Arc | Chapter. 28: Meeting (Patreon)

Chapter. 28: Meeting

Gallus shivered as the woman took a single step forward. He hastily opened his mouth as his men rushed to attack the girl, skills already being aimed at the girl.

“It was a misunderstanding⁠—”

And a blast of ice swept through everything, Gallus blinked as the men turned to ice statues, and a moment later they cracked. They fell in chunks like inanimate objects, collapsing into bloodied ice blocks before his very eyes.

His heart skipped several beats, his brain uncomprehended of what happened as his men simply died, it happened just like that. He stumbled back as he fell onto the damp ground, his hands touching the cold grass for possibly the last time in his life. His thoughts raced as he stammered.

“M-Mercy.”

The woman walked forward to him with an almost inhumane gaze, meanwhile their target⁠—now his target, Ceylon looked rather uncomfortable with the situation, but said nothing as Arc approached him. Until finally Gallus could only look at the white haired woman.

“Why did you people try to immediately attack Ceylon?”

He blinked. “That is⁠—”

“The truth,” she demanded coldly.

Gallus nodded. “That girl is the youngest daughter of the Arlow family, we were contracted to… kill her,” he finished with a whisper.

“Who contracted you?” She asked with a frown.

“I don’t know, it was some⁠— lord?” And at that moment, she instantly held him by the scruff, raising Gallus into the air. His mind blared as he panicked. W-Was he going to die now?

She met his gaze coldly and spoke.

“Name.”

Gallus nodded. “H-His name was L-Lord Arl. T-that’s what he called himself. I-I doubt that’s his real identity!”

“I see.”

With that she dropped him in his spot. The white haired woman shook her head and turned around, leaving him there as she went towards the blonde girl. She offered her pale hand, and a moment later they left in a blink.

Gallus processed what just happened for just a second before he let out a small chuckle.

He⁠— he lived! He started to laugh. He made it out alive!

Though, it was also a sign that he had to retire. As for his men… He shook his head looking at all the corpses, his heart raced simply thinking about it. Now he just had to leave… this place…

The Black Forest…

His excitement quelled as monster sounds resounded. All of the supplies had been destroyed, the campsite was obliterated too, and he was lost. His heart quickly grew cold as the cacophony of roars grew near.

And at that moment he realized.

He wasn’t making it out alive.

* * * * *

We arrived much further into the Black Forest, where the sounds of monsters were much more prevalent. Though my mood admittedly was kind of bad; the fact that they had immediately attacked Ceylon even though I was the one in front had royally pissed me off.

And the attacker was also clear.

It was the Grand Duke.

I snorted, and Ceylon finally spoke up.

“Arc…?”

I blinked. “Yeah?”

“Do you think you could…” She sighed. “Kill them in less… visceral manners?”

A slight sound of surprise left me. “Right, I’ll try to keep that in mind.”

“Normally it doesn’t bother me, but…” Ceylon turned to look at the blue sky. “I guess it reminds me of torture training a bit too much.”

“Torture… training…?” I asked in confusion and in a somewhat shocked manner.

Ceylon nodded as she walked forward with a solemn face.

“Yes, torture training. Every heir to higher noble families goes through it, some more than others. My father had grand ambitions for our family, at least back then, and so the expectations of me were higher than ever.”

She looked at the clouds above.

“Therefore, I had to mutilate people with my own hands, all in the name to extract information. I had to learn to look at visceral things, due to the fact that not all businesses were clean, I had to learn to handle myself in these situations, but even then after all of that I remained to be quite the squealer when things were coming towards me.”

She chuckled.

“I suppose, watching you walk towards that fallen person reminds me of the completely inhuman atmosphere there.” She turned to me with a small smile. “Sorry about that.”

My mind went to white noise temporarily as I saw a minute tear within Ceylon’s eye. His father had… forced her⁠ to do that…? For a moment memories of the past came to me as I gritted my teeth, before finally letting out a long breath.

“Ceylon, are you okay with that?”

“What do you mean?” She asked, confused.

“Are you not resentful of your father? He forced you to do it,” I said with a frown.

Ceylon frowned. “Of course I'm not resentful, I did it for the sake of the family.”

