After he had thrown the knight away, Armaros focused on comforting the girl, which worked as she fell asleep in his arms as she hugged him. He was happy that he was able to calm the child down as he gave her to the villagers before he went to his family as Aurelia cleaned him up as he looked at her as he stood beside her.
"Did you have to do that to the knight? He is still one of ours." Aurelia said to him as she looked at him.
"He was scaring the girl with how he acted and would've only made the situation. I did that so that she wouldn't be more scared." Armaros said to her calmly.
Aurelia had noticed that he didn't have the same hesitation or meekness that he had when he was back at the mansion. Usually he would be nervous whenever they talked, but now she can't find any trace of it in his eyes.
'He has really changed from the past.' Aurelia thought to herself as she looked at him.
His sisters had also noticed it, especially Claudia and Arianne as they had seen how their brother acts in front of their mother, while for his younger sisters, his behaviour was bit different than usual.
It was silent for a few moments as no one said anything. Armaros was thinking about what to say and the sisters were unable to formulate what they should talk about with him, and they were nervous as he was acting very differently from how he usually acted.
"Why did it take so long for you to get here?" Armaros asked as he looked at his mother.
"What do you mean?" Aurelia asked him as she looked at him.
"You should've been able to know when the demons had appeared in the world." Armaros said to her with narrowed eyes.
"And why do you believe that?" Aurelia asked him as she stood at his direction.
"Because I felt the demons appear before I was even able to see them. It wasn't because I had sharp senses. I knew that they were coming because of a feeling I felt, I felt as if I was looking at my mortal enemy." Armaros said to her as he looked at her.
"And you believe that I would be able to sense them?" Aurelia asked him in a calm voice.
"Yes. I am the weakest of the clan, and that is a proven fact. So if I, the weakest was able to sense then, even if you didn't know, you would've at least felt something considering how powerful you are." Armaros said to her with narrowed eyes.
"You can't be sure about that. The village is far away from our home, I wouldn't have been able to sense them like you had said, considering the great distance between the two places." Aurelia said to him without breaking eyes contact.
"Really? Then you should've at least had an artifact which would've warned you about the arrival of these demons. Don't try to deny it mother, even if you didn't know about it despite your strength, there is no way that the artifacts wouldn't have warned you about it, especially since these are demons." Armaros said to her as he looked at her.
"Where is this leading to?" Aurelia asked him as she understood that he was leading this somewhere.
"I am asking why it took so long for you to respond to the threat of the demons. It's the duty of every Dawnbringer to protect humanity and the world against the demons. That is the sacred duty that we have as the descendants of one of the Heroes." Armaros said to her as he looked at his mother.
Aurelia was silent when he said that as she just held his gaze, but then her eyes moved to the side as he noticed it. He looked at his sisters and saw that they were nervous as his eyes widened as he looked at his mother.
"You didn't come here because you wanted to protect the village." Armaros said as he looked at her in disbelief.
Aurelia was silent as she looked at him as his expression became one of anger.
"Why? Why didn't you come to help the village sooner?" Armaros asked her as he wanted to know why his family had let the demons kill so many people.
Their family descended from one of the heroes, and prided themselves on being protectors of humanity and the world. Even he had believed in the oath taken by his family, to protect the people from danger so he was quite angry at that.
"Because this was just a simple village." Aurelia said to him coldly.
Armaros took a few moments before he could formulate a response as he heard her words.
"What?" Armaros asked in stunned disbelief at her cold tone.
"We belong to the Dawnbringer Clan, one of the hero clans of humanity and blessed by the Gods. Our duty is to protect all of humanity, and not just a group. This fight was basically something that we wouldn't personally deal with, in normal circumstances." Aurelia said to him coldly as if she was stating a fact.
And Armaros, despite his misgivings understood why she would think that. This is a world that is in an age where the nobility and Gods exist, and could be considered in the middle ages if it was to be categorised. And in such an age, people who aren't nobles or merchants of high status are never given much importance by the lords who have power, which is something that is quite normal for this age, despite how much he dislikes it.
"We are a bloodline who have been blessed by the God of Light, and as such are much more important than some villagers. Even if you put one Dawnbringer against an entire village or even a city, those of us born into the bloodline of the Heroes are those who have greater importance." Aurelia said to him without mincing her words as she kept on talking.
Armaros could only stare at his mother as he let her words wash over him.
"In the grand scheme of things, our existence is essential for the survival of humanity and as such our lives hold much greater value than the commoners." Aurelia said to him matter of factly.
And to his anger, he agreed with her. The ability to use Holy Light is a power that is very useful against demonic entities and is essential to drive back the demons and only those who have been blessed by the God of Light are able to use it.
The other hero descendants also possess similar abilities, which is why they are valued even greater than other noble families. The other noble families, no matter how high of a status they possess, are inferior in importance in comparison to the Hero descendants.
And in comparison to normal villagers and peasants? It would be the same as trying to compare a diamond of the highest order to a piece of rock which can be found anywhere. Inevitably, the diamond is the one with greater value and the rock would be discarded and ignored.
"So, why did you come here?" Armaros asked her after a few seconds.
"Because you were here during the attack. It was only after sometime did we know about it, so we came here." Aurelia said to her son calmly.
"But why? Why did you bring our knights to this village alongside yourself for me? I was exiled from the clan, it was yours and the elders decision." Armaros questioned her as he looked at his mother.
His sisters shifted unconformably as they watched it. They weren't able to say anything in the exchange and his words were making them uncomfortable as they remembered how it has went. Aurelia herself lightly clenched her fists as she saw that.
Because you're my son.
That was the response she was going to say, but she stopped herself before she came up with another response as she didn't want to admit to the feelings that she is dealing with, especially in front of him.
"Because you are a Dawnbringer. The blood of the Clan flows through you, and we cannot have a member of the clan die like this. Which is why we came here instead of using the other way." Aurelia said to him calmly and impassively.
Armaros stared at her as she said that. He certainly didn't expect that, but a part of him also kind of expected it. It was just the fact that he had been exiled by his mother, and now she has come here because she didn't want him to die, which was confusing to him.
"Wait a minute. What do you mean the other option? What were you planning to do if I wasn't in the village?" Armaros asked her as he looked at her as he remembered the detail at the end.
"If you weren't here. I would've used the lance to deal with the demons." Aurelia said to him without missing a beat.
"You would've destroyed the village alongside the demons!" Armaros shouted in shock when he heard that.
Thankfully they were away from the villagers so they couldn't hear him, and their knights didn't react much at his outburst while the sisters became more uncomfortable while Aurelia didn't change her expression, though she felt a bit uncomfortable at his reaction.
"Yes. It would've been far easier to do that as the demons would be quickly killed." Aurelia said with no change in his voice as Armaros could only look at his mother in horror at what she has just admitted.