Words that shouldn't have co, ca from afar, yet sounded so clear, that one would wonder who spoke them. However, Lazar recognized the voice. It ca from a woman shrouded under a cloak, hiding behind a building.
Most villagers turned their gaze towards her when she revealed herself. Upon doing so, they realized who it was, and so held so hesitation over her. It wasn't soone will clarity in their minds, or anyone they liked to see, or hear. In fact, Lazar was the one who turned the most attention to her by holding his sword and pointing it toward her.
“We don't want you here, heretic. Why are you hiding like that, and even talking like that!?” He shouted, his words turned into a threat aid at her.
“I am not... hiding...” she murmured, not talking loudly, yet the surrounding villagers still heard her. Her words were more ant for herself, so she walked past the house and headed towards Lazar. She wore a deep black cloak, which hid her attire underneath it. Her face was hidden and so was her entire body. The hood around her head only made her nose and a part of her lower head visible.
“I know your kind, woman. Your master was the heretic, and you aren't anything else. I told you that before. You aren't welco here.” Lazar stated the truth with an obvious threat in his voice.
“She was no heretic!” the shrouded woman spoke out since she couldn't stop herself, or she lied to herself. It was hard to tell since her face was hiding.
“Anyone is a heretic in the eyes of gods and order of the Centralis Kingdom,” Lazar argued. “You aren't any different since your fate is crossed with your master. It makes you mad, unable to see the true truth!” he didn't back down, still spitting his truth at her.
“Gods... You are speaking no sense at all. How usual...” she mumbled.
“Silence! Why did you speak out on the behalf of that demon, or this... thing? This duck... Why did you speak those words.” Lazar said, pointing his gaze towards Murai, who was laying helplessly on the ground, a couple of ters away since he didn't walk for long before collapsing. “Earlier, It was clearly a succubus what I had seen. Do you have so hands in this or what, heretic?” he asked, and by this point, the woman walked forward to face his sword a single step from her face.
Without speaking further, the woman let her cloak out, revealing luscious and utmost dark hair, pale skin, and eyes that weren't looking healthy. She looked like soone who had a lack of sleep or so other deficits.
“I will explain myself,” she said calmly, hiding her hands and everything under the clock. “I speak on the behalf of the people here, obviously. This being is clearly a demon too. It has an aura that none can figure out. That succubus also wasn't a succubus. It was a being made of mana. A soul form. I only heard about them and have not seen them in my life.”
“Why should I trust you... It is already gone? Wait..” Lazar hesitated, thinking that a ghost wouldn't be too farfetched. He heard of those, of course. “The ghost... what about this duck? It is a fucking duck!” he changed the subject amidst his confusion.
“It's a weak thing, but I thought it would be fitting for to help this village out. Ending, or killing its misery is necessary since it's injured. Let do it. How about it?” she said, her eyes traveling back and forth between Murai and the sword. Not once she looked into Lazar's eyes.
“You an this duck? Wasn't the Succubus the cause of this demonic feeling?” Lazar asked, turning his head behind his back to see the struggling Murai who heard their words. He overca his dizziness, and even sothing else.
Fucking lunatics... Where in the world have I ended up? Soone hit with a ntal spell, yet the Will of the Battleworld isn't working. Fuckign hell! Murai thought, struggling to move his beak. They have... Well... it isn't that surprising for demons to have a poor reputation, so who am I kidding... Killing ... because of it. How fitting. He pushed himself, yet still pretended to be a normal duck.
It wasn't the easiest thing, and he could notice that the voice of that woman was nothing good. She was most likely a mage and the one who forced so spell upon him. She was also not a popular one, since they called her a heretic for so reason. A religion ss or problem was involving her, or so Murai figured.
It must be because of many reasons that would be hard to guess. Unwillingness to follow whatever the reason was, it may involve Gods, most likely. That, or she was a dark mage or enemy of sothing. That was also a possibility that Murai thought of, since he forced his beak aside, glancing at her visual representation after adjusting his blurry vision.
She seed like these kinds of mages. Unpopular with righteous beliefs, they would be quite mad most of the ti, while their mana was nothing stable either. They could lead to many troubles, and their experint could be either bloody, dangerous and against the normal concept of morality.
