Chapter 26
The first two riders are Helena Estrudiantes, the Queen of Haegia Kingdom, and Ludmila Karychenko, one of the Great Knight of Haegia. Ludmila joins the expedition as her punishment from the last incident with Helena, while Helena feels she needs to join them to make sure that her presence could lift the morale around her.
The second group consist of Villias Pavlov and Albert Martin. They are the one who responsible for the current expedition and protecting the village that they will visit.
And the last one is Volya Portar and Romain Ambros. They agree to joins Villias and Albert to protect the village and find the magician that make a ruckus around Therious.
Volya looks around him and could see the scenery is really bland. He only sees a cliff around him and then he only sighs. After that, he looks in front of him and sees Helena.
Volya then asks Albert that directly in front of him,
"Sir Albert..."
"What is it, Sir Volya?" ask Albert
"Why Your Highness follows us for this mission? I believe she can't leave the Kingdom for a while..." asks Volya
"About that..."
"This is Sir Mikhail and King Paulo decision..." answer Villias
"Huh?"
"Yes... I think the village that we will visit have someone that Queen Helena knew in the past," continues Villias
"Is... that so..."
"And she could rally and lift the morale of the knight near the village," says Albert
"Hopefully..."
Volya then looks again at Helena and says,
"Isn't it dangerous for you to keep Your Highness joins such a dangerous mission like this?"
"Yes... And we are aware of that..." answer Albert
"Then... Why did both of you let her join us?"
None of them answers Volya question and from there Volya knows that Helena is someone who is really stubborn. But, he must admit that some of the knights told him that when Helena around she could lift their morale and her tactics ac.u.men is on top notch.
He only could sigh and hears Helena shouts,
"We already near Arkmunster Fortress! We will take some rest there!"
Volya then immediately looks in front of him and could see a very high wall with some metal bars protecting three wooden doors. Two small doors and one bigger door.
That fortress is Arkmunster Fortress, the Fortress that becomes the entrance to Haegia Kingdom. Everyone needs to pa.s.s through the Fortress to visit and leave the Kingdom.
Helena stops in front of the small door and shouts,
"I am Helena Estrudiantes, the Queen of Haegia Kingdom! Open the door now!"
Five minutes later, the metal bar is lowered and the wooden door is opened. The six of them enters the fortress and could see a lot of knights are waiting for them.
One of the knights walks towards Helena and bow in front of her. He then says,
"Welcome at Arkmunster, Your Highness."
"Thank you very much, Sir Phillip," answer Helena
She then dismounts from the horse and gives her weapon and armour to the other knight that walks towards her. After that, they walk towards Ludmila, Albert, Villias, Romain and Volya.
Volya dismounts from his horse and looks around in awe. Even if he already through the fortress several times, this is the first time he waits inside the guard room.
The room is s.p.a.cious and he could see a lot of weapon at one side of the wall, knights walking around the room with two of them looking on the lookout, and several knights are looking on the road below.
The road is the only safe road for everyone that visiting Haegia, because of the natural condition of Snowmarsh Mountain where the weather quite unpredictable.
Romain looks at Volya, taps his shoulder, and says,
"It looks like this is the first time you wait here, huh?"
"That's right... It's the first time I wait here as I usually pa.s.sed through that road every time," answer Volya as he points at the road below
Romain then laughs a little bit and then says,
"Did you know... A lot of young children at Haegia dreaming to work here as a knight
"Hmmm... Looking by a lot of knights stationed here, I must agree with you," says Volya
"That's right!"
"And judging by your answer, you are one of the young children that dreaming of protecting Haegia from here, right?"
"That's right!"
Both of them laughs together until they notice Phillip already behind them. Phillip then looks at them and then says,
"Long time no see, Volya!"
"And... you are?" asks Volya with a puzzled face
"Did you really forget me?" says Phillip
"Err... Yes?"
"Sir Phillip... You should bear with him... It's hard for him to remember someone name," says Romain as he taps Volya's back
"Is it?" says Phillip
"Phillip... Phillip?" says Volya as he tried to remember something
Ludmila notices them chatting together and joins them. Villias and Albert observe them and then Villias says,
"I could see that they are full of energy right now."
"Yes, you are right. And we need their energy for this mission..."
"This mission... Already took a lot of our people lives... We need to stop it, right here and right now!" says Villias as he notices Helena walking towards him.
