"Mono/Dialogue"
'Inner thoughts'
Narration
Date: August 1072.
Location: Somewhere in Northern Kazimierz.
POV: Narrator
The hymn had been sung until its completion. The knights celebrate their victory, the situation was an unprecedented miracle. A miracle they can, perhaps, actually repay in kind. Of course, some of them had departed onto the next world. The elegy will no doubt be solemn and somber affair.
They know, however, that if they keep looking down, their dead comrades would be very displeased. Thus they celebrate this victory as a way of honoring the fallen, their sacrifice was never in vain.
Kiril Nearl, as the overall commander of this contingent of stranded knight, was about to hail their new savior. But he noticed an oddity, the woman who sung like an angel of vengeance still kneeled with her hand clasped tightly... she still has her knees on the earth... unmoving.
... Alas she toppled, but Kiril moved faster. Preventing her from laying upon the blood soaked swamp. Her body is heating up tremendously, she is struck by a blazing fever. But Kiril knows better, this is arts overuse. Her case seems to be among the most severe case.
"Peter! Come here quick!"
"What's wro- what happened to her!?"
"Severe arts overuse!"
"!?"
Peter quickly kneeled and starts using his light suppression arts, it should lessen a symptom for internal sickness such as fever.
The effectiveness against arts overuse is naturally lessened, but it is better than nothing. Her breathing starts getting rougher and rougher, to the point of wheezing heavily.
The other knights are also alarmed, their savior is now suffering a severe rebound. This finally struck a clear image of her powerful arts, it comes with terrible setback. The knights grew worried but they're at loss about what to do. They have no medical supplies left to spare...
Ioleta also start checking her pulse, heart rate, blood circulation, possible physical trauma, and skin complexion. Ioleta is trying her best to help stabilizing their newest savior, arts overuse could have a severe and lasting consequences if not handled correctly and quickly.
"Check the radio!"
"Radio had been reconnected! Already calling for support!"
"Leticia, get the nearest support unit here!"
"On it!"
While they are in a frenzy, a sound of motorized vehicle come closer. They immediately prepared for battle, thinking it would be another Ursus attack. Thankfully it is not an Ursus attack, but a familiar face, Jakub Roja.
"Kiril! Are you ok?"
"Jakub!?"
"Yea- NYX!?"
Jakub immediately noticed the pythian lady he was with is now sweating profusely, her expression is extremely pallid. He quickly parked the bike, and stepped off from it.
"You know her?"
"Yeah, I was searching you along with her help."
"Alright, questioning for later. Do you have brought any arts suppressant?"
"Hold on a second..."
After rummaging around the carried supplies that he and Nyx brought together, he found it. It should at the very bare minimum help lessening the risk of further complications due to her arts overuse.
With a single injection her expression had starting to dial down, her breathing steadying quickly. The knights finally can feel their anxiety leaving away their body. They are about to starts tumbling down, but Ioleta quickly tell everyone to get on a dry land and not linger in the swamp.
The wounded knights are being helped by their brothers and sisters, while the dead are being carried by a much more able member.
Several minutes later.
They are now resting on a meadow not far from the swamp, they are spent after fighting for days on end without a chance to breathe. Jakub has also start to handing food and water to them, which they gratefully accepted. They are still somewhat anxious, especially when their savior is still unconscious.
Peter, as the one with the most medical experience, is now tending her. Her expression had turned for the better, but her fever remained. Some of the knights starts chatting and resting while keeping their vigilance up until reinforcement arrive.
"I thought we are going to die there..."
"Yeah, it is a miracle we only lost lesser than half of our numbers..."
"Well... without Kiril we would have been forgotten and now we also have another savior... heh, miracles can never be predicted not anticipated I say."
"Understandable point of view..."
"You think she's going to be alright?"
"Don't worry, Peter is with her. He just need a license to be a full-fledged doctor after all."
"I see..."
While the knights are chatting and finally able to unwind their tensed nerves, Kiril, Ioleta, and Jakub are having conversation and deliberation all the while sharing what they have been up to.
"We were riding towards the eastern frontline, since that was your last known direction after all. Thus we had to backtrack westward since we found nothing about your whereabout, then following trails of dead Ursus soldiers that was possibly your doing."