“But did you want to do it? Or did you convince yourself it was for the future of your family?” I asked, this time more bothered than before.

“What are you saying? I’m a noble⁠—”

“You’re also a person, Ceylon,” an exasperated and annoyed sigh left me. “Just because you had to do it, doesn’t mean you wanted to do it. And it also doesn’t excuse your father for forcing you to do that.”

She blinked. “Those thoughts are⁠—”

“They are selfish thoughts,” I said to her with a nod. “But do you intend to sacrifice yourself in the name of selflessness? To give your life for them?”

She paused, her mouth opening and closing in surprise.

“Even if you intend to do that, I won’t let you.” I shook my head. “I’ll solve your family’s problem, however I won’t let you go and die for the sake of your family, when you clearly are, at your very core, selfish just like literally everyone else in this world.”

“That’s not true!” she rebutted immediately. “I was raised to sacrifice for my family, to do what I am meant to⁠—”

“But you asked for my help at that moment, did you not?” I interrupted shaking my head. “Unlike other people, I want you to be selfish, you have given so much to your family and yet you won’t even be the heir.”

Ceylon completely paused before looking at the ground for a moment, and then, I saw tears begin to fall onto the ground as she quietly began to cry, her hands trembling.

“Ceylon, I’m not asking you to betray your family.”

“Then what…?” she squeaked.

“I’m asking you to live for yourself,” I sighed. “Once this stuff is over, promise me you’ll be your own person, not the daughter of the house of Arlow.”

“But⁠—”

I shook my head, knowing  the potential regret for what I was about to say, but even then. I watched the frail blonde girl standing there, alone; with no help, shouldering all her burdens; she was Ceylon, and she was my friend. My only real friend. And that was why I had to help her.

Which is why I had to say it.

“If you don’t, I’ll destroy your family myself,” I said simply.

She paused, completely stilled as if she had been frozen. Seconds passed, my heart rate rapidly increased, as doubt settled in my mind, but just as I was about to say something. Ceylon let out a chuckle.

“I guess I don’t have a choice now,” she raised her head to smile at me, half crying. “I have to do it for my family don’t I? To save them from the terrific hero.”

I blinked. “Are you… alright?”

“I…” Ceylon paused. “I guess not, but it’s so ingrained within me to serve my family that I don’t know how to accept things in any other way…” She sighed. “Hopefully, I can make my own selfish decisions in the future without them weighing heavily on me.”

I nodded. “Right, hopefully.”

“We should go now, we expect to… arrive in just a few hours, yeah?” She asked, wiping her tears.

“We do,” I nodded. “Depends on how far away your family is.”

“Right, they are in Rivas, known as the City of Workshops, it’s the second strongest economy in Draliz,” she said with a small smile. “Also, might as well, explain the Black Forest situation now.”

She knelt on the ground as she began to draw something that was rather potato shaped, then she drew an ocean to its left, where she then drew a half circle that worked as a barrier to the ocean.

“It can be said that that’s the Black Forest, the only reason to cross it is for maritime reasons, there are also a few notable mines inside the area encircled in the Black Forest. Every two weeks a large caravan of cargo for the kingdom is formed. It can be said that Draliz’s geography is a bit bad for military and logistics.” She smiled bitterly. “But, due to its friendly relations with neighboring kingdoms we can afford our… stupid quarrels in regards to money based nobility positions…”

A sigh left Ceylon as I nodded. “That’s… a bit…”

I wanted to call it stupid; and it was stupid, the position of the Black Forest was stupid, but at the same time it’s not like the kingdom could choose where the Black Forest was. Perhaps they could’ve chosen a different territory hundreds of years ago when it was formed, but I had no thoughts in regards to that.

“It’s a bit stupid,” Ceylon said with a chuckle. “But it is what it is.”

“Well, thankfully the Black Forest doesn’t really affect us,” I said somewhat proudly. “So, let’s go?” I offered her my hand. “We’ll be out of here in no time.”

Ceylon nodded, grabbing my hand. “Maybe try using [Quickstep] for most of the way there if possible. It’s a bit hard to handle your other skill.”

“Alright, let’s go now⁠— [Quickstep].”

And in an instant we vanished.

