hear out his plan.
***
As the carts slowed to a stop, the children were guided to disembark, forming groups out in the academy's courtyard. The sun was setting, and rumors had already been spread that Azriel had defeated the monster.
The children huddled around a wooden platform where the headmaster was due to give a speech in a few minutes. Although, without him, it was empty; nobody was standing on it to stop anyone from going up. It was perfect.
Azriel climbed up the side, shouting, “Silence! You are all standing in the presence of the Great Azriel.”
The crowd was hushed, listening intently as Azriel spoke.
“I’m the one who defeated that monster, and I did it with my bare hands. I smashed open the carriage door, and I wrestled the beast into the wood where I beat it to death with my fists,” Azriel bragged while giving off the most pompous smile he could muster.
“If you don’t believe me, you can even ask my minions. They’ve already sworn fealty to me.”
Azriel pointed his finger toward Ben, Josef, and Anna.
Ben laughed, “Hahahaha… You idiot. You believed we were going to actually listen to that stupid plan of yours to make you look good.”
Azriel went silent. The mood became terribly uncomfortable.
Ben continued, “We only pretended like we were going to lie for you so that you would shut up. Truth is, we actually hate commoners like you who want to pretend they’re so special.”
Anna chimed in, “How dare you try and take credit for breaking down an already broken door expecting us to lie for you.”
Josef looked down at the ground. He was too timid to take part in the mockery.
“Wasn’t the monster actually a Nuckelavee?” one person whispered.
“No way! All the way down here?”
“Don’t they only live near the northern sea?”
“Yeah, why would a Nuckelavee be all the way down here?”
“It was a Nuckelavee. I saw it with my own eyes. It was the scariest thing—”
“But don’t Nuckelavee kill you if you touch them?”
“He said he wrestled it and beat it to death with his hands.”
“Pfft- what?! Lying commoner.”
A Maelstrom of angry voices began shouting at Azriel, cursing, “Bastard!” “Scumbag!” “Filthy Commoner!”
Soon after, a platform descended from the sky. It was the headmaster, and he looked angry.
Stepping off, he shook his head and disavowed Azriel, stating, “I saw everything. What a shameful display you put up. I can’t believe I thought so highly of you. What a fool I am.”
Azriel looked Headmaster Jean in the eyes, and for but only less than a second, a split second, Jean winked at Azriel before saying, “Now get off the stage, before you disgrace me any further.”
Azriel climbed down the sides and went to the back of the crowd, trying to look as sullen and ashamed as possible.
Truthfully, he felt happy. After all, everything went according to plan.