“I-I’m sorry,” the aide stammered out as he bent over to pick up the pen and pad.

“Don’t worry about it,” I called out, returning my attention to the human leader in front of me, who’s left eye twitched slightly. Brushing away some of the hair that had been blown gently in front of my face, I smirked while observing Commander Roche’s reaction and wondered maybe if I should have just quit while I was ahead on this one. It seems I went ahead and over complicated something that I thought would be relatively simple.

Oh well nothing new.

“Your last demand...would be doable. It's just both you and I would just run into a lot of various problems,” the man asked, after regaining his previous composure.

“Such as?”

“Since the Veplar Kingdom in the present day is a constitutional monarchy, with power being distributed between various government bodies and the people, I will guarantee that someone will take some sort of irrational action towards you. Whether that’s as simple as trying to kill you or as absurd as trying to put you on trial, there isn’t an absolute leader in charge able to put a stop to those sorts of things and I fear that multiple things will end up angering you.”

Gesturing towards the ruins of Plailon, he continued, “And I can see clearly in front of me the consequences of making you mad.”

I looked up to the now cloudy sky and thought about what he had just said. And the man had a point. Having learned about types of government alongside Helia, it would make sense that there would be things outside of Commander Roche’s control that could end up pissing me off so of course the man didn’t want to risk doing that. I mean there were things that angered me when I was with Lukas and Nina but the two never did anything that was born of malice towards me or Helia so I always managed not to do anything catastrophic about it. Can’t say that that would be the same here though; there would be too many people involved with differing opinions of me and some of them would definitely take action despite the potential consequences. That’s what people did after all.

Looking back at Commander Roche, who started to perspire a little bit, I replied, “You do have a point. However, it's still something I want, so is there a way to make it happen or do you have something else in mind?”

“I’ve been thinking about it and I believe I do have something...though I wish to discuss that in a different environment. This may be bold of me but would you be willing to return those hostages now? The idea is that we will return to Chamont with them and I promise I will be back later this afternoon along with a few others so that we may finish this discussion.”

Tilting my head a little, I asked, “Do we actually trust each other enough to do something like that? Who are these others you’re talking about anyway?"

“I intend to only return with myself, the demihuman you wanted, and four guards for the journey. That is more out of concern for safety while traveling than anything else. And to your first question, I think the short answer is a no. But I believe you want things that I can probably get you, so I believe you will wait here. Plus if I don’t come back with what you want, I understand what will happen, so I have enough reason to come back.”

“...Fair enough. We’ll do it that way but I want you back here in an hour. Wouldn’t want anyone to have enough time to organize an ambush or something.”

“While I don’t think that's necessary, we’ll attempt to be back here within an hour; however, I request that you allow an additional half hour as buffer time in case we run into an issue.”

“Fine, I’ll allow it.” Even though I tried to be punctual about things, sometimes I ended up being late anyway so it was only fair to give a little extra time just in case. I didn’t think 30 minutes in this case would make too much of a difference. And if it did, well whatever, I’ll deal with things as I have always done.

Finally turning around and getting a good look at the people I was holding hostage for the first time, I noticed that first and foremost, Lukas and Nina didn’t look too well. They were both dirty and appeared very fatigued. Lukas held his arm like it may have been broken while Nina sported a black eye. I wanted to ask how they were doing but I didn’t want to elaborate further on what my relationship with them was in front of these people so I refrained from doing so.

Next to them was the adventurer I barely recognized as the one that came with the Guildmaster the other day. Unlike the female adventurer with the broadsword, this guy had managed to survive. In a similar physical state to my friends, I could hear him wheeze ever so slightly and when he looked up briefly, I saw the left lens on his glasses were cracked. Unlike Lukas who had a rough masculine appearance, this other adventurer with shoulder length black hair gave a more gentle yet still manly mien.

The remaining seven individuals were all amber armored soldiers without helmets. One of them appeared to be a man with short copper hair and sharp facial features. I could also tell that he was relatively fit but not overly muscular, despite the armor hiding most of his body. He had a purple shoulder pauldron on, which I figured designated him as something special in comparison to a regular soldier. Except I haven't seen a purple one so far and had no idea what it specifically meant.

Meanwhile, the rest all had a particular emblem on their chest armor. Up until now, I hadn’t seen it on any other soldier. I wasn’t sure what to make of it as I usually didn’t pay attention to such things; I was only doing so now because this group had somehow survived last night’s events and since they appeared to be a part of some group, I wondered what made them special. The only other thing they had in common was a fairly androgynous appearance. Some had longer hair than others but on the surface I was unable to tell for certain which of them were men and which were women. Like the one that caught my attention the most was an individual with pixie cut blond hair that had blue streaks through it. Their oval shaped face was smooth and feminine yet it wasn't clear whether they were a man or a woman.

