Chapter 11

Chapter 11

WITH THEIR BANNER snapping proudly in the wind, the warriors withdrew from the castle, Warlord Canberils leading the way.

After watching them disappear into the woodland, I returned to the castle. The ten warriors and my new nursemaid Lade followed close behind.

My first step was to try and reassure everyone—they looked completely dumbfounded by what had just happened. Next, I made a point of apologizing to the dwarves. Finally, we gave the warriors a spot in the courtyard to set up camp.

Once everything seemed to be somewhat in order, I gathered my friends in my quarters. “I’m truly sorry to have put you through so much worry. But please listen carefully to what I’m about to tell you.”

I looked around at the faces of Clara, Sedam, and Reyha. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t be reuniting with Ild anytime soon. Their expressions all showed concern, and I think they were more worried about me than themselves.

I had to tell them about the deal I’d made with the warrior clan. I also had to tell them about what I’d kept from the warriors: the connection between my Gate of Magic and the Epicenters. I took a few minutes and told them everything.

“…And so,” I concluded, “They’re returning to their ‘castrum’ to ask for the judgment of their oracle and Council of Elders.”

I still didn’t really get why the warriors used such an exotic term for their base. Canberils said that it would take a month or two just to make the round trip there and back, so we had some time. Naturally, he didn’t give so much as a hint as to where their base was actually located.

“Epicenters… Prophecies… Have to admit, it’s pretty worrying,” said Sedam.

“What completely intolerable people,” Clara spat out.

Reyha was as silent as ever. When I looked over for her input, she spoke with perfect calm. “I can eliminate them anytime you wish. You need but give the order.”

Thanks, but that’s not the kind of support I was looking for…

“I’m sorry,” I told them. “I should have mentioned the connection between the Gate of Magic and the daemon nest sooner. According to the warriors, there’s a chance I could be the trigger for the next brood event… So…”

What I wanted to say was, “If anyone wants to leave, I understand,” but I choked those words back. I’m the worst kind of coward—I knew they wouldn’t leave even if I told them to. And I also knew that I would take full advantage of their goodwill.

If I presented them with a clear-cut choice to stay or leave, then I was just making excuses for myself in advance. If they ever got hurt down the line, then all I had to do was quietly console myself with the thought, It was their choice to stay. I’d almost tried to manipulate them without even thinking about it.

The daemon threat wasn’t just a problem for Sedia. I had made it my own personal business. And that meant that no matter what happened, I was responsible for the consequences.

In the end, I had no choice but to embrace my role as the great magic user.

“I can’t do this alone,” I told them. “I need each and every one of you to help solve this problem. I want to thank you for standing by me.”

“Yeah, yeah, we got it.” Sedam gave a quick wink.

“Don’t mention it,” Clara said.

“The heart of your Si remains steadfast with her Olry.” Reyha put a hand to her chest and bowed deeply.

They answered like my request was no big deal. That was one of the reasons I loved them all so much.

I think I feel tears coming on… I did my best to hold them back. Funny how the tear ducts are the first thing to go when you get older…

***

“The more I think about it, the more something feels fishy about their story.”

We’d gathered once again to discuss the issue, and Sedam jumped right into it.

“Really?” I cocked my head to the side. “It makes sense to me…” After going over everything I’d discussed with Canberils, I couldn’t find any inconsistencies in his testimony.

“You’re not usually this careless,” said Sedam. “Do you really believe in prophecies? They have soldiers good enough to shadow dark elves. If they were to use that power to gather information, they could ferret out daemons and daemonists all on their own.”

“Call it a prophecy, or the results of an investigation, but that’s all semantics,” I said. “The results are the same either way.”

“You seem surprised that they’d even heard your name, but you’ve become quite well-known around the Ryuse Alliance over the past couple of months. There’s nothing strange about the warriors knowing who you are.”

“Sedam is correct,” said Reyha.

Hmph. So it could have been a hot reading. Back on Earth, mystics and psychics have been known to do all kinds of research on their customer in advance, and then make a big show of “discovering” those things during a reading. And Reyha, the best intelligencer among us, agreed with Sedam’s assessment.

