The Path of Ruin

Chapter 67: Knight's Warning

Nothing remarkable happened on the first night. Scher and Pecera continued their work, and Kael, Baroch, and Matthew wandered around the town.

The townspeople were restless, but knowing there was nothing they could do, they went to bed, hoping not to go insane like others.

This late that night, the lights were still on in the baron's room. There were two people inside.

The baron himself and... Fesila.

Fesila was standing nervously in front of the baron's desk. The Baron was looking at the report she had given him just before he left for work, and thinking at the same time.

After a brief moment, he lowered the report and looked directly into Fesila's eyes.

"Your report says that everything was in order again today, Fesila. When I look at what you say, I think it's true too, that there is indeed a problem with the Guardian. But... what made you come to this realization so quickly and suddenly?"

For a moment, Fesila was torn between answering or not. Honestly... she was angry at herself for not recognizing such things as someone who took care of the Guardian, and at the same time embarrassed to explain her own incompetence.

Still, she made her decision quickly.

"A member of the team sent by the Empire... a guy who knows a lot about botany. I saw him studying the vines on my way home, and he told me about them during our brief conversation and suggested that there might be a problem with the Guardian."

The Baron became thoughtful while Fesila waited in silence.

'The head maintainer is among the insane... the other two have not learned their duties properly.'

When he looked at it that way... they were really in trouble. It worried him to think that the Guardian might be in trouble. So much so... that he even put the problem facing the town on the back burner.

But then he paused. Could it be... that the Guardian was in this situation because of the problem the town was facing? Could it be that the Guardian had its own share of the thing that drove people insane, or... was suppressing it?

"This person you mentioned... who was he?"

"He said his name was Kael."

The Baron involuntarily narrowed his eyes slightly. Searching his memory, he remembered that the person Fesila had mentioned was the scout who looked quite young. And as he remembered this, his expression fell a little.

What would someone as young as him know about botany...? Maybe he could identify a problem, yes... but could he really solve it?

"Well done, Fesila. I appreciate you keeping me informed about the situation. You can go home and rest... but before you go, could you ask this Kael to pay me a visit?"

Fesila quickly nodded her head up and down. Then she left the baron's room. When she closed the door, though, she took a deep breath.

Frankly... she was scared. That she might lose her job, for example... that she couldn't see how their Guardian was in trouble.

But there was no problem. She was safe, she didn't have to worry. So... the only thing she had to worry about now was the Guardian.

And with that thought, she started moving again.

*******

Kael was surprised to learn that the baron had asked to see him quite late at night. He had not expected it to be so... early. He had thought he would make progress the next day.

Apparently, he had underestimated the town's sensitivities about this 'Guardian'...

Because he could see that the baron was looking at him skeptically, but he could also see that he was serious.

"You saw that the Guardian, I mean... the vines in town were troublesome."

Kael nodded in agreement.

"Yes, I only went by what I saw, and I may be wrong, but that's what I think. Was there a problem, baron...?"

The Baron let his eyes roam over Kael. Instead of answering his question, he asked him another.

"How skilled are you in botany, Kael?"

Without holding back, Kael curled his lips upwards and smiled.

"The Kingdom of Arcanoa... I used to live there. And I was directly in charge of maintaining the palace garden and greenhouse. I've been interested in plants since I was quite young."

"Oh?"

The Baron could not hide his surprise. But what he couldn't hide was also suspicion.

He remembered what they were talking about the Guardian earlier.

And... even if they didn't show it, he was aware that the group sent by the Empire had a strange interest in the Guardian. They even thought it might be the cause of the madness in the town.

Well, they hadn't said it, but it wasn't hard to understand.

Now, out of nowhere, something like this had appeared?

He thought about what Fesila had said. Then what Kael had said, and the visible signs on the vines.

He was silent for a while and kept thinking. And then... he sighed slightly.

"Kael... can I ask you a favor?"

The young scout's lips curved upwards slightly. But it was not a sly smile, it was sincere and respectful. He even bowed his head slightly.

"Sure, go ahead."

The Baron pulled a piece of paper in front of him. He scribbled something on it, took the small stamp on the edge of the table, and pressed it on the paper. Then he pushed the paper across the table towards Kael and looked him in the eye again.

"I want you to use your knowledge of plants for us. If you see a problem with the Guardian... can you take the other two maintenance staff with you and check its condition?"

Kael nodded happily.

"Sure, I will."

And he picked up the paper on the table and studied it briefly. It was permission to enter the place where the maintenance staff had entered.

"Then please take care of it tomorrow morning."

Again, Kael bowed his head respectfully. This time he didn't answer... but he didn't need to.

He had a big smile on his face as he walked out of the baron's office, permission letter in hand.

Getting what he wanted had been... easier than he had thought. He had thought that the Baron would take a little more time to be convinced, maybe even ignore the situation. But... it had worked.

So he headed to his room to get some sleep.

At least that's what he wanted...

But he did not.

Or rather, he couldn't.

When he saw the figure waiting for him a little further down the corridor, leaning against the wall, he paused, feeling himself tense involuntarily.

