-"We welcome you to our great Yan, Knights of Holy Son."-One of the Censors greeted them.-"But what rights do you have to interfere in your actions?"
-"We are acting in accordance with an agreement reached between Priestess Lemuen, speaking on Holy Son's behalf, and Yanese Ambassador, representing the emperor."-Viviana explained with her pleasant voice.-"We were given the right to act in Lungmen to crush Ursus' conspiracy."
-"I don't see how stopping us from dealing with insurgents connects to this."
-"The leader of this group is Yelena, someone who works for Holy Son to uncover the Reunion conspiracy, trying to unmask real conspirators trying to start a war. She provided us with enough evidence to move against Reunion, treating it as a tool of Ursus' nobles."
-"If you had such knowledge, why didn't you provide it to Yan?"
-"Because we also uncovered spies and traitors."-Spoke Qingyan, who appeared nearby along with Cellinia at some point.
Her appearance caused the Censors present to tense noticeably, after all, she was once their colleague, someone 'sacrificed' by Yan, so they didn't expect much good feeling left for Yan in her. And they wouldn't be entirely wrong to think that, one could see that she no longer considered herself a Yanese person, and after spending years in Britain along with us, she fully treated herself as my person.
This could be seen by the change in her attire, as while she still preferred the Yanese style of clothes, their color was now mostly white or blue with gold accents, taking on elements of Lateran style. Also, while not accepting the halo yet, she wore the silver circlet all my Knights and Priestesses wore, something that now became a symbol as much as the blue color, but only representing those closest to me.
She handed a tablet filled with evidence we collected, leaving them to deal with it as they see fit. After seeing a few first entries, Censors' whole demeanors changed.
-"We will inform His Majesty about this. Please excuse us."
After they retreated, Qingyan looked at the Black Cloaks.
-"I'll provide you with the same information. I believe Lord Wei will have other matters for you to attend to."
-"Please."
After getting a drive with the data, they left, leaving only Yelena, her people, L.G.D. , and my Knights present. Cellinia approached Ch'en and handed her tablet to see the information while she consulted with Swire on how to proceed.
-"Holy Son ordered us to assist in clearing the slums before Mephisto's Art spreads. I hope we can cooperate to achieve that."
-"Of course. We are thankful for the Holy Son's magnanimity."-Swire accepted the help, knowing that their current situation didn't allow them to prioritize some empty pride.
-"Margaret will lead her cavalry to scout and help you with that horde, while we'll help you on the ground. With our Arts, dealing with them should be much easier."
Soon, my Knights dismounted and started to discuss with the L.G.D. trio how to deal with the threat. I stayed close, listening to their discussion but not actively participating. As I was focusing on the conversation, I felt something approach me, and when I turned, I was greeted by the eagle-like head of the gryphon.
Those mystical beasts were something given to me, to Britain, to be exact, as a gift for overthrowing Vortigern from Queen of Sheba. A total of 200 of these noble beasts, which Artoria decided to allocate for Margaret's cavalry, allowing them to live in my Azure Dream. Since then, Margaret has slowly adapted her cavalry to flying, while the gryphons got used to their new lives, creating nests and procreating.
We predicted that the number of gryphons would slowly grow, reaching over 300 in two years, allowing all of Margaret's cavalry to ride them after they grow up. But one shouldn't think of gryphons as simple mounts. Not only are they truly powerful beasts, but they are also intelligent and proud. Riding one required gaining its respect and acknowledgment, but even then, it's only a partnership, not taming.
Yet, contrary to that, the gryphon that approached me appeared to be almost meek, bowing its head to me. I smiled at that and extended my head to pet it, ignoring a jealous neigh that seemed to appear as I did so. I enjoyed the smooth feathers and fur, unknowingly becoming the center of attention. Everyone watched me with surprise and envy, correctly afraid to approach gryphons themselves.
-"Eno."-Ch'en called out to me.
-"Yes?"
-"We agreed on the plan, we can start now."
-"Let's go then, better to finish it before anything could happen."-I nodded and ended the petting session.
