Chương 44: Unholy War - Part 9 - Queen Set.
It was still early evening when the fight at the 'Drunken Bull' tavern began, shooting stars rained down on the city, the captains of the king's orders of knights appeared and the fight was over.
And it was still early evening when the main wing of the palace, which rose majestically at the end of the city, shuddered and disappeared in a cloud of dust.
The citizens did not know what was happening and hid thinking that the attack of the army of the temple of light had started.
Those without fear of war, or who had no choice but to work to avert hunger, watched in disbelief as the millenary construction collapsed in a matter of seconds.
In the middle of what used to be the throne room a few seconds ago, Athena watched with an interested gaze as the walls melt into sand and the ceiling crack, fall apart and turn to sand before falling to the ground around her.
"This is the first time I've seen the real power of this skill..." Athena monologued. "Death can only be crazy for delivering something like that to a mortal..."
Athena turned her back to where had a king and started to walk away when she heard a moan and ran to where the sound was coming from.
In the middle of the sand where it was a corridor, Trigan... No, half of Trigan was lying, covered in sand.
Athena looked at the half-less man and laughed.
"Didn't go too far, huh?" Athena scoffed.
Trigan looked at the beautiful woman and smiled.
"You monster."
"The pot calling the kettle black." Athena sat on the bench in the part of the hallway that wasn't hit by the skill. "Now what? Will you live like this, in half?"
"I can recover if you give me enough blood."
"Hm..."
"You're not going, are you?" Trigan
"But of course." Athena responded with a wry smile as crossed her legs. "I'm going to watch you die."
Trigan craned his neck back to look at Athena.
"You're forgetting something."
"Hm?"
"The war." Trigan snorted. "This kingdom no longer has a king. Will you watch the people being slaughtered for taking sides with their king?"
Athena looked at Trigan with disdain, she didn't care what happened to Basilica, but she had a great sense of paying her debts and remembered why she had come with the Valkyries to this war.
"I need to do something." Athena got up and started walking away, only to stop and turn around. "Don't go too far."
"Haha, ha..."
***
Not knowing what was happening, the mercenaries had assumed they were under attack and those who were still sober had equipped themselves and rushed to the palace.
The Valkyries were no exception, they were worried about Athena being taken to the palace because of the exaggerated tavern brawl.
"Lobana, are we under attack?" Mhia, the draconian girl, asked.
"I don't know. And why are you coming when I told you four to stay on the ship?"
"I go where Hale goes!" Mhia replied with a pout.
"Own! Isn't she a cutie?" Hale said and kissed Mhia's cheek as they ran.
"Forget about it, we need to hurry." Sahari and Nijha complained.
***
After searching for half of what was left of the palace, Athena was standing in front of a wooden and iron door with a bolt secured with a heavy padlock.
"Princess?" Athena called.
Inside the room, Serien had heard all the noise that echoed through the corridors to her room and as well, as those who were hiding in their homes, Serien thought that the army of the temple of light had invaded Basilian and taken over the palace.
The princess was determined to die if she were to fall into Poston's hands and so she had prepared a knife, which she kept hidden until the day it would be necessary to use it.
She was about to impale her neck when she heard Athena's voice. However, she didn't know it was Athena on the other side of the door, it had been over three months since she first spoke to Athena and her voice had been lost in her memories.
"Princess, are you there?" Athena asked again, but Serien didn't respond.
Serien was determined to die, but her hands shook as tears streamed down her face.
Being determined to die and wanting to die were two different things.
But hearing the door creak, Serien steadied her hands, took a deep breath, and when the door shattered, Serien closed her eyes and used all her strength with the knife against her neck, only to be stopped by Athena.
"You were going to kill yourself before I paid my debt?" Athena asked with disappointment in her voice and face.
"Huh?" Serien opened her eyes and saw her hands laced with Athena's hands and the woman crouched in front of her. "Saint Athena?"
"Saint?" Athena made a confused face and then remembered what she had read in the soul's scroll in Juefu. "Ah! Yes, it's me."
"W-what are you doing here?"
"Hm... Long story? Leave that for later." Athena got up and pulled Serien up. "In short, the king is dead and we have a war to fight. You need to take control of the situation with the soldiers."
"My dad died?"
"Yeah, but leave the mourning for later." Athena said but she saw no sign of regret on Serien's face, but relief. "You're pretty weird…" Athena chuckled. "Go bathe, you stink! And put on some presentable clothes. I'll wait for you here."
