Once again late because of the obstacles he had put in the way of his existence, he arrived at the site of the Samarin festival. According to what he had been told, it was a party for young nobles and their friends where they feasted in honor of youth, festivities, opulence and drunkenness - apparently the Faerics do not have the same restrictions on alcohol as humans... afterwards, it is also that apart from the alcohol made by the dwarves, the Fairy alcohol was hardly qualified as alcohol because it was... of "bad quality", if we want to remain polite.
But, in short, this festival was a holiday specially created for young nobles, whose name must be taken from the surname of one of the decision-makers of the establishment of this festival. Nothing very traditional. This is probably the reason why the fairy of the Nether and her elf servant did not deign to come.
The Hero walked between the groups of people who had gathered, looking for his princess who had invited him and his friends. As he passed, he met the eyes of some nobles who looked at him with contempt. Presumably, being the champion of a princess did not change the morals of a good part of the kingdom, but his race, his physique, his reputation beyond the kingdom (and his social class? - Surely he must have smelled like a pauper despite his fine clothes) did not work in his favor.
After a while of searching, he found the Fairy who waved to him to come and stay with them, he saw all the friends of the princess: Mina, Camellia, Jacob, Lin, Marina and Marine - who was just passing by, she had to go and join her other friends from Mananélia's group - and... Beneltig - along with other girls and boys that the Hero didn't know.
What a relief to know he's alive - it will save him from pretending to cry at his funeral, which he wouldn't go to anyway... or maybe he'd be there alone to laugh at his grave
So does that mean that the plan is in motion? Not very smart those fanatics, laughed the Hero.
The Hero joined the circle they had formed around a luxinite lamp - more logical than a campfire that would burn down the entire kingdom - and began to chat with everyone else, enjoying the food that had been brought to them: tons of Fairy cakes, typical Fairy sweets and other specialties from the traditional dishes of the races that make up the kingdom and beyond. The Fairy returned to her lover and they both began to curl up and talk about love affairs that bored the Hero, but, satisfied with the good progress of his crazy idea, winked as a thank you to the former champion of the Java-Aleim fairy. This one took the fly and turned away the glance by grinding of the teeth, making a misunderstanding with the Fairy who thought that she sulked him.
Lin approached the hero and took him aside. The two of them went away from their circle of friends to talk.
- I wanted to apologize for my behavior during this evening...
- Don't worry, it's nothing, says the Hero with a mouth full of food and biting into a chicken leg, besides, nothing is sure about his survival condition.
- What do you mean?
- Well, didn't he tell you?
- No. He just copiously ignored me.
- At the same time...
The Hero slaps his chest to get the rush of food down his throat, then resumes the conversation.
- But you are a real morphal, my word!
- Excuse me for enjoying all the food I can get!" laughed the Hero, I was saying... Yes! At the same time, you betrayed him.
- If I hadn't done it, a lot of people would have continued to die without you being able to do anything about it and especially my friend would have been left to die.
- That's right. So don't blame yourself for doing the right thing for the nation as a whole.
- You don't really do it for the nation, do you?
- That's right. I'm doing it because the queen asked me to and I don't want to fight murderous lizardmen indefinitely," the hero justified himself.
- A lie surrounded by truths, you are good at it, young human.
- Like you.
Lin took a step back, squinting an eye, suspicious of the Hero's word.
- What do you mean by that?
- Don't worry, I won't tell the others since it's been going on for years. But if it wasn't for Lelelitio's questions, I wouldn't have wondered about it.
Lin wanted to say something, but the Hero stopped him immediately.
- I told you: I won't tell. Maybe they've already burned you, but don't say anything... Well, since he didn't tell you, I'll have to get it out of him myself.
The Hero gave her his half eaten cake and returned to their friends, he patted the Fairy on the shoulder to take her lover away.
- We have a few things to talk about. Can you give me a few minutes, Princess?
- I don't think so," refused Beneltig.
