CHAPTER 15

"YOUR NAME is Balgrath?" Cira was interrogating the demi-human from the black wolf tribe who volunteered to remain with them after all the demi-humans and halflings left Belrac to go to Adral, a place Hakken suggested. Apparently, it's a town that accepted and respected the halfling and demi-human race without prejudice.

Balgrath actually kneeled in front of Sollel so he could accompany her group in their journey. The middle-aged demi-human male wanted to serve and protect the queen in any way he could for saving his tribesmen and other demi-humans like him.

In truth, Balgrath had no idea which race the queen belonged to; it didn't really matter to him. Even his life was not enough as repayment for what the queen did for them—saving them when she didn't have to. It was very much appreciated, and he decided to show his appreciation by offering his life to the queen.

And the queen reluctantly accepted fealty of Balgrath, the demi-human warrior.

Sollel needed another warrior since after they reach the city of Ager, the capital of Treterra, Hakken would no longer be with them. Though Sollel knew she could probably employ Hakken after that, but she didn't want to drag him into her fight. Anyone who helped her save Gatria would be condemned by humanity. Hunter or not, she didn't want to put Hakken in a position where he'd be hunted and chastised. He had helped her enough.

If only the one who freed me was here. That thought always came to Sollel's mind. To be able to free her from the moonrite prison, to be able to go against the Infernal Empire, that person must've been powerful. But after freeing me, that person didn't show themselves again, like they didn't care what happens next.

Sollel took a deep breath before glancing at Balgrath, who was being interrogated by Cira while they were eating in a tavern in Belrac. Sollel didn't mind the people around them who were looking weirdly at their table because they were sharing a meal with a demi-human, which humans considered a low being—a slave.

Yes, they hadn't left Belrac. After destroying the Duves family, Cira felt hungry, so they looked for a tavern.

"Your name is too long," Cira complained while eating a fried fowl's leg. "Anyway, after what happened with Len, I'm not going to trust you easily, you hear me? You must prove yourself!

Balgrath bowed his head at Cira. "Whatever Lady Cira wishes."

Cira looked pleased. "Good. Good. But your name is still too long."

"Just call him Grath." Sollel casually gave Balgrath a nickname to stop Cira's complaints, not realizing what she just did.

Balgrath looked pleased with his new name, and because everyone was too focused on the food and in the conversation, they didn't see the lavalike liquid that swirled inside Balgrath's eyes for a split second the moment Sollel gave him the nickname. Even the Balgrath himself didn't feel it until later.

"Thank you, Your Highness." Grath respectfully bowed his head at Sollel. "Your Highness, I suggest we leave Belrac immediately. News travels fast. The Kingdom of Treterra will immediately send an army here to imprison or kill anyone responsible for what happened to the Duves family."

Hakken, who was putting food on Sollel's plate, nodded with Grath. "I agree with Grath. We should leave immediately. The Duves family is one of the highest profit makers in the kingdom after all. With their family and livelihood destroyed here in Belrac, the kingdom will surely be angry that they lost a great deal of income."

"Then let's eat fast and leave," said Sollel while trying to plan ahead.

Sollel tried her best not to leave a mark while traveling to avoid alerting the four kingdoms where she was, but after what she did to the Duves family, not only the empire but also the Kingdom of Treterra would be after her now.

But maybe that's for the best. If they sent someone to subjugate me, they will surely send a powerful one. I would appreciate it greatly if they send a flame sorcerer. But Sollel's main problem was the moonrite stone. If the kingdom or the empire would indeed send someone, she was sure that they would be carrying a moonrite stone to weaken her. That was their only way to defeat her, after all.

Sollel sighed in secret as she listened to the conversation in their table.

"You should take that off," Cira said, pointing the slave collar on Grath's neck. "The slave contract had been severed by the contract holder's death, and you're not a slave anymore."

Grath shook his head. "This will make our travel easier. Everyone would think that I'm a slave, and they won't question it."

"But..." Cira hated seeing the slave collar on someone. "That's not fair for you."

A small smile appeared on Grath's lips. "Letting me eat with you on the same table is enough for a demi-human like me."

"Don't put yourself down, Grath," Sollel said willfully. "You should be proud that you're from black wolf tribe. Your tribe is honest, strong, and valiant. They call creatures like you demi-humans for having a humanlike feature, but really, you're more human to me than they are. Humans..." Sollel continued, her voice filled with hatred and disdain, "their skin is so thick that they didn't feel anything after betraying the ones who helped them. Their teeth are sharp and greedy, biting the hand that feeds them. In truth, humans are the real monsters. Look at what they did to Azitera to satiate their greed." Sollel stood and left the tavern while the three who were left behind on the table were silent.

"I hate humans," Grath said in a low voice, "but compared to the hatred I heard from Her Highness's voice, mine seems miniscule."

Hakken sighed, and Cira lost her appetite.

Hakken followed Sollel outside the tavern. He found her sitting in the wagon and hugging her old cloak.

Hakken went inside the wagon and sat in front of Sollel. "My lady?"

"I hate humans. I hate them to the core of my being." A tear fell from Sollel's eyes. It was her first tear after centuries. "I don't care if they're innocent or not. My people were innocent too, but humans slaughtered them without mercy. They hunted them down like cattle! Exploited their weakness! Treating them like savages! Forcing my people to go into hiding, to live deep in the forest! I will never forgive them. Azitera is not made for humans alone, it's for everyone! It's for every living and nonliving thing! My hatred will never be appeased even after I burn every single human in Azitera."

