บท 10: Lance is My Backup
So much for the first day. The sky outside the City Hall painted the earth with its glorious violet and red hues of twilight. Chiaki rushed downstairs to grab a free steed from the stable and mounted it. Hands gripped the rein, she asked a silent prayer in her heart that Gin would have a change of heart.
"I'll go with you," General Ao ran after her, his bow and quiver full of arrows bounced across his back.
"I thought you would prepare a backup with Lord Hua!" Chiaki yelled over her shoulder to beat the whooshing wind.
General Ao could hear her just fine. As the god of war in the Dome realm, his mount cantered in no time, effectively removing the distance between him and Chiaki.
"I heard a lot from the principal of the academy about him. A hotheaded youngster like that might need a strong man to coax him."
"Are you saying I'm too weak to handle him?" she huffed. Her knitted eyebrows added an overall cute look to her pouty face.
General Ao flashed a smirk. In the jumbled memories of the old self, Chiaki remembered the same expression he wore during their time tangled in the sheets.
"I can do what you can't do," he said mysteriously.
The bridle, the horse, and its rider were in unity; Chiaki galloped off to meet Gin at his house. Gin was always her weakness; all her rationality went out the window whenever her nephew was in pain or begging for something.
Now, it was her turn to beg. She told Lance Hua to wait for her in the South manor. The lord could prepare the array of the crystals imbued with his signature vortex.
At the doorstep of Gin Burtenshaw's house, Chiaki pulled the knockers. Gin walked out, his grey eyes cold and distant.
"Gin," her voice wavered, "about what we disagreed about in my house, could we revisit it later? Auntie needs-"
"It's always the adults who need this or that from the kids so they could brush the argument off. And after we give what they need, they'll pretend they forget the topics and move on."
"Who on earth has done this to you, Gin? I, for one, never have."
Gin's arms hung. His downcast eyes flashed into a glare. Poisonous words shot from his downturned lips. "Auntie never behaved like that to me. But the teachers, the classmates . . . They all thought a Burtenshaw was always laden with money, skills, or intelligence. They always asked and rarely gave out any. And then, when you were appointed as the new South Guardian, look at the false friends I acquired."
Wow, there's a lot to unpack here, Nephew. How can I possibly untangle the knots and still get the armour in time?
"I'm sorry if I've grown busier and distant in the past years with all the responsibilities. But, now that you're back in my area and not returning to the academy, could we have more time for this conversation, please?"
Gin glimpsed at the bandaged palm of hers he caused a few hours ago. He handed a tin of ointment and pushed it to her other palm to keep.
"I'm sorry, Auntie, for making you bleed. But you shouldn't have stood up for him. Please take this rare medicine from a famous apothecary to heal your wound quickly."
Chiaki clamped the tin. "Gin, let's talk inside?" They still conversed at his doorstep.
"No." Gin made a move to withdraw and closed the door from the inside.
"Gin," called General Ao. His foot stopped the door from engaging with the jamb.
"Why is General Ao here?" Gin's wary face told Azure Ao that he was unwelcomed, either.
"If you don't want to talk to your aunt, I'll accompany you, okay? Let's forget the Guardianship. We can practise archery. You know, taught by the one and only Azure Ao." His confident thumb pointed at his chest.
Gin portrayed the quick change of human emotions in seconds. From puckered brows of suspicion to a flush of excitement, he asked, "Really?"
And that was the only word signalling to Chiaki that she had to return alone, her purpose unfulfilled.
General Ao glanced over his back, nodding to her for assurance. "Good luck, Chiaki. My men will back you up."
Chiaki cursed in her heart. No matter how many men Azure Ao lent, if they weren't strong enough to hit the eyes of the storm and lightning strikes with their magically-fortified arrows, they'd return home in body bags.
Chiaki hated unnecessary casualties like this scenario. She would charge alone to the most enormous barrier hole above the capital's west border. It was a vast landscape of an unoccupied forest; any Guardian's army could practise there after informing the Council and other Guardians. If she went there alone, no one else would get hit.
Her agility had improved over the years, and she had proved that her aim was excellent many times in the past. But the difference was the past attacks were sparser. Now, there could be ten or twenty lightning strikes in one second. It would be difficult for her to split her concentration between blasting the crystal power in her to the actual lightning source and protecting herself from getting burned alive.