- Are you sure?
Both of them stared at each other, the Hero, his eyes crinkled because of the smirk on his dark face, and Beneltig, who had an angry look on his face. It was finally Beneltig who gave in. He had to anyway, he had learned from the Hero's malice that he could make him live through the worst and the most atrocious.
They moved away from the group, into a rather remote corner, far from prying eyes, and the Hero stuck his hostage against a tree and put his hand against the tree trunk to put him under pressure - it's still fabulous that a boy who was one head shorter than another puts him under pressure, and then he wants to back off when called? You've got to be kidding me!
The two boys looked at each other as if one was going to confess to the other. And the Hero played it up - while it made him uncomfortable, but seeing Beneltig's terrified face helped him continue the absurdity of this scene.
- So how'd you do, kid? Did you sell me out?
- What do you think?
- I was sure of it.
The Hero raised his hand from the trunk, Beneltig defended himself from the human's attack in advance, but the Hero only patted him on the shoulder and walked away, arms crossed behind his skull. Beneltig raised his head above the arms that should have been his shield.
- Is that all?" asked the cowardly fairy.
- Yep.
- How can it be everything? You're in mortal danger. They're going to come after you, you put everyone in danger.
- That's not true. I pointed them in one direction to prevent him from using weapons that I could not defend myself against. The rest is up to me and others to do the right thing.
- I could still unveil the whole set-up you're planning to get me out of this mess.
The Hero stopped and turned his head in Beneltig's direction. He was less cheerful than he had been at the beginning of their conversation, his eyes seemed filled with contempt and disappointment.
- If you want to spill the beans, do it. I'm not stopping you. But think carefully about your cowardly actions, what you are doing to the kingdom by choosing the fanatics over your princess and the queen.
- Your palaver will not change my condition, I did not choose to be on this side of the fence! I really love Princess, but...
- In human legends, or in some of the tales I've read, I've seen men risk more than their lives to save the people they love no matter what it costs them, no matter what their parents think. I'm not saying I'm braver than you, I'm "lucky" enough to be immortal so I can afford a lot more, but even before I was the hero, I swore to myself that I would never use someone else's life to save myself or others. I knew you would get away with it that's why I used you or I definitely wouldn't have done it. Other people are fighting with less than you to make a difference, and they know the dangers they face, and yet that doesn't stop them. Your life and your choices are your own, so don't be like me and feel sorry for yourself and fight. It doesn't matter that I'm on the Queen's side, if they win my presence won't have helped, so don't count me in the equation of your choice. Come on, I'll leave you, I still have a lot of things to eat!
As the Hero left to join their friends, Beneltig fell to the ground, knees on the ground, head down. He was distraught, he who had always lived with the intimate conviction of the fatality of his destiny if he deviated from the path traced by his family and his ancestors seeing in the Hero a light, an escape from his destiny... The only question that remained was whether he would follow this path or go back against his princess, his queen and the entire kingdom.
In spite of these two interventions, the evening went on in joy and good mood, although Lin was suspicious about the supposed secret that the Hero would hold, it did not prevent him from having fun with him. Then after a while, among the circle, two groups were formed: the girls and the boys. And of course, the Hero stood with the boys, since they have boy talk that is much more interesting than the gossip that the girls could tell each other. And like any boy their age, the topic eventually drifted to what boys their age - and even older - are interested in: girls!
Everyone was revealing their taste in women and talking about the person they would like to be with - even more and affinities -, whether they were in a couple or not, but strangely enough, the Hero stayed away from the conversation, keeping his glass fixed to his mouth and watching his interlocutors just above his glass, without saying anything. Eventually it was noticed and all eyes turned to him, he could no longer pretend to drink.
- What if Nalo-vace told us more about his tastes, said one of the boys.
- "Nalo-vace?" asked the Hero.
- It means "Blackface," Lin explained, referring to... well, your face, actually. Apparently, some kids call you that.
