"Mono/Dialogue"

  'Inner thoughts'

  Narration

  [Message/communication apparatus]

  Date: 14th October 1085

  Location: Bavaria–Leichtstein, Leithanien.

  POV: Narrator

  The night is a quiet one, a much more preferable choice if one were to be asked so. Unfortunately, however, the penumbral scenery is the perfect cue for movements beneath the blissfully ignorant masses, sleeping soundly amidst the illusion of safety.

  “We had been forced unto the back foot, Graf Maximillian had perished for his hubris in this city. What about our remaining thralls? Are we sufficiently prepared for combat this time around?” A voice inquired one of their comrades, none other regarding what needed to be done for the next move.

  “Everything is in pce, we only need to signal the start of our operation. May His Majesty bless our convictions.” their counterpart answered, and despite the clearly encouraging tone, their voice was ced with uncertainty.

  “… What should we do with the Siren?” Another one spoke their take on the situation, despite what they said, there was a hint of admiration within. Of course, such a remark elicited a less-than-favorable reply.

  “Siren? That defective worm is no Siren.” A voice that is ced with hatred spat out their clear disdain upon the Pythian. She had been a real thorn in their side, her involvement with his incident is clear; she is the one supposed to fetch whatever the package was for Werner Hohenberg. A daunting task they believed deep down, but their own pride demanded otherwise.

  “The fact said otherwise, we had no room to underestimate her… We can stall her and fetch the package, that way we can ensure ever-”

  “Fetch? We are no mere thieves, we are His Majesty’s finest! You dare to admit and say we must act like a bunch of rats?”

  “Then be my guest, was there ever a chance to use colteral to stop her? She has no qualms about the method, thus we cannot rule out the possibility that even the package is not out of the question in her mind. She would definitely get her reputation damaged, but when did that ever stop her? I also doubt that the CM would have her punished too severely, hefty punishment would surely be levied but not to the point of being expelled. She has her use, and unfortunately, we are witnessing her modus operandi and conduct firsthand.”

  “…” Everyone frowned. Truthfully, their objective would be a lot easier to complete if she were a tad more chivalrous. Chivalry is a notion that most of them scoffed about, yet ironically they needed it now more than ever. The Grey Serpent’s exploits are not mere rumors, those were facts. She had shown some clemency now and then, but those were few and only when the mood struck her. Her time in CM does temper her to show more civility, but she never ruled out the usage of intimidation and threats if it means that potential conflict can be averted.

  “Enough, we will commence our respective duties at the cracks of dawn. Dismiss.” Slowly but surely, each of the voices vanished from the room. The one there starts to contempte their next move…

  “All that’s left is to let the dice roll and the pawns make their moves.” He too vanished from the pce, the stage is set and all bets are pced.

  POV: Ko L?wenstein

  While walking through the hallway of our temporary lodging, my arts resonates with the stirring sounds in the air. It felt nostalgic… and horrifying.

  Before my mind could fully recall what the sound was meant to herald, an explosion rocked the mobile city. This city is now wide awake with screaming and shrill shouts all over, further propagating a sense of chaos. I can even see through the window how the Gendarmeries are racing towards the explosion, our fellow guests also leave their rooms and start looking outside.

  I immediately dashed towards Lady Viviana’s room, barging inside, and found her already waking up drenched with sweat. She was frightened by the explosion and her complexion was pale while her body shivered so vividly, thankfully she regained calm when she caught sight of me entering.

  “My Lady, we need to prepare quickly since the situation has worsened.” My voice is thick with urgency and the young dy said nothing while immediately getting out of her bed. I quickly fetch her wardrobe, a set that is easier to move around while not standing out from the norm.

  “K-Ko? Where is Brant?” She addressed me as such signaling how deathly afraid she was. Someone of her stature should speak befitting her station but I can understand her fears and decorum won’t exactly save you in this urgent situation.

  “Vizegraf (Viscount) Reiner should be here shortly, but it would be more prudent of us to start preparing to leave towards our destination.” My hands are blitzing through her wardrobe and My Lady starts undoing her pajamas. It didn’t take long, and we prepared to leave but not being the first to leave. It would arouse suspicion otherwise, and we can’t exactly know whose our friends or foes are.

  I watched quietly through the doorway, numerous occupants had also started to fill out and prepare for whatever had unfolded. Then a Gendarmerie officer entered the hallway and started inquiring each room’s occupant about their situation. I watched the officer cautiously, but I needed to be prepared in case of potential moles within the city garrison.

