章 37: Tears.

The sun was setting, giving the natural environment an image worthy of a painting; the light coming through the huge ravines was beautiful, such light would transform any place into a beautiful place perfect for walks and meetings, and in addition to these ravines that provided a place to enjoy the sunlight, or to hide from it, there was also a popular area with tree vegetation where there was a crystal clear lake between several trees, the lake was always bathed in sunlight and so the sunlight was always reflected in the lake every day from lunchtime until the sun went down, the sunlight reflecting on the crystal clear water creating a beautiful effect on the surrounding trees, at least that's how Arthur, who arrived at lunchtime, could describe the landscape beforehand.

The landscape Arthur saw before and the landscape he saw now were profoundly different. If he had to find a similarity, it would only be the sunlight, which because there were several ravines around caused a peculiar effect when clouds passed in front of or next to the sun, but this was the only relationship Arthur could see between the landscape in front of him and the landscape before. Arthur's eyes were wide as he looked around, at least as far as his vision allowed him to see the surrounding area had been destroyed; a quick glance around and you could see only a few trees that hadn't turned to ash, but even these were burnt as if they had been used for firewood, and among these trees many were broken in half and had bodies hanging from them, The bodies seemed to have been trapped in such a position by sheer impact, and there weren't just animals in the trees, there seemed to be animals all over the ground, and they all looked deformed as if the muscles in their bodies had swollen, there were also decomposing animals, humanoids, and others that had only increased in size dozens of times.

- Such that... That... - Arthur almost choked as he tried to hold back his tears.

Arthur only glanced at all this, what really caught his attention wasn't all this massacre, what really caught his attention and made tears threaten to run down his eyes was the lake; the once crystal-clear lake was now slightly reddish, inside the lake there must have been more than a dozen corpses of decayed or possessed animals, one bear in particular was the size of a modern two-story house, but even this bear was dead and its carcass lay in the river, the upper part of the bear's ribs had disappeared in a clean cut that looked as if it had been cauterized, anyone who saw a bear of this size, or a wound like that couldn't help but stare in horror, but even that didn't hold Arthur's attention, what really held his attention was the little girl right above the carcass.

The little girl looked a little older than Arthur, but the difference was probably not great, given that her size would be the same if he stood on his tiptoes, and this made the scene before Arthur even more surreal, Arthur was also surprised at how stiffly she was treated, after all, looking at her clothes she didn't seem to be someone who was poor, the clothes she was wearing seemed to be of high quality, despite their current state, Arthur remembers that the now reddish shirt was white when she arrived and her pants were dark brown, the fabric of the pants looked sturdy, and like the shirt it hadn't kept its original color, although the change was minor compared to the shirt, there were still several stains that resembled the color of wine on the girl's pants, the largest stain was made of her own blood, which stained the entire left side of her body, on her left arm there was a bite that appeared to be from a dog, and the blood dripped onto her shirt, her pants and even the bear's hair.

Surrounding the body of the bear were the bodies of ten other people, and next to the bodies of these ten people there were only two living children, they were being held by two men who had guns at their waists and shields on their backs, the head of one of them was crushed, apparently well after positioning himself to protect the girls, while the other man had a huge wound in his abdomen, he died after positioning himself to hide the children from the demons. Both girls had blonde hair and blue eyes, their skin was pale and from the color of their skin it was obvious that they didn't get out in the sun much in normal times; normally Arthur would never notice the shade of another child's skin, but now it was almost impossible to avoid as the dried blood on their skins and the dark scabs that some of the cuts had made on their hands were a direct contrast to their light skin. Arthur hadn't realized that both girls had survived until now, he only noticed after hearing some cries and sobs from these girls who seemed to be the same age as him, they were crying so pitifully that it would make anyone feel sorry for them and possibly many people would go out of their way to help them, However, Arthur didn't feel the slightest hint of pity for either of the girls when he saw the obvious fear in their eyes as he remembered well what these two had done a few minutes ago. Arthur looked with a little hostility at both girls before turning his gaze to the girl sitting on the bear.