The plan was rather simple: Margaret and her cavalry would fly around the slums, attracting the zombies to us, while we had to destroy them. As casters, Qingyan, Yelena, and I were the core of the party, with Ch'en, Hoshiguma, Cellinia, and Viviana defending us along with other people commanded by Swire. We didn't need much time to prepare, as such, not even an hour later, the whole horde existing in the slums started to converge on our location.
And what they were greeted by thunder and ice when they arrived here. Neither Qingyan nor Yelena was exactly a merciful person, so as soon as any enemy appeared in their vision, it was either frozen and then shattered, or directly annihilated with thunder. Most of the time, I didn't even have a chance to move before they dealt with the enemy. But despite everything proceeding as planned, there was one problem that started to become apparent.
-"Still no Mephisto."-Hoshiguma commented after yet another wave.
-"I doubt we will find him."-I told her.
-"He most likely ran away."-Yelena confirmed.-"He always was a coward."
-"What about that sniper?"-Ch'en asked.
-"Faust. Calm and steady, but too loyal for his own good. I hope he managed to escape as well."
-"That's the real tragedy, good people dying for wrong reasons."-I sighed.
-"You sound familiar."-Yelena looked at me carefully.-"Only one person I ever met speaks like you."
-"Is that so?"-I played dumb.
Yelena watched me for a moment, then dropped the subject.
-"Let's get this over with."
It took us the whole night and most of the next day to officially clear the entire slum. But then, everyone was exhausted, but as someone still needed to oversee the finishing touches, I stayed behind. I worked through the night, dealing with the demolition of tunnels that could be used to enter Lungmen from outside and arranging for the demolition of what remained of the buildings in the slums.
The work was finally completed when the sun started to rise, and after the last checks, I was about to return to my residence to rest, when I was stopped.
-"It's you, right? Eno?"-Yelena stopped me when we were alone.
-"How did you guess?"
-"It's the way you speak and your aura. Your straight posture and that self-confidence without that obvious hubris nobles possess is hard to hide, though I thought the same about your wings and halo."-She smiled for the first time since I saw her.-"Thank you."
-"I didn't do anything deserving your thanks."
-"You did. I'm not blind, Eno, I could see how bad Reunion's situation was… is. I bet that without you, I'd be long dead."-She sighed sadly.-"Now, not only do you provide the suppressants that allowed me to manage my Oripathy, but you also are trying to save Talulah, to save Father… to save me."
-"I'm just doing what I promised."
-"That's why I thank you. Because I don't want our relationship to be one of duty, but of companionship."-She started to walk away.-"You should get some rest. It's about time to go and wake Talulah up."
I watched her retreating back for a while before continuing on my way back.
I slept through most of the day, waking up in the evening, or rather, I was woken up in the evening. I felt someone entering my room and carefully approaching my bedside, so I pretended to be asleep while waiting to see what happened next. I was able to identify the visitor as Ch'en, so I wasn't afraid she would harm me.
I felt that she focused on my right arm, her emotions somewhat unstable when she looked at it. She slowly leaned over me, touching the bandages carefully, so as not to cause me pain and wake me up, unwrapping them slowly. When she saw the still-open and bleeding wound underneath, I could hear her breath catch up.
She moved her hand back, but that caused her, who was leaning over me, to reach my right arm, lose her balance, and fall forward. No longer pretending to be asleep, I caught her so that she neither fell into my bloody mess of right arm nor did she strike my crystal-hard right arm. But this made her aware that I saw all her actions, causing her to bury her head in my shoulder, trying to hide her face from me.
All that resulted in a rather intimate position, where she lay in my arms. I stayed still, waiting for her to stand up, but she didn't; contrary to everything I expected, she hugged me instead. I could feel her trembling slightly, mumbling in a voice barely above a whisper.
-"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
As I couldn't move my right arm, I could only hug her lightly with my other one. This silent care caused her to tremble even more, but I could feel her feelings stabilize slowly, venting everything she had bottled up inside. At some point, she stopped trembling, slowly relaxing, though her words never stopped. It was only about half an hour after she came in when the silence fully returned.
