DAY 7

The woman at Maximilian's side had long raven hair that caught the light as if it were made of obsidian. She was taller than the Londoner and easily attracted attention, but that wasn't what had left the Vanedenis speechless, but the fact that no one had ever seen her before.

Nobody knew who he was.

Then, it aroused a lot of surprise that the Londoner had disappeared for four whole days, without giving any news of himself to anyone. That was also not quite normal. Some had even tried, without much success, to enter his tower to check if he was hiding there.

But the strangest thing was the statuesque, intimidating presence at his side, to say the least. Themistocles had never seen such beauty even in a work of art. Yet, he, of women, had had many, both Greeks with white arms and wild Persians, so many that, when he had told Maximilian, he had renamed him Clinton. From the knowledge that the Harbingers had transmitted to him, he had gleaned some information about this man, and he had to admit that the comparison seemed fitting. He had ruled in the USA for nearly eight years.

"Oi, cunt, Themistocles! Mummer!" the Londoner called, approaching. "My two favourite big men. If you have a baby together you can call him Maximilian after myself!” The woman beside him seemed oblivious to the curiosity with which other people looked at her. Indeed, she herself seemed fascinated. He had two large blue eyes, so bright they caught everybody's attention. She looked at the badly built houses, the ruined streets, and even the humans with extraordinary interest.

Certainly, she couldn't be a Vanedeni, but she couldn't be an Earthling either. It was impossible not to remember such a beautiful and imposing woman. She and Maximilian had burst into what could be considered the square of Ankon - an empty space between the hovels clustered around it, a meeting place and trading place for the inhabitants, for a new briefing on their resources, any classes acquired by the soldiers and so on.

Maximilian had created many problems with the organization of training. Because of this, the Athenian was angry. But he couldn't show it and had simply decided to put his soul in peace and make up for the absence of his friend by himself.

Maximilian was a force of nature impossible to control: it would have made no sense to hold a grudge against him for such a gesture; he was already expecting much worse follies.

“Do we need to talk?”

"Bollocks, Themistocles, of course we have to talk. About your haircut and so many other things. You look like a total hipster."

The Londoner winked at him and tried to grab the other's genitals. Unmoved, Themistocles pulled back and left his friend with a hurt and disappointed expression.

"Later, though, because now I have to bring this young" (and as he pronounced the word young he folded the index and middle fingers of each hand twice) girl to visit the most ruined village of Kome! By the way, did anyone take advantage of my absence to clean up the graffiti on my tower?"

With those words, Themistocles confirmed his suspicions: Maximilian had brought the woman from outside. From beyond the Curtain.

"They tried but no one succeeded. They gave it up right away. In fact, some said it looks bigger and more threatening now."

This was Mummer's only intervention in that conversation. Not that he was usually a big talker, but he was quite focused on studying the foreigner. The woman was even taller than him and gave off an aura of seraphic calm like he had never seen. To be honest, even though he was a war veteran, that presence made him anxious.

"Gentlemen, it is a pleasure to meet a great warrior form Maximilian's world, and a veteran among the Vanedenis."

The woman caught Themistocles and Mummer off guard with her warm and ... friendly ways?

They had assumed that she would not speak or that she was some kind of monster with human features. Instead, she appeared to be ...

"My name is Eudokia. I hope not to cause too much disturbance in your ranks. Maximilian told me about his deplorable deeds, so, if I am to be his guest, I would like to repay your hospitality as much as possible, sharing precious information with you, maybe. Later and in the next few days we will have a chance to talk. Now, please excuse me, honorable Themistocles, honorable Mummer."

She nodded to both of them.

Maximilian did not hesitate to humour her and said: "Let's go and see the tower. There are a couple of alchemical tricks that you probably don't even know. The other day I tried to revive some particular bones but the experiment didn't go very well."

And they began to drift away.

Once they disappeared into the alleys, Mummer asked the Earthling next to him: "What do you think?"

"Eudokia is more powerful than Maximilian. If they ever collide, he couldn't even retreat without being seriously injured."

"Uh?" Mummer frowned. "Are you sure?"

“Without a shadow of a doubt. Otherwise there would be no explanation for his behavior, so ... "

"So unlike Maximilian?" Mummer broke into a thunderous laugh.

"Exactly. When I ask him something, he never answers directly; he turns the request into riddles, games, jokes or simply ignores me. May Athena stab me with her bronze spear if I'm wrong."

…

Tukker had been looking for Maximilian for some time. The fact that another pig had disappeared exactly half an hour after his arrival wasn't even suspicious anymore. It was just ridiculous. However, he had not imagined the scene he now faced. In front of the black tower, the stronghold of the Londoner, the beautiful woman that the Earthling had brought to the village was waiting with her arms crossed.

"Maximilian, come on!"

"I said I have to rest. Eudokia, leave me alone!"

"I want to see the military preparations in the village! And then the Ahalis! And get ready to deliver that beast back!"

"I said I want to sleep! I promised Themistocles I will do the reconnaissance tonight. Some things are better done under the cover of darkness!"

The craziest thing about that conversation were the screams. It was not a simple conversation between two interlocutors. No. Maximilian spoke from inside the tower, Eudokia from outside, amplifying their respective voices with magic.