I never thought I’d run into a bunch of occult skeptics in a literal fantasy world, but hey, if the shoe fits…

“Their predictions regarding a new brood event are also suspect, given the appearance of the daemons the other day,” said Clara. “If they knew about the lair in advance, why not prevent the daemons’ attack?”

“Hmmm…”

Clara had a point. Why hadn’t I thought of that when I was talking to Canberils?

“Well, one thing we know for sure is that the warriors are experts in daemons. It’s natural to want to trust them,” I said.

“Yes, and if we decide to doubt the Daemon’s Sight and all their other magical tools, we might be here all day,” said Clara. “But at the very least, we can agree that we don’t need to accept everything they said at face value.”

I understood. At this point, we needed to determine the true intentions of the warrior clan.

If my name really was part of their oracle’s prophecy, then I needed to uncover the truth. And even if it was a ruse meant to trick me, then I wanted to know the reason why.

When I brought this up, Sedam’s and Clara’s faces twisted.

“Investigating the warrior clan is a pretty tall order,” said Sedam.

“They don’t associate with outsiders at all.”

It was true. By then, I had investigated daemons many times, and I was only able to get the vaguest details about the warrior clan. Of course, we had Lade, warrior among warriors, sitting right there in our stronghold, but it was unlikely he would volunteer much information.

***

For the time being, we decided to ask the Adventurers’ Guild and the Sorcerers’ Guild to gather what information they could about the Epicenter and the warriors. But it seemed like we shouldn’t expect miracles from them.

All the talk about the Epicenter gave me a headache. All I can do for now is take it one step at a time.

***

Clara left for Relis immediately. She was our emissary to the guilds, and would see about getting them to collect information for us.

Actually, aren’t we going to have a lot of…problems…without Clara around?

Clara was awfully important, in that we could leave command of the castle to her whenever Ild and I weren’t on hand. But on further reflection, it wasn’t as if she was handling the day-to-day minutiae of castle business.

Realistically, Mora was much more important than Clara when it came to castle management. She handled the cleaning, cooking, laundry, and all sorts of daily necessities in Castle Getaeus. She made sure that every little thing we required for life in the castle was taken care of.

I really thought it would be too much for a fourteen-year-old girl to handle, but she always had a smile on her face when she was mopping, chopping, keeping the books, or giving the servants orders. In fact, it was all thanks to her that we had been living so comfortably.

I was thinking about how she and Ild put everyone at my old company to shame as I walked out into the courtyard.

A number of ropes stretched between the main tower and the residential building, and on them hung freshly washed sheets and tablecloths. From my room up in the main tower, I’d heard Mora and the others speaking below, but by the time I got down there, it seemed they were already finished.

I looked around and saw Mora sitting on a bench by the wall of the residential building.

She was sleeping.

The young girl dozed against the wall, adorably.

There was no doubt she was overworked. I couldn’t bring myself to wake her, and instead sat down next to her as quietly as possible.

She was nominally the chief maid, but the only other maids were the Four Dark Elf Sisters, who were mainly charged with handling security both inside and outside the castle. In the end, the only staff performing castle duties were the married servants Sam and Anna, along with the young carpenter, Zek.

That would be plenty if it was only me they had to care for, but they also had to look after the former Mage Knights and the dwarves. I was ashamed by my lack of foresight.

Thankfully, Ild was currently out looking for new servants as well as soldiers, so the problem would be solved soon enough.

From my seat on the bench, I could see the warriors setting up their camp.

Despite its long wall, Castle Getaeus didn’t have many interior buildings. What it did have was ample space in the courtyard. It seemed the warriors had blocked off about a fifth of the yard as their own territory.

They had naturally removed their uniquely-shaped outer armor along with its animal horns and blades. Without all the gear in the way, I noticed unusual tattoos decorating their skin.

I took a moment to appreciate the irony: They’d come here to kill me, and now I was acting as their host. I should probably prepare some defensive magic just in case.

Even though this was the situation I was facing—no, precisely because the situation was like this—I needed to ask Mora to take on yet another role.

