Five minutes later…

Daliah heard four to five consecutive gunshots fired from the location of the conference room. The person with a disability she’s taking care of asked her what’s those sound coming through that place, however, she didn’t know either. Feeling uneasy and curious, she left her patients and rushed her feet towards the room. But she didn’t know what to do after that. When she arrived, she sensed a powerful aura from the inside. That aura made her feel numb and the intense pressure made her lose some of her breath. She covered her eyes and calm herself. Despite her weakness as one of the weakest member of the representatives, she maintained her mental state stable. The user must be a good psychological magician that making his opponents to be weakened by their own brain, her conclusion. He was attacking their nervous system through their brain shockwave.

“[Diruo]!” In one word, the powerful aura disappeared and her eyesight had finally recovered. She finally saw the main door of the conference room. She ran, grabbed the doorknob but unfortunately, the door didn’t open even though she forced herself.

It was not that far to reach their place but how did the enemies manage to get through to their magic barrier? But looking of how difficult to destroy this was much impressive than she expected. She quickly called for available security guards yet only five arrived in her aid. She pulled out her pistol from her holster hiding under her skirt and busted in but they couldn’t enter penetrated it. They tried to shoot the door but an immense power was blocking their bullets.

“A magic protection tier 4? Who might be this person? He’s capable to use some kind of high tier magic in this place. Everyone back off. I will use my magic. Get behind me.” Daliah raised her hands, targeting the door. “God of mercy, hear your beloved believer. Help me those in vain and destroy those trespass us. Forgive us for every sin we made. Oh lord, hear our prayer. [Rimosso]”

A bright light enlightened the field view of everyone for a few seconds. But when they opened their eyes, only the bug that was residing in the upper corner of the door died from severe burn degree.

“Damn it, even my powerful counter barrier spell is useless against this magic.” she kneeled down and hammered the floor by her right hand. “Damn it. Please… please be safe, Chief, Richarde and Elders.”

“M, Ms, Daliah. Look!”

“What?” her eyes opened wide in surprise.

“The door. The barrier has started to collapse. You did it, Ma’am.”

“Good job, Ma’am!”

Everyone cheers up her achievements except her. Sweat dropped from her right cheeks went she noticed the unnatural case happening right now.

I didn’t do anything though. How is that possible? There’s no other thing 3rd tier magic can defy the 4th tier. It is ridiculous to imagine and hard to believe I did something incredible. Unless…. Is the person responsible for this might already lose? That would be a possible explanation for this one.

Two guards lend their hands to assist her to stand up. After a few seconds of removing the dust from her knees, she took three steps ahead from them. As she reached the door with doubt and cautiousness, she unlocked the doorknob and opened the door.

The first catch her sight was the bodies of the three elders whose heads were lying behind their chairs. She covered her mouth from the gruesome faith of the three beloved people she considered the most respected individuals in their village. She remained calm and return her sense of sight to the other side. She found the body of Richarde, lying down in the floor covered with blood around his body.

She immediately ran near to his body and checked his pulse.

“He’s breathing. He’s still alive. Call a medic right now. Get a stretcher too,” she ordered one of the guards nearby and he rushed in without any second thoughts. “Don’t worry, you’ll be alright. Damn it, who did this?”

“No matter what you do. Don’t let that man sleep alone before you leave.” Chief Zamor approached her, pointing the gun to Richarde’s face.

“What are you doing? Pointing a gun to one of your own? Are you insane? Don’t joke around, alright!” She slapped the gun away from his friend’s face. “Chief, you know who did this to the elders and Richarde?” She mistakenly believed that he was just pointing the gun by teasing her.

The remaining guards investigated the crime scene while the others were guarding the door.

“Of course, I know who’s responsible for this. But, “ he lowered his gun and turned around. He hides the gun inside his jacket. “I don’t think you need to know.”

“But why? Who did this to our friends? He must be paid for what he did to them.” Daliah insisted and moved closer to his side.

The chief turned his glance behind and looked at Richarde’s state. He didn’t want to ruin the reputation of his own man that’s why he couldn’t tell her the whole truth. Because he knew, it was much more difficult to handle something that could trigger a massive and unprecedented turn of the event between Richarde and Daliah. He knew Richarde loved her so much to the point he almost forgot his original motive. The reason why he’s still alive was still unsolved. It might be because of pity or something else that make Chief Zamor to reconsider.

“Daliah, there are some secrets that should be kept safe and hidden. I’m sorry if I can’t tell you. It’s much better for you to go with Richarde and ask him the whole details.”

“Y, Y, You don’t trust me, sir?” a shed of tears came out but Chief Zamor remained his facade. “Alright, I will just ask this idiot who’s the responsible for this crime. But sir, I have to report this right now. We lost the fourth district and almost half of the 1st district. One of our representatives has severely injured from the battle against the invaders while Ylla is now in the brink of defeat. If we don’t do something, we won’t last long. If you still have some trump card to use, please don’t even think twice to use it.”

“I see. Then there’s no need for me to stay here without doing anything. ” He patted her shoulder. “Thanks.” and he waved before he left.  