"I'll give you the favour of darkness!"

Eudokia seemed to have lost her temper and her manners were slightly less good than before. Eudokia threw a kick at the door, which created several cracks in the smooth black material that many suspected to be stone, but of which no one had yet understood the origin. As for the whole tower, after all. The shock wave reached the [Captain], leaving him speechless. Tukker rolled his eyes. The woman had just made cracks in a door that no one had been able to move an inch, not even with blacksmith's tools.

Then he blushed as he approached her. Although the Curtain had isolated only the inhabitants of Ankon and those of the Ahali village, Tukker had categorically ruled out that this Eudokia was one of their enemies in disguise. There was something ancient about the woman, an elegance that could not be acquired easily. Even if she turned into one of the Ahalis and stabbed him, Tukker would not change his mind. Her beauty, which both Themistocles and Mummer had heroically resisted, easily affected the [Captain], who found himself with his heart pounding.

"Mr. Tukker?"

Poor [Captain] nearly had a heart attack.

“Yes, ma’am!”

"Oh, are you here for Maximilian too?"

Tukker would have sworn he had never, ever, talked to that woman. Despite this, she treated him as if she had known him forever.

"Being a [Captain] who has to manage someone like him doesn't have to be easy."

In addition to his name, he also knew his class. Not that it was a secret, to be clear, but he hadn't expected it.

"Since he arrived, he has done everything to make us lose our minds. Now, another pig from a family who needs them to get through the winter has disappeared."

"Ah, yes. He mentioned something to me about it, but I assure you that you will get it back. During our journey back here I have repeatedly forced him to fast or eat roots. A little punishment for his barbaric ways. He may be old, but he behaves worse than a child."

"You are absolutely right, my lady."

The southern villages of Kome were quite isolated, but before moving there, Tukker had had the opportunity to speak with some members of the Vanedeni nobility.

Yet he had never been in front of someone like that woman, whose bearing exuded royalty. Perhaps, if he had had the opportunity to attend the meetings of the Vanedenis before the invasion of the Ahalis, he would have experienced the same feeling he was experiencing now, but Tukker was born three hundred years late.

The [Captain] frowned and wondered which Lord and Lady could have given him the same impression, who carried with him such power to defeat even the utmost chaos of Maximilian. How many things had changed and how many more would change in the future was impossible to predict, but what Tukker knew was that he was faced with the possibility of a new life.

Having such a person in front of him, who was not only able to tame Maximilian, but also promised that he would give them useful knowledge for the battle. In an age where his people lived more of memories than of classes and levels, that knowledge was priceless.

"Dear [Captain], would you mind stepping back a bit?"

Tukker saw a note of annoyance in the woman's eyes.

"This villain not only thought I wouldn't be offended by such an abomination," she said, pointing to the penis drawn on the tower, "but he thinks he can prevent me from frying him while he's inside."

The man looked at Eudokia with some concern.

“Milady, I… I think it would be very dangerous to destroy the tower. The houses are located at a certain distance from here, it is true, but I would not want any family to be hurt."

Eudokia looked at him and gave him a wink.

“It doesn't matter, sir, I have to destroy this disgusting construction, this affront to good taste. I will personally take Maximilian out and I will reward you with the weight in gold of each person lost due to his impudence."

At that point, in a manner similar to an explosion, the door of the black tower opened and Maximilian came out with his hands up.

"All right! All right! Damn, you damn stubborn woman. Well!? What are you waiting for? Shall we go and return the pig? "

A pig began to levitate in the air and came out of one of the windows of the tower, which opened by itself.

Eudokia smiled at Tukker and he forgot to breathe for several seconds.

“Thanks for your patience, [Captain]. See you later.” Tukker raised a hand and stood like an idiot in that position for nearly a minute. Eudokia was long gone when one of the recruits walked by and asked him what he was doing with a grin on his face. Well, someone had just earned a whole week cleaning out latrines in the barracks that Themistocles didn't have yet made build.

…

Todd had watched Maximilian arrive with that top model and this certainly hadn't worked miracles for his mood. He had tried in every way to make Themistocles understand that what they were doing made no sense. They were leaving huge margins behind just because the Athenian was hard on the uptake.

"Imbeciles, retards, idiots ..."

Most of the Earthlings ignored him completely since the trial. Now he found himself having to train so hard with Mummer that he felt all his bones ache. Todd rubbed his ankle, wondering if now that Maximilian was back he would have to deal with him again.

It was in the same courtyard where the warriors trained every day. However, it was about lunchtime and he was finally left alone. He sat down on a bench to mull over, muttering to himself.

"A little misunderstood man?” Todd jumped. Next to him, that strange woman that Maximilian had brought with him from his exploration had appeared out of nowhere.

"Beg your pardon?" his tone was outraged and angry. Since he had thrust a dagger into Matthew's side, there hadn't been much for him to do. No one willingly approached him, also because his attitude worsened as his class grew. Themistocles had promised him that if he dared do another childish action, he would have him burnt alive in front of the village, so Todd had decided not to disturb him anymore.