"You are right, Sir Villias... We need to protect our own people… I will not let anyone falls to this magician hand" says Helena as she walks towards Phillip, Ludmila, Volya, and Romain.
Villias and Albert follow behind Helena and then they start to discuss the mission. Phillip is the one who starts it,
"If I remember correctly, all of you will depart on the mission to kill the undead..."
"That's right..." answer Villias
"Unfortunately after the attack on Volkorov Village, none of us could find any of their traces," continues Phillip
"That's why we bring Volya to our group for this mission," says Albert as he points at Volya
"Volya? Oh... That's the reason why you are here, Volya."
Phillip then looks at Volya and says,
"With you the one that capable of using magic at Haegia joining this mission, then magic is one of the possible reason of this calamity."
"Most likely, that's the reason..." says Volya as he isn't sure about it yet.
"But, the modus operandi almost the same with the village when we meet Volya back then," says Romain
Phillip, Helena, and Ludmila look at Volya and then Helena asks Volya,
"Could you tell me, what are they?"
"They are used to be human..." answer Volya
"Then, they already died, right?" asks Phillip
"If this undead is indeed the one that we fight back then, I will say that their body already dead, but their soul still bound to their body," explains Volya
"What do you mean by that?" ask Villias
"They are dead and alive at the same time... They can't control their rotten body, but they could feel and see what they have done to other people," answer Volya
"That's cruel..." says Ludmila
Volya then looks around him and notices that Phillip looks in deep thought. He then asks him,
"What in your mind, Sir Phillip?"
"Ah... I just think that the one who bound the soul to their decayed body must be someone who done forbidden magic before. At least I know from some magic ethic from the adventurer that pa.s.s through this fortress," answer Phillip
"That's right... They indeed use forbidden magic in this incident," says Volya
Albert and Villias looks at them and then Villias asks them,
"Then, Sir Volya... What should we do to stop them?"
"If the magus that hold their soul didn't put any curse inside it, you could order your unit to cut the undead hand and leg. I will burn their body later on... But, please be careful if your men attacked by the undead..." answer Volya
"Curse? What do you mean? Is their body have something special that could kill our men?" asks Albert
"Hmmm... Maybe you could say that the magus is the 'Puppeteer' that control the 'Puppet', the undead, around. As the one who owns the 'Puppet', they could add anything they like for their advantages in order to entertain people," answer Volya
"So, there is a possibility that some of the undead will have special magic inside them..." says Helena as she sits down and tried to think what their plan next.
"Then, do you have any idea what type of magic that controlling the undead?" asks Phillip
"Again... If this is the same person, I could say that it is Death Inducement, Soul Bind, and Mind Erosion. Those three are three magic that could destroy the world in the wrong hand..." answer Volya as he sighs for a while
"Hmmm... Maybe I could find some information from the adventurer about the mage that using that magic..."
"I doubt you will find them, as those three are a type of forbidden magic..."
"You... are right..."
"And... For someone from the kingdom without magic, you are quite knowledgeable about magic, Sir Phillip." praises Volya
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"Maybe... It's the forte of becoming the leader of this fortress..."
Both of them laughs a little, and immediately notices Romain that asks them,
"If the undead has another curse inside them... Could you help us against those curses?"
"I could... But..." says Volya
"What is it, Sir Volya?" asks Helena
"It depends on the type of curse in them..."
Everyone could see that Volya really worried and then his face changed. It's full of determination. He then says,
"But, I will try my best to help everyone there. I know I could do it!"
After hearing Volya's determination, all of them smiles at him. Helena then asks him,
"Then, do you know the sign of someone who will become an undead?"
"Unfortunately, I'm not quite sure..." answer Volya
Helena immediately smiles, stands up from her seat, and shouts,
"Alright! Then we need to be more cautious than before! So, prepare yourself from now!"
"Sir, Yes Sir!" shouts every knight in the fortress
"And Volya, we really need your help for this mission."
"I will help all of you with all of my might, Your Highness," says Volya as he smiles at her
"Good to hear that!"
The moment she said that the scout already arrived at the fortress and report their finding to Phillip. He then relays the information to Helena and she immediately orders her group to move.
As soon Helena group already leaving the fortress, Phillip looks at their figure and says,
"I pray for all of your safety..."