Leave a comment

Obstructed, the troops turned around to look at me. Even though none of them spoke, their silence was deafening. They were asking me why I was toying with them.

I remained silent, though I was staring intently at George.

“Lady Mo Ke, we mustn’t allow these soldiers to leave. They are the Silver Wings of the Duke’s army. If they leave… the village will be in danger.”

As the de facto leader of the village, George naturally held the village’s interest in the forefront.

He knew that allowing these soldiers to escape would invite the duchy’s unbridled wrath. After all, their hunters killed a not insignificant amount of soldiers. That would undoubtedly be a tale to be wary of.

“George, am I right?” I tilted my head as I looked down upon the man. “I do not mind if your village gets razed to the ground. In fact, if it wasn’t for the fact that you all attacked them at the end, you would be joining them already.”

“…”

Immediately, an unmistakable wave of pressure washed over the masses, nearly forcing them to their knees. Only George was able to withstand the killing intent released, and just barely.

Ten seconds laters, even he succumbed, or rather, acquiesced.

“Let them leave.”

Upon hearing Dioh’s order, the rest of the hunters opened the path.

The surrendered troops looked at me one last time, then at George whose face couldn’t be any blacker. In the end, they left without saying a word.

From time to time, a couple of the soldiers would turn around to look at the villagers, for fear of a sudden arrow to the back.

Because of that previous, and very recent, unpleasantness, no one dared to even breathe. Unlike those soldiers, who were outsiders, they couldn’t leave the village since this was their home. And the last thing they wanted was for me to destroy their village.

I had the means, and the will to do so. I even said so earlier…

Roughly five minutes after the soldiers left, I declared for everyone to hear, “I take it everyone has left the village now? I guess I’ve kept my side of the bargain then.”

Having said that, I eyed George.

He quickly nodded and gestured towards one of the young hunters. Being a smart lad, he nodded and waved towards his fellow hunters to go after the soldiers.

Even though the soldiers had a five minute head start, the hunters were men of the forest, and probably could slaughter those soldiers, though not all of them. That was because they likely had a four-star or two still alive amongst them. Those hunters were at most three-stars, so there was no way they would be able to completely silence those soldiers.

Once that happened… Well… That’s when the real show starts. And before that show starts, those soldiers had better not go dying on me, even if I really wanted them to.

I had their soul signatures recorded anyway. Once their usefulness was over, it wouldn’t be too hard to kill them.

As for Plateau village…

Before I could finish that thought, I was interrupted by two sets of crisp but soft footsteps behind me.

“Master… master…”

Two little figures came running towards, sobbing and flailing about in their cute dresses. At just four years of age, those two little figures could barely maintain a sprint for long as they tumbled from time to time to try and reach me.

One of them was a black-haired, black-eyed girl, who bore more than a coincidental resemblance to Ancarin. The other was a wolf-eared, wolf-tailed girl, with equally black hair but amber yellow eyes. This was Ancarin’s daughter, Nari, and Regine’s apprentice, Hayley…

Looking at those precious little thots running towards me, whatever anger I had in me immediately vanished… leaving behind only love and guilt…

“I’m sorry… I came too late…”

I jumped off the stone giant, dashing towards them in an instant, and with a quick scoop, I picked them both up, one in each hand. As I picked them up, I could smell the stench of the battlefield on them, punctuated with their usual faint sweetness.

Watching them cry their hearts out, I couldn’t help but cry a little myself.

At least they are safe… at least, they are safe..

“Oh my sweeties, I’m sorry for being so late…”

“Master… mama is dead… Mama Regine is dead as well… the rest of the sisters and aunties are all dead too… Nari is so scared… Why are the bad people killing us…”

“Hayley too… Those bad people were so scary… Teacher Regine is gone… and even Mama Ancarin…”

“Don’t be afraid… I’m here now. Everything will be alright. I will look after you two, and make sure those bad people are brought to justice! A million times over! No matter who they are, they will pay. You guys did nothing wrong…”

Regine was always one to patrol the nearby settlements and protect the weak, sometimes bringing them to seek shelter in the village or the Abode. The others in the Abode were all beneficiaries of her care. If there had to be something wrong with what she did, it would be that she sided with a devil like me…

I hugged the two kids as tightly as I could. However, the anger of their loss threatened to consume me once more. But even that wouldn’t be a problem soon. Very soon…

After placating the kids, it was time to seek out what I needed the most right now: information. “Other than you two, are there any other survivors?”

“Nari doesn’t know…”

“Hayley as well…”

“How did you guys escape this tragedy?”

Nari wiped her tears away, then forced any others back. “Everyone was about to pray to Master when Sister Ann suddenly disappeared. Nari and Hayley were both trying to find Ann…”

“Hayley was searching for Sister Ann with Nari; everyone was busy praying to Master, so no one noticed when we were gone…”

After listening to both of them, I roughly understood what had happened.