Chapter 24 - "The secret passage"

3 Weeks have passed since our battle against Earl Mankan men, and right now I was running in place of the scout, 10 km in front of the second prince force, the reason as to why it became like that? It was mainly to use me as a scout and repellent against enemies and because like that I could have Mysty and Setsuna on my back at the same time, stopping their complains and jealousy.

After defeating the Earl small army like that and make them runaway in fear, the rumors about me became even more wilds and now even nobles were afraid of me... After the Earl another noble send an army after me, but like the first one they ran away as soon as they saw of what I was capable of. After that we almost see nobody and when we did, I didn't even have to fight as they ran away as soon as they saw me...

That was annoying to say the least, why the king obstinate himself to not send any champion my way? That's strange, maybe he want them to all attack me together as we reach the capital... Also I was really curious as to why he didn't just send every nobles after us at the same time to crush our small numbers of men, but for that, Arllan already explained to me why.

The first reason was because we were underestimated because of this very same small number, that's the reason why we took only that much men with us.

The second was because Arllan sent threat to every nobles in the kingdom, saying that if they were to group together they wouldn't be forgiven after Sarius would take the throne. Why he made such a a roundabout threat? It was because that way the nobles wouldn't take any risk by not disobeying their current king and would be able to attack us, but won't band together against us in the small chance that Sarius succeed in taking the throne from his brother.

The last reason was that most nobles didn't have any loyalty for the current king, mostly because, ironically enough, he killed my father and branded him a traitor when he was a hero who saved a lot of those very same nobles in the war against Nalldam. Even if someone is accused of being the one behind the death of a king, a hero like him should have been judged fairly in front of a fair court, but he was killed without even be given this chance on order of that fool of first prince. And if that wasn't enough he even attacked his family going against the code of honor of the Kingdom, no matter how you look at it this guy a true retard who know nothing of politic, I wonder why there are even people following him? To manipulate him maybe...

Anyway here I was, running alone with my two swords on my back talking with them to pass the time.

[So my lord? What do thou plan to do after we saved thy sister? Are thou going to accept Sarrina proposition?] (Setsuna)

"Mmm... Well I thought about it a little, I think I'm going to accept the job but under some conditions." (Shun)

[Uuhhhh... Are you seriously gonna work for the princess? It sound like a pain...] (Mysty)

"That's why I said that I was going to accept under some conditions, I'm only going to work under her in name only, because of this incident my name became really well know in a matter of months, so I should simply sell it to Sarius as a job." (Shun)

[Oh! As expected of my lord, that's a smart plan! Thou still would work for the kingdom with every advantage that came with the position, but would be free of the chains who come with it!] (Setsuna)

[But if your free what are we going to do? Travel?] (Mysty)

"No, as strange as it seem, I really enjoyed myself this month we all passed together as a family in Arllan mansion, before that I didn't think I could live without killing or fighting, but I was wrong, living peacefully as a true family is really not bad. So I was thinking of gaining a small territory to the south near the sea in reward for my help, where we could live peacefully for now with Eva and Wyndy. We have a lot of time after all." (Shun)

[My lord... That sound like a really appealing plan.] (Setsuna)

Setsuna sounded really lovely when she said that, it seem she's much more of a housewife material than Mysty...

[Yeah! Like that we could have fun every nights!] (Mysty)

As it was the answer she gave to my peaceful life plan.

[Sister Mystyval... Thou are the shame of us sisters...] (Setsuna)

[Don't say it like you didn't think about it!] (Mysty)

[... Myself can't say she didn't... But still, learn to read the mood...] (Setsuna)

Talking about sisters... Now that I think of it we never talked about it. Now I'm really curious.

"Honey, Setsuna, can you tell me more about the others cursed blades?" (Shun)

[Umumumumu... So you're still not satisfied with me and Setsuna...] (Mysty)

Oh that was long time since I last heard Mysty trademark.

[Don't be like that sister Mystyval, we already knew that my lord lust for blades was abnormal when we fell in love with him, myself would be actually quite pleased if all of us sisters were to be together once again.] (Setsuna)

I had my doubt but Setsuna do have something like family love for the other cursed blades after all.

[Umumumu... Fine, but I can't really say a lot about them, I don't really remember what they look like, as my only memory with them was when we talked using our mind as we were rampaging the earth, before being sealed...] (Mysty)

Uh? Wait a minute.