“It is a cruel fate the one reserved for classes like yours. Few people walk this path without being or becoming miserable, little man."

“What do you want from me? Leave me alone!"

Todd growled and tried to push her.

[Coward]

It was a Skill that had kept him from thinking with the same clarity as before. The perception of his physical presence had diminished and now the people around him rarely noticed that he was among them. Still, it had instilled a raging anxiety within him. It was as if something was ripped from his body at times - and Todd was terrified of it.

The heat surrounding the training ground, enclosed by new walls that cast long shadows on the ground, gripped his throat.

He had always been convinced that he was right and had rarely been aware of his faults. Even when he had been, he had chosen to forget about them. Now, all the fears, doubts and fears that he had tried to hide had come to knock on the door of his soul. All the anxieties he had forcibly rid himself of had returned and their effect was not just the sum of the total: they had multiplied and haunted his mind. Eudokia did not even move and was not indignant at Todd's touch. This was new. The man moved away as if he had just put his hand in the fire.

There was a regal aura around the woman, a mercy that came from above, from something beyond the mere men they were.

“Big and small creatures have had to succumb to their baseness. Some have created chaos and despair around them, leaving a scar on the world, like the ones you will see around this village in the future; others acted in that way because they believed they had no alternatives, that they were now condemned to a very low life.”

“Maximilian told me some stories from his world. But the thing that amazed me most was not your iron birds or the explosions that can destroy a continent. No. He told me and showed me about a world where everyone can be given the opportunity to redeem themselves, to be accepted by others. To go back to being part of the fabric of society."

"That idiot."

There was no other comment from Todd, who however regretted not muttering something more offensive.

“From your reaction, I suppose you don't like Maximilian very much. I understand, the path he has chosen is uncomfortable. And if he weren't so strong, he might not even be accepted among the Vanedenis. The difference between you and him lies only in strength. But he, to achieve what little he has, has suffered more than you can even imagine. He risks losing his psyche and imposes impassable limits on himself so as not to go mad.”

“Maximilian could be one of the greatest monsters that ever existed if he wanted to. And it would be the wisest choice. I wouldn't blame him, even if, in that case, it would be up to me to put an end to his life”, Eudokia searched for the little pupils of the man in front of her.

"I don't understand what you're getting at..."

Todd still did not look into her eyes, even though an inexplicable sensation of warmth appeared in his stomach.

“In order not to lose his humanity, Maximilian made a promise. And this promise is simply to never use all of his power to treat a life lightly. He is not the man bat - his words, he said that anyone among the Earthlings would understand - but precisely because he is so strong he will never take someone's life just because it suits him. he will never impose himself on others, unless he deems it the best thing to do to avoid generating more suffering."

When you are like us, Eudokia, every missed battle is one more war in the world. Such a long hibernation had changed her. There had been few moments of lucidity, of wakefulness, in which she had travelled the world to see if something was changing, if someone was born who was worth living for again. Eudokia smiled as she thought of how Maximilian had scolded her for having slept for so long. After all, he had said that there was always something to dedicate one's life to, in solitude or surrounded by companions.

He had promised her that he would show her something unique and she had succumbed to curiosity ... Sure, not before threatening him with death for violating her refuge and disturbing her rest, but Eudokia wanted to believe that the man would do her the same proposal even if he wasn't about to die.

"If even Maximilian can fight to keep such a promise and for mankind, why shouldn't you, who are so much better than him, do the same?"

Todd was faced with an impasse. There was a side of him that didn't want to listen, that wasn't interested in becoming anything more than what the woman had just talked about. Another part of him, however, had been awakened; this one desperately aspired to the company of those people, she needed a harmony and a missing half to his soul.

Todd touched his bony cheek, even thinner than when he arrived. He looked at his arms and legs, which didn't have the aches of a lifetime sitting in an office chair. He looked at the sky and found there a peaceful weather, as beautiful as on the rough rocks of his Texas. He breathed and in his veins passed a pure oxygen and never soiled by the smog of an urban life.

"They forced me to train and they want me not to have this class anymore."

“No, Todd”, Eudokia smiled, “they just want you to overcome this obstacle. You are on a continent that has seen the birth of the greatest Heroes of the last three millennia. They don't see failure in you. "

Eudokia put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed hard.

"They see hope."

"What if they only see a failure?"

"Then they wouldn't be Vanedenis, little man."

Todd clenched his fists, squeezing them until his fingernails dug into the flesh.

“And what am I supposed to do, then? In all these days I have not been able to level up even once ... This class makes me ..."

“Petty, like all classes of this type. The world is cruel and tries to cast shadows on people when others are not looking. But nobody here has forgotten about you. Maximilian talked about you for a good part of the trip, together with the other people who impressed him the most. And, among other promises, he said he would train you personally."

There were few things that Todd could not imagine; Maximilian talking about him in front of a woman to pass the time was one of them. Therefore, he deduced that he must have spoken ill of him and-

[A Regal Heart Never Lies]

"No, he didn't speak ill of you."

It was as if Eudokia had read his mind.

And her words were like a royal edict, covered with gold and impossible to corrupt. Todd realized that the woman was not lying. He felt a nobility of soul fall upon his soul with such royalty that he was no longer a coward for a few moments.

