8Chapter 6: The Town of St. Binah
Big time thanks to Lady Draculae, who caught a little error that was at the end of the last chapter. It's been fixed!
Also, I'm sorry this chapter is so late. RL interfered, in the form of my computer going south twice (The motherboard blew then a program looped) and my mother undergoing surgery for breast cancer.
Undineday, Rem-Decan 26, ND 2018
My name is Cassa Reiner. I have a longer first name, but I don't like it. I'm the eldest daughter of House Reiner, a noble family in the Malkuth Empire. It's mostly confidential, but I am also a fonic sage, a rare type of fonist. The only ones that know now are Emperor Peony, father, my instructors...and a group of 4 people I am travelling with.
Out of them, 3 I know anything about.
Guy is an old friend of mine, since 15 years ago. It's a bit weird, considering that I'm a woman and that he has a phobia against women. However, I usually kept my distance, so that there wouldn't be much of any problems. I ran into him in Chesedonia and he asked me to help him find his ward, Luke fon Fabre.
Luke...ugh. What can I say? He's a worthless, rude, spoiled brat. He acts like the world owes him! Yes, he was inflicted with amnesia from an incident 7 years prior, and he was locked up in his manor since then, but that's no excuse for his attitude. The fact that I have to travel alongside him is something I really hate. But, considering circumstances, I have no choice. Peony made sure of that with a little letter.
That brings me to the third person. Jade the Necromancer. At first, when the Emperor mentioned the man's name, I didn't make the connection between that and the famous moniker. Embarrassing.
It looks like Peony wasn't joking about the man wearing glasses, even though he's a colonel in the military. I honestly don't know what to think of him. I know right now, he's nasty and a jerk. He's also very intelligent and a good fonist, even if he got slapped with a fon slot seal shortly before I met him.
The day before was when Guy and I chased down a landship near Engeve, not knowing that it would bring us into contact with those 3 people and Van Grants' sister, Tear. But, it did.
This morning, near a road, we were going to use a triangle formation to surround Luke, who had become afraid of battling human beings. In this respect, I can only partly empathize, because that day, I had also killed a human for the first time. I say only partly empathize because unlike him, I had been forewarned about it during training, and knew that I would have to get over the first reactions.
Anyway, Tear, Guy and Jade were going to surround Luke and Ion, and I would take point in front of the triangle. The little brat decided, though, that he was going to fight too, even if it means killing humans, and take responsibility. It'll be interesting to see if he actually does put action to words, but I'll be honest. I don't believe him, and I don't even think he knows what he's saying at all.
When we got to the entrance of St. Binah, we saw the city guarded by Oracle Knights. Yes, the same group that Tear and Van are with, the same group that we fought on the road yesterday. I was trying to think of a way past this when a pair of wagons from Engeve came by. We managed to talk the village's elder, Rose, into letting us hitch a ride into the city on the second wagon. Little did we know that things were just beginning...
The small group, who had just parted ways with Engeve's elder, started looking about them. Amongst them, Cassa was chuckling as she did so.
"Guy..."
"Huh? Yeah, Cassa?"
"Remember when we met, 15 years ago?" she asked as she glanced at him in a certain way, "It was here in this town."
"Y-yeah," he replied, "I was pretty hungry when I got here, and short on gald. You got some food from the Inn and gave it to me."
"Oh? Even with his phobia?" Jade interrupted, glancing at the manservant and the sage.
"It wasn't easy," she replied, "Eventually, I had to leave the plate on the tiles and hope nobody else took it."
"After then, we got to know each other," Guy replied quickly, "As long as she kept her distance, that was."
"Hmm. Is that so? How interesting." His tone showed that it was anything but interesting.
"Hmph!" Cassa retorted, "You're pretty rude and snide yourself."
"Flattery gets you nowhere with me, young lady."
"Who said it was flattery? Besides, I'm-"
"Hey-hey! Cool it," Guy quickly said, "Aren't we supposed to find Anise?"