"Does that mean you don't remember the time you killed Enoth?" (Shun)

[Mmm? No I really don't , I'm pretty sure we did kill him, but it's only a vague memory, or it's more like I know it from instinct or something.] (Mysty)

[It's the same for myself my lord, the memory myself have of the time before we fell from heaven are a mess... Also like Mysty I don't know much about the others blades apart from their names and personality, but well even that is not to take seriously as the personality we know are the one under the curse.] (Setsuna)

You both aren't really that different from when you were under the curse you know...

[Yeah, the worst of them was Siraala, that girl became totally crazy in a matter of days and weren't even able to hold a conversation anymore, only moaning and laughing like mad.] (Mysty)

That's sound freakin' scary... I wonder what guardian she's sealing to become like that...

[Poor sister Siraala, even though at start she sounded like a sweet and gentle girl... But I'm sure my lord will be able to save her!] (Setsuna)

[Yeah I wonder if she the one sealed to the east or the north west, or maybe she's the one I can't locate. Did you try to locate them Setsuna?] (Mysty)

[Yes myself did as soon as my lord freed myself from the curse, but the result was the same, myself was able to locate Camio and Amy to the east, and also another one in the west whom the identity is still unknown, but the last one must have a strong seal as myself can't sense her.] (Setsuna)

What with those names? And... Wait there two of them?! Did I mess up with my mental calculation? No, no matter how many time I add them up the result is always six, yet there only five cursed blades...

"Setsuna, is Camio and Amy the same cursed blade?" (Shun)

[Oh! That's right, of course my lord would be confused by that as we didn't explain it to him. Camio and Amy are two yet one, even myself don't really know what that mean but they are two soul yet are one cursed blade.] (Setsuna)

[They're really are strange girls, they don't talk much and sounded lazy when they did.] (Mysty)

"I see, then I guess the monster 'plaguing' them are 'the twin headed calamity'?" (Shun)

Sorry about that guardians.

[That's right my lord, the last one is Kokihilo who is cursed by 'the doom'. As for her personality, she's something of a cry baby.] (Setsuna)

She also have a weird name. Anyway that mean that Siraala is sealing 'the light eater', from the sound of it, it must either be the guardian of the light or the one of the darkness.

[Yeah she's fun to tease! As soon as you tease her a little she start crying in a cute voice.] (Mysty)

That's a dangerous combination with a sadist like me...

"But from all those information we can actually know the position of every cursed blades and who is the last one." (Shun)

[Uh?! Really my lord?!] (Setsuna)

"Yeah, your seals are already crazy strong and must eat an incredible amount of mana. If we take that hint it became quite simple to know where the last one is." (Shun)

[Yeah... I don't understand.] (Mysty)

"Well you lack a lot of knowledge about this world so it's no wonder, but let me ask you something. For what reason would the mages who sealed you gave you a weaker seal than the one you can't sense? We're talking about cursed blades here it's not something that should let free easily, even trough someone was able to release Mysty..." (Shun)

[Wouldn't that be because they didn't need to seal us in a stronger seal?] (Setsuna)

"Yes and no, they sealed you with weaker seal because it was enough, sure, but what I meant was, why would they seal you with a weaker one if they're able to make a stronger one? Because they couldn't. I know a little about seal as I read about them in the library that was inside the manor where was sealed Mysty. Their only two way to make seal that can hold itself without having a mage feeding it mana directly. You can either use a mana stone, but it won't hold for long even with one of really good quality, or you can use a ley line." (Shun)

[Do thou mean those 'power spot' were mana gather?] (Setsuna)

"Exactly, since your seals hold for no less than three thousand years it can only mean the dungeon were build on exceptional power spot. Yet those same spot wasn't enough to build a seal as strong as the last one, so it mean it can only be at a place with an even stronger flow of mana. And there only one place I can think of that is know for being the center of this world ley line and also have a security even higher than a dungeon. 'The dragon king mountain' in the north continent, home of the ancient dragons." (Shun)

[Oh! Such knowledge! As expected of my lord! Even a scholar can't hold a candle to my lord mind.] (Setsuna)

You're going a little too far in your compliments Setsuna...