Jakub sigh tiredly.
"That was our only clue about your possible position..."
"For that I do apologize, but we had no other choice. The Emperor's Blade there posed significant risk after all. There were at least 4 of them, thankfully only a single veteran from what I can tell else we would have lost a lot more knights."
"Kiril is right, we had been constantly moving towards known friendly position. Unknowingly, Ursus had simultaneously pushed us into this swampy region. Something we had forgotten and the fact that we were quite hasty."
"I see... My men and I had been scouring the northern part of the region. We had seen destroyed villages along the way, I counted about 5 completely razed with another 12 with varying level of devastation."
They had gone silent, this war had undoubtedly hurt Kazimierz a lot. But at least their occupied territory is now back to Kazimierz hands.
"Now, can you elaborate about her?"
"Well, I met her in a village that had miraculously weathered a siege from Ursus. They took casualties, but the village was relatively intact."
"A village managed to do that? That is quite an achievement... something K.G.C.C won't let go without turning them into potential revenue..."
"I can get the Adeptus to protect them from their greed... the question is... What must we do about Nyx?"
With Kiril statement, they all now pondered about what is the best course of action. It is an easy thing to just reward her and give her what she deserve, but that will also drag her into Kazimierz politics.
Kazimierz politics is the very thing Kiril starting to get fed up with. To sentence their savior into a lifetime of harassment is just the highest form betrayal.
"Jakub, can you get her back to said village?"
"That I can, but what about you?"
"We'll catch up and would visit that village on a later date. Hopefully she would still be there."
"I'll go with Jakub. You can coordinate the Silverlance while the both of us take care of her for the time being. It is very unusual for me to be absent from the frontline, but I can make an alibi of being injured. Her safety is also our priority."
Kiril nodded towards Ioleta statement, he had rallied her and his, now dead, 6 friends to come along to save the Silverlance. Kiril and his friends always hold the highest form of respect for these knights who stood guard for centuries in guarding Kazimierz.
They only wished for them to be returned to their family in full honor, not becoming a trophy for their adversary. With that decided, Jakub and Ioleta carried Nyx back to the village, she should get a better treatment while not getting spotted by certain groups of interest.
"Well, can you actually blend in nicely there Ioleta? Won't they suspect something if you headed there too?"
"I have some ideas in mind, but it should be doable to hide her existence from them"
"Very well... best of luck to you, I'm going to wait here and coordinate the oncoming reinforcement. We can brought our fallen' body, not only just their shields now.
With that conversation concluded, they separated. Kiril is now preparing for Kazimierzian reinforcements that are streaming towards his position. He sigh in relief... the war had ended sooner than projected years of potential conflict.
Date: August 1072
Location: Wladirosa, Northern Kazimierz
POV: Narrator
Jakub and Ioleta, who carried the unconscious Nyx in her arms, are returning back to the village of Wladirosa. The journey took 4 hours, it can be shorter but several bridges were destroyed thus forcing them to take a sizable detour. Also due the fact that Nyx' bike wasn't designed with 3 passengers in mind.
Along the way, they are seeing a lot devastation. Burnt down forest, local beasts being killed off and left rotting, several dead bodies being hung on a tree. All sort of morbid sceneries were seen, but the knights face are both cold and focused, the sight is saddening but this is a sobering image of a true no holds barred war.
When they arrived, the villagers are shocked seeing an unconscious Nyx. Nelka, even though she is still injured herself, can't help but panicking immediately. Thankfully Jakub clarified that she is fine but would require medical care to speed up her recovery.
Immanuel then promptly guided Ioleta to the aid station, Jakub is parking Nyx' bike somewhere safe, since he doesn't really know where her garage is located. After laying her feverish body on a makeshift bed, Immanuel starts using his arts to diagnose Nyx of anything that might be harmful.
"How is her condition?"
"She is fine for the most part, but I had detected some arts residue still wreaking havoc along some part of her brain cortex..."
"... Is that harmful?"
"Verily so, her arts is quite unique while being plain all the same... did she really sing on the battlefield?"
"She did... wait, your tone was implying that she is neither exactly trained nor ever sing with arts imbued voice before?"
"Indeed, she just started training a little over a year ago."
