Note to the reader: *.......* means he's saying that in his head.

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Chapter 14

We were about a day from Haven when I went to see the old man who told me about the mana poisioning. I wanted to ask him about the crystal in my chest. He was close to the center where all the wounded were kept. Most people had already been healed, but some were missing limbs so they needed someone to take care of them. Many people had died from injuries disease and starvation on our journey to Haven, but that had stabilized within the last few days. Treating injuries and finding food had become easy work."

Falon:"Hey. Been a while."

Old man:"Oh It's you. You never came back to see me."

Falon:"I decided to just leave things as they were."

Old man:"Your hairs changed. You must have given up you magic?"

Falon:"Kind of. Could you take another look at my body."

Old man:"Sure sit down."

He motioned me to sit down which I did. I took off my shirt to show him the crystal. He seemed a little interested in it and started to trace his fingers around it. After he examined it, he took out the same orb from last time.

We did the same thing from my first visit and when he was done checking the orb he looked at me.

Old man:"The crystal seems to be stealing your mana, but it will give you back a normal lifespan. The crystal seems to connect to your heart so I wouldn't try tearing it out."

Falon:"I won't be so reckless that I'd tear out a chunk of my chest. At least I'm not dying anymore."

Old man:"Alright your perfectly healthy so get out of here I have work to do."

Falon:"Sure.... and thanks."

The old man nodded at me as I left him. I walked around and talked to some of the knights. The sun had already gone down and everyone started to set up camp so I went to meet up with the girls.

I found Tessa and Fraya cooking over a fire while Ruby and Cal were returning from gathering fire wood. I gave Tessa the blood magic book a few days ago and she's been reading through it.

Falon:"Hey anything I can do to help."

Tessa:"You waited until all the work was finished before you came back."

Falon:"No I didn't it's just a coincidence."

Fraya started filling up bowls of what I assume is soup. I was given one, and the meat in it tasted like really chewy chicken. Some nights Lukilin and Masir would join us, but they didn't tonight.

During the trip Tessa would wait until everyone fell asleep and come cuddle up next to me, but she would be gone before anyone woke up the next morning. I wondered if she was doing it because of Laya's good soul or because she just wanted to. She had become just as sneaky as Laya was.

The next morning we traveled for a few hours and we finally reached Haven. I went to the front with the other girls to find Leon and Isaac who had been placed under the First Knight.

The First Knight was a man with red hair that went down to his shoulders, but he kept it in a ponytail. His name was Wesson. He was six foot five with silver armor all over his body and he carried a silver claymore. His sword and armor were enchanted to make them lighter and he refused to were a helmet.

He was a good knight, but he wasn't the best strategist. Leon and Isaac did everything while he was there for morale since he was the strongest knight in the kingdom.

By the time we found Leon and Isaac they were already talking with a representative from Haven about what to do with all the refugees. Haven was under the rule of the Dranian Kingdom but they aloud the city to be ran by a council of merchants since it was a merchant city.

They decided to allow the higher ranked people into the city and the rest would create a camp around the outside walls. Since all of the nobility was killed off the highest ranked people would be the best warriors so Leon, Isaac, Wesson, the girls, some high ranking knights with family and me were aloud in.

Before entering Haven Leon and Isaac gave out orders to the people left behind to start building a permanent camp. We stayed at a high class inn and they kept us away from the slums and slave trading parts of town.

We were feeling a little down about losing so easily to the Demon King so the girls and I went for a walk checking out different stores.

Cal, Tessa and me joined the strategy meeting that was held later that night.

Merchant councilman:"Food has been supplied to refugees, but they will only have enough for about a week. After they run out it's up to them to find their own. We have also stopped charging an entrance fee for now."

Isaac:"What about Gart? What should we do first to reclaim it?"

Merchant councilman:"I say we abandon Gart and us a large scale magical attack to destroy it and kill the Demon King."

Leon:"We can't. The capital is a very important stronghold that we have to reclaim. The people have homes there where they built their lives."

Merchant councilman:"It would cost to many soldiers lives to take it back now."

Isaac:"You just want Haven to be the new capital. With the royal family dead, the destruction of Gart puts you at the top of humanity. Your trying to steal the throne as the next King."

Merchant councilman:"How dare you accuse me of such a thing! I only want to ensure the safety of our people!"