[Umumumumu... But even if you know where the last sister is, how can you know who it is?] (Mysty)

"You should know that better than me, weren't there one of you who had a curse so strong she became crazy in a matter of days?" (Shun)

[Ohhh! So that mean that Siraala is on the north continent and Kokihilo on the west one?!] (Mysty)

[Now we know where to search! Myself is impatient to see our sisters! That... My lord! There's someone coming our way from behind!] (Setsuna)

As Setsuna warned me I quickly turned around while drawing her ready for any incoming enemy, but as the one coming our way came closer Setsuna corrected herself telling me it was Thomason. But as I still didn't know why he was in such a rush I kept my guard up.

Thomason arrived panting heavily from exhaustion, it's seem he had a hard time catching up with me...

"Uff... Ufff... Shun! You gone too far! Good thing I chased after you, at this rate you were going to attack the capital head on..." (Thomason)

"Oops, sorry, I had my mind elsewhere..." (Shun)

"... Do not mind... Anyway we need to join the others, the entrance to the secret passage is in a church near here, please follow me." (Thomason)

It seem Thomason got used to me, after the whole 'eating a guy' incident, him Sarius and Algurd didn't want to talk to me even when we were camping. But it seem Arllan talk to them in my favor, I don't really know what he said to them but we were all back to how we were at the start of the travel. It's not like I would be sad if they were to hate me either way...

I followed Thomason in silence, and after running trough a forest for some time we arrived to an abandoned church who was covered in plants and had the mighty statue of a wearbear on it's roof, It was most likely a church of the werebear god Otor, still... For the church of a god to be left in this state... just how hated is this guy? Anyway, we're around 30km away from the capital, that passage must be really long to reach even here... Or maybe it use teleportation circles?

Everyone was waiting for us in front of the entrance, and as she saw us Sarius waved her hand in the air, not at me no, but to Thomason, it seem they became quite 'close' lately. I wonder if Thomason even know he's a she, that would be a good laugh if he we're actually gay...

"Good job getting back that fool." (Sarius)

... I wonder why, but her attitude lately really piss me off...

"Please prince don't talk of him like that, if not for Shun we wouldn't have been able to reach our destination this easily." (Thomason)

Yeah you tell her Thomason!

"We don't have time for that, kids! From now on we're going to invade the castle, and we will most likely have to fight the top three champions of this kingdom! So stay on guard and let's advance!" (Arllan)

Seem like uncle Arllan in 'serious mode'. Still I'm interested about those champions, it seem the strongest of them directly trained my sister, I wonder how strong she grew from that training... As we entered the church Arllan gave instruction to open the entrance to the passage, first you need to pull on a wall sconce, next you need to turn one of the circular stone of a pillar, and finally push the shrine a the end of the church... Well, that was a classic, once again...

As Thomason men did as instructed, a rumble was heard coming from the right wall of the church, a part of it slid to the side and showed a staircase behind it going down... I was had! The stairs was never under the shrine! Well played mate, well played...

I was of course going to be the first one to descend the stairs as a scout using Setsuna curse, but before that I needed Mysty to get in her human form, as for the reason why, is because my body can't handle two curse at the same time for too long, it was one of the experimentation I did in the month I was in Arllan mansion before coming here.

The result was gruesome... It was close to what happened when I used my scarf, no it wasn't as simple as that, after I kept holding Mysty will being under Setsuna curse, after 5 minutes passed I suddenly felt something dark invading my body, wounds appeared on my whole body out of nowhere making me bleed litters of blood, thankfully I dropped Mysty just a second after they appeared, if I had wield her for even one more second my wound would have been too much for me to survive without eating a human, yet I had no humans around me at the time, and even if I did it would have been someone close to me that I wouldn't want to eat. But even then if it wasn't for Mysty and Setsuna who kept bringing me weak Monsters, my wounds would have been enough to kill me. That's how fearsome a double curse is if I'm exposed to it for too long.

Anyway back to now, I descended the stairs while holding Setsuna unsheathed as Mysty guarded the back of the line and as we reached the end of the stairs we entered an impressively huge room who looked like it was carved from a huge red stone, lighted by light stones inserted in the ceiling, and at the end of the said room was a giant door made of the same red stone as the rest of the room, with a strange mechanism at the bottom of it.

"I see, is that door why we need Elivera?" (Shun)

"Yeah, that mechanism is a lock that need a strong flow of wind mana to be unlocked." (Arllan)

"Mmm? And what I'm I supposed to do exactly?" (Elivera)

"You need to insert your hand in the lock hole and throw at it you're strongest wind spell, that's all. I just hope that everything still work and didn't just rust..." (Arllan)

"Only one way to know..." Saying that Elivera inserted her right hand into the hole that was at the middle part of the mechanism, and started her aria.

