II

  ━━━━━━┓???┏━━━━━━

  Arc II Chapter 7

  ━━━━━━┛???┗━━━━━━

  12th Anima Lunar VIII AAC 753

  Little Aurora was occupied with a task of immense importance, a task that required her full and undivided attention and dedication, namely plundering the local cookie supplies. The sugary temptation proved too strong. The cookies were hers. All of them! Without exception!

  “...” Aurora hugged her cookie jar, determined to protect her sweets with her life. She was prepared to fight to the last cookie.

  In the meanwhile, Arwing’s tender heart shed tears. Her poor eyes witnessed a massacre of unimaginable proportions. Her beloved cookies were slaughtered before her very eyes. Yet, her desperate looks were all in vain. Arwing had probably never expected her to harbour so much evil.

  “Nom~. Nom~. Nom~.” The voracious little demon she was, Aurora did not stop, instead devouring all of them without a hint of mercy. One cookie after another fell victim to her gluttony, and Arwing’s personal cookie jar that she had claimed for herself slowly but surely began emptying. Not a single cookie was spared. Not a single cookie was destined to survive. And with every fallen cookie, a portion of Arwing’s soul withered.

  “...” Unbothered by such earthly concerns, Aurora was nibbling on her cookies with her cheeks stuffed like a hamster. It took her a few moments before she came to notice Arwing’s crushed state. “Sister Arwing, are you crying?”

  “No, I am not ... It is nothing.” Arwing sniffed, refusing to succumb to her sadness. “It is just some dust that got into my eyes. Nothing to worry about.”

  “If you say so, Sister Arwing~.” Aurora beamed before offering her benefactor one of her precious cookies. “Here, take a cookie~. You look like you could need one. I’m sure it will help.”

  “...” Arwing tentatively accepted her offer. Her eyes sparkled with joy, with hope. “Thank you, ... You were right, the cookie helps.”

  “...” Aurora beamed in agreement, a smile on her lips. It did. Arwing relished every last crumb. Rarely a cookie had tasted better. Her palate rejoiced. Her tongue tasted the sweet bitter flavour of molten chocolate, of pure cacao bliss in heaven. Apparently, cookies were Arwing’s weakness. Chocolate proved effective against her, which was noted.

  “...” Nelaeryn meanwhile rolled his eyes, disapproving of his colleague’s unbecoming behaviour. Probably because Arwing was fraternising with the enemy, namely her, a human, a girl. Not that anyone cared except for him. “Lambert!”

  Lambert responded, his voice laced with a slight hint of well deserved antipathy. “Yes, what’s the matter, Lord Nelaeryn?”

  “...” Aurora glanced up, listening, observing, a cookie in her tiny hands and her doll in her arms. Lambert’s antipathy did not go unnoticed, yet Nelaeryn chose to ignore his transgression for the sake of their continuous collaboration, she supposed. As it turned out, the two were not just elves, but also of noble lineage, which caused some friction from time to time.

  Nelaeryn raised his voice, “Lambert, my knowledge of human customs might be admittedly ... lacking, but are you not supposed to treat the dead with some respect? You should give them a proper burial, or at least notify the adventurers’ guild about the coach and their corpses.”

  Lambert furrowed an eyebrow, his surprise and distrust evident. “Oh, how come that Your Lordship suddenly starts caring about the fate of some humans? How unlike you.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Nelaeryn scoffed dismissively, his arms crossed. “To be honest, I could not care less, but what worries me is the forest and the spirits. You are an adventurer, Lambert. You know about the corrupting influence of blood. Where there is carnage, slaughter, violence, death, there is corruption. Their blood is staining the soil, like a curse, like a blight. Their blood is distorting the natural flow of aether. The entire area must be purified, and you cannot leave their corpses unburied like this. Otherwise, they will attract malevolent spirits sooner or later.”

  “... ... ...” Lambert fell silent. The topic made him visibly uncomfortable. “I’m well aware of such, Lord Nelaeryn, but we’ll deal with them. Later. In fact, I would strongly advise against contacting the guild or anyone else.”

  Nelaeryn was unable to follow. “How so?”

  Lambert sighed, shaking his head. “Lord Nelaeryn, trust me, you don’t want to have anything to with the coach. This entire affair is way above my and your pay grade. We never saw the coach. We heard nothing. We touched nothing. We know nothing. Understood? No matter what, don’t get involved in this. It’s a bad idea. The coach brings just bad fortune.”

  Nelaeryn was hardly convinced, but he deferred to Lambert’s judgment. “Elaborate.”

