15.2

A mouthful of cream soup entered her mouth, Raina’s hands moved autonomously towards the basket of bread before retrieving a bun.

Here she was, sitting by the campfire with Lureena by her side, and across her were Protheus and Coraine Elente chatting with each other as though they had not a single care in the world. As for the fifth elf in her group…

Seated on a rock that five meters away from the campfire was a male elf with bland features.

He had small pupils, his irises were faded in color, he had an average height for male elves—which was 180 centimeters. And unlike a royal elf like her, Lureena, or the Elente couple, this elf held no particular responsibilities in his life or notable accomplishments tied to his name.

One might wonder why this insignificant elf accompanied Raina’s group, that set out to accomplish her rite of passage to become the next ruler of A’vetheas.

That fact that this fifth elf was not present when the other four were summoned by Queen Veissa to be briefed on Raina’s upcoming trial already painted the striking dissemblance between him and the other four.

Though he was accompanying them under the pretense of being a meaningful existence to the Princess—which was not far from the truth itself—little did he know that the other four elves knew what his eventual fate would be.

Declan was this male elf’s full name.

He had no family name.

Though he lived with an elder brother of his, it was said that elves who bore not with a family name were cowardly elves that fleeted the front lines when faced with certain doom, only to rejoin the ranks of battle when victory was achieved.

And as such, they were stripped of all their titles, belongings, and even dignity by Queen Veissa.

The male elf belonged to a part of a complicated history that Raina was yet to learn from her mother. But from what she already knew, the actions of the Elven Queen were justified.

Once a coward, always a coward…

The words echoed in the depths of Raina’s mind as she averted her scorn from Declan.

On the night that John had brought Raina back through the teleportation device, for a moment, John had an outburst of the dark aura magic that he used to save both of them.

The Elven Elite Squad arrived in no time, and by Queen Veissa’s decree, were ordered to keep the incident regarding John’s abilities a secret.

However, Alwin Zinrelle did not see it that way and archived the ordeal of John’s discharge of the dark aura magic in secret. Still, that alone would not have caused the trial for John’s banishment the very next day, as Alwin was still under the Queen’s orders to not expose the Healer of A’vetheas.

Alwin Zinrelle could not personally do it.

Thus, Declan’s aid was enlisted by John’s supposed ‘best friend’.

Knowing that Declan were one of the elves that strongly opposed John’s presence in A’vetheas, Alwin had given the recording to Declan and instructed the elf to broadcast the entire recording to the magic crystals in the homes of every elf under the guise of an emergency announcement.

A cowardly act of destroying John’s good name.

As for what happened after? It became history and the darkest moments for the Elven Princess, forever etching in her mind that evil exists even among elves that are of the Higher Races.

Not even the strongest memory spell could erase what Raina learned—not that she wanted to. In fact, Raina had burned the memories to her very soul as a reminder for her being weak, powerless, and naive.

Such thoughts now no longer cause her to cower from fear, and instead propelled her forwards towards her goals. Instead of wasting her time on brooding on the past, she will put it in action and further her future for the promised future of being reunited with John.

Finished her meal, Raina passed her bowl to Lureena and headed towards her tent to rest for the night.

What Coraine said to Raina hours earlier still echoed clearly in her mind. The joy that she felt from understanding her connection with John was still being felt in her heart, even now.

Even then, there was unease in her mind, and it was not because John’s emotions were spilling onto hers—it faded some time after she and Coraine finished their conversation—rather because she realized the innate chaotic nature that was behind Alwin Zinrelle and Declan’s thoughts.

Though she understood it sometime earlier, every time she recalled the two elves’ actions towards John, she can’t help but feel the world around her was darker than she had thought it to be.

And this was coming from Raina, who was almost raped by three men once upon a time ago.

Alwin Zinrelle, though she had lightly known, had always been envious of the openness that she and John shared.

Declan, just like any of the younger elves, must have harbored ill will towards their ex-human-resident of A’vetheas, jealous of his closeness with the Elven Queen and Princess and his somewhat stubborn attitude.

The current generation of elves—excluding Raina—were brought up with the impression that they were somehow superior to the other races simply because they were Higher Races. Naturally, they saw John no more than an insect that tend to hover around the Elven Queen and Princess, who not only had preferential treatment but also their care.

Raina shook her head as she looked up at her tent.

