I settled into a seat near her. In moments like these, I was often at a loss for words, but I attempted to offer comfort.
Placing my hand on her shoulder, I stammered, “I… I am certain you’ll see them again.”
She averted her gaze. “Sure…”
Drawing a deep breath, she leaned forward, her fingers interlacing.
As she spoke, her stress was palpable. “During the three years I spent on Holvious, I never truly felt this way. It wasn’t a long time, my father had leveraged his connections to secure my citizenship and such. The first day, I felt content. Perfect, even. The second day, the feeling persisted, albeit less intensely. But one day, I left my key inside the house. I knocked on the door and called out, ‘Mom, I left the key inside.’ It took me a mere two seconds to remember that she wasn’t just absent, but that I had resolved never to see her again. I broke down crying then, but I thought I had moved past it. When I was buying ice cream, I immediately thought, ‘Dad would like this.’ Then, the usual realization hit me: I wasn’t going to see him again. I didn’t want to… After a few months, those incidents ceased. I convinced myself that I was completely fine with severing ties with Holvious. But every time I noticed my accent shifting, I would deliberately practice my Holvious and Oil City dialect to regain it. I rationalized my actions, but ultimately, it was because I yearned for some connection to my home.”
Oh… is that home sickness?
She groaned then. “If I had never left… my mother wouldn’t have lashed out at my father, and she would still be there. She wouldn’t have left.”
I responded, “Yes, that’s true, but… let’s not dwell on the past and its negatives. It will only cause you pain now. I’m sure your mother wouldn’t want you to feel this way.”
She didn’t reply, but leaned back, her gaze returning to the ceiling. I sat there, sharing the silence with her.
As time passed, my eyes would drift back to the family photos, and I would find myself thinking about my own family, and her, Tearnisha. If what that woman said was true… Then damn. I knew she despised me, but to this extent…? I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, I certainly deserved it.
I stared at my hands.
But… Why put everyone else in danger?
I need to find her and ask her why.
I didn’t even want to harm her. Despite the incident occurring years ago, I could still recall the way she looked at me afterward.
Not only did I fail to heal the woman that took her in, and treated me like her very daughter, but I was responsible for killing her faster.
When Tearsha heard the news, she had slowly turned towards me, perhaps connecting the dots, and unleashed a torrent of insults, screams, and tears, branding me a monster…
I touched my neck.
Back in that forest, when I remembered being stabbed in the neck, it was her.
Despite everything, I didn’t truly hate her. I knew it sounded illogical, even foolish. But…
I roughly ran my fingers through my hair, stressed.
She was my sister, my younger sister. Before she grew to hate me, she admired me, looked up to me. Even though she appeared older than all of us, she was the youngest. The one who was almost always quiet.
Brenda broke the silence, “You said I would meet my parents again, right?”
I turned towards her, pushing aside my thoughts before answering, “Y-yes! Absolutely.”
“How?”
“I’ll help!” I blurted out without much thought.
She looked at me and offered a faint smile. “Yeah… I would like that. I would love that. After we deal with your issues first, of course. We’re in Holvious, so we have some protection here simply because Terrafall doesn’t have jurisdiction here, and the animosity between the two nations. But like we discussed before, those assassins who boarded and attacked the ship knew we were traveling here, so there’s a chance the information was relayed.”
I sighed. “Yeah, sadly. But at least Holvious harbors a deep resentment for Terrafall, despite their peace treaty, so they wouldn’t comply that easily with Terrafall… right? I am thought to be a Darsean cultist after all. Wait, wait! The king wants my left hand! If he knows I am here, he would most likely not inform the Holvious queen of my existence, since there’s a good chance she would deploy her own Vanquishers to kill me. And if the king were to say something absurd like, ‘keep her left hand safe,’ that would raise suspicion, and give the queen something to use against him. I heard she was incredibly manipulative, like every queen from the Holvious royal line, so I must be somewhat accurate, right?”
Brenda pondered this. “Yeah, I think so. Yeah! You’re right!” she exclaimed, springing to her feet.
I shared her excitement, but things couldn’t be that easy.
