Private - Duties and ResponsiBilities | Page 2

And with the last crate loaded in, they were ready to go, she exhaled after a job well done but now at the very least she was no longer nervous since Duke Kurama and Stelluna taken care of everything. However she couldn’t ignore the fact that both of them were hurt, the two of them were hit by debris but it seems that Duke Kurama remained unscathed. As an act of selflessness, she watched the duke sublimate some of his life energy to heal Stelluna’s wounds and injuries. She took a step closer to see the miracle work, curiosity had aroused her for this was the first time seeing it up close with Maleficmancy. Was he really a Fiend knight? Its hard to believe after what he did.

“Whoa… that’s amazing Duke Kurama!”she praised him as she checked stelluna’s injuries again to validate that she wasn’t dreaming.

“So this is magic…” she finally realized why magic would replace traditional methods of healing and treating the wounded but she couldn't neglect those practices regardless. The trade off for using such power is energy and when energy is depleted, these miracles wouldn’t happen, just as Kurama would look slightly fatigued. Well he is after all one of the most powerful warriors of the game so its no surprise at all. She’d imagine the number of trials this man had faced over his time spent in this game, probably far greater that she could ever imagined.

But alas this was just a false reality however Beatrice would wonder what it would like to have such potential for magic power.

“Well since the both of you don’t have any serious injuries now, hop in the bandwagon, we’re almost there actually and hopefully one of the patrols would escort us to the keep” she said as she accompanied the two of them inside.

“Well let’s be on our way then!” She smiled as she sprint towards the reigns and got the horses walking down the road.

“So… the cooldown for such skill is drastically low, if I’d reckon an approximate of 5-10 seconds at most but even by performing consecutive teleports, you wouldn’t avoid the fact that it drains a whole lot of energy out of you Duke Kurama? Its safe to say that longer battles work against him. The dragon lady on the other hand was one heck of a dare devil I don’t think she’s the type to be bothered by prolonged matches. So the fiend knight can transfer energies from one to another party member but its safe to assume that such application can work on his enemies too. If so then coming at him unprepared is a suicide mission. Still… that woman bothers me… quite the cruelest way to kill a body. And she’s just a NPC” the green hood shivered at the thought of it, if he was in that poor impaled bandit’s place, it be a gruesome death, being fatally impaled while being burnt alive.

“Now then they’re probably gonna retreat and come search for me to complain” the blue bird tweeted at his shoulder and flew away.

“Well can’t keep them waiting..” he gave a devious smirk, loading his crossbow and jumped off the tree.

 

Stelluna felt the dark energy revitalize her, courtesy of Seto. Hopefully there wasn't some slow curse by death hidden in the spell. Not like she could really protest at the current moment. That definitely wasn't Illumancy although it was good to know that Malefimancy could manipulate life force so masterfully. Perhaps that was why all the fools who sought to live forever flocked to Malefimancy. She had been part of some teams to take down a mage or two that had tried to ascend in some way or another. Whether it was through human sacrifice, calling things which should have stayed as they were or worse... It never ended well for either side. She gave a quick word of thanks in return.

With her wounds healed, at least to a better point, she heeded Beatrice's suggestion for now and went inside the wagon. As Seto warned against, she didn't want her wounds to reopen trying to keep up with a horse drawn carriage. She idly wondered what a duke was doing, protecting a small caravan. Was there really that little happening? Or perhaps this shipment was more valuable than she had thought. It could be something to do with the fact that magic was seemingly much more common in Astorea than anywhere else. While generally harmless, some of the people that start out with a bit more power than control could harm themselves. She'd heard of a young apprentice or two ripping their bones out of their skin from an awry telekinesis attempt. And that was just general magics, not even getting into the things that happened with Pyromancy or anything more specialized sorceries. She sat in the wagon, lost in her thoughts of the recent developments. There was definitely something strange recently, and she was going to find out what eventually.

 

Seto rested his head on his left shoulder after he had heard a familiar young woman's voice, it was Beatrice whom came over to see what he was doing, he could tell ths was perhaps the first time Beatrice had ever seen magic heal wounds due to the words that came out of her mouth, it really wasn't anything special for a dark user to cast compared to his other spells that he had at his disposial. By her expression though, perhaps she was questioning the role he played as a Fiend Knight,the very thought made him chuckle out loud for a brief moment before he became serious again and looked at @Beatrice.

"You havn't said anything but my gut is telling me otherwise......I may be a Fiend Knight but.....I still have some humanity........I am......only a necessary evil in this world."

