“You idiots!” Heat surged up my neck and I ran to them. “This is why I said—”
I froze. A panel about seven feet high and three far wide had collapsed, and past the rubble stood a long corridor.
A corridor full of Knights.
Oh, I so knew this would happen. I clenched my fists and looked down the staircase. I’d known that idiot would mess something up, I’d known that he would jeopardize this whole thing. And I’d told Rosam that, too. She just didn’t want to listen.
The Knights stared at the debris, then at me. They’d completely missed Rosam and Stan, who were hiding behind the fallen wall.
Rosam put her hands in the air, and a high-pitched tone came from her lips. The sound echoed through the corridor, and streams of light shot out of her hands. They wound themselves around the advancing Knights, and the ones closest to her all collapsed to the floor, snoring loudly.
This is our chance. My arms tingled. A few more Knights stumbled towards us, waving swords and spears in the air. I rushed forward and leapt over the rubble. Four Knights fought the spell and stepped towards me. Their silver armor glistened in the dull light, reminding me of Joseph, of everything that lowlife had done to me.
You’re angry, a voice spoke inside me. It sounded like my own. All your life, you’ve chosen to restrain yourself. You spent ten years working on one sole thing. And a stupid vampire is going to mess it up.
Stupid vampire, I thought back in agreement. I gripped a fallen Knight’s spear, as close to the tip as I could, and lifted it up.
“Levi,” Rosam said. “What are you—?”
I rushed at the stumbling Knights. The sensation of fire and ice coursed through my body, and it was stronger than I had ever felt before. The first Knight swung at me, and I dodged, but the level difference was too much and his blade moved fast, cutting into my skin. My health went down to a mere 20% from just that one strike, but I pressed on, my eyes bloodshot. The man stumbled and his speech slurred. The sleeping spell was conquering him now.
I leapt up at the man, and before he could slash again, I drove the spear into the side of his neck. The point went through and he collapsed to the floor, gargling blood. I looked at his health bar. He’s still alive. The icy feeling grew stronger inside me, and wrapped around my heart. I grabbed the sword from the Knight’s limp hand and thrust down at his throat.
The blade went clean through and stuck to the floor. His head rolled off his neck, and towards his companions. They were stumbling all over the place, half-asleep at this point.
I lifted the sword up from the floor and shot toward them. A numbness overtook me, as though I was just a conscience, and this body was my tool—as though I could no longer feel anything that happened to it.
A sharp tone sunk into the air, and the men collapsed to the floor. Damn it. She put them to sleep. I turned around. Rosam walked up to me, with Stan hiding behind her. I wanted to give the vampire a piece of my mind, but that was only a waste of time.
“We don’t kill.” Rosam looked down at the man, and then at me. “Don’t do that.”
My eyes narrowed. “He would have killed us if he kept coming,” I said. “Are you saying that what I did was wrong?”
“I could have forced them to sleep if you had waited long enough,” she said, and walked past me. Stan followed her, and didn’t meet my eyes.
This is a troublesome pair. I gritted my teeth and followed after them.
DING!
Congratulations! You have defeated:
Zevalon Knight (Lv 31)!
Well, guess he isn’t going to be talking any time soon. Get it? (Because you cut his throat out). Reward: 13000 XP. Reward: Reputation decreased by -100 points.
DING!
Warning! You Reputation has switched from ‘Fame’ to ‘Infamy’. Obtaining more fame points will reset this change.
A thud came from ahead of us, and I heard yells as well. I jerked my head up. “Is that…?”
Rosam nodded. “That’s coming from the elf’s room.”
Damn it! I closed all my screens and rushed forward, behind Rosam. Stan stumbled after us, but I didn’t pay attention to him. The elf was in trouble, and if I lost her, then all this risk would have been for nothing.
We rushed past the entrance at the end of the corridor. A large room stood before us, with three doors on each of the other walls. Sounds came from the one to our left and I rushed up to it.
The door thudded right as I approached. A Knight broke through the door and collapsed to the floor. I looked at his health bar. Dead.
The door cracked at the hinges, and then crashed to the floor.
The elf stood right behind it, perched on one leg with her other raised high up in the air, held in position after her kick.
I grinned. Guess she didn’t need us after all.
***
“Who are you people and why are you searching for Luna?” The elf put her leg down and looked at us.
Never heard someone speak in third person before. I held my hands up. “We’re here to help you.”
The elf stared at me, and her solid-green eyes gazed into mine. “Okay. Luna will trust you for now.” Her voice was squeaky. “But if you betray Luna, then—” She swung her leg through the air, and completed an arc even before I could blink.
She seems naive, I thought. And very dangerous. That didn’t seem like a safe combination. Another troublesome person had joined the fray. But at least this one can help me.
The door opposite to us thudded open. A man with blond hair and a scar on his face stood there.
Elya.
And there were about twenty Knights behind him.
“To the staircase!” Rosam rushed back the way we’d come.
“Bloody hell.” Elya slid out his sword. “Capture them!” he yelled, and the Knights ran at us.