Hakken shivered at the intensity of Sollel's hatred. He couldn't even say anything to calm her down because he knew it would be useless. Her hatred ran too deep.

"Hakken," Sollel mumbled, her voice softened. Hakken was taken aback.

"Yes, my lady?"

"You're not human, right?" Sollel hoped he wasn't. "Tell me you're not."

Hakken reached out his hand to touch the face that hid under the hood. He felt her soft and delicate face, and then, he felt her tears—the tears of the strongest woman he knew. Her hatred, her grief, and her resilience. He felt them, and he didn't want to lie in front of such a genuine emotion.

"Yes. I'm not human," Hakken answered honestly.

Drying her tears with his fingers, Hakken felt Sollel smiled at his answer.

"That's good." Sollel smiled in relief. "I don't have to kill you after all."

Hakken stilled before his expression softened. "I wouldn't have mind dying by your hands, my lady."

Sollel chuckled. "Flirtatious as ever."

Hakken chuckled as well. "I can't seem to help it when I'm near you, my lady. Too bad it's not working."

Sollel shook her head in amusement. "Hakken, I'm not the kind of woman that can be won with mere flirtations."

Hakken's expression became serious as he asked, "How about if I gave you the whole Azitera? Would that be enough?"

Sollel blinked in shock. "What?"

Hakken just smiled and pulled away his hand from Sollel's face. And Sollel didn't press for more answers from Hakken after sensing Cira's and Grath's presence.

When Cira entered the wagon, Hakken already moved to the front seat of the wagon together with Grath, who was holding the horse's rein.

"We shouldn't leave through the town's gate," said Grath while signaling the horse to move.

"Do you have any suggestion?" Hakken asked the demi-human beside him.

Grath nodded. "Lord Tane has a secret passage he used to leave town in secret. We could use that to avoid detection."

Hakken agreed. "I will leave the wagon to your capable hands then."

Grath was happy to be of service immediately and signaled the horse to move in the direction he wanted. And it was a blessing that they had Grath with them because, at that moment, an army of the kingdom arrived at the gate, inspecting everyone coming in and out of Belrac.

♕♕♕

FABERION CITY, INFERNAL EMPIRE

In the throne room, in front of Emperor Gabrien, the three important ministers bowed their heads and greeted the emperor at the same time, "Greetings, Your Highness!"

Emperor Gabrien immediately looked sharp and gave his full attention to his three ministers. "What is it that you want to tell me?"

The three were nervous, but the information they had should be heard by the emperor.

It was the Ministry of Forging who stepped bravely and bowed to the emperor again. "I bear some bad news, Your Highness."

Emperor Gabrien immediately became agitated, but he remained calm in front of his ministers. "What is it?"

"We have received countless complaints from the merchants. They claimed that our weapons have become dull and breakable. They say that they were losing profits because of how weak our weapons had become. They demanded a replacement, so I personally supervised the forging to check their claims, and after inspecting the last batch of weapons we made, the merchant claims were indeed true! But what I don't understand is we followed the exact procedure, but the weapons came out different. Is this because we don't have the Mistress of Flame's blood? That was the only missing ingredient—"

"Silence!" Emperor Gabrien's voice echoed throughout the throne room that the Ministry of Forging trembled and kneeled.

"It's my fault that our weapons have become weak, Your Highness! I will accept any punishment!"

Emperor Gabrien let out a sigh and looked at the Ministry of Commerce, discarding the Ministry of Forging. "And you? What do you want to tell me?"

The Ministry of Commerce bowed down, his hands trembling with nervousness. "Th-the problem is connected to what the Ministry of Forging has told His Highness. Because of what happened to our weapons, we are not accumulating the same profit as before. Merchants didn't want to buy our weapons anymore, and they demanded a refund, causing for our income to decline by fifteen percent. And if this continued, if our weapons remained weak and easy to break, we will lose the merchants' trust, and they might start trading with the dwarves instead—"

The emperor slammed his fist on his chair's armrest but didn't say anything, though it was enough for the Ministry of Commerce to stop talking.

The Ministry of Finance stepped bravely and bowed his head, not minding the emperor's temper. "Your Highness, to keep up with our large weapon production every year, I gave a large fund to the Ministry of Forging to use in our weapons production this year with double the profit expectation and calculation. But after what happened with our weapons, we lost a large sum of our budget, and if we couldn't rectify this, I'm afraid the empire will suffer more large losses in the coming years."

Emperor Gabrien's hands were trembling in anger. All along, he thought their weapons were indestructible because of his empire's forging skills, but now the truth slapped him in the face. The reason his father and forefather treasured that damn Mistress of Flame, why his ancestors didn't kill her, was this.

Her blood was indeed the reason for their weapons' strength. And I let her escape easy!

Emperor Gabrien stood and ordered, "Use every strength the empire has to hunt down the Mistress of Flame! Do not rest until she's back in her moonrite prison!"

The Ministry of Forging nodded because he knew the importance of that woman, but the Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Finance couldn't understand the emperor's order that they voiced out their disagreement.

"Your Highness, we should focus more on our weapons."

"Your Highness, I beg you, please, we have to formulate a plan to save the empire."

"Silence." Emperor Gabrien clicked his tongue and looked at the large glass window on the side of the throne room. "All the empire's problems will be solved after we drag that woman back into her moonrite prison."

"Your Highness..."

Emperor Gabrien gritted his teeth. "She is the nutrients of the Infernal Empire, and we will drag her back to where she belongs—in prison."

CECELIB | C.C.