Lance Hua would break the record as the fastest widower in the Dome history by losing her wife within a day of the wedding.
The steed sent her safely back to the South manor. Lance Hua touched the panels of crystal energy indicators. The screen and its projected hologram showed sixteen different combinations of crystal types and vortex forms.
"Beating atmospheric anomalies with barometric changes. Lightning storms versus vortexes," she commented.
Lance Hua stopped his calculation and turned around to face the general.
"No armour?"
With Chiaki's shaking head, he knew it would be a suicide mission if not appropriately planned.
He sighed. "I could amplify my vortex power ten times, creating an air barrier around you like a tornado. It will repel the lightning strikes. I have tested that it can withstand both the electrical current and the rolling sound of the thunder."
"So, I can shoot the centre of the storms, right?" Chiaki confirmed her plan.
"Yes."
They ran through the simulation of the sixteen combinations. Finally, they picked only one robust enough to block the bolts while still allowing the crystal power to break through the vortex barrier.
Due to the complexity and risk, Chiaki sent voice messages to the Council and other Guardians that she would be at the skirt of the forest the following day. She needed to rest after planning the arrays, and Ao's men would have more time to prepare the battle formation.
Chiaki would stand alone in the storm, protected by Lance Hua's barrier, which he controlled from the Crystal Garden. Skittering and sidling in a dance with death inside the storm zone, her sharp darts of focused crystal rays would shatter the lightning seeds, silencing the anomalies in a hard-charging attack campaign.
She would give no ground for the threats to regroup and recharge. With that endgame, she could proceed with patching the holes in one clean shot, leaving no chance for future anomalies.
Azure Ao's men would standby around the perimeter, with the general himself on his steed at the highest altitude nearby.
He could charge the fiasco if anything went south and save the day. Theoretically.
System, do you have any cheat for this? If I die, your game ends. Oh, but if you can find another volunteer, my sacrifice will amount to nothing.
The most awaited dialogue box popped.
[You have two options for this battle.]
Why didn't you appear sooner? This wasted my precious time hauling my butts here and there to coax Chiaki's nephew and squeeze my brain juice for the simulations.
[You still needed to do both before these options.]
Oh, well, your world, your rule.
If Chiaki rolled her mental eyes one more time, she would lose their ability to return to their mental sockets.
[First option: As per your plan, Lord Lance Hua will stay in the Crystal Garden to monitor the power level and combine it with his vortex to protect you.]
I thought it was the only way out. Is there a cheat? Let me cheat for this time only, please.
She regretted this statement as soon as it left her brain because she knew there would be more obstacles in the future that would have her kneeling down for more cheats.
[Second option: Have Lord Lance Hua accompany you in the mission.]
No, just no. This is a trick question, System. Lance Hua had made up his mind, and by the otome game's logic, I should follow his lead and not contradict him. Disagreements on something as simple as this would alter the path that leads all the way to the ending.
Chiaki imagined it like a not-so-insignificant butterfly effect that would topple all the remaining dominoes down in the wrong direction. It was like a quantum bifurcation: the end state would not be defined until she picked her decision.
She wanted the otome to run as intended. Was it called the happy ending, not a bittersweet one? Yeah, that had to be it.
But, but, but . . . Her mind said that Lance Hua would be a great help on-site. It would be better for everyone, including Azure Ao, to have someone as powerful as Lord Hua as her backup.
Otome path or logic?
Decision, decision.
Screw the game. She still wanted to stay alive in this realm.
Okay, System, Lance Hua will go with me.
What Chiaki didn't know was otome didn't work like that. Her experience with that genre was limited enough that she failed to grasp the context of relationships. Although the male love interest had decided on something, the final push that clicked everything into place for the happy ending was the journey together.
The purpose of each relationship dynamic was to grow as a couple through thick and thin. Without realising it, Chiaki had selected the correct option to steer their journey forwards.
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HeavenlyFlower
HeavenlyFlower Hello, my lovelies,
Starting this week, the update will be 5 times a week. This is to ensure I have enough time to ensure the quality of my plot and editing . . . you know, day job :(
Thank you for your support, now it has passed 1K of views. I love you all! Stay healthy and safe, everyone!
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