บท 10: The Visitor
Within the luxurious and old mansion, Alastair stood silently before the front door. She wondered who the visitor was though a feeling within her heart wanted her to not open the door. As if it was saying that the one beyond the door was a monster beyond her understanding. Her life would be under threat the moment she opened it.
'Should I open this door?' Alastair questioned within herself. If she continued waiting, it would be rude to the visitor outside. But what if there wasn't a visitor? What if a monster like the demonic minotaur pretended to be a human visitor? After all, why would a visitor knock on her first day in this mansion?
She had a serious expression plastered on her face as the gears within her mind were moving at full speed. Alastair glanced towards Soteria, who still sat on the chair right beside the table. Soteria seemed frozen and was staring at the front door without that much change in her expression.
Seeing Soteria, Alastair thought that she was simply being paranoid. She sighed and shook her head as she cleared her thoughts of any paranoia. But, monster or not, she had to open the front door. Taking a deep breath, Alastair silently uttered. "I hope this will not result in my death."
After uttering such words, Alastair opened the front door and looked at the visitor. A figure got finally revealed outside of it. It was quite a seductive figure, and she appeared to be wearing an office dress covered in dark brown. Alastair froze as she slowly gazed from the bottom to the top.
'A beauty?' Alastair thought to herself in confusion as the lady in front of her smiled and spoke with a calm voice.
"Hello... My name is Shai. I'm sure you have seen me before, Ms. Alastair." Shai's words echoed with a soothing tone as Alastair went down a memory lane to uncover the woman's identity before her. After a while, Alastair had pinpointed the identity of the lady. She was the lady with an acquainted man who woke her up in the void.
'Her? I didn't expect to see her ever again.' Alastair thought to herself as she didn't expect to see anyone in that void appear or emerge before her. She wouldn't want to meet any of them ever again until she had enough power. But unfortunately, the reality wasn't something that would follow a foolish wish.
"That lady with the man who woke me up. I never thought I'd see you again. Is there something you want?" Alastair questioned as she had a smile plastered on her face. The lady before her was someone that could probably take her back into that void. For now, Alastair had to play safe.
"No need to be tense, Ms. Alastair. I'm here for inspection as I'm quite sure that you have a lot of things you are curious about. Don't you, Ms. Alastair?" Shai said with the same calm voice as Alastair thought about it for a short while in her mind.
She wouldn't want such a monster to enter the mansion, but she needed vital information to aid her in her new life. She must not be picky and gather the info no matter the cost. After such thoughts passed through her mind, Alastair nodded to herself and answered.
"Yes... I am curious about a lot of things. So why don't you enter, Ms. Shai."
Alastair had a smile plastered on her face as she opened the door tremendous and wide. Lady Shai simply nodded toward her and entered the mansion. As Shai entered Alastair's home, Soteria, who was still sitting on the chair, realized who the visitor was.
'That woman who was with me during my creation. I didn't expect to see her once again.' Soteria thought while gazing upon Shai with the same emotionless and cold expression. She seemingly didn't have that much reaction towards Shai, but just like Alastair, she had numerous thoughts passing through her mind.
'She was one of the two observers of the first Krieger test. During the entire time, Shai was confident in Alastair achieving the second chance she needed and wanted. She also was quite excited about Alastair's future and potential. I don't know what this monster is doing here, but I'll just observe for now.'
After concluding her thoughts, Soteria sighed and continued eating the breakfast created by Alastair. The breakfast between her and Alastair got spoiled by this homewrecker, but there was nothing much she could do about it. She also understood that Lady Shai must have the valuable information Alastair needed.
Upon entering the front door, Shai immediately noticed Soteria eating her breakfast. A smile formed on her face as she softly uttered.
"The two of you were pretty fast to get along. I didn't expect you to eat breakfast together on your first dawn. The synergy between the two of you must have been quite balanced."
Lady Shai had an expression of shock and surprise. Alastair must have been a good person if she had managed to make the newly created Soteria eat breakfast with her. Such was an unexpected situation, and even Lady Shai, a woman of wisdom, was deeply surprised.
"No need to flatter, Ms. Shai. You can sit in the vacant chair at the table to start the explanation, which was why you entered this mansion." Alastair smiled and said with a soothing voice. Shai simply chuckled and silently uttered under her breath. "It appears that I have entered a bad time."
Shai wasn't that much bothered by it. The only reason why she was here was to do her job. After this, she might not always see Alastair though she was sure their paths would cross. Especially if Alastair needed something or wanted to know something. The only thing she needed to do was to be patient and wait.
"Thank you for inviting me." Shai didn't hesitate and sat on the chair right beside Soteria. Soteria turned her gaze and looked at Shai, who was seemingly waiting for Alastair to sit with her. Upon seeing Shai's behavior, Soteria simply shook her head and continued eating.
Alastair walked back to where she sat and waited for Shai's explanation. A serious expression then formed on Shai's face as she had finally begun the first official lesson towards the first Krieger in existence. She was excited before, but she needed to get serious as such a lesson would decide Alastair's future.