I clicked my tongue, “But what if the fool is reckless enough to actually do something like that? And now the Queen wants my hand desperately?”
“Well… you might as well accept defeat then. Nartela is an absolute beast. Unlike Terrafall where the king is the eldest male, in this Queendom, the queen isn’t the eldest daughter, but the last one standing. Meaning, out of her nine siblings, and five sisters, with the exception of Merla, who only survived because she was sick from birth, Nartela survived the murder attempts and managed to kill her other siblings, Including her mother.”
I stared at her for a few seconds.
She had to bluffing, right…?
Her expression didn't change.
I asked in disbelief. “Wait, that’s actually true? I thought it was propaganda about the Holvious royals.”
“Nah, it’s true. They’re all a bit unhinged. Although, you probably heard they kill each other in some battle royale or some ridiculous nonsense.”
“…Yes.”
“That’s nonsense. A lot of times it’s poison, sabotage, coercing suicide.”
“That sounds like a… strange way to select a ruler, no? Why does that tradition even exist?” I asked.
“Because this nation hasn’t known peace. The founder of Holvious killed the natives here to claim the land along with her sibling Vlandos. The fight was intense and bloody, but they won. After that, other empires tried to claim this island, desiring to gain the endemic monsters of Holvious and high concentration of weightless feathers. Not to mention, the fact there was a Darsean cultist mini city in our volcanoes which tried to conquer the nation. And of course, Terrafall waged war with us three times in the past two centuries, for reasons we aren’t even sure anymore.”
I thought it was a nation, not a city. I guess it was exaggerated. But damn, I guessed the queens had to be the best to rule such an unlucky nation.
“So, it’s something like survival of the fittest, I’m guessing; for the reason of the tradition. It still sounds stupid to me, there could have been a queen that was killed because she was unlucky, and that queen could have been the greatest one out of all that lived. It’s like, "I can beat you in a one-on-one, but what if I was starving when you tried to kill me?”
Brenda shrugged. “I get what you mean.”
I wanted to ask more questions, but we were getting sidetracked.
Okay, one more question.
“I heard Holvious became a Queendom out of spite for the Kingdoms, just to be different, is that true?”
“Eh? No. It’s just that the first queen was the last survivor of her siblings when they claimed this land, and she made herself queen. She also didn’t believe that a bunch of bastards should inherit their blood, calling it something very sacred, so she limited the heritage of the ruling necklace to her daughters. Sure, there may be bastards, but there would be far fewer ones.”
I guess that made sense. That shitty head of a King back in Terrafall probably had a bunch of secret bastards. I only knew about the fact he had a daughter and son who were both in their twenties.
There was something weird about them. I had encountered them a few times, and obviously, they didn’t recognize me since my identity was concealed, but I recall feeling an urge to turn in their direction… Just like Taernisha.
I glanced at my seal, remembering that feeling.
It felt itchy…
Brenda then asked, “So, what’s the plan to deal with that king? You can’t keep playing on the defensive or reactive.”
“Yeah… It’s just hard to think about. Most of my issues, I dealt with by killing. But the solution to this issue wouldn’t be killing him. Not only would it change nothing, it would just make people more wrathful.”
Brenda’s eyes widened as she locked eyes with me.
I looked at her, expectantly.
What was it? What was the plan?
She said, “You are right. Very right! We don’t need to kill him. You just need to reveal the truth!”
I looked at her with disappointment.
Before I could say something, she continued, “I know what you are going to say, ‘that makes no sense. You don't think I thought about that? Be serious for a second. How would we get him to tell the truth and even if we did, why wouldn't Terrafall citizens just think I am mind-controlling him or somehow manipulating him. After all, they are aware that I killed a lot of adventurers. Even if I view it as self-defense, they wouldn’t.’”
That was right on the mark, actually.
She then snapped her finger and said, “So… what if you do something… heroic. Something so amazing, they would have to question the side they are on. ‘She is supposed to be the bad person, right? But the king did that’.”
I liked the idea, but I was confused about one thing.
I asked, “Heroic like what?”