"...Yes. You're right," Jade replied, "and we can start with the Malkuth base, just north of this square."
The raven-haired woman looked in the direction specified, frowned and asked, "Isn't that McGovern's house?"
"Indeed it is. The General allowed the military to use it as his base."
She groaned and said, "If he and the Field Marshal are in the same room, there's liable to be trouble. They fight like father and son."
Jade merely nodded and started walking towards the mansion, only to be stopped by a small boy.
"Excuse me, but do you know a soldier named the Necromancer?"
Jade knelt down to the boy's eye level and replied, "Why yes, I do."
The reply startled the others a bit.
"Could you please give him a message for me? He's a soldier that gathers corpses so that he can bring back the dead. My dad was killed by Kimlascans...so, I was wondering if he could..."
There was a moment's silence before Jade replied, "I'll be sure to pass on the message."
"Thank you, sir! It's a promise!" the boy, a little happier, replied and ran off.
As the colonel got back on his feet, he could hear one of the others ask if what the boy had said was true.
"I dunno," Guy replied, "If that were true, I'd have some requests of my own."
"Did you lose someone?" Tear asked.
"Everyone in my family and household," he replied grimly, "It was the war. I mean, those sort of things happened all the time back then."
Cassa glanced at her friend with a sympathetic expression and asked, "Guy...that's still haunting you, isn't it...?"
"Oh, I don't know. Where there's smoke, there's fire..." Jade replied in a quiet voice.
"What?!" everyone asked.
"It's nothing. We should get going now," the brunette stated and continued onward.
00000
Inside the mansion that had become a military base, a pale-haired young man in a rather elaborate military uniform sighed and shook his head, standing away from a window that looked out into a beautiful and expansive flower garden.
"Father, we've gone over this already. Officially, the Oracle Knights are considered as Scorers, and without a direct order from his Imperial Majesty, we can't restrict their actions. You know what would happen if we did."
The person that the military man was talking to, a rather short, old man with a beard that touched the floor, snapped, "Enough! You know how horrible the Hod War became because of their involvement!"
"That may well be, but would the consequences of defying Scorers without proper authority be any better?"
Before the older man could make an appropriate retort, a younger, more familiar, voice replied, "I'm sorry for intruding."
Both father and son turned and were surprised by the group of 5 people that had just entered. Of them, at least one was recognizable.
"Jade the Necromancer..." the younger man remarked, not too happy at either the interruption or the one doing the interrupting.
"Oh! If it isn't Jade!" the older of the two was more (and obviously) happy to see the blue-clad colonel.
"It's been a while, Field Marshal McGovern."
"I'm retired now," he replied with a shake of the head, "There's no need for formalities like those anymore. And what about you? Isn't it about time you accepted a promotion? Even at your age, you could easily have made Lieutenant General by now."
Jade shrugged and replied, "Ohh, I don't know. I already have my hands full just being a Colonel."
There was a sharp laugh from one of the others, a black-haired woman, and the retort, "Yes, I can easily see how you would be mired down."
Both men turned to the speaker and the younger one said, "My Lad-"
The woman glared at them icily and put up a finger. "I am Miss Cassa, or simply Cassa. Don't address me as anything else. Understand?"
The older McGovern's eyes lit up and he replied, "Ahh, I understand completely."
"Of course, Cassa," the younger replied, though his tone showed that he didn't like it one bit.
"Are those two important?" she could hear Luke ask.
"Sounds like it," Guy replied smoothly.
"You and his Majesty go way back, don't you? Maybe you could ask him to do something about these Oracle Knights?" the elder McGovern asked Jade.
"I'm afraid it's us that they're after," the Necromancer replied, "Once we leave, they should as well."
"What's happened?"
"I'm afraid I can't tell you the details. I'm under direct orders from his Majesty. I'm sorry."