“That man is much more complicated than you imagine. I could teach you what to do and what paths unfold in front of you. But, if you want advice, go to him. Maximilian doesn't even have a shred of my knowledge of this world, but I'm sure he could help you much better than me.

“It often happens that humans perfect themselves when they work with their own strength. I know, I know you: you know how to find much more strength when you put your souls together.” Todd grimaced at the woman's condescending expression. It seemed to him that she was reserving her compassion for him. And he didn't need it. He got up and started to leave, but stopped.

"Eudokia", he turned slightly towards her, "do you think that one day we will be able to return to our world?"

"I don't know, little man, I don't know."

"If we could return, do you think Maximilian would be strong enough to resurrect ... a person?"

Eudokia saw in the silhouette of the man the same pain she had seen in myriads of glances; whether they were peasants or rulers, they all died and suffered equally.

“I'm not a [Necromancer] and I don't know the techniques you're talking about, but I know this: bringing a fresh corpse back to life is very difficult. Resurrecting a bunch of bones requires the intervention of a deity."

Todd nodded and turned his back to the woman again, he didn't want to talk anymore.

…

The fact that Maximilian had been missing for four days left Strith ... sad? Offended for not having accompanied him? Surely, now that he had seen that woman at his side, there was a hint of ... jealousy. The sentiment grew clearer as the obsidian-haired woman entered the training ground, clearly targeting the little girl with the blond bob. She smiled, with each step more and more intensely. Strith relaxed her muscles, ready to create a second smile, but on her neck. And with his sword, if she didn't understand.

[True Sight Belongs to Those Who Reign]

"Your people are very inclined to receive a class like yours. Or, to behave as if they did. In my whole life, I remember at most two or three civilizations that have had so many [Heroes]. Be proud, young one." Something strange happened.

Strith's blood froze in her veins.

How did this woman know about her new class?

What was even stranger was that Maximilian, who was just behind the woman, hurriedly approached her and coughed. His gaze exuded a restlessness that Strith never imagined she would see.

Eudokia returned his tangible nervousness with a curious glance.

"Bollocks, move out. Eudokia, stop irritating the girl."

"You live in an underdeveloped village and, instead of leading these people, you play with them. I don't think you should think too much about what I'm doing, more about the situations you have created and should remedy."

"Okay, okay. Come on, come on, I'm hungry. I'm sick of that shit that you made me eat. I think it's time to raise pigs, since nobody here allows me to borrow them."

"And a person like you would be able to raise animals? Pigs, too? What will you do, will you roll with them in the mud to be loved by them?"

At those words, Strith laughed heartily, earning a bitter look from the Londoner.

"Eat the pig's tail and go to fuck yourself. I'll go, see you later. I'm going to understand how difficult it will be to create a cheese factory. Bollocks, I forgot to ask for chips."

Maximilian had spoken to her, in all seriousness, of wanting to open a dairy, of wanting to produce various pies - as he called them - and to export the gastronomic delicacies of his world all over the planet. After his personal research in the field of necromancy, this was his second goal.

Once he left, the two women found themselves in silence. Nobody dared to speak to Eudokia. They all feared her mysterious strength. They knew that the person who had tamed Maximilian had to hide immeasurable power behind her welcoming motherly smile, but Strith was not like the others. She looked Eudokia straight in the eye and asked the question that was on everyone's tongue: "How did you get here? Overcome the Curtain?"

"Flying and walking, mainly.” Strith was puzzled by the answer, before catching the irony in the words and the smile on Eudokia's face. The woman was making fun of her. Noting the despair on the young woman's face, Eudokia widened her smile and answered sincerely.

"The Curtain has limited power in a certain space. If a body occupies a finite volume, the power it can exert on it is finished. If you became small enough, but without becoming weaker, you could survive the crossing too."

The girl got lost in that abstruse logic.

"To put it simply, a humanoid being can represent the vessel of a power large enough that it is impossible for the Curtain to annihilate it without violating the same magic it is made of," Eudokia continued, "unfortunately none of you have all the strength to perform such a feat."

Strith instinctively turned in the direction Maximilian had disappeared.

"No, my little one, not even him. Maximilian had to use a much more elaborate stratagem to get a free passage through the Curtain. And the only reason it worked is because none of those lazy Harbingers really want to monitor the situation; had it been otherwise, Maximilian would never have been able to overcome the veil of energy that keeps you segregated here."

The woman stroked Strith's head with a delicacy rare among the Vanedenis.

"A great power can do nothing if the rest,” she pointed at her body, "cannot support it."

Strith looked down at her short legs with a hint of shame and anger as she thought about her build which, however muscular she might be, always remained too slim. The tall, terribly beautiful woman let out a laugh, putting a hand over her mouth as a sign of shame.

"Don't look at me like that, woman-cub. I wasn't referring to your legs or your height, but how much power your body can hold. Between two level 60 warriors, one man and one woman, there is no real physical difference. Skills and control will be more important. And then… there are other secrets I would like to reveal to you, but not now."

