Chương 8: Reflection 1
The Holy Light Empire was an Empire that was fully devoted to the gods, this could be seen in the fact they had many god-related spells, and how the gods would bless a few people with their magic. Gods were worshiped by many races, leading the Holy Light Empire to be home to all types of races, other than simply humans. But it was mostly humans who took up root in this empire.
At the moment, within the Holy Light Empire Throne room, Irene stood before the king of this Empire, with me standing behind her.
"I have to say, after the thing your empire pulled off, I'm pressed you dared to step foot in this empire." The emperor said glaring daggers at Irene, he was of course displeased as the Dragnof empire made the dumbest choice out of all of the possible choices they could have made. To choose to weaken the human race, in the face of a war with the dragons that could erase the human race, was that not foolish?
Even if they were in the wrong by starting that conflict with them, all Dragnof could do was swallow their rage and pressure Irene to marry. That would not only strengthen the humans since the 2 strongest empires had united, but it would also allow the Holy Light to take over Dragnof slowly... but the extreme actions I made destroyed not only that but left the human race weak of 7 Dragon King level Mages.
"King Samuel, you know as well as I do your schemes against my empire. You do not start problems and start crying when your actions have side effects. You foolishly started this war with my empire, causing unneeded and unwanted problems for my empire because what?" Irene asked coldly, making the King's magical aura spread out, which Irene easily ignored.
"If you want war, then we would give you just that. I will stop thinking of the bigger picture and step down to your level," Irene said causing Samuel's aura to suddenly disappear before a moment, before he started laughing.
"You wouldn't do that, Irene, you're too kind to do such things. you're trying to scare me, when we both know you don't have it inside you to start a full-out war with us." The king said, before freezing as such dense killing intent filled the room, it was so dense that everyone there was sure they were smelling blood.
The King's eyes turned to me, just to see glowing red eyes through my helmet, which were not bothering to try and hide anything.
"Stand down," Irene said to which the killing intent slowly disappeared. The King had a deep frown while looking at me,
"I want your empire to join the war, I'm not asking, but I'm demanding it. Samuel, this is a threat. If I don't see you man on the battlefield to support us against this war, I will not think twice about playing this game of yours." Irene said calmly, she was a good actor. She didn't have the heart for that, what you see here was bark without the bite. But Samuel didn't need to know that.
"Who do you think you are, entering my empire and speaking to me like that!" Samuel was enraged, and rightfully so. For someone to enter his village and just disrespect him like this, how would his people respect him?
"Try me," Irene said looking straight into Samuel's eyes, Samuel was enraged, not only he but the nobles in the throne room stood, ready for battle. The king angrily looked at Irene, but he couldn't help but look at the person who defeated 7 Dragon Kings all on his own, along with an army.
Even ignoring me, he would be a fool to push this matter seeing as the dragons were around the corner, and the humans couldn't afford to lose any more power. So, he took a step back.
"Then I will be the bigger person and land your empire's support." He said to which Irene secretly let out a deep breath. What's done was done, she couldn't show weakness now and had to put on this act.
"But... your actions were over the top. over 5 thousand of my man dead because of him, how do you plan to deal with this matter?" Samuel asked coldly, he couldn't just forget the past, since it was pushed so far, Dragnof had to do something to at least calm down the people of the Holy Light Empire. So many people lost their families, children lost their mothers and fathers, and many had to join the army to support their families, they didn't need to die, and in such cruel ways.
"I want you to marry my eldest son, it would be a push towards brighter days," Samuel said seriously, to which Irene frowned lightly seeing where Samuel's eldest son stood, he was someone called Rung,
She secretly looked back towards me, sighing seeing I had no over-the-top reaction. She collected her thoughts for a moment before speaking.
"I'm in no position to marry, but I shall return home and see if any nobles are," Irene said to which Samuel frowned deeply.
"Then I shall look forward to the good news," Samuel said, to which Irene nodded before turning to leave. She had rejected staying for the night or anything like that, she was in and once everything was done, she was out.
