"Mono/Dialogue"

  'Inner thoughts'

  Narration

  Date: August 1072.

  Location: Somewhere in Northern Kazimierz.

  POV: Narrator

  The hymn had been sung until its completion. The knights celebrate their victory, the situation was an unprecedented miracle. A miracle they can, perhaps, actually repay in kind. Of course, some of them had departed onto the next world. The elegy will no doubt be a solemn and somber affair.

  They know, however, that if they keep looking down, their dead comrades would be very displeased. Thus they celebrate this victory as a way of honoring the fallen, their sacrifice was never in vain.

  Kiril Nearl, as the overall commander of this contingent of stranded knights, was about to hail their new savior. But he noticed an oddity, the woman who sung like an angel of vengeance still kneeled with her hand csped tightly... she had her knees pnted on the earth... unmoving.

  ... As she toppled, but Kiril moved faster. Preventing her from lying on the blood-soaked swamp. Her body was heating up tremendously; she was struck by a bzing fever. But Kiril knows better, this is arts overuse. Her case seems to be among the most severe cases.

  "Peter! Come here quick!"

  "What's wro- what happened to her!?"

  "Severe arts overuse!"

  "!?"

  Peter quickly kneeled and started using his light suppression arts, which should lessen a symptom of internal sickness such as fever.

  The effectiveness of his expertise against Arts overuse is naturally lessened, but it is better than nothing. Her breathing starts getting rougher and rougher, to the point of wheezing heavily.

  The other knights are also armed, their savior is now suffering a severe rebound. This finally struck a clear image of her powerful Arts, and it came with terrible setbacks. The knights grew worried but they were at a loss about what to do. They have no medical supplies left to spare...

  Ioleta started checking her pulse, heart rate, blood circution, possible physical trauma, and skin complexion. Ioleta is trying her best to help stabilize their newest savior, arts overuse could have severe and sting consequences if not handled correctly and quickly.

  "Check the radio!"

  "Radio had been reconnected! Already calling for support!"

  "Leticia, get the nearest support unit here!"

  "On it!"

  While they are in a frenzy, they hear the sound of a motorized vehicle coming closer. They immediately prepare for battle, thinking it would be another Ursus attack. Thankfully it is not an Ursus attack, but a familiar face that is more than a welcome change of pace, Jakub Roja.

  "Kiril! Are you ok?"

  "Jakub!?"

  "Yea- NYX!?"

  Jakub immediately noticed the Pythian dy he was with now sweating profusely, her expression was extremely pallid. He quickly parked the bike and stepped off from it.

  "You know her?"

  "Yeah, I was searching for you folks along with her help."

  "Alright, questioning for ter. Do you have brought any arts suppressant?"

  "Hold on a second..."

  After rummaging around the carried supplies that he and Nyx brought together, he found the needed medicine. It should at the very bare minimum help lessen the risk of further complications due to her Arts overuse.

  With a single injection, her expression had started to dial down, her breathing had stabilized and her complexion turned normal. The knights can feel their anxiety leaving away their bodies, only to be repced by exhaustion. They are about to start tumbling down dead tired, but Ioleta quickly tells everyone to get on dry nd and not linger in the swamp.

  The wounded knights are being helped by their brothers and sisters, while the dead are being carried by a much more able member.

  Several minutes ter.

  They are now resting on a meadow not far from the swamp, they are spent after fighting for days on end without a chance to breathe. Jakub has also started handing food and water to them, which they gratefully accepted. They are still somewhat anxious, especially when their savior is still unconscious.

  Peter, as the one with the most medical experience, is now tending to her. Her expression had turned for the better, but her fever remained. Some of the knights start chatting and resting while keeping their vigince up until reinforcement arrives.

  "I thought we were going to die there..."

  "Yeah, it is a miracle we only lost less than half of our numbers..."

  "Well... without Kiril we would have been forgotten and now we also have another savior... heh, miracles can never be predicted not anticipated I say."

  "Understandable point of view..."

  "You think she's going to be alright?"