"What about you, Miss Cassa?" the General asked pointedly.
"The same applies to me."
That made both McGoverns grumble for a moment, before the General asked, "Colonel Curtiss, Miss Cassa...what brings the two of you here?"
"Ah yes, my apologies," Jade replied smoothly, acting as though he hadn't really forgotten, "Have you received a letter from a Fon Master guardian?"
"Ah, that. I'm sorry, but it had to be opened to confirm the contents, for security reasons."
"That's fine. There's nothing in there that would be a problem for you to see."
The colonel then took the letter from the younger McGovern's hand, read it, then handed it to Luke, saying that part of it was addressed to him.
Cassa looked at Ion a little nervously, who was gazing out the window at the flower garden.
We haven't been traveling together more than half a day, but...he doesn't look too good right now. I wonder, is he frail? She thought as she walked to the window and stood beside him.
"Is something wrong?" he asked.
"W-well...are you normally this pale?"
"Pale? Well, I don't get out in the sun that much, but..."
"But?"
"But I don't want to be such a burden. I'm already slowing everyone down-"
She hmphed and said, "Ion...I mean Fon Master-"
"Ion is fine."
"All right, then. Ion, you shouldn't let the ramblings of an arrogant, spoiled brat affect your opinion of yourself."
"You really dislike him, don't you, Cassa?"
"Dislike? Despise is more like it. I've known that brat for about 11, 12 years. Before the kidnapping, he was respectable, even for one of his position. Afterwards, he became what you see now. While the event was bad and caused his amnesia, it was used as an excuse to spoil him until he became as rotten as he is now."
"Oh, I see. You're certainly...tough."
"You mean hard on others?"
Ion didn't reply.
"I've been told that before. Although..."
"Hm?"
"I think that if there weren't those that were raised strictly, there would be more spoiled brats."
"Perhaps so. Were you raised so strictly?"
"Yes. Not just because of my abilities, either. My father believed that no matter what path I would take in life, such horrible upbringing and behavior invites disaster and destruction."
"And your mother? Did she think so, too?"
"She was in no position to give an opinion in my raising."
"How come?"
Cassa was quiet as she replied, "She died 15 years ago."
"I see. I'm sorry."
"It's all right. Besides..."
"What is it?"
"Well," she started to say, but after a moment, she shook her head. "I'll tell you more about the situation behind that someday. But now-"
That was when she heard a harrumph from behind her.
Both she and the Fon Master turned and saw Jade looking at them with a raised eyebrow.
"It's interesting to see you two off in your own little world while the rest of us are discussing our next destination."
"Excuse me?" she asked sharply, "You have no idea what you're talking about."
He raised an eyebrow and replied, "Oh, is that so? Mind sharing the conversation with the rest of us ignorant savages?"
Ion saw a dangerous flash in the woman's eyes and quickly said in a firm voice, "That's enough. If you are to know of that conversation, she or I will tell you later on. For now, where is the next destination?"
"Kaitzur," Guy replied.
Ion nodded then faced the Necromancer. "Jade, even for you, that was uncalled for."
"Yes," Glenn McGovern agreed, "I agree with the Fon Master."
Jade nodded at the hint in the General's voice and replied with that unreadable smile on his face, "Perhaps so. My apologies, Miss Cassa."
Why is it that he doesn't sound sincere in that? Cassa thought, but simply nodded and replied, "I accept it."
"Now that this little unpleasantness is dealt with, shall we be going?" Jade asked, though from his tone, it was an order.
"Yeah, I'll second four-eyes on that," Luke replied, "The sooner I'm back where I belong, the better off I'll be. Jeez, they're all such a pain!"
Jade acted as though Luke had not said anything and simply walked out of the conference room. Guy and Tear were right behind him, followed by Ion. Luke started forward when he felt a grip on his shoulders from a pair of hands. The owner of those hands tightened the grip and with a offended "Hmph", Cassa pushed him out of the room.