He did more for A’vetheas than any of them could…

When John arrived in A’vetheas, he had no skills, no memory, no physique, nothing to speak of that he could do to benefit the Elven Tribe. And bit by bit, Raina saw him grew out of his immaturity and honed his abilities to aid others. Not only that, often, he was also her motivator to set her straight on her procrastinating and unfocused tendencies.

If John had wanted, if John had the intention, he would have easily made Raina his lover. But because he understood the negative implications it would bring her, he refrained. Like always, he prioritized the needs of Raina and A’vetheas over his own, and sometimes, to the point of squandering his aspirations and freedom.

His constant selflessness was how it led her to constantly tease and provoke silly emotions from John, because what she truly wanted from him was to be free from the shackles that he would so often place on himself for her sake. She thought that, for John to truly shine, is for him to be more selfish.

And she dearly loved him despite everything that has happened.

For elves like Alwin Zinrelle and Declan to squander him from ever flourishing before Raina’s eyes because of their envy towards him... It was something she could not forgive.

As Elven Princess, she could have them imprisoned for life for doing something towards a law-abiding citizen of A’vetheas, she could have their families disown them.

As the girl who loved her human boy more than anything, she wanted to do things much worse than the laws in A’vetheas could ever allow her to, things where it would make death seem a far fairer sentence for what they did to John.

There was a slight problem.

Alwin Zinrelle is reported and confirmed dead. His ‘remains’ were found shortly after he escorted John to his exile. She could do nothing against an elf that was already dead, so she abandoned the idea of getting back at the elf.

As for Declan, the elf already belonged to a lineage that was considered the lowest of the low in A’vetheas. Legally, she could not execute him for what Declan did would not warrant a death sentence. She could strip the elf of his family name, but since Declan was...Declan, she could not strip his family name, nor take away the property—which was not even his—that he lived on. She could take away his possessions and what petty cash he had, but that would only inconvenience Declan and come off as petty.

If she wanted vengeance, she had to be patient.

That was what she learned.

Being stuck in A’vetheas meant that she was bound to the code of the Elven Tribe and could not lay a finger on Declan or she would risk her mother for reprimanding her jeopardizing her authority as the Elven Princess.

And what’s more important, she did not want to undo her princess image John helped to maintain all these years.

But now, they were far away from the Elven Tribe, no longer on Elven grounds…

“Raina?” Lureena’s voice rang in her ears. “You alright? You have eaten little tonight.”

Though Raina had set a boundary around her tent every night she went to sleep. As usual, Lureena could sneak past them and make her nightly check on the Elven Princess. Lureena, was after all, a court mage of the Elven Tribe.

“I’m fine. I just had things to process. Coraine dropped something...quite relevant about my Soul Oath to me.”

At her words, Lureena flashed the Elven Princess a soft smile, “Is it good news or bad?”

“It’s…” Raina sat up from where she laid, “Mostly good. But I can’t do much about it, but I can’t help but wonder...if what we’ll be doing is the right thing?”

“Moral is subjective, princess. Declan had done such a thing that negatively affected your life—”

“No.” Raina cut in, “I don’t plan on retracting my plans to make him suffer for his actions. But I was wondering whether taking his life...is that something I wanted to do. Or if it’s what John would want from me.”

“…”

Lureena remained silent.

“I have no qualms about ending someone’s life. Yet, from the perspective of the Elven Princess, I can’t help but to think if I should adhere to this kind of selfish thinking.”

“...I am unable to speak for that. It is my understanding that Queen Veissa had spilled her fair share of blood.”

Raina let out a long sigh, “I know, I know… It’s just…” she tried to speak, but the words just did not find their way out of her vocal cords.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there, Raina. If needed, I shall do the execution in your stead.”

“That is not needed, Lureena. But I appreciate your offer. This is my path. It makes sense that I should decide and act for myself. How else would I grow from my old timid and powerless self?”

With that, the two elves sat in silence as the frosty night passed by.

“I don’t want to go!”

“My dear master…” a gentle voice coerced.

“I don’t feel like it. I’ll just stay at home with you for today, Kahnira. Yeah, that’s right, I’ll just tell them I am sick. That way I don’t have to take part in their silly work! Do this, do that, it’s all work!!! And when I am done, they shun me away like the tool I am!”

“I am not here to force you, master. If you wish, I shall relay your message to your so-called teammates in your stead.”