  "Don't worry, Peter is with her. He just needs a license to be a full-fledged doctor after all."

  "I see..."

  While the knights are chatting and finally able to unwind their tensed nerves, Kiril, Ioleta, and Jakub are having conversation and deliberation all the while sharing what they have been up to.

  "We were riding towards the eastern frontline since that was your st known direction after all. Thus we had to backtrack westward since we found nothing about your whereabouts. We then tried following the trail of dead Ursus soldiers that was possibly your doing, fortunately we hit the right mark." Jakub sighs tiredly.

  "That was our only clue about your possible position..."

  "For that, I do apologize, but we had no other choice. The Emperor's Bde there posed significant risk after all. There were at least 4 of them, thankfully only a single veteran from what I can tell else we would have lost a lot more knights."

  "Kiril is right, we had been constantly moving towards a st known friendly position. Unknowingly, Ursus had simultaneously pushed us into this swampy region. Something we had forgotten and the fact that we were quite hasty."

  "I see... My men and I had been scouring the northern part of the region. We had seen destroyed vilges along the way, I counted about 5 completely razed with another 12 with varying levels of devastation."

  They had gone silent amidst the crackling sounds of bonfire. This war had undoubtedly hurt Kazimierz a lot, but at least their occupied territory was now back in Kazimierz's hands.

  "Now, can you eborate about her?"

  "Well, I met her in a vilge that had miraculously weathered a siege from Ursus. They took casualties, but the vilge was retively intact."

  "A vilge managed to do that? That is quite an achievement... Exactly a type of thing K.G.C.C. won't let go without turning them into potential revenue..."

  "I can get the Adeptus to protect them from their greed... the question is... What must we do about that girl, Nyx?"

  With Kiril's statement, they all now pondered about what is the best course of action. It is an easy thing to just reward her and give her what she deserves, but that will also drag her into Kazimierz politics.

  Kazimierz politics is the very thing Kiril starting to get fed up with. To sentence their savior to a lifetime of harassment is just the highest form of betrayal.

  "Jakub, can you get her back to said vilge?"

  "That I can, but what about you?"

  "We'll catch up and visit that vilge at a ter date. Hopefully, she would still be there."

  "I'll go with Jakub. You can coordinate the Silvernce while both of us take care of her for the time being. It is very unusual for me to be absent from the frontline, but I can make an alibi of being injured. Her safety is also our priority."

  Kiril nodded towards Ioleta's statement, he had rallied her and his, now-dead, 6 friends to come along to save the Silvernce. Kiril and his friends always hold the highest form of respect for these knights who stood guard for centuries in guarding Kazimierz.

  They only wished for them to be returned to their family in full honor, not becoming a trophy for their adversary. With that decided, Jakub and Ioleta carried Nyx back to the vilge, she should get a better treatment while not getting spotted by certain groups of interest.

  "Well, can you blend in seamlessly there Ioleta? Won't they suspect something if you headed there too?"

  "I have some ideas in mind, but it should be doable to hide her existence from them"

  "Very well... best of luck to you, I'm going to wait here and coordinate the oncoming reinforcement. We can bring our fallen' bodies, not only just their shields now.”

  With that conversation concluded, they separated. Kiril is now preparing for Kazimierzian reinforcements that are streaming toward his position. He sighed in relief... the war had ended sooner than projected years of potential conflict.

  Date: August 1072

  Location: Wdirosa, Northern Kazimierz

  POV: Narrator

  Jakub and Ioleta, who carried the unconscious Nyx in her arms, are returning to the vilge of Wdirosa. The journey took 4 hours, it can be shorter but several bridges were destroyed thus forcing them to take a sizable detour. Also, Nyx's bike wasn't designed with 3 passengers in mind.

  Along the way, they are seeing a lot of devastation. Burnt down forest, local beasts being killed off and left rotting, several dead bodies being hung on a tree. All sorts of morbid sceneries were seen, but the knights' faces are both cold and focused, the sights are saddening but these are the truthful; sobering image, of a true no-holds-barred total war.