Murai even had a hunch that this woman was more than t the eyes. Perhaps this woman had so problem with him, or she had completely seen through his farce as a duck? Murai wasn't willing to put any of his mana to use, since she was obviously a high-rank mage. His soul read definitely perceived so hideous thoughts, and feelings out of her soul. Also... Danger.
He couldn't use his Mana Detection, otherwise, he would be found out, but he trusted his instincts. Neither was he in a state to fight or figure out anything about her. Not like he was even interested, since he had much bigger issues at the mont. From his point, it seed this woman wanted to sell her knowledge to make her appeal good, which was... a bad thing. Murai wasn't sure if he could get out under her grasp with his injured body.
“My na is Velga, by the way, and I ant my words to be good for the sake of good,” Velga said, putting her pale right hand outside of her clock towards her chest to swear she had no ulterior motives. “This mana I felt was coming from this duck. I am sure of it, so how about I will deal with this myself?”
She spoke honesty and sothing that was common in terms of regular mages. That was to solve the issue of magic in the na of the betternt and safety of people.
Though Lazar didn't think much of her modesty, or words since his own view on this thing was different. “We don't work with heretics. What you said may be good, but we already inford Falconers, if you didn't notice that. If you don't want more trouble, you should leave. That is the least amount of sincerity I can give you.” he said, even though he also found this situation with the succubus and duck to be quite strange.
He was only a little familiar with the sight of demons, but any irregular demonic beast was a different story. Pure Demons like a succubus and countless other kinds like Lisa had very specific feelings for them. The kind that was unlike regular beasts with so running mana in their bodies. Anatidae species was exactly that, albeit they were also a fairly high-class demonic beast with a plethora of uniqueness since their origin was quite old and ancient.
They had no essence of any pure demonic blood, but only a sliver of deep-rooted bloodlines, which made them demonic beasts, and no direct demons. Of course, with the Evolutions in play, and the Will of the Battleworld, it may change with countless little things. One could beco a higher demon or anything - really - with many thods. Evolution allowed for it.
What was a demonic beast was a simple common phrase to view the ferocious monsters by the words of commoners. Whether or not they had ridiculous mana or evil intentions wasn't that important to them. What was dangerous, unlike humans, and held variables outside of them, was thus unique existence with their own na. Demonic beasts were like that.
Lazar was firm in his belief, but Velga's eyes hesitated upon hearing his words. She didn't catch the first appearance of this duck and only felt the mana undulating from this particular section of the village. She hurried for the sake of this feeling, as well as sothing that she awaited for a long ti. That was her purpose and desire. Sothing that she needed!
Right.
She wanted Murai, but for what or why? That was another thing altogether.
“Falconers?” Velga asked, appearing quite hesitant, and even afraid.
“Yes. What's wrong? Are you feeling upset about this?” Lazar said, smiling in a good mood. “They are coming, so tell , heretic. Was sothing wrong when that succubus disappeared into the thin air? You ntioned it... I feared she used so spell upon but I can't see or feel her everywhere. Unless she is so strong that it was a sheer coincidence to see her appearance, but why she would be in this remote and uninteresting village then?” he asked a series of questions, while his sword wavered a little.
Velga gritted her teeth, wanting to speak to make her reason possible and appease her goodwill.
“I... know sothing you don't. I will get rid of that duck for you since it's possessed by that succubus who disappeared, thanks to her soul-form appearance. You can tell I am right, right? She can kill this whole village if she could! I swear!” Velga shouted, her eyes glittering in confidence from her words alone that she only made up in her mind.
“Possessed duck? Do you think I can believe in such a thing? It is true that succubus is evil and utmost devilish creatures, but possession is not sothing I heard them do.” Lazar still didn't believe her but chose to test her out.
“I...” Velga hesitated. “It may be the special case and sothing dangerous. Never heard of Gifted, or Blessed? I heard it all. The kinds of demons that my master killed, and found!” she reasoned, appeasing so sense to Lazar, who was standing between her and Murai.
“M-master? You are still a heretic... I almost forgot. Leave, or I will apprehend you for the sake of the Centralis Kingdom!” Lazar said while securing his grip, pointing his sword at her neck. The tip was so close, but no blood was shed.
“No... No. P-please... So good is what I want to do. I have no ulterior motives behind this... I am not a bad person, and so was my Master! That is a simple truth.” she argued again.
