Dawn- An age of Darkness

Breakfast was just like last night\'s. Except I didn\'t really feel all that bad and it didn\'t feel like something was in the food either. The food was good and I wasn\'t tired, so I ate. 

As usual, I got glares here and there, but nothing too suspicious. I did have some potential suspects who might or might have wanted to get rid of me, but I didn\'t have any proof. 

Upon talking to Ve about the thing, she concluded it might have been a higher class of demon or maybe even a vampire. It had fangs and bat wings, so I guess it could have been that. Plus using a bit of holy light literally made it writhe on the floor so, maybe it really was a vampire?

Then again, demons were also kind of weak to holy, so I wasn\'t so sure anymore. 

So, I just rolled with it and after finishing the meal, I stood up and stared at the king. "We\'ll be leaving now. When can we assume you\'d meet up with the king of dwarves and hold negotiations? Of course, that\'s assuming you two would do it in person."

It\'d be very awkward if he sent a messenger and the guy got killed halfway and things started to get weird again. Actually, that\'d be disastrous. 

He sighed. "Take a messenger from our end, and please sort through these things."

So, this guy was basically dumping all the responsibility on me?

Well, I did ask for it. "Fine by me. As long as you keep your end of the bargain, I\'ll keep mine."

I was already sick of this whole thing, so I just wanted to get this over with. The faster this ended, the quicker I\'d get to my own mission and the better chances I\'d have. Last evening\'s practice kind of reminded me that I\'d stopped taking this world as seriously as I should have. 

\'I can\'t lose focus now.\' Underestimating this world was the last thing I wanted to do again, ever. 

"Your majesty, I\'d like to volunteer," Gorgon said, bowing on his knees. 

Yeah, I had a feeling.

I was fine with him though. 

"You\'ll protect the princess. So I don\'t think-" The king began- I guess he was right. Gorgon did have a very soft spot for the princess. 

"Then let me-" Gorgon\'s brother tried. He had a very dashing smile. Yeah, I didn\'t like him. 

"Denied," Ve denied him before I could. 

The guy looked very disappointed and was about to open his mouth.

I opened mine first though. "I know Gorgon from a while back. It\'d be best if he was the one going." Besides, the guy actually cared for his country. "Or are you saying all of you are incapable of protecting a princess within your own country?" Obviously, I mocked the nobility. I didn\'t know why but I really liked taunting for some reason.

They all had scorns instead of glares. 

The king sighed again. "For someone who\'s only adopted royalty- you sure learned our ways fast." That was not the compliment I was looking for, no. "Fine, take him. But even if everything fails, I\'d like you to guarantee his life at least."

"Alright."

Gorgon was pretty strong, and there weren\'t that many good fighters in Dwaram, so I didn\'t have to worry about that. 

Though I guess this meant, I\'d have to come back for him again. Sigh. 

And with that, everything was settled. 

Though Gorgon did give the princess a rather emotional farewell. 

"Please take care, your highness. Don\'t forget your meals- your showers- your tea- your-" Gorgon went on. What was he, her mother?

\'It\'s not like you\'re going to die, dude, calm down.\'

If he was that worried for the princess, why the hell did he volunteer?

I had no idea. 

Gorgon\'s brother, however, wasn\'t that satisfied. He was grinding his teeth and she kind of glare at me. Was he looking for a world tour on Ve or something?

***

Instead of going back to the wall, Ve and we climbed on top of the castle and from there we took off. It was a bit tricky as this castle didn\'t have an actual roof. It did have burnt clay plates to deflect rain though and walking on top of them without falling down to our dooms was quite challenging, to say the least. 

As usual, I barely hung around and for some reason Biteria was in front of me, meaning I at least had a better grip. Though this meant, I had to grab her shoulders- a bit too tightly. And since I didn\'t want to fall to my death, I was hugging her very tightly too. She didn\'t mind though. She actually paid me no attention whatsoever. 

Gorgon?

The guy was having the time of his life- literally. His golden hair flowed freely with the wind: his grip was perfect with just one hand! "This is amazing!" He looked up in the sky- the clouds- the rising sun and everything in between.

