Chapter 63: Baited
“Three more days…” Henrek muttered, looking at the moon.
“You shouldn’t have to fight, relax…” Hope urged, trying to pull Henrek back to bed.
“I just feel like we’re going to get more attention than we should.” Henrek sighed as he sat on the side of the bed, eyes wandering over to Lilly in her crib.
“I think your stunt with Utarou did that already, you know how much the King loves Blessed Beings.” Hope teased.
“Heh, yeah… I just hope this doesn’t get too out of hand…” Henrek groaned as he got into bed.
“If it does, I’d rather have the mad immortal take the damage as opposed to you…”
Dryholm had charged the dwarven weaponry with the questionable consent of Utarou’s grown pot of Redlia, it was entirely inert but still magically potent enough to charge the weapons.
The day of battle approached.
…
Penelope looked up, she was in a nightmare.
With piercing green eyes and a furious expression, messy blonde hair covering his sharp features.
He’d clearly come here in a hurry, considering he hadn’t even changed into his armour.
His hand was pushing into the wall just beside Penelope’s head.
Adam had appeared not more than a minute after the trio of Penelope, Pinklia and Emily were teleported just outside of Oldser, and he was demanding answers.
“Where is it?” Adam growled, staring deeply into Penelope’s eyes.
“H-huh?” Penelope asked, tears still wet from the sobbing she was doing moments prior.
“It, the creature which cannot be seen, cannot be spoken of, cannot be heard. Where is it?” Adam demanded before Pinklia and Emily pushed him away.
Adam had an intensity in his eyes that none of them had seen before.
Emily quickly wrote a note and handed it to Adam.
“Madam Penelope had recently had an encounter with a demon, are you asking about that?” Emily’s note said.
Adam read it and looked at the mechanical golem maid, a flicker of a smile appeared on his face before he began to interrogate it.
“You are not human, you two must’ve been able to see and hear it fine, correct?” Adam demanded, looking at Emily and Pinklia.
“W-what?! I couldn’t see anything, it was just this… horrible presence…” Pinklia shuddered as Penelope slowly composed herself, taking deep breaths.
“You carry the curse of humanity as well? Fascinating.” Adam noted.
“I could only see it, as my hearing has been removed.” Emily wrote, handing Adam the note.
“Interesting, you, golem, draw me a picture of the demon immediately. You two, where was the creature? The Church sensed its magic and sent me here.” Adam explained calmly, finally settling down as he realized he was scaring the women.
Emily hesitated, looking back at Penelope who just gave a thumbs up, standing up straight to Adam to speak to him properly.
“You can’t just do that, jeez, hot guys think they can get away with anything…” Penelope retorted meekly, her usually confident remarks still stilted.
“I apologise, but we haven’t had any sightings of the demon in nearly two hundred years, such a blatant move from it means something serious is happening. You three being a part of it makes me concerned, with warrant I’d like to think.” Adam sighed, genuinely remorseful over his uncouth introduction.
“Blatant… Wait a minute, where are we?” Pinklia asked as she looked around, recognizing the scenery was not like the dwarven east of Aurora.
“Just outside of Oldser. I was hoping to not need to return until long after your little skirmish concluded.” Adam explained with a sigh, glaring at Penelope.
“H-hey! We didn’t ask to be taken here! He just did it!” Penelope retorted defensively as Emily handed over a sketch to Adam.
It looked terrible, with poorly drawn fingers that melted into one another, proportions drawn as if it was a toddler.
“Hmpth, no matter. What did it want from you? Where did you see it?” Adam asked seriously as he looked towards the dwarven lands.
“We were just outside of Clan Assynt’s fort… And it appeared right after I used that spell you showed me!” Penelope exclaimed suddenly, catching Adam’s interest.
“Hmpth, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s how it found you. The Church's magic is something the demon hates. But then why didn’t it kill you upon finding you?” Adam asked seriously.
“Hey hey calm down! It just… Well uh… It…” Penelope began to blush as she remembered the intense encounter.
“It was saying weird stuff about being the father of the Saviour and wanting to be Penelope's son!” Pinklia blurted out awkwardly.
Adam paused for a moment as he considered the scripture and holy records of this demonic attack.
This was unusual behaviour for it.
It wanted something from Penelope.
“And it made you a deal for power? You said no right?” Adam asked seriously, placing his hands on Penelope’s shoulders.
“Of course I said no! And don’t touch me until you’ve taken me out for dinner first!” Penelope retorted confidently.
“I’ll keep that in mind… Consider this a warning Penelope, do not leave the lands of the Church, otherwise that entity will return for you.” Adam explained seriously, before disappearing to try and find the Demon before it left.
The three girls remained silent for a few more moments, until Emily wrote a note and handed it to Penelope along with the sketch.
“Do you think my illustration is that poor?”
Penelope laughed and patted the golem on the head.
“It’s fine, c’mon let’s get going. The skirmish is probably happening soon, so this will be a good excuse to pick up the blue Julia on our way back.” Penelope said, gathering her gusto and picking up her bag.
“A-are you sure that’s a good idea? What if there are Oldser knights around…” Pinklia asked nervously.
“Bah, I’m sure they’re busy.” Penelope smirked, her grand war plan was falling into place, and she was, naively, trusting Utarou to be able to execute his half.
He just needed to keep a low profile, let Henrek appear to be the one causing a ruckus, then blow both armies up with their dwarven weaponry.
From there, it’d be a smooth take over of the old senile king.
No problems.
…
King Oldsman's throne room was dark, with only four individuals in it and lit by nothing but the full moon.
The old king looked upon his collection of Blessed Beings, Lucian, Kiera and Koch.
Lucian, the man blessed with the ability Instant Death Touch, wore silk gloves and an expectant look on his face.
Kiera, a woman blessed with the ability Absolute Lock, was fulfilling her duties as one of the king's collectables in listening to his summons.
Koch, a man blessed with the ability Total Mana Nullification, loyal to the crown and having been a key member of the king's court for over a decade now.
“It is a great shame that I failed to anticipate this occurring. Kiera, have you heard the rumblings of strife within my lands?” Oldsman asked wearily.
“Yes my lord, it is a tragedy of the utmost seriousness that your vassals would dare fight against one another.” Kiera replied sycophantically, causing the King to roll his eyes.
“Hmpth, indeed. The most troubling part is Henrek’s part in it. I’m afraid it is far too late to send an army off to squash this rabble. The man was broken when I last heard of him, yet he appears to be reanimated in a kind of conspiracy… One to undermine my provinces and acquire more land? Tell me Lucian, does that sound like anyone we know?” Oldsman asked rhetorically.
“Yes my lord, it does sound like Utarou’s doing.” Lucian replied dutifully.
“It’s such a shame, he was the prized piece in my collection right besides you and Koch. I smell that this fight is the church’s doing.” Oldsman muttered bitterly, causing Kiera to flinch at the blatant Aviotican dissent the king so casually uttered, though Koch and Lucian were aware of the King's distaste for the current Pope and Magisterium already.
“I take it you summoned me and your son to the capital for a specific reason then my lord?” Koch asked cautiously.
“Hmpth, yes. These events have caused me to expedite my plans. Send word to the rest of my collection, Youngsman will be crowned within the month. I wouldn’t want my favourite pieces to miss that now would I?” Oldsman asked with a machiavellian grin.
He would need to locate and secure Utarou, all so he could witness his son's glorious crowning, before the church could interfere with his plans any further.