“Though, I’m already really sorry about it,” I muttered as my eyes trailed Warchief Lade. He stood head and shoulders above the rest of his men.

“Hmm… Oh, Mister Geo! Do you have, um, a task for me?”

It seemed Mora had heard me muttering. She stretched a little and then sat up straight.

“Yeah. I’m really sorry, but I want you to serve the warriors the same meals as the rest of us. I also want you to supply them with things like water, changes of clothes, and other daily necessities.”

“Right, got it! I’ll add them to the dinner rounds starting tonight.”

They were stationed here to monitor me. Even with their orders from Canberils, I didn’t think they would be quick to show me respect or trust. On the contrary, they had already gotten off on the wrong foot with Clara and the others.

I had to improve the situation. Preparing for the worst-case scenario was one thing, but if we had any hope of fighting alongside the warrior clan in the future, then we definitely needed to start developing a cooperative relationship now.

I was fully expecting to explain my reasoning in detail to get Mora on board, but she nodded without hesitation. Just like that, she’d lifted a heavy weight from my shoulders. I inadvertently turned my eyes away.

“I know it’s a lot of work, but I need you to hold out a little longer. I’ll hire more servants as soon as I can.”

“It doesn’t feel like a lot of work at all,” said Mora. “You’ve got it way tougher, dealing with the state of the world and the daemons and all.”

“Oh… Well, thank you.”

She was giving everything she had to be of assistance to me. I had no choice but to rely on her, but someday I would have to make sure that she was truly happy.

…It wasn’t something I could admit to Ild, but I thought that this must be what it felt like to be the father of a daughter I adored.

***

“You will suffer no inconveniences as long as you are staying in the castle,” I declared to a very shirtless Lade.

“Hmm…”

Not that it was relevant, but up close, I noticed his keen eyes and the very distinguished sweep of his nose. Lade was a far more handsome man than I’d realized—though it wasn’t as if I cared about such things.

Lade’s guard was definitely up where I was concerned. At my declaration, he looked over to his men for support. It was obvious there was still a deep gulf between us.

“The castle cuisine is excellent. You won’t be disappointed.” I gave Lade a pat on his massive log of an arm and left their camp.

***

The day after the warriors arrived, Mora and the Castle Getaeus staff began their work early.

Just like every other day, the young girl stole from her bed before dawn. After washing her face and dressing quickly, her first stop was the heater. It was the responsibility of the chief maid to light the fire in the gas oven, which could easily be called the heart of the castle.

Anna woke up at the same time, and together with the former Mage Knight cadets, they all worked to finish preparations by dawn.

Mora then prepared a tub and towel along with freshly boiled water and headed for the main tower.

The lord of the castle, Geo, was rarely awake this early. Waking him and helping him dress was one of the only tasks that Mora never assigned to anyone else. Today’s breakfast was leftover curry from the night before with added meat and vegetables, plus a side of bread.

On days when the weather permitted, the servants and soldiers ate at benches and tables set up in the courtyard. The lord of the castle and his loyal adventurers used a room in the main tower as their personal dining hall.

Mora and the dark elves would take their meal after serving the lord and finishing all the subsequent cleanup. At first, Geo wasn’t used to being waited on, but they were steadfast, and wouldn’t take no for an answer.

After breakfast, it was time for the washing, cleaning, and maintenance.

Laundry was mainly the job of the youngsters: Log, Tel, and Daya. The sheets, tablecloths, towels, and undergarments collected from throughout the castle were tossed into a massive washing basin, where they were soaked in water and a detergent made from lye. After soaking, they were stamped clean or beaten with a rod.

Even though it was the dry season, the well water was cold enough to turn the boys’ hands bright red.

The usually hot-blooded and bossy Log was reduced to petulant grumbling. “Are we going to have to keep on washing laundry forever?”

“Seems like it,” said Daya. She held a long-burning grudge against daemons, and nodded grimly in agreement.

Tel, on the other hand, half-heartedly disagreed. “Well, it’s not ideal, but you know, we don’t really have it so bad around here…”

Lately, variations on this scene had played out over and over.