- Really?" said the Hero.
- We're getting off topic here! It's true that you stay a little aside listening to us without making a sound, refocused another boy, you who have traveled so much you must have seen some "landscapes".
- Ah, you know... I'm not very familiar with that since I'm on a mission.
The boys giggled and one whispered to another, "Nonsense!"
- It's fun to listen to you, but I don't have anything to say about it.
- Because of the curse you're carrying around?" asked Jacob the elf.
- Among others. But...
A boy approached Lin and told him that it was not very polite to ask him this kind of question considering his not very enviable physical condition.
Taking the piss out of this kind of absurd precaution, the Hero refilled his drink of the bad alcohol without alcohol, then took part in their discussion:
- Do you know the island of Eriu where the Roussâtres are located?
- Uh... I think so," said one of the boys.
- Next to the Union of Eastern Kingdoms.
- Ah!
- Well there, I can tell you that even if the bulk of the population is not famous, what I am going to say is to be taken with a pinch of salt, but ten percent of the women in this country are more beautiful than all the women in the world.
- Human," said a lynx-man, "because you're not going to make me believe that Princess Marina is the prettiest princess when she's super thin and has a pointy nose.
All of them howled with laughter, the Hero did not understand their amusement, he found Princess Marina pretty, she might not be his type, but her personality was really radiant and amusing, although she annoyed him a lot - but much less than the Fairy. This made him regret his remark about the Rustic population of the island of Eriu. What was wrong with her talking like that?
- So that's the kind of girl you like, hero of the legend? continued the lynx-man.
- Although I like her... No. I prefer, in real life, strong girls.
- "Strong?" they asked in unison.
- "How strong? Like Calsinan? That big one?
- No, when I say strong, I mean... you know the Amazons.
They cried out in surprise at this revelation, opening their eyes wide.
- The Amazons? said an elf named Baïlienne, but are you crazy?
- I knew humans were crazy but not that crazy!
- Offbeat tastes for an offbeat guy, laughs Lin.
- This Man rejects femininity itself, accused him a fairy called Heyasaïn.
- But why? How do we do it?
The Hero took another sip of the horrible drink that tasted like alcohol without being alcohol - which disgusted the Hero even more than if it were real alcohol, then explained:
- Well, it must come from my trip with my brother Asteron to the Black Sea area in the East of Europea when we went there to sell magic and scientific weapons. I met this exclusively female people and I must say that they did not leave me indifferent... that's it! What else do you want me to say? To find opponents able to compete with me, even if I didn't fight as hard and I didn't have as much mastery of the powers of the hero of the legend... well, it was a change from the frail women I had met in the past.
- That's what I'm saying," continued Heyasain, "he doesn't like the splendor of women, their neat curves, their hips, their softness... He wants beasts of burden, brutes with bulging abs. You know you can tell us if you prefer men.
- Seriously, my friend, you go too far in the analysis! mocked the Hero, for a woman to please me it is not enough that she has generous breasts and buttocks, abs, that she is strong, there are other criteria that are much more important to me and that make me abandon my preferences for this woman...
- No, but then that explains why you are often seen hanging out with the princess of the Grave lineage, at the moment, added Al-Ryanis who had suddenly arrived in the conversation in the company of Titou and Alexandre, she has the profile of an Amazon, but with less muscle, just that her muscles are well defined.
- But that's true," said Titou, "what is the champion of a princess doing with another princess?
- He must feel at home there," scoffed the lynx-man, "after all, we mustn't forget that before he was the champion of the winged fairy, he was just a human prisoner who had to entertain the rest of us citizens of Sylvania.
In these last words and in the laughter that followed, he felt a hint of contempt from his interlocutors. Was he making fun of the modest origins of the Hero and the inhabitants of the Netherland? The Hero said nothing. The Fairy had invited him, it was not for a fight to break out like at the feast organized by the queen where Thoosa had died.
"...maybe we could become...friends!"