Leon:"Lets calm down. Gart is not a price we can pay to defeat the Demon King. We will have plenty of soldiers when we hear back from the other kingdoms."

Isaac:"We need to pick a group that will fight the Demon King."

Merchant councilman:"Who can stand up to him?"

Leon:"We have a few choices, but the immortal demon is a problem."

Isaac:"Why don't we do a hero summons?"

The room went quiet and everyone looked at Isaac.

Isaac:"What? Do you not have those anymore?"

Leon:"No we can do it but it was outlawed after the last time they tried to summon a hero."

I was curious about it so I stepped forwards.

Falon:"Why?"

This time Wesson had the answer.

Wesson:"People from other worlds aren't more powerful than us, but when we summon them a powerful weapon always appears with them. The palace was attacked in order to steal the weapon from the previous hero we summoned and the wife of the king died along with the hero."

Falon:"What happened to the weapon?"

Wesson:"It was lost after the attack."

Leon:"Each race should be able to summon one hero so maybe we can make a team. The last hero summoned was by the elves but he was human so after he finished his job they kicked him out. He was a master of lightning magic."

Merchant councilman:"I actually met him once when I was a boy, but he told me he wasn't using magic. I asked him how he produced the lightning and he showed me his arms. He was wearing a golden bracer on each wrist with a lightning bolt symbol on them."

Falon:"Were they enchanted?"

Merchant councilman:"He told me that they were summoned with him and he called them the thunderbolts of Zeus."

Falon:"Zeus!"

Wesson:"Each hero is summoned with a powerful weapon. I guess those bracers must have been his."

I felt very excited and wanted to try the hero summons. Cal then stepped forwards.

Cal:"I think we should try it. If someone powerful shows up and is willing to help, it could make things a lot easier."

Leon:"Lets put that aside for now. How long until we hear back from the other races."

Isaac:"The elf race should send world any day now and the dwarves will probably be another week. There's no telling how long it could take the beastmen."

Merchant councilman:"Actually you can talk to the dwarves now."

Leon:"How!"

Merchant councilman:"A dwarven prototype device was dropped off here a week ago. It's used for communication."

Isaac:"Lets see it then."

The merchant left the room and while he was gone I talked to Cal and Tessa about the hero summons. When he returned he was holding a cane with an orb on the end of it.

Merchant councilman:"It can send your voice to a matching device that is in Nelfarum.(for those who didn't look at the map it's the dwarven capital.)"

The merchant lifted the cane up to his mouth and started talking into it.

Merchant councilman:"This is Gaz the head of the merchants council in Haven. I have some urgent business with your clan heads."

Dwarf:"I'll hear what you have to say and pass it on to the heads."

Gaz:"Gart has been overrun by demons and we would like to request aid in reclaiming the capital."

Dwarf:"I will tell them and return with an answer as soon as possible."

Gaz:"We will be waiting."

He lowered the cane and looked toward us.

Gaz:"It could be a while so I think we should end this here today."

Wesson:"I agree. I'm starting to feel hungry."

All of us left the meeting room. I was walking back to our inn with Tessa and Cal.

Falon:"Lets find the other girls and get something to eat."

Back at the inn we found the girls in Fraya's room talking. I decided not to enter and sent Cal in to get them. When they came out I noticed that they were getting along really well.

Falon:"I see the two of you have become close friends."

Ruby:"Well a life and death situation tends to help create strong bonds."

I smiled at them.

Falon:"I see."

The four of us ate at the inn that night and mostly talked to Ruby and Fraya about what happened in the meeting. I was very curious about the hero summons so I asked all of them about it but no one new anything that I didn't learn earlier.

I went to sleep alone in my room, but woke up to Tessa lying on me. I looked down at her sleeping face and just wanted to hug it, but I stopped myself since I didn't want to wake her up. I thought to myself that if she kept doing this I may not be able to stay a gentleman for very long. The warmth from her body made me want to attack her in her sleep. I had some very pleasant dreams that night that which I will not tell anyone about.

I made it through the night and she left before I woke up again. A thought crossed my mind.

*Didn't I lock the door last night? I wonder how she got in so silently?*

I decided to not put much thought into it since today I might be able to learn more about the hero summons which made me very excited.Back to Main Page