  When they arrived, the vilgers were shocked to see an unconscious Nyx. Nelka, even though she is still injured herself, can't help but panic immediately. Thankfully Jakub crified that she is fine but would require medical care to speed up her recovery.

  Immanuel then promptly guided Ioleta to the aid station, Jakub is parking Nyx's bike somewhere safe, since he doesn't know where her garage is located. After ying her feverish body on a makeshift bed, Immanuel starts using his Arts to diagnose Nyx of anything that might be harmful.

  "How is her condition?"

  "She is fine for the most part, but I had detected some arts residue still wreaking havoc along some parts of her brain cortex..."

  "... Are those harmful?"

  "Verily so, her Arts is quite… unique… while being pin all the same... did she sing on the battlefield?"

  "She did... wait, your tone was implying that she is neither exactly trained nor ever sung with Arts-imbued voice before?"

  "Indeed, she just started training a little over a year ago."

  "..."

  "I had warned her time and time again to not be reckless, but I suppose that's just how she is..."

  Immanuel smiled forlornly, he had been looking at her like his own child. Immanuel had left Laterano in search of a pce to finally rest... his tenure for Notarial Hall had been challenging for the st few decades, to say the least.

  Being one of their field agents in hunting down several, non-sankta, targets of interest had taken a toll on his psyche. He especially abhorred the fact that other sankta could feel his distress, thus he left Laterano. A decade or so had passed since he found this vilge, he was already here when Ursus came to occupy a huge swath of Kazimierz nd.

  The reason why Ursus patrolmen rgely left this vilge of the hook is because they were unsure whether he was still connected with Laterano or not. Thus granting a meager amount of peace for this vilge... then Nyx arrived, and she changed the vilge for the better.

  "Oh, forgive me for my manners. My name is Immanuel Vittorio, a humble Chapin of this vilge."

  "It's alright, I wasn't offended. My name is Ioleta Russell, Kazimierz Campaign Knight based on Erelio Laikrodis Stronghold."

  "A campaign knight is it? I must confess, this pce rarely received someone of your stature back before the occupation days."

  "Indeed, we rarely visit vilges since our numbers are too few. Even if we did, we're always on the move. Kazimierz required a lot of knights to maintain border security."

  "If that is so, then why didn't the knight clubs hire more squires?"

  "I guess there is a misconception here. Knight clubs aren't allowed to have a standing military, only the Knight Order does. The head of a Knight Order is called Knight Primus. To answer your question... it has become a problematic affair to recruit people we can trust."

  Immanuel nodded, he was never too keen on remembering club or order differences. The sands of time had been particurly harsh to him, so he might have or haven't known the difference between the two terminologies.

  "I see, we, countryside people, can't tell the difference between clubs or orders. I do apologize for that."

  "No need, even I find it hard to tell the difference when all chips are down."

  Ioleta sighed, and her Kuranta ears wilted under shame and chagrin. Immanuel can see that her eyes are filled with shame and slight anger.

  "Our people can't tell which is which, thanks to those politicians and businessmen of K.G.C.C. We can't even station Campaign Knights in the capital unless of emergency. Even if we can, like this time around, we are being pced within several sections that can be sacrificed with due haste…"

  "I see..." Immanuel fell silent, he was not unfamiliar with her feelings. He had been on both ends of the spectrum during ages long gone within his rusting byrinth of memory. Ioleta decides to move the conversation along.

  "So, how long would it take for her to wake up?"

  "According to my estimation... a few days from now..."

  "I see, well then. I'll leave her in your care. It was pleasant speaking with you, Mr. Vittorio."

  "Likewise."

  Several days ter.

  Nyx had finally woken up, and Ioleta quickly visited her in the aid station along with several other Campaign Knights that had been here. The first thing they do when they meet Nyx is to bow their heads in gratitude.

  The sight bewildered Nyx, she only felt a tad guilty because she didn't come there to rescue them. She was there to vent her anger and thirst for blood... sensing their earnest gratitude, Nyx decided to just accept it.

