Chapter 18: (IN) Chapter 017 - Loss and Even More Loss
In the dead of the night, it was neither a scene of tranquility nor peaceful glow that occurred, but a raging fiery blizzard as a great fire consumed the large warehouse.
"Rescue the people first! Then take out the grain!" Duke commanded with fierce charisma that pierced through everyone there as he took a water bucket and poured it over the warehouse's burning wooden door.
This was the first time Duke had ever gotten the chance to lead as throughout his life he was always at the bottom of the social hierarchy.
And even if he did lead, Duke knew he didn't have the penchant nor the charisma to command obedience with his low self-esteem and turd-like body.
But contrary to Duke's beliefs, and the inferiority complex instilled by society, during that day Duke commanded with a noble zeal that demanded everyone to follow.
Byran looked on with great pride and joy as he watched Duke take the reins from him as he bled on the floor.
"S-sir Byran! We must get you patched up immediately!" A female villager who saw Byran shouted in worry.
"Wait... Wait. Let me see this sight a little bit longer..." Byran solemnly said as he watched Duke's dignified look as Duke ran back and forth from the well to put out the fires...
[Like Gwaine... You really are, a Dragon...] Byran sighed as he was taken by the villagers on a stretcher.
When Byran looked at Duke's development he felt that even if he died right now his life wouldn't have been for naught while looking at that fat chubby Count that ran with a bucket on his hands. [Although the fats do kind of diminish the dignity Duke carried haha] Byran sighed in laughter as he looked at the grievous wounds on his body...
Stress and pressure awakened the dignified charisma hiding deep within Duke as he ran to save the people stuck inside the warehouse.
[Annie... Annie!] Duke repeated in his mind as he made sure none of the water he was carrying was wasted as he threw every drop of it onto the fire.
"S-sir Duke! We have found them! They're safe!" A soldier shouted as they carried the elderly and the children safely away from the fire.
"Hahhh" Duke sighed as he ran towards the people that were saved.
Sadly, the one he was looking for was missing.
"A-Annie?? Annie?! Where's my daughter???" A helpless mother cried as she could not find her daughter within the group of saved people.
"Annie's not here?!" Duke cried out to the saved people.
"The young lass got stuck inside the fires milord..." An old woman said.
"B-big sis tried to save me! She's still stuck inside!" A younger child cried out.
Duke wasted no time and effort to rescue Annie as he leaped into the scorching fire.
"""Milord!""" The villagers shouted.
"""Duke!""" The Knights chimed in as they saw Duke jump in the flames.
*Cough Cough* Duke was blasted with heavy and searing hot smoke as he felt it extremely hard to breathe.
"Annie!" Duke shouted, "Annie!" Duke shouted again.
The smog was heavy and the heat, searingly painful, but Duke carried on in the hopes to find Annie.
His consciousness blurred and his hopes of saving her almost disappeared.
But then:
[I want to be a Knight!] Duke remembered the tiny little girl's big dreams as he forced himself to trudge on.
["Failure" "Fatass" "Stupid"] Duke remembered the many insults he had experienced in the past as the negativity began to set hold in his mind. But then:
["You're really smart, aren't you mister!"]
Duke remembered the genuine compliment he received from the innocent little girl.
"You can fail anything else!... You've always had, haven't you?!
Haven't you?!
But, not this one Duke!
NOT THIS ONE!" Duke angrily shouted at his oxygen-deficient body that already began to stop working as he forced every cell in his body to move.
*Cough Cough*
As hopelessness began to sear into his mind a glimmer of hope appeared as he heard the tiny coughs of a little girl.
"Annie?! Annie where are you?!" Duke trudged towards the place where the cough came from.
When he saw the little girl still tenaciously clinging on to her life Duke felt a great happiness and relief from the thought she might actually live on and accomplish her big dreams.
"Milord..." The Knight Bardis sighed when they saw Duke jump inside the burning building, sighing at the thought of a young roast pig.
"Milord... I'll never eat roast pig again! Please be safe..." Ranson prayed to Ofghnar the pig-like deity of the hunt while begging for Duke's safety.
*INHALE!*
Everyone sighed in relief when they saw Duke gulp in the fresh air as he jumped out of the burning building covered in ash and burns.
"""Duke!""" The Knights chimed in as they held Duke and they took little Annie that he had on his back into the Village Elder's hut where Byran and the other injured were as the small village didn't have a hospital.
Duke felt hope as he saw the little girl get taken in to get healed as he felt a great sense of accomplishment.
But sadly, this wasn't a time of happiness in Duke's life... It was a time of despair.
"My lord! Sir Byran, he..." A soldier stuttered as he pulled Duke towards Byran's room where his situation was critical.
"B-Byran!" Duke mourned as he looked at the teacher who believed in him when no one else did, on the bed bleeding and weakened.
"Byran! You were the best teacher a mhan cud havv (man could have)... I'm sho... ahm sho-shorry (I'm so sorry!) Ifgh yuu livv I'll nebher complahn agaihnnn! (If you live I'll never complain during training again!)" Duke cried as snot left his nose covering Byran in the dirty green goop.
*Bang*
"I'm not dead yet!" Byran hit Duke on the head as he looked at the sobbing fat Count.
"B-BhairaiN (Byran!)"
"It takes more than a single hit to take down old Byran ya know" Byran looked at Duke as he smiled at the crying piggy in front of him thinking [If I'm gone, who'd be there to teach ya the whos and wheres...] Sighing at the thought of a Duke alone in a world where no one would teach him.
Byran was sturdy as he luckily survived the fatal wound. Annie on the other hand... wasn't so lucky, as the grievous burns overwhelmed her young body.
Annie didn't survive the harsh night as death took her life after a harsh struggle...
"My Baby!..." Annie's mother cried as the rain poured down on the body of the little girl about to be buried in a small grave.
"You! It's your fault she's dead! My baby's dead! Why'd you let those bandit scum get away?!" The mother cried as she looked at Duke in the eyes.
"Cynthia!" The Village Elder shouted at the woman, fearing that the Count might punish her for her irrational blaming.
But Duke, on the other hand, didn't get angry for the unreasonable blame he got, for when he looked at the mother's eyes it was not anger, but grieving pain instead that flashed at him.
Painful and unbearable sadness... as if a torturous death would've been much more merciful than to experience losing a bright and cheerful daughter like Annie, was what Duke felt from those eyes.
"I am sorry" Duke bowed at the grieving mother.
"Cynthia... It's not the lord's fault" The husband forced his tears back, clenching his hands, eventually losing to the sadness as the tears kept gushing out from his eyes.
Thankfully the rain covered his crying face enough, to say:
"Thank you, For defending us... And for trying to save Annie" The man said with the clearest voice he could muster as he did not want to mess up the one chance he would probably have in thanking Duke.
"I am... so sorry" Duke repeated his apology as he looked to the ground, unable to face the sadness in the man's eyes.
That afternoon as he went back to the room the villagers provided he saw a roughly made teddy bear as he remembered her words:
["Here I'll even give you my teddy! So don't cry"]
Duke plopped himself on his bed as he hugged the teddy bear that was given to him.
Murmuring: "I'm sorry... but I don't think I can stop crying" as tears fell onto the little teddybear.
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JPJaphet
JPJaphet Hello~! Japhet here, Is anyone still reading? If you are I sincerely thank you for staying till this chapter. If you guys want more please support me by commenting on the chapters about how you felt, the emotions that struck you, or the lack of it, so that I could better my writing in the future.
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