She didn't try to stand up or push me away; she lay in my embrace, looking at the side of my face. Her eyes were full of complicated emotions, a mix that seemed to consist of everything and nothing at the same time. After staying like that for a few minutes, she finally broke the silence.
-"Eno, do you hate me?"
-"No. Rather, I find you much to my liking."
-"Then do you resent me?"
-"No. You did nothing that would cause me to do so."
-"…Do you think I'm pathetic...? I can't even do my job properly, needing you to do everything for me… and then… causing all that harm…"
-"Ch'en, you are not pathetic. There are few people as strong as you on the entire Terra."
-"This, coming from you, sounds like a platitude used to cheer up a child."-She complained softly.
-"Is that so? Then how about I tell you a story, as I did in that cafe."
-"Mhmm."
-"It's a story about someone close to me. A girl who took the fate of a country upon her shoulders…"
I narrated Artoria's story, using elements from the legend to supplement what really happened, creating a story that was close enough to reality to still be true, but with enough added elements to be enjoyable for the listeners. I minimized my involvement there, mentioning it only when necessary, but Ch'en must have noticed me doing that, causing her to ask more questions.
I ended the story at the coronation ceremony, not mentioning the part about me becoming royal consort. Ch'en was silent for a moment, thinking about that whole story. She then looked at me and asked.
-"Why did you tell me that story?"
-"Because in my eyes, you and Artoria are not that different. Someone who carries fate far beyond what they should on their shoulders. But your biggest similarity is trying to do everything by yourself, hiding behind your positions and duties. In the same way Artoria has her knights, don't you also have your loyal friends?"
-"But…"
-"No buts. While I can't say to understand how your friendships work, I can see that, be it Lin, Swire, and Hoshiguma, for sure, would follow you to hell and back. Don't treat them as some vases or people undeserving of your trust."-I ignored her protest.
-"I'll try."-Ch'en
-"Don't try, do it."
-"Then… Will you also support me, like you did Artoria?"
-"This… I'll definitely support you, but…"
-"Would it be that Artoria is one of the women you spoke of? Those with relationships with you?"-She caught up on the reason behind my awkwardness.
-"Yes."
This caused an awkward silence to envelop us, before Ch'en laughed lightly.
-"Pfff… Now your story appears more like bragging about your woman than a lesson."
I also smile at that.
-"Eno, I want to ask you something, and I hope you can be direct with me."
-"Sure."
-"Do you have any plans for Lungmen, especially ones involving me?"
-"I do."
-"Can you tell me?"
I nodded and explained to her my idea to have her take over Wei's position by leveraging my identity and her royal blood to allow Lungmen to resolve its conflict with Yan. After hearing it, Ch'en was silent for a moment before she rose up and moved so that she was pinning me down. She matched my gaze and spoke up.
-"Eno, I respect you. I can't say that I have no feelings for you, maybe not romantic yet, but I definitely feel something approaching that region. And while I'm not exactly happy you tried to use me in your plans, I won't hold this against you if you promise me something."
-"What would that be?"
-"I want you to take me out of Lungmen after all this ended. I want to travel to the world you described to me, to see more of the world, and to get to know you better."
-"Are you sure?"
-"Yes. Your plan can indeed help Lungmen, I don't mind sacrificing myself to do so, but I'd rather fall in love with you genuinely rather than do so."
-"Good."
-"And from now on, if you have a plan that involves me, you tell me first."
I nodded.
-"Lastly. Please let me lean on you."
-"Always when you need it."
She smiled and leaned down.
After her first kiss, she helped me wrap up my wound and cleaned the slight mess we left before deciding to get something to eat with me. But when we opened the doors, three people fell into the room, causing a rather awkward situation. Ch'en, be it from shyness or anger, made them all kneel inside, interrogating them on what they heard or saw, and when Hoshiguma revealed that they saw almost everything, Ch'en almost decapitated them on the spot.
I had to step in to prevent the bloodshed, and Ch'en agreed to let them be only after they agreed to do something for her, something she decided to keep secret for now. I could feel that it had something to do with what we talked about, but as she wouldn't harm them, I decided to let them be. In the end, five of us decided to get something to eat together, leaving the HQ with Ch'en and Swire arguing about who knows what.