Seeing her words from her diary haunted him. Now that she was dead, he was trying even harder to be friends with people who looked like they despised him. What the hell was he doing?
- So, are you interested in the Basfonds' wingless princess, Nalo-vace? asked Jacob, I must admit she is pretty. I don't feel the disgust that fairies have for their fellow creatures without wings, but I must say that she doesn't leave anyone indifferent. I think that she makes equal game with the Fairy.
- Seriously? For you, this dirty girl can be equal to a girl from the Sanctuary, especially from Java-Aleim? says Heyasaïn.
- Why not?
- I will never understand you. It must be your dwarf genes that blind you.
- Hey! What do you mean?
- It is well known that the dwarfs are not examples of beauty contrary to the elves, the fairies...
- Don't start, Heyasain...," Jacob warned him.
- I can see that things are getting heated," said Lin, "let's calm down, we're just talking about girls. We're not going to fight over this kind of distraction.
- Especially that I like this Malalalivia, says the man-lion.
- Oh yes, do you like it, Grazil?" interjected a female voice.
Grazil jumped with fear and was grabbed by the neck by a tiger-woman and lifted off the ground.
- We leave you two minutes to discuss between males and your minds wander by imagining that you can deceive us.
- Personally, I'm single," said the Hero.
And many men nodded in agreement.
- You, I have nothing to say to you, said the tiger-woman, take care of your princess without ailess instead of dragging my fiancée in conversations of beggars.
Then she left, pulling Grazil by the ear.
The Hero sighed. Although he was having fun, everything made him realize that he didn't belong among them; he had a much better time wandering around with the Fairy's friends in Haute-Ville than staying with those noblemen. Malalalivia was probably right: it was a party of noblemen... and he, although the queen considered him her son, was definitely not one.
It was the Fairy who pulled him out of his train of thought by patting him on the shoulder.
- Can I borrow him for a few moments? After all, I invited him anyway to have fun with him. I'll bring him back to you later.
She lifted him off the ground and took him with her, grabbing his arm.
They wandered into a corner a little further back than where the whole crowd was and started talking.
- So you like this party?
- Of course," lied the Hero enthusiastically, "I haven't had time to play darts or cards yet, but it's cool!
- I am delighted. Although... Nothing! You seemed to have a good time between men, she said, teasing him by elbowing him in the ribs.
- We had some very... intellectual discussions, if I may say so.
- Who has the biggest nipples among the few women in the royal guard?
- Did you hear us?
- You think my pointy ears are decorations, she laughs, I need that to commune with the nature that surrounds us.
- I thought that only elves had an overdeveloped hearing, in addition to their increased vision...
- Hey no! But we have another one that they do, as I told you it is to commune with nature and its spirits that surround us.
- I don't think you believed it.
- To the gods of the pantheon, yes, but I cannot deny the existence of the spirits of nature, especially since it is thanks to them that we can capture more fully the magical essence that surrounds us.
- It's interesting, but since I'm unable to feel any magic, I'll never hear them.
- So are the vast majority of humans, but it doesn't matter. If you had acquired magical skills, you should have just used artifacts or talismans.
- I see. I must admit that it would have come in handy during my fights in the arena, even though I only have three left.
- Yes, three, and then after that...
And both of them kept quiet, dodging each other with their eyes. He talked about it all the time but had never discussed the subject with her, she had already asked herself the question and guessed, given the resentment that the Hero had for the Nemesis, that he would take the powder as soon as the opportunity presented itself.
Should they bring it up? Now?
"...it will bring us closer together!"
With the little time they had left, he hadn't gotten to know each other that well, distracted by their respective duties. Perhaps it was time for that to change.
The Hero wanted to take the initiative, but it was the Fairy who preceded him, so he let her speak:
- Do you remember when you came to my house and we talked a little bit about religion and all that...
- Yes," said the Hero with a doubtful tone.
