Chapter 117.2: Interviewing
PART 2/2
Erani, Ainash, and I all sat around Ripley as she spoke.
“The king is different?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I don’t know, but he’s not acting right. Something more serious is going on than just some extortion. I think they’ve infiltrated us to our core. We’re supposedly ‘working together’ with the Demons, but anyone around can tell that’s bullshit. King Koinkar, he…changed. Used to at least try to fight back against what those damn Demons said. Now he willingly goes along with their plans without a word against. Hells, he almost seems enthusiastic about following along. Not like someone working under threat of being invaded if he doesn’t follow their commands.”
“When did this change occur?” I furrowed my brows. Had something happened to the king? I wouldn't be surprised, really.
“I was… imprisoned. For some time. The day I went in, he was fine. Day I came out, he’d changed.”
I nodded, and Erani stepped in. “How did those changes manifest? Did he look different at all? Did his clothing change? Even just an additional piece of jewelry, or a single item swapped out? Anything you didn’t recognize?”
She pursed her lips, pausing to think. “Well, mainly his actions. What he says, what he does, the way he talks, it’s all wrong. It’s like I don’t know him. And the changes are all in favor of the Demons. But looks…I don’t think he changed his appearance at all. But he sits differently. I do remember that. You know him, he’s old. Ancient. He slouches, can barely support himself even if he wanted to sit up. Now, it’s like he isn’t a day over forty. Wouldn’t even think it was physically possible.”
“Huh.” I chewed on my lip, mulling over what she said. “No idea how that happened, I assume?”
“Nah. But whatever those damned Demons did, they’ve corrupted this entire kingdom, top to bottom. No way I could’ve done what they said for long.”
“What about the other royal guard that was with you? Asmo? She seems to be just fine going along with the Demons. Think they’ve ‘corrupted’ her, too?”
Ripley shook her head, smiling in a strangely fond way, considering the subject matter. “That girl’s a lost cause. She wants to get to the top of whatever ladder’s in front of her. Right now, the ladder we’re climbing is the one where killing you is at the top. So she’s just working her way up. Money and power, that’s all she’s been after.”
“Do you think you could convince her to come over to our side? You seem to work well together.”
She laughed. “We do, but not in the way where I could change her mind on that. Hells, I’m willing to bet she’s out there forming a plan to get me back to her side right now. We’re good together, but we’re both too stubborn for something like that.”
I frowned. “You seem pretty…okay with that. Aren’t you two close? Wouldn’t you be upset that you’re fighting now?”
“Oh, we’ll find our way back to each other’s sides eventually. One of us will beat the other and then we’ll be working together again. When we were kids, I told her she’d become a royal guard with me, she said I’d become an adventurer with her. I won that fight. Now we’re just dancin’ the same dance once again.”
“Hm.” I’d gone off the basic script we’d established before, but I felt like it was necessary to figure Asmo out, since I’d more than likely see her again. Seemed like she and Ripley were eccentric, to say the least. Hopefully Ripley would win whatever fight they had going on, and Asmo would leave the Demons too, but it seemed like whether or not that happened wasn’t exactly up to me. “Why don’t you just tell me what the next plan is for the Demons?”
“I wasn’t so high up as to get info like that. You’d have to talk to one of their core strategists. The merchant, the old man…pretty much any of the other VIPs. Though I’m not sure how many of them survived the Dragon. I was considered one because of the numbers on my Status, more than anything else. So I was meat to be moved around and a Status sheet to fight for them, not the type of person to get valuable info.”
“Well, anything helps. Have any suspicions?”
“After this disaster, they might just let you leave. Their only hope to catch you before you get to Barinruth would be to set up another army of soldiers and mobilize them ASAP to come chase you through the canyon, but that Dragon friend of yours will probably stop them if they try moving such large numbers through here, so I doubt they’ll go for it.”
“You think we’re safe, then?”
