CHAPTER 7 - I - MADELAINE ANN RUBINFORTH, FLOWER OF DAWSON VALLEY
***On the outskirts of Gebrei***
A heap of broken carts could be seen to move, even as various corpses of the dead Imperials and coalition soldiers had covered that spot. A couple of the undead nearby collapsed, as its legs were cut off by a fast swipe of the blade.
Emerging from the ruins was a man. He wore a broken Imperial armor, and his body and face covered with dust and soot. It was a fortunate thing that he kept himself safe by hiding under the broken supply carts of the Imperial baggage train, even as the panic and confusion spread unto the legionnaire column after they were attacked by the undead.
“…”
From afar, he could see and hear some of the desperate survivors trying to fight the undead swarming on them. But he never paid attention to those people. In his mind, only one thing remained: that was to survive.
“Yes, that’s what I plan to you as well, to survive.”
“!!!”
The man turned around to see a lady coming to him with a sword in her hand. Behind her was a group of undead, following her every movement.
“Seirna!” the man hissed, “What did you just do to these men?”
“Hmm…I simply turned them into something more powerful.” she answered, “These legionnaires are pretty useless; being defeated repeatedly by a motley army of fools and bandits!”
“Even so, you killed these men.”
“And their deaths are with purpose.” Seirna countered Prince Umberto Benicci, “As well as you, that’s why you’re still alive, and not torn apart.”
“I won’t be working with a traitor like you!”
“Oh really? Me, a traitor?” Seirna laughed, “I bow to no one, remember? And here I thought that your resolve to kill Lady Madelaine is that strong…turns out, you’re weak.”
“What do you know?” Prince Umberto almost attacked Seirna in his anger, if not for the undead blocking his way.
“Listen, former Prince and General, Umberto Benicci. Like these useless legionnaires, I’m also giving you the chance to become useful to me one last time.” Seirna then brought out a matchlock pistol and gave it to him, “You wanted to have your revenge on Madelaine Rubinforth, then I’m allowing you to do so.”
“…”
“Go to Huirot. Soon, the human saint and her black-haired lackey would mount an expedition to relieve its garrison, for their friend was trapped in there. You know these people, they couldn’t leave their loved ones behind.”
“And you want me to kill that friend of hers?”
“No, you silly idiot! You’re going to kill Madelaine.” the Saint of the Flame told him sarcastically, “Once they relieved Huirot, I’m going to create confusion among them, and during that chaos, you’re going to shoot Madelaine with that demon weapon.”
“But how can I do that? It’s pretty hard to come near that Saint, given that her Paladin Corps are always with her.”
“Disguise yourself and earn the trust of the commander of the Huirot garrison, Prince Simon Hugh Reed of Nerfes. I’ll tell you instructions on how to counter the undead; use that to influence him. And also, wear this leather cuirass I enchanted so that Madelaine wouldn’t able to read your thoughts.”
“Alright then.” Prince Umberto removed the broken Imperial armor from his body, and Seirna helped him don the leather cuirass she had taken from a dead coalition soldier.
“Well, I’m looking forward to your success, Umberto Benicci.” she tapped him in the back, “I hope you’ll be happy once you and your goddaughter meet again this time.”
Umberto never answered her, for he would make sure that it would be his final moment with Madelaine Rubinforth…
**Kuro**
When I opened my eyes the next day, what greeted me was the familiar child servant.
“Wha—Eris?”
“Good morning, Sir Kuro!”
Well, it certainly was different to hear her call me that way. If I remember, Eris used to say ‘Mister’ before my name. I couldn’t hide my surprised expression from her.
“What are you doing here? I thought you’re at the Holy Palatial Gardens.”
“Well, I am. It’s you who are back in the palatial gardens.”
“Oh…” Then it came back to me. Yesterday, I fought against Seirna and her hordes of undead, and Maddie rescued me. Then when we came back, I guess I was too tired to even stay awake and fell asleep.
“Yep, it’s pretty hard carrying you all over the way from the courtyard to this room,” Eris commented.
“What? You carried me?”
The little maid shook her head, “Her Holiness and Lady Lily did. Lady Madelaine’s mana got depleted teleporting the survivors of your army back here that she could not cast a floating spell for a while.”
“Well…I guess I owe Maddie and Lily an apology, huh?” I got up to go to them but…
“…”
“Uhm…Eris, I don’t remember changing my clothes yesterday.”
“…”
The little maid was blushing, and she was averting her gaze from me.
“Hey, don’t tell me…”
“L-L-Lady Madelaine was the one who s-s-s-s-stripped you!” Eris explained, “And she looked so happy while doing that, so I let her be!”
Well, I’m sorry you had to see such an unsightly thing, Eris.
“A-Anyway, Sir Kuro…Her Holiness Lady Madelaine wishes to see you as soon as you wake up.”
“Where’s she?”
“I guess she’s at the courtyard, taking her breakfast with Lady Lily.”
“Thanks!”
The little maid nodded. Then she suddenly curtsied before me and cleared her throat before speaking officially, “Also, this lady wishes to congratulate Sir Kuro for displaying his talents in commanding and leading men into battle.”
“Really? Thanks, Eris.” I feel a bit abashed when she said, “I just did my work, though. And please, stop with the ‘Sir’.”
“It’s fine. You’re Lady Madelaine’s knight.” Eris explained, “So, it’s irresponsible for me to call you ‘Mister’, when in fact, you’re already a ‘Sire’.”
I sat on the bed while fixing my clothes, and Eris was quick to help me.
“Thanks!”
“Welcome, Sir Kuro.” Then she continued, “Would you want me to serve your breakfast here?”
“Err…what?”
“Your breakfast?”
