Ep 195. Warmonger. (2)

  New house.

  “…”

  New furniture.

  “…”

  New…well, everything.

  The grass was greehahe windows were as clear as crystal, the walls were perfectly painted, and every piece of furniture was new. And it wasn’t just one house, either: the entire neighborhood had been rebuilt from the ground up. Patrick had holy thought that his sibling would be overjoyed to see their renewed home upourning.

  Unfortunately, to this day, his etric sibling hadn’t so much as made a single ent about how everything was new and shiny. Instead of looking around the renewed neighbourhood, Serenis had busied herself with handling piles of dusty old parts ever since she’d e home.

  ‘Etric may not even cut it…’

  When the dragonlord had first told Patrick of everything that had happened since her departure, he could scarce believe half of what she was telling him.

  But when both Karas and Light chimed in to vouch for the authenticity of the dragonlord’s tale, he had little choice but to believe her.

  At least she hadn’t sold Aldrid to some shady mert like he’d thought at first.

  “…”

  The mage silently turned his head towards the dragonlord.

  Serenis peacefully sat in by the firepce – a little too peacefully – with a pile of dusty dots set at her side. Like this, she almost did seem like an elder dy during a winter’s night, s through her treasured memories by the firepce.

  If only she weren’t feeding the letters to the fire one by one.

  The house was her dark nor cold, but the fire was kept alive for the sole purpose of iing the letters in her hands. Serenis would seemingly spare a single g eaent, toss it aside to the fire, and proceed to the .

  And Patriew for a fact Serenis wasn’t reading them properly. Else, her eyes would be moving across the part, not…to and from them.

  Finally mustering the ce, Patrick approached his sibling from behind. An unnecessarily melodic voice masked his unease as he peeked over her shoulder.

  “So…whatcha looking at?”

  “Letters.”

  “…Let me rephrase that. Are you reading those things, or are you just skimming them?”

  Finally turning her head to face her human brother, Serenis looked to Patrick with her usual indifferehough, he could swear her eyes looked disappointed.

  “Patrick. It’s inappropriate to read letters that you aren’t the recipient of.”

  “What? Of course it’s – wait, those aren’t directed to you?”

  “No. Many aren’t.”

  This time, it atrick’s turn to frown.

  As, it was an improvement – before, he would’ve followed up with a ridiculed outburst of some sort. Like w if she’d stolen them from a local post office.

  But this time, the mage simply held his tongue, waiting for the dragonlord to expiuation.

  “…It seems most were never meant to be received. They’re directed to those who’ve long passed away, long before they were written.”

  “So they’re letters to the dead?...Is that some sort on ?”

  “…”

  After turnitention back to the part in hand, Serenis slowly shook her head.

  “No, I don’t recall there being such s…though, such practices may have taken root for a short while in the past.”

  They were directed to parents. Elders. Aors, even.

  Following the end of their era, the dragons had been devoid of elders except Vulka – for the other childre behind, all geions above theirs had practically evaporated. sidering the envirohey were left in, developing an odd or two wasn’t all too surprising.

  Although, a few letters did mao find their recipient still.

  As Serenis removed another from the pile of dusty part, she briefly skimmed the name written along its ers – and this time, it wouldn’t be fed to the fire. She instead brushed the bits of dust over its surface, longingly sing the olden script.

  “Oh? You’re not throwing that one away?”

  “…No. It seems this one’s directed to myself.”

  “Huh. Good thing you read those…runes. What does it say?”

  “Well…this one says…”

  …I sought to preserve your name. I sought to preserve your deeds, if only in words.

  Given what the Summit had bee, it seemed an easy task. I needed but find your name, and walk away with the tome in hand.

  But, strangely, I couldn’t mao find your name.

  The other tribal lords were present. Their preg lords were present. Even my own name remained recorded in the Summit’s archives.

  But amidst the endless array of bloodied tomes, nowhere could I find ohat carried your name as its title.