“Oh, definitely not safe. Whatever those Demons are planning… they’re in it for the long haul. If you don’t die today, they’ll kill you tomorrow. And if you don’t die tomorrow, they try again next week. And if you don’t die then, they’ll try next month, next year, next decade. They have control over King Koinkar, somehow, and they won’t be letting that go. I know that for sure. If you make it to Barinruth, then they’ll just change plans from hunting down a single person to waging war against the nation that houses you.”
I sighed. That was what I was afraid of. Still, it seemed like, if they did that, the conflict would necessarily slow down quite a bit. So I’d have some time to get my bearings, establish myself, stop living out of the woods, and maybe even anonymously warn the empire of the upcoming attack. “But they’ll let us get to Barinruth?”
“Don’t think they have a choice. At least, I can’t think of anything they could do to stop you. Not anything they’re willing to do, at least.”
“Alright.” I turned to Erani and asked Ainash to pass on a message. “Hey, I think I’m done asking her the main questions I had. You can talk to her now if you—”
But I was interrupted by a screech coming from above us. I snapped my head up and saw a Green Drake soaring overhead between the chasm walls. It spat down a glob of acid right where we were, and we all scrambled to get out of the way.
Ainash, before I could even think to retaliate, leapt up and kicked off one of the stone walls next to us, jumping high up into the air, and slashing up with her whip to slice open the monster’s scaled belly.
It screeched again in pain and flew off.
I sighed. Drakes shouldn’t have been too much of a problem, but with my relatively low Health and Stamina, I didn’t want to take any more chances with these fights. One bad move could still end up with me dead, especially when I still didn’t have Time Loop for a few more hours.
I looked back down. “Anyway, Erani, you wanna ask—”
I blinked. Ripley was gone. Glancing around I suddenly saw her climbing up the mountain face with her muscly arms pulling her up and across faster than I could even run. She got up to the top, launched herself over, and sprinted off.
“I go catch her?” Ainash asked.
I sighed. Ripley was fleeing into the direction of the empire, not the kingdom. If she got away, it wasn’t like she’d be going back to the enemy. “Could you even catch up to her?”
“Maybe. I am very fast.”
“Yes, you sure are,” I couldn’t help but laugh. “Erani, you think we should send Ainash to go get her?”
Erani pursed her lips. “Seems a bit needlessly dangerous. We got the information we wanted out of her. And she doesn’t seem hostile in the first place. We’d have to let her go eventually, so we may as well do it here. Sending Ainash out to find her, alone, would just be asking for trouble.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I guess. Don’t want to antagonize her.”
“Okay. Let’s keep going for a bit to get out of this dangerous area, and then sit down and rest for a while? Also keep an eye out for that Ripley woman. She didn’t seem dangerous, but who knows.”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “Hopefully we can find a place to rest soon. I need to regenerate some Health. And manage a Level–up.”
“Oh, you got one too?”
“Yep,” I nodded. “I’m getting a new Spell. What about you?”
“Well, with the help of the lovely Ainash,” Erani pulled her into a side-hug, making the child Draconiad look remarkably embarrassed, “I actually Leveled up twice!”
I raised my eyebrows. “Really?”
“Yep. Eleven percent XP from her really helps out.” Erani smiled at Ainash. “Good job with all the fighting! You did really well.”
We’d been getting into the habit of, whenever we spoke aloud to each other, also telepathically relaying the conversation to Ainash. This way, not only would we keep her in the loop of what was going on, but she could hopefully begin learning our spoken language, too. I mean, she was still a child, so it made sense that we should try to teach her some stuff.
So, after Erani complimented her fighting, Ainash grinned and hugged Erani back. I’d have said it was a remarkably sweet sight, if not for the fact that we were praising her for her killing abilities. Considering the fact that her given name was technically “Humanslayer” Ainash, I didn’t know if praising her even more for that quality was much of a good idea, really. But her smile warmed my heart regardless.
Then, Erani suddenly frowned.
“Oh,” she said. “Hey Arlan, you know how you mentioned the Bond with Ainash Ranking up before?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, it just happened to me.”
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