The sun’s glare burns bright and brilliant, as Ra looks upon their journey. With approval or disdain, she does not know. Ashala steered the boat. Gods above, help her, for she wonders if it’s not too late to turn this boat around before she brings ruin upon her home.
Ebsun suffers greatly yet here she is, it’s supposed protector, bringing the Sunderer and the bewitched reincarnations into its hearth.
Shame be upon her for her actions.
It is then that the Sunderer stepped out of the rest cabin. And when she looks at him, for a moment all she can recall is Aina’s heartbreak. Through Aina’s memories that saw more than she should have in Oryath, with his tired eyes looking in the distance, resignation, a bone deep pain as his voice wavered over words of betrayal..
She hates it.
She hates how much she still cares. For this Traitor and Sunderer, who brought her home low and herself lower for still wanting to stay his comrade. She hates herself for wanting to believe her clearly bewitched comrades. Perseus’ incarnation who had hurt so much and she who hurt for watching her brother-in-arms all but shatter at the betrayal of his heart’s heart, who now stands to be a staunch defender of the Sunderer, especially.
As the Traitor moves closer to her, she lets out a hiss and he pauses.
“Lady Ashala, I come here only intent on… atoning for my past deeds.”
She shook her head, her mane-like hair flying at the action. “No. You come not for atonement but to rip these old wounds apart.”
The Sunderer winced at her words. Good, she thought to herself. Then she watched as he sat down, exhaling as he closed his eyes. Just as she thought he would stay silent, he opened his mouth.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Lf rjlv. “Cybea Syrec…”
Vtf ugbkifv. “Vqfjx cba bo Syrec, ktja firf lr atfgf ab ifjgc boo? Tbe ygbxf lcab tfg vfofcrfr, yegcfv tfg ab jrtfr, jcv ifoa klat cbatlcu ab rtbk obg.”
Lf ogbkcfv. “Ojvs Crtjij, sbe wjs yglcu atja eq jr boafc jr sbe ilxf. Lbkfnfg, la klii cba yfcfola jcsbcf ab obmer bc atf qjra, wemt ifrr atf qjra bo 100 sfjgr yfobgf. P jw tfgf obg jabcfwfca, jcv jabcf P rtjii, atbeut sbe yfilfnf la cba.”
“Oh? Where’d you learn to speak like a highborn, Sunderer? So be it, if you wish to atone, then I shall put you in a cell whilst the others aid me against the drought.”
Whatever it is he had aimed to do, the Liar kept silent and retreated back into the cabin with only a shake of his head.
All Ashala can think of now is Aina’s lingering care and the heavy weight upon her shoulders. She only hopes that bringing them into Ebsun to deal with the drought demons is not her foolishness courting disaster. And if she closes her eyes and tastes ash on her tongue, that’s merely a reminder of what she has to lose.
Keith took a deep breath as his tail swished back and forth in irritation. He had let his emotions get the best of him. Fenrir, bite his head off! Honestly, here he was trying to not land himself in jail, and then he lets his mouth run.
He has two whole lifetimes in his head, one would think that’s enough to impart some social skills unto him.
Sadly, both lives were a mess and a half, since he can barely put together who he used to be before he became Keith of Kiol. As for Oryath, the man was more like a feral cat that was slowly taught to socialize rather than the pinnacle of ‘healthy, person with an active social life’. He sat down in defeat and cradled his head in his hands. Honestly, what did he hope to even achieve by talking to her?
“Mutt.” Hyacinth said as he sat down beside him.
Keith lifted up his head and scowled at Hyacinth. “Oh shut it, fish face.”
“You don’t even know what I was going to say.” He pointed out with an amused scoff. “Listen, Lady Ashala will not listen to words now, not with what Oryath had done to her beloved Ebsun. Any word you say will only inflame her temper.”
“… And what do you want to accomplish by stating the obvious?” He asked dryly.