Sigh. I wasn’t good at describing such things. Whatever, I decided that it didn’t matter. Overthinking it was the real problem in the end anyway.

At any rate, I noticed that the soldiers looked to be in relatively better shape than the three adventurers. Their armor had some dents and scorch marks, plus they appeared to need a good shower as well, but they looked a little too kempt for everything that had happened. That was just my opinion obviously. Maybe there was a good reason for it. Maybe there wasn’t.

Unfortunately now wasn’t the time for trying to sort that out. After all, it wasn’t my intent to make Lukas and Nina continue suffering out here when they must have been exhausted and probably in pain.

Turning back around, I asked the Commander if he had brought any healers or doctors with them.

“We had brought a couple of doctors with us just in case we had injured civilians or military personnel. I was planning on bringing them out here to treat these individuals before we attempted to have them move,” he replied.

“Why didn’t you bring any healers with you?”

“That skill is not as prevalent as we wish so we put more of our effort into training doctors for the field. Usually in a combat situation, they would put themselves in danger and it was decided to keep what skilled healers we have back at our bases and hospitals rather than take them into dangerous situations.”

Greaaat. I didn’t want to bring Helia out here in this situation but judging by how Lukas and Nina looked right now, I felt like I owed it to them to try and make their lives a little easier. A doctor would be able to help treat a few things out here except getting fully better would have to wait until they got back.

Still...did I want everyone here to see her?

Things would have been a lot easier if I had the skill to do it but I could probably count on one hand the number of times I would have put it to use over the course of my life even if I had had it. Helia would probably want to help them sooner rather than later anyway...so if any problems came from doing this here and now, then screw it. Life would be more entertaining that way anyway.

“My daughter is nearby and is a rather capable healer, would you want her to treat them before leaving?” I asked while gesturing to the group.

His posture stiffening a little, he said, “I suppose that would be the most humane way of going about it…”

I then approached one of the purple demtroopers and whispered, “Have one of the demtroopers in the village bring Helia and the kids here. Also, lower your weapons and stay on stand by until I say otherwise or something else happens. Maintain proper watch in the village though. It doesn’t look like these soldiers will do anything and I don’t need any unwanted developments coming from the other direction.”

The nearby undead lowered their weapons and I turned towards those who were kneeling and announced, “I’m feeling rather magnanimous today so once my daughter has had the chance to fix you guys up, you’re free to go...”

“Oh yea and if you’re tired of kneeling, feel free to sit,” I added, waving my hand dismissively.

I caught Lukas and Nina’s eye and gave them a slight smile. While I wasn’t sure what they were thinking, they returned my gesture. Hopefully we’ll be reunited with Tania soon back at their farm.

Surprisingly, I hadn’t forgotten about the other member of our “family”. Hopefully she wasn’t fretting too much about how long things were taking.

Coming up the road were Helia, the two kids, and two demtroopers. They were walking kind of slowly, with uncomfortable expressions on their faces. I glanced behind me and saw that the soldiers still had their weapons up and I turned to glare at Commander Roche.

“Hey. That’s my daughter coming up here. Do you mind?” I said quietly and pointed at his troops.

Blinking, he apologized and motioned to his aide to return the communications device to him. With the device in his hand, he spoke into it ordering his troops to lower their weapons.

Confirming that they had in fact stood down, I switched my focus back to Helia and the kids, as they still walked timidly up the path. Hopefully it was less troubling to not have weapons aimed in their direction but I still understood that this wasn’t exactly a comfortable situation.

Before they got close, Commander Roche asked, “Who are the other two children? They’re not yours as well are they?”

“Heck no. They’re just some lucky ones that survived.”

“Why weren’t they out here to start with?”

“You think I would put children in a situation like this?”

He didn’t respond to that.

“Ummmm Mom what’s going on?” Helia asked when they got near. The two kids hid behind her wings, cowering a little as they tried to make sense for themselves the situation they were in.

She glanced to the side, seeing the people sitting on the ground. Noticing the two people that helped raise her, her eyes widened. A small shaky smile formed on her face as tears started to well up in her eyes but remembering what was going on, Helia managed to hold them back.

“Commander Roche, this is Helia. Helia, this is Commander Roche.”

"Hello."

"Hi," Helia squeaked.

"So, we've sorted some stuff out and I'll explain it all later but for now, would you please use your restorative magic on the people on the ground here?"

"Oh okay."

