Chapter 16: Chapter 11

Ilya was looking up at me while kneeling, and I could tell there was a hint of sadness and regret plastered on her face. It was clear she was about to cry. In all of the commotion Emma had exited the carriage at some point as well. A lot of things were all happening in a short period of time, but it wasn’t hard to tell which I should address first. “What is that look on your face, Ilya? I thought you would be happy to see me. Didn’t you leap purposefully leap from that mountain to come and greet me?”

I saw tears start to flow from her eyes, and she looked down no longer meeting my gaze. “After all this time… After all these years… and yet I…I couldn’t protect you, and it was my fault you had to die.”

It was clear she was choking on the words, and when she finished she could no longer hold in her cry. She started sobbing in front of me, and I understood she felt responsible for my death. My own body instinctively moved. I reached down and rested my hand on her cheek and brought her face up to look at mine.

“You don’t need to fret any longer, I am here. I am sure you feel responsible for what has happened, but everything is as it should be. I am sure you have felt sad all of this time. Just know that me dying to Leo and forgetting was all planned. If you feel the need to take out your frustrations, then I will allow you to take it out on me. If you hate me for abandoning you and everyone else then you can kill me again; however, if you can look past your self perceived failure, then after this you may serve me again.”

With tears still in her eyes she shook her head. “I could never hate my queen, but how could I stand by your side if I can no longer call myself a knight?” It was clear that she was full of self doubt and self hatred. I am not very good at comforting people, but I decided I would speak again anyway.

“I will never blame you for all that has happened, and to me, you will always be my knight. If you can no longer call yourself a knight, and you aim to punish yourself then I have the perfect punishment for someone like you. You will remain by my side, and until you can call yourself a knight once more, you will live only for me. As your queen, you will listen to all of my orders. You will once again strive to be my best knight; in fact, I won’t take no for an answer.”

She looked up at me, and after a brief pause a slight smile appeared on her face. Then her face turned into one full of resolve. “I understand my queen. This failed knight will serve by your side, and until I become your greatest knight, I vow to never again sully my name. I will obey your every order once more. Should I fail to protect you again, I will end my own life. If you ever find me lacking, you can end my own pathetic existence.”

It was then I heard the sound of sobbing coming from the cultist who was still kneeling. This man was now sobbing after watching our exchange, and my eye started to twitch as I rubbed my temple. Noticing my sharp gaze, Rela and Ilya both looked at the garbage with hatred. I didn’t look at Emma, but I am sure she had the same face. If they react this way every time, I might need to hide my disgust more. I put my hand up to stop them from doing anything, and addressed the cultist. “What are you sobbing about?”

“I am sorry… The sight was just so beautiful, I couldn’t contain myself. I am truly blessed to be able to witness such a magnificent sight! As your devout believer, to be able to witness such a dazzling sight… To know you would care this much for one of your followers! I am truly blessed!”

“I see, I have a gift for a devout believer such as yourself if you would come and stand before me.” I made my face look like my naturally bored face, but inside I was burning with anger. This man had so carelessly interjected. I could see that Ilya’s face was visibly confused, but I paid it no mind.

As he walked towards me he spoke. “I knew it! I knew that I was truly blessed! To even receive a gift from one such as you! I am so…” Before he could finish I opened my hand and after shadow enveloped it I produced my sword staff that was now bisecting his face. As the sword staff pierced his face, and his blood flowed onto it I could hear the hissing of the snakes that coiled around it. His blood flowed into the snake's mouths and as it did the dark smoke-like aura around the weapon started to become thicker. 

I could tell that the serpents were calling for more blood, and as I looked over at Ilya she had a look of fear. I remember Rela saying that being in the vicinity of this weapon for too long could make people go mad, so I quickly put it away. I heard Emma fall to her knees behind me. Rela was the least affected. She only looked a little tense. Hmm, I guess I shouldn’t use this weapon too often. 

I was about to tell Rela to clean up the corpses, but before I could I heard a sound that was similar to static on a television. Afterwards their bodies started to disintegrate before our eyes. It was clear whoever ran this cult didn’t want us to get ahold of their bodies, and they might have been listening in this entire time. 

I don’t know who their leader is, but it is clear that I will run into the cult again in the future. I don’t know if they will even be a threat though. They clearly worship me, or at the very least that guy did. I could probably assume their leader does too. He did say that their leader would be happy. Hmm, what action do I take against them? How will their actions affect my plans with the kingdom?

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I don’t know how long I was sitting there thinking with my finger on my chin, but Emma had stood up. Now they were all looking at me. I guess they are waiting for me to say something. 

“We need to get moving before something else happens, or before someone else comes up the road. We can discuss everything that has happened once we get to the capital. Ilya you will come with us, and when we get to the capital I will have Rela explain some things. For now though you will probably need to disguise yourself. I don’t know if there are any half dragon people in the capital.” It was Rela who responded.

“Master, please let us worry about that. You needn’t trouble yourself any further.” I see, they will be able to take care of themselves. With everything going on that will relieve some of my burden. She must have noticed my mental exhaustion setting in. This sunlight definitely isn’t helping.

“Very well, I need time to think anyway.” As soon as I said that, I entered the carriage. I paid no attention to anyone else even as they collected theirselves, and I entered a deep state of concentration on the way to the capital.

I wonder just how many more subordinates are still alive? Are all of them still loyal to me? There are too many loose ends. Maybe I should have kept that cultist alive to get info on their leader. Ilya is calm for now, but she seems like the hotblooded type. She went through a vast array of emotions in just this one instant. 

Will she actually listen to all of my orders? Having someone like her around could be dangerous if I move out in the open. She would probably not listen to an order if I would be put in danger. It is clear she blames herself for whatever happened back then, and I am sorry Ilya. I had to lie to you. I mean it's not like I actually planned for everything that brought me here.

I don’t even know what the original Eliah was thinking before she died, or was that person actually me? Could it be that there are vestiges of her clinging to me? A lot of things I do almost instinctively. I still don’t know if I want to learn about that person. I might actually lose myself.

I told myself that I would remain no matter what happened even if I became evil, but would that really be me? Am I still even me? Just how many times am I going to ask myself this? All of these questions might be useless in the end, but I still end up asking myself. It might be a hindrance to me in the future; however, if I don’t ask myself then who will? I kept asking myself silly questions until we went over a hill.

In front of me was truly a sight to behold. Several large walls surrounded a gigantic city that was nestled into the side of a cliff. I could see at the very top that there was a giant castle truly fit for a king. At the bottom there was a drawbridge going over a river signaling the first gate to enter the city. Outside of the city were several wooden houses for the less fortunate.

As we were about to go over the drawbridge towards the first gate, I could see some sort of commotion happening at the gate. There were soldiers entering the city, and the guards were in a panic. It was clear the soldiers had arrived with news that was enough to send all of these guards into a frenzy. People were being moved aside as the guards were making way for the soldiers. There were 2 soldiers on horseback mostly wearing leather armor.

Clearly something had happened to the soldiers. As we got closer I could hear some of what they were talking about with my enhanced hearing. It was hard to make out everything due to all of the commotion, but it was clear they were talking about some sort of monster. 

I guess with this, there will be something else for me to investigate. Maybe if I can learn about this monster, it will help me understand what the locals of this world know about monsters. I definitely have to figure out what these soldiers learned. I might be starting my act sooner than expected.

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