He would have expected much more personal questions than that. But then again, faith is a personal thing, isn't it?
- You said you had other reasons to believe than your mother, what did you mean by that?
But he had said that on a whim without thinking, he never thought he would have to bring any reflection on it or develop it concretely.
- My mother comes from a place much further away than the dark horizon that could be in front of us if we left the kingdom, she comes from the continent of Eden. There, everything is much more dangerous than here, whether it is Men, Faerie, monsters, magical creatures, weather events...
- She's definitely from another continent, I would have thought she would have always lived here like you.
- I told you: I have traveled a little, willy-nilly, but it counts! But you see, she didn't live without any respite with her sister, between wars, mercenaries and other joys of hostile lands like those over there. And yet, according to what she told me, there is not only that over there, there are beautiful places, for example, fields of sun turners!
- Sunshades?
- Plants that absorbed light from the UFO on our planet, producing a beautiful light. Apparently, they still shine to this day. But you, who have traveled so much, have you never been there?
- Unfortunately not..., the Fairy was sorry, I would have liked to but it is a corner where Lily did not go during our trips. After I didn't travel that much, we always had to come back here, on Kano's land, because apparently it's really a safe place.
- It seems that you don't like this place full of volcanoes, laughed the Hero.
- Gobble well...
- Let me start again! There she met a priest who taught her the Christian religion and from that day on she lived in prayer, hoping for better days and that she, her sister and her friends would reach Heaven. Until the day she became the heroine of the legend and had to leave her sister whom she took care of alone, her friends and the people of her village. She travelled the whole world, so to speak, until we met and I followed her precepts, except that I, unlike her, pray for the present moment, for God to forgive me for the evil that I have done, I do and I will do, to mitigate the faults that I have committed, I do not think of Heaven although according to the Bible, it is a wonderful place where peace reigns but I do not think...
The Hero paused for a moment, realizing what he was about to say. The conversation was already turning gloomy, he was not going to spoil the atmosphere of his party either.
- "...but, I don't think..."? asked the Fairy.
- Well, I just forgot.
- What a liar you are.
- I swear I forgot, the Hero insisted, just that, in short, if I can bring good around me to counterbalance the evil I do, it makes me happy! Even if I don't get it back all the time...
- Would you be willing to sacrifice yourself for the good of others?" asked the Fairy.
- Surely.
- Even if it costs you your life?
- Well, that's kind of my role as a hero," he said with a dry smile.
The Fairy sighed.
- I understand a little better what you think in your little head. Even if I don't really think like you.
- Really? How do you think?
- I don't see myself sacrificing myself for others. I think I gave enough at birth to do such an act. Life is so long that sacrificing for others is for me an act of pure selfishness towards your Creator as you call it. Good for them if they want to do it for me, but I value my life too much to do that.
- Is sacrifice an act of pure selfishness? A bit of a surprising way of thinking, I admit.
- Don't you understand me too? Why should I die for others when there are so many fairies who didn't get a chance to live, who lost their lives unnecessarily because of a bad encounter, or whatever.
- However, as a queen, you will have to give yourself body and soul for your people.
- Queen Audisélia is not really an example for us, the Fairy interrupted, it is true that she works hard for us, but she is one of the few, if not the only one, to be so zealous in her work. The others, she entrusted all the tasks to their ministers and for the most valiant went to war, but I was definitely not one of them, she laughed, sitting on the throne. Sometimes I envy the Grave line, that of the Fourth Fighter-King, which is not to be spoken of, but well, you killed Triface, so he won't appear unexpectedly to pull our ears. Being out of the queen's court, out of her responsibilities, being able to walk around without being expected to do anything, playing in the dirt and mud...
- I don't think that's a very enviable position, Princess!" the Hero snapped, "and don't decide on your own about the burdens that others carry without even knowing them!
The Fairy froze at the Hero's anger, she never thought he could get so angry at her. She couldn't see what she had said wrong, yet his eyes were furious and his body tensed. She took a step back, the first time since she had known him that she had reacted like that.