Before getting to work, she told the two kids to stay put and that everything would be alright. Helia then knelt down, her hands glowing, as she started to work on healing Nina first. Nina’s black eye started to fade and then finally disappeared as the other injuries she had were healed as well. Unfortunately, restoration magic didn't do anything for fatigue but whatever pain she was in before was literally erased by magic. Nina thanked Helia before she moved on and did the same thing with Lukas, who started to move the arm that he had been holding, back and forth, clearly pleased that he had full use of it again.

Moving down the line, Helia used her magic on the next individual, choosing to fix the lense on the other adventurer’s glasses after working on his body. She asked to take off his glasses before putting her hand over the lense, with the creaks in the glass starting to seal up as she concentrated on it.

While she was doing that, I heard Commander Roche say, "She is quite talented at that. Many healers are unable to heal multiple injuries like that in one session and rarely are the ones able to restore broken items."

"Well she's special in more ways than one that's for sure," I replied proudly.

As Helia got to the first androgynous soldier, this one with neck length brown hair and purple...yea purple... colored eyes, she hesitated a little before starting. She gave a slight gasp of surprise but continued on, removing whatever injuries this person had.

"Was something the matter?" the person asked with an amused tone. Their voice was melodic in nature, strangely soothing and yet off putting at the same time. Kind of like eating something that was tasty but had a funky texture.

“No. I just randomly started to feel tired is all,” Helia replied. “But I can keep going.”

The conversation, if it could be called that, ended there, and Helia continued on to the next soldier. It was still taking her a bit of time, maybe around 2-3 minutes, to heal each person but she was learning and becoming more efficient. Since these types of injuries were simpler in nature, they took up less time to work on unlike the corruption that had afflicted the two kids the other night.

Observing Helia’s work up until now, I turned around to Commander Roche, motioning that I wanted to talk to him privately for a moment. We walked a few paces away and I whispered to the man, “Who are those soldiers?”

“Why do you ask?”

“First off, I can’t tell whether they are men or women which is confusing to begin with. More importantly they are the only ones with that emblem.”

“The six with the emblem are mercenaries hired from Talza and are contracted to us for 2 years. As far as their appearance, I have asked the same question myself but it hasn’t been important enough to violate their privacy to figure it out.”

“Why do you have a need for mercenaries?”

“They specialize in dealing with demons. With the increase in demonic activity, we hired them to assist us in eliminating those types of threats. Losing them would have been a blow to our relationship with Talza which is why I appreciate you returning them to us.”

I became lost in thought after the last thing he said. If they specialized in taking out demons, how did they get themselves captured here? Also Talza...I had heard that country name somewhere...but where? I felt like there was something going on here except I was either missing certain puzzle pieces or was not smart enough to put it all together yet.

Feeling a pair of eyes on me, I glanced back towards the line up. Blondie, who had already been worked on, stared towards our direction with a curious look in their eyes. I intentionally made eye contact with them and their mouth formed a small smirk as they gave me a wave with their hand.

What the hell? Not what I was expecting.

Biting my lip, I brought up my left hand and returned the gesture which elicited a laugh from them and then they turned towards the brown haired one next to them, mentioning something about looking forward to going back and relaxing. I wanted to learn more about these Talzan mercenaries, only to be disappointed by their casual conversation.

Helia was almost done with the last individual in the lineup, a person with neck length black hair and bangs that covered a part of their eyes. Some of their hair was gathered up top in a half ponytail and their almond shaped eyes observed Helia carefully as she worked to erase the minor injuries that marred their body.

“If they specialize in dealing with demons, how did they get captured then?”

“That’s something I would like to know myself actually,” he contemplated. “I planned on discussing what happened here with them. I suppose it shouldn’t be a problem reporting that information to you later, if you wish. In return, I would just ask you to answer a few questions of my own.”

“Depends on what the question is about I guess but I’ll let you ask em anyway.”

At that moment, Helia approached from behind, announcing that she had finished. All of the previously injured individuals were standing up at that point, getting ready to leave. The three of us walked back to the group. Before addressing everyone there, I asked Commander Roche what he was planning to do with the two children.

“I’ve been preoccupied with some other things; however, we’ll take them with us and see if we can find any family that they may have elsewhere. If not, we’ll just have to put them in the Kingdom’s foster care system.”

I approached the two children, who had pretty much moved on from being scared of their surroundings, to sitting down on the ground and drawing in it. Crouching down, I explained to them that this was where we were going to part ways and that they would go with the Commander to see if they had any other family that they could stay with.

“But we wanna stay with Helia!”