Hyacinth kept going, giving him an exasperated look. “I mean to tell you that the best course of action is to prove intent via action, much like how you proved yourself at least trustworthy to me.”
“Right… We’ll just have to figure out how to help Ebsun with the drought and then,” Keith frowned, “We need to work on what we’re supposed to do next, besides look for Yugiri’s reincarnation. Tiamat has already begun arranging her return.”
His thoughts turned towards Tiamat as well as Ren’s circumstance. The books had Ren as the General of Wind and Lawrence was primed to take over his father’s business, with a sharp mind like that there’s no doubt he’s being used as a tactician against his will. Coupled with Tiamat’s less than forgiving state, then she would not accept anything but complete and total compliance lest she kill him or worse.
From what little they can glean, she’s already begun strangling the mainland and with the failed invasion of Kiol, that means she already seeks to invade the Nornic territories in a classic divide and conquer strategy. Ebsun being targeted by drought demons implies that General Khez is involved. But, no, a drought would not be able to bring Ebsun low, and with the improved defenses after General Wesley managed to crumble the walls via spies, their strategy must be different.
Hyacinth looked at him, an assessing glint to those sea green eyes. “What then would General Wesley be doing?”
“I have no idea.” Keith replied as he hung his head once more. Of course he would have said his thoughts out loud, it’s just easier to plan things by speaking rather than thinking. “General Wesley’s domain is not limited to dirt and sand, you know? He may be a Homunculus, but his maker was an ambitious soul. Thus he’s a homunculus with magic to make metals.”
“Good for sword production but having more blades is not enough to make Ebsun kneel.” Hyacinth frowned before shaking his head. “We cannot hope to glean knowledge from only hearing about it. Not only that but I doubt you can summon Ren in order to ask.”
“So we’re stuck watching and waiting, while putting down drought demons.” Keith sighed. “I can see that there’s the long term starvation plan, one that Khez often employed back then before burning things in order to make it a base camp since Demonic Territory is only implemented by blighting the land with ghost flame.”
Hyacinth scowled and made a noise of frustration. “Waiting and watching. That’s all we can do for now.”
He yawned, leaning against the cabin wall. “It’ll be the only course of action we can do for now. I still need to check up on how exactly she broke out of the Seal. I’ll need everyone assembled in order to do that.”
“Rest.” Hyacinth said. “We still have a long time before the sun even sets. You can put aside your heavy thoughts, it will lead to nothing with the limited knowledge we have right now.”
And so he succumbed to sleep.
Hyacinth turned his eyes down to the now sleeping Keith, his head lolling to the side uncomfortably before he gently lifted his hand and directed Keith’s head to lean on his shoulder. Like this, he can see how much taller he is than Keith, and the way his wolf ears seemed to droop down like droplets of water.
Keith had continued to surprise him, but then again if Oryath truly wasn’t a traitor, then he would have needed to know the internal strategies and politics of Tiamat’s generals. But the fact he remembers it so clearly, he hummed. That is suspicious. Is it the Seal’s doing, the Mark searing into the soul until the soul has no choice but to remember it as clearly as Keith does?
And what exactly did Keith mean about checking the Seal itself, why did he need the other reincarnations if Oryath had been the one to do the sealing?
With a defeated sigh, Hyacinth shook his head, careful not to disturb the slumbering Keith. He can ask these questions later. For now the most pressing issue lies ahead and it wouldn’t do to be unrested when they arrive at Ebsun.
Closing his eyes, he let himself drift off into a dreamless sleep.
Thank you for the chapter 🥰
Lol a feral cat. 😂 Yes socializing with someone who is angry at you surely is hard. If one is not the king of socializing I imagine everyone would have some trouble with that. But I hope it gets better as it goes on. The group sure is all buddy friendly with each other considering how they are all angry at him but don’t seriously try to kill him and still restrain themselves. Because if they really wanted to, I’m sure even their friends can’t stop them.