Cynthia stood next to the Lord and ordered to their men from the side while waiting for the Churchmen's arrival. The black Raven flew across the sky and gawked as he took a seat on Ian's shoulder. When the carriage of the Churchmen arrived, the two members, Kyle and Oliver walked down to show smell the stinking fragrance of blood.
Seeing Ian standing next to his female subordinate, Kyle greeted the Warine Lord. "Good evening, Lord Ian."
"Let's skip the formalities." Ian cut off and looked down at the body of the lifeless dark sorcerer. "Since when did the dark sorcerer arrive at Runalia?"
"A month ago. It started from the Kulin Town, we have apprehended the dark sorcerer who destroyed the town but unfortunately, he didn't seem to be working alone." Kyle narrowed his eyes to the limbless body of the sorcerer.
"Milord, our guards have said the estimated death of the townsfolk to be around two hundred. They have died mostly due to blood loss. And there is no survivor other than a teenage girl." Cynthia spoke in a volume that was enough for the two churchmen to hear.
"No survivor? There should have been sorcerers to protect this town." Kyle spoke.
"Unfortunately they were not strong enough to defeat the mythical beast." Cynthia toneless words struck something in their mind. The sorcerers that protect the town weren't in any way weak instead are one of the strongest sorcerers that the Lord of Runalia hired. To be defeated in complete annihilation, the mythical beast they spoke of must be a very frightening and powerful beast.
"This mythical best you spoke of is-"
"Leocrucota." Cynthia filled the blank on Kyle's question. Their faces switched to a shocked one to hear the rare magical beast to be summoned in the town. Their enemy the dark sorcerer was far stronger than what they imagined. Clearly they had underestimated their opponent excessively.
"The reason for this massacre, I guess you two know it very well." Ian received a silent reply and took it as a confirmation. "As this isn't my Land, I will be doing nothing here. Relay the message to the Lord of the Land, I'll be returning first." Ian stated and walked toward his carriage.
Seeing him leaving, the Hunter Oliver smelled s fragrance wafting as the Lord passes and murmured to Kyle. "The sweet child. The Lord has the scent of the sweet child on him."
Kyle gave a deep sigh, he could feel his head swollen from the matter. "She's not a child anymore, we can't do anything even if she follows him unless she is taken without her own will. Tell everyone to search for trails if there's anyone alive and collect the corpses until their family comes to take them. I will be going to pass the matter to the elders of the Church."
"Yes sire, please have a safe journey." Oliver bowed and moved on to order his fellow subordinates.
Inside the narrow carriage, Elise sat across Ian looking at the view outside from the window. Her face was pale like a paper and her heart kept on feeling painful like a needle pricking her heart slowly.
Aryl was happy that Elise could see her again after nine years but the timing was too far off and she couldn't do anything but glare at the demon who quietly leaned his head to stare at the little girl who had grown beautifully. To think that she was small as a newborn pup, he thought and felt the heating glare from the Aryl.
"The massacre," Ian spoke trying to veer Elise's mind from the image of her family.
She turned her face from the window, her eyes still had a hazy filter upon it as she asked, "Yes?"
"It was done by the dark sorcerer." He explained and heard Aryl snorted to curse him for being unable to form any other conversation. Elise asked herself in question and remembered the conversation her uncle was having at the dining room.
"They summoned the magical beast to the town? For what reason?" She can't understand why the dark sorcerers had to kill innocent people. They were living beings, people with a house, a family, and a soul. And yet they killed people without a single hesitation.
"They want to take down the human's land and create land for their own." His words brought hatred to Elise's heart. Only for a place where they could build their own place they have to kill her family. How despicable.
The grip hovering upon her skirt clenched and a bead of tears drooping off from her blue eyes. Hearing the harsh sobbings, Ian faced up to see her holding back her cries by hitting to her lips. He stepped a little forward to sit next to her and brought her head gently to his shoulder. "You can cry, don't hold yourself back. It's alright. Sorrow isn't something for anyone to hold back."
The gentle words broke the last layer to her tears. She buried her face on his shoulder letting out the grieve to the people who have died.
As Elise would be staying until her family will be buried in the local cemetery of the town, Ian ordered the coachman that they would be staying at the summer house that Ian has in Runalia. When the carriage arrived, Elise walked down from the carriage a little shy after bawling her eyes out. To her Master Ian was gentle. Although at the surface he did not offer a lot of words in it, his silence was the gentleness that she needed at the moment and of course, Ian himself knew this and thus act the way he did now.
Cynthia jumped off nimbly from the seat beside the coachman and stood beside to greet Elise. "Oh my, your eyes are very swollen. I'm very sorry for your loss. Do you remember who I am?"