Eudokia took a few steps away from her. Strith thought she would leave her there, like an abandoned spear stuck in the ground, wondering what the words he had just heard meant. Instead the woman spoke to her again.

“You know, I personally met one of your ancestors. I felt sympathy for him and gave him a gift. He wasn't talented at all, and it took him a long time to become a true warrior. After so long… I can't wait to test what his descendants are capable of."

“Now?”

"Now, tomorrow, in a millennium ... I can wait." And she resumed walking towards the houses.

Strith chased after her at a brisk pace. "Have you already trained some of my people?"

"Why do you want to be a Hero, little Strith?"

The Vanedeni girl had the impression that she was talking to a noble, even if she did not even know what a noble looked like, and if he had the same features as any inhabitant of Ankon.

"To win the war ... my lady?" "

Ah! I have never found the strictly necessary formalities unlike my fellow men, but it is good for the heart to know that you have not yet become barbarians without understanding. My lady will be fine, from now on, at least during our lessons. But no other titles, I am old enough to be tired of being treated like a caryatid.”

"In any case," she continued, "yours is a more than valid reason. And I ask you to forgive my cheekiness in advance, but I need something more to know who I'm working with."

Their walk ended when the woman decided to sit in the middle of the street. Strith rolled her eyes. Had Drenger passed by with his iron-filled wagon, he would not have hesitated to mow Eudokia out of his way. However, for some strange reason, the wagons passed by them and their drivers seemed not to see them. Then Strith decided to sit in the middle of the street too, facing the woman.

“So why do you feel you want to stop this war? Power? Fame? You know, sometimes orphans like you seek reassurance in the masses, they demand love from those who had denied it to them.“ Strith felt her neck stiffen and her skin turn scarlet. She clenched her fists and looked at Eudokia, who was now watching her with a hint of mischief in her eyes.

She knew. The young woman relaxed her shoulders and took a deep breath.

"My lady, I do not struggle either for the memory of my parents or for what they never gave me. In war you suffer. I would like to spare many people suffering like the one I will be forced to experience. This is why."

Eudokia put a hand on her shoulder.

"You offer yourself as a means of catharsis to purify the pain of your people - a feat worthy of a Hero. Nothing moves for nothing. Throw light on the path of others and yours will become clearer too, my little one."

"Why is this important for my training?" Strith asked. Eudokia's words were not entirely clear to her, but she thought she understood their general meaning.

"Maximilian must have put you under enormous pressure to make your class emerge. But there are a thousand other ways, much less violent, to align the world with your heart. Once you understand who you are and what you are doing, you can begin to shape your soul on the basis of the path you have decided to take. It is not enough to fight to become stronger. Have you ever seen Maximilian fight?"

It was then that the girl became aware of a very basic truth, which until then had always escaped her. Combat classes typically levelled up by training hard or fighting; other classes, taking actions related to their class. Only wizards, from what she knew, could level up without doing anything but meditating and reading books ... But maybe there were other ways, other truths to discover.

“My lesson for today is this: observe the pain of others, even if you cannot share it because of your nature, try to understand it, but don't get lost inside it. Don't let it corrupt you, soften you, or make you what you are not. When the blood of friends soaks your clothes, mixing with that of enemies, you will realize what it means to suffer and how difficult it is to eradicate that suffering at the root.”

“You will see your loved ones die and the more you reach the heights of power, the less your fellow Vanedeni will come to you. The little attention you now receive from those around you will turn into fearful looks. Every day you will risk dying to accomplish feats greater than you, and your few companions will follow you, risking their lives, or turn their backs on you. It is difficult to know what fate awaits you, but the earth has never been light for anyone, not even for your Heroes."

"My lady, how ..."

"Look. Just watch. Look at Themistocles and Tukker, then at Todd and Maximilian, then at the young man called Matthew and the proud Camilla. Everyone is plagued or blessed by fate."

Questions were now pressing Strith's tongue, too curious to sit still between the girl's restless teeth.

"And how do you know who is cursed and who is not?"

Eudokia looked at her with a raised eyebrow and the girl added: "... my lady."

“It's a mere matter of point of view, that's all. There are men who create desert oases by digging the sand with their own hands and women who burn buildings full of artifacts because they have been served the wrong wine. The choice is entirely up to them, not you. It's their point of view, not yours.”

“Remember, cub, no creature has ever been immune to arrogance and villainy. Dragons created the Ahalis and were punished by their own creations. And this happened because they were so foolish as to fashion a race of servants for the sole purpose of mistreating them, humiliating them and treating them like pawns ... What a bad reputation they created with their own hands."

At the word dragons the air around Eudokia began to quiver with electricity, as if enchanted.

"And you, my lady ... have you met dragons?"

“Meet them? Oh, baby, how blind your people have become. I didn't think you could do any worse than that fool Erer. Well, maybe you'll surprise me tomorrow. But I hope this time I can make you a decent warrior in a more acceptable amount of time."

Eudokia snapped her fingers and disappeared into thin air. Strith stood there dazed, alone, in the middle of the road.

“Ah, one thing: Maximilian said he will train you personally. I have only a couple of lessons and a present in store for you. Remember that."

Eudokia's voice was very close to her, as if the woman had approached her ear from behind her shoulder and had spoken to her, but… when she turned around she found no one!

