Chapter 274: Ines’s real intention
Ines stepped out from the tree line like she owned the night.
The western edge of Gaiya Forest spat her into open air. She and the hundred soldiers behind her boots were silent on the damp earth. Behind them, the trees still whispered with the residual chaos of distant roars of monsters that they ignored just to come out of the forest faster.
And unexpectedly, she really had already left Vessa’s strike team far behind. Although her intention was to catch up to Vessa and the strike team, to finish them off before they reached the village, it seems she somehow ended up taking a different route than them and ended up coming ahead of them here.
Trying to be sneaky and unnoticeable backfired on them in the darkness of the forest.
Just as she came out, she saw the village lights, which were glowing ahead, a messy cluster of lanterns and mana lamps against the dark. The western gate was gapped open, a jagged wound torn through the center, where it should have been a solid barrier of reinforced timber and iron bands. Monsters poured through the hole in a steady, greedy stream.
Seeing the scene, Ines’s mouth curved in a satisfied smile. Even though she couldn’t catch the strike team, she at least now knew her other plan was going well, right in front of her.
“Heh. At least someone did her job right.”
The praise was soft, almost fond. As if she didn’t expect things to be going so well in the first place.
Thirty minutes earlier
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In the dark, a carriage sat in a shallow hollow just far enough from the village walls that the lantern light didn’t quite reach it. Thick canvas curtains kept the interior private. A single soft mana crystal glowed from a bracket on the ceiling, painting everything inside in watery blue.
Miriel, the younger daughter of Ines, sprawled across the wide bench seat. One of the servants Ines had sent along with her, a quiet woman with strong hands, worked her thumbs into the muscles of Miriel’s shoulders. The younger daughter of the Viscount house let out a long, shameless sigh of relief.
“And I’m telling you,” Miriel muttered, eyes half-closed, “Mother always gives me the filthy jobs. Always. Big sister gets the easy assignments, the dinner parties, and fooling around with young men from the noble houses. And me? ‘Go break a village gate, Miriel. Make sure no one sees you, Miriel. Don’t leave any survivors who can talk later, Miriel.’” She tipped her head so the servant could reach a better angle.
“I’m starting to think she just likes watching me get my hands dirty.”
While she was complaining by herself, across from her, Liraya sat stiffly on the opposite bench, right hand over the window frame, looking through the dark outside.
The carriage was large; Ines and her daughters never traveled in small vehicles, but the air inside the trapped compartment still felt too thick. Every breath Liraya was taking carried the faint metallic smell of the explosives and the sharp ozone of the mage’s last spell. The same mage was currently doing a massage therapy on Miriel's body. It seemed she was a woman of many talents.
Liraya’s face stayed carefully blank, looking outside, but her thoughts were anything but careful.
For those who are still wondering if these people were the ones who had done it, breaking the gate on the eastern side of the village, yes. They had done it.
The three of them, Miriel, the hired mage, and Liraya, had walked right up to the western gate under the cover of the earlier chaos at the main entrance. While everyone else was busy at the western gate, they had blown up the gate, making it seem like a large monster had done it.
Though Liraya hadn’t actually done anything, nor did Miriel, having the mage woman do everything for them, from casting the explosive magic to making it look like the work of a monster. She had done everything by herself, while Miriel only ordered her, and Liraya only stood around to see everything happen in front of her like a fool. Even though she didn’t do anything in all of this, it still felt like she was an accomplice in all of this.
Even after half an hour had passed, Liraya’s stomach still hadn’t settled.
She cleared her throat. The sound came out thinner than she wanted.
“Miri… do you know why your mother asked you to make that big hole in the gate?” Her voice stayed low. “From what we saw earlier, the village was already in an uproar at the front. Was it really necessary to do all of this on top of that?”
Miriel cracked one eye open. The servant’s hands never stopped moving.
“Huh, and how would I know that?” she said with a lazy shrug.
“Mother just gives me orders, and I do things. Seeing how excited she was about this village this time, the fact that she let us do this much is already weird. She doesn’t usually let us do anything if she is excited about something. But with you…” Miriel’s gaze sharpened for half a second, curious rather than suspicious.
“It seems with you it’s been different.”
“Why?” Liraya asked the question before she knew it.