"Yes, Cy." Elise gave a grateful bow but was stopped by Cynthia instantly.
"Prepare the room beside mine for her to stay, Cynthia." Ian director briefly and walked inside the house with the Raven that sat on the roof of the carriage the whole time flying beside him to take a rest.
Elise wanted to say thank you to him, but she wasn't able to do so as his steps were too quick for her to follow. Cynthia led her to the room, it wasn't exactly the exact splendor like White's Mansion had but nevertheless it was a luxury for Elise. But to Elise's the largeness of the room made her uncomfortable as she had just gone through to a very hard moment. After taking a bath and soaking at the warm water in the bathtub, Elise walked out with the nightgown that was prepared by the servant of the Summer House and took a seat beside the bed to blow the candles beside her.
She stood silently, looking at the window that reflected the night sky and felt her heart hollowing. The losses made her heart to become empty with nothing but sadness.
Her kind father, her strict yet gentle mother, her adorable little brother, her warm-hearted aunt, her soon to be born daughter, and her friendly uncle.
Everyone had passed away, leaving her alone in the world.
The reality hit her when she realized she could never hear their voices calling her name again. Her heart felt painful as though an invisible dagger stabbed her. She curled her body, hugging her knees under the quilt to sleep with tears dripping from the corner of her eyes.
"Have she slept?" Cynthia walked with a glass of water from the dining room and asked when she saw Austin in his human form. "Finally she just slept. I think she cried to her sleep."
"We can't blame her, she had just lost her family, after all to those damned dark sorcerers." As she replied, she remembered the heartbreaking expression that Elise had and tightened her palm to feel the glass on her hand broke into shattering pieces.
Austin sighed he took another cup of water from the jar and poured it over Cynthia's hand that was bleeding to heal her wound. Being half mermaid and half-human a marriage of mythical beings and human which was forbidden to many people, she was able to manipulate water to her use and heal her body. It had been almost a decade after her family was brutally murdered by the magical beast that the dark sorcerers sent. She knew very well how damning it felt to know that your family was killed for the sake of nothing but land for themself.
"Calm down." Austin cooed. "It has always been your habit of letting your anger over to your head. You've been busy, take an early rest tonight."
Cynthia stared at her palm and shook her head. "I will, later." She paused, "I don't think I can sleep now." A sigh slipped out from her lips involuntarily.
Austin didn't say much to his fellow friend. "I will be returning first. Don't stay up too late."
Days without her family felt heavy but she didn't want to burden anyone in the house and kept a smile. Aryl who has been beside her knew just how hard it was for her to cope with her loss and could only stay next to her as the girl cried to her sleep. That morning, Elise arrived at the cemetery where her family was buried.
Besides the cemetery, white snowy Jasmine flowers draped down being the fence to circle the wide cemetery. The view was beautiful and Elise felt happy for her family to rest in a place that wasn't as eerie as the other cemetery she had seen before. Although perhaps in the night the view of the cemetery wouldn't look that much different with horror, in the morning it could serve as a mesmerizing view for them who now is sleeping in a deep slumber.
Elise stood in front of the gravestones with her family's name carved in the stone. The Lord of Warine was a kind man, even though she wasn't his slave and a stranger to him now, he prepared the best gravestones for her family. She knelt down and brushed her hand on the gravestones, she had thought that after all the days she spent her days crying today she wouldn't be able to she tears. But now the translucent drop streamed down from the rim of her eyes.
Cynthia looked at the scene and kneaded her hand to fist to the point her knuckles whitened from the firm pressure. Her eyes held a deep malignity, seeing Elise's in her dolor state, she ground her teeth to calm down her heart but it was to no avail. She turned her head to Ian and spoke hesitantly, "Lord Ian, can I excuse myself?" She asked and received a permission nod from Ian. Without any other words, she quickly left the cemetery, walking with powerful steps that brought her out.
"Accompany her, Austin." Ian passed his order to Austin in his human form.
"Yes, milord." He stepped his feet faster, walking behind to follow his close coworker.
Ian didn't say much, his face held an indefinable expression. Leaning on the tree not too far from where Elise was, he gave a space where she could weep for her family again and remained silent. The breeze blew softly to his face, blowing his black hair to show his scarlet eyes. It wasn't a new thing to see mythical creatures to have a mesmerizing charm but even more than other mythical beings, he had a far distinctive beauty. With his composed complexion, no one could guess what kind of thought passing through his head. He stood there unmovingly with his black coat and watched the girl finally standing up a little staggering as she did that. He strolled to her, extending his hand in worry. He had seen humans for more than a hundred or perhaps almost a thousand years and yet she was too fragile than any of human he ever saw before. So fragile to the point he worried the wind could blow her to dust.