“She’s like a big sister…”

Helia walked over and said, “I’ll miss you two but you gotta go back to your family ok?” After some more protest and cajoling, we finally got them to understand.

Addressing everyone present, I declared, “Looks like we got everything sorted out.Now get going before I change my mind.”

“You heard her, let’s get going. Please follow my aide back to our transport. Major, go ahead and have the troops embark and prepare to depart.”

Commander Roche motioned for his aide to head back to their line of troops and most of the group started to follow him back. The one soldier with brown hair glanced at Helia before setting off with the rest of their group while the aide directed his attention towards the kids that walked right next to him. Lukas and Nina hung back for a moment thanking us for coming to help and then departed as well, catching up to the other adventurer who had set off first only to wait for the other two to catch up. I wanted to exchange more words with them but I knew I would get the other opportunity later so I had just nodded in response. Helia looked like she wanted to run up and hug them but I was proud of her for reading the situation properly.

The last one to leave was Commander Roche.

“I wasn't sure what to expect when I initially saw what was going on but for what it's worth, I just wanted to say thanks. It’s nice when a situation can get resolved without bloodshed.”

“Just thank whatever you believe in that I was in that kind of mood to begin with. Lucky for you, I had my fill of killing already from yesterday,” I said, making sure to show my fangs while grinning. “Anyways, I don’t think you’re completely off the hook yet.”

“Yes of course, I haven’t forgotten. I shall see you two within an hour.”

This time, he gave a short bow and walked confidently back towards his troops, who had already started loading back up in their transports. Watching them as they prepared to leave, Helia and I stood there in silence for a moment, as the demtroopers stood on standby behind us.

While I had a lot of thoughts to sort through, I turned to Helia and asked her, “How are you feeling?”

She exhaled before replying, “Overwhelmed I guess. There’s a lot you need to explain to me still. Plus I’m happy that Uncle Lukas and Aunt Nina are still alive; holding back when I really wanted to just hug them was really hard.”

“Well, I’m proud of you for being able to read the situation correctly. And we’ll try to sort out as much as we can before they get back.”

Silence fell upon us once more, as the first couple of heavy tanks left first, followed up by a few transports. The next set left shortly thereafter, staggering their departure rather than traveling altogether at once. Rather than thinking about the departing soldiers, I thought about what the future would hold as I debated where my priorities should lie. For example, Talza. I had heard that name somewhere before but I cursed my imperfect memory as I tried to remember where.

And then there was Commander Roche’s proposal; I was unsure if he was going to actually come back or even if his idea would be satisfactory. The only reason why I pretty much agreed to it was not because I trusted the man, but because the conversation was starting to drag and I was getting hungry. Grateful that my stomach hadn't growled up until now, I heard it rear its head, yelling at me to eat something. Even I was a slave to my own body ya know.

Fortunately at that point, the last set of vehicles finally left and the only ones who remained were us two and the undead. Except Helia surprised me a little by breaking me out of my thoughts.

“Mom,” Helia said.

“Yea?”

“There’s a lot of things I want to talk to you about but there’s something I feel like that I need to bring up first,” she declared, looking at me with a little bit of confusion in her blue eyes.

“What is it?” I asked tenderly.

“So far when I healed the kids or my uncle and aunt, the process felt very similar to each other. I mean there were some differences between the kids and the others based on what I was trying to heal them of but it still felt...I don’t know...like the difference between walking and jogging I guess? You’re still using your legs, just at a different tempo.”

“Ok. I think I get you. It's like the difference between sending out a singular fireball vs. unleashing an inferno right?”

“Yea I think that's close. Anyways, working on the guy with glasses and the soldier without the emblem was again pretty much the same. Now when I fixed the guys' glasses, or when I was practicing on objects back at home, to continue the analogy I guess it feels like...I’m just putting pieces of a puzzle back together. Like it doesn’t involve as much physical energy but more mental if that makes sense.”

“I think it does but Helia, where are you going with this?”

“I’m getting there Mom. When I started on the first soldier with an emblem, you remember I gasped slightly right?”

“And then they asked you what was the matter and you lied to them right?”

Taken aback slightly, she asked, “How’d you know?”

“I just didn’t think you would get tired that easily,” I shrugged.

“Oh...I thought you heard it in my voice or something. Where was I....so I started to use my magic on them and it felt like I was working on putting a puzzle back together while I was jogging. It's kind of hard to explain but it was more complex and involved more in it. I wasn’t surprised with the 2nd one cause I had felt it before but I thought it was weird that it was the same way for the others too.”

Having an idea of where this was going, I prompted her to finish what she was trying to say.

“I don’t think those six were human .”