“Beats me. Maybe she just likes the way you look when you’re confused. Haha, just kidding.” She gave a small, crooked smile, which only made Liraya more sure that it wasn’t really a joke coming from her.
Liraya studied the girl’s face for a long moment while she was already deep in her relaxing mode, eyes turned off, feeling the massage. Miriel’s posture was pure indolence, head tipped back, one leg crossed over the other, fingers loosely curled against the cushion.
She looked obedient, and also lazy at the same time. Which made her more mysterious than she really might be. In fact, this whole family of Ines was mysterious. Everybody seems to have a fetish or some weird hobby. And the way they do their work too was way too different than most people.
Liraya sighed, ‘Hffff, if only I could remember everything about this family. Damm this mortal body. I still feel like I’m forgetting something crucial about this girl’s mother, about Viscountess Ines. What could it be? Fuck…Forget my powers; at least you could’ve done something about my memories, you moron Kronos.’
Wondering more about the last thing Miriel said, Liraya’s thoughts turned more inward, sharp and restless.
‘Has that woman really come to like me? Is she really letting me in on all of her secrets and having me accompany her daughter in this crucial mission just because she has fallen for me? Could that really be the only reason?’
She remembered back at the manor the glances Ines was giving at Liraya’s body had been unmistakable, slow, assessing, lingering on the line of Liraya’s throat and the slope of her shoulders with open interest. There was desire in those gazes for sure. But the amount of information Ines had trusted her with felt heavier than simple lust.
Either the woman was genuinely growing fond of her, or she was playing a longer game that Liraya still couldn’t see. Being in the dark about that woman’s intention really was getting too scary to handle for Liraya.
‘Should I be relieved she doesn’t suspect what I am… or terrified that she’s willing to share this much without knowing a single thing about me?’
A mortal shouldn’t be able to sense divine residue. Only another divine being or a true witch of the old bloodlines could have spotted the truth under Liraya’s borrowed skin. And as far as she remembers, Ines was neither. At least as far as Liraya’s damaged memory could confirm.
‘Wait a minute, did I even investigate her properly before I sent that soul, Alex, here?’
The question sat like a stone in her chest. She tried to reach further back, past the moment of her fall, past Kronos’s cold judgment, past the long centuries of her holding the power of weaving fates of mortals, and found only fog covering all of it. This mortal body really refused to hold the weight of a million years. The more she tried to remember anything major, the more knowledge leaked away like water from her brain. Even the simple details of who Ines really was had blurred into uncertainty.
‘No. Getting closer to her without remembering much about her might’ve been a wrong judgment on my part back then. Yeah, I was hungry and in rough shape after landing in that damned forest, but still I should’ve approached her after thinking things through.’
‘Yeah, that does it. If I can’t remember soon, I can’t stay near her. She’s too powerful and too unpredictable for me to stay beside. I’ll just have to find another way to get by in this world. If only I could reach that soul. Once he knows who I am, he’ll help me, I’m sure. His connection to the main central system should still be connected, even if the rest of my strength is gone. I can use that connection. Pull power back through it, piece by piece if I have to. That is the only way I see now to survive and prove to Kronos and the rest of those smug bastards that I don’t need their permission to exist.
The resolve settled something in her. But as soon as it settled inside her, it also dissipated, remembering they had just broken the gate of that same village she had sent that soul.
‘Hmffff, but even if I want to switch sides now, should I really choose that boy’s side? After all, Ines has her eyes on that village. And we have also broken the gate of that village just now, letting countless monsters in. Wouldn’t it be better to just stay with Ines’s side for now, and see where things go? And if I see the chance, I could just get in contact with that boy somehow. Yeah. That is the only reasonable way available for me to survive in this world, with all of this chaos going around me. Better not do something foolish that I’m going to regret later.’
She stood abruptly. The carriage rocked slightly under the shift of her weight.
“Miriel.” She spoke up.
“Huh, what? Why are you standing up so suddenly?”
“I-I’m going to step outside for a moment,” she said. “I need some air.”
Miriel didn’t even open her eyes fully. “Oh, that’s it? Yeah, okay, go. Just don’t wander too far. Mother will be annoyed if she doesn’t find you with me.”
“Yeah, I get it.”