  The officer then knocked on our room’s door. I motioned My Lady to sit tight on the nearby couch, but not to avert her eyes from us. Our gmour is in pce, but we must not lose focus.

  “Guten morgen, mein fraulein (Good morning, my dy). I’m here to inquire about your identity, may I?”

  “Guten morgen, Offizier (Good morning, Officer). Of course, my name is Selena Julia and I’m currently staying in this room with my daughter, Rosalina Julia.” I opened the door slightly and motioned towards the still trembling, but retively composed Lady Viviana. The officer nodded slightly and even gave a small wave towards her, which she waved back.

  “Let’s see…” The officer pulled some sort of papers from his bag, it is most likely to be immigration papers and their complementary documents. He scanned it for a while before asking another question.

  “It is said that you’re from Columbia? Quite rare to see Liberi in this part.” The gmour held up nicely, thank goodness. I might have had to resort to a forceful method otherwise, but his body nguage shows that he sees nothing amiss regarding our appearances.

  We conversed about some mundane topics and what is my current situation while inquiring about whether or not I’m infected which I declined by showing a medical test from the nearby hospital along with my tentative daughter’s own test. The Caprinae officer looks quite young, probably just a decade older than Lady Viviana. The inquiries is about to end, but not before inquiring about the other one.

  “Indeed, I might have been rather quirky compared to my husband. Dear me, I had yet to see him again…”

  “From the paper I checked regarding immigration, your husband is Marcus Huckebein. Where is he at the moment?”

  “That drunkard you mean? He most likely spent some time throwing away his Thaler while talking with a cheap wenches at the bar nearby…” Without intending to, my voice sounds a lot more vitriolic and hateful. The officer noted my clear aggression and he smiled awkwardly…

  “I-I see… W-Well… you’re quite an accommodating person…”

  “Of course, that no good but kind man would be a useless waste without me reining him from time to time… and may I ask about something?”

  “Of course, Frau (dy) Julia.”

  “What was that explosion? My daughter was woken up quite frightened by it. Why, I even vividly recalled that the ptes shook momentarily.”

  “The explosion was from the infected district near the Northwest Pza, precisely at section 48. Truthfully speaking, we are still assessing the damage. Rest assured, however, peace and quiet shall be returned soon enough. It was most likely due to several infected that know no better than snapping again… hah… I pitied their situation but causing public disturbance doesn’t help their case.”

  The officer said while writing something in their paper. With a smile, they look back at me.

  “Everything seems to be in order, thank you for your cooperation.”

  “Always gd to be of help, my good sir.”

  “Guten Morgen.”

  “Guten Morgen.”

  The officer left our room and continued with his inquiries, I immediately locked the door for now. We will need to wait until the situation has calmed down somewhat, hopefully…

  My terminal then lights up, and our escort’s voice is now clear.

  [This is your dear escort, starts packing up. If you’ve already done so, clock out and follow my further instructions. Remember, obey everything I said unless you wanted shits coming down your way, Verstanden (understood)?]

  “Ich verstehe (I understand), please try not to cause My Lady further discomfort.”

  [Yeah, yeah… just start skedaddling, these fucks are getting desperate for destroying a city pte foundation. Who knows what kind of idiocy they will pull off?]

  POV: Narrator

  The pair exited the hotel not long afterward. Both are garbed in traveling clothes, easy to move in while also wearing a thin yer of Terran equivalent of a mix of Kevr and ringmail armor, expertly hidden to not look out of pce unless they were searched forcefully. Ko is looking out wearily around her, her mind is divided between listening to Nyx’s directing and her surroundings.

  Viviana can see with her own eyes what the type of controlled chaos looks like, Gendarmeries are moving about along the street followed by several vehicles. She can also see crowds of people looking up at the sky, smokes had risen high upwards. Such a thing should have elicited worries, originium is deviously resilient and what’s better than one would expect?

  Then a tower rose from an expertly hidden position and started pying a melody. One might expect that these devices are meant for something devious, but instead, the truth differed significantly.

  [So that’s Leithanien Wind controlling spires huh? looks neat, it would at least help contain the spread.] Nyx was heard to be duly impressed before she started doing her job.

  [From here on out you will need to walk 400 meters east towards Heinz-Kollern streets, Viscount Reiner should rendezvous with you near a bar. Regarding your route, I can see potential hostiles from my position, but stay vigint.] The disguised Caprinae heeded her instruction while making sure that Viviana’s hand was being held tightly.