The wind wasn\'t enough to deter his vision.

Sigh.

I hated pretty boys. 

***

We reached Saram rather quick and the earl was there to welcome us back, from the looks of it, he didn\'t have any sleep. 

He had a weak smile and looked very eagerly at me. I was also having the time of my life flying through the clouds, so yeah, I could feel his pain. 

I got down from Ve, barely standing- shaking like crazy- and gave him an okay sign. Yeah, these flights would have been the death of me. 

He tried to smile and then fainted. Talk about a relieved man. 

I didn\'t know why but I wanted to faint too- unfortunately, I didn\'t. 

Sigh. 

***

The earl woke up an hour later and the court held its session. The earl\'s fatigue was gone and he was as energetic as ever. Wish I had that kind of rejuvenating capability. 

Then again lately my healing and regeneration did feel a bit better though. 

Everything lasted another hour and after a heated debate- he agreed this was the best idea. That actually kind of made me feel good about myself.

Because at one point, I really thought, I kind of screwed up everything. 

He then radioed the castle and got us an audience with the king- again.

More drag. But at least this guy was fast. 

But before we could actually leave the throne room- Alisa and the half-elf made their entrance, the dark knight was with them. Things happened a bit too spontaneously to be a coincidence. Were they waiting behind the doors or something?

"Please tell me you know something- because all this running around is very tedious." And I just wanted it to be over. 

Alisa grinned and opened her mouth. "You see-"

But the half-elf started before her. "They\'re in love."

\'Wait, what?\'

***

And we now had another meeting in the court. 

The reason? 

"The prince and princess were in love and they ran away to Xylax. The prince of Destoa was friends with the duke of Xylax but- apparently, the duke had other plans and might or might not have imprisoned the prince." Alisa chose her words very carefully in the presence of Gorgon. I got the feeling there was a lot of stuff she wasn\'t telling us. 

Gorgon however was just listening carefully, without any emotion in particular. 

"What about my sister?" The earl asked, looking concerned. Though he was probably more concerned about ending this than his sister that much was clear.

"She-" Alisa hesitated. She now looked at me and sighed. "Let\'s just say, she\'s alive and so is the prince. The rest, you\'ll have to conquer Xylax to learn- since their borders are closed."

Conquer huh?

"Can\'t we just-" I guess Ve was about to suggest flying over the country to their palace or something. 

"They have good artillery- it\'d be very difficult to enter. And there isn\'t any place for you to land. Perhaps just you and Daarc can infiltrate but you\'d need more allies."

Ve grinned. "That\'s fine-" She was ready for the challenge. 

"Which is why- I have a suggestion." Alisa grinned evilly. "Take charge of both armies and let\'s conquer Xylax." She was talking to me and in the presence of everyone. 

The nobles gulped but they agreed almost immediately. Even the earl agreed. Gorgon stayed quiet. I had a feeling if I didn\'t say something now, I\'d be dragged into some crazy shit again. 

\'Yeah, no thanks.\' "How\'d you two get in? Can\'t we just go in like that?"

Alisa frowned. "Where\'s your kingly ambition? Don\'t you want to broaden your borders?"

Was she seriously, serious?

"I have none and I don\'t have any need for land. Anyway, I\'d assume you actually went there?"

"Not exactly-" The half-elf started. "We used the forests to communicate."

I forgot elves could do that. "Can all elves do that?"

That was a very op skill if nothing. I never got to learn it from Lianne though. 

"No." She answered. "Only a few in my kin-" She stopped, cleared her throat. "But I think there\'s a way in. Are you sure, you\'d be willing to risk everything and just infiltrate the country? After all, don\'t you think they\'d declare war on you either way? Xylax isn\'t affiliated with any country- so they might seriously attack Helsing."

Technically I was associated with Alfeim, meaning if they did attack Helsing, it was fine. But wouldn\'t that drag more people into this?

I groaned and sighed. "Then-"

Alisa again grinned very evilly. "That\'s why I have another plain. I had a nice rumor, you see." Her grin intensified. 

And I had a very bad feeling, you see.