CHAPTER 27 - THREE THINGS I HATE: KNIGHTS, DOLLS, AND SURPRISES

“We got up all the way here, and now we have to go back down!?” I cried.

The words exhausted and disappointed are all written on my face. I’m already out of breath, my legs sore, and my feet feel like it’s stepping flames. I can't afford to go all the way down!

“It’s just fifty floors. We can jump and do some parkour every other floor all the way down to save time.” Lizzy said.

“Oh, you think I can do that?” I asked with sarcasm. 

“Um, I can teleport to the other side.” Yufa suggested. “But I need to see the place where I should teleport unto.”

“That’s not a problem,” Lizzy said.

The princess materialized her magical sword and struck the gap of the door. With a few pull of her sword as a lever, the gap widened enough for Yufa to peek.

“Blink!”

All of a sudden, Yufa disappeared. All that’s left on her position are phoenix feathers that turned to ember dust before it hit the ground.

The door clicked, and then it opened. Yufa has opened the entrance for us from the other side.

“Glad to have you here, Yufa Haruna.” Lizzy smiled.

“It’s an honor, Miss Lizzy.”

I think they’re now best friends. Their relationship has greatly progressed before I knew it. I find it weird for girls who just literally fought each other a week ago.

“My mother is in Room 502. Let’s go-”

Lizzy was immediately cut when she turned around. Yufa and I had the same surprised expression when we saw what is right in front of us.

Two tall guys are there, wearing long white coats and metallic armor on their vests. Both persons have this shield-like badge on their chest. They also have this high-tech sword on their waist.

The guy on the left is a black-haired man with a tan complexion. He looks like a hybrid Indian but his extraordinary height loos more extraterrestrial.

The guy on the right is a more familiar one. Blue eyes, long blonde hair, and handsome face. I think he’s the knight that Lizzy fought back in my apartment!

Both of them have doughnuts and soda bottles on their hand, which indicates that they are on their break while patrolling the entire floor.

“Aegis Knights!” Lizzy yelled.

All of a sudden, the two knights drew out their sword and pointed at us. They must have familiarized themselves to the princess’s face that they already realized that it’s her behind that stupid nerdy get-up.

“Princess Alessia!” Both of the knights shouted.

[Battle Control Online]

Lizzy raised her sword, Yufa made her kung-fu stance, and I activated my glowing hand. This would be my very first two-versus-two fight using the Archonlight System. I should be fine though since Archonlight is used to command armies and rarely to single Fighters only.

“I never thought I would see you here, beansprout,” Lizzy said to the familiar blonde knight. “Are you in charge of guarding the Queen?”

“Yes. Thanks to you, I got demoted on my job as a mental hospital guard.” The blonde knight answered.

End of conversation.

Yes, nothing happened after that. Just pure silence. Both sides are waiting for anyone to attack, but all we did is to stare at each other’s movements. The hostile aura started to fade, but the air is still chillingly cold.

“Hah.” The blonde knight sighed. He sheathed his blade and stood casually as he gave his catchy phrase. “There are three things I hate. People who hate cosplays, people who despise crossdresses, and people who visit without notifying at all.”

The blonde knight turned his back. 

“Follow me. The Queen must be waiting for a long time.”

The moment the white knight said those, we immediately lowered our guard. However, the black-haired Aegis Knight refused to sheath his sword.

“Zell, what are you doing?”

“Let them be, Jerry.” The blonde knight said. “We don’t have a chance to win this fight anyway. There’s no way we can stand against the princess.”

“But Zell, she’s a criminal.”

“She’s not.” The blonde knight said. “Come on, let’s go.”

Gritting his teeth, the half-Indian knight Jerry sheathed his sword and forced himself to go with the flow.

“Thanks for the assist, beansprout knight,” Lizzy said.

“Zell Wingate. That’s my name, your majesty.” 

“I’ll still call you beansprout.”

Yufa and I had a deep sigh. We thought this covert operation is over when we found out. Good thing we somehow made friends with that knight. In fact, it seems that Lizzy and that blonde knight know each other even before that fight in my apartment.

The two knights peacefully lead us to our destination, Room 502. The room is quiet and clean, and it’s in the size of my apartment back in Ophir. There’s nothing different in this hospital from the hospitals on the surface.

There, sitting on her bed is the supposed Queen of Agartha.

“Mother!” Lizzy cried as she approached the patient.

I already had a hunch when Lizzy brought us to the mental hospital, and I’m sad to say that it’s the worse case that I could think of. Of course, Lizzy’s mother is a patient. What could I expect, but the worst?

The Queen of Agartha is gazing at the window. Her eyes are far off in the skies that she might be looking at the other galaxy. She looks beautiful for her age, with long black hair and golden eyes similar to Lizzy. She is cradling an old doll on her arms that has a name tag of “Lizzy” in it. 

On her hand is a nursery rhyme book that has the title “Friendship Handshake Songs.” I think I heard a nursery rhyme like that before, back in high school.

“Mother! I’m sorry if I only visited you today!” Lizzy smiled as she cried. “Look, I have a new encyclopedia for you! I bought it from Ophir! You said you wanted to read books about the surface world, right?”

The Queen of Agartha slowly removed her attention to the window and looked at her daughter’s face. She made a genuinely kind smile. Then she talked to the doll she’s cradling.

“Look, Lizzy. The delivery woman has arrived with a new book from the surface. Want me to read it for you, my dear cute Lizzy?”

Delivery woman? Did she just mistake her own daughter as a delivery woman? And why is she calling that doll Lizzy? Why did she even name the doll Lizzy in the first place?

All of a sudden, a hand patted my shoulder. It’s the blonde knight Zell, and he gestured his head for us to go outside. I think he wants to talk with me as well as leave the mother and daughter with their privacy.

I nodded, and we exited the room together with Yufa and that knight Jerry.

We sat on the bench near the room. Zell made the generosity of treating me a canned ice coffee from a nearby vending machine.

“Thanks,” I said. “What did you want to talk about?”

“The princess,” Zell said as he sat beside me. “I need to tell you what mess you’re getting into.”