  “It appears that the situation is under control, so how about we look for your papa, dear?” She starts pulling her gently towards where they were meant to be. Viviana immediately pyed along with her role.

  “Yes Mama, but…” Viviana gnced back towards where she heard the explosion. Another wave of guilt washed over her. Yet the girl cms her mouth shut, she doesn’t know if she even has any right to say the thing she had in mind. People will die because of her, regardless of who or which side… She wanted to be a knight to espouse the idea of Chivalry, not causing death…

  Ko sensed her ‘daughter’ feelings, but she could not do anything that would entice attention from their surroundings. For all she knows, they are already found out, thus it would be better to assume the worst. She still however patted her ‘child’ head and nudged her to walk forward. They are weaving through the lightly precipitating sky, the air grows colder but the feverish confusion is more than enough to heat up the atmosphere.

  Viviana watched as children could also be seen to be looking from the window, their parents were barring them from coming outside. She moved her eyes to the left side and watched as people who were out to buy groceries were left perplexed by the sudden situation. Ko’s voice brought her out of her staring.

  “A shame that people who used to just purchase groceries are being left like this right? Mama had been going around purchasing our meal ingredients from that store over there.” Ko pointed towards a store that was just about to open back being closed, the owner can be seen to be moving his wares back into the building.

  “Mama, can I finally sightsee on my own? I promise that I will be a good girl.” A thin smile adorned her face, her eyes danced in delight at the possibility. Yet the shadow once again asserted itself like a dark cloud above.

  “What do you wish to see then, dear?”

  “What do I wish to see?”

  “Sightseeing is all good, but sometimes you will need a clear understanding of what you want to achieve,” Ko said while scanning the ongoing and outgoing flow of pedestrians from the corner of her eyes. From an outsider’s perspective, she looks like a mother who tries to distract her daughter from the current incident.

  “Then after sightseeing, does it inspire you to try something? Such as when… hmm… for example you like painting, why not try with small sketches? Conversely, do you like to observe people? Then why not try to get close to them first and see how they act? You won’t learn much from staring at your terminal after all.”

  “Do I need to think about everything?” Her mood darkened, but she would rather be told the truth than otherwise.

  “No.” Her ‘mother’ answered fondly.

  “Huh?” Her gloomy mood had instead been washed away by bewilderment.

  “Despite everything I had said, ultimately you do need to decide how to live your life. Be free, but do remember that you also need to be principled. Isn’t that what your teacher, back in New Corleons, taught you?”

  “… Yes…”

  The both of them continue conversing. Sadly it was interrupted by their escort who is yet to be seen physically.

  [Hate to break your ‘mother’ and ‘daughter’ bonding moment, but we have a problem coming from the West. A group of gendarmeries will pass by the both of you, but at least 4 of them are unlike the rest. Thus proceed as you’re, do not go against the flow so suddenly else you will get found out.]

  “Is there no other alternative?” The Caprinae woman whispered into her hidden earpiece. Ko isn’t comfortable with what their escort informed them, that they must pass a potential hostile. She is quite confident in her arts but there is only so much she can do when presented with uncertainties. Nyx's voice returned while they were walking ever so closer to the group of Gendarmeries, a good 200 meters away.

  [No, there isn’t. Except you wanted me to book it out with the girl and left the both of you behind.]

  “Over my dead and lifeless body…” She spat out a whisper to the communicator. Her words only caused the one on the other end to ugh, Ko can’t understand what’s so funny from her remark.

  [Welp, eyes forward and don’t be shy to make eye contact with them, but don’t go out of your way to do it either.] Ko can see them more clearly now but is still unable to sense anything amiss from them, thus her skepticism grew.

  The pair moved passed by the group, their eyes briefly looking towards the pair of which Ko only gave them a simple fleeting gnce. Thus the pair managed to get past the group… which doesn’t st long when Nyx's voice is back on her earpiece.

  [Shit, I sensed someone tailing you now. Divert to 61st Avenue, and from there follow the flow of pedestrians. I’ll contact Viscount Reiner for a change of route.]

  “… I sincerely hope you understand what you’re even doing.” Ko hissed through a tightened smile, her misgivings only grew with her but they don’t exactly have much of a leeway unless when their cover is blown.

  “Mama, are you all right?”

  “I’m all right, sweetie. Stay close to me, don’t let go of my hand, and watch where you’re walking, can you do that?”

  “Yes, Mama.”

