12dz Chapter 365: To leave
Chapter 365: To leave
The one that came to his rescue was Morvane. She stood in the middle of the room, a sword gently held in her hand and her eyes on the man that attacked Vale... the very dead man.
Vale was well enough now that he could study her, and he did.
The sword she held was white like bleached bone and covered in different words of power. For some reason, his eyes lingered on the sword and soon he understood why.
The sword was a construct.
Morvane was a construct user? Vale was shocked by that fact, as she was the first construct user of such strength that he would be meeting.
She turned to him, her eyes roving over his body. "No wounds. You are quite lucky, Vale Athrimir. This man... intends to kill you, and he must have come from Akatsuki."
Vale rose to his feet and bowed. "Thank you for saving my life. I won’t forget this."
But somehow his voice didn’t quite sound like gratitude, and if heard from a wrong angle, it might even be considered a threat.
"....did they really sacrifice a Master Knight....no, this man must really be an assassin or someone they have wanted to dispose of before..."
Morvane smiled and shook her sword. "You were looking at this sword, eh? Do you find it familiar?"
Vale gave the sword another look and then shook his head.
Morvane chuckled. "Well, I’m not surprised. This sword actually belongs to the Athrimir family. It was given to me by your father."
Vale was surprised to hear that. "What?"
"It’s a construct granted to me before your father climbed the throne. Unfortunately, I parted ways with your father shortly after and came here where I built my personal power."
The small revelation left Vale with conflicting emotions. He had been told that many of the Athrimir’s promising Knights left them, but he had never met any physically before. To see one now left him feeling both angry and cautious.
He debated with himself and then eventually asked, "Why did you leave?"
"Your father became an asshole and grew weak of the mind."
Vale frowned, and he began to realize just how lucky, and even a little miraculous, what he had done was by leading the Master Knights as an Errant Knight. But even then, he knew most of them likely stayed because of tradition and because they were used to it as a way of life.
But he didn’t know what to say to Morvane. Should he blame her and the others that left for the current problems of the Athrimir?
She was the one that spoke again. "You do not seem that angry."
Vale looked at her deeply, and then shrugged. He said bluntly, "I do not have the luxury and position to be angry."
Her eyes narrowed. "Not in a position? Do you mean you can change your mind later and become angry with me, thereby seeking revenge for the broken oath?"
Vale shrugged again. "What you did, do you think it requires revenge?"
The air suddenly became tense. Her hand tightened on her sword, the sharpness and intent spreading through the air. "You have a sharp mouth like your father, don’t you. It didn’t take him far. You should keep that in mind."
And with that, she turned to leave, quickly disappearing from the room. Soon, some men returned and carried away the dead Master Knight, wiping the blood and sweeping away the debris, leaving the room empty of life apart from Vale and Isolde.
"You almost died," Isolde hissed. She was already in her butterfly form, and her wing flapped in the air, spreading illusions that covered everything around them to mask their voices. "Why don’t you fight back? You could have killed him instead of waiting for death."
"How can I convince them otherwise that I’m truly helpless and have no power?"
"You can’t gamble with your life!"
"I just did."
Just then, she gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes at him. "You... you will risk your life, won’t you?"
Vale only shrugged. "If it furthers my interest and if the benefits will be worth it."
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Isolde did not speak to him till morning, and Vale didn’t really care that much as he reinforced the Imprisonment. When morning came, he took his bath and then he waited.
Soon, normal humans came into the room in a file, carrying different materials and boxes. Then they got to work. First, they dressed him in grey cloth, a worn-out, ordinary thing. Then they began to use makeup to change his face and inserted other decorative materials into his eyes to mask the red to ordinary brown.
His hair was the most tricky part. They wanted to cut it, but he had declined flatly, warning them not to touch a single strand of it. That forced them to add color to it, changing it to brown as well.
And when he looked in the mirror again, Vale Athrimir was gone and replaced by an ordinary-looking young man.
He had asked Isolde why they just didn’t use illusion, but he was told that it was the first thing everyone looked out for.
With all of that out of the way, he made his way outside where the Company Captains were waiting. All of them were dressed as if they were just out for a party instead of war. A single flying ship stood there.
"Well, you’ve outdone yourself, Vale," Kaelthorn said. He brought his hand out of his pocket and gave him something. "Put that on. It’ll make it impossible for anyone to sense your essence."
Vale looked at him flatly. "This is an essence-restricting cuff."
He nodded, unfazed. "Errant Knight restricting cuff. It makes it seem as if you’re a normal human."
Vale looked at the grey thing filled with enchanted words. Errant Knight rank, eh? He put it on. He understood what they were doing—ultimately restricting him so he wouldn’t cause any trouble, and so they could only use him at the appropriate time.
He did not struggle and put it on, allowing it to cut off his flow of essence.
Beside him, Isolde also restricted herself with her illusions, making her presence shrink.
"Here’s the plan. We are expected to stay the night after the meeting and attend the grand party for Eirikr’s coronation of new territories. That’s when we’ll attack, and not before."
Vale frowned, unease blooming in his stomach. "Why now when we reach there?"
Vaelros sneered. "Eirikr will be on the lookout today, especially during the day, for trouble, but he’ll be relaxed at night. We can’t risk our men for that."
Kaelthorn nodded and then pointed at the ship. "Inside there are our men. They have also worn Master Knight-restricting cuffs that will hide them. We’ll spring a surprise attack at night. The Master Knights can take the cuffs off at any time."
Vale frowned. ...that means the Hollow Grave will only attack at night to whisk me away... during the battle...
But there was something that Vale was sure he was missing—something important that left him uneasy. He knew the Company Captains and Isolde would take any advantage over him, but he still couldn’t figure out what he was missing.
"Is there any news of today’s meeting? How it’ll go and such?"
"None. Only that the Water Lord of Ito is around. Don’t worry, we’ll learn everything when we get there."
With nothing more to say, they went up the ship, and it soon hummed to life, jerking upward to lift them into the air. A shield snapped into place around it to protect them from the blasting wind, then it turned into a streak of light and disappeared into the sky.
Vale was given the option of either staying aboard or going inside below, but he preferred staying on the ship.
Isolde made an illusion communication connection between the two of them.
"Why do you look so tense? Shouldn’t you be happy with finally claiming back your territory?"
"I should be happy with becoming a puppet?"
"Well, what other choices do you have for now? With time, you can shake loose their control and become truly independent again. You only have to be smart about it."
Vale almost snorted. "In a few years, they’ll kill me once I stabilize things. They’ll drain me well before then. But tell me, Isolde— which side are you truly on? The Company Captains or me?"
She looked amused at the question. "I’m only for myself. But currently I’m in support of you. After all, I don’t want the Hinterlands to fall into the hands of the High Clans. Besides, I’ll reap great rewards by being by your side—puppet or not."
"But you’ll run at the first sign of trouble."
"Yes, I will. Would you stay if you were me? You should value my honesty—you won’t find much of it in your position of power."
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