Kapitel 22: Ashes V

"Sir Lulivan does not have a proper office, but his student stays in the Tower of Merlin. ." The old butler said as he handed Isaac a map and a letter of recommendation, "

"Thank you, Sir." Isaac's eyes were then drawn west, "She left abruptly, didn't she? I didn't even get to say goodbye."

He was talking about Yulia, who left the moment a package arrived.

What she got remained a mystery to Isaac, but he heard it was rented from the Church of Justice. The Church of Justice venerates the God Julius, the God of Justice, a Greater God of Light.

From the White Wing Town to where Knight stayed at the center of the Forest behind the Mountain, all it took was a half-day of travel. Isaac needed two and a half to complete his descent because he was busy recording the view and the plants in his mind.

He was leisurely as always, but Yulia was different, 'She's out for blood. She moves quickly, like a bolt of lightning. Even if she's only running and I use my wings, she's still faster than me - though if I activate my Conqueror Mode, I'm faster by a little bit….'

Isaac was petty in many ways.

"Lady Yulia wanted to thank you last night, but you were already asleep. Why not wait for her? The Town is waiting for her with a banquet for her victory." the old man said.

"The Town is already preparing? You guys don't doubt she'll lose, huh."

The old man flashed him a smile, "Of course, she's our Great Lady, she won't fall against the Death Knight, and that thing… would finally be killed." The old man bit his lips with bitterness and took some time to recover, "...so, are you going to join us at the banquet?"

Isaac responded with a disappointed smile, "It is disappointing that I will miss it, but I must really leave. I have a long road ahead of me with little time."

Isaac lied for the first time since his arrival in Avalon.

Though he and Knight were not that close, he did not want to receive news of his death.

'For twenty-five years, she had been preparing to get revenge. Even if she left on her own to deal with him personally, Yulia would not make the mistake of challenging Knight unprepared.' Isaac knows of Knight's strength, but Yulia was no pushover, 'With whatever she received, Knight is sure to fall.'

But, whatever happens to Knight, Isaac would accept. A person must reap what they sow in one or the other. Knight went against his Oath and killed his Lord.

'His mind is already degrading. Sooner or later, he will transform into a true Death Knight; it would be best if he dies with his mind intact.'

He said his farewells to the old man and the other servants and left for a journey of his own. Isaac still had jerky with him, and drinks were not what he was worried about as he could conjure ice.

But, he had to make a quick detour.

Dling!

"Welcome, dear boy; what can I help you with?" an old lady grounding herbs in the mortar and pestle said, "Do you need a Mana Potion? How about a Health Potion? I just made a Stamina Potion, though they're a bit pricey."

The old woman tending to the store was not human. She was short and had a bulging red nose. Isaac did not know her race, but he had too many in his mind already to ask.

"Can I ask your rates?"

"All Zens, Mana 10Z, 15Z, 20Z - Health, 7Z, 14Z, 25Z - Stamina 5Z, 7Z, 10Z – variety kinds depends on the type. Elixir has a fixed price of 100 Zens though; add ons are possible." The old apothecary woman answered as she threw a few seeds in her mix.

'Oh, they're pretty cheap.' Isaac rummaged in his backpack and pulled out a glowing green necklace, "Give me 10 Low-level Health Potion = 100Z: 10 Mid-Level Potion 140Z: 20 Low-level Stamina Potion = 200Z… how much for an antidote?"

"30Z"

"Give me 2." With that, the 400Z he looted from the dead was no more, 'I need to visit 'her' when I return home. I can't afford these rates.'

Potions have different levels, and because of that, they cost additional. The three lowest grades already cost so much, and Isaac would only find failure and fall if he only had so little in his inventory in a long raid.

"Are you the Scholar who took my book about the North?" The old woman suddenly asked.

"Book about the North? Oh, are you talking about the Book of Jagged Tooth?" Isaac did not expect to encounter the owner of one of the books he read. The Book of Jagged Tooth was about a Mountain Range that looked like the jagged tooth of Giants.

It was a book detailing the Fire Giant's ability to create a purifying blaze.

It was a book of a legend written by Lulivan, "That belonged to you, ma'am?"

"Yes, I was surprised when the people from the Manor asked for it. It reminded me of when the previous Lord read my book and started collecting books about Giants."

"Oh? The Lord also read the book?"

"Oh, he was, and I think that was when he became obsessed with the Giants." The old woman laughed.

"Obsessed with the Giants?"

"Yes, he was obsessed with them, especially the Fire Giants. Thirty years ago, a famine struck. Cattles started dying, crops wouldn't grow, and monsters ravaged the land. The Cleric employed by the Lord claimed that our land was cursed and that we needed to find its center and destroy the ritual ourselves, but no one knew anything. So, all we could do was endure. If not for the Lord providing the townsfolk with monster meat, we would've died. Amid this hardship, Lord Wing, who had no interest in books, borrowed mine to pass the time; that was when he read about the purifying flames of the Fire Giants. He became obsessed and even told the Town that not all hope was lost. Thinking back to it, he may have just been trying to give us a light to cling to." The old lady said as she placed a bag full of potions.

"Seeing there is no longer famine, did the Lord find the fire?" he asked while paying.

"He didn't, together with hundreds of citizens, Lady Yulia suddenly disappeared one night, and the Lord overturned Heaven and Hell just to find his daughter. The Lord eventually found her, and later we learned it was a Fiend who was using our land as a hotspot to create a creature of destruction and death. But…." The old could not finish her story and just pointed Isaac to the center of town where the statue of the Previous Lord was built, "The statue is a renewed monument of the previous Town Lord. It details his life and final journey."

Curious about the complete story, Isaac made one last detour. He arrived at the town center where the Giant Sword was displayed. As several men pushed up a covered statue behind the giant sword, children and adults gathered around.

There was a plaque in front of the sword that wasn't there before. Isaac could not approach it because of the men working, but his eyes were sharp enough to read the engravings on the plaque.

Isaac began reading, "-Lord Wing did not return from his endeavor to find the citizens and his daughter, but three days later, Lady Yulia did. Dragging back with her the previous Lord's divine sword, Lady Yulia recounted that a Fiend was trying to create a Death Knight, and she was knocked unconscious just as the Lord arrived. When she woke up, the Fiend was nowhere to be found, and a mother protecting her daughter was coldly struck down by the Death Knight's Sword and then burnt to ashes. The Death Knight looked Lady Yulia in the eyes and cackled. The Death Knight raised its sword against her and then stopped before cackling to itself and leaving without saying a word."

Isaac read the plaque, and he was confused, 'From what I read, the Death Knight just left Yulia alone? Did the Fiend successfully summon the Death Knight? But if the Death Knight was summoned, how come Knight managed to tell me that story about the girl he saved? A Death Knight was summoned but stopped right before killing the last person in its vicinity. A Death Knight telling me his crooked backstory. Goddammit, I am so confused.'

"Hey! Look out!"

A strong gust of wind blew, and the sheet covering the statue was blown away, revealing what was underneath.

And at that very moment, when he saw the statue, everything clicked, 'There was no betrayal of the Oath... it was a curse!'

BOOM!

Isaac's eyes widened, and without hesitating, wings appeared on his back, and he transformed into lightning as he hurried back to where Knight was.

The statue only had one arm.