"..."
"I had warned her time and time again to not be reckless, but I suppose that's just how she is..."
Immanuel smile forlornly, he had been looking at her like his own child. Immanuel had left Laterano in search of place to finally rest... his tenure for Notarial Hall had been challenging for the last few decades to say the least.
Being one of their field agents to hunt down several, non-sankta, targets of interest had taken a toll on his psyche. He especially abhorred the fact that other sankta can fell his distress, thus he left Laterano. A decade or so had passed since he found this village, he was already here when Ursus came to occupy a huge swath of Kazimierz land.
The reason why Ursus patrolmen largely left this village of the hook is because they were unsure whether he is still connected with Laterano or not. Thus granting a meager amount of peace for this village... then Nyx arrived, she changed the village for the better.
"Oh, forgive me for my manners. My name is Immanuel Vittorio, a chaplain of this village."
"It's alright, I wasn't offended. My name is Ioleta Russell, Kazimierz Campaign Knight based on Erelio Laikrodis Stronghold."
"A campaign knight is it? I must confess, this place rarely received someone of your stature back before the occupation days."
"Indeed, we rarely visit villages since our numbers are too few. Even if we did, we're always on the move. Kazimierz required a lot of knights to maintain border security."
"If that is so, then why didn't the knight clubs hire more squires?"
"I guess there is a misconception here. Knight clubs aren't allowed to have standing military, only Knight Order does. The head of a Knight Order is called Knight Primus. To answer your question... it has become a problematic affair to recruit people we can trust."
Immanuel nodded, he was never too keen in remembering club or order difference. The sands of time had been particularly harsh to him, so he might have or haven't known the difference between the two terminologies.
"I see, we, countryside people, can't really tell the difference between clubs or orders. I do apologize for that."
"No need, I'm of the same opinion."
Ioleta sigh, her kuranta ears drops. Immanuel can see that her eyes are filled with shame and slight anger.
"Our own people can't really tell which is which, thanks to those politician and businessmen of K.G.C.C. We can't even station Campaign Knights in the capital unless of emergency situation."
"I see..."
"So, how long would it take for her to wake up?"
"According to my estimation... a few days from now..."
"I see, well then. I'll leave her in your care. It was pleasant speaking with you, Mr. Vittorio."
"Likewise."
Several days later.
Nyx had finally woken up, Ioleta quickly visit her in the aid station along with several other Campaign Knights that has been here to begin with. The first thing they did when they meet Nyx is to bow their heads in gratitude.
The sight bewildered Nyx, she only felt a tad guilty because she doesn't really come there to rescue them. She was there to vent her anger and thirst for blood... sensing their earnest gratitude, Nyx decided to just accept it.
"We thank you, our savior. Without your timely aid, a lot more of our brothers and sisters would have perished, slain on the battlefield."
"Um... please, raise your head. *sigh*... Your gratitude are appreciated..."
Unconsciously, Nyx had let her mask to slip, showing her exasperation. It might be because she had just woken up from a coma and feeling too spent about it.
The knights then raised their head, not knowing that Nyx actually shown emotion. Which greatly surprised Immanuel who only beamed in joy seeing his daughter-like-figure for finally showing emotion.
Ioleta then cut to the chase, she must ask her about how she would want her reward.
"Let us talk about your reward, and by my honor you can't refuse it but you can choose what sort of reward you wished for."
Nyx sigh again, Immanuel is jumping in joy. She finally realized that the chaplain is always there, her mask wasn't in place. Her cheeks reddened slightly, but guilt soon washed it away... no matter how she justify it, she had been fooling the villages with her mask...
Choosing to just dodge the subject for the time being, Nyx quickly calculate the best possible course of action. Fame would be nice... if she wanted to be hounded by organizations eager to recruit her, which will 90% guaranteed her being pulled into politics.
Feeling a sudden headache due to potential political debacle caused her to massage her temple. Fame like this one would be bad for her, being a figure that saved Kazimierz knight would make her Kazimierzian on the surface, something that could hamper mercenary work. So fame is immediately discarded.
"... Um... monetary compensation is enough... but if I may add 2 wishes... can you not spread the fact that I'm the one rescuing you? I'm not too keen with politics at this stage. Second, please protect this place, I know fairly well what would happen here, it will attract attention..."