* * * * *

Meanwhile, throughout Draliz the findings of the elite dark knights spread like wildfire. A dragon had engaged in a deadly battle with someone, the Hermit was nowhere to be found, and after the fight both parties fled the scene. It was a battle of peak S Tier individuals, that much was widespread.

And yet, there were no mentions of the deranged adventurer that claimed to have fought the dragon. No mentions of the unmelting ice that had appeared in that forest nor its connection to the now famous everlasting ice of Ranedale.

However, that night, rumors spread of a strange gale of wind in the Black Forest, one that would tear apart any monster in its path with freezing cuts yet left passerby unharmed. It was an occurrence that had been named the wind of Draliz.

But those news never reached a certain dragon, one that was on its way to see his home for the first time in hundreds of years in the name of news, and hopefully they were news that would finally change the tide of the world. The everlasting status quo.

All in order for dragons to reign supreme once more.

* * * * *

We arrived at Rivas just at the dawn of night. It was a grandiose sight. The walls towered over the city, only showing the rooftops of the tallest buildings, a central tower loomed over everything else and overlooked the walls and the extensive moats as well as the massive bridge to enter the city.

It was… similar to a fortress, just a very impressive one.

I took in the sight for a few moments, before lining up to enter the busy city. Carriages and visitors waited to enter, and so did we. Though something strange happened when I showed the guard my adventurer license.

“You are Arc… the Medal of Bravery holder?”

I blinked. “Yeah…?”

“It is an honor.” He bowed.

The interaction was strange to me, for I could see reverence within his eyes. Though after that, things proceeded as normal, except we didn’t immediately head to Ceylon’s home, but rather we went to an inn.

After getting to the room, Ceylon sighed.

“I don’t want to arrive at night, also we should decide what your identity will be…” She sighed. “Sorry for not letting you meet my family today.”

I shook my head. “It’s fine. As for identity…”

I thought for a moment and quickly informed Ceylon, her eyes went wide for a moment.

“You cannot…”

“It will be fine,” I reassured her. “Besides, what quicker way is there to gain your family’s trust?”

Ceylon blinked and slowly took in my rather sporadic idea.

“I’ll… go with it…”

Just like that, the night ended.

◇ ◇ ◇

We awoke early in the day to a nice morning, where Ceylon panicked over not having noble clothes, but after reassurance and insistence from my side, she relented on meeting her family like this.

It was a weird walk, my appearance drew attention, though not as much as in the towns. However, what made it weird was Ceylon, she was… insecure to say the least, constantly fidgeting and asking me if I really was sure to help her family.

But after a couple of minutes, we stood before a grandiose state, a mansion of black walls and white pillars where the guard’s eyes immediately went wide upon seeing Ceylon. Before we could even approach the mansion, someone ran in to inform Ceylon’s family.

We stood before the gate, as Ceylon fidgetted.

“I told you it was a bad idea to come like this… and unannounced too,” she whispered.

I shook my head, and finally, the door of the mansion opened. Where the first person to walk out was a blonde woman with golden eyes, she seemed to be in her early forties yet had a rather delicate face, and a tight fitting dress that accentuated her figure. Yet ignoring any sort of elegance she came as fast as she could towards us, then came the father. A man of auburn hair and blue eyes, whose eyes went wide upon seeing Ceylon.

He too immediately rushed towards us as the gate was hastily opened.

“I-I’m sorry I took so long⁠—”

And her mother embraced her without words, her father finally arrived as he let out a long breath.

“I’m sorry Ceylon, I don’t think you should’ve gone on such a mission.” He smiled at her. “I’m glad you’re home. Don’t worry about the Hermit, we will solve things our own way.”

Ceylon blinked in surprise, but shook her head.

“Mother, father, I have brought news,” she said as she separated herself from her parents and gestured towards me. “The Hermit has agreed to lend their hand.”

Their eyes slowly grew wide as they looked at me from head to toe.

“Impossible, you are⁠—”

“Ceylon this is⁠—”

“Pleased to meet you,” I smiled, lightly bowing. “My name is Arc, also known as the Hermit.”

“You are not the Hermit.” Her father said after a breath as his eyes narrowed. “I don’t know why you have chosen to deceive my daughter, but I’ll ask this once.”

He coldly met my gaze as a gust of wind passed.

“Who are you?”