394. Responsibility and Consequence

Daniel Song stood in a clearing, surrounded by trees as his eyes darted from side to side. Shadows moved around him. Fast, swift. He could barely keep up with what it was. He raised his Primordial Longsword, ready for its attack.

And it lashed out. From the darkness, a figure emerged, swinging for his throat. Daniel barely reacted in time, bringing up his sword to parry the double bladed dagger. He grinned as the assailant recoiled, and he took that chance to grab her by the arm.

“Fuck—”

Amanda cursed as she tried to pull away. But it was too late. Daniel had already caught her. He yanked her close and raised the flat of his sword to her neck.

“Gotcha.”

“I lost already, alright?”

The former assassin cursed as she took a step back. He rolled his eyes and sheathed his blade.

“That was a good sparring session. Honestly, I’m surprised I can actually keep up with you now.”

“What are you even on about?”

Amanda frowned. She gestured at him.

“You’re a [Hero]. You’re way stronger than me. You literally beat me even back when you were 10 levels below me.”

“That’s not what I meant. I was talking about speed.”

Daniel scoffed as he led her back away from the forest towards Alyras. They strolled down the road, both of them tired from the spar. It was afternoon, and just this morning, Daniel had been far from the city, visiting Salvos. Now he was back and training with Amanda. It wasn’t anything life-threatening or dangerous. In fact, it was the former assassin who suggested this.

He didn’t mind some relaxing sparring like this. It was a nice reprieve from the near-death situations he’d often found himself tossed in when Salvos was involved. He came to a halt as he reached the end of a road.

“Man, Salvos must be rubbing off on me if a sparring day is considered a rest day…”

He shook his head, and Amanda paused. She shifted her feet uncomfortably, overhearing what he said, but he didn’t see her reaction. Instead, Daniel looked up towards the sky. The sun was inching closer to the horizon right behind the city of Alyras. It was late into the afternoon.

“Think the meeting has already started?”

He turned back to Amanda. The former assassin shrugged.

“I don’t fucking know. I don’t pay attention that that shit.”

Daniel furrowed his brows.

“Well, I hope it’s going well.”

He took a step forward, heading for the adventurer encampment just outside of the city. Then he paused. He leaned forward, catching sight of three figures just ahead of him. He opened his mouth.

“That’s—”

And he paused.

“This is good.”

Edithe Dawnrise smacked her lips as she pushed the empty plate away from her. There had been a slice of delicious, sweet cake there. Key word: had been. The red-haired woman wasn’t really one with a sweet tooth, but she couldn’t deny just how good that had been.

Hadrian smiled at her and leaned forward.

“I’m glad you liked it. I spent the whole of last week scouting for places until I decided on this cafe.”

He nodded at the server as he settled back into his chair. Edithe shook her head.

“So, is this our first date or something?”

She smiled at him, and he flushed. Hadrian her leader— the leader of the Valiant Dreamers Company— shifted in his seat.

“I mean, if you want it to be…”

Edithe just chuckled.

“For a ladies’ man, you’re quite shy, aren’t you?”

He scoffed, but didn’t have a response for that. She got to her feet, stretching.

“Anyway, this was fun. At least, it’s a good distraction since…”

She glanced over to the palace of Alyras at the center of the city. He sighed.

“Don’t remind me.”

It was something that annoyed both of them. The True Valiants had been invited to be present at the meeting, and not the Valiant Dreamers. The fact that the Valiant Dreamers weren’t going to be there didn’t matter so much to Edithe since she knew there was going to be limited vacancies to the Conference of Alyras, but the fact that the True Valiants were invited instead of them? It made her livid.

She, to some extent, understood the reasoning. However, that didn’t change how it made her feel. Sighing, Edithe turned away from the palace of Alyras.

“It’s whatever. They have Orbur Vale, so it makes sense, but it’s not like he’d be able to contribute much to the meeting. We know everything he knows.”

“Not unless he lied to us.”

Hadrian shook his head. Edithe pursed her lips.

“That is true, but…”

She trailed off. It was entirely possible. Not something that was off the table. Closing her eyes, she just shrugged.

“It’s not something we should dwell on, anyway.”

Edithe was content with not being involved with every important event that ever happened. At the end of the day, she was just an adventurer. She wasn’t like Daniel who was a [Hero], nor was she like Salvos who was… well, Salvos.

The red-haired woman remembered just a few hours ago. Salvos was babying three Wyverns now. And Edithe feared to see what those tiny little monsters would grow up to become with Salvos raising them.

“Come on, let’s just go back to the encampment.”

Edithe ushered Hadrian away from the cafe. He nodded, glancing back to the palace of Alyras for a moment longer. Then his eyes narrowed.

“What’s going on?”

He asked. Edithe turned around. She heard the susurration. There were shouts and loud voices echoing from the direction of the palace. She frowned.

“A commotion?”

She exchanged a look with Hadrian. And they had the same thought.

“Let’s go—”

They moved to investigate.

Saffron Merryster sat at the Conference of Alyras, plagued by a myriad of emotions. On one hand, she was glad this meeting was finally happening. As the daughter of one of the Four Greater Vampire Families, the duty to protect Humankind from the return of the Demons had been instilled into her since she was young.

