spell and Giselle seemed to want to stop me.[Ah, wait-]
I recited it once and it really worked. Although I felt my head have this sharp pain. However, unlike last time, it did not disappear as quickly as it appeared. So it"s good that I discovered this now. Since, if this happened when I was carelessly doing things, then I would feel so uncomfortable for a while. I don"t like this feeling.
"We should go back to the castle now. I don"t want to continue touring anymore. I feel my head splitting."
[...]
"Hey, did you hear me, Giselle?"
[W-Why are you still conscious, Clay? It should be that your mana has already depleted right? Usually, people who suffer from mana drain lose consciousness and not wake up for at least three days as a side-effect of it, how come you"re not unconscious and instead just having a headache?]
[Mostly when this happens people already consider those who suffer from this as a dead man, especially in battle as you would become incapacitated and easy to kill, resulting in higher death tolls in battle.]
What? So you"re supposed to lose consciousness when you"re drained of mana? Then why am I...?
*Sigh*
Just have to think of it as part of my regeneration.
"Don"t worry about that right now Giselle. I have a splitting headache and I want to take a nap. Let"s go. Just think of it as part of my abilities."
Giselle shrugged and went into the portal I just created. Is it safe enough I wonder? Let"s enter.
As soon as I pa.s.sed the portal, I felt that slight reaction my body had earlier when I also pa.s.sed the portal Giselle created. As soon as it appeared it disappeared. Now I"m sure that people who pa.s.s through that portal would have a spell of slight dizziness. To further reinforce this,
"Hey Giselle, do you suffer some kind of dizziness when you pa.s.s through?"
[Yes of course. It"s a natural thing to occur for those who practice s.p.a.ce Magic and cast that spell.]
Yep, more reason not to use magic now. The chanting is bad enough, there are side effects I do not know about, and it"s really more because of the chanting. Ew. It"s enough for me to know I can use it, but to use it is another story altogether.
After that exchange I went towards the sofa intending to take a nap. So I did.
-Giselle-
Mystery after mystery this man, Clay has showed me. I was sure he was drained of mana yet he still stood without much difficulty and even told me not to worry about it. That"s just not normal. Even the most powerful of mages in Alleucanth would lose consciousness the moment their mana hit bottom. And the effect of that would be fatal in battle.
I just can"t get a read on him. I should probably go and check on our dinner. If all goes well tomorrow, we"ll start my plan. After that, everything will just fall into place.
That was how it was supposed to be, but what greeted me when we got back after opening the door was a row of royal guards and the chancellor. I have a really bad feeling about this.
[Princess! thank the heavens you are alright! We know what that Fiend has done to you. Now, come here and we will escort you to another location so that he can harm you no longer. To think he would be so brazen as to put his hands on the Princess! This offense cannot be pardoned!]
What is the chancellor- no, he"s trying to frame Clay into becoming a s.e.xual offender using me. In the first place, was that the reason he appointed me to take care of him?
[Chancellor, W-what are you talking about? Fiend, put his hands?]
[Hush now, Princess. No need to defend him. We know he must have threatened you with death. However, do not worry for we shall arrest him now and put him in his place. Guards! Seize him!]
[No! Stop!]
I have to stop them. If they incur that man"s wrath I don"t know what would become of them, the kingdom and even me.
[Stop I said!]
I tried to grab one of the guards who pa.s.sed beside me but they ignored my order and forcefully shook me off.
[Men, escort the Princess to the top of the second tower. Double the guards and do not let anyone come near. Wait there for further instructions. Now go!]
The chancellor is really trying to slowly usurp the throne. It"s plain as day. How do I warn Clay? There"s only one way, shout!
[Kya!] I expended all the air in my lungs just to make that shout. I hope he wakes up after that.
-Random Guard
Today was supposed to be a peaceful day. However, when the Chancellor called for guards suddenly we had to comply immediately. The Chancellor is very detestable. The castle guards as well as the royal guards know this so we know that he"s up to no good again. In a way he"s kind of admirable because he does not shy away and hide his real intentions; instead he makes it known clearly. Still, we just don"t like him.
Today he wants us to escort him and apprehend the hero. He said it was because the hero committed a crime against the Princess. We don"t really understand why he wanted to send the hero to the princess just to learn the language when in fact any of us here can grant him that. So he was planning to do this from the start. We don"t know if the hero really touched the princess, but I feel sorry for him for getting into this mess even though he just arrived. This chancellor really is a big t.u.r.d. Even though I think like this I still have to follow orders since basically I"m a soldier so when an order comes we have to comply and the order this time as we arrived at the Princess" room was "standby" and "wait for my orders" said the chancellor.