"Hey, Strith, are you crazy?" shouted a merchant who had come dangerously close to the girl, risking to have her trampled by his donkey with his back full of vegetables. “What the hell are you doing sitting in the middle of a street? I was going to kill you, you reckless girl! Well done, run, go to train and don't hinder the work of others!"

Strith had started running as soon as she realized that, really, if she stayed there for a second longer she wouldn't live long enough to fight the Ahalis.

So, as she made her way back to the training ground, she thought back to the strangeness of the conversation she had had with Eudokia, the task of a Hero, the story of the dragons, and even how silly Erer was.

One second.

Erer?

Erer, the Hero who had bent the Almiri Paladins with his invincible and enormous halberd?

…

It was difficult for Matthew to imagine Maximilian in more absurd situations than they had experienced since their arrival in Ankon. Instead, the fact that the Londoner had a woman by his side was something immensely difficult for him to imagine.

And not so much for the fact that she was a woman, but because this incarnation of the perfect woman, which not even the Vanedenis had ever seen, he had found somewhere. She was much taller than Maximilian. And she also towered a bit over Matthew, who certainly was not short.

She was so beautiful that no one could help but feel awed by her presence. Not even all the boldness of the young Californian would have been enough to give him courage and ask her where she had come from. Matthew had certainly not ruled out that it could be an undead doll created by Maximilian to make fun of them; or to… well, to play with?

He shook his head. No, there had to be something underneath and he would have discovered it! Even if several hours had passed since Maximilian's return, and he had not yet collected any clues useful for the investigation. To tell the truth, he hadn't picked up any clues at all. He was too focused on his training to ask around.

He was left alone in the training camp and was intent on doing push-ups, to improve the ridiculous and pathetic muscle mass that miraculously keeps you on your feet.

“Maximilian was right. Drug use on your planet has made you very skinny, man-cub." Matthew gave a start. He hadn't seen anyone coming. He raised his head and found the woman who had arrived in the village with Maximilian not even a meter away.

He was immobilized for a few seconds. It had never occurred to him to feel intimidated by a woman's beauty and height.

"D ... drugs?"

His brain belatedly registered the trick shot of the idiot who loved to steal pigs.

"Will you stay in that position forever?"

Matthew blinked a couple of times before realizing that he was completely lying on the ground, with his elbows raised up to the height of his head. He sat up and the woman laughed tenderly.

"I brought you an elixir that can solve your problems."

The Californian watched her as she pulled a small glass bottle out of nowhere, in mid-air.

[Regal Blessing - A True Talent Doesn't Develop by Itself]

Matthew felt a breath of warm air envelop his body and relax his muscles. If he had paid more attention, he would also have noticed that the lactic acid seemed to be gone and that his body was now more vigorous and receptive to change. It was as if a few seconds before he had struggled to move as if he were in a pool of foul water and now, instead ... But all he could say was:

"But I've never smoked more than a couple of joints, why are you talking about drugs?!"

“Maximilian told me that it is a great shame and your city is plagued by this phenomenon, the shadow of what it once was. But don't worry, this elixir is powerful enough not to leave any long-term marks. I only advise you against looking for other artificial methods to strengthen your constitution. Maximilian also told me about the erectile problems caused by your abuse - in another occasion I would not have had much sympathy for you, but looking at how determined you are, it seems fair to give you a second chance on behalf of this world."

"Plagued? Erectile problems? Constitution?! I was born skinny! I don't get fat, it's hard to gain weight even when I eat twenty kebabs a day!"

Eudokia did not answer. She just tossed the bottle skyward and watched it rise. Matthew got up in a hurry trying to grab it before it crashed on the sandy ground. After grabbing it, he looked around. Eudokia was gone.

…

Maximilian looked up from a series of very complicated formulas, full of diagrams, numbers and scribbles, hearing the creaking of a door and its resounding close.

She entered the room.

"Mmm? Oi, you, can you avoid slamming that fucking door?" he protested.

"I gave the boy the elixir."

“Ahah, great. Did you tell him what we agreed on? "

“Yes, you should have seen it. Poor thing, I almost feel guilty."

“Remember, taking the piss out of a Californian communist hippie is a duty, even more than a leisure. Besides, I knew he would be speechless."

“Well, in exchange for a little teasing he received a very rare elixir. I have very few bottles left. I don't know what you have in mind, but what you just did is a great investment."

“Bollocks, what a stress. Trust me. If we continue like this, it will be difficult not to get them all killed."

“I understand your choice not to go into battle, but you also know that, for now, you haven't completely convinced me. If, after all I am doing for you, you still need my help, I would be very disappointed in you. "

Maximilian snorted. "I hope you enjoy pissing me off."

“It was worth it to leave my dwelling, if only to relive moments of light-heartedness. At my court I have always had to hide my need for hilarity. It was all too boring."

"But think how nice it is to be able to execute whoever you want when you're bored, bollocks."

“Bah, it's overrated. The political consequences of such extreme actions are never appreciable. If you want to kill indiscriminately, being a noble is the last thing you want."

Eudokia looked from behind Maximilian's back and peered at his work.