She answered while smiling. “When the King comes after you. We get him to confess. But not only confess, because people would think manipulation is involved. So instead, make him confess something so terrible it would break the trust of his people. But like what? I am not sure, but he is after your left hand, right? Maybe find out why… And hope it’s for something sinister. Hell, who cares if it’s for sinister, just somehow get it to make it seem like it’s for something evil. Everyone fears Darseans, maybe make it seem like he wants the power of the Darsean with the hand. Just manipulate the scenario so well that even if it’s suspicious, it would generate enough hatred and suspicion against the king. Like a ton.”
I thought about it. “It would obviously be better to have proof and evidence. What are the chances of someone having dirt on the king?”
“Queen Nartela,” she answered.
“I have a feeling that I should avoid her as much as possible,” I replied.
“Probably. But she is known to use whatever is useful. The only way to become in her good graces is to be so valuable, she would risk war for you… But that’s almost impossible, not to mention your connection to Darsean.”
I groaned in annoyance. “The Queen sounds too dangerous. If I do something she doesn’t like, she could easily just tell everyone I am a Darsean cultist, not to mention what if she and the king come to an agreement, and she lures me for him? Not worth the risk.”
Brenda agreed with a slow and saddened nod.
With disappointment, I said, “It seems the only method is to lure the king in and then get him to confess somehow… Maybe we can get a mind control monster? Like you said before, be so good at manipulation it’s not suspicious. Actually… that doesn’t even matter. With mind control, we make him say every secret that he wants to keep from his citizens! Not just that! We make him prove it. Maybe the castle has a hidden paper on whatever.”
Brenda agreed. “That… does sound like it’s worth a shot! But, how would you deal with his bodyguards? Or whatever men he would have with him?”
“Not sure yet. Maybe I would need to get strong enough to beat— Nah. It would be impossible to reach that level of strength in such a short period. But… strong enough to last long enough to mind control the king.”
I rubbed my chin as I said, “Now… the problem is, getting that kind of monster. Do you all have a monster zone with a mind attribute monster,” I asked.
“Actually, yes. I would suggest a Hynog. They have a ton of white fur and are very evil, even for a monster. They tend to live in the mountains of Devalin. Although, they also can be seen in a lot of settlements, just to do evil shit.”
That was a little strange for monsters that lived in zones. I know back at Sundawn, the capital of Terrafall, the monster invasion happened because some kind of Qi bomb was set off in the city, which created so much QI, it caused monsters from the nearby great monster forest to come to the city at full power to make it their new home.
Oh well.
I asked, “So we are going to need a license to enter that mountain? A new one too?”
“No. You don’t need a license to capture and level up in Holvious. You only really need it to sell monsters that are rare and greater in rarity, along with some other stuff. We will simply be referred to as monster hunters.”
I stood up. “Then let’s get to it!”
Brenda raised her broken wrist. “How?”
Oh right…
She then crossed her legs and hummed, before asking, “What if you heal me by healing my monster?”
I stared at her. “Uh… I don’t think I ever tried that…”
“Well, you did heal my monster back then. So what difference would it make?”
“I don’t know? Intent? I know Katie wanted me to experiment with it, but… I am just afraid that if I desire to help someone, it would backfire.”
Brenda sent out her Birmall. The cute bird monster with four wings tried to flap, but it squealed as one of its wings couldn’t move the way it wanted.
Brenda caught it and then handed it to me. “Don’t heal me then. Heal it.”
I gritted my teeth. “The mind doesn’t work like that—“
“I wouldn’t die. I understand your fear, but you have to realize, with how things are progressing, you are going to need to learn how to push the boundaries of your healing powers to the max.”
I dropped my shoulders. “Is that why you want to take the risk? Despite the fact you have the healing elixir pills?”
“Yes. That and you are going to need to learn long-range healing. I don’t know how, but you are going to.”
She was ow being silly. But whatever, I accepted it.
Just focus on healing the monster, not her…
I took the Birmall from her hands, and used heal.
My hands glowed as a red aura surrounded it and the monster. Within seconds, the broken part of one of its wings raised in its proper place.
I quickly looked at her wrist. She removed the bandage and she moved it up and down and around.