Log swung his beating rod against a sheet, harder and harder. “The whole reason we quit our training and became students of Margilus was to learn how to make golems!”

Daya agreed. “And we’ve been doing nothing but chores for two weeks now…”

“What can we do about it?” Tel sighed. “Margilus seems to be really busy…”

“Exactly!” Mora appeared right behind Log. “Mister Geo is busy!”

“Hey,” Log grumbled. “Quit it.”

Log’s rod sank to the ground as Mora aggressively stroked his black hair. “You’ve only just arrived at the castle! What did you expect?”

“Uhh…” Log’s face reddened at the reprimand. He had no response in the face of Mora’s motherly scolding. In fact, he and his fellow cadets were only twelve years old, which made them two whole years younger than Mora.

“Don’t worry,” Mora said. “Geo cares about us a lot. Just a little while ago he was saying he was so sorry that he didn’t have time to teach you. He hasn’t forgotten.”

“R-really?”

“Yeah,” said Tel. “Like I said. This is way better than that crummy training school!”

“So get to work! Once the laundry is dry, you can take a break until lunch!”

Lunch was freshly baked bread with bean stew, sausage, and raisins.

Anna—the cook—deftly spread a healthy layer of butter over the bread, while Mora dished the stew into bowls. Several of the Dark Elf Sisters returned from their lookout posts to help the boys with serving.

“Hello, Miss Mora! Why are there so many servings today?” Argha clearly didn’t know what was going on.

“There were just as many at yesterday’s dinner,” said Mora.

As of the day prior, meals were being provided for all the warriors stationed at the castle. It was a personal request of the castle lord.

“What?! You’re going to serve them?” To Argha, the warriors were enemies that had called her lord a daemon. She puffed out her cheeks in frustration.

“That’s right,” said Mora. “The truth is that if we don’t get along with the warriors—with everyone in the world—we won’t be able to defeat the daemons.”

“Uh… I understand, Miss Mora.”

Mora smiled and kept on arranging bread and sausage on a platter. The dark elves knew well enough what their Olry’s goals were. Reluctantly, Argha started to pitch in.

***

Normally, the warrior clan did not use any well-traveled roads or stay at inns.

This was all in the name of furthering their hunts. Daemons tended to hang around in the wilds, and daemonists maintained their own information network across human society. Thus, their skills in cooking and camping were the equal of those they showed in battle, and they valued them just as highly.

The tents set up in a corner of the courtyard were made with light and durable wooden frames, covered by leather coated with a special resin. They were sturdy, and boasted both excellent heat retention and spacious interiors.

Of course, by “spacious,” I mean spacious for a typical warrior.

Standing taller than two meters, their massive warchief Lade had to bend over to come out of his tent.

He wore only leather pants and boots, foregoing a shirt entirely. His muscular physique had only a modest amount of fat—it reminded me of MMA fighters back home. His tanned skin was covered in strange tattoos.

“It’s strange,” he said. He glanced at the large courtyard and high, strong walls of Castle Getaeus.

The boys and girls were drying sheets and clothes in the warm sun of the courtyard. His massive body was surrounded by the bright and cheerful voices of children.

***

By the castle gate, the three young recruits were returning from their training. They were being lectured by a middle-aged warrior as they made their way to the well, and when they got there, they poured water over their heads, cheering. There was none of the stereotypical soldier’s behavior…no yelling or swearing, no nervousness or spite… Most of all, there was no anger.

Fighting was simply a means to destroy the daemons, not a way of life. This scene was a far cry from the training that Lade knew. Training fueled by burning anger, which left its victims vomiting blood and bile.

To think that the lord of the castle had declared that he would fight the daemons. There wasn’t any sign of true fighting ability anywhere in this castle.

All around Lade stood stone-faced warriors hard at work cleaning their weapons. It was a familiar scene, but somehow, they were the ones who seemed out of place.

“Warchief, our inspection is complete.”

“Ah…”

Lade nodded slightly to the senior warrior who came to report to him. Even though his target was right in front of him, he had no way to determine whether it was appropriate to take him out. Never before had an examination left him in such an uncertain position.

