It's not often I get to use the ward of fear, as it is quite restricted. With it only covering a single passage you usually can't use it on rooms, but this once it was perfect for the occasion.

Still, seeing this creature with the pitiful semblance of a human at my feet laying in its own vomit, makes it not only worth it, but also the least dangerous method I could have used to get this... 'ally' alive.

If you're considering why I am so... unwilling to recognize this thing as human, I can assure you that it is not only because it's a coward, but also as a judgement of its skills. Illusion and sound manipulation along will skills for sneaking around generally makes him an unpleasant person, but a person as this calling himself an ally of a noble with an army, is not something a hunter would say.

They'd scream, 'I am innocent'.

A scout would neither be found here near the capital, and they'd introduce themselves by name rather than hide away in the shadows if we were truly allies. There is however one class of people that would act exactly like this.

Spies.

There is little that separates a spy from a stalker in matters of wicked dedication to find out your personal secrets. Wicked little things that care more for digging up every little secret you have, every hope, every love, every dedication... and give it to someone that wants only to use it all to bring you pain, manipulate you... or destroy you.

I despise them.

"Milady!"

Asher's voice sounds and rips me from the discomfortable memories. Asher steps out of the deep purple bushes with a frantic look that doesn't suit him even one bit. I guess we... I started taking too long. Felix hadn't been comfortable entering this 'cursed' area so had I ordered him to stay behind.

It doesn't surprise me that Asher ran in after me without any regard for the 'curse' when he found out about this. He did charge into the life of a warrior because of apparent admiration for me, so what difference would a curse make? Asher probably insisted that someone go with me.

He still looks quite pale as he gives a vague sigh of relief seeing that I am safe and that the thing at my feet is laying passed out.

"We will head back, Asher. There is nothing more to do here."

I pick up the coward at my feet. As much as I want to drag him through the undergrowth, it wouldn't be appropriate. It almost counts as torture after all.

Asher steps up to me with furrowed eyebrows and a frown on his lips.

"Lady Lily, please be more careful. Heading into a cursed area on your own is incautious,"

Asher attempts to express his concern as he disapproves of my actions, as expected. Had it been my old world he would've had to be on his knees begging for this to be appropriate, but this passionate statement is expected from knights in this world. Of course you can tell them that they agreed to serve you and then they have no right to complain again, but it is still a big difference from the complete obedience I was used to.

I admit, I'm a bit too bitter to mess around right now.

Asher's eyes flicker to the mausoleum with tensing shoulders. He likely believes it the center of the curse.

"The place is not cursed. It is a magic abundant area for faeries of darkness. Lumere keeps faeries away from me so I've no problem with them. When it comes down to it you are the one most likely to be blessed or 'cursed' by them," I snap back at him quickly to get his mind back on track and continue to walk past him.

I hope this doesn't delay us too much. Traveling across Ristaze with an army takes about one and a half month. I've used some help from Lumere to increase our traveling speed, but even so it will still take at least a month. It'll be fall by the time we get home. Hopefully this will end the war for the year and leave us to get ready for springtime. War is usually ended as harvest time arrives.

Asher's eyes dart back to me as I pass him, but he doesn't retort to my words. It takes a little while before I hear him follow, still... on our way back I feel him staring at my back hard enough to give me a chill.

"Is there a problem, Asher?"

I end up asking just to get him to stop staring.

"...No, Celeste-sama."

The gaze moves away for a while, but returns a short time after.

—-*—-

It doesn't take us long to return to the road. I have enough prayers left to make sure we could set in a good run on the way back. To my relief Magdalin is still by the road together with Darius, while everyone else I the army has pretty much marched by, with the exception of a few civilians.

Still, it looks so far from what it did when we arrived. The grass is dripping with fresh water rather than blood, and the smell of death is gone. Five graves have been constructed at the side of the road with quick markers, and the wagon that had been entombed has been raised back up. A few of the civilians marching along with us have separated from their own wagons and are trying to mend it. The things spread on the ground, trinkets food and the like have been gathered up too.

93 knights with extra unspent magic can apparently clean up a bloody scene like this quite fast. I'll keep this in mind. It's one of those things so different from where I was from before, where only certain... people were allowed to interact with the dead. Here everyone can touch the dead. It's a change I probably won't get used to. Still, the dead here are thankfully treated with some degree of dignity.

"Li- uhm A-Augustus-sama."

Magdalin runs up to me with worry in her teary silvery eyes. Thankfully I had managed to finish healing her before I chased down the coward, and it doesn't look like there was any complications either. She's running just fine.

"I am unharmed. He was more busy fleeing than harming me," I try to calm her down a bit, but she is inconsolable.

She looks cautiously to Asher and then to Darius and Felix that are tying up the prisoner. Then leans up to whisper against my ear.

"William Aerielle and Bridgette are calling you a traitor. A lot of minor nobles ended up getting swayed too. It's bad enough that people might try to kill you with poison or... that."

She's beaming with worry and hints of desperation, unable to conceal any of it. I can't help but to get the feeling that the reason she is on the Foxglove Highway is because of this.