  The pair diverted quietly towards the pce Nyx had told them to. Uncertainties certainly sprouted out within their hearts, but they must not stop else things would only get worse.

  Once they reach the pza, they can see a sea of people who are moving about. Some of them are, of course, hanging around to discuss the current incident. Others are moving away from it, while there are also their counterparts who took an interest in the matter. Gendarmeries are patrolling along with their caninebeast and several can be seen atop of building with crossbows and ranged equipment in hand, visibly in utmost vigince.

  [Get in the crowd.]

  “Are you insane?”

  [Get in the crowd, or kiss your cover goodbye.]

  Pressing down her mounting anger, she gently guided her dy into the sea of people while her hand clutched hers ever so tightly. They can hear numerous conversations amongst the popuce that have been rudely woken up by this incident first thing in the morning.

  “The 48th is in chaos. I heard that several people had been detained…”

  “What happened there exactly, Herr Herman?”

  “Words from the streets is that a bunch of no good infected are causing problems.”

  “That again? Shouldn’t Vizegraf Eideker do something about those filth?”

  “Watch your tongue there…”

  “Uncle, where did Yngveld go?”

  “She goes to the 48th, talked about some civilians or infected going mad or something.”

  “Why did you let her go then!?”

  Ko is piecing all the information that has been gathered, the Remnants seem to have caused sabotage that is truthfully astounding. To do such is tantamount to an open challenge against The Twin Empresses, something is clearly off with this remnant encve.

  Her arts resonance then picked up another spike of arts, she was about to dash away when Nyx cut her off. She caught a glimpse of several people who seemed to be looking for something, her mind surmised that these might be her pursuers.

  [Easy, easy… keep moving forward and on my command, you must turn right.] Her steps increased a touch faster but not to the point where it was obvious. Viviana has her own eyes looking around warily, but due to her stature and countenance that is being enhanced by gmour, what can be seen is a frightened child who was woken up in the middle of her sleep.

  [Now.] With that cue, Ko turned to the right and found herself entering an alleyway. She scanned the retively sparse sidewalks where civilians were milling about. She keeps on walking un-

  “!?” She found herself being yanked into a small opening between buildings. Before she can fre up her voice and activate her Arts to repel a potential hostile, she makes eye contact with the ‘hostile’.

  “B-Brant?”

  “Be quiet, our escort is just up ahead, along with a gateway out of lockdown.” He let go of her arm and motioned the both of them to follow her. Ko looks towards her charge and sees that she is also about to use her still-middling light arts to protect them both. She patted her head, signaling that it was all right.

  The ‘family’ of three walks with an arrangement as Ko is upfront Viviana slightly behind her and Brant at the rear. They hide their vigince with small talks here and there, nothing too serious. Not long after, they found themselves on a dead end… or so it would seem. Brant knocked on the wall in a 5 – 2 – 7 pattern, and a secret entryway was opened.

  “Get in.” Nyx stepped aside and let them through. Once inside, Ko immediately smmed the woman on the nearby wall. She doesn’t understand why they both must show up in a pce where a lot of people can see their disguised faces.

  “Why did you direct us there!? You could have just pnned out a safer route. Your flippancy had caused undue duress upon my dy.”

  “Easy there Mom, let’s talk while we walk shall we?”

  “She is right Mrs. L?wenstein, we cannot afford to dawdle and waste more time.” He said before handing the both of them a hood and thick clothing that would obscure their figure. She reluctantly lets go of the woman and starts helping her dy in putting on their new outfit. It was made from a mix of arts-repellent leather and modern industrial textile, offering protection from the mundane and arcane, so to speak.

  Nyx immediately pced herself ahead of the group after they finished putting up their disguise, strangely enough, she was the only one to not don any sort of disguise. While walking down the damp and dark corridor, something brought unease upon Viviana that she clenched her guardian’s hand tight. Nyx starts making good of her word.

  “In case you’re wondering, I’m not just sitting on my as-” Nyx cut herself off, she needs to be mindful since there is a minor with them. Clearing her throat with a cough, she tried again with better wording.

  “I had been doing my preliminary surveys and whatnot, city ptes being my subject of interest the most.”

  “… You’re vioting the rules…” The Caprinae woman frowned, what their escort had done could constitute as espionage.

  “Of course, but unless you snitched on me, no one will know, and besides… this is the pce for those who lost their home reside… The authority hardly cared about them.” Just as she said the group can see several homeless and poor civilians, infected or not, huddling together in despair. It was not something surprising for either Viscount or The Caprinae Attendant… but Viviana's eyes widened in horror.