“No! Why do you have to go!? Just leave them be. It’s not like they care. You don’t have to go because of me!”

Kahnira shook her head. Her snow white hair gently swayed in the air as she took a seat before him.

“You see, master, it is a type of responsibility that one simply has to carry out.”

“Don’t lecture me on responsibility. I know it already! I get it if it's helping you out, but why give it to people like them? I don’t get it, they are just stupid, idiotic, dumb, have no goddamn idea on what the fuck to…”

“With power, comes the need for responsibility. And with responsibility, brings the need for will to strengthen it. With a strong will…”

“...comes the need for power to act. Yeah, I know,” young John continued after her.

“This maid has no power. But she understands her responsibility towards her one and only master, and the will to act upon them. In addition to educating you to be a respectable man, I would like to see my young master mature from his childish self.”

“I am not childish!”

“Then, for master to follow the Three Raisons—”

“That’s just a philosophical framework your father told you, isn’t it!? It is an ideal, it only exists as words, there is no need to go that far for people like them. They don’t deserve it!!! There are good and bad people, and they belong in the latter!!!”

“It is as you say, they do not deserve such noble ideals bestowed upon them. Given this situation is mostly insignificant, I simply saw it as an opportunity for my master to learn. Forgive me if I have offended you, this maid will refrain from making assumptions of her own accord.”

“…”

“...”

Unable to stand the silence and the obliging look on Kahnira’s face, he stood from where he stood and threw his two hands in the air.

“Argghhh, fine!!! I’ll go, I’ll go!!! Don’t give me that face!!!”

“Master?”

“You, I’ll have a talk with you about the power, responsibility and will power thing when I get back! Leave me to change.”

“Yes, right away, my master.”

“For goodness’ sake, lecturing me on that over and over again… I am not a child.”

Yet, he was.

John’s dream dissipated when he gained consciousness.

Another memory of Kahnira? She has been showing up more frequent as of late.

He swallowed the dry spit in his mouth as he thought to himself.

Did I swear that much when I was still a child?

The way John—rather, younger John—spoke in his memories, was no different from his current cynical self, hearing how straightforward his younger self’s speech, John was taken aback.

The brashness in his words was not short of beating around the bush. Furthermore, for someone as private as he was, for someone who had more thoughts than words, he was impressed that Kahnira could get him to be as honest as he was in his memories.

Why does she keep calling herself my maid? She’s more like a family than an outsider… No…she can’t blood related, those people they abuse a child without second thoughts.

The cruel images of the man and woman who were his biological parents appeared in his mind.

No…compared to them, she is an angel. An angel who is no longer here…

“I think he is waking,” a voice on his left spoke.

“This kid? No way in hell, Lieutenant Naild used sedatives enough to knock out a baby elephant,” another replied on John’s right. “Besides, he is unarmed. How can a human like him beat vampires like us?”

“Quite true, quite true. There’s two of us, and one of him. No matter how Captain Rabugra thinks of him, he is just a weakling that will be made into a spectacle for the audience.”

Audience? What audience?

When John came to conscious, his upper torso was being carried by two vampire men that chatted away as though they had zero care in the world.

“Grk…” his body involuntarily made a pathetic grunt as the vampires carried him forwards.

His mind may be active, but John had lost all sensation in his body from the vampire’s vicious blow earlier, let alone move, his body had great difficulty in just keeping his breath steady.

“We just have to bring him out when we are given the signal, right?” the voice on the left said as the two vampires approached an exit with bright light.

“Yes. After the current weaponless death royale, the human will go up next.”

The two vampires continued to speak to one another, finally coming to a halt in their footsteps once they’ve reached the light at the end of the passage, where a full set of metal bars acted as the barrier against what laid on the opposite end.

[Heal].

Using his magic on himself, he nullified the numbness that was in his body. When he was done, he directed his gaze beyond the metal bars.

Of course…their idea of entertainment…

He sighed internally as his eyes focused on the wide, flat, circular open space that was laid before him. In front of him were a handful of bloodstained vampires that lunged at the other with their bared fangs, sharpened nails, and strained muscles.

Blood sports, how meaningful. Violent acts for a violent kind.

Their reddened eyes seemed to pop from their sockets, the cruel smiles that they wore as they plunged their arms into their fellow kind, and the horror that dawned on the vampires when they realized their lives were taken by an unexpected assailant.