- What happened? - A man asked as he directed his hand towards the girl who was gasping on top of the bear. From the man's left hand came a flash of green light, and the girl's wounds began to heal. - What the hell happened, Samantha? - The man's voice carried a strong tone of anger and reprimand, and his face expressed hostility towards the girl.

Samantha opened her eyes, tiredness was visible on her face, her crimson eyes that shone thanks to the sunlight stared into the man's face 'He doesn't even use my surname... It's like he's royalty, and I'm his servant,' Samantha thought as she leaned over. After a few more seconds of panting, she realized that the man's patience had reached its limit, and after a sigh, she told him what had happened.

- Were they bribed by your sister? - The man asked while arching his eyebrows, and his reproachful tone also decreased significantly.

- Yes, some of them said that Serena sent them souvenirs before they attacked me after I subdued the demons. - Samantha answered the man calmly and without expressing her feelings to him as usual.

- Why didn't they attack you during your training?

- I think they wanted me to die in training, they must not have expected me to last this long. - Samantha answered calmly, but there was a look of doubt on her face.

The man looked at the girl in front of him and said approvingly. - You're probably right, in that case these girls can die too. - As the man said this, he raised his right hand, his brown eyes turned green, and a green light radiated from his hand and entered the ground, as soon as the light entered countless roots came out of the ground and killed the girls immediately, without even giving them the chance to cry out for mercy. After taking care of the two, the man jumped off the bear and started walking towards the ravine, without looking back he said. - Today's training has been canceled, you don't have to hunt until nightfall, and you can come back as soon as you've recovered a bit... I'll lead the way, if her highness Serena is involved, we have to take care of this calmly, don't make a pointless fuss, I'll sort it out. - The man didn't bother to listen to Samantha's answer, he just kept walking until he disappeared over the horizon.

Samantha stared at the ravine for several minutes while pretending to rest, after several minutes a blue light lit up in her eyes, and a triquetra formed from the blue light, after the symbol appeared in her eyes Samantha swept her gaze thoroughly in all directions before finally sighing. - I told you... Listen to that bastard's request... - Samantha said with a sad expression as she stared at the various bodies scattered on the ground, she turned her gaze to the two girls killed by the man and stretched out her left hand, then a green light similar to the man's came out of her hand, however, the light radiating from her left hand was more striking than the man's and an image of a tree appeared in her left hand, this tree seemed to be occupying a circle that appeared right under the tree, when the image appeared Samantha muttered a few words and then the girls who had been trembling turned into dead trees, then the water in the lake stirred and several roots began to rise, creating a funnel that blocked the water, then two girls identical to the ones who had become dead trees came out of this space with a bitter expression.

- Why? - Samantha asked without changing her expression as she stared at the two girls.

- Your Highness... We...

- Let's not waste time with stupid explanations, shall we? I already know you betrayed me, you weren't the first and you won't be the last, so tell me what you got out of it. - Samantha cut off the left girl's explanation with a sarcastic smile as she stared at them.

- We didn't betray you, Your Highness, we didn't attack you once during... - As the girl on the right spoke, a laugh erupted from Samantha, and only after several seconds did, she stop laughing and face the girl.

- That's really touching Ane, can I ask you just one little thing? - Samantha asked with a sarcastic smile on her face.

Ane looked at Samantha's smile and didn't answer for a few seconds, but after a short consideration she replied. - Of course, Your Highness.

Samantha stared into Ane's and her sister's eyes, the smile on her face gradually diminishing until her expression became dull, then in a calm voice she asked. - Earlier, during the attack you won't help me beyond the minimum, the training doesn't require it, but okay, that's just questionable, however, after I was surrounded by my own guard, my guardian mages not only fled, but also threw up barriers that prevented the movement of spiritual energy, you know, apart from you my guard is all skill users, and trained knights... - Samantha noticed the anxious look on both of their faces and felt sorrowful. She managed to hide it but was still upset that another one of her childhood friends had betrayed her.

- T-that... Well, you know... Didn't we think the mess through? - Ane's sister said reluctantly, with a troubled expression on her face.

Samantha, hearing what the young woman said, started laughing again, she couldn't help it and laughed for almost a minute before calming down, and then she said. - You always make me laugh Jane, but now you've outdone yourself, in a situation like this you answer me with a question? - Samantha's tone, which had been indifferent before, was replaced by a more aggressive one at the moment.