A few minutes after we completely surrounded the room, the Princess went out of the room and was surprised to see the chancellor and us. Then the chancellor exclaimed his nonsense and the one-sided conversation started there.
[Princess! thank the heavens you are alright! We know what that s.e.x fiend has done to you. Now, come here and we will escort you to another location so that he can harm you no longer. To think he would be so brazen as to put his hands on the Princess! This offense cannot be pardoned!]
The Princess" eyes rounded and took a step back. Judging from her reaction, the chancellor"s nonsense really might be nonsense.
[Chancellor, W-what are you talking about? Fiend, put his hands?]
And she questioned the chancellor to clarify. It"s no use Princess, the chancellor has all this planned out. He"ll do what is necessary to gain absolute authority but until he publicly announces his intent or someone exposes him we won"t be able to do anything to him.
[Hush now, Princess. No need to defend him. We know he must have threatened you with death. However, do not worry for we shall arrest him now and put him in his place. Guards! Seize him!]
[No! Stop!]
The Princess ordered. We just can"t do so. The order of the chancellor is equivalent to the king"s words at the moment since the king is not present. So even if it"s you Princess, we won"t be able to follow.
[Stop I said!] She grabbed me. d.a.m.n. What to do? No, I have to do what I have been ordered to do. Nothing else matters right now. I"m sorry Princess.
[Men, escort the Princess to the top of the second tower. Double the guards and do not let anyone come near. Wait there for further instructions. Now go!]
When I successfully shook the Princess" hand, another order came and it was to escort her. She shouted [Kya!] after I immediately turned around and grabbed her hand along with another guard. It was tight. We really had to hold on tight as the Princess started to struggle. Slowly, we marched towards the tower.
However, just as we were all the way to the doors out of the hall.
*BOOM*
"It didn"t even last a day and you"re already bringing the climax to this scheme of yours Evil Summoner A? I was trying to let your scheme thicken, but is that extent of it? It"s very anti-climactic if I just went ahead and destroyed your plan you know. I wanted to see some drama and what not, who would have thought that you"re just an extra character not even good enough to get a name!"
The Hero appeared after destroying the wall next to the door and taking down four people with the explosion of the wall. What did he do? He was scratching his head as if he was disappointed in something. Then his eyes swam around all of us and seemed to have found what he was looking for after looking at us. I felt as if an ancient dragon was staring at me, someone who stole one coin from its h.o.a.rded gold.
*unsheathe*
As a reflex, I unsheathed my sword and stood my ground. My instincts tell me that I wouldn"t be able to run away from this beast. And I was totally right. Just after that brief second of our eyes meeting, waves of cries and splattering sounds resounded in the hall and what gave me the chills was that the sound was coming closer and closer. It was not an illusion; the dozens of men that the chancellor brought with him were being slaughtered. It even made me forget for a second that I was one of those men as well.
[D-Don"t come near me!] My partner yelled.
The same one who grabbed the Princess" other arm to escort her together was now lunging towards the beast we were facing. This was the might of a Hero. Told to possess might that is unreasonable enough to categorize as unbelievable. That same "Hero" is now going on a killing spree in front of me and my partner is next on the list thereafter would finally be my turn.
[Be as the heavens halberd, become the blade that culls the enemy in front of me, Excalibur!] The Chancellor chanted the highest level light magic towards the Hero. I saw him smiling with that disgusting face of his. He probably intends to include the Princess and us guards with the Hero; it"s a good tactic as a desperate move in a desperate situation. Who would"ve thought right? That we would die by the hands of the Hero we looked down on as someone blessed by the G.o.d of humanity. How stupid of us. Now we"ll die and become ashes, for trying to mess with a monster.
*Shine*
The bright light of Excalibur flashed towards us in slow motion. I don"t know why that is, but I remember my father once told his old war buddies that there was a time when their friend who died in battle said: [In the end, you"ll see everything clearly and you"ll know regret and depression.] I did not know his meaning then, but now I see that it really does become clear and the depression is also real. Everything in this slowed down world is as clear as day, the ugly smiling, no, grinning face of the Chancellor and the clearly annoyed face of the Hero and Excalibur that was right now in front of eyes.
*Woosh*
Excalibur hit the ground just in front of us as debris and other parts started flying about. The Hero was unfazed and continued to walk towards the Princess, while I was watching his every move.
*splash*
Then I could hear the Hero mutter: "Ew. To be hit by a piece of the floor and have your guts punctured and gush out, that"s disgusting. Let me take you out of your misery then."
After saying that line…