“Sorry, I’m not used to that luxury.” I admitted, “I’m more like, a ‘going-to-the-kitchen-and-eat-there’ person.”
“Oh!” the little maid chuckled, “You sure are the usual Kuro, I mean, Sir Kuro. But then again, get used to it starting now, for I’d always do that whenever you wake up.”
“Huh? You don’t have to.”
“Well, I should, now that I’m your personal maid.”
“Come again?”
“I’m your personal maid.”
“Says who?”
“Says me, Lady Lily and Lady Madelaine…”
“What?”
“Well, I traded off 75% of the entire Braunhauer wealth just to have that privilege.”
“You sure you’re not overestimating my worth, Lady Eris?”
“I’m not…even more so when the coalition you’re leading needs financial support.”
“Maaaddddddiiiiieeee!!!”
“Yes, Kuro? Is there something you’re not satisfied with Lady Eris’ performance?”
“!!!”
I almost jumped from the bed when Maddie suddenly appeared beside me, tagging along with Lily. The head maid was wobbling; I guess she’s not that used to teleport as much as I do.
Anyway, I asked her, “What’s happening with Eris as my personal maid?”
“Well…about that…” Maddie’s voice trailed off to Lily, who took the turn to explain.
“Sorry for doing this to you, Kuro, but apparently, we need all the support we could get.” she told me, “And Lady Eris is one of the richest nobles currently alive in Chersea after she inherited her family’s wealth.”
“But isn’t her family’s property in Amaranth, which was now under the enemy’s control?”
“Well, it’s one of her family’s properties.” Lily added, “The Braunhauers owned properties all around Chersea, that’s why they could amass such influence in the Amaranthine king’s court.”
“Oh…”
“Haha! Don’t you like it Kuro?” it was Maddie, “Not only do you get three beautiful wives, you also got a cute girl as your personal servant! And you can also marry her when she grows up!”
“Why are you pushing yourselves to me? It’s not like I’m the only guy in the world, you know?”
“Indeed, you are not, but in our eyes, you’re the best one we knew!” Eris answered.
“Alright, alright! I guess that’s enough to talk about marriage and family stuff!” I had to divert the talk because it became too embarrassing for me to hear, “We still had an enemy to defeat.”
Lily and Maddie turned serious as well.
“Right…” Maddie said, “Now that we got the money, what we’ll need next are the men, for your army got severely depleted in Gebrei.”
After the undead incident, Maddie erected a huge magical barrier enough to keep the undead hordes at bay from the region of Gebrei, stretching up to the desolate wastelands of the North. The Savoian capital of Jeveneria, because of its proximity to Gebrei, became a ‘focal point’ in our defense against the undead.
Before that, she tried ‘exorcising’ the dead. It should’ve been an easy job for her; however, Seirna’s ‘dark’ power was interfering with her ‘light’ magic, and only little was achieved.
We don’t know for how long Maddie could maintain her barrier. The undead would often attack it, taking a toll on her mana reserves. As a result, she could now cast only a minimal amount of magic.
“…”
And we still have that problem about our allies in Huirot, which was near Gebrei. Time and time again, few survivors would come from that area—both Imperial and Savoian. They would tell us there were still people alive inside the town, but their situation was dire.
“Please hurry! My family is still there, and only a few men are left defending its walls!”
“Sir, I may be your former enemy, but I plead with you to accept me and my companions here. At least give me an honorable death, for I don’t want to be torn apart by those monsters!”
Those were the lines we hear often day by day. Across east Chersea, Nerfes was also accepting refugees from the ‘dark’ side of the continent, for there were numbers of states and kingdoms that were consumed by Seirna’s spell. Reports of entire city populations becoming zombies reached us, and those who arrived with injuries were put to death upon reaching the borders since the militias manning the front defenses were paranoid about those people were being infected by Seirna’s magic.
The situation, combined with the uncertainty of how long Maddie could keep up her magical barrier, brought the morale of our coalition to a new low. It’s been several weeks since the battle at Gebrei put a halt in our operations, and now, we don’t even know who we were fighting, and how to fight it.
On the 26th of March, a war council was called.
“You damned devil, Kuro!” Griffyth greeted me when I came across them at the Holy Palatial Gardens courtyard, “I never thought I’d see you again!”
Tarasca, Gats, Kashca, Winters, Stephan, and Kevin, as well as the other mercenaries and members of the coalition, were happy to see me as well. I’m also glad to see them all alive.
“It would be a great loss if you died in Gebrei, lad!” the Prince of Stadtsberg told me, along with some slaps at my back.
“Your Highness! What are you doing here?” I asked, “I thought you’re defending Stadtsberg?”
“That’s pointless now, Sir Kuro.” The Count of Brooke told me, “We were attacked by a legion of the dead, and we’re forced to escape here with a few that we can bring along with us.”
“Huh? But I thought Her Holiness put up a barrier in Gebrei region?”
“Well, she is, and we are thankful for her because of that.” It was the Duchess of Henristone, “However, her holy barrier could only cover the entire eastern half of Chersea. The western half had fallen into darkness…”
“And I left my family in Amarth!” the Count of Brooke lamented, “I wanted to rescue them, but as we are right now, we couldn’t do a thing!”
“Don’t worry, Your Excellency.” It was the Prince of Stadtsberg, “Our Saint would do everything to help us, that’s why she sent Sir Kuro here.”
“Praise be to the Saint…” the nobles uttered in desperation.
I guess they’re overestimating my worth as a human. Because of that, I don’t think I could fail them nor give them any reason to despair. Maddie’s reputation was at stake, and I intend to avenge Luisa’s death as well…
“Alright, before we go attacking these dead creatures, we should lay out some plans on doing it.” I told them, “We still haven’t relieved Huirot, and I’m afraid, we need to come to their aid soon.”