"That... can be arranged... but are you sure? The fame would be enough for you as a deterrence too. Not to mention, after some more information gathering... you're the person called Grey Serpent by the Ursus army patrolmen..."
"That's my mercenary reputation... Heroic fame is a double-edged sword in my opinion, words i uttered would carry weight. Which is precisely why it is bad, speak once carelessly and it will conjure problems for such a miniscule reason..."
Nyx just think to screw this and just be honest this time around. Immanuel had already left the moment talks about reward starts, his reasoning is that someone else presence can actually affect the talk and decision making.
"I would much prefer to have mercenary reputation, it will be a deterrent and ticket for me to find work easier. Just imagine how hard would it be to hire a person who is hailed as a hero? They will be forced to pay many times the amount to keep up appearance, politics is disgusting..."
"That's... made much more sense... very well, we will not push it. And for the second wish, that's easy. Adeptus Sprawiedliwi will put this place under our protection."
"Thank you."
"Don't be. Me, Kiril, Campaign Knights, and the Silverlances are indebted to you. Should you need our help, just say the word and we will honor our oath."
"Wait, tha-"
"Now we'll excuse ourselves, you must rest after all. Thank you for your time Lady Nyx,"
Ioleta flash her a smile full of gratitude before Nyx can say that their oath are unnecessary. Then she and the knights left the once again bewildered Pythian Lady.
Several weeks later the conversation repeats with Kiril and the Silverlances, to the point that Kiril swore a knightly oath on her...thankfully not in public else her desire to keep hidden beneath the surface and from prying eyes would be washed away...
Kiril also said that she is always welcome in their Mansion in Kawalerielki. Nyx was quite happy with the benefits she had managed to gain while not being tied to an organization yet.
And thus the year 1072 closed with a high note in her new life on Terra...
[END OF CHAPTER]
Author Note:
Hello this is me, myself, and I, the author who sometimes wonder why can't liquid be called wet yet ice can...
I'm trying to grow or add some spice on her character somewhat.
Update as usual.
Ciao.
"Mono/Dialogue"
'Inner thoughts'
Narration
Date: August 1072.
Location: Somewhere in Northern Kazimierz.
POV: Narrator
The hymn had been sung until its completion. The knights celebrate their victory, the situation was an unprecedented miracle. A miracle they can, perhaps, actually repay in kind. Of course, some of them had departed onto the next world. The elegy will no doubt be solemn and somber affair.
They know, however, that if they keep looking down, their dead comrades would be very displeased. Thus they celebrate this victory as a way of honoring the fallen, their sacrifice was never in vain.
Kiril Nearl, as the overall commander of this contingent of stranded knight, was about to hail their new savior. But he noticed an oddity, the woman who sung like an angel of vengeance still kneeled with her hand clasped tightly... she still has her knees on the earth... unmoving.
... Alas she toppled, but Kiril moved faster. Preventing her from laying upon the blood soaked swamp. Her body is heating up tremendously, she is struck by a blazing fever. But Kiril knows better, this is arts overuse. Her case seems to be among the most severe case.
"Peter! Come here quick!"
"What's wro- what happened to her!?"
"Severe arts overuse!"
"!?"
Peter quickly kneeled and starts using his light suppression arts, it should lessen a symptom for internal sickness such as fever.
The effectiveness against arts overuse is naturally lessened, but it is better than nothing. Her breathing starts getting rougher and rougher, to the point of wheezing heavily.
The other knights are also alarmed, their savior is now suffering a severe rebound. This finally struck a clear image of her powerful arts, it comes with terrible setback. The knights grew worried but they're at loss about what to do. They have no medical supplies left to spare...
Ioleta also start checking her pulse, heart rate, blood circulation, possible physical trauma, and skin complexion. Ioleta is trying her best to help stabilizing their newest savior, arts overuse could have a severe and lasting consequences if not handled correctly and quickly.
"Check the radio!"
"Radio had been reconnected! Already calling for support!"
"Leticia, get the nearest support unit here!"
"On it!"
While they are in a frenzy, a sound of motorized vehicle come closer. They immediately prepared for battle, thinking it would be another Ursus attack. Thankfully it is not an Ursus attack, but a familiar face, Jakub Roja.