"It appears that you have already learned the emergence." Shai nodded with a proud expression as Alastair tilted her head in confusion. She wondered what was so good about some skill that would instantly create clothes for her. Admittedly though, it would be beneficial. Still, she was pretty confused about Shai's reaction.
Noticing Alastair's expression, Shai looked at her and realized. A smile formed on her face as she shook her head and explained. "Emergence is an ability that enters you to your Krieg Mode. In simple terms, it is an activation of your combat form. I'm pretty surprised that you manage to control your strength without breaking anything in this mansion."
After her explanation, Shai started looking around the mansion, wondering if something did really break. Upon hearing Shai's words, Alastair nodded to herself and quietly uttered. "Hmm... Combat form? I wonder what changed."
"Is there any more that I need to know?" Alastair questioned once again as Shai thought about it for a short while. The three beings of judgment gave a lot of features to Kriegers. As they believed that the things they created were usually overpowered. It would break the balance if they made the Kriegers weak.
"Yes, there is something else. It is known as a Grimoire, specifically called the Astral Codex. It is a book that contains information about you, though it mainly consists of your abilities. Each Kriegers have its own skills specifically unique to them. Meaning that they would have to train their abilities to suit their needs."
"The abilities can be unlocked through souls that you get from soul deals. And speaking of souls, the souls have an echelon of purity. Divided into five types. The more purity the soul has, the denser and more powerful it would be. My advice, if you have enough strength. You shouldn't waste your time on weak souls but get the strong ones instead."
"Understandable, though for the meanwhile, I'll have to strengthen my power in the safest way and gauge the experience of the soul deal." Alastair nodded to herself as Soteria smiled and Shai smirked.
"You know... For a general with the title Warmonger, you are a lot more easygoing than I expected." Shai couldn't help but utter with the same smirk plastered on her face. Expectations were different than reality. No matter how much the truth becomes stranger the fiction, it still was intriguing to her.
"Easygoing? Hmm... I don't have any comment about that. Most of my soldiers said the same thing during my victory party. They always told me about the vast difference between me on the battlefield and outside the military. But to be honest, I can't see the difference." Alastair said as she thought about the past with her soldiers.
She disappointed them by losing the war. They gave their lives and trust to her. And what did she give them? Death and suffering, disappointment and sorrow. The atmosphere around Alastair became more depressive as a strange black aura escaped from her body.
"What's happening?" Soteria questioned as Shai answered while looking at Alastair. "It's her first ability activating. Normally, you would need the grimoire to activate abilities, but there are requirements to activate them without the grimoire. It appears that she had managed to gain the requirements."
"I see... So what do we do? The miasma seems to be dangerous." Soteria questioned as the dark mist was slowly reaching her. Shai thought about it for a while as she raised her pale hands and clapped them. A clap sounded as Alastair, who was in a tranced, got out of it.
She jolted from her frozen position as she looked around and noticed the wood around her deteriorating. The wooden furniture around her got rotted by her ability. The effect on flesh was still unknown though no one would want to learn of its impact at this very moment.
"W-what happened? Did something attack? Also, why the hell did my furniture deteriorate this fast? Did you give me a fake?" Alastair questioned as she stood up and looked around with a serious and cold expression. Soteria and Shai shook their heads simultaneously as one thought emerged from their mind.
'It appears that Alastair has both a combat personality and a normal one.'
After shaking her head, Shai explained with a calm voice.
"Alastair, that was your ability. If you want to know more about it, you can think of your grimoire. It would appear like the emergence, and you can read more about your skills there. It would be better for you to understand it yourself than explaining. it myself."
Soteria finished eating as she carefully took a napkin from the table and cleaned her soft and sultry lips. Soteria turned her gaze towards Alastair as she had fun on her first day. Since the regular Alastair had finally revealed herself, Soteria wondered about the combat one.
Alastair's confused expression turned back into its calm self. She walked towards another chair and sat on it. She sighed as she couldn't help but wonder if every wood would rot right in front of her in the future. That would be useful if it works to the flesh but still be annoying for Alastair.
'According to Shai, it works via the activating of the grimoire. But since I activated it without the grimoire, it would mean that there is an activation requirement of the ability. But what was the requirement? What happened before its activation?' Alastair questioned within herself.
Shaking her head, Alastair decided to clear her mind and let the grimoire reveal itself so that she could read it herself. Upon thinking of the grimoire, a strange silver light emerged. It appeared to penetrate through the dimensions as if it was the summoning of an ancient artifact.
As seconds passed by, the silver light solidified, forming a book. Such was the grimoire known as the Astral Codex. It levitated before Alastair as Soteria and Shai looked at the grimoire with suspense and excitement. The chains covering the grimoire removed themselves as the Astral Codex opened its cover, revealing itself.
With that, the revelation of the grimoire had been concluded.
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