But despite such teachings, all of the Vampire families had begun to neglect their duties in the recent millennia. Perhaps it was fair for the Merrysters, the Norwoods, the Crimsonfangs, and the Veridians to be blamed for allowing the Demon threat to foster for so long. And as much as Saffron agreed with the sentiment, she was absolutely livid that this was the main subject of the Conference of Alyras.

“These Demons should’ve been dealt with by the Vampire families before it spiraled to this mess that it has become. How could you, so-called Demon Slayers, allow this threat to fester and infect the Inoria Empire from within? What have you been doing all this time?”

A man called Jake spoke uninterrupted. Helena Warshade had brought him in, saying that he was from a relatively new company called the True Valiants. He accused and condemned the Vampire Families. Which might’ve been fair if not for the fact that it was dominating the discussion.

They should’ve been discussing what to do now, rather than pointing fingers. It frustrated Saffron. She massaged her temples as she sat back in her chair. It wasn’t her time to speak. Not like she could even contribute much. She was a lowly noble in the face of some of the most important people in the world.

“Orbur Vale, if you would explain how the Vampire families in Nixa did nothing as your company was infiltrated and overtaken by a group of Demon shapeshifters.”

Jake stepped aside, bringing a man from the now-defunct Iron Champions Company forward. Orbur cleared his throat.

“That is correct. The Iron Champions Company had been investigating the Church of Regnorex for years. Our leader, Bulan Dishar, led this investigation as we came to realize that they had plans. Big plans. We even sought aid from the Vampire families multiple times, but… our pleas fell on deaf ears.”

He closed his eyes, speaking through gritted teeth. Saffron couldn’t stop herself anymore. She looked at Orbur Vale, outraged. Wasn’t he part of the Iron Champions Company? He had literally supported the Demons because he felt his life was threatened. She opened her mouth, ready to unleash her annoyance at him.

“You—”

But Crocus Merryster, her father, stopped her. He calmed her down before she could speak and embarrass herself. Flushing, she sat back down.

“I don’t get it. Why are we arguing over this? Shouldn’t we be taking action?”

She sputtered. Crocus sighed, watching Orbur Vale sit back down. Another voice spoke up. Peris Dolonia, Crown Prince of Dolonia, got to his feet, voicing his agreements at the Vampires’ failures.

“We cannot overlook that we had entrusted this sole duty of exterminating any burgeoning Demon threat to these noble Demon Slayers—”

“We should be taking action.”

Crocus nodded, his forehead creased.

“However, arguing here will only push them further towards inaction. We can only bear responsibility for our failures and hope our pleas don’t go unheard.”

Saffron didn’t understand it. She couldn’t comprehend this meaningless blaming. She listened to Peris Dolonia’s ramblings, trying to parse it. Annoyed. Irritated. But it was only when he finished, did she finally realize what their issue was.

“So, why should we bear the consequences of your failure?”

Peris Dolonia stared callously at the Vampire families. It all clicked to Saffron. The reason why they were so reticent to simply just agree to confront the Demon threat. It was because they wanted someone else to deal with it. They felt like they weren’t responsible, so why did they have to involve themselves now?

It was ridiculous, yet understandable. After all, why did they have to make sacrifices when they were not the ones at fault for what was happening now? Yet, at the same time, if everyone who wasn’t responsible for allowing this Demon threat to devolve to the current situation abstained from intervening, then the Demons would be free to overwhelm the Human lands.

Peris sat back down, shaking his head.

“Mori Gladius, Nixa— how many more people have to suffer for the consequences of your actions?”

Saffron gripped the edge of the table tightly. But she wasn’t here to speak. The one who answered was Gannon Norwood. The Patriarch of the Norwood Family. He got to his feet and faced Peris simply.

“What do you want from us, then?”

It was a good question. Because nowhere at Peris’ ramblings did he bring up what he wanted from the Vampires. He blamed them. As did Jake. As did most of those present here. However, they offered no solution.

Peris tilted his head and spoke dismissively.

“Take your Treasures of Alexander and deal with this mess, of course. There is another Primeval Demon to slay, is there not? Find it and kill it.”

Saffron could already see the glaring flaw with that plan. Sure, the Greaves of Alexander was with Gannon Norwood, and that the Boots of Alexander was stashed somewhere safe by Anya Veridian, but she did not know where the Crimsonfangs were keeping the Crown of Alexander. However, none of that mattered since the Sword of Alexander was still missing, and the Breastplate of Alexander was…

Faith El, Fallen Queen of the Elutra Kingdom, rose to her feet, having the same thought as Saffron. The room quietened as she took center stage. Of everyone in the room right now, she was the most blameless, having warned them all of what was happening in Inoria for years.

“I must interject and assert that that’s not possible, Prince Peris.”

“And not to be too forward, but why not, Queen Faith?”

He sat back in his chair, looking at her dubiously. Faith sighed. Saffron pursed her lips, knowing what was about to be said. Knowing the cause behind it. The Fallen Queen of Elutra closed her eyes.

“Because of the simple reason that the Breastplate of Alexander is destroyed.”