Lazar frowned upon hearing such words that he rembered from his military service. Excuses and made-up words of reason. He shouldn't be hearing them, but here he was...
Retrieving his sword back, Lazar picked the hilt within his grasp and smacked Velga right in her face, leaving her with a bruised nose, and dripping blood. She let herself be hit and staggered to the ground, where she looked at Lazar with anger, unlike before. Even an aura changed around her, the mont she glanced at him.
“Y-you want to make this unsightly?” Velga said, looking up at him with no hesitation in her eyes. Her voice was strange now than before. It was deadly calm and filled with power and fury that was like an abyss - dark and hard to perceive, but worth fearing.
“I doubt this village will let you do that, heretic. Falconers are here in a bit, so get the fuck out. My last words.” Lazar said, and other n and even won surrounding them stepped forward. They were hiding their fear, yet they had to use numbers to their advantage, since this woman may be a heretic against the Centralis Kingdom, but they wanted no trouble.
Most knew she was a high-level mage, but how powerful? They didn't know that. In fact, no one knew it, since she occasionally started appearing in the village a year or so ago. Reason? No one knew.
Even Lazar, to so extent, felt unwilling to have anything to do with her. The village should have protection from such people, and no heretic was worth the trouble. She was a clear problem since she was a heretic and her view was against the Centralis Kingdom.
Alas, problems found them, and not the other way around.
The cause? A duck that was behind Lazar's back.
Velga unhappily grunted and got back to her feet. “I was being sincere for the sake of my goodwill, and what mages do. My own feelings also play a big part in it. You are leaving no choice, but to make it different than I hoped for. Let's make a trade instead. How about it? I will offer you 150 gold coins for this duck. There shouldn't be a problem with such a trade. In fact, it is much better for you than .”
“Why?” Lazar asked, frowning.
“Why ask a question?! Isn't this to your liking? Gold or whatnot... that's what the Centralis Kingdom likes the most!” Velga said, putting forth a left hand underneath her cloak. There, she held an open pouch filled with glittering gold coins. Each was great and worth a lot of effort.
Lazar looked at the others, and even at Grandma Po, who had so hesitation in her eyes. This was a lot of money earned with no effort whatsoever and it would help a lot. They may be forced citizens of the Centralis Kingdom, even though it wasn't that long ago when they weren't. They had to pay high taxes because of that, so this kind of money was good fortune.
Lazar gritted his teeth but declared his view on this matter. He may not be as wise as the elder of the village, but he was the only one among the villagers that went through military training. That also included a few wars before he returned to his ho because of so problems he had.
Lazar knew that had to be firm in his stances and opinion. That was what he learned throughout his military service, which held nothing but hellish mories. Acting how a leader should act was the bare minimum of what he could force out of himself, regardless of his own standing in the village.
“No will do. When I see you now, offering the moon for a duck, I won't let you have it. In fact, I will apprehend it myself, for the sake of Falconers since you insist on this too much. Considering the premise of a demon, I am sure at least a captain will co very soon. They are fast, so you should get out.” Lazar stated and walked back to pick Murai up.
Upon doing so, he noticed the strange piece of cloth on top of the duck, but for the ti being; he didn't question it all that much. Briefly, he tried to open the pouch to see what that was, that made this pouch on this duck's back.
He failed, so by grabbing Murai by his neck, Lazar ignored its wounds for the ti being as well. He walked out of this part of the village, going straight to a wide street where he walked into a particular tavern.
Velga looked at him, and her goal in apprehension. She was certainly aware that she was doing one mistake after another. She didn't want to lose her life because of Falconer's arrival, but this present situation was part of her failure. Maybe she could have done things differently. Like snatching this duck without anyone's intervention, since she had plenty of strength to do so.
Unfortunately, that would put her in a sore spot. She had so doubts after waiting for a long ti for her purpose, so the current situation happened because of that. Money should had solve that, but it didn't. Lazar's belief ssed up even the obvious plan she had.
I swear... I prepared so little for this... She complained in her head and used the remaining idea that she had.
“300 Gold!” she shouted again, but Lazar already shut the door after giving her an indifferent stare. Frowning, Velga then tried to appease the other villagers, but they no longer paid her attention. In fact, so tried to apprehend her and shoo her away.
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