novelnext Ep 202. If You Don’t Want It, Then… (3)
Ep 202. If You Don’t Want It, Then… (3)
Ep 202. If You Don’t Want It, Then... (3)
Ep 202. If You Don’t Want It, Then... (3)
Three empty plates.
Three elves that were seemingly lost in bliss.
An enforcer and a dragon who really couldn’t care less, and...
One wide-eyed cook (?) who stood in pure shock, parroting what he’d heard for confirmation towards their three captives.
“So, you guys are...’Shadowguards’? Deity Letherien’s personal aides?”
“...Yep.”
“And your group’s task was to kill all survivors in Kavir...? Including Karia’s own knights?”
“...Yep.”
“And you three remained behind to...kill any reinforcements that came?”
“...Yep.”
Despite hearing the exact same reply for a third time, the shock on Patrick’s face refused to disappear.
In all fairness, Patrick himself had worked a fair amount of time as an enforcer: during it he’d encountered countless criminals, some of which were nothing short of utter scum. Indeed, the cruelty of their actions wasn’t the surprising part.
What did shock him was that while the criminals he’d encountered as an enforcer all had clear motives, the three before him did not seem to have anything even remotely close.
“Why would...why would you follow orders like that? Is Letherien that important to all of you?”
“...”
When the shadowguard that had been answering Patrick all along suddenly fell silent, their captain let out a small sigh from her side, interjecting to answer in his subordinate’s stead.
“...All shall be as the Creator wills.”
“Huh? What?”
“...”
Keldrin’s eyes narrowed further when Patrick answered him with his quizzical look. His piercing gaze was ridden with disappointment, but the shadowguard captain began to clarify nonetheless.
“All shall be as the Creator wills – every Karian is taught as such from their moment of birth. Hence, your question’s very premise is nonsense. Just as humans follow their kings, we follow our deity.”
“...I mean, even if it’s some royal...er, divine decree, I wouldn’t expect someone to just go around killing their own people. I mean, why would a ruler give orders like that?”
“We need not grasp its meaning. We need but follow.”
“...”
“Lady Letherien has led Karia to its current prosperity; she is our deity, and our eternal monarch. Hers is the will of Karia itself.”
“I don’t know about coming down, but there’s probably a separate path within Letherien’s quarters. One for her personal use, not her minion’s.”
“...So we have to go there anyways?”
“We can search the skies for days on end too. But if it’s fully camouflaged as these guys say, going to her quarters at the capital would be much faster.”
“Pft, fine. But speaking of, what are you gonna do about these guys?”
Soon after, the two mages locked eyes with their three captives – though, having undone all their bindings, they didn’t exactly seem like captives anymore. But considering the lives they’d killed here at Kavir, letting them go was out of the question.
And so, Patrick turned to the sector representative with the first suggestion that came to mind.
“Should we just hand them over to the authorities here?”
“...”
As soon as the suggestion was made, a deep frown crossed all of the shadowguards’ faces: as an elf, to be handed over to authorities in Asuria was no different than being offered as slaves.
But being well aware of the obvious outcome, Iris quickly shook her head.
“No. We captured them, so we’ll take them into custody ourselves. There’s no reason to hand them over to Asuria.”
“Even if you say that...how? Are you going to take them all the way back to Partivine or something?”
“Ideally, but we won’t have to do it ourselves. We already have a few agents operating in Asuria, so we can hand them over there instead. They’ll take care of the rest.”
“...Wow, look at you being a rep. Bossin’ around other people to do your dirty work now, huh?”
“...”
As soon as Patrick made his last remark, Serenis eyed her sibling with a curious gaze.
‘I still don’t understand why he says such things. He should know by now that it’ll only result in another beating...’
Even after several weeks of watching the two fight, the dragonlord still failed to understand her brother incurring more.
...And it was also the reason why she never bothered to protect him during those fights.
“Ow, ow, ow, wait! I’m a civilian, you can’t just resort to violence! And you call yourself an enforcer?!”
“Civilian my ass! Be glad I’m not a deity anymore!”
“...”
Soon, Serenis leisurely turned her eyes away, almost as if nothing was happening at her side.
‘...Perhaps he’s just yet to fully mature.’
Then again, it didn’t matter what the reason was.
A different reason wasn’t going to make her intervene.