“When do you think he’s going to wake up?” 

Lakyus asked, seemingly very curious about the recently rescued hostage, it was more than just curiosity as she seemed very impatient, this was the second time she asked the same question in the span of five minutes, although she did change up her wording so that it would not seem too obvious that she was asking the same question. 

“Should be any minute, now”.

Arthur answered a bit curious about why Lakyus seemed very eager to know that, however he quickly realized that, she was shown as an individual with a very active imagination, even going so far as to pretend that her sword was cursed and was trying to take over her mind, in short she was in her cringe stage of life, a stage he is very familiar with and one that cripples him with cringe and makes his toes curl every time he remembers it, this in turn made him torn between wanting to interact with her and wanting to avoid her so he wont be reminded of his chunni phase. 

“Do you think he’s going to wake up a different person?” 

She asked again, At the beginning she was a bit apprehensive about asking such things mostly because she did not want to seem incompetent but her suspicion that he just might be the same as her pushed her to want to converse with him. According to what Evileye had said, the crown destroys the mind of the wearer, but the person who wore it should return to normal if the crown is destroyed as such. She wondered how that would work. 

“I mean, if his mind was destroyed, then restructured then sure, but I’m not sure.” 

Arthur answered again this time his own curiosity was peaked, if the crown of wisdom destroys the mind, then how is it that the person’s mind is returned to normal once it is destroyed, unless it doesn’t necessarily destroy the mind but does something close. 

“Maybe he is going to have some memory loss and well go on journey to find out who he is.” 

Lakyus added, she placed her hand on her chin as she contemplated the effects of the crown on the former hostage, the idea of someone losing their memory and going on a journey to find out who they are was a tantalizing one to her and one she thought would make for a good story. 

“That is certainly a possibility. He could gather comrades along the way with different goals but who are also on a journey.” 

“And on that journey, they would encounter dangerous monsters and people who they’ll be forced to fight, all the while forming a deep family like bond together until eventually he realizes that he no longer need to find out who he is and that his current self and friends are enough and that they already give him an idea of who he is.” 

“That is certainly a possibility”. 

Arthur responded with an amused smile on his face, it seems that Lakyus was taking the idea further than it was necessary. Evileye could not help but heave a small sigh beneath her mask, while for the most part Lakyus was a serious individual, the leader of blue rose often had her own moments of childishness, which she supposed that it was to be expected as Lakyus was not that old to begin with, she also did not expect someone who is a knight of the princess would much more straight laced that what she was seeing or rather the only person who worked for royalty that she knew was Gazeff and she was basing that assumption of him but it was certainly nice that she did not have to be formal all the time. 

“Why don’t we stop with the fanciful ideas and stick to reality”. 

She reminded them their conversation was entirely pointless. There was no need to consider those things, and they could just wait and see how things turned out once the former hostage woke up. Also, it worth noting that the three of them decide to wait at the cemetery for a bit to check that there weren't any additional members of Zurrernorn and guard the necromancer so that he won’t pull anything near civilians,they also decided to knock him out and interrogate him later. 

“We are sticking to reality, though. The possibility of anything is never zero.” 

“he’s right, you know.” 

Arthur answered and Lakyus concurred, from what he remembers Evileye was quite the cold hearted one or rather she projected that type of image to everyone but her teammates or at least that was how he interpreted the relationship between her and her friends. 

“I suppose you are right, but still, things like that are unlikely to happen, so its pointless to think about them.” 

Arthur was about to give his retort to the vampire however there was a groan that drew their attention, the honey gold haired boy that was the hostage open his visible eye the one that one was not hidden beneath his hair. As he opened his eyes, he was assaulted by a headache that caused him to wince while his eyes saw three individuals that stood over him. 

“Oh, you’re awake?” 

……… 

The knights and adventurers scrambled as they searched every house in the city and looked for anyone who might be missing, and the bodies of those who had lost their lives. While the undead were taken care of there was still a lot to do, although they managed to rescue as many citizens as they could with some having to get escorted by the knights as the weren’t enough horses for everyone. The operation, for the most part, was successful, and the casualties were not exactly minimal but manageable. 

“It seems as though things have finally settled down a bit.” 

Gazeff informed the guild master Ainzarch as he watched his knights run around searching, with some having found some dead bodies, although he did wonder if E-Rantel needed some additional security to prevent anymore incidents like this or perhaps all the cities might need additional security. 

“Indeed, Lord Stronoff, however I don’t believe this is over or the very least. I don’t think we should relax just yet.”

“What do you mean, sir Ainzarch?” 

“You see, this attack happened after I had sent adventures to the Katze because there was some unexpected undead activity over there. However, those adventures haven’t come back yet.” 

Ainzarch explained with a bit of worry and unease laced over his tone, as a guild master, he could not help but feel a bit responsible for the adventurers and their lives. Gazeff let out a hum as he began to contemplate what he had just heard. It was possible that this attack on E-Rantel was a distraction for some greater that happened in the plains, and maybe Zurrenorn had more attacks planned in the future and wanted to capture some adventurers. 

“we’re going to have to create a search party. All of this could be part of some ploy that we aren’t aware of yet, I will inform his majesty of this.” 

“I could ask for nothing more, Lord Stronoff.” 

Ainzarch responded and his head looked around seeing the damage that the city had sustained and could not help but let out a sigh of relief seeing that the nightmare had finally passed and that now he could relax but still never though he would see and hear the roar of an undead dragon. 

“I must say when I heard the roar coming from the cemetery and saw the skeletal dragon from afar, I nearly dropped to my knees. It was such a terrifying creature. 

“Indeed, it was my first time seeing one, but lucky for us, there were people that could handle it quickly.” 

Gazeff spoke his voice was relieved however in his mind he could not help but feel dissatisfied and inadequate, as a knight of the king he represents the might of the crown and the spirit of the royal family as such he should have been able to face that dragon but yet when he heard its roar the first time he could not help but feel threatened and fearful, as warrior he is supposed to act in spite of fear never let it hinder him from performance or stop him, yet he let that happen and not only that when he saw it from afar he knew he could not contend with it, if he was fully equipped maybe but as he is now he could never hope to. Arthur was a knight of the princess and held a similar position to him not only that but from what he has seen, Arthur was equal in strength to him, yet he managed to face that creature something that made him feel relief he was not near it. 

‘Perhaps I got complacent.’ 

He thought to himself, perhaps staying around royalty and nobles for such long time had made him forget himself as a warrior, he does love his job and there is no greater honour in being the sword of the king however due to the position he holds he became comfortable, he still trains regularly but he is training to maintain his prowess, not improve them. 

“Lord Stronoff, is something the matter?” 

“Not at the moment, sir Ainzarch” 

Gazeff responded with a small smile, which confused the guild master. Having realize his own mistake of complacency Gazeff had realized that Arthur was an individual that would make a worthy rival a goal to surpass, he may not be as young as he wants to be but that’s not excused to not aim for greater heights.

......

A/N: a bit of a short chapter but I didn’t want it to be long either, just Evileye and Lakyus forming their opinions of Arthur and Gazeff being inspired to try harder and grow stronger.

Thoughts on the chapter?