Chapter 26: First pawn, Part 3

 

The next day,

"So that's how you did it? I understand better." Mira replied, folding her arms across her chest and nodding her head.

We were in the living room all sitting around the dining table. The smell of freshly baked pastries and hot coffee filled the room. The early mornings in Damparo was cool and refreshing. It was the most pleasant time of the day. All the windows were open to let in the fresh air.

"Do you have any more questions Orion?" I asked, noticing his stare for a while.
"If I summarize. From all this time in Damparo, you've been looking for the origin of the lapys, found Simons and his henchmen, rallied them to you by force, turned the bloodhounds you killed into those black 'things', all to get Simons' secret organization. Right?"
"Roughly yes that's right. As far as the bloodhounds being brought back to life, that wasn't my intention in the first place. It was Lyanna's decision," I replied, reaching for the plate of pastries in front of me.

But Orion pulled the plate quickly towards him and with his big hand took more than half of the cupcakes before pushing them into his mouth.

"Cough Cough."

He nearly choked and slid the whole thing down his throat, swallowing his coffee in one gulp.

"Why did you bring them back from the dead you psycho? Their souls can't even rest in peace, damn it !!!" he asked Lyanna as he put loudly his glass down.

The three of us looked at him in surprise. No, to be fair, Lyanna and I looked at him in surprise. Mira's look was....

"SLASH !!!"

Orion narrowly dodged Mira's blade. Her weapon split the chair he was sitting in and the wooden floor. And here's her bad side surfacing...

"Orion?" Mira said in a low but threatening voice.

Her body was enveloped in a whitish glow as her gray hair began to float in the air. The furniture in the room shook under the pressure of her energy and several glasses on the table shattered.

"Hoy hoy calm down okay?" began to say Orion whose face became livid.

Instinctively, he took his sword his feet and took it out of its sheath. He had a bitter smile on his face and big drops of sweat were beading on his forehead. Mira's cold gaze fell on him and I could understand his fear somehow .

"How about we calm down, Annh." I said, getting up from my chair.
"Sit down," Mira ordered, glaring at me.

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For a second, her gaze made me shiver. I sat down calmly , took my coffee glass and turned my head towards a window. 'Sorry man but you're on your own on this one...'

"Follow me..."  She said to Orion before walking through the door leading you outside. Orion’s face was pale but he followed her, cursing himself.

Mira’s house was located at the end of the city, at the entrance to the desert. There was almost nothing around. The two bloodhounds went through the door and a few minutes later we heard the sounds of explosions and swords clashing. The house shook at times, but fortunately they seemed to be far enough away.

"Well, I apologize for the inconvenience," I said to Simons, sitting at the other end of the table.

His face was neutral, but he held the cup of coffee Lyanna had served him with a trembling hand. He almost spilled the contents on the white tablecloth.

"It's nothing," he said in a voice pretending to be calm.

("What if we went straight to the point ?" ) Lyanna said as she petted a new stray cat. A ugly one.

"You're right. First of all, thank you for responding to my invitation Simons, I imagine you have things to do so I won't be long."

Simons nodded his head in response. He looked at me, listening carefully. I could feel the mistrust in his eyes but it was understandable.

"First tell me about the Garden, I want to know everything."
"...hum as you wish, Master Jabal."

Simons took out a small brown notebook from his apron and handed it to me. Inside, there was a lot of information about his organization. He explained in detail that lapys was in fact a plant native to Eiden. The most dangerous place in Alcine, a land uninhabited by humans and considered a sanctuary for monsters. An abnormal amount of these beings lived there. The fauna and flora was nothing like what we know and consume. It was a continent apart, the furthest from this world and one that simply rejected humans. Several expeditions were carried out there in the past but they all ended in bitter failure. The reason? A mysterious power on this continent which weakened the followers but also the presence of the Nefaris. These monsters that only an apostle could stand up to.  To be more specific, no apostles had survived an encounter with a Nefaris. The idea that apostles could beat them was mostly a fantasm for people. It has never been confirmed. Anyway according to Simons, he used to work for a nobleman in the capital city who was very interested in all kinds of knowledge. He put almost all of his fortune into an expedition to Eiden. His goal was to capture the flora and fauna on this continent and to collect information about the monsters in their natural habitats. A very ambitious project, but one that ended in the death of hundreds of men and women as well as his own. Among the bodies that returned, one held a red-leafed plant in his hand, the lapys. This is how Simons was able to obtain this miracle of medicine. After discovering these effects, all that remained was to find a way to produce it and sell it secretly so that the kingdom wouldn't seize it. This is how the Garden was born: an organization directed by Simons himself. In the notebook, it was noted that the Garden produced lapys in a remote corner of the kingdom on land that wasn't very fertile, but safe from prying eyes.

The organization seemed to have labor and logistical difficulties.  Their revenues were average to low. I thought they were doing better than that, but my expectations must have been too high. I handed the notebook back to Simons before continuing.

"You remember the project I described to you, don't you?
"Yes Master Jabal, I remember it word for word."
"What do you think? I want your honest opinion."

Simons hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"If your identity is real and what you've told me is really your goal, then you're out of your mind."
"Hahaha but still? " I replied, unable to stifle my laughter at his words.
"The kingdom will never accept such a thing, the risk is  too great. It is likely that you will even be eliminated. "
"That's true. But what if it actually succeeds ? "

 

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