Chapter 63

To Win the Hearts

“Trust not the lines written on the parchment of gold; they are lined with greed, within and without.”

Ancient Proverbs

On their way back, beyond the general panic of the ordinary people, Noah noticed another strange thing – the City Guards pulling back in concentric circles, lunging toward the Palace. Rather than going there overtly, however, they tried to remain hidden, causing him to glance at Asandra for an explanation.

“—it would induce further panic,” she explained. “This way, at least temporarily, it will be contained.”

Noah remained silent despite numerous questions swelling inside his mind, such as why recall the guards? As far as he knew, Elucido had an army – it might not be the largest, but it was still in the thousands. If the military response was necessary, wouldn’t it be better to send specifically war-trained soldiers rather than ordinary City Guards? Or is the situation so bad that they have to send everyone?

He still wasn't any closer to finding out what the 'return of the Kindled' meant than he was when he first learned of it – all the books he read on the subject were just as vague as others who spoke of the event. They mentioned ruin and chaos and dread and death the 'Kindled' would spread, and then quickly move onto the heroic figures who stopped them. Rather, he wasn't even yet certain whether it was just a natural cataclysmic event, like a volcanic eruption, or something akin to an army invasion.

In tow with three extra slaves, their journey back to the Royal Grounds took a while longer than the descent to the slaver’s market, and, by the time they returned, Noah saw a fledgling number of armor-clad Guards lining the outside of the Palace. They seemed orderly enough, though their expression hardly painted a picture of seasoned veterans ready to respond to an emergency. They seemed more like a mob-raised militia, except without the idealistic fervor to push their sails and make them ignore their basic instincts.

Rather than tangling himself with them, he made a beeline toward Olivia’s mansion, coming across several dozen souls on his way over, everyone from Royal Guards to Royal Dacents. While when the Bells struck in the Fort, there was still a panicked reaction, it reached nowhere near this level. The sky’s like a bad omen, then? Or sort of a warning?

He could, at best, continue to speculate, but settled against it. By the time he returned to his chambers, he could already hear the shouts coming from the outside of the building. He ignored them, and entered the room, tossing the boy in his hands onto the floor. The world was still shaking, though it was not as bad as before.

Asandra followed suit, though tossing the woman over onto the bed, while Row simply stared dumbly around the room.

“… let’s go see the Princess,” Noah said in the end, realizing it would do him no good to simply push his own thoughts. Only a few people were entirely aware of his identity – Olivia, Vorvil, and the King himself. While he couldn’t discount that the three told someone else, it wasn’t likely. That meant, however, that he could only ask those three direct questions rather than pondering whether the answer to his question was ‘common knowledge’ here. In addition, he decided to also let Asandra in on the ‘secret’ as she would be spending a lot of time with him, and constantly dancing around would get tiring. “You three,” he turned to the somewhat confused-looking slaves. “Someone will come to attend to you shortly; in the meantime, there’s booze in that corner, and fruits in the other. Go nuts.”

Noah spun around and headed toward the doors, followed by Asandra who gave a cold glance toward the slaves, as a sort of a warning. She sped up slightly and caught up to him, matching his pace once again. Olivia’s chambers were just by the curving corridor’s end, though it wasn’t certain whether she’d be there.

“… what kind of a person is the Princess?” Asandra asked curiously. Though her Uncle was a Commander, it afforded her little clout personally, and she would only on occasion meet some lesser Nobles, but never a member of a Royal Family – at least not directly.

“I imagine just like most girls her age,” Noah replied. “Just far richer.”

“… that’s one way to put it, I suppose.” Asandra shrugged, deciding not to probe any further.

Noah knocked a few times on the curved, hand-carved doors before a reply came from the inside. Opening the doors, he saw Olivia sitting on the sofa in the center of the room, sipping wine directly from the bottle, gazing out through the terrace at the red sky.

“… I’m surprised you’re here.” Noah said, walking up and sitting down opposite of her, while Asandra stood behind him, curiously staring at the scene. Even if she never met a member of the Royal Family, she knew well-enough the basic proceedings when greeting them, none of which Noah employed in the slightest.

“… unfortunately,” Olivia smiled bitterly, paying a curious glance toward Asandra before moving it back onto Noah. “I’m nowhere near qualified to be attending the War Meetings, I’m afraid.”

“… could you at least clue me in as to what’s going on?” Noah said. “This is too big of an event to go into it blindly.”

“… what about her?” Olivia asked, pointing at Asandra.

“… I’ve hired her as my personal bodyguard,” Noah smiled faintly. “I trust her judgment well-enough. And if not that, I trust my ability to silence her before she spills the beans.”

“… we know little of the Fire’s origin,” Olivia spoke out after a moment of silence, deciding to trust Noah’s judgment. “As it’s a part of the pre-Light era. What we do know, however, was that the Ancient Peoples offered annual sacrifices at the Mt. Kindle’s summit as to appease it. While we never confirmed it, we suspect that they come from the mountain itself. Following the founding of the Kingdom, we never paid much attention to it until it happened, for the first time, nearly a hundred years into the Kingdom’s life. Clouds of ash and fire were spewed into the sky and, a few weeks later, our entire horizon was drowned in the silhouettes of fire and blaze. Tens of thousands of creatures shaped like men came storming our lands, scorching everything in their wake.”

“…” A mix of a natural catastrophe and something magical, then?

“The only way to fight them is actually through Light,” Olivia continued, taking a deep breath. “As most ordinary weapons melt before even touching them.”

“Most?”

"… during the last Kindling," she elaborated. "A man visited the King at the time and gave him a sword as a 'gift'. The man said that he lives inside the mountain, and periodically uses its smoldering fires to craft weapons and tools. By his words, only works crafted in the mountain's deeps can endure the Kindle's heat."