"No, wait!" Serien said as Athena cast water magic in the bathtub in the corner of the room. "What about my brothers? I have older brothers and sisters who can do what you want about taking control of the situation."
"Nah! They don't fit." Athena frowned. "Besides, I owe you and not them."
'But what do you owe me?' Serien asked in a low voice, which Athena didn't hear.
***
Minutes later, Athena followed Serien, who now dressed not like a priestess or prisoner, but like a princess, in a white dress and her long silvery black hair blowing in the wind.
Their destination was the courtyard of the palace where soldiers, knights and mercenaries began to gather fully equipped to fight a possible enemy.
A thin sheet of dust still covered the place when Athena and Serien appeared in front of the crowd.
The knights and soldiers contorted their faces at the sight of Serien and the mercenaries had the most confused and surprised expressions Athena had ever seen.
"Silence." Athena said as she stepped in front of Serien. "I must communicate that the king is dead and his next ruler is Serien." Athena said looking at the men who had anger on their faces. "Well, that's just for you little soldiers of Basilica."
"Who says this one is the next queen?" Shouted one of the dark blue armored knights.
(Is this guy part of that deformed guy's order...?) Athena glared at the man from above. "Well, the other princes and princesses are too scared to leave their rooms, so you'll have to accept the princess right here."
"And who killed the king? It would be very difficult to kill the king with the three masters in the throne room."
Athena was already at her limit of patience.
They were soldiers, what right do soldiers have to opine in the line of succession to the throne of the king they serve?
It is what Athenas was thinking.
She looked up at the naughty knight with eyes so icy it made it seem like Athena's green eyes were actually blue in the moon light.
Why did she have to answer someone like them when not even the princess questioned her?
"One more word before you hear the princess and I'll kill you." Athena threatened, the man opened his mouth to protest and his head flew off before he could say anything. "Somebody else?"
The soldiers looked at the woman with a sword in her hand and wondered when she had drawn it.
Athena looked at Serien, who started to speak, drawing the attention of the place to her.
"As everyone already knows, I'm Princess Serien..."
Serien began by talking about the hundred years of war they lost to Elsna Empire, leading to Basilica's empire being reduced to a small kingdom on the edge of the mainland island.
The older soldiers, who had fought at the end of the war, made a sour expression and the mercenaries an expression of not caring what the girl was talking about.
The king had died, they wanted to know if the reward would remain the same with the new queen.
However, Serien didn't talk about it, she weighed the soldiers' hearts, reminding them of their bitter defeat.
But that was just to encourage them to fight now that the kingdom faced another crisis.
Serien talked about her time in the temple of light and her perseverance to keep moving forward and reach the top of the organization, only to be stabbed in the back by her own father.
"The king might have been a wise man when he was young, but he change and died like an old fool..." Serien said, raising some angry glares at her.
The king was a man loved by his people, that's because he helped to end a war that was only bringing disgrace to the kingdom, but that didn't mean the man remained the same.
The king had a lot on his back and in his heart, but that's another story.
Finally, the princess talked about how the kingdom was weak to the point where a religion could take over and how she felt ashamed of being royalty without being able to protect her people.
"That's why." Serien went down to where Athena was. "I, Serien Aust Basilica, renounce the crown and give it to someone who is strong enough to protect the people."
Athena looked around her, blankly, as Serien knelt in front of her.
"Hey, what the hell are you doing?" Athena asked with a shaky voice.
"That person is saint Athena. A strong person worthy of loyalty." Serien said, ignoring Athena's despair. "Long live Saint Queen Athena!"
"Huh!?" Athena complained and in the back, Lobana and the Valkyries had the same reaction.
"Long live Saint Queen Athena!" The soldiers and knights said in a single voice.
"No! Wait, I'm not queen!" Athena screamed. "I-"
Athena spoke, but no one listened as they repeated their reverence as if they were praying to Athena.
Head down, Serien smiled a victorious smile.
At the end of her discourse, as she spoke, Serien used her authority skill as royalty to pass the crown to Athena and thus bind the kingdom to her.
This wasn't dark magic, but it was still a type of hypnosis' skill that only worked with the Basilica's people.
(Now the kingdom will be safe and the people will not suffer.) Serien's heart felt lighter.
SUY NGHĨ CỦA NGƯỜI SÁNG TẠO 
All_J
All_J I feel like Serien made a mistake...
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