[An Advice That Can Change Everything]

“Amazing how you haven't founded a magic academy yet. After getting to know you so well, I shouldn't be surprised to read these words, but I am. What you wrote was a famous theorem by a terrible Vanedeni [Necromancer]."

"Bollocks, I had already thought about it," Maximilian replied with pride. "I already have a student." Then his voice took on a dark, almost offended inflection: "Anyway, my theorem is done better."

He just couldn't accept that someone had stolen his work. Even if someone had lived decades before him.

“His certainly had fewer scribbles,” Eudokia said, sitting in mid-air in an invisible chair, supported by her magic.

“And fewer recursive parts”, the Londoner pointed out. “This formula is becoming so efficient that no catalyst will be needed shortly. Just to accumulate enough mana."

"Maximilian."

The man put down his pencil and turned around.

"Eudokia?"

“I hope you will be able to keep the promise you made to me. Today was not a bad start. "

…

DAY 9

Maximilian, for some strange reason, was enthusiastic to introduce Themistocles to Eudokia, and for this reason he had decided to go without warning to the Athenian's house.

“You see, bollocks, where we come from, things are a lot more difficult. You can know if you have won a battle only in retrospect, at the moment you can only see the dead. But, when Themistocles commanded his people's army, there was a time when everyone understood that their enemies would crush them. The Persians were like the Ahalis, but they stank of perfume, and the Greeks didn't like that smell at all. And so, the Greeks were the good ones, and the Persians the bad ones - ye ken, like a children's story.

“Then”, the man continued, “you must know that these idiot Greeks had never had a fleet worth bragging about. They were sitting ducks on the water. And Themistocles, our Themistocles, convinced the whole city of Athens that it was necessary to implement the fleet, because according to him it was the only way to compete against the enemies."

Maximilian paused for a while, looking for the most suitable words.

“And Themistocles, in one of the most difficult moments in the history of his people, said well cool, let's go to sea. And they didn't agree with him! He had a rival who said horrible things about him. And he, despite everything, decided to take a decision that could have jeopardized the freedom of all his people."

Eudokia was amazed to hear these words. "Yet he doesn't seem like such a bold person to me now."

“Well, I already told you what happened to us when we came to this world: whatever age we were on Earth, we all came back as bold young men. The Themistocles you see is twenty, but his brain is sixty. Eh, bollocks, he's an old man too."

Eudokia smiled but didn't answer.

They had arrived in front of the Athenian's house.

Maximilian knocked only once, before pushing the door and crossing the door with his arms outstretched. He found Themistocles studying papers, as he had imagined.

Themistocles had been taken aback, but he couldn't be said to be surprised. With Maximilian you had to be ready for anything.

"No weird gods or exaggerated mental trips, it's all true! The Ahalis exist. I have yet to scout our enemy village, but I've already seen several around. Look, I have here with me a couple of cute sketches I've done just for you. "

The Londoner reached out to Eudokia, who made rolls of paper materialize right in front of him. The woman grabbed them and delicately handed them to Themistocles, leaving Maximilian with his hand hanging in the air.

[A Great Spirit Does Not Age]

The man from Athens, who had not had the opportunity to squash even a word, or to assimilate the news he had just received, felt his soul suddenly change. A wave of courage and strength filled his spirit. The ambition, which had been dormant for years, was awakened. In this world he had only had to take power to make sure he didn't lose his life, but now… now he felt something again gripping him deep inside and pushing him to action.

Maximilian had a glimmer of latent adventure in his pupils. He looked at Themistocles and recognized the same look in him.

"Ready to blow up this continent, cunt?"

The Athenian retraced the stages of his life, as miserable as that of the young Icarus. He had flown too high, so his wax wings gave way, letting him fall.

He had fought against armies that had made the ground tremble, armies of soldiers whose only chance was to defeat the enemy or become his slaves. His exploits had made Athens the most famous city in all of Greece, admired and envied by the rest of the Greeks and also by the Persians.

The knowledge that the Harbingers had infused into his mind were mild strips of emotion, battered by a story that had not been lived.

When he had seen the victories of his own citizens after his era, he had felt no pride. Thanks to him, Athens could boast of having defeated the Persians, and Athens had betrayed him.

He had died in a foreign land, estranged from those who had acclaimed him.

He had been political and he had shaken hands and united people. He had been a strategist and had made his men heroes. He had been the protector of his city, but he had died an exile.

His children too had had to suffer his fate, innocent, they too had been punished by an ungrateful people.

Perhaps he had lost Athens, but Ankon, he would hold on to it.

Themistocles approached Maximilian and twitched his lips and jaw. He spoke to him through his teeth, gripping his forearm tightly.

"Let's take the continent, Maximilian, let's do it. Let's give these people something to believe in. Maybe, in my past life I offended the gods. In this one, we'll show them how wrong they were."

Maximilian felt an electric shock run through his body.

"Cunt, let's break everything."

The Athenian nodded and smiled. "I have a perfect battle plan, but I need your full trust."

"What would be the great plan, my great strategist?"

"Do you know what allowed the Vanedenis to be so big and fearsome?"