"Kiril! Are you ok?"
"Jakub!?"
"Yea- NYX!?"
Jakub immediately noticed the pythian lady he was with is now sweating profusely, her expression is extremely pallid. He quickly parked the bike, and stepped off from it.
"You know her?"
"Yeah, I was searching you along with her help."
"Alright, questioning for later. Do you have brought any arts suppressant?"
"Hold on a second..."
After rummaging around the carried supplies that he and Nyx brought together, he found it. It should at the very bare minimum help lessening the risk of further complications due to her arts overuse.
With a single injection her expression had starting to dial down, her breathing steadying quickly. The knights finally can feel their anxiety leaving away their body. They are about to starts tumbling down, but Ioleta quickly tell everyone to get on a dry land and not linger in the swamp.
The wounded knights are being helped by their brothers and sisters, while the dead are being carried by a much more able member.
Several minutes later.
They are now resting on a meadow not far from the swamp, they are spent after fighting for days on end without a chance to breathe. Jakub has also start to handing food and water to them, which they gratefully accepted. They are still somewhat anxious, especially when their savior is still unconscious.
Peter, as the one with the most medical experience, is now tending her. Her expression had turned for the better, but her fever remained. Some of the knights starts chatting and resting while keeping their vigilance up until reinforcement arrive.
"I thought we are going to die there..."
"Yeah, it is a miracle we only lost lesser than half of our numbers..."
"Well... without Kiril we would have been forgotten and now we also have another savior... heh, miracles can never be predicted not anticipated I say."
"Understandable point of view..."
"You think she's going to be alright?"
"Don't worry, Peter is with her. He just need a license to be a full-fledged doctor after all."
"I see..."
While the knights are chatting and finally able to unwind their tensed nerves, Kiril, Ioleta, and Jakub are having conversation and deliberation all the while sharing what they have been up to.
"We were riding towards the eastern frontline, since that was your last known direction after all. Thus we had to backtrack westward since we found nothing about your whereabout, then following trails of dead Ursus soldiers that was possibly your doing."
Jakub sigh tiredly.
"That was our only clue about your possible position..."
"For that I do apologize, but we had no other choice. The Emperor's Blade there posed significant risk after all. There were at least 4 of them, thankfully only a single veteran from what I can tell else we would have lost a lot more knights."
"Kiril is right, we had been constantly moving towards known friendly position. Unknowingly, Ursus had simultaneously pushed us into this swampy region. Something we had forgotten and the fact that we were quite hasty."
"I see... My men and I had been scouring the northern part of the region. We had seen destroyed villages along the way, I counted about 5 completely razed with another 12 with varying level of devastation."
They had gone silent, this war had undoubtedly hurt Kazimierz a lot. But at least their occupied territory is now back to Kazimierz hands.
"Now, can you elaborate about her?"
"Well, I met her in a village that had miraculously weathered a siege from Ursus. They took casualties, but the village was relatively intact."
"A village managed to do that? That is quite an achievement... something K.G.C.C won't let go without turning them into potential revenue..."
"I can get the Adeptus to protect them from their greed... the question is... What must we do about Nyx?"
With Kiril statement, they all now pondered about what is the best course of action. It is an easy thing to just reward her and give her what she deserve, but that will also drag her into Kazimierz politics.
Kazimierz politics is the very thing Kiril starting to get fed up with. To sentence their savior into a lifetime of harassment is just the highest form betrayal.
"Jakub, can you get her back to said village?"
"That I can, but what about you?"
"We'll catch up and would visit that village on a later date. Hopefully she would still be there."
"I'll go with Jakub. You can coordinate the Silverlance while the both of us take care of her for the time being. It is very unusual for me to be absent from the frontline, but I can make an alibi of being injured. Her safety is also our priority."
Kiril nodded towards Ioleta statement, he had rallied her and his, now dead, 6 friends to come along to save the Silverlance. Kiril and his friends always hold the highest form of respect for these knights who stood guard for centuries in guarding Kazimierz.
They only wished for them to be returned to their family in full honor, not becoming a trophy for their adversary. With that decided, Jakub and Ioleta carried Nyx back to the village, she should get a better treatment while not getting spotted by certain groups of interest.