I charged behind Rosam. Oh, wait. Stan. I glanced back. There’s no way he’s fast enough to—
Luna had the vampire in her arms, carrying him bridal-style. She rushed forward, and past me in seconds.
Wow. That’s fast. Rosam was at the end of the staircase now, as was Luna. But I still had a good twenty yards to go. I glanced back, and my shoulders tightened. The Knights were now mere yards behind us. I’m not fast enough. My legs pumped, and my fists clenched.
“Levi, dive!” Rosam yelled.
Which way, you idiot? But I dived forward on instinct. A thud came from behind me. I turned around, just in time to see a spherical object the size of a pot hit the ground. It blasted apart a second later and whorls of smoke surged into the corridor.
A hand grabbed onto my wrist. “Follow,” Rosam whispered, and pulled me away. We ran out of the corridor and headed down the staircase. Luna and Stan were already at the bottom when we reached.
“What do we do now?” I asked.
Rosam ran to the wall opposite to the one we’d entered this place through. “Come on … come on…” she mumbled.
Yells sounded from above us. And shadowy forms came closer to the staircase.
“There.” Rosam pressed into the wall. A stone pushed in, and a small panel, three feet tall and three feet wide, opened up behind the stone.
What the heck? I blinked.
“Go through.” She looked at Luna. “It’s a slide to somewhere safe.”
The nodded elf crawled into the space. She cried out in delight, but soon, her voice disappeared.
Rosam looked at the vampire. “Stan.”
“Actually.” He fidgeted. “I’m not too thrilled about darkness, so—”
I lifted him up by his collar and his pants and thrust him into the hole. He screamed out as he slid down. Yells came from above us, and I noticed the smoke had dissipated.
“Damn it.” Rosam worked through her Ga’em menu. A stream of lights condensed into her hand and formed another sphere. She rolled it onto the ground, and two seconds later, it blasted and smoke surged there as well.
“Sir!” a voice yelled from above. “There�
�s just more smoke here, and it’s—” The Knight coughed.
“Come on.” Rosam gripped my hand and led me away. “Down here.” She put my hand on the edge of the entrance. I oriented myself and pushed through the gap.
My body dropped for a moment and then I thudded onto a smooth, metal slide. I shot downwards through the darkness, and a square of light quickly neared from below. In a second, I shot through the shape, and collapsed into something soft.
A rough sensation rubbed against my skin. “What?” I looked around. I was on a pile of hay. Two horses were at the other end of the room, and a cart stood in the middle, filled to the brim with more hay.
This was a stable.
“That was fun!” Luna clapped, standing beside the pile I was on. “Luna wants to do that again.”
Stan on the other hand shivered, with his blanket still around him. How did he even manage to keep that blanket with him after all this? I blinked.
“Gangway!” a voice yelled.
I looked up, and noticed a hole in the wall behind me. Rosam fell through a moment later, and before I could even react, she thudded into me.
“Ouch,” I muttered. “That’s a neat set of tricks you—”
I froze.
Rosam’s hood had been thrown back in all the hustle. Dark curls hung over the girl’s shoulder and her teal eyes looked at me.
My chest thumped. “You.” My voice was quiet.
“What?” she chuckled, and then she froze. “Oh no.” She touched her back, and her fingers gripped the fallen hood. She slowly turned to me, and a wry smile curled onto her lips. “Oops?”
I clenched my fists, and heat rose through my veins.
This girl was no Rosam.
She was Princess Valentine.
***
CHAPTER TEN
Valentine stood at the window as she had done countless times before.
She could see the whole city from here, but that wasn’t what she was focused on today. There were bigger things to think about. She navigated through her Ga’em menu and opened her Item Inventory. She scrolled the grid interface, and checked all the items she had.
A knock sounded from the double doors on the other side of the room. “Your Highness?” a voice called through.
“Yes,” Valentine said. “Come in.”
One of the doors opened and a lady walked in. She wore a maid’s outfit, and carried a large wooden box in her hands. “I have brought what you asked for.”
She smiled. “Splendid,” she said. “Bring it here.”
The lady came over to her and kept the box on the ground. She pressed the metal lock on the box and it clicked it open. The top swung open and revealed large orbs of black inside.
“Why are these for, Your Highness?” the lady asked. “If you don’t mind me asking.”
“I’m just testing how many things my Inventory can take.”
“Ah, I see. The Sage's suggestion?”
“Yes,” she said.
She touched the dark orbs and transferred everything into her Item Inventory in a few seconds. She stepped up to her bed and grabbed the small mirror lying at the edge. The moment she touched it, the image changed, and shifted from her reflection to the sight of a dark corridor. Metal bars closed off small rooms from the outside, and a dark form stood inside the one she was looking into.
She panned out and looked at the guards in the room. Maybe twenty. She could handle that many at once.
There was only one thing left for her to do now.
She walked out of her room and moved through the palace pathways. Five minutes later, she was in a long corridor with large double doors at the end. Two guards stood on either side and promptly opened them up when she walked up.
“P-Princess!” They saluted.
She smiled and walked into the room. Sage Auron sat behind his desk and held a scroll in one hand, and a few shreds of parchment in another. More shreds lay in a pile on the table and he was staring hard at them.