"Perhaps one day........I could instruct you to harness the power I use, It can be used for good or for I'll intentions, it all depends on the caster itself so don't afraid of such power."

With his words spoken, Seto returned to his work at healing Sola. When he was finally finished with her healing, he retracted his hands from Stelluna's body whom seemed grateful for his service, giving him a quick thanks in return, he simply nodded in return. After that, he definitely felt fatigued from all the life force he used had infused into Stelluna through his healing, Stelluna had the right idea hopping into the back of the wagon so he would follow her example. He could walk but the magic he commanded required too much energy during battle so for now, he would need to rest, especially If a thread required him to ascend. Hoisting himself into the wagon, he laid his back against the back of the wagon itself behind where the driver sat, crossed his legs into indian style and made a circle with his joined fingers. To stay focused, Seto decided he would meditate in an attempt to keep himself ready at any moment for battle with a clear mind, he had no intentions of sleeping. Eventually as the wagon started to move yet again, Seto closed his eyes.
​

 

Duke Kurama spoke for himself and told Beatrice that if she’s interested and that she’s willing, he can tutor her how to use the same power he has just now. He was right to assume one thing and that was because Beatrice was afraid of using it, even if Duke Kurama was a Hydromancer, a Pyromancer for that matter, she might become completely intoxicated in using magic and that she would lose herself in its practice. Not only that but somewhere deep down she feels as if sorcery was just too good for her, she revered magic that much that in comparison to who she was, a bit insignificant.

“Thank you very much for the offer Duke Kurama, I won’t be delving into magic anytime soon but I hope you can teach me in the future when I’m ready! Stelluna too!” She cheered as the both of them would return inside the bandwagon. With relief, she climbed up to the reigns and moved the horses down the road. For the entire trip until having to approach the nearest patrol they encountered no trouble, it was a peaceful journey thereafter as if the previous trouble didn’t even happen. The Asotrean guard were suspicious at first but when they saw Duke Kurama and the details of the parcel, they acknowledged them immediately and escorted the bandwagon into town, all the way to the keep.

The cavalry scouts would then return to their duties as the keep door opens for them and were led by a guard straight into the courtyard.

“You were right on time, is the parcel safe?” the lady that hired Beatrice asked.
“O-oh! Yes we had some delays but its all here!” Beatrice was quite afraid of mentioning the fact that they were ambushed earlier. Taking the straight road off the trade route was a bad idea but then it gave them enough time at least.

Either way she would know about that soon. She was surprised that they discovered the Duke with them on this journey but all the more glad to see that Beatrice had quite the help. Stelluna too for she was mentioned with such regards by the King Astor himself.

“Very well, Beatrice have the guards unload the cargo into our storage, I’ll join you shortly. Duke Kurama, I have urgent news for you if you come with me, will you be joining us lady stelluna? I believe this matter may interest you as well.” Said her employer.

Before they would go their separate ways, Beatrice would smile and hold both Stelluna and Seto’s hands, giving them both kisses on two sides of the cheek. “Thank you so much for everything! I do hope I can repay you someday!” she cheered and seeing as if she doesn’t want to delay them any longer she bowed and headed off with the keep guard to sort out and unload the parcel into storage. For what matters her employer has with Stelluna and Kurama, Beatrice would have no idea, even the author who written this bit has no idea either.

The surviving bandits that ran off found themselves lying down on the ground, some were paralyzed and choking for air, impaled by arrows while others had succumbed to what seemed to be poison. The ringleader of these bandits was paralyzed.

“Y-you bastard… you didn’t tell us that the Duke and that Bitch were the Caravan escorts! You costed us the lives of our men and our golems! Those were our assets!”

“Mmm… I did left that out because all you requested was the information about King Astor’s parcel. That’s info I had given but who am I to know who was gonna be guarding it? This was news to me.” A cunning man who spoke with lies behind his words.

“How dare you… you won’t get away with this…”
“I already have” he stood from the stump of the tree and started to walk around across the bodies of the bandit leader’s fallen and paralyzed comrades.

“They say a hunter’s role is to look for the biggest scores and take them down, predator to prey” he twirls a bolt around.

“When the opportunity presents itself…” the Green hood shot 3 of his paralyzed victims dead.
“Take it… but there’s another way to lure out a target with certain intelligence… live bait” with that the bandit leader’s eyes opened wide, realizing that he was playing right into his hands.