Daliah puffed her cheeks and stomped the ground twice. “Damn you, old man. Why can’t you just tell it straight to me!”

After their conversation, as Chief Zamor went down the stairs, he heard the sound of pain, sorrow, and despair inside the hall. Some people were praying whilst the others were holding their knees waiting for their last moment to be in peace. He waved his hands when his people finally noticed him.

“It’s the Chief! Everyone stand up. It’s our Chief!”

“Oh my goodness, it’s our hope! The Chief has already healed from his illness. God have mercy.”

“Oh, an illness, huh.” he quietly muttered.

When he was still on the verge of shocked, his trusted people told to the villagers that he caught an illness in order to prevent them to lose their hope. They did their best to cover up his own wickedness.

“Chief, what should we do? Do we really need to fight them on?”

“Should we surrender? I don’t want to let my kids be killed by those people. Chief, what should we feed to our children. The enemies have already occupied the eastern side of the first district.”

“Yes, sir. There’s no much time left and our food and water supply won’t last any longer. We can still barely eat yet the enemies used a poisonous and chemicals to pollute our water supply. We don’t know what we will be going to do.”

“Chief!”

“Chief Zamor!”

“Sir Hope!”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The continuous and loud commotion made Chief Zamor bite his lips. His people took a distance when they saw blood was dripping from his mouth.

“All citizens of Neue Fiona village. I was so happy for you guys to be still alive and did their job well to help one another. I’m so glad that you’ve managed to survive in this crisis. Well done.” Chief Zamore greeted, his people admired his words and nodded in please when they heard his words. He gave a wave and smiled in a chronic facade. His men started to worry that they wanted to lend him a hand to stand still but he insisted not to let them.

“I’m alright. There’s something I want to tell our people.” He moved to the center of the crowd and started to clean his clothes to make it more pleasant and comfortable to be seen by his people. He gave a smile to the kids who were watching him, making them reply to him with the same thing he did. It gave him a good start to make his speech. He took a deep breath and gently put his right hand in his left chest whilst his left arm clenched tightly.

The citizens began to feel unpleasant and sensed something strange to their leader.

“I want to tell you all that I’m so grateful that you choose me as your chief of this village for such a long decade of my service for you people. After the last battle we’ve faced five years ago, we’ve been able to survive and restore our place. I know it’s hard to imagine that we barely made it out because of luck? No, it’s not about luck. Luck cannot be achieved without doing anything beyond our limits. Those limits can be done if we work hard to the point our bones almost fracture and our muscles were losing fats. That’s one of the reasons we have managed to bring back our village to its finest and much thanks to all efforts of our comrades who sacrificed their lives for the better living of our generation and for the next generation to come. I’m so really grateful and honor to be the leader that guided and lead you for that success.”

The citizens were pleased to hear those words, almost forgetting the real crisis happening right now.

“However, there’s some time you need to step back the past and move forward. It’s been so long that I almost see our village reaching its final phase to become a modern town. My ambition to make our village to be converted and make myself to be the mayor without being fully made man, I really want to see our village to reach that point. The vision and mission we’ve made, I hope it will be done. After all, we’re the ones who make it all happen and we’ll do it once this mess has already finished… for good. But… this time I want to say something to all of you…. ” he slowly kneeled down in front of his people, making them be more confused. He lowered his head and continued to speak, “I want to apologize that I made you all suffer from the mistake I made. I want to apologize to all I ever did to all of you.” He tightly grabbed the sleeves of his pants and started to cry. “To tell you all the truth, I was forced to sign a contract from the enemies against my will in order to save our village from total chaos.”

“Huh?”

“Oh my...”

“No fucking way.”

“Chief, you made a deal with the bandits?” one of his own asked, shaking in disbelief.

“They’re not just bandits. They are the troops that control the Eastern side of Scily… ”

“No way… Don’t tell us that they are...” the man who asked started to tremble and fell down in the ground while looking at the direction of the battle.

“We’re screw! They are from the family of the Verdugo Family!”

“Kyaaa! We’re going to die!“

In the midst of chaos, the family name of Verdugo made infamous across the Scily. The Neue Fiona village was once their own but they revolted against their master due to the unequal and ill-treated way of management. It was almost a hundred years ago since their independence had been declared. In order to keep their place safe, they made contact with the Archnemesis family head who was currently searching for a place to stay. It was thanks to the first Don of Archnemesis that they were still safe from any harm against that family.

“So the reason why the Don of the Archnemesis was so angry was because of what you did?”

“No, it’s not what you think it is.”

“Then why?”

“That’s -” his words was interrupted when artillery hit their hall and managed to penetrate from the barrier, destroying the wall in front of them. Fortunately, there is no one died from the shell. However, it made some shock to the eyes of the scared citizens.

Everyone began to panic when they heard someone shouted to run away and few of them who were near the door exited themselves from the fear when he did that.

“Please everyone. Calm down. Calm down. Please…. Please!” He asked them to calm down but his words didn’t cross to their ears. It was a mistake to confess everything in this wrong time. But there was no other option since he started it. In order for his people to return to his senses, he needed to act as their village chief. That someone like him can only do. “Everyone, please shut the hell up!” his voice made an impact in the crowd. Everyone stopped from their movements and focused their attention on their leader.

