Chapter 42: Weaponise the Civilians
"Was he the one who caused these things?" Sara wondered, staring at Sol's back while Ikaris took one hand and Renia walked by his opposite side conversing as though they were not strangers.
"Who is this woman anyways?" She thought again.
She had been by Sol's side indefinitely ever since she was tasked to do so, she spent every minute of the day with him, and Sol only left her sights and senses when he left for whatever training he had been doing, which she was now realising were these challenges they kept talking about.
"But there is no place in Argom where one can hone their skills so quickly, and if Lady Renia knows Sir from the challenges, then does that mean she is an outsider, was there such a place left outside of Argom where others lived?" She asked, but quickly remembered that the Brutish man, Gordo, also came from a village that had existed on the outskirts of Argom for over fifty years.
"I suppose it is possible-"
"-are you listening to me?" Ikaris flicked her finger against Sara's forehead, and she stiffened and stared blankly for a few moments.
"Apologies, Is there something you require of me, milady?" Sara looked around, realising that they were already inside the castle and about to enter the debriefing with the queen.
"I asked if you are okay," Ikaris cleared her throat. "You walked through that gate behind Renia earlier I can not imagine it had no effect on you at all," She clarified her concern, but Sara shook her head with a smile.
"I am okay, the magic Lady Renia and I use are very similar, while mine requires shadows, hers manipulates magic itself and makes a direct bridge, but the fundamentals are the same, I think."
"She might be a descendant," Renia smiled at the maid whom she was fond of, and Sara's eyes slightly widened.
"You will meet the Queen as well, milady, is that a wise decision?"
"I don't see anything wrong with it, Renia is also a witness to what happened last night, in fact she knows a fair bit more than everyone else, she was there when I rescued Ikaris, and I plan to make her take credit for it." Sol admitted.
"What?" Renia looked around at him as the others began nodding.
"I suppose that lines up with masters ideology," Ikaris chuckled.
"He truly hates being the centre of attention, doesn't he?" Eris asked with a sheepish chuckle. "Although he tries so hard, he always ends up getting targeted because of the way he behaves,"
"You speak as if you have known master for a long time," Ikaris looked at the Healer hero while they walked into the discussion hall
"Ah, not really, it's just very apparent that he doesn't like attention," Eris chuckled, but Ikaris narrowed her eyes and stared at her intently.
"That was a lie."
"Wh- huh?"
"Eris used to live in the same orphanage as I did," Sol held his gaze toward the Queen while they approached the table.
"Why would she lie to me about that, do I seem like the type to harm someone for simply being acquainted with ypu?" Ikaris looked around at Sol, and everyone else looked away from her gaze.
"Beats me, maybe she thought I forgot," Sol grunted and looked agead at the now blushing Eris while she adjusted her glasses.
"I'd never forget those days, after my parents died, that hell I went through, orphans have it the roughest, a lot of illegal shit went down in that place, a lot of wrongdoing... If there were not so many kids there I'd have probably burnt it down when I was leaving," Sol ground his teeth.
"But maybe, once I return I'll just buy the group of orphanages from the current owners, and do a complete refresh on all of the staff, because god knows those people are devils." Sol admitted gaining looks of disapproval from Han and Dina.
"Aren't you broke though?" Han chuckled.
"Master has hundreds of millions in gold in his possession, is that considered broke?" Ikaris asked with a knowing chuckle and Sol sighed.
"Wha-huh-what!?" Dina blurted out.
[The gods of fortune chuckle at the revelation]
"I suppose in your local currency, it would be a few hundred billion," Ikaris added while they stopped before the queen.
"Queen Vermon," she regarded the queen respectfully, but showed no sign of lowering her head, causing Misty to scowl as she nodded at her.
"A messenger briefed me on the complete and utter failure you lot were after just a day after venturing out," The queen stared at them all from her high seat. "Sit, I want every..." She paused and narrowed her eyes at Renia. "Who is that woman, I do not remember ever seeing her,"
"Greetings your majesty," Renia committed to her farse and folded her arms underneath her coat lowering her head and smiling diligently. "I am Renia Crimson,"
"Crimson?" The queen stared at her hair, her eyes and then at her entire appearance. "I have not heard mention of the Crimson household in years, did the last of your kin not die out serving the throne in my grandfather's age of rule?"
"The last who swore loyalty to the throne, yes, but my house still stands," Renia smiled while she lied through her teeth.
"She is a descendant of crimson... That makes sense," Arla sighed, feeling stupid for accusing the woman of being a goddess. "But why would they name their daughter after the goddess of chaos herself, even as her descendants that is a bit..." She paused when she realised that she had been speaking loudly and had caught the attention of everyone in the hall.
"That is enough," Queen Vermon gestured to the seats. "I am quite pleased to meet a descendant of the goddess of chaos, but why are you here?"
"Your majesty, Lady Renia was a major aid to our survival, she is also witness to the true reason we were attacked as well as the one who saved the hero Ikaris," General Grim answered on her behalf. "I believe her insight is both necessary and needed, that is why I invited her."
"Your highness," Sol raised his hand like a student. "I'm not a hero, I didn't contribute to anything of mention either," he looked around at everyone and they all nodded in agreement of his plan to not take any credit. "I practically slept through everything that happened, may I be excused from the debrief since my presence changes nothing?" He asked.
"Get out." Queen Vermon spent no time getting rid of Sol who was a stain in her sight, and Sol quickly complied and started leaving.
"Sara~" He called and the maid quickly bowed to the queen and ran after him.
"I had expected he would have died on the first day of battle, but he even managed to survive through a fight that was too much for the elites to handle," Queen Vermon stared at the doors as they closed again. "Enough then, from the start, I want everyone's account of what happened, and the conclusion that was left out with the messenger, take your seats and begin."
"Why must you trouble her majesty at every chance you get?" Sara asked Sol, and he chuckled while he was sitting in the kitchen watching the maids prepare their dinner.
"It's fun," Sol smiled. "Besides, I already know everything that happened, I don't care about everyone's individual stories, that meeting is going to turn into a war council soon, I'm not interested, if there's an enemy, I will kill it, but I can't stand being held down by boring war meetings," He replied.
"You have experience with war councils?" Sara asked, remembering that the heroes came from a world where they were not directly affected by any ongoing war and were supposed to be civilians.
"There is nothing to be gained from sitting in a stuffy room and listening to a bunch of people repeat the same things over and over again, the options here are simple, there's no neighbour kingdom to ally with, there are no other nations fighting against us, there is Argom, and then there is a world overrun by demons, the citizens should have been trained to fight demons as a mandatory law, how do they expect one nation's sole army to fight against the rest of the world?"
"I see," Sara nodded.
"The answer to all of Arkadia's problems lie in the people properly uniting, train them all, men women and children, weaponise the entire country and start expanding their borders again, the army makes up a staggering 3% of the overall population, that's a ridiculous.
"The more room Argom has the more the people can multiply, and the more they multiply the more future soldiers there will be, the heroes need to gain an insurmountable amount of strength to face that demon god-"
"Demon god?" Sara gasped.
"That's right, I found out the identity of the enemy in one of my expeditions into their lands." Sol nodded, picking up an apple and biting into it. "To beat that monster, the heroes need power akin to the gods themselves,"
"Then, can you help?" Sara asked, and Sol swallowed his bite of apple with a smile and brushed his hand through his hair dramatically.
"Absolutely not!"