The Hero tensed up and apologized for his reaction, he didn't want to upset her. The Fairy came closer to him and they continued walking.
- Sorry if I said something wrong.
- It's nothing.
- Are you sure?" she asked fearfully.
- Yes. Go back to what you were saying.
- Well, I meant that in the end I only wanted the throne to get my wings. I've never been brave for myself or my friends, they've always been there for me, to defend me and I don't see why that would change. After all, that's what a princess suite is all about, isn't it? Especially you as my champion and guardian.
- I don't know, I'm not a princess.
- Bah I teach it to you, she answered him by drawing the tongue.
The Hero ignored her challenge and they moved on again, while the Fairy resumed her explanation.
- That being said, I don't see myself as having the right to change the established order as the other fairy wants to do. The rules and laws are like that and I think that if they have been established it is for a reason. We just have to conform to them, that's why I want so much to become the queen of Sylvania to be like the other fairies. It is unbearable to be so different from them who can fly over the roofs of our cities, while I can only observe them from the ground or from the windows of the buildings that surround us...
Upon hearing this, the Hero recalled the long days when he could not go to the liquor store because of his poor condition and could only watch the other children play while he had to stay at the church. Sometimes he would escape to the gardens to get a closer look through the gates. He thought it was on one of those days that he met Zelda's eyes. It must have been right after she came to visit him.
- I understand you, it's annoying not to be like the others, but maybe it's by differentiating ourselves from them that we can be closer to them and become what they want to be.
- Do you think?
- I don't know. I guess. When I travel, I ask myself these questions so much because I don't really make friends with people. Then it's up to you.
- I'll think about it.
The discussion was getting much too serious and the air much too electrified so the Hero decided to change the subject quickly.
- Do you still have your cat kingdom book there?
- Of course! Do you want to read it?
- Yeah, it'll be a nice change from what I'm reading right now. No sooner do I tell you about it than you start raving. Is this your favorite story?
- Yes! I find it super captivating and very moving. What is your favorite story?
- Me? Well, I never really thought about it. We're talking about books with just words, right?
- Yes.
- Well, we'll skip the one about the quest for the crystal balls... I'll say... Alice in Wonderland.
- Ah! And what does it say?
And there the Hero launched into a long monologue almost all the history of the book of Lewis Caroll, of these misadventures to these adventures, of his meeting with the mad hatter, of the big cat which disappeared leaving only appear his eyes and his smile...
- But wouldn't that be you?" shouted the Fairy.
- Now that you mention it...
And they both burst out laughing.
- You'll have to let me read it sometime.
- The last time I read it, I wasn't even ten, so if I find it in the Universal Library, I'll bring it to you," he promised.
Words in the air.
- It reminds me that there was a song that I loved when I was younger, my mom used to play it for me all the time on a holo-slayer and I would fall asleep to it.
- And what was the song?
- I think it started with "Step by step..." ... Rah I don't remember! After that, it was in a foreign and dead language.
- Don't you care a little about me, hero of the legend? asked the Fairy.
- Not even, besides, you could have benefited from my voice of chorus.
- Because you were a singer?
- Of course, what do you think?" boasted the Hero.
And their discussion, studded with anecdotes about each other's lives, continued until they returned to their friends.
Unfortunately, they found in front of them, a most unpleasant sight: other Faerics who had come to harass them, spilling drinks on them, throwing clods of earth in their face with kicks, paws and hooves, under bursts of laughter and their faces distorted by hatred and contempt.
One of them grabbed Jacob by the hair and brought him face to face:
- Do you think it's funny to bring opprobrium on us by chatting happily with this human? Especially at a party that is reserved for us? Not only does he stink like a beggar, but he is our enemy. The queen may well accept him, but we will never accept him as one of us.
Then they discovered that the Hero and the Fairy were approaching them.
