“So, what brings you two esteemed alchemists to Alpinuer? Unless you are from here?”
“No, they are traveling alchemists, father,” Jacidia answered for us.
“We are on a mission to investigate the source of a mysterious illness that has been plaguing the kingdom,” I said.
“Plague? What plague?”
“Father, please,” Jacidia said, face-palming. “You can quit lying to yourself.”
“No, no, there is no plague. Just a bad case of food poisoning going around. Might be in our water supply.”
“Water supply, sure,” Jacidia nodded skeptically.
“Don’t we have enough to worry about? Why add more to the ever brewing chaos?”
“I like your optimism, Lord Alpinuer,” I said with a smile. “But, even so, we need to remain vigilant. And testing these so-called performance accelerants is a great place to start.”
“Shao and a few other merchants think they can scam innocent fae of their hard-earned money,” Jacadia added. “It’s so despicable!”
“How did you come to meet my daughter?”
“Connections in the academy,” Jacadia said quickly before I could comment. “They happen to be in the village square also! Great minds think alike!”
He chuckled. “Jacadia here is one of my more honorable and smart children. Very outspoken and brave. I’m proud of her.” He smiled, beaming with pride at his daughter’s successful feats. “How she could make such a difference in the kingdom is beyond me. She surpasses my expectations each and every day. She is always looking out for the best interests of our kingdom, no matter what the cost. My middle child is brave and wise beyond her years, and very capable in all venues of life. Whether an alchemist or a fighter.”
Jacadia blushed as her father praised her, looking down bashfully at her cup of tea. “Thank you, Father,” she said sweetly in response. “I am merely trying to do my best for our people and our kingdom.”
“Unlike my other children, whose names will remain unmentioned in this court!” he said, his tone and demeanor changing. “It is truly unfortunate the tragedy that befell on them. Their futures were bright. But, their rebelliousness couldn’t be contained. They fell deeper and deeper into the darkness of humanity, to the point where I couldn’t recognize them anymore. I just wish I could have done something to better their fates…”
“What happened to them?” Rufian asked, his eyes narrowing on his father.
“Who knows. Their lives are meaningless to me now. They have chosen their path, it is clear as day. If they wish to preach the love of a lesser race, so be it.”
I could see Rufian balling up his fists. He wanted to speak out, but he knew he couldn’t. This wasn’t the time nor place, and giving his pops a piece of his mind wasn’t worth jeopardizing the mission.
Let it go. Disagreeing with him would confirm his suspicions. But Rufian did something I didn’t expect, that smirk on his face followed by a statement that made me do a double take. “We really showed them mercy, haven’t we?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“The Senterrians. If only we’d taken everything they had to their names sooner. Resources, technology, land, women and children. Then they wouldn’t have gotten so strong. Then… we wouldn’t be in the state that we are in today.”
“Please, elaborate,” the lord said, Rufian piquing his interest.
“This war began when the fae, the dragons, and the orcs wanted equal parts of humanity. Instead of uniting to fight them as one, we chose to fight amongst ourselves, leaving Senterrian affairs on the sidelines. We paid them little importance for too long, giving the dungeon core time to plan their defenses. Sure, during that time, we were picking and choosing among the litter, but nothing too overwhelming that’d cripple them whole. So when cyber gears became weapons to destroy us all, we became cowards. We took these weapons and pressed harder on each other, overloading humans and using them as war machines. Still, we continued to ignore the bigger picture, allowing them time to grow their forces and fight back. An even bigger war grew, and only then did we strike in the heart of the storm.” Rufian said, something haunting about his voice. “That being said, we cannot undo the past. It has already been written. But, we can learn from our mistakes and shape our future. Leave no stone left unturned. If we crush all others, we do so entirely. We don’t leave crumbs, no survivors, no mercy.”
His father’s eyes widened in shock at his words. “So, what do you propose, alchemist?”
“It’s quite simple. I propose we change our ways. We need to focus on growing as one formidable unit, one without fault but affirmation. Our prejudice and fear have made us weak, and we need to remedy that by banding together and disrupting the ties with history. We purge this world and start anew…” He grinned. “It’s the only sensible action at this point, wouldn’t you say, Syodas?”
When he turned to me with that creepy grin on his face, I jumped off my seat, knocking into the maid girl and her tray of hot tea. She yelped, stepping back from the splashing liquid, but I was the one who got the brunt of the scorching heat. I winced as the hot tea poured through my clothes and ate at my skin. Rufian's eyes flickered to me briefly before returning to Lord Alpinuer.
“Careless, as always,” he remarked lightheartedly.
“Damn it, I’m sorry,” I apologized, the maid frantically scooping everything off the floor and begging me for mercy.
“Please, I will clean!” she cried. “I am sorry!”
“No, you’re all right. Honest,” I said as I was about to help her, but Rufian snatched my arm, his eyes piercing at me.
“Don’t you think you should take care of that stain before it settles?”
I turned my eyes to Jacadia like I needed answers, the girl glaring at me for trying to help a human.
Right, I was a Senterrian-hating fae…
I couldn’t be kind and help this poor girl out.
Instead, I wiped away the stray droplets of tea from my vest and pardoned myself, “Excuse me, but can you lead me to the nearest restroom?”
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
I hadn’t planned out that escape. I was genuinely rattled by the speech Rufian gave his dad. Part of me was saying that he was only feeding him what he wanted to hear, but the other part of me felt like there was some truth to what he was preaching. But instead of wiping the board clean of humans, he was referring to every other race.
And I couldn’t allow that.
I get it. I was the Senterrian hero. But Alzera-Kar was a lover of all races. She had other plans for me that began with the survival of Senterrians. Judging by the quests she’d given me and their rewards, she wanted me to unite the races as one, just like it had been, even though it was for a short ass time.
The goal seemed even more far-fetched now that I got to see how much the rest of the world hated humans, and how quickly chaos was advancing for dragons and orcs. An attack in the royal house of dragons, and then the takeover of Renekkgar.