  She can see the destitute and forgotten scrapping around for food, she even saw teenagers not too dissimir to her age fighting against one another for food. Naturally, these people gnced upon the 3 hooded figures but immediately looked away when they saw Nyx staring back at them. Some even ran away deeper into the darkened and decrepit metallic earth.

  “… This is cruel…” Viviana voiced out her inner feelings, she always had her needs answered back on the spire. She even starts to feel guilty beyond measure when she recalls the times when she left her meals unfinished because she felt just a little unwell.

  Nyx gnced back at the young dy. Her eyes made eye contact with her guardians, they nodded albeit reluctantly.

  “This is the real world, Lady Droste.” Her words brought the Young Efia out of her mental recollection regarding her memory ne.

  “Then why didn’t anyone do anything?” She voiced out with a displeased and somewhat accusatory tone, but the Pythian said nothing and let her finish.

  “These are just people, they done nothing wrong to be forgotten. I vividly recalled how my fa- Lord Hohenberg always does his utmost best to ensure that everyone can live-”

  “That, my dy, is hubris.” She stopped and turned around, her eyes staring squarely upon the Young Efia’s own.

  “We all have our limits, please look towards those open boxes over there.” Viviana’s gaze followed the Pythian’s pointed finger towards several stacks of boxes, the marking clearly showed that it was filled with food.

  “I left enough food for the people here that would st them for weeks on end. Then how come the first time we reached this pce, we found them fighting over scraps of molds or sewerbeasts?”

  “…”

  “Regardless of where, who, or why… humans will always be greedy.” She exhaled, frustration but also understanding cing down her tone.

  “There will always be those who stand above others, each and every one of us is not born evil, that much I believe… but we’re born with freedom of choice. That’s where tyranny starts, by adhering to unbridled freedom.” She knelt down on her knees and looked up towards the Young Efia.

  “I usually was always present when handing out foods in rge quantities, making sure that at least during that moment they could eat. Then why didn’t I? Because there is only one of me, and I have an obligation to uphold. I cannot ask for a companion, they will only offer themselves up on a silver ptter… all for a chance of hurting me… heh, tough luck really…”

  Realization dawned upon Efia, she clenched her coat tightly…

  ‘So… it was always because of me huh?’ Her mind is whirling with self-hatred.

  “You’re wrong.”

  “!?”

  “Your line of thoughts was visible on that face of yours… that was also hubris by the way.”

  “T-That was hubris?”

  “I mean think about it, your mindset, albeit with good intention, is a deep-seated and real form of self-importance. You start thinking that the whole incident revolves solely on you, even a bunch of smaller incidents that happened coincidentally, like that awful truth you just witnessed.” Nyx put a hand on her shoulder.

  “There is no guarantee that these people will truly behave, for all I know they will even start stealing from one another after I leave. One can say that I’m only doing a fool’s errand and I’ll be inclined to agree.” Nyx stood back up with a thin smile.

  “Does that diminish my effort? Might inclined to say yes. Would it come and bite me back? Probably. Was it wrong? We can argue about that… but was it fundamentally bad? Hah, wrong. That’s just my selfishness doing the talking, what’s important is that I believe it was right.” She motioned the rest of them to continue while talking on her own.

  “If we keep linking all the small things into a rge possibility… then when will we even start doing anything such as helping others? Do keep that in mind.”

  The group then went quiet immediately. Viviana’s Guardians can’t believe how someone who is famed for her hypocrisy can talk so eloquently using her own belief as the basis of an argument. Thus they keep on walking in silence… until Ko remembers that Nyx hasn’t answered her question.

  “Regarding that debacle in pza… what was your reasoning?”

  “The reasoning of why is to get a good use of those pretty disguises of yours. With the fact there being a lot of people knowing about your disguises existence, making things easier further down the line.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Simple, sometimes death is the only cure for stupidity…”

  Nyx whirled around with her gun at the ready, and pulled the trigger…

  [END OF CHAPTER]

  Author’s Note:

  Yo there, this is me, myself, and I, the author who might or might not be avaible from 20th December until The New Year…

  I want a vacation, after finishing up my thesis own validity test of course…

  Update as usual

  Ciao

  P.S THESE ARE THE PICTURES!

  Naturally they are dressed differently than these, at the moment.

  Ko L?wenstein

  Brant Reiner

  Viviana Droste von Hohenberg