“Please for goddamn sake. Please listen to me first before you begin to run away like a baby and throwing your lives but nothing like a scrap toy. Let me finish my story and explanation before you go!” his right hand hammered the wall behind him, leaving a large crack from the impact. It leads to his citizens to return to their senses.

Those who remained assembled in the corner and sat down. Whilst, those who escaped and leave the barrier were killed from the artillery shells fired by the mages who were directly shooting them from afar. They appeared to be used to his demeanor and decided to suppress their panicky and listened carefully to their leader. He was their last hope so there might be a certain reason why he did that.

“Don’t panic everyone! Listen up, I will tell you straight in your faces. I am not your savior nor the right leader of this village. But I am certain that there is someone destined to lead us for true peace, prosperity, and freedom. It is my own mistake of fighting the wrong side for such a long time because of false hope to save my only beloved. That opened my eyes from the whole truth and regretted everything for the whole time. But today, as of onwards, we shall not prevail from fear. Our freedom shall trump them all. We will not let the invaders get the place that easily, we shall fight till our last breath. There’s no freedom without making our hands dirty, right? Then we shall fight until our last body to last. We shall kill more than the bullets they fired. We shall fight with knives and forks if we don’t have any more bullets left. We shall kill them by our bare hands if we don’t have anything from on our hands. It is us who can make this right and fair. There’s no freedom without taking the large debt. We shall pay the price with our lives. Fear not, the gods are on our side. They sent us a sign of victory from the time I almost lose my hope.” he showed a paper from his pocket. “Also, we are not yet been defeated. We have ourselves!” Everyone cries when they heard those words, the words of integrity and boosted their courage. “As I said again, I am not worthy of being the right leader but I have someone in mind that will take us to the right direction. There’s someone more compatible and more capable to do so. He’s the pragmatic and problematic person but I assure you that we must follow this man once and for all. We must pledge our loyalty despite the fact we already knew the whole truth. We must forgive this man and let the past passed on and move forward. Do you guys remember the food he shared to us before this mess happened? I was sure you’ve tasted how he loved his people back then.” Chief Zamor was referring to the person who cooked rare culinary food in Emorial Inn.

“Yeah! That man was just trying to help us out! He helps Ms. Daliah from the trouble back then.”

“I knew it that that man was that person. He cooked a splendid cuisine. I love his food.”

“Yeah, we must forgive that boy. We already know the true culprit from this mess. Don’t tell us that he’s destined leader according to your prophecy, Chief? We must pledge our loyalty to the right leader.”

“Yeah! Then we will also kill the last heir of the Archnemesis!”

“You fucking idiots, that person I was referring was none other than the Don of Archnemesis, Hermes Archnemesis!” Chief Zamor yelled at the person who suggested it. Everyone was surprised and felt intense pressure.

“Then … we refuse to do so. We will not submit to that man! He’s despicable!”

“Yeah, we will not! We refuse to pledge our loyalty.”

“I think the Chief is possessed. We must put him down before he goes berserk!”

“Yeah, he was still affected by his illness! We must put him down for good!”

Those men who said it attacked him but Chief Zamor used him the binding skill. A large portion of ice scattered across their bodies and pulled down to the floor.

“You fools, do you really think I will be put down that easily. I’m not crazy enough to be fooled by anyone. You fools have been brainwashed by the elders! He’s not the person who was always terrorized the place. It was the bandits, or now we can call them as the Verdugo troops. Believe it or not, I don’t either know the reason behind why he also send his mercs to vandalize us too but the whole point is, he is not the one who keeps pestering our business commerces. It is the Verdugo to blame!”

Everyone kneeled down from the shock and they felt guilty for what they’ve done. The young boy must be taking action in order to save them from the very start. The vandalized businesses have some links to the Verdugo that’s might be the real explanation. The young Don was showing a genuine way to resolve the case yet the citizens didn’t see everything he had done for such a long time. Some of them recalled that he loses his family from the last war. He was just a lonely child without anyone to rely on. That might be the reason he didn’t explain his every action from the very start. All of the citizens including Chief Zamor cried from severe pain of guilt.

“…. That’s why… We must protect this in order to protect as well, our Don! We must protect this village that was the only place he can live too! This is the only territory he cherishes! We must give our lives for the sake of that young boy’s future!” said Chief Zamor while giving a triumph wave.

“Yeah! We must pay our own respect to our Don. We must repay his kindness!”

“Yeah! He let us ate the food that he made. Our Don has a good heart. We must fight until the end!”

“We don’t care if we died as long as we paid that guilt. We must protect this village until the end of our lifetime! For the sake of our own leader!”

“All hail Hermes!” Chief Zamor raised his right hand, closed fist.

“All hail Hermes! All Hail, Hermes! All hail, Hermes!” The crowd rejoiced the young boy’s name like a gospel, believing that they were indeed wrong of throwing their loyalty for the sake of their own wrong accusation. An array of hope and joy glowed in their eyes in the middle of the upcoming night. The last night that will shock the world from the unexpected scenario that will change the fate of the battle.