"Well, can you actually blend in nicely there Ioleta? Won't they suspect something if you headed there too?"
"I have some ideas in mind, but it should be doable to hide her existence from them"
"Very well... best of luck to you, I'm going to wait here and coordinate the oncoming reinforcement. We can brought our fallen' body, not only just their shields now.
With that conversation concluded, they separated. Kiril is now preparing for Kazimierzian reinforcements that are streaming towards his position. He sigh in relief... the war had ended sooner than projected years of potential conflict.
Date: August 1072
Location: Wladirosa, Northern Kazimierz
POV: Narrator
Jakub and Ioleta, who carried the unconscious Nyx in her arms, are returning back to the village of Wladirosa. The journey took 4 hours, it can be shorter but several bridges were destroyed thus forcing them to take a sizable detour. Also due the fact that Nyx' bike wasn't designed with 3 passengers in mind.
Along the way, they are seeing a lot devastation. Burnt down forest, local beasts being killed off and left rotting, several dead bodies being hung on a tree. All sort of morbid sceneries were seen, but the knights face are both cold and focused, the sight is saddening but this is a sobering image of a true no holds barred war.
When they arrived, the villagers are shocked seeing an unconscious Nyx. Nelka, even though she is still injured herself, can't help but panicking immediately. Thankfully Jakub clarified that she is fine but would require medical care to speed up her recovery.
Immanuel then promptly guided Ioleta to the aid station, Jakub is parking Nyx' bike somewhere safe, since he doesn't really know where her garage is located. After laying her feverish body on a makeshift bed, Immanuel starts using his arts to diagnose Nyx of anything that might be harmful.
"How is her condition?"
"She is fine for the most part, but I had detected some arts residue still wreaking havoc along some part of her brain cortex..."
"... Is that harmful?"
"Verily so, her arts is quite unique while being plain all the same... did she really sing on the battlefield?"
"She did... wait, your tone was implying that she is neither exactly trained nor ever sing with arts imbued voice before?"
"Indeed, she just started training a little over a year ago."
"..."
"I had warned her time and time again to not be reckless, but I suppose that's just how she is..."
Immanuel smile forlornly, he had been looking at her like his own child. Immanuel had left Laterano in search of place to finally rest... his tenure for Notarial Hall had been challenging for the last few decades to say the least.
Being one of their field agents to hunt down several, non-sankta, targets of interest had taken a toll on his psyche. He especially abhorred the fact that other sankta can fell his distress, thus he left Laterano. A decade or so had passed since he found this village, he was already here when Ursus came to occupy a huge swath of Kazimierz land.
The reason why Ursus patrolmen largely left this village of the hook is because they were unsure whether he is still connected with Laterano or not. Thus granting a meager amount of peace for this village... then Nyx arrived, she changed the village for the better.
"Oh, forgive me for my manners. My name is Immanuel Vittorio, a chaplain of this village."
"It's alright, I wasn't offended. My name is Ioleta Russell, Kazimierz Campaign Knight based on Erelio Laikrodis Stronghold."
"A campaign knight is it? I must confess, this place rarely received someone of your stature back before the occupation days."
"Indeed, we rarely visit villages since our numbers are too few. Even if we did, we're always on the move. Kazimierz required a lot of knights to maintain border security."
"If that is so, then why didn't the knight clubs hire more squires?"
"I guess there is a misconception here. Knight clubs aren't allowed to have standing military, only Knight Order does. The head of a Knight Order is called Knight Primus. To answer your question... it has become a problematic affair to recruit people we can trust."
Immanuel nodded, he was never too keen in remembering club or order difference. The sands of time had been particularly harsh to him, so he might have or haven't known the difference between the two terminologies.
"I see, we, countryside people, can't really tell the difference between clubs or orders. I do apologize for that."
"No need, I'm of the same opinion."
Ioleta sigh, her kuranta ears drops. Immanuel can see that her eyes are filled with shame and slight anger.
"Our own people can't really tell which is which, thanks to those politician and businessmen of K.G.C.C. We can't even station Campaign Knights in the capital unless of emergency situation."
"I see..."
"So, how long would it take for her to wake up?"
