Soon after the battle, the sun set over the battlefield. I removed my equipment, gave it to Lae to clean, and after wore spare leather armour, I went to check on Oliver. Normally it would have been Mark's duty, but he seemed quite shaken himself, so I asked Roxanne to keep him busy with training to not let his mind wander too much and asked Lae to clean Mark's gear too.

Oliver was sitting on his own near a bonfire, he was holding a book but his eyes were fixated on a spot, unmoving.

“Hey, Oliver.”

I sat beside him.

“You did well on the battlefield.”

His eyes shook and he showed a pained expression.

“You shouldn't think too much about earlier, they died the moment they took up that mission, the only thing you did was raise our value in Hoss's eyes and raise our chance of survival, especially mine since I'm in a difficult spot. Thank you.”

His expression didn't change, but this time he replied.

“ The fact that I had to do it doesn't make it better, it still was me that did it and I'll have to do it again.”

“ You had the chance not to do it, and it was a very bad choice, remember what I said about power, the more you have the freer you are.”

His expression didn't change, and he didn't reply, he just stared in front of him.

I got up, put a hand on his shoulder, and whispered to his ear.

“My offer is still valid, I'm gonna have to realize my plan sooner or later, just keep it in mind.”

I then left him to himself and went to take a look at Mark.

Mark and Roxanne were taking a break side by side, talking. Mark was looking down and Roxanne was telling him something while touching his shoulder.

Eavesdropping was bad, but a good grey eminence needed to know how his puppet was doing, right? I enhanced my ears and hid behind a tent.

“You are a soldier now, and we are in the middle of a war, there are only so many things you can protect at the same time, you can't both us and them. If you don't want to do it you can just say it and return to only hunt monsters.”

“No, I have to do it, I told you what David told me right? It's a price I have to pay.”

“He's right, but that's not all. I think you should also think about yourself, I don't want you to become like David and I'm sure everyone else wants the same.”

“What's wrong with him?”

“He....... I think he is digging his own grave, h-”

“He What?!”

“No not literally, but I think he won't ever find what he seeks if he continues like this, and I don't want you to become strong only to lose sight of what you really want. There are ways and ways to protect things, I agree that right now you did the best thing you could realistically do, those people were dead anyway, but right now you are rushing ahead without thinking about why you're doing it.”

Mark lowered his gaze even more.

“Why we do things? I want to become strong enough to protect the people I love, isn't this enough?”

“Everyone wants that, but you're kind of obsessed about it, but I don't know why, you have to understand it by yourself. And about David, I can't understand what he wants, to me he just seems to be seeking power for no reason, but he might have one, and I have the feeling it is something too big for him to handle.”

“Big or small I will be by his side, and I'll make sure he makes it real, whatever the cost.”

Roxanne stood silent for a while, then spoke again.

“You're really determined to go along with him, huh? Well, I guess I have no choice then.”

“What do you mean?”

“I'll follow you, you are too pure for being with him alone. I'll protect you so be sure to protect me, alright? I'll gain the strength to be useful, so count on me in the future.”

I then heard a suspicious sound.

“Eh.....Ehhhhhh! Why?”

“Now that you stole me a kiss I can't help but follow you right?”

“But it was you who did it!”

“I don't see how a frail maiden like me could ever steal anything to a valiant hero such as you.”

“Y-you....”

I left them to themselves and walked towards my tent. What Roxanne said was interesting, I knew what I was doing, but maybe there was a precise reason why Mark was so obsessed with protecting people. I was kind of offended by the fact she underestimated me though.

Anyway, I didn't want to do it now since I was a bit tired, but I had to use start using my blessing on her more often soon since she was getting closer to Mark. I noticed that people's scenes changed given time, so i started using it on people around me from time to time, being careful not to use it too much.

Anyway, I was glad Mark just found a friend, but I was a bit worried about the influence she could have on him, she didn't seem to like me after all.

I arrived outside my tent, Lae just finished removing the blood from my armour and was now treating the sword. I wore the armour and then sat next to her.

“Sorry master, I still have to finish.”

“Don't worry, you finished the armour quite fast already.”

“I see, thank you, master.”

“No, I should be the one thanking you, you don't need to thank me for everything.”

“N-no you shouldn't thank me for just that, you just fought amazingly, I'm happy I can help but thank you, master.”

“....... Anyway, you seem pretty unfazed by the battle, the ones just now were from Zaven too.”

“I have no further attachment to Zaven, I only care about you, master. Actually, I'm happy you did so well.”

She then started rubbing the sabre with more passion. She was still very passionate about helping me, but I started to think that she needed to do something for herself too. Thanks to Roxanne she now had some moments where she also could breathe out a bit, but it was better if I started to think about a project she could do only for herself.

I then heard the hooves of a horse clapping behind me, only nobles would walk around in the camp with a horse, it was probably for me.

I turned my head and saw Ces, the commander's aide smiling at me from the top of his horse.

“Hi her David, I wanted to have some chat with you earlier but I freed myself just now.”

He got down from his horse and Lae bowed to him and left us alone.