“Weapons, crazy people like few have seen? Have you heard that practically none of their armies has ever made a non-strategic retreat? There have been cases in which, before losing, these sons of bitches had to fight until they were almost totally exterminated."

Another smile accompanied Themistocles's head in a gesture of denial. “Theirs was certainly an admirable people, and I pray that their virtues have remained unchanged from those of their ancestors. But none of this made them invincible. It was the ships, Maximilian." He was silent for a second, flooded with memories. "If the ships have beaten the Persians, they can also beat the Ahalis."

Maximilian looked at Themistocles and squinted, then frowned and smirked.

"Ships? We are a thousand miles from the ocean. How do we use them? Shall we put wheels under the hull?"

"Ships that fly."

Maximilian was about to laugh, but he realized that Eudokia was nodding, satisfied, and that Themistocles was looking at both of his guests with great conviction. For several moments, his mind dropped the mask of the mad jester, and returned to one of his nasty maniacal habits: perfectionism.

The Vanedenis gained their fame thanks to the mobility of the flying ships that were designed by the crew of their second hero. They had allowed them not only to descend from the huge cliffs of Kome and climb them without expeditions to the limit of survival, but also to have a mobility never seen before. The ability to fly and appear in front of one's enemies...This continent has the same elevation as a huge mountain, but the most recent sources reported that ships were only used to descend from cliffs, whose vertical walls are thousands of meters long. They are not even powerful enough to cross the chasm that separates the southern and the northern part... But.

There are multiple ways to make a ship fly. Bollocks, we could even attach it to a huge balloon — no, no mobility that way. A magic so powerful as to lead a vessel into the sky, as if it were on the high seas...

The mind of the Londoner was spinning at full speed, jumping from one solution to another, processing geometry, mathematics and physics at the speed of a computer. He remained for several moments - for him an eternity had passed - inside his mind. Then, he looked at Themistocles and saw a maniacal smile, a light in his eyes, a story ... But Themistocles' words interrupted his thoughts.

"What are these monstrous creatures?"

Maximilian focused on the image of the Athenian who had taken in his hands the rolls of paper on which the features of their enemies were depicted.

“It's the Ahalis,” Eudokia interjected.

Themistocles grimaced and looked at the other sheet. His expression deteriorated noticeably. A loud laugh escaped Eudokia.

"Are they ... rabbits?" asked the Athenian.

"With the body of a monkey, yes."

"And do they show their private parts without shame?"

"Ahhh, bollocks, Themistocles, it's a precise artistic choice." Maximilian approached the Greek with a firm step and the index finger of his right hand raised, ready to indicate the details of his work of art. "I was inspired by the Playboy bunnies."

Themistocles looked bewildered at Maximilian, then at Eudokia, but the woman shrugged, also unaware of what the Londoner was saying.

"I did other sketches, more boring, but these are better."

“And they correspond very much to reality,” Eudokia confirmed. "Except for the poses."

Themistocles placed the illustrations on the table, covering them with paperwork full of rickety notes. "For now, I'll take them."

Eudokia passed her eyes over Themistocles' young face. He recognized something inexplicably ancient in his features.

“Venerable Themistocles, much has been told to me about you. With your skills, you will prove that you are a worthy leader and your exploits will be remembered in this world as well. Now, you and Maximilian have something important to discuss, and I have taken the responsibility of helping the warriors in training. We will soon be able to become friends, as well as allies. Good job."

And he disappeared under the stern gaze of Themistocles.

Maximilian cleared his throat and pointed to the spot where, until a moment before, Eudokia had been. "Did you see that bomb?"

"Be careful of that woman," the Athenian said dryly.

“Uh?”

“She has great power and tremendous influence over you, we've all noticed. Remember what your priorities are."

"Oi, cunt, I only have one woman in my life. With my daughter, two. But even if it were not so, there is no other space for any woman at the moment.” Themistocles was immediately aware of the sudden change in Maximilian's attitude. It was weird. For this he decided to test it a little longer.

"You are a man just like me, you know how irresistible a woman's delicious perfume is, much more than affairs of state."

"I told you there's only one woman for me."

"It didn't look like that from the way you looked at Eudokia white-arms." The Athenian laughed and continued: "When you are away from home, loneliness makes itself felt and then it becomes necessary to snuggle between two shapely thighs. But don't let these spoil you ahead of time."

"Yes, yes, bollocks. I would really appreciate two calf legs for braising. Then I'll take a bottle of gravy and I'll break it on your head, idiot."

Maximilian laughed and, without giving the other too much time to answer, went to the door, not even bothering to close it. Themistocles laughed loudly. He was about to close the door when Eudokia's voice made its way into his ears.

“Wait, venerable Themistocles. Wait and take a good look."

Themistocles waited in front of the open door, looking towards Maximilian's black tower that stood in the distance.

“Nobody could scratch those walls. Keep that in mind."

Themistocles was about to ask what she meant when...

CRASH!

An explosion went off from the third floor of the tower.

"There are things your eyes aren't ready to see yet."

Themistocles closed the door as the explosions followed one after the other, and the tower leaked heavy bricks.

"Never question his love for what he called his wife, or you may know his darker side."