'It's too late to regret it now.' Alea thought to herself as she threw her head back down, looking away from the cold, expressionless gaze of the giantess. From the beginning, she had already known that she would get in trouble for seeking a rogue human. She was mentally prepared to face the challenges head-on--but still, it was somewhat undesirable to have her finger cut off.
'I guess it's still better than losing my title or my head.' Alea reassured herself.
A small shadow moved slowly toward a knife that had none before recoiling back--Alea had cut herself on the sharp edge of the blade. It was unlike anything she had felt before. A sharp, cold sting sliced through her finger faster than she could react, leaving behind a neat, straight cut. The cold passed quickly, but the pain didn't. It lingered like a flame that wouldn't die out, searing and burning; it spread through her flesh and bone. Fresh blood poured out of the cut with each loud throb of her heart; her green iris widened as she narrowed her vision onto the wound.
'Let me take over your pain sensor.' A concerned voice spoke inside her head.
'Are you seeing this?' Alea replied, touching the open wound with her other hand, sending a tingling wave back to her head. 'How could something so soft and squishy turn into such a dangerous weapon? Incredible. Truly Remarkable.'
'I wish to know more.' Alea picked up the knife and carefully observed it. It was no longer than 5 centimeters in diameter. Light passed through it, making it hard to see the outline of the weapon, where space itself seemed to bend slightly. She panted loudly as she trailed her finger along the spine of the blade, marveling at the perfect craftsmanship.
Even Ismael was weirded out by the turn of events. But she managed to maintain her composure as she spoke up.
"Your indecisiveness is showing. It seems I have no choice but to--"
"That won't be necessary." A swift rush of wind blew as Alea stood up, holding out a pinky finger. "I've already done it."
***
The night was growing colder with every passing moment. Ellie let out a deep yawn as her mother continued to go on and on about her encounter with the human saint named Ismael.
'Would it be rude if I told Mom to wrap the story up?'
"After that, Ismael told me about the situation at Saurkeep. The truth was that the previous village chief had been missing, so the Church had to send a saint with a detective skillset looking for him. Ismael, with her shapeshifting ability, also joined in on the mission to act as a substitute village chief. However, the other saint never returned. So the church had to send in another saint whom they also lost communication with. By the time the third saint went missing, the church was in full panic mode. There was an unknown enemy capable of taking out saints, lurking somewhere."
"Is it my father?" Ellie asked. The way she leaned forward betrayed a sense of curiosity. After years of wondering about her father, she was finally able to learn something about the absent maternal figure in her life. She felt like a little kid, unable to control her excitement, barely keeping her legs from kicking and jumping.
"Not really," Alea said, putting her hands over Ellie's. "I know this may sound straight. And possibly make me look like a bad person. But your father hadn't been born yet."
"Pardon?" Ellie was perplexed, but she quickly realized something. "They needed the human saints to make more copies of 'Thief of the Divine Light. '"
"That's right." Alea said. A smile appeared on her face as she asked. "And can you guess why?"
Ellie recalled when multiple clones of Thief of Divine Light fused together with the giant ball of flame, giving it the final push to destroy the multi-eye beast, ending her trial. "To combine them into a stronger version."
Since she didn't need to explain the nature of Demon Origin Character to Ellie anymore, Alea continued her story. "I was given a task--To take over the administrative matters at Saurkeep from Ismael so that she could investigate and gather intel to send back to the Church."
"Won't people wonder why you stay there for too long?"
"Maybe. But I didn't get to stay there for long."
"What happened, Mom? Did Ismael find something? Or was it the Church sending in reinforcements?"
"No, it was neither case." Alea shook her head. "A week later, while Ismael was out of the village, gathering intel, the missing village chief returned."
Alea woke up as soon as the twice suns came out from opposite horizons. Before the lavender eagle roosters could spread their wings wide and crow, announcing the beginning of a new day before soaring high into the sky, she was already stumbling out of her bed to get ready for another busy day at the office.
One reason for her early wake-up was that there wasn't anyone helping her prepare. Unlike the other students at Moldrivore Academy, those who came from the royal houses weren't allowed to bring personal items anywhere outside of Moldrivore with them. Even the people who were coming along on her journey could only stop at the gate to send her off before heading back to Windshire Fort.