"According to my estimation... a few days from now..."
"I see, well then. I'll leave her in your care. It was pleasant speaking with you, Mr. Vittorio."
"Likewise."
Several days later.
Nyx had finally woken up, Ioleta quickly visit her in the aid station along with several other Campaign Knights that has been here to begin with. The first thing they did when they meet Nyx is to bow their heads in gratitude.
The sight bewildered Nyx, she only felt a tad guilty because she doesn't really come there to rescue them. She was there to vent her anger and thirst for blood... sensing their earnest gratitude, Nyx decided to just accept it.
"We thank you, our savior. Without your timely aid, a lot more of our brothers and sisters would have perished, slain on the battlefield."
"Um... please, raise your head. *sigh*... Your gratitude are appreciated..."
Unconsciously, Nyx had let her mask to slip, showing her exasperation. It might be because she had just woken up from a coma and feeling too spent about it.
The knights then raised their head, not knowing that Nyx actually shown emotion. Which greatly surprised Immanuel who only beamed in joy seeing his daughter-like-figure for finally showing emotion.
Ioleta then cut to the chase, she must ask her about how she would want her reward.
"Let us talk about your reward, and by my honor you can't refuse it but you can choose what sort of reward you wished for."
Nyx sigh again, Immanuel is jumping in joy. She finally realized that the chaplain is always there, her mask wasn't in place. Her cheeks reddened slightly, but guilt soon washed it away... no matter how she justify it, she had been fooling the villages with her mask...
Choosing to just dodge the subject for the time being, Nyx quickly calculate the best possible course of action. Fame would be nice... if she wanted to be hounded by organizations eager to recruit her, which will 90% guaranteed her being pulled into politics.
Feeling a sudden headache due to potential political debacle caused her to massage her temple. Fame like this one would be bad for her, being a figure that saved Kazimierz knight would make her Kazimierzian on the surface, something that could hamper mercenary work. So fame is immediately discarded.
"... Um... monetary compensation is enough... but if I may add 2 wishes... can you not spread the fact that I'm the one rescuing you? I'm not too keen with politics at this stage. Second, please protect this place, I know fairly well what would happen here, it will attract attention..."
"That... can be arranged... but are you sure? The fame would be enough for you as a deterrence too. Not to mention, after some more information gathering... you're the person called Grey Serpent by the Ursus army patrolmen..."
"That's my mercenary reputation... Heroic fame is a double-edged sword in my opinion, words i uttered would carry weight. Which is precisely why it is bad, speak once carelessly and it will conjure problems for such a miniscule reason..."
Nyx just think to screw this and just be honest this time around. Immanuel had already left the moment talks about reward starts, his reasoning is that someone else presence can actually affect the talk and decision making.
"I would much prefer to have mercenary reputation, it will be a deterrent and ticket for me to find work easier. Just imagine how hard would it be to hire a person who is hailed as a hero? They will be forced to pay many times the amount to keep up appearance, politics is disgusting..."
"That's... made much more sense... very well, we will not push it. And for the second wish, that's easy. Adeptus Sprawiedliwi will put this place under our protection."
"Thank you."
"Don't be. Me, Kiril, Campaign Knights, and the Silverlances are indebted to you. Should you need our help, just say the word and we will honor our oath."
"Wait, tha-"
"Now we'll excuse ourselves, you must rest after all. Thank you for your time Lady Nyx,"
Ioleta flash her a smile full of gratitude before Nyx can say that their oath are unnecessary. Then she and the knights left the once again bewildered Pythian Lady.
Several weeks later the conversation repeats with Kiril and the Silverlances, to the point that Kiril swore a knightly oath on her...thankfully not in public else her desire to keep hidden beneath the surface and from prying eyes would be washed away...
Kiril also said that she is always welcome in their Mansion in Kawalerielki. Nyx was quite happy with the benefits she had managed to gain while not being tied to an organization yet.
And thus the year 1072 closed with a high note in her new life on Terra...
[END OF CHAPTER]
Author Note:
Hello this is me, myself, and I, the author who sometimes wonder why can't liquid be called wet yet ice can...
I'm trying to grow or add some spice on her character somewhat.
Update as usual.
Ciao.