No, it was not Matthew. It was Amar, the Baron's private knight. His dark red eyes were fixed on the wall in front of him, and his black hair was exposed because the helmet that always rested on his head was missing this time.

As Kael's footsteps paused, Amar's eyes slowly left the wall opposite him and turned towards him. Then, he looked at the paper in his hand.

They both remained silent for a while. But since Amar didn't seem to have any intention of speaking or moving, Kael held his breath and started moving again with slow steps.

Each one of his steps left a heavy thud that echoed through the corridor. He didn't know why, but it was much clearer than before... and it was also the only thing he could hear for some reason.

Amar's eyes never left him as he moved. The distance between them was decreasing by the second and Kael could hardly keep himself from sweating.

'Why am I so nervous?'

He couldn't find a logical answer to his question. Just as Amar passed in front of him, he quickened his pace a little. All his senses were working to their fullest, his whole body was ready for action like he had never felt in his life.

And then... he stopped dead in his tracks all of a sudden.

His eyes widened slightly as each of his senses slowly shut down, except for one... one he was using quite often these days.

'Eon... wait, eon?'

He swallowed, turning his head only slightly back and looking towards where Amar had been standing earlier. He saw the man's dark red eyes glowing, looking at him as if he were his enemy... and slowly filling the entire corridor with his eon, which had a brownish color.

Amar's eon was... strange. It suddenly filled Kael with a sense of spaciousness. Like... like the freshness of the wind blowing in the face in a desolate forest.

The smell of leaves, earth, and trees filled his nose. He saw the vines forming inside the brown-colored eon, each one slowly approaching him.

His reaction was very fast. His own eon quickly enveloped his body, and his body instantly became many times stronger. He threw himself back as fast as he could. He dodged the vines coming at him, but when he suddenly found Amar in front of him, he realized there was nothing he could do.

Amar grabbed him by the neck, gripped him so tightly that he gasped for breath, and swept him off his feet. Kael tried desperately to kick him, but the vines he didn't know where they came from tied his feet together and prevented him from kicking.

Amar tensed the arm holding him by the neck, then slammed it hard against the wall of the hallway. Kael felt his bones breaking as cracks appeared in the wall, the metallic taste of blood filling his mouth.

And just then Amar narrowed his dark red eyes slightly.

"I know what you're trying to do."

His voice was cold. With each word, Kael found it harder and harder to breathe. Yet he didn't give up, he didn't want to. He tried everything he had to survive. He increased the amount of eon coursing through his veins as much as he could, constantly looking for a tiny opening he could open for himself... Explore more adventures at mvl

But he couldn't find it.

On the contrary, Amar tightened his grip even more.

"What do you want from the Guardian? What is your purpose? Who-"

He paused for a moment.

"No... what exactly are you?"

As the grip on his throat loosened, Kael felt he could breathe again. Then Amar let go of him completely and he fell to the floor. Coughing up blood, he tried to clear his lungs, to get his body moving again. But Amar was right in front of him, his dark red eyes fixed sharply on him.

It was not possible for him to escape.

Straight away, it was impossible.

"Cough, cough... Haaah..."

He waited a while longer for the pain in his throat to subside. Then he slowly raised his head and focused on Amar's cold eyes.

"I- I don't mean any ha- cough...! Ugh..."

He took a deep breath, feeling a little more relaxed this time. But he was aware that the other man's patience was not infinite.

"I don't mean any harm... I really don't. Everything I said about the vines was true, I just exaggerated a bit to get permission. What I really want is to see how your Guardian is doing and see if I can find out anything about the town's problem."

He hadn't told a single lie. He didn't dare, frankly... Amar was really frightening right now.

But that wasn't all he had to say. As he thought about the questions Amar had asked him, one thing stuck in his mind.

"But... what do you mean 'what you are'...? I'm not hiding my identity or something like that... Do I look like I'm not human?"

Amar narrowed his eyes even more at the answer he received, taking his focus away from Kael for a brief moment, stepping back and making room for him.

Kael got up slowly. Amar had no intention of attacking himself again. Because... he couldn't feel that sense of danger, that killing intent that he had felt before.

Still, he understood that he was dangerous. Amar... was definitely not someone to be trifled with.

"You are human, don't worry."

Kael's brow furrowed at the words that finally came out of his mouth.

"Huh?"

Amar sighed lightly and closed his eyes. When his eyelids opened again after a brief moment, his dark red eyes were no longer glowing, he had withdrawn his eon.

"I will believe you... for now. But be aware that you are being watched, Kael."

With those words, the corridor suddenly glowed with a brown light, Kael heard scuffling sounds, as if vines were crawling all around him... and when the light disappeared, Amar was no longer in the corridor.

Kael took a deep, really deep breath. Slowly, he looked back at the wall Amar had pinned him against. He was sure there were a few cracks in the wall... but there was nothing there. He was also pretty sure that his bones were broken, but he felt pretty good now.

Like... Like nothing had actually happened.

*(A/N: I was going to post these chapters after two more days, actually. Because I will finally go home after two days. But I wrote these chapters from my phone and thought that it would be fine to post them. So... that's it. I will come back in two days, fully so with no issues. Trust me this time. I even stacked some chapters.)*