The Parent Council had made it so as a means to stop challengers from taking in poor people as their comrades, allowing them to learn runic magic at Moldrivore and potentially shorten the gap between the classes by spreading the gift of knowledge.
"Those bastards make my job a fucking nightmare." Alea yelled into the fabric of the sweater, which was stuck on her head. The thick wool muffled her high-pitched scream. It should have been impossible for her clothes to be of the wrong size--her wardrobe was custom-made with every stitch, every sew carefully tailored to her body; her measurement was taken into account down to the very cuts. And yet, she was struggling to put on her sweater.
Her fingers gripped onto the soft fabric, pulling down until her head popped through the hole. She didn't bother with washing herself or changing from her pajamas, settling for a sweater to lay over them. In fall, the two suns were far away from each other, making the early hours especially cold. "It's not like they can smell me."
Alea groaned as she walked back to the night stall next to her bed, picking up her crown and putting it on. The moment she did, a voice immediately berated her about her outfit.
"This is not how a princess should carry herself in public."
Alea just ignored Corski as she exited the room.
Outside of her room, a guard was sitting by the chimney. There was a small pot in front of him, placed inside the fire. As the guard continued to stir the contents inside the pot, a sweet aroma was released into the air, filling the entire hallway of the second floor. This was the only moment that she was looking forward to these past few days.
"Nothing a good ol' cup of coffee can't solve." Alea said. Her body guided by the earthy scent, she walked toward the guard.
"Morning, princess. Ready to face another day?" The guard asked, pouring out a cup of coffee before handing it to her.
Alea accepted the pleasant warmth into her hands. She sniffed the smoke coming off of her cup and instantly felt a bit more refreshed. She let out a satisfied "Ah!" before she dug in, taking in one mouthful of freshly brewed coffee. But the taste hadn't settled on her tongue when there was already a commotion at the lower level. Alea frowned her brows slightly at the intrusion. Here came the part of the day she hated the most.
"Right on time." The guards stood up. He took out a piece of dry meat from his pocket and gave it to Alea. A quick meal with just enough nutrition. Barely passable as breakfast. She nodded a quiet thank you before stuffing the entire thing in her mouth, chewing quickly as she made her way down the stairs. The meat was overly seasoned with salt for preservation, just like all the other food at Saurkeep. Each bite signaled her salivary glands to produce more saliva to help dilute the salty taste. If only the same thing could be done with her salty feeling.
Once she reached the lower floor, the sound of the commotion became even louder, drumming against her ears like an annoying alarm clock. This was the other reason why she had to wake up so early. Every day, as soon as dawn broke, people from all over the village would come here and cause a ruckus, waking Alea up from the embrace of her warm, soft bed. And just like an alarm clock, it won't stop until you get out of your bed and turn it off. Even if she were to ignore it, she would just be rolling in her bed trying to fall asleep again.
The guards had tried multiple times to break off the crowd, telling them to come back at a later time, but these people just didn't have the luxury to do so. Since Saurkeep was a small village with not many people living in it, the local noble didn't invest much in the infrastructure of the place--At night, since there wasn't a single source of light out in the street, darkness would enveloped the entire village, putting a black blanket over the eyes of everyone, hindering their vision, allowing wide animals to roam the street.
Furthermore, the people in this village's superstition leaned toward the Tree Divine Spirit as their figure of worship, meaning they mustn't use wood for burning; the use of torches was frowned upon by this small community. And since mana stone wasn't cheap, the villagers were all early risers, waking up the moment the first dawn of morning broke past the horizons, making sure to use every bit of the valuable light to the fullest. And the first thing that they decided to do when they woke up? Well...
In the middle of the lowest floor, Alea sat down on a large, recently sanded-off wooden chair. There was a great distance between the chair and the doors it was facing.
She waited for the guard who had been walking behind her down the stairs to hurry to his position. As he strided toward the left side of the doors, there was already another guard standing by the opposite side.
Once everyone was ready, Alea took in a deep breath before giving a command to the two guards. "Open the door!"
Upon Alea's command, the doors opened wide, allowing the crowd of people to come in. Sound of arguments mingled with the squeaky groan of the wooden floor as they stepped their feet inside. Instantly, the room felt a bit warmer with their heated quarrel and body odors.
"Silence!" Alea yelled. In sync with her, the two guards hit the floor with their spears, silencing out the noises with a loud thunderous bang.