If that is the case I cannot quite tell her that I was not only expecting that this was happening, but also prepared for it. I'd feel guilty making her feel like she put in unneeded effort.

"Thank you for telling me, Magdalin."

I try to give her a smile. I'm not quite in the mood for smiling, but I find that it calms people in some odd way.

"I will think up a way to deal with this, but first I need to know everything that happened."

I search her eyes and give her hand a little squeeze, but Magdalin looks up at me with part relief and part uncomfortable frown.

"Will it really be okay?"

Worry still lingers in her eyes.

"Of course. William is William. Other than studying he has little other skills. He probably didn't notice Claire was gone until a few days later, and even now he still greets me with an insult. If he could truly turn people against me it would be a miracle the Aerielle family has never witnessed before."

I answer her more bluntly this time. Magdalin just stares at me for a moment and gives a faint smile.

"Is that not a bit harsh, Augustus-sama?"

I drop my prisoner on the ground.

"He is not only too blind to see the honor or sincerity of people, but lets himself be blinded by blind trust. Ignorance rather than loyalty shall be punished with insults any day, and the current prime minister is no better."

Magdalin moves her hand from mine and rubs her eyes.

"Augustus-sama. You shouldn't taunt fate to such an extent," she says with hints of a smile.

I give a small huff.

"Fate? Fate wishes for nothing. Only we can fulfill our destiny. Fate itself wishes us not good nor bad, only our own actions can lead us to our good or bad destinies. The desperation born from fearing fate does nothing but twist our lives and future further as we wallow in self-pity and cowardice."

I note everyone around us stare at me for a few moments, but Magdalin just gives a small smile.

"As expected of L... Augustus-sama. Not afraid of even fate itself."

I feel Felix's slightly disapproving gaze at my words, but I did just walk into a 'cursed area'.

Magdalin glances down to the coward I am dragging along and then looks up at me again with hints of cautious curiosity.

"Hopefully we will find out who his employer is before we get rid of him. I knocked him out, and by his mental state he likely won't want to wake up anytime soon either."

Magdalin presses her lips together and looks down. Then to the newly made graves and back to the prisoner.

"Are you going to torture him?"

Ara.

We suddenly a difficult subject. I look down to the prisoner. Oh believe me, I would be happy to have him tortured for information, but we have no personnel for this with us. Torturer is a job, and if you do it wrong you may end up killing the prisoner before you got to know what you want. This job, however, is nothing you can make normal people do. Not only is it filthy, bad for morale, bloody, disgusting, uncompassionate and below the standards of civilians, soldiers, knights and nobles alike, but it messes people up mentally.

This means we would have to find an acceptable way around it, for that information is likely needed.

Physical harm may be unacceptable, but there are non-physical effects as well... such as the ward of water.

"As it is, not physically," I reply and cast a glance to the civilians trying to fix the wagon back up on the road. It looks like the covered kind, so it could work.

"Did the merchants have next of kin?"

A wagon is expensive. Any next of kin should be compensated.

Magdalin quickly shakes her head and brushes away some of her messes up and matte brown hair.

"It was the whole family... Parents and two kids. John has a wife, but he wasn't a merchant. Just offered to split the bill for the transport to get to Ice Claw Keep."

Judging by the situation from earlier, John was probably the guy with a spear through him. Likely an enemy spy if the prisoner was a spy too. John's timing, traveling location and the fact that he was targeted is too suspicious.

"What happened?"

I try to breach the subject again, and this time Magdalin confesses... though hesitantly.

"After I found out about Lord William and Bridgette I tried to speak up for you and house Celeste... but mother and father decided it was better we ceased all interaction with house Celeste... so I ran off..."

She pauses for a moment and then looks down.

"They... were not happy. I got out anyway. John helped me and we got to travel with the merchants. That..."

She glanced to the prisoner.

"He attacked us all of a sudden and did everything to kill John, but they were both using magic and... that man killed the merchants when his cloak was ripped apart. John lost and that man made him bury the wagon... but John tried to burry the man along with the wagon and got killed."

She looks to the graves and grabs the inside of her cloak. Then looks down to our 'ally'. Even if I didn't get rid of him I feel like Magdalin may end up taking that step on her own.

I could let her as well. I can only think of one person I'd immediately blame for having people use poison or perform espionage. I honestly doubt I need anything else than just the suspicion, for a confirmation would only sicken me more.

The spy had stayed behind after 'John' was dead. An 'allied' spy was following Magdalin around. I see no reason for this other than using her safety to control Lily...

However, I am a loyal subject, and this man cannot be a noble. In which case he is clearly merely a murderer in the eyes of the public.

Think I'm being too hasty? That he might be a shadowguard like Darius trying to protect Magdalin?

There is a distinct difference between protecting someone before they're harmed at all... and protecting them after they've been hurt and need a savior. Still, it means the difference between guarding and manipulating.

If this 'ally' had truly been guarding her she would never have been harmed by her family.

I need nothing more to determine his fate.

...and I need only little more to determine the fate of her family.

But just as importantly... I'll remember this, Gilbert.