  “...” Lambert took a deep breath. “You noticed the black eagle? It was on the coach. The eagle is the coat of arms of the ...”

  Nelaeryn interrupted him. “It was the coat of arms of the House von Schwarz, was it not?”

  Lambert’s eyes widened for a moment. “So you knew?”

  “...” Nelaeryn merely nodded. “The eagle ... It was difficult not to recognise ... The House von Schwarz ... Their reputation precedes them, even up far in the North. Especially considering that we had to apply for their official permission in order to carry out this expedition. The authorisation cost the Royal Academy quite the fortune, but that was to be expected. For two elves to be able to enter these lands in this day and age ...”

  “That makes sense.” Lambert did not disagree. “Nevertheless, Lord Nelaeryn, we shouldn’t get involved with the coach. My party and I won’t for sure. The entire affair is way too dangerous for my taste. It just smells of trouble. The House von Schwarz is powerful, and so are their enemies. The coach was escorted by knights, heavily armed knights and a lot of them. Yet they were slaughtered easily. Whoever killed them, this wasn’t the work of some petty thieves and bandits. They wouldn’t dare to provoke a duke. No, this was the work of professionals. They must have been assassins, and they knew their crafts. They struck hard and fast. They left no survivors. Judging by the level of destruction, they also deployed a considerable number of mages ... This is nothing we, nor you for the matter, want to meddle with. Let the nobles play their little games. Better for all of us.”

  “...” Nelaeryn sighed, yet he agreed. “As loath as I am to admit, you have a point there. It would be unwise for to get involved.”

  Aurora followed the conversation with interest, still nibbling on her cookie. They were delicious, irresistible. “Lambert ... Lambert ... Lambert, who’re these Schwarz people?”

  ...

  ...

  ...

  “... ... ...” Time had stopped. It was as if the entire forest had fallen silent. Only the chirping birds disturbed the eerie silence.

  “You ... what?” Lambert nearly choked. “You don’t know who the Schwarz are?”

  “...” Aurora shook her head. Evidently supposedly not. Otherwise, she would not have asked, would she? “No, I don’t know them ... So, who’re they?”

  Lambert stared at her in disbelief. “Seriously, you’ve no idea who they’re?”

  “...” Aurora shook her head once more, while consuming another cookie. Once again, her answer was negative. “These Schwarz ... Are they important people?”

  “Important? Important?! IMPORTANT? They’re immensely important! They’re ruling Schwarzwalt for know how long. Every child knows their name! So why not you too? Did you grow up in a cave, or what?”

  “...” Aurora tilted her head, thinking, “Well, not in a cave, but I guess I grew up in this forest. I don’t remember any other place, which means this forest must be my home. That being said, forests and caves are comparable. They share many similar qualities. They’re both dark and humid, for example.”

  “...” Lambert was lost for words. “You’re messing with me, aren’t you? You’re doing this deliberately.”

  Aurora tilted her cute, little head, a question mark hanging over her head. “Doing what?”

  Lambert pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. “Listen, girl, amnesia, all well and good, but stop messing with ... Ouch!”

  His punishment came swiftly. Iris hit him with her staff, strongly disapproving of his actions. “Stop this, Lambert, don6t you see that the girl suffers from severe amnesia. She doesn’t even remember her name. It’s quite likely she lost her entire memory. No need to treat her like this.”

  Lambert tried to defend himself. “I know, Iris, you don’t need to tell me. It’s just ... It’s just ...”

  “Just what?” Iris glared at him.

  “...” Lambert was rubbing his head. Her strike still hurt. “Never mind, forget it.” He conceded defeat. Once more, her cheekiness had won.

  “Anyway ...” Lambert turned his attention to their girl. “Do you at least know where we’re?”

  “...” Aurora stroked her chin, thinking, and thinking, and thinking, before coming to a conclusion. “No, not really, but I think it was called ... Arcania?”

  A sigh escaped Lambert, overcome by a mild depression. “You’re truly a lost cause ... It’s Arcadia. Arcadia, not Arcania.”

  “Oh, Arcadia!” Aurora clenched her tiny fists with determination. “Understood, I’ll give my best to memorise it, promised. Arcadia ... Arcadia ... Arcadia ... Arcadia ... Arcadia ... Arcadia ... Arcadia ... Arcadia ... Arcadia ... Arcadia ... Arcadia ...” Information saved. The kingdom was called Arcadia, indeed.

  “... ... ...” Lambert just shook his head, utterly disillusioned. What a strange girl. Impossible to understand. Impossible to comprehend. Impossible to decipher.

  ━━━━━━┛???┗━━━━━━