And beyond the battle arena that appeared before him was an audience of roughly two hundred, all of which cheered with insane vigor in their eyes as they watch each of the vampires at the arena culled one another.

Fuck… Are the people of the outside world have such low standards for entertainment that they love to see crap like these? Or do people love testing their skills in such life threatening ways—

Now that he was reminded of it, the realization sank in him.

The vampire blood sports...they are almost identical to the aptitude test of Moxnet Academy.

Like the vampires who fought for their lives in front of him, the academy had done something in similar fashion.

Moxnet academy, had decided, out of nowhere, that young adults like him were to be immediately teleported to Meastes under the guise of an ‘aptitude test’.

All for the sake of preparing them for a potential war against the Eastern Continent.

No, no, no… This is the prestigious magic academy of the Dezarith Empire, we’re talking about, t-there is no way the empire is sending people who have yet to live a full life—

“Listen, John, you must not stay in Moxnet for long, let alone the academy. The current state of Dezarith Empire is dangerous, any second now the—”

Ephinelyth’s words from long ago reappeared in his mind.

No…

John’s expression turned to fear.

She was not talking about the Harvests… She was not trying to say that the people I am around with are dangerous… W-what she was w-warning me about was Dezarith Empire itself.

The true evil that lurked within Moxnet Academy, was none other than the academy itself. The academy that strictly produced quality workers for the Great Dezarith Empire.

The classified information on demons, the lack of public knowledge of ancient history, the falsified data on Elder Dragons, the absence of protection in rural areas like Parac Village or Kershent village, the inefficient imperial soldiers…

It was to keep the masses ignorant of such events and have complete control over their actions.

Like the Dezarith Empire that thought of their common people as expendable, the academy that was all too willing to throw innocent students like John into a flurry of danger, all to ‘prepare’ him for a war that he had no say in.

How could I have been so blind!?

It explained why the teachers of the academy were incompetent, it explained why Moxnet students had been thrown into an aptitude test without regard for their safety. It explained why the adventurers held a grudge against the academy and the empire.

The answer was simple.

Dezarith Empire cared not for its citizens, all it sought were useful people that cared not to think for themselves. And if the cost was withholding the truth and limiting the thinking of its own citizens, it was a well worth effort.

It’s far fetched… I-I don’t think I am getting the right conclusions in such dire states…

But John knew he was closer to the truth than anyone in the Empire was. This was all John could surmise.

He was sure that Ephinelyth had more to say before he interrupted her explanation from back then.

At least, he understood her intentions now.

He finally understood why he was scouted out by Kaldor and was offered a scholarship. After having graduated from Moxnet and feeling ‘indebted’ to the empire, John was expected to cultivate the abilities that he had so that he can ‘repay’ and slave away as the empire’s good little tool in the future.

That is, if he survives the four years of the academy’s ‘training’. This was just an aptitude test. John could only imagine what the other official tests would look like if he survived this one.

A sickening sensation filled his gut as he watched the vampires beyond the metal gate battle out with one another. Though the scene of blood and gore before him was enough to make anyone to look away, John had an empty expression on his face as he was far too concerned with the state of Dezarith Empire.

He needed a way out.

From the two vampires that was holding him by his arms.

And from the academy’s palm.

He was unsure what would come after the academy’s aptitude test, but he was certain, whatever it was, he would not like it the slightest.

Responsibilities... For now, I have my responsibilities first. I still have Aurelius to find.

Reminding himself of what Kahnira said to him in his memories, John calmed his racing thoughts.

First, I need to get myself away from these two, find Aurelius and leave this forsaken hell hole.

Once everything here was resolved, once he had completed the whole ‘aptitude test’ ordeal without jeopardizing the rest of Team Rectiser. He would then slowly try to flunk the tests the academy had in store for him to be respectfully dismissed by the academy.

That way, John would not have a target painted on his back as if he were to leave the academy with an immediate expulsion—as to receive one was akin to having committed a horrible crime. He would be ‘respectfully dismissed’ for not being able to ‘keep up’ with the curriculum.

The empire may try to impose on his freedom, but John did not have to make an enemy out of them, after all, he was only one man, in this lonely world.

Making an enemy out of the empire was the last thing he needed.

T-that’s what Evie would have done for me if she was here with me.

With a rough plan formed in his head, John turned his attention toward the two unsuspecting vampires.

Now, to deal with the vampires…