  "We thank you, our savior. Without your timely aid, a lot more of our brothers and sisters would have perished, sin on the battlefield."

  "Um... please, raise your head. *sigh*... Your gratitudes are appreciated..."

  Unconsciously, Nyx had let her mask slip, showing her exasperation. It might be because she had just woken up from a coma and felt too spent about it.

  The knights then raised their heads, not knowing that Nyx had shown emotion for who knows how long for the people of this vilge. This greatly surprised Immanuel who only beamed in joy seeing his daughter-like figure for finally showing emotion.

  Ioleta then cuts to the chase, she must ask her about how she would want her reward.

  "Let us talk about your reward, and by my honor, you can't refuse it but you can choose what sort of reward you wish for."

  Nyx sighs again, while Immanuel is inwardly jumping with joy. She finally realized that the chapin was always there, her mask wasn't in pce. Her cheeks reddened slightly, but guilt soon washed it away... no matter how she justified it, she had been fooling the vilges with her mask...

  Choosing to just dodge the subject for the time being, Nyx quickly calcutes the best possible course of action. Fame would be nice... if she wanted to be hounded by organizations eager to recruit her, which will 90% guarantee her being pulled into politics. It is not that she is afraid of it, more like only an idiot will dive there without sufficient cards to py.

  Feeling a sudden headache due to a potential political debacle caused her to massage her temple. Fame like this one would be bad for her, being a figure that saved Kazimierz knight would make her Kazimierzian on the surface, something that could hamper mercenary work. So fame is immediately discarded.

  "... Um... monetary compensation is enough... but if I may add 2 wishes... can you not spread the fact that I'm the one rescuing you? I'm not too keen on politics at this stage. Second, please protect this pce, I know fairly well what would happen here, it will attract attention..."

  "That... can be arranged... but are you sure? The fame would be enough for you as a deterrence too. Not to mention, after some more information gathering... you're the person called Grey Serpent by the Ursus army patrolmen..."

  "That's my mercenary reputation... Heroic fame is a double-edged sword in my opinion, words I uttered would carry weight. Which is precisely why it is bad, speak once carelessly and it will conjure problems for such a miniscule reason..."

  Nyx just think to screw this and just be honest this time around. Immanuel had already left the moment talks about reward started, he reasons that someone else presence can affect the talk and decision-making, especially when said someone is still reluctant to show everything.

  "I would much prefer to have a mercenary reputation, it will be a deterrent and ticket for me to find work easier. Just imagine how hard would it be to hire a person who is hailed as a hero. They will be forced to pay many times the amount to keep up the appearance, politics is disgusting..."

  "That... made much more sense... very well, we will not push it. And for the second wish, that's easy. Adeptus Sprawiedliwi will put this pce under our protection."

  "Thank you."

  "Don't be, it is you we ought to thank. I, my friend Kiril, Campaign Knights, and the Silvernces are indebted to you. Should you need our help, just say the word, and as long it is not against Kazimierz’s interests, we will honor our oath, come what may."

  "Wait, tha-"

  "Now, we'll excuse ourselves, you must rest after all. Thank you for your time Lady Nyx,"

  Ioleta fshes her a smile full of gratitude before Nyx can say that their oath is unnecessary. Then she and the knights left the once again bewildered Pythian Lady who can only bang her head against the wall, softly to not attract attention.

  Several weeks ter the conversation repeats with Kiril and the Silvernces, to the point that Kiril swore a knightly oath, complete with him swearing on his bloodline and personal honor, to her... Thankfully not in public else her desire to keep hidden beneath the surface, and from prying eyes, would be washed away...

  Kiril also said that she is always welcome in their Mansion in Kawalerielki. Nyx was quite happy with the benefits she had managed to gain while not being tied to an organization yet.

  And thus the year 1072 closed with a high note in her new life on Terra...

  [END OF CHAPTER]

  Author Note:

  Hello this is me, myself, and I, the author who sometimes wonder why can't liquid be called wet yet ice can...

  I'm trying to grow or add some spice on her character somewhat.

  Update as usual.

  Ciao.