She smiled. “It doesn’t hurt!”
I wasn’t satisfied yet.
She looked at me and noticed my mug. “What’s the matter? It worked.”
“My powers tend to not immediately kill. I am watching to see if anything is going to happen.”
“Would you be able to reverse the effects?” she asked.
“No. I just say that to bargain with enemies.”
“Hm… Well, I feel fine. Very fine. Now for more important matters, getting to the mountains of Devalin.”
Was she really not affected in any form?
If that was the case… then this power would only be limited to other Vlandos, but despite that, it would still be very powerful. That also sounded like a weakness that enemies could exploit.
All they would have to do is maybe use a monster that covered their entire body, like the shadow monster user I fought back in the forest.
I wouldn’t be able to harm them with this… but, I should focus on the positive.
I smiled at my hands. I could actually be a healer and not some cursed selfish existence. Sure, it was very limited, but it was still a good thing.
“Yo, Vernisha.”
I looked at her, but my vision was watery for some weird reason. Then I felt something wet running down my face.
Huh…
I touched my face.
Oh. I was crying.
Haha… over something like this…? I was crying…?
Of course I was… If… If I wasn’t so stupid, I could have saved her! I could have saved Abella Starworth. She was a Vlandos after all…
If…
I grabbed my hair in stress as the tears rained down my face.
Brenda rushed to my side. “What’s happening?! Did I say something wrong? What is it? Is it the healing?! Did it drain you too much? What can I do?”
I shook my head, frustrated. “Nothing!”
Using my shirt, I wiped my tears that refused to stop.
Brenda crouched infront of me, and looked at me with genuine concern. “How can you say nothing when there clearly is an issue? Tell me. I want to help.”
I didn’t want to talk at all. It wasn’t like I was going to be able to make full sentences anyway.
I just pushed her away, gently. And lifted my hand in her direction to say, ‘stop.’
She listened and took a seat near me instead.
When my thoughts and emotions had settled down, I raised my head up and took in a deep breath.
I told her, “I just had a horrible realization, and no, I don’t want to speak about it. Let’s talk about getting that Hynog.”
Brenda who was sitting near me looked at me hesitantly as if she wanted to ask me if I was sure.
But she suppressed that and nodded. “Um, okay. The thing about that mountain…” she then looked at me again, as my eyes had drifted down.
“Vernisha, are you sure you don’t want to…” she asked.
“I am sure I don’t want to talk about it. I can handle my emotions okay. I will just kick it down. Hell… crying like this is so nasty. I must look so damn pathetic…”
I was always so easy to cry… It was honestly annoying and made me feel so weak. I wanted to be strong, how could I be strong yet emotionally this weak…?
Brenda quickly said, “No way. Crying isn’t a bad thing. If it was, it wouldn’t be a natural function of the body… You shouldn't feel shitty for that.”
I clicked my tongue. “Whatever, I will be okay soon. The intense emotions are basically gone, it’s just the lingering thoughts for now. Let’s talk about something far more important. That mountain, what issues could we face if we were to go there?”
She sighed. “It’s extremely cold. It’s so cold, that cold resistance armor are required to not die up there, even for someone of your level.”
Oh great. Something I couldn’t heal my way through.
Just the idea of the cold made me shiver. Also… the memory of nearly freezing to death back on that ship still haunted me.
With a groan, I asked, “So… Do we need a fire attribute monster?”
She shook her head and smiled. “We need to get cold resistance armor, that’s what.”
Maybe I am an idiot.
“Oh… sorry, that was dumb of me. So, do we buy them or get a blacksmith to make them?”
She replied, “Make them. Besides, because we are going to be making the move on that king, you are going to need the best armor and weaponry. And lucky for us, I know one of the top 3 blacksmiths in Holvious.”
“Oh? Where?”
She pointed down. “He lives in this city.”
I interlaced my fingers with a very concerned expression. “He is going to want us to get involved in some illegal business… wouldn’t he?”
She shrugged. “No idea.”
I stood up. “Well, lead the way.”
She walked over and opened the door.
As the low levels of sunlight shone on her, she said, “Let’s begin.”