She whispered a thank for his help and felt a little dizzy from the lack of proper rest or liquid. Rubbing her swollen red eyes, she forced an unruffled smile. "I apologize for wasting your time, Lord Ian."
"That isn't something for you to apologize, have you finished saying your farewell to your family?" He spoke with his usual voice yet tenderness could fetch faintly if someone close to him such as he aide heard.
Elise exhaled a soft sigh, she could feel tears forming like a glass on her eyes and held it back. She had promised not to cry anymore for the sake of not worrying her family in heaven. "Yes, once again thank you very much for your hospitality at your house. I will be going to find work and a place to live in."
"A place to live?" The words slipped out of Ian's lips hurriedly and he pulled his words again. "Do you have any particular work in your mind now?" From her words, it didn't seem that she has a place to live or job in mind,
"That's-" Elise fiddled with her fingers, seeing her response, Ian quirked a very faint grin. She continued, "I have entered the test to become work in the Church. For now, I plan to search for a temporary job with a place to live."
From her explanation, she needed a place in the mid-time to wait for something. Being a nun wouldn't need that as they will directly live and study in the Church. That being said, he remembered Alex to have said something about the Church opening a test for the humans in Runalia. So Ian concluded this work she mentioned lays to one thing, "Work in the Church? Do you mean as a Churchwoman?"
"Yes," Elise confirmed. What she found it wasn't hard to look directly at Ian's beautiful scarlet eyes that were deeper than what she remembered when she was still a child, but seeing his face brought her a feeling of jittery. It was a kind of face that was too dazzling that one couldn't look directly especially to the young lady.
Ian hummed with a somewhat beguiled tone and came up with an idea. "In that case, I have a perfect work that would fall under your categories and with very fine payment. It could also give you some studies of your future work." Ian offered. "However, the distance to Runalia would be a little far."
A fine payment that Ian referred must be a very adequate one coming from his mouth. The job has a place for her to live in and knowledge for her future work, it was more than what she needed. With such a fine work description for her, she couldn't possibly reject the offer. She mulled a little over the long distance Ian mentioned as she wouldn't be able to visit her family's grave often and paused a long time to weigh her choices before coming up with a decision. "No, that's a very good work offer. Please inform me of that job."
"Come with me then." Ian turned his body and walk for Elise to follow. "Where are we going?" She inclined her head and asked but still followed his suit even before his answer. This wasn't because of her being a very naive person who would follow people. Elise's childhood behavior of not asking much and not going too deeply into the information. She still had the same trust that she placed in him as her childhood. Thus believing that he wouldn't harm her.
He turned his face, having the face of a vague grin painting his lips. "Your job would be in Warine, to be exact my White Mansion."
"Huh?" She continued her steps when suddenly she felt goosebumps popping from her forearm and sped up to Ian's side in fear. Noticing her running clumsily to come at a stop on his left side, he turned his head lifting his brows very slightly. At first, he thought she followed him closely due to not wanting to lose him in sight before arriving at the carriage but on close inspection at her paled expression, he rethought again. "What is it?" He followed what she had just seen and replied again, "Did you see a ghost again?"
Elise turned her eyes to shut it as tightly as she could and pursed her lips as she nodded. She had live in peace without seeing ghosts again but now without the protection of the bracelet, her eyes opened again. To see the ones that she wasn't able to see for nine years.
It would be fine if the ghost didn't bother her or have a humanly form with only a deadly face, but the one who she had just seen was too gruesome! Its face was deformed, making her unable to see which the gender the ghost belong to. Blood sipping out from the face, the eyeballs lost in one place, and the other one look utterly lost, teeth rotten and bluish-face. From the sight, the ghost perhaps died after being beaten by a very heavy blunt object or had something like a heavy brick or pillar fell to the face.
It was too much for her! She hadn't noticed the ghost before because she was crying but when she stood up, the ghost brushed its hand on her, making her to jolt out and ran toward Ian. Even as a child she hadn't seen such a miserable ghost with a fearsome face. Feeling cold running to her blood she ran away and before she knew it, she heard a trembling grunt from the ghost, seemingly trying to come to her.
"No! Don't come!" Elise exclaimed in her heart and unknowingly jumped toward Ian's hand. Giving his hand a tight grip, she muttered in a whisper, "Don't come! You look so pitiful but I'm scared! I promise I'll pray in your grave properly so don't come!" She was scared out of her wits seeing the disfigured ghosts coming to her with not a good intention.
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