Their journey had taken them to a large room, one that could have passed for a library due to the number of bookshelves. Of course, this was not a library, but Alice’s personal meeting chamber. Smaller than the great hall, it was still larger than most common houses. Tasteful columns were arrayed around the room, which had a vaulted ceiling that depicted the morning sky. A glittering wooden desk sat at the opposite end of the door, near a large window that overlooked Alysium, the city in which her castle, Avant Heim, resided.
Someone was already there.
He was a handsome man in his late forties. His graying hair was swept back and lent him a refined demeanor. The lines of his face were from a combination of age, battle scars, and stress. Despite this, his steel gray eyes were sharp.
His armor clinked as he turned around to face them, the polished surface of his platemail shining in the afternoon sun. Unlike most knights, this one carried a claymore on his back, a weapon nearly twice his size that was covered in magical runes. When she entered the room, the knight knelt in deference.
“Your Majesty,” he murmured.
“Bayard,” Alice greeted with a smile. “To what do I owe the honor of your visit today?”
Bayard von Heist was the captain of her castle’s guard. A paladin of great power and much experience, Bayard had fought in several wars throughout his life, including the most recent one with the Dark Clan. He was also the person who’d trained Jacob in how to wield a sword. His skill in swordsmanship was such that even now, nearly a decade after passing his prime, he still whipped the younger knights like they were newborn pups.
In contrast to Alice’s smile, Bayard’s face was grave. “Your Majesty, I have some news that I believe you will want to hear.”
Her smile leaving, Alice walked over to her desk, though she did not sit down. Several scrolls already sat upon it, waiting for her to peruse them, but she discarded those for now, focusing instead on the man before her.
“What is this news that you speak of? Judging from the grave expression you wear, I can only assume it is dire.”
“Not dire, Your Majesty, but concerning nonetheless. A messenger bird arrived barely fifteen minutes ago. Apparently, one of the squadrons that we sent out to locate the thief who stole the gate key has discovered the whereabouts of Jacob Stone.”
It felt a lot like being struck by lightning, hearing this news. Alice took a shuddering breath.
“S-so I see. Jacob… he is alive, then.” She hesitated. “Is he… doing well?”
Bayard shook his head. “The reports did not confirm his health. It only states that Jacob Stone is living in the free city of Albany.”
Albany was one of three independent cities within Terrasole. They were not a part of her kingdom, though many of her nobles had pushed her to take control of them. She’d not done so, however. Alice understood that not everyone enjoyed living under the rule of a kingdom, thus she had allowed the cities to remain free.
Thinking of Jacob made her chest ache. Six years ago, a twelve-year-old Jacob had been summoned to her world. During that time, she had befriended him, spending what time she was not in lessons with him, getting to know him better. He’d regaled her with tales of his home world. In turn, she told him everything that she knew about Terrasole. A year after he arrived, Jacob had left on his quest to defeat the Dark Lord.
He had succeeded, but it was not without cost.
Alice still remembered when Jacob had returned after slaying Alucard. News had already reached her by that point, and she had created an entourage to greet him as he entered Alysium. However, the Jacob that she had known and the Jacob who returned were not the same. Gone was the cheerful young man. In its place had been a quiet teen who brooded more often than not. Yet Jacob had not changed so much that he had neglected her after returning, and when they met again in front of the gates to the city, he had smiled at her. When she had welcomed him home, he had said, “I’m home.”
At the time, she had believed that everything would be fine. Alucard was gone. Jacob had returned. Her people were safe. The war was over. Surely, things could only become better from there.
She had no idea how wrong she had been.
Her father, the King of Terrasole, had died shortly after the war ended. With her as his only heir, she’d become the reigning monarch, the queen. However, it was not without cost. The nobility had fought against the idea of her being queen, stating that a woman could not rule, for they lacked the strength to do what was needed. Thanks to Jacob and the many knights loyal to her, like Bayard, the nobles had been shot down, and she had become the queen two months after her father’s passing.
Being queen was difficult, however. Alice had found her time consumed with meetings. Policies had to be created, deals had to be made. Alice had met with nobles and council members and commoners. With her life having been subsumed by the role of queen, she had no longer possessed the time to spend with Jacob. Perhaps if she had, then…
Alice shook her head.
Now is not the time to dwell on past mistakes.
“Bayard,” she addressed the captain. “I would like you to send a detachment to Albany. Have them deliver a message to Jacob.”
“You plan on asking him to return?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“What if he refuses your summons?”
Alice’s heart trembled. “I cannot force him to return, but I… I would at least like to give him the chance.”
“I understand.” Bayard bowed. “I will have the newest paladin seek out Jacob. I believe Caslain is eager to prove himself useful in either event.”
“Thank you.”
Bowing one more time, Bayard spun around and left the room. Alice turned and walked up to the window, placing her gloved hand upon the glass as she gazed out at the city, which appeared to be on fire thanks to the setting sun.
Jacob… I wonder what you are doing right now? Are you safe? Are you happy?
“Queen Alice,” Listy started, “are you sure I should not cancel your meetings today?”
Alice debated the idea for a moment before shaking her head. She turned around, strolled toward the desk, and sat down. She sank into the red cushions.