“… was it confirmed?”

“Hm,” she nodded. “It’s currently one of our most treasured Artefacts.”

“…” while the two conversed, Asandra looked on dumbly, periodically glancing at Olivia and then at Noah. Most of what the Princess said was common knowledge – something that even the peasants knew to some extent, let alone a Royal Dacent.

“What do you think will be the course of action now?” Noah asked.

"The sky Blooded far quicker than we anticipated," Olivia replied. "Father planned on holding a tournament to endow the most gifted fighters with Light, but chances are that there won't be time for it. We've learned from previous failures not to let the Kindled reach the Kingdom's borders, so he'll probably assemble a set of armies and meet them either at the Silent Crossing or beyond it."

“… a set of armies?” Noah asked.

“Assembling the Illuminated… is a headache-inducing task, even for the King,” she said, biting her lower lip in frustration. “Especially for something like this, where their lives could be in danger. For that reason, he’ll most-likely send ordinary soldiers to act as a meat shield for as long as possible as to gather as many Illuminated as he can.”

“…” it was nothing out of the ordinary, at least not for Noah. Asandra, on the other hand, barely held in a growl of anger, her expression nearly crumbling. “Hmm…”

“… what are you thinking?” Olivia asked, noticing that Noah was stroking his chin tenderly – something he did when he thought of an idea, usually a rather insane one.

“… this might be your opportunity to shine.”

“Hm?” Olivia frowned, having a bad premonition over this.

“Have you been going to the Principality regularly as I advised?”

“I have.”

“Then you can lead by an example.” Noah said, smiling innocently; Olivia, however, knew that innocent smile all-too-well, one which sent shivers down her spine.

“… y-you’re not suggesting… I head to the frontlines?”

“Why not?” Noah shrugged. “I’m not saying you should go there and die, or even fight. But think about it. How would it look… if the entire Kingdom’s worth of the Illuminated were trying to hide, while the Nobles are endlessly debating over who to send, and while the common soldiers are sent to their certain deaths… how would it look if the little-known, but well-liked Princess braved the storm and set ahead to the frontlines herself, ready to protect her Kingdom by any means necessary.”

“…” Olivia’s frowned vanished immediately as her eyes lit up.

“It won’t take long before others follow in your steps,” Noah added. “Not because they’ll share-in your fervor, but because they’ll be too ashamed not to go. If a little Princess has enough courage to march out there on her own, what would that make them? In addition, while there, you can help the wounded, pray for the dead, and maintain morale. Think about it…"

“…” There it was! Asandra ascertained – the whisper of the devil, the one so sweet and tantalizing even she couldn’t resist it. It pulls you in and loops you over your own heart, feeding you dreams and desires. And it was working – the Princess’ expression was one of elation and joy, despite having just been suggested to head out to meet the Kindled head-on.

"Soon enough, there will be massive canvases depicting you, shielded in a cocoon of light, golden and glistening, standing opposite of the sea of fire, single-handedly holding the river of the blaze at bay."

“…w-wait, I can’t do that—”

“It’s about the stories, Your Highness,” Noah cracked a smile. “Not about what was done or not. Who will claim otherwise? The Illuminated or the Nobles who went there days if not weeks after you? Even if everyone knows that wasn’t how the story went, they'll remain silent with their tongues tied. You and you alone will be the light that will be celebrated, even if, in the end, someone else scoops in and literally ends the invasion. It won’t matter. They were late. You were there when it all began, ready to die for your countrymen. Unlike others, you will have not cared for the throne, you will have not cared for the wealth, for the power, for the War for power… you will be the one who cared for those nobody cares for, Olivia. Set ten thousand veteran soldiers against the hundred thousand naked peasants, and they’ll be drowned in the sea of fervor. This can be our foundation. The wings that we need. The wind that will carry us.”

While Noah kept feeding Olivia the devilish whispers, Asandra once again found herself lost. It almost sounded as though Her Highness was vying for the throne as well – yet, it was public knowledge that she was the solitary member of the Royal Family that didn’t care much for it. She was well-liked, as far as Asandra knew, but nobody really thought of her as a competent ruler. Yet, within these four, red-shining walls, she was let-in onto something that would shake the foundations of the Kingdom was it to be known – a single, ordinary-looking Dacent was lying down a story that would act the role of her stairs to the throne and the crown.

And… it was feasible. Everything he said… was true. People's hearts are easy to buy, just as easy as they are to sell. However, there are some things, some acts, that seal those hearts forever – and her ‘selfless sacrifice in the face of the great evil’ would be unmatched. No matter what other Princes and Princesses did in the aftermath would never come even close. She would seal herself over the entire world into their hearts… by simply going there at the start, and virtually doing nothing. She once again glanced at the Dacent down below, sitting there with a gleeful smile. He was terrifying – far more terrifying than any edge of the blade, than any knife, than any monster she’d slain. Within a month, the world will change completely – yet no one, bar the two extra souls in this room, would ever learn of who was responsible for it. It will be Her Highness’ kind heart… and not the cocooning shadow whispering from behind her, guiding her, teaching her. He can change it, she now knew, at least to some extent, what kind of a person Noah was.

He would not permit corruption – at least not to the extent it was currently spread. Perhaps it would not be for the idealistic reasons, and instead for far more selfish ones, but he would uphold the law across the board. The world under him may not be the fairest and the easiest to live in, but it would be one far better than what they had today. Perhaps it was too optimistic, turning the keys to the hearts of the millions of people to a single soul, but Asandra finally had hope in her, hope that there would be a change. Not a natural one, but the one he’ll force. And no one… no one would ever probably even know. Terrifying…