"Should we assassinate her? Through the chaos, we can push someone to the throne." A noble said to which Samuel glared at the noble.
"Did you not sense the armor that Scarlet Knight has on is cursed? Are you not able to tell that even with that armor sealing his magical energy, and putting him under extremely high gravity, he is equal to a dragon lord with raw physical strength alone? His magical armor is fueling the gravity, the fact he is Irene's guard shows he is anything but normal. He had on that armor when he slaughtered the 7 elite God Slayer, and without of hint of magic...." Samuel said, sending a chill down everyone's spine.
"We shall ask the gods about our next move, then we shall act," Samuel said while getting up, heading off to get ready to speak with the gods...
"That training is paying off," Irene said while we sat at the back of Belserion, heading back home. I have indeed been training, I had those who had mind-based magic put me under hellish nightmares where I had to face my demons. My demons would not control me, the same for my emotions, I instead wanted to be in full control. So, I have been torturing myself, facing my trauma not simply from my past life, but from this life.
"Yeah..." I said lightly, making Irene's heartache. She had heard what I was doing, and she was fully against it, she even threatened to banish me from the empire if I continued, but I convinced her that I had to face my past, so she had no choice but to let me continue... but as the days went by, I went more and more quiet.
"When we arrive, I want to speak to you... not as my knight, but as Ryu." She said to which I frowned, but I nodded lightly, closing my eyes while thinking back to my training in my helish illusion. It was hell, facing their deaths, hearing the screams of torture, and the hatred aimed towards me. I sighed opening my eyes, having a hard time enduring that stuff.
When we arrived, at the Empire, Irene had me go wait in her office while she went to deal with the nobles who were waiting for her return. It took some time, but she soon entered her office and had me remove my armor, as she wanted to speak with Ryu. So, I used the new magic I had learned, Requip Magic.
Requip Magic is a type of Spatial Magic related to the summoning of various types of equipment. This Magic allows the users to store items in a pocket dimension so they can easily summon them at any time, even during battle, which gives them a high level of flexibility in combat. However, there is a limit to how much the pocket dimension can store. Requip can be used for simple or combat-related purposes. Some users may just choose to use it to change their clothing.
With a flash of my armor, my scarlet armor was stored away, leaving me in simple clothing standing before Irene. Irene's eyes narrowed seeing the black circles around my eyes,
"What happened?" Irene asked to which I sighed while sitting back on the chair, I closed my eyes for a moment, wanting to fall asleep, but I was hit with the cry of a child, who asked me where her father was. The cry of a mother looking for her son, the cry of a wife looking for her husband. Those I killed appeared before me, crying at how their family would live on without them, some cursing me for taking them away from their ill parents, and so on.
"I became the thing I hated most... I became the problem. Every time I close my eyes, I'm hunted by those I killed or their loved ones." I said lightly, I saw those soldiers as NPC, but Irene's words made me wake up to reality. I didn't kill NPC, I killed people. I killed people who were only being controlled by the higher-ups.
I judged them without knowing them, I realized that just killing wasn't the answer. To change this world, I needed to truly think about the matter. marriage was the best choice, it would have instantly united the two empires, it would have instantly strengthened Dragnof in their war, and the list goes on. Yes, the enemy started it, but it's the bigger person's job to look at the Bigger picture.
Yes, they were scheming against Dragnof, but Irene planned to deal with it after the whole war with dragons was done. My actions to fix the matter were like shooting the human race in the foot, it only made it that much harder to deal with Dragons.
"... you should have spoken up about this matter sooner," Irene said after some thought,
"What's done is done, mistakes are made to be learned from. It's what you do with those mistakes that make them not so bad." Irene said to which I nodded in agreement.
"Try doing this, you're for the month free. No training, no over-the-top actions. Look at why you did what you did, find ways you could have done it better, and what you can do now. Ryu, everyone has reasons to do their actions. Everyone has a sad background and traumatic events that push them to the path they are. No one is born evil, and no one is completely evil. there is always good in people, you just have to draw it out." She said to which I nodded in slight understanding.
"I will think about it," I said while walking off, to which she nodded softly,
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