章節 59: The governor

I was standing there like an idiot. My head was filled with worries but not a single solution. Now then, that voice I heard….

My thought was broken by a fading voice. A voice that was barely audible. "Wan..der…er"

"Who's there?"

Somehow I knew that it must be the broken statue. I knew it. But a part of me reminded me in these forests nothing was impossible; so it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Elves…north east…annihilated…careful…"

The voice was too low and I couldn't hear much of it. But I could make out most of what it said. It was a broken voice but I didn't have anything better to do.

What is this; telepathy? In any case, I couldn't just stand here either. Let's see where this goes. I didn't want to, but I had to.

I headed northeast. As far as I went, the environment kept getting foggier. The sun had almost set. Soon the undead would leave the forest and march toward the city. I need to hurry. If the elves are annihilated I must return to the town with haste. These thoughts weren't pleasant. I had a bad feeling but I couldn't leave Lianne behind, not after all that's she'd done for me. And not after coming all this way all alone either.

I arrived at a spot where the fog was the thickest. Undead were roaming about without a care, but this place didn't smell bad. In fact, it had a floral scent that I'd smelt before. Didn't I smell that before at the castle? But why here? I resisted the urge to start sniffing like a madman. This aroma had some sort of trance-inducing property. It wasn't the least bit funny.

The undead didn't even pay attention to me. So the scent worked on these things too? I ventured into the fog.

It was too chilly for me even though I was wearing my furry armor: though calling this a coat would be an apt description. As I went on, I found them. The elves were here, but they weren't dead, weren't alive either.

"What the hell happened here?" My lips slipped. The elves were like statues, frozen in time. Some were standing, some were on the ground and some looked fully prepared for battle, but all them were frozen solid. When I touched one, I felt a chill and my skin detached from my hand. Blood started to slowly come out and then came intense pain. I had herbs with me, so I rubbed them and moved forward. I didn't have the luxury to worry too much about my injuries. Was I getting accustomed to pain or something?

It was a stupid idea, but I had nothing better. "Lianne!" Screaming in this forest really didn't seem like the best thing to do. I was cursing myself for screaming like this.

She wasn't here. Nine statues were here but Lianne wasn't. It was a tragedy and yet I felt relieved. I let out a sigh in relief and decided to head back immediately. If Lianne isn't here then I should assume she's at least alive.

The elves had saved me once before, and I wanted to repay them. But I didn't have any means. At least she isn't here. The only saving grace was that Lianne wasn't here. Which meant the chances of her being alive wasn't zero.

But my body stopped: a sound in the distance. A fire? It's moving! At that moment, there was something behind me and my entire body could feel it without even turning. Granted there was a lot of undead here, however, the sensation was different. I got used to the undead and even the goblins, but the feeling behind me was entirely different. My hands shook; sweat gathered in my face and dripped, while my heart throbbed. It was a nightmare.

Then I heard a voice: more like a whisper. "What have we here?" It was a soft womanly voice. But the voice was low pitched and left a familiar tone in my mind, along with a familiar scent.

I turned around and there it was: two bright purple eyes, a beautiful face and hair that flowed freely. It was the very woman who wanted to throw me into the dungeon. I didn't even know her name. I couldn't believe my eyes. Her face wasn't covered and never had I seen such wondrous beauty. What is going on here?

"You…"

"Yes, yours truly," she said while playing with her fingers as though she didn't have care at all. Her looks had changed. Her eye color had changed. Even the color of her hair had changed. But I could never forget that condescending face, that look.

"What are you doing here? Why you? And what happened to the elves? "I shouted.

Could you have blamed me? I couldn't decide why a woman of her stature, would wander through the forest. Why the governor of this damn city of all people would venture inside the forest in the first place? It was just too much of a shock. I still wanted to think she was a different person, after all she looked different.

"They are frozen by the grand curse of Alatit. As for your first question, how should I phrase this? Hmmm? I know… I am here to annihilate all of these buffoons as they dared to disrupt my- no our grand plan. Why don't you guess the second one? Does that answer your questions?" She wore a smile I had never seen before. It was not a pretty smile, her mouth opened wide as though she didn't have a jaw and her skin could stretch beyond human capacity. She wasn't human.

How could this be? "What happened to you?" I asked amidst all the confusion. When I met her before, she was a pain in the ass but not to this extent. Had something happened to her or was she always like this?

"Nothing much. I just learned some valuable lessons from you humans, that is all. My kin is waiting for me. I thought these undead scums would be enough to deal with the elves but then you came along. I couldn't believe it when Lord Namcha visited. So I just had to pay you a visit." She paused. "Honestly I almost couldn't keep my laugh in check. You really are a comedian, challenging my lord like that." She giggled.

Humans? Undead scums? Lord Namcha? "So you're not human?" the words didn't leave my mouth and remained a whisper. I couldn't really believe my perception.

I was overwhelmed. It felt as though my throat was clogged and my heart would stop. What was this woman saying? I couldn't comprehend it, no; I didn't want to comprehend it.

"Those mongrels over there tried to stop me and ended up that way. I wonder what you'd do now," she let out a shriek followed by wicked laughter.

Meanwhile more and more undead kept gathering around us. Did those guys have nothing else to do but stare at living things?

My voice didn't fully return to me. I couldn't understand nor believe the situation. Didn't the town belong to her? "So it's you? You did this? You're one of that demon's kin!" And soon confusion turned to rage.

"That's a rude way to put it… well I could see why he was interested in you but…" She didn't finish.

I bit my lips. Some blood flowed out. It was of no concern. I pointed my sword at the same woman who laughed and spoke of needlessly inciting the undead. I could forgive myself for raising my sword against her but couldn't forgive her for doing all this. It was evident that something had to be done. Without any more doubts, I calmed myself. The basic principle of putting up a good fight was to remain calm- that's what Dune taught me: that's what Lianne told me. So raging around wasn't going to get me anywhere and I had to accept that.

She had a black silver-ish sword in her hand. She wasn't wearing typical armor. Instead, she had a scarlet-black leather dress. Her raw hatred and killing intent penetrated my body from afar. She wasn't playing around that was for sure.

Her grin didn't leave her face the entire time. I had some grudges against her. I could still remember that grin from when the man back at the castle cried. Besides, she herself made it clear that she wasn't even human. Therefore I charged, very calculatedly that is.