  Dragonlord Serenis. Was that not your name, mother?

  And if not, then what is?

  “…”

  As Serenis reached the end of the entry, her hands lightly trembled as she put down the part. Patrick could even hear a shaking in her voice as the dragonlord answered his question.

  “…That my name…isn’t…”

  “Your name?”

  “…”

  Notig her own trembling body, Serenis csped one hand over the other in an attempt to steady herself. A deep breath had to follow before she could mao answer Patri her usual tone.

  “…It’s nothing. The letter merely tains regards from my son.”

  “Are you sure? Because you don’t look so sure.”

  “…I am. It’s nothing to yourself about.”

  Despite her outwardly indifference, Serenis found her mind growing more and more fixated on the tents she’d just read.

  The first memory she had was being given this name. She’d used it since birth, and she’d never another name besides – titles perhaps, but never names.

  ‘Was it a mere mistake? But I hardly imagine Vulka making such simple mistakes…’

  But just as Serenis’ hand eagerly reached for the pile for anything else that her son may have written to her, the front door smmed open – to reveal a rather familiar enforcer.

  “Serenis!”

  Despite the name Iris had called, the oo jump wasn’t Serenis, but Patrick.

  With his heart thumping a little faster than before from the sudden door-bashing, he angrily turned around to bark back at their uninvited guest.

  “ you stop smashing the door open for one week?! I JUST got it fixed!”

  Unfortunately, the house owner’s protest went pletely unheard as Iris’ attention immediately fixed onto the dragonlord.

  “Oh, good, you’re here. I thought I might have to search the whole city to find you.”

  “What is it? You seem rushed.”

  “I…o sult you about something. Urgently.”

  Still ign Patrick – who was standing right beside them – Iris briskly approached Serenis, holding out a half-crumpled dot in her hand.

  “We just received a missive from Asuria. To put it short, Karia’s decred war on them again; they already lost one of their cities.”

  “…I see?”

  Both Serenis and Patrick frow the news – mostly because they couldn’t see why Iris had rushed here to deliver them it. Or, in Patrick’s case, why she had to sm the door open for it.

  In fact, Patrick’s disappoi soon became apparent in his tone as he questioned his guest further.

  “I mean, I’m sorry that happeo them, but why are you all riled up? It’s not like we’re involved. You’re in the enfort sector, not the army.”

  “…Because…”

  Once again, Iris quietly eyed the dragonlord on the floor. The missive in her hand quickly became crumpled within her grip.

  “Is something amiss?”

  “…I’m not actually supposed to tell you this, but…”

  Letting out a long sigh, Iris internally resighe agreement the Twelve had made as deities. It wasn’t like Felicir was alive to enforce it anymore.

  “Serenis. You’ve heard of Karia, yes?”

  “The tio the east?”

  “Exactly. It’s the only one where a vast majority of the popution are elves. Ae the size, the entire ti is…really just one big kingdom. The ti was never divided throughout history, and elves have always been well-known for never having any infighting.”

  While Serenis listened ily, Patrick shrugged at the enforcer’s burst of information.

  None of it articurly new; in fact, he would even go as far as to say that it was all on knowledge.

  What followed after, however, was definitely not on knowledge.

  “Here’s the actual truth: Karia is not a kingdom, the monarchy they have is really just for show. What’s really happening is that the deity of creation is g the entire ti.”

  “…?”

  “That’s why there’s no infighting; there’s no point. It’s not like anyone would question or overthrow a deity’s rule.”

  This time, Patrick WAS surprised – enough to interrupt his friend midway.

  “Wait…what the hell are you talking about? Like, Letherien rules Karia herself? Publicly?”

  “Mhm. That’s right.”

  “…”

  Without realizing, Patrick lowered his head as he lost himself in brief, sporadic thoughts.

  Anyone else, and he would’ve doubted the information’s source – but with Iris being who she was, there was no reason to doubt what she was saying.