"In my name, elemental of wind, do my binding and become a tempest that will shred my enemies apart, Tempest howling!" (Elivera)

When she finished her chant, an abnormal gust of wind could be felt coming out from the hole of the lock, it was only the remnant of the wind that was being absorbed by the mechanism yet it was enough to make us slowly slide away from her while covering our face to protect our eyes.

Holy cow! So she did go easy on me at that time! It's no wonder that Sarius and Arllan had such high expectation from her with that much power! Did she go easy on me because she smelled I was a young boy? Now I really want to fight her at full force, but it will have to wait at a latter time...

*CLACKCLACKCLACK*

After some time the lock finally made a loud sound announcing it was opening, it was with good timing, since Elivera reached her limit and fell to the floor from exhaustion just after that, if this lock needed even more mana we would have been stuck here, that's no joke!

Rakki hurried to her side and carried her to the side as the massive door was now opening making an incredible ruckus and shaking the room doing it...

*RRRUMMMBLLEEEE*

"Yes! With that we obtained our ticket into the castle! Good job Elivera! Take a rest, some men will stay with you to protect you so don't worry!" (Arllan)

Elivera who was exhausted, just waved her hand will making a weak smile in response.

"Wait a minute Arllan, won't we need Elivera to open the door at the other side?" (Shun)

That was quite logical in my mind that there would be two doors to this secret passage.

"Uh? Don't worry my boy that's the only door to the passage! On the other side we just need to pull a lever to open the secret entrance to this passage." (Arllan)

I was wrong...

"Wait a minute that's really bad news!" (Shun)

Everyone looked at me in shock wondering what the hell was wrong with that.

"*Sigh* Don't you understand? I was sure there was a door at the two sides of this passage, and since you need a really powerful wind mage who seem to be rare in this kingdom I said nothing about it. But if that not the case, doesn't that mean that the first prince could ambush us or trap the place?" (Shun)

"Why would he? He doesn't even know the existence of this passage. When I took the plans, they were untouched for years, and after I and Arllan find out about this, we burned the plans so that even if they find out about the passage some way or another, they won't know how to open it." (Sarius)

"... Are you sure about that? Nobody else saw those plans? Absolutely nobody?" (Shun)

When I said that you could see Arllan face getting paler by the second.

"Oh shit..." (Arllan)

"What?! Is something wrong Arllan?!" (Sarius)

"Alice... She brought us tea when we were working on those plans and strangely waited in the room to fill our cups when empty. Since I had my head on my work I didn't even think of that..." (Arllan)

Is Alice the Head-maid? Hey! Don't joke with that! That woman is with my daughter right now you know! And I even locked her magic with a cuff so she won't be able to defend herself if she were to be attacked by her! Still if she were a spy wouldn't she have already told the king about Sarius being a girl? That and she had plenty of occasion to poison me or kidnap Wyndy...

"Okay, I'm really not sure about her being a spy but let's proceed with caution..." (Shun)

Everyone nodded now conscious of the danger.

Unlike before everyone was on his guard as we advanced through an hallway whom we couldn't see the end, since I'm here they don't really have to, but let's not take any risk. Still, I'm bored... Let's ask Arllan about those champions...

"Hey Arllan." (Shun)

"What is it?" (Arllan)

Still looking around on his guard Arllan answered me in what was almost a whisper.

"Can you tell me more about the champions that serve the king?" (Shun)

"*Sigh* Shun my boy, do you really think it's the time to talk?" (Arllan)

"I'm totally bored... And at this pace we won't reach the castle today... I hoped there was going to be some teleportation circles, but to think it's really was a hallway of 30km..." (Shun)

"You're right about that, even I didn't expect it to be this long, I wonder how they even build something like that... Anyway, since you want to know about the champions and you're most likely going to be the one to fight them I guess I should tell you after all." (Arllan)

"I would be thankful yes." (Shun)

"Where to start... I guess I start with the one you know, Jim Lodok the War-chief and champion of the God of order Ayolm, in battle capability is not the strongest one far from it, but he have a nasty ability." (Arllan)

For making him the strongest man in the kingdom that must be one hell of a ability.