- But what do we have here? The fairy trash and his human pet. You went to reproduce between anomalies behind a tree like the beasts that you are? mocked the noble.
The Hero was already rolling up his sleeves to give him a beating he would remember for the rest of his life. He hated above all that others were attacked because of him, if they had a problem with him he should settle it like men. But the Fairy held him back by pulling the back of his suit so that he would hold back.
- It's true I said you have to defend me, but I don't want anything to happen to you either.
He knew she was fearful, and she was even more so now, but this kind of behavior was abominable. Why pick on them when he was there? Finally, he calmed down and gave up his idea of fighting them.
The stalkers laughed at him and spat on the ground as they passed him, however, one of them got too close to the Hero, scowling, and with a swift blow, the Hero flicked him in the cheek, knocking out a molar. He fell to the ground and writhed in pain.
- Be happy: others didn't get off so easy for less.
Then the Hero went to see the Fairy's friends to see if they were okay. Although they said they were, he felt some resentment towards her.
If Al-Ryanis had stayed, he could have defended them, thought the Hero.
The Hero went to sit down a little further. Social relations were becoming very complicated for him. If he had the Queen's ability, he would know how to react to these looks and words whose sincerity he could not guess. And then there was that discussion with the Fairy: was he doing the right thing by putting her in power? This kind of thing will happen again and nothing will change! Perhaps he should fully join Malalalivia's cause? But above all, he understood that despite all the love he could bear her, the Hero was far too different from the Fairy and he was closer to the wingless fairy of the Underworld. But should that make him stop talking to her? He didn't know...
The Fairy was confused by her champion's reaction. She hadn't said anything inherently wrong about the lowly fairy. Maybe he had fallen in love with her as his friends supposedly did? Or that she forgot often enough that they were not from the same social class? But this last sentence, he already knew it and she had never held it against him. So he must have liked this fairy more than her, which explains why he spent more time with her than with his princess...
And why did she care? He didn't have to answer to her at that level. It's true that she had intervened in his project with Acamelia, but this fairy of the Grave lineage was not a deviant like Acamelia was! So why? And with all that, she had forgotten to speak to him about Lucello...
The Hero is joined unexpectedly by Jacob who interrupts his reflection.
- Sorry again for not defending you or being the source of your trouble, the Hero apologized.
- It's not a big deal. We have been used to this kind of thing from other nobles for much longer than you have been here.
- However, the others seemed rather angry with me.
- They are angry with you because you didn't intervene, but I saw that it was the Wingless Fairy who stopped you and she was right. Even though you are under the protection of the queen, there is no telling how the nobles can take revenge on you or yours.
- That's right, now that you mention it...
Especially when a large part of them are part of the Marrynélia legion...
- Are you ready for the fight tomorrow?" asked Jacob.
- Is it tomorrow already?
- Yes!
- I had even forgotten about it because it was so long between this one and the previous one.
- You've had more things to do too: between activities, outings, training...
Fighting evil cults, feeding the needy, getting a hard time because I'm the hero of the legend...
- That's right.
- Besides, I will be your follower in the arena.
- Seriously?
- Yes!
- Can we join forces in the arena then?
- I was counting on it.
- So let's wish each other good luck and may the best man win for his princess, says the Hero.
And both of them shook hands, promising to help each other before deciding who would be the winner in the fight.
However, the next morning at 9:35 am, while the sun was shining brightly and some of the inhabitants had gathered to see this umpteenth fight in the arena, there were two half-dead bodies on the ground and Jacob who was standing in front of the Hero to protect him with his shield, but this one was pierced all over, smoking as if laser shots had hit it head-on. Jacob's body was also pierced in the same way as his shield. In pain, he spat out blood before collapsing to the ground in front of their opponent.
The Hero could only watch helplessly as his friend was defeated by this new kind of enemy.
- You!" shouted the Hero, "You, you will pay for this!
- Bring it on, faiyera-terrarian weapon!