  And if the deity of creation really was responsible for the ey of Karia, then…

  “…That would mean…this whole war shenanigan is actually beirated by a deity?”

  “We’d be lucky if she was only perpetrating it. The Letherien I know would be doing the killing herself.”

  “She’d WHAT? What kind of deity is that??”

  “…”

  For a moment, Iris’ gaze fell to the floor.

  This was exactly why Felicir had forced the others to an agreement: to never speak of the Twelve’s qualities with noies. Not only was it a risk to their positions as divinities, some were just ht shameful to admit.

  In the prolonged silence, Iris tio pte an appropriate ao Patrick’s question.

  It’d take days for Iris tale her friend about everything the deity of creation had dohroughout their rule. There were tless times when she’d disturbed the star – both directly and ily – that had warrahe Reaper’s attention.

  So, if Iris were to choose a single word to best describe Letherien, she’d choose the exact same one Felicir used to describe them with.

  “Warmonger.”

  “…Warmonger?”

  “…Yep.”

  “The deity of creation is a warmonger??”

  “…I’ll tell you about it some other time. But for now…”

  With painstaking effort, Iris struggled to meet the dragonlord’s eyes again. But when she finally did, Serenis returned a quiet nod, rising to their feet afterwards.

  …And was immediately called out by her brother.

  “Woah woah woah, hold on. Where do you think yoing?”

  “To where this deity is. Asuria, you said?”

  “Have you been listening? They’re at war! You’re actually pnning on going to a battlefield?!”

  “…It’s an opportunity to destroy another divinity fragment. That alone is reason enough to go.”

  “Listen to yourself! You’ve barely been bae for two weeks, and now you want to fly over to another try? Wars aren’t a joke, Serenis! And who knows what else you’ll get up to this time!”

  “…”

  “And you!”

  As Patrigrily turowards Iris, she reflexively retreated a step, lips twitg in unease.

  “You’re a part of the problem! She’s not yo-to solution for every deity problem! Sending her with Lady Aldrid was ohing, but this is a different story – I’m not letting you send my sibling to a warzone!”

  “…Listen, I really don’t want to rely on her, either. But with Felicir gone, no one’s going to stop Letherien. And once Asuria is devastated, it’ll be here .”

  “Aren’t there a bunch more of you?! Get some other deity to stop her!”

  “…Some-other-deity who? Other thaherien, all that’s left are Aldrid, Zenon, and the trio in Yuhan. But Aldrid’s away, and…I don’t even really know where the other four are.”

  “That’s no excuse, you’re-”

  “…”

  Serenis let out a quiet sigh as she watched the two tiue. If she let them be, they’d remain arguing food hour, at least.

  And soon enough, the dragonlord stepped iweewuing mages, physically distang them apart as she exged gnces with both.

  “Patrick…I must go. It’s what my own kind died to achieve in the past. If a divinity is outwardly wreaking havoto the star’s inhabitants, then that’s all the more reason to.”

  “…”

  As Patrick struggled to deliver a suitable reply, Serenis made a faint smile as she added a yer of promise for her brother.

  “But seeing as how I’d be leaving without your sent…as a promise, you’re wele to follow along. Without my sent.”

  “…What sort of promise is that?”

  “Would you rather stay behind again, then?”

  “…”

  U time, there was no broken city that needed being taken care of; on top of that, having quit his job as an enforcer, no duty bound the mage to Partivine as it did before.

  It also didn’t help that after Serenis’ previous trip, Patrick had heard far too much about how Karas and Light had seemingly been of far more help to her than her brother had ever been. Multiple times he’d wished to have bee while listening to the dragonlord’s tales, and he wasn’t about to make the same mistake.

  So, bottom line…

  “…I didn’t say that.”

  Serenis’ smile grew evidently wider upon hearing her brother’s reply.

  Meanwhile, in a voice barely above a whisper, Iris muttered to no one in particur.

  “Of course you didn’t.”