"It's the ability to force people who hear his voice to obey to him, it's said that people strong enough can resist it, but it take them some time to free themselves from it, and it give enough of an opening to make him undefeated." (Arllan)

"Wait what?! That's all?! What a joke..." (Shun)

"What are you saying Shun my boy, that the most fearsome ability one can have! If he order you to kill yourself, if you're not strong enough you won't be able to resist, and even if you can, you be paralyzed will resisting and it give enough time for him to finish you off!" (Arllan)

"Then you just need to don't hear his order... This guy is boring, talk about the next one." (Shun)

Arllan looked at me dumbfounded as if I just said something ridiculous once again, but sighed and continued.

"Fine... Then there the second strongest Edea, she's the champion of the God of shadow Izeaarn, the thing is that almost nobody ever saw her, she's almost something of an urban legend and is said to have a weird fighting style who use a lot a tools and strangely shaped weapons, that what I heard but everything is from rumors and I don't even know her family name." (Arllan)

"Ahahah, she's a Kunoichi* or something? Oh wait, that would be something logical for the champion of shadow... Still where did the God of shadow even found someone like that in this day and age? That, or she's died really old and is also old in this world, I wonder..." (Shun)

(*A Kunoichi is a female ninja)

Arllan was quite troubled from my rambling as he didn't even understood a word I said...

"Kunoichi? What's that?" (Arllan)

Oh yeah it's not like they would know about them, from what I know they're no ninja in this world...

"Something only a champion would know about don't worry about it, just think of it as a type of spy..." (Shun)

But a ninja uh? That could be interesting to fight her.

"Right... I guess that after that the last one I should mention is the third strongest, previously fourth, Lanna Angemirra, she's the champion of the Goddess of death Xinath, she's was ranked this lowly because she can't really fight by herself, but like Jim lodok she have an annoying ability. She can control dead body and make them fight with the same strength they had at the time of their death, it seem that there are a lot of condition to her ability but they are unknown to me. And that's all, the rest of the champions are either not on the king side or too weak to mention." (Arllan)

"I see thanks for the info. With that I know how to fight them, but you didn't mention Edea quirk.(Shun)

"It's because nobody know about it, there not even rumors about it..." (Arllan)

Mmm, Edea is clearly the one I need to be wary of, there also Lanna who is most likely going to do something I really won't like, but I also know how to handle her. As for Jim, he's a joke, it be simple to kill him.

As we were walking for a while and I was thinking of what strategy to use for every champions...

[My lord!] (Setsuna)

"I know! Everyone stop!" (Shun)

Everyone did as I said and suddenly stop in their tracks.

"What's wrong?!" (Thomason)

"There peoples waiting to ambush us and hiding in the dark further away... Well it's what I like to say but it's strange really, they no more than 8 and they're all kids younger than me..." (Shun)

Still under Setsuna curse I was able to sense them 100 meters away from here even if I can only saw them as a blur from this far away. But one of them seemed different from the rest, not only the kid had an absurd amount of mana in him, he had also another source of mana near his neck... Eva!

"Mysty! follow me! As for the rest don't move from here!" (Shun)

"Wha?! Wait a minute!" (Sarius)

Not letting the time to Sarius to tell me her complain I ran straight at the ambush, since the hallway is pretty dark as only a few light stones is inserted into the ceiling, my only hope is that the ones I left behind won't see what I'm going to do from there...

"Eva! Are you here?!" (Shun)

In the middle of the kids who was hiding in the shadows using most likely a magic tool I called for her while looking in her direction. When they heard that I was calling her I could sense confusion from the other children that was hiding, but as for Eva she showed herself will clearly being happy from seeing me.

"Big brother!" (Eva)

Unable to contain myself I tried to ran to hug her but...

"Wait right there you bastard!" (???)

The voice of a young man could be heard coming from Eva direction, and what was weird, was that I couldn't sense any man near her...

"Who's talking?!" (Shun)

"Uhuhuhuh, let me introduce myself! My name is Henry the fourth, king of Asfellana! I'm currently talking to you trough your precious sister collar! You sure made a mess of thing you bastard, but you're end is near!" (Henry)

Shit, I didn't expect that bastard to directly keep a watch on what was happening, I need to get close to her to use 'that'. Should I use my scarf? No... That would be too dangerous...

"If you ever come close to your sister I will burn her to ash using the mana stone embedded to her collar! So now... Let yourself get killed without a move!" (Henry)

Shit! As they took his words as a signal, all the kids surrounding us leaped at me, a dagger in their hand...

Now, what to do...

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Next chapter there will be a cliffhanger! Stay tuned!