“No, I cannot afford to be seen as weak before the nobles and White Council. They’re still doing their best to prove that I’m not competent enough to rule. I’ll not give them a reason to prove themselves right.”
“Very well.” Listy curtsied. “I shall have someone fetch the marquis for you.”
“Thank you.”
Sitting with the afternoon sun at her back, Alice prepared for another day of countless meetings with arrogant men who would continue to undermine her authority. She did her best to put Jacob out of her mind.
CHAPTER 2
HEROES WANTED
Jacob and Enyo awoke early the next morning. They had packed all the essentials that they would need for their journey the night before, including food, money, whetting stones, and other necessities. As the sun rose above the mountains far off in the distance, the two quietly slipped out of Albany and began their journey.
Kyöpelinvuori was ten days travel from Albany. It was located in the south-eastern part of Terrasole. To reach it, one had to travel through several cities and towns, and then journey through the Phantasma Forest.
There were numerous dangers along the way. Terrasole was a land that had many monsters.
Thanks to the war’s end four years ago, the knights no longer had to worry about Dark Clan members attacking them and could focus on protecting people from these monsters. Even so, many veteran knights had been lost during the war. Since knights didn’t grow on trees and needed to be trained before they could become proper protectors of the people, most of the ones left over were inexperienced. This had led to an increase in monster activity.
Fortunately, Jacob knew the lay of the land quite well. Having traveled across the continent during his journey to defeat Alucard, he knew the hot spots where monster activity was at its
greatest. With him leading the way, he and Enyo were able to reach the first town without incident.
Parvus was less of a town and more of a hamlet, with tiny wooden huts for buildings and unpaved roads. It was clear that this town was underdeveloped. What’s more, as he and Enyo arrived, it was to see the entire hamlet surrounded by a massive wooden fence. Nearly ten meters in height and made from thick logs, the fence’s appearance reminded Jacob of a bandit fortress.
“Halt!” a voice called from above. “Who goes there?!”
A man was standing atop the archway upon which a massive gate was embedded. Wielding a crossbow, which he pointed at the two, the man quivered as if fearing for his life.
“Just a pair of travelers!” Jacob called out as Enyo pulled the hood of her cloak up to further conceal her face.
Since the knights of Terrasole were looking for her, Jacob and Enyo had both agreed that it would be best if she hid her face from others. There was no telling who the knights had spoken with, or who they would speak with in the future. They wanted to avoid trouble. This was but one of several ideas they had come up with.
“Travelers?” the man questioned. “What are a pair of travelers doing in a town like this?”
“We’re merely passing through,” Jacob answered. “We were hoping to stay the night before continuing on our way.”
“You’d best just keep going stranger! There’s danger afoot in these parts!”
“Danger, huh?” Jacob muttered, running a hand through his hair. It was already evening, so they couldn’t afford to leave. Night was the most dangerous time to travel. “Would it be alright if we spoke to your chieftain? Perhaps we can help.”
The man seemed stunned, though it was hard to tell from so far away. “Help, you say? Are you two traveling mercenaries or something?”
“Or something.”
Jacob waited as the man appeared to deliberate. A second passed, then another before, finally, the gates opened.
“You may enter! The Chieftain's building is in the center of the village. You can’t miss it!”
“Thank you!”
He and Enyo entered the hamlet, which truly was a tiny place. There were only about a dozen buildings in total, though they were less like buildings and more like huts, tiny constructs made of wood and straw.
It wasn’t unusual for houses to be built like this. Small towns didn’t have the architects that cities had, nor did they have the labor force required to build such large structures, so they made do with what they did have. That said, a strong storm would destroy these huts in an instant. It was fortunate that they lived in an arid place where storms were rare.
Slightly larger than the other buildings, the chieftain's hut was indeed in the center of the hamlet. Jacob and Enyo knocked on the door, which was less of a door, and more of a series of rickety sticks tied together with leather bands. They received a response almost immediately.
“Hold on!” an aging voice called out.
Loud thumping echoed behind the door. There was some banging, followed by a series of curses. Enyo’s cheeks became visibly red beneath her hood. She must not have been used to such vulgar language.
The door opened, and an ancient-looking man who barely reached Enyo’s chest stood in the doorway. He peered at them with small black eyes partially hidden by stringy gray hair.
“I don’t recognize you two. Travelers?”
“That’s right,” Jacob said. Enyo remained silent, though she did shift away when the elder glanced in her direction. “We heard from the guard that there’s trouble afoot in your village and wanted to offer our assistance in return for lodging for the night.”
“You mercenaries or something?”
“Or something,” Jacob answered with the same reply that he’d given the guard.
“Hmph! Come on in.”
The elder moved away and opened the door, allowing him and Enyo to enter. The interior wasn’t much to look at. The floor was made of dirt, there was only one room, and the decor was barren enough that even Jacob thought it was too bare.
They were led to an uncomfortable couch made of straw and threadbare fabric, thin and shabby. After setting their packs on the ground, he and Enyo sat down so as not to appear rude. The uncomfortable feeling of straw poking his butt was not enjoyable. Enyo squirmed beside him.