“Sage Auron.” Valentine walked up to his desk.
The man looked up, sighed, and went back to his scrolls. “What is it, Valentine?” he asked. “I am quite busy right now.”
She didn’t take a seat. “Is that the scroll you found?”
“Yes.” His eyes narrowed. “How do you know about it?”
"My father told me you had shown it to him." She smiled. "He said the item described in this scroll could be extremely powerful."
He scratched his chin. “Possibly. I don't know enough yet.”
“That's unfortunate,” she said. “I'll leave you to it, then.”
“Thank you.” He nodded.
Valentine headed back to her room right after. The venture to the Sage hadn’t proven that useful. She’d hoped to gain more information about this relic mentioned in the scroll, but she hadn’t gained anything.
That was disappointing.
She closed the double doors of her room shut, and bolted them from the inside. The room stood in silence as she checked for any maids around her and then headed to her bed. She knelt on the floor and reached under it. Her hand went about four feet in, until she touched a metal box. She felt around, found a handle, and tugged the box toward her.
A black chest slid out from underneath. "I'll show those old men," she said with a grin. "I'm not some royal doll you get to keep locked away forever."
She opened the chest, and lifted the topmost item—a hooded cloak of a creamy white. Underneath it were a few potions, ones she had collected secretly over the past few months, in anticipation of such a journey. And beneath that was a thick black book.
She lifted the potions out, and put them into her Item Inventory first. Then, she lifted the black book and placed it on the ground before her.
The leather cover was weathered and coated in dust. She opened it, and flicked through the browning pages. The pages were crispy, like dry leaves, and felt like they’d crumble if she tugged at them.
She traced her finger down a page, and then flipped through more sheets of brown. There were symbols of black inscribed on each one, in a language that was not known to the folk of Zevalon. But she could read it. It had taken her half a year to find a help book for the language and teach herself—all while keeping it a secret from the others—but she’d done it in the end.
Valentine flipped about a third into the book, and stopped at a page. The right side had a lot of text on it, with a title at the top that she didn’t bother reading. She’d read that page enough times to have half-memorized the content on it.
Her hands trembled as she looked at the left side, at the portrait that had been painted onto the page. She had seen this many times, but it had never riled her up like it had recently. A man in a heavy helmet was depicted there, hiding his features. The painting had faded away with time, but she could still see the eyes—eyes of sunset-violet, with flecks of sparkling silver in them.
"The eyes." Her voice was a whisper. "The eyes never change."
***
“What are you doing here?” I stared at Valentine.
The young lady pulled herself off me and slid down the pile of hay. I followed suit and fell to the ground as well.
“P-Princess?” Stan yelped, and she smiled at him.
“Ooooh.” Luna peered at her. “You’re a princess? Luna always wanted to meet a princess!”
Annoying. I glanced back up at the hole in the wall, just to make sure the Knights weren’t coming through.
“They won’t find the slide down here.” Valentine looked at me. “I activated the closing mechanism before I slid down. The entrance we took should have disappeared long before the smoke cleared up.”
“That’s great, but what are you doing here?”
My image of the royal family was not good. These people weren’t one of those tyrant regimes—far from it. They were actually a well-put-together family, but that didn’t change the fact that privilege and honor had gone to their heads. If they took care of the poor one way, then t
he rich got an even more special treatment.
They represented what was fundamentally wrong with this city, and even the far lands beyond—money talks. It talks long, it talks loud, and it talks effectively.
And now, I was seeing the lady who would inherit this “wonderful” institution.
Valentine eyes didn’t meet mine. “Can we talk about this later?” she asked.
I stared at her, but didn’t say anything.
“This place isn’t completely safe from the Knights,” she said. “But they won’t come search here immediately.”
“W-What do we do, then?” Stan looked around.
“Would you stop stammering for one goddamn second already?!” I snapped at him.
He jumped, and then turned away from me. Stupid vampire.
Valentine pointed at the hay. “The cart is taken out of town every evening to mulch a small field close to the Ymir Forest. That’s our way out of here.”
My eyes narrowed. “Why do you know all this?”
“When you're stuck in a tower as a trophy daughter, you've really got no choice but to look out your window and see everything that happens in the kingdom," she said. "Also, I visit the stables often in the evening."
This girl has issues.
“Yaaaaaay!” Luna leapt onto the cart and sent a few lines of hay spilling out as she fell into it.
I shook my head. So annoying.
Stan stumbled as he tried to climb the cart. Valentine let him prop his feet on her shoulders, and helped him up. “Thank you.” He nodded and slid into the hay.
I observed her motions, her reaction. What kind of person is she? I wondered. However, when I looked at this now, I found it hard to not see her as a person who was just being nice to people. Surely that couldn’t the case. Was royalty ever like that? Were rich men ever like that?
Not in my experience. No.
“Princess Valentine,” I said, and she turned to me with a smile on her face. “Why did you make me form a party with you? Why did you come save me and Stan?”
Ascend: A World of Ga'em LitRPG (The Chaos Emperor Book 1) Page 10