“Conditioning, Stimuli… that sort of stuff. Once suspicion is gone, the score is made. After all… an unsuspecting target, is always an easy one” those were the last words he and the entire gang would hear as the hunter came to collect the spoils of his treachery.

“Well I could use live bait, besides, the fresh the meat the more inviting it is. I can’t believe they had that much gold on them but who cares… I’m gonna buy my leather armor with this.”

 

Stelluna stopped the attempted kiss on the cheek from Beatrice. Nothing personal against the girl, but she didn't care for such things. As she saw a regal looking lady start talking, she stepped off to the side. It wasn't her business and she had better things to do. An urgent matter for the duke? Well, there was only one duke around here and she definitely wasn't one. From her place off to the side, she started making her preparations to leave and said,

"You are incorrect on both accounts. I hold no titles and this matter would not interest me. If there is nothing else, I am going now."

With that, she collected her payment and started to leave. It would be time to hit the road again, and with brewing tensions on the horizon... She would rather be at the front lines of any such war rather than in the back. The best defense, was the best offense. Of course, the best offense was the best offense as well, which was fairly self explanatory. It would only be a matter of time before either Astorea or Falderan would crack and begin some sort of assault. What side she would be on? Only time and circumstance would tell, but her role in this task was over. First, time to find a good smith to bend her armor back into shape. And maybe sharpen her spear again. Or just get a new one, this one was resembling her old spear, which she used more as a walking stick rather than a weapon more often than not. Perhaps a halberd instead, it would take some relearning but the extra versatility would be very useful.

[[Exit Thread]]

 

At first Beatrice's cheering interrupted his meditation but thankfully for his sanity's sake, she stopped after a brief moment after she returned to the front of the wagon, taking the reigns and began moving the cart down the forested path that would eventually lead to Dormont. Unlike before the trip went rather smooth surpringly, he had been expecting some sort of trouble or an attack on their journey but nothing came of it with their biggest thread being a Astorea patrol. There was aparrently some trouble with them until he heard his voice, evidently him and his name were the only thing necessary for the patrol to do their job, taking his and Stelluna's job at protecting and escorting the wagon from future danger. It worked for him, he had done more than enough for a casual day, besides his energy reservce still hadn't recovered yet completely from battling those highwaymen and their golems.​

It wasn't long when they reached Dormont and the castle itself, the noise of the stone wall's doors awoke him from his meditation as they entered Castle Dormont's courtyard and a guard or a man approached Beatrice asking about the cargo they had delivered. It seemed Beatrice was cought off guard again but at this point, it was common for her, he shrugged slightly at her response at the man she was talking to. Seto chuckled hard when he heard the gasps coming from the many people nearby when they heard he was with them. Why was that so difficult to swallow? It wasn't so long ago he was simply a skilled Monster Slayer from Dawngrave, besides doing work for his new duties grew dull at times and Lady Cessia knew how bored he could become at times.​

Even though he and Stelluna were summoned for some meeting or event, Stelluna simply waved it off and took her leave, he smirked happily as she left, that was just like her but that wasn't a bad thing, he used to do the same thing as well. After hearing he was called, Seto pulled himself out and jumped over the side of the wagon where the man and Beatrice were.​

Seto

"Sigh....I understand, tell me the situation on the move, I shall be with you in a minute."

Seto was than unexpectedly caught off guard when Beatrice grabbed his and kissed his cheek, causing his face to turn slightly red from her kiss. This moment reminded him when he was with Alia in the beginning and something similar occured to him. Tham of course with his luck, in response a guard near the Castle door began to chuckle at the sight. That irritated the Duke enough he shot a death stare at the guard who nearly panicked for a moment before returning to act like a proper soldier should. Seriously, why diid everyone act like he was some stereotype NPC or some robot?

Seto

"Hmph worry not, this was for Astorea's sake, I will do what is necessary to keep this country together wether it be a protector or noble. I was orginally like you and the many players of this land, a simple monster slayer from Dawngrave.

In the short time I've known you @Beatrice , you seem to want to serve Astorea or at least aid those in help, you are not capable yet but......you have a heavy, active heart that can used. If you ever seek to serve King Astor the First of Astorea, you could always serve House Kurama and help those in need of your strength's. If you wish to serve and do your part, come back here whenever you desire, I shall be here unless war calls to me."

Beatrice bowed her head in respect, when she rose, Seto gently petted her har before the two went their seperate ways. Seto was curious what this news was, it would be a good idea to no postpone it any longer, as a result Seto followed the man into the castle.

[[Exit Thread]]​