“The trouble we’re having started about a month ago,” the elder began. “A group of trolls made their home several leagues out near the base of a small mountain. We didn’t think much of them at first. They weren’t botherin’ us or nothin’, and we don’t have the strength to fight them, but last month, they started coming down to our village at night. They’d come in, destroy our homes, kill our families, and then leave. This has been happening every night. Since then, we’ve built a wall, but it doesn’t do a good job keeping them out. Have to repair the darned thing after every raid”
Trolls were notorious for three things: their incredible strength, their regenerative abilities, and their stupidity. They had ravenous appetites. They ate people, cows, basically anything that moved. Trolls also had furious tempers. Do something to agitate them, and they would fly into a berserker rage. Once that happened, the only way a troll would calm down was if someone killed it, or it killed everything in sight.
“Trolls, huh?” Durandal spoke up, startling the elder, whose eyes popped from his head. “It’s been a long time since I’ve dealt with those. Hey, hey. Ya wanna know hear a joke? What did the male troll say to the female—doof!”
Durandal was cut off when Jacob slammed the sword back into its sheath.
“That sword just spoke,” the elder mumbled.
“No, it didn’t,” Jacob said with a straight face.
“Yes, it did.”
“You’re imagining things.”
“Do you know how many trolls there are?” Enyo asked, bringing their conversation back on track.
The elder glanced at her, causing her to look away. He narrowed his eyes, but answered her regardless. “We only ever see three.”
“You mentioned that they’re several leagues away, at the base of a mountain,” Jacob said.
“Right.” The elder nodded. “Longstand Mountain. It’s a small mountain, more of a hill really.”
If he ran there with physical augmentation, Jacob could probably reach the mountain in less than an hour. He’d be exhausted, though. It was also nearing nighttime. While the area around Albany was safe enough to travel at night, few other places were. Albany had many mercenaries coming through, and they often worked as monster hunters in exchange for cash at the local guild office.
They spoke with the elder a bit longer. In exchange for killing off the trolls, he and Enyo would be given a place to sleep. Since all their huts consisted of nothing but wooden walls and a poorly crafted ceiling, it wasn’t going to be a comfortable sleep. That said, Jacob would take sleeping in an uncomfortable room over being outside where groups of undead could ambush them as they slept any day.
The hut they were given belonged to a family that had been killed by trolls during the last attack. He could tell from the different colored logs that it had been remade at least several times. There was no bed, which meant they were sleeping on the floor. Jacob was grateful that he’d had the foresight to pack two sleeping rolls.
Laying side by side, an uncomfortable silence settled over them. Jacob wondered if he should try to start a conversation. Sadly, he didn’t know what they could talk about. Should he ask her about her past or hobbies? Wouldn’t that bring up bad memories? The past evening, they had been able to avoid awkward silences by filling it with conversation about their journey. Now, however, with nothing left to discuss, an unsettling stillness blanketed them like a bad cold.
“Oh, for the love of—” Durandal grumbled into the stillness “—would ya two just hurry up and fuck already!”
“Shut up, you damn sword!” Jacob barked. He looked over at Enyo, who lay on her side, facing away from him. “I’m sorry about hi
m. Durandal never could read the mood.”
“I can read the mood just fine. You’re the one who doesn’t know how to read the mood.”
“I said shut up!”
“It’s fine,” Enyo mumbled. She was still facing away from him. “I understand that Durandal is a really vulgar sword.”
“I’m not vulgar.”
“What about shut up do you not understand?!”
“And I’m not… bothered by his words. Hearing them just makes me… self-conscious.”
“That’s what it means to be bothered.” Jacob sighed. “Anyway, if he ever bothers you, just hit him with your dark magic. That will shut him right up.”
“Don’t be cruel!” Durandal cried.
“I’ll be as cruel as I want,” Jacob snapped.
Enyo giggled. “You two have an interesting relationship.”
“I don’t know if I’d call it interesting so much as annoying.” Staring at the ceiling, Jacob thought of all the ways Durandal had humiliated him these past four years. “I sometimes regret picking him up thanks to that mouth of his.”
Despite his harsh words, he was grateful to Durandal. Thanks to the sword’s vulgar sniping, the tension seemed to have broken between him and Enyo, though he still didn’t know what to talk about.
“What is your world like?” Enyo suddenly asked.
“My world?”
“Hm.”
Rolling onto his side, Jacob faced Enyo, who must have heard him shifting because she rolled to face him seconds later. She was no longer wearing the hood. Her long pink hair visibly traveled down her back with strands sticking out all over the place from wearing a hood for so long.
“My world is… big, but it also feels really compact.” Jacob’s memories of his own world were fuzzy thanks to the war, but he still remembered enough. “The cities are all gigantic, bigger even than Alysium. The buildings tower over everyone. Some of them are even fifteen to twenty stories high.”
“R-really?” Enyo’s eyes were wide as she hung off his every word like they were the gospel truth.
Jacob nodded. “Really. We also have cars—erm, those are like carriages that don’t require a horse to pull them. They move on their own.”
Journey of a Betrayed Hero- Volume 1 Page 6