“Should we do some training, sir? Or prepare food?”

“There’s no need for any of that. We need to treat this the same as a combat posting. Margilus could show his true identity at any time.”

“Oh!”

Be ready to fight at a moment’s notice. That was his warrior’s instinct.

But then…

“Hello!”

He heard the voice of a cheerful young girl.

A girl dressed as a maid, two Dark Elf Sisters, and an older couple approached them, hauling a wagon full of freshly baked bread and soup.

“Oh,” one of the warriors murmured, perking up.

“Smells good,” said another.

Lade could hear his men lining up and talking among themselves. These were all men who, if so ordered, were supposed to be able to stand at attention for an entire day without wavering.

“Today’s bread is made with heaps of flour and is as sweet and delicious as you please. The stew is also chock-full of spices.” The girl gave a series of instructions and joined her staff in handing out the bread and stew. Though it did look a bit forced, even the dark elves and servants dished out the food with smiles.

It wasn’t particularly suspicious, since the lord of the castle had instructed they be provided food as of yesterday’s dinner.

“Here you are, Lade. Is everyone waiting for you to eat before they start?”

“Oh… Yeah.”

The girl’s chestnut-colored hair fell to one side as she tilted her head and held out some bread for Lade. Once the rich aroma of flour and butter reached his nose, Lade couldn’t resist taking a piece.

Naturally, the warrior clan didn’t carry baking ovens out into the field. The only chance they had to eat freshly baked bread was at the castrum, or when they were posing as common people in society. But here he was in the middle of an assignment, being asked to take the time to enjoy a proper meal.

There was silence.

He took a bite without making eye contact with the girl. The rich texture of the butter perfectly complemented the softness of the bread.

Once they saw their warchief take his silent bite, the rest of the warriors also dug in to their own portions.

“It’s good,” one of them said.

“I bet there’s no way you could cook up something this fancy in the field,” said another, sampling soup and sausage.

“Hey, can I get another piece?”

There was even honey to drizzle on the bread. It wasn’t long before half the warriors were asking for seconds.

“It’s like a dream,” said a younger warrior quietly.

Lade knew what he meant. For a warrior, having a woman brave enough to dote on you really was like a dream.

Their job was to hunt down the daemonists who sank into the darkness of human society.

Apparently, for normal people, the first sign that their otherwise friendly neighbor might actually be a daemonist was waking up one morning to find a dead body. Even if they understood the connection, it was hard for people to understand that when the warrior clan showed up, it meant that daemons had appeared.

The powerful folk of the world had never outlawed or restricted their clan, and the guards and lords even allowed them a voice in the halls of power. But that did nothing to stem the anger and fear that people felt when they saw the warriors coming.

Lade still remembered the words of the one who’d trained him: “There is no place where a warrior is wanted, only places where a warrior is needed.”

He spoke to Mora as she bustled past him. “Are you…okay?”

She paused. “Excuse me?”

“Don’t you fear us?”

I could tell in a single day how taken this girl and the dark elves were with the lord of the castle. I was certain their coming to us was just them following his orders, something they resented. But now… Lade’s expression made it clear that he thought Mora should be afraid.

But her answer came quick and firm. “Nope! I sure don’t!”

“Hmm…”

It was a different tone than the simple, cheerful voice she had used just moments before. There was determination in it now. This was the voice of someone who was ready to put everything she had on the line to achieve her goals.

“My mother was killed by a daemon,” Mora told Lade. “That’s why I’ll do anything to help Mister Geo—I mean, Lord Margilus.”

The girl’s normally dignified expression faltered into a blush when she realized the warriors and servants were all staring at her.

“Oh, ha ha! Sorry. I probably shouldn’t be talking about something so dreary. But I’ve heard that you warriors are all fighting against the daemons. And, well, if you’re going to be stuck here in our castle anyway, I want you to feel comfortable…”

There was silence.

Lade may have been the strongest warrior of their company, but all he could do was stand in silence after hearing this young girl’s words—a girl who didn’t even reach up to his chest.