- I-it, Your Highness - Samantha interrupted Jane, who was clearly flustered, and with a disdainful smile on her face she said. - Jane, you've known me for two years, you know I'm very clever... Are you going to keep trying to fool me with such ridiculous excuses? - Samantha asked as she looked at her with frowning eyebrows, which made it impossible to hide her anger, even though her tone had calmed down again.

Ane looked at her sister and shook her head ruefully, after which she looked at Samantha and prostrated herself, she put one knee on the ground and rested her left forearm on the other knee, her right hand touched the ground, and her hair covered her face while she had her head down. - Your Highness, I beg your pardon for my mistake. - After Ane prostrated herself as a knight should, she begged Samantha's forgiveness.

Seeing her sister prostrate herself, Jane's ears turned slightly red, and she assumed the same posture as her sister; seeing this scene Samantha's expression became completely indifferent and after a few seconds a self-deprecating smile appeared for a while on her face. 'Well, let's do our best to forget it, I need servants, and they've been abandoned by everyone now...' Samantha, who had an expressionless face, thought as she stared at them.

- After being abandoned by Augustus, you need my forgiveness to live, there's no real regret in the act, right? - Samantha said calmly as she stared at them. Ane quickly raised her head and without giving Jane a chance to express herself, she replied. - I regret it, but not because your royalty, in your competition everything counts, and everyone who follows the loser dies with him, that's why we accepted Augustus' offer, but I think we chose wrong. - Ane said with a self-deprecating and depressing smile as she looked at the corpses of the demons and soldiers who had ambushed her.

- Why do you say that? - Samantha had a slight smile on her lips as she already knew Ane's answer.

- I didn't know you were so powerful, Your Highness. - Ane lowered her head again as she answered Samantha's question.

- Of course, no one has ever known how strong I am, after all, no one can be trusted. - Samantha, who said this, noticed that Jane looked embarrassed after she said it, but decided to completely ignore her feelings, even if they hadn't both attacked her, creating a barrier and running away is the same as facilitating her murder.

- Sigh... - Samantha sighed as she looked at both of them, then focused her gaze on Ane who had her head down and asked. - Why do you think I'm going to lose? If you thought that from the start, you wouldn't have to serve me for two years, would you?

- Would Her Highness like to know what we got for betraying her? - Ane asked while still keeping her head down.

- It would be comforting to get such information. - Samantha said with a cheerful smile, although the smile and her tone seemed natural and comforting, if you looked into her eyes, you would see that there was no hint of anything but mockery in her expression.

- We received absolutely nothing, Your Highness. We just... We can say that we were threatened. - Ane said, her voice a little shaky, it sounded like she was trying to hold back the tears as she spoke to Samantha.

- Is our friendship that cheap? Or do you think I don't deserve any trust? You could have warned me, you know? - Samantha was relieved to know that they hadn't betrayed her for riches or titles, not that she was going to forgive them easily after that, let alone trust them both.

- It was your teacher who hired us, Your Highness. - Ane said as if that explained her choice.

- I see, did he threaten you?

- Yes, he said that if we don't take advantage and get on the winning side, our parents and our younger brother will pay the price for our ignorance. - Ane's voice became heavier, it was obvious that she was trying not to cry, and her voice seemed to be full of resentment too.

- Sigh... - Samantha sighed again after listening to Ane, she was still angry at being betrayed by two of her very few friends but considering that they had barely acted against her given the situation, she could forgive them. - Let's leave their punishments for the future, now I'm too tired to think about it, let's go back to the palace. - Samantha stood up and started walking towards the ravine.

- Your Highness if we go back now... - Ane called out to Samantha.

- Worried about your family? - Samantha asked as she continued walking towards the ravine.

- Yes... - Ane replied embarrassed.

Note: This chapter is the longest one I have ever written, making up for the day I forgot to publish.

"This is already the second chapter where the last paragraph has disappeared when viewed on cell phones. To avoid this, I've decided to duplicate this message at the end of each chapter, hoping it will resolve the issue. If you're reading this, I apologize if it's intrusive, but it's a better solution than leaving the chapter incomplete."