“I wanted to compliment you for your fight, your ability to take decisions in pressuring situations is amazing, and your resolve is also commendable. I think you could become an amazing commander, if only you had the right connections.”

‘This guy has good eyes.’

“It wasn’t much, it was a battle I couldn’t lose after all. All the decisions of you and the commander were also spot on, we gained from this battle as much as we could.”

“You don’t have to be humble, you were very good, it’s a pity you can’t be the leader anymore just for something so trivial.”

I didn’t know what he meant, they could have told him a lie, so I wasn’t sure he knew I could use the demonic attribute.

“It’s a pity, but I can understand, I did something bad, they have all the reasons.”

“You don’t have to lie, I don’t care about religious shenanigans, actually most people don’t, you were just unlucky enough to be found out lying to your guardian and be good enough to get away with it for months.

You made them fear you, that’s the only reason.”

“Wait, is it fine to say those things here in the open?”

“Don’t worry, I can do it. But if you are afraid to stay here you can come to my tent, I want to discuss a couple of things with you, and I have some good wine to drink in the meanwhile.”

He probably wanted a connection with me, maybe he needed the figure of a hero to help him with some political stuff. I wasn’t willing to enter the political scene of the empire just now, but by at least talking to him I could gain information and maybe gain a connection. I was dubious about why he choose me though, I was the most influential in the hero group, but I was also the most unpredictable. Well, maybe he was sure he could control me, I had to be careful.

“Sure, let’s go.”

While he accompanied me to his tent his light blue hairs swayed on his shoulders, they were probably bleached, I didn’t know about any natural reason for hairs to have that colour. He had a girl-like appearance, but he was different from Oliver, he had an elegant but manly demeanour, and in a way he felt intimidating.

After we arrived, he poured us wine and we talked about the current campaign, he taught me a little about new strategies for large-scale battles and tactics for small-scale battles involving magic. I was fascinated by them and Ces seemed like a smart guy, often figuring out interesting ways to use them, soon I realized I took a liking to him.

Then the topic changed to the capital’s politics, he told me about the two main factions, the imperialists and the traditionalists, I roughly knew about them from Lae, but I only knew about their beliefs. The traditionalists thought about Horus as a king, while the imperialists, the most powerful faction, worshipped Horus as a messiah.

Ces belonged to the traditionalist faction, and his brother was one of the most influential members.

“you don’t seem like a man of faith nor a conservative person though.

“Because I’m not, I’m a man of reason, and as such, I think the smartest should be the one making the decisions, not the most powerful, like in your world, and although Horus is necessary I think he should start listening to others outside his circle. And there are also different currents inside both factions, me and my brother are among the innovators, while Erian is among the conservatives, or at least she was.”

“Don’t be tricked our world wasn’t as fair as you think, I don’t think it was too different from this world after all.”

“I see, well, anyway, if after all of that you desire to go to the empire and aim for a bigger glory, contact me, we can help each other.”

I smiled.

“First I'll think about this war, but if in the future I decide to go to the empire I'll make sure to contact you.”

“Good, I'm sure we can achieve great think together.”

I doubted I would ever be willing to serve the Empire, even if I were to become a free citizen it would be only formally, I could never be free if I remained under them.

After that exchange, he asked me some more about Earth and I told him, all the while drinking more wine.

Normal wine couldn't do much to us, actually, I had to manually remove some ki from my internal organs to even become tipsy, so if another attack came I could return sober very quickly if I didn't drink too much.

I then returned to my tent. I could hear Lae and Roxanne talking quietly in their tent behind mine and Mark's, I decided not to eavesdrop on their talk and went to my tent.

It was already quite late, but I decided to meditate anyway, I did my usual exercise and then went to sleep.

'Curse you......................... Fool......................................................................

......................................... Pitiful ..................................Weak ........................................ Curse yoU .................................. MoNsteR

..........AloNE ....................................... scARed .........................................SO PaTheTiC

.................................................................................................. curse................................................................................................. you

........................................................................................................ YOU CAN'T FLEE FROM ME'.......................................................................................

The moon maiden's hairs tainted with blood caught me dragged me down where demons kicked me down to the ground. I was a puppy punished for his sin what sin? I didn't commit any sin

Madness

the moon maiden was laughing I was petrified had to fight I wanted to tear her apart I reached towards her but the demons dragged me down

I was powerless

the demons were laughing too

I was just a powerless puppy dying alone

'a monster worse than us a monster worse than us'

the demons were singing and dancing

I just wanted to play with them

I woke up.

“Ah........ ah ….....ah.”

I was gasping for air, my forehead was covered in cold sweat. I felt like puking but I couldn't, I forcefully kept it in.

I slowly calmed down, but my mind was still teeming with vague thoughts and fleeting voices.

I breathed deeply, then tried to clear my mind.

Eventually, I regained control of my mind, but I didn't feel like sleeping at all now, it was frustrating not to be able to decide when I could sleep.

I sighed and decided to train my dark mana control and then meditate about the dark attribute.

I didn't catch an ounce of sleep that night.