Ch16: Elea's Problems, P3

Chapter 16: Elea's Problems, P3

~16.3~

*****

"Lady Kye? Are you well?" Carys asked. "Should we continue another time?"

Kye looked around. All eyes were on her. "...what?"

"Let's recess for today," Olivia suggested. "Lady Kye, your accommodations will be ready soon. If you need to rest in the meantime, you may use my personal-"

"No." The tone in Kye's voice left no room to argue. "I'm fine."

"Princess." Liliana began to cast healing magic on Kye. Kye sighed but didn't refuse. After a moment, Liliana whispered something to her and stepped back.

Luma raised an eyebrow. What just happened? You saw a memory, didn't you?

Kye noticed that Aisha, Luma, and Olivia were watching with concerned faces. "My apologies. Perhaps I do need to rest, but let's cover at least one of my issues first." The three nodded, and Kye turned to Cardinal Aderyn and gestured at Aisha. "My vampire friend here was targeted by the church. Specifically, by the young knight Sir Caladbolg. I hold no resentment toward the knight, but I do hold the church as a whole responsible. The church eliminates vampires because they view them as an enemy to-" Before she could finish, the Cardinal materialized a spear and launched a concentrated beam of mana at Aisha. Kye simply held out her hand and blocked the beam, her hand glowing white.

"Don't you think you're acting too hastily, Your Eminence?" Carys asked.

"Not at all," Aderyn replied. "I am simply acting on the wishes of the masses. Had I known this girl is a vampire sooner, I'd have acted sooner."

"Even so, you saw Lady Kye's stats. You should know better than to make a haphazard attempt like that."

"Cardinal Aderyn," Kye said. The cardinal saw a look in Kye's eyes that she hadn't shown anyone since before reincarnating into Elysium. Unsure what to do, Aderyn backed down and his spear vanished. "I have a great deal of love for the people of Elysium. I will not tolerate murder."

"Removing a vampire is not murder."

She maintained her glare. "It is-"

"Cardinal," Luma said, her voice much louder and her eyes glaring the same. "If this was a different world, one that Elysia has no hand in creating, you would be dead right now."

"Those words are treason!"

"And who exactly is going to arrest me? You?" Aderyn started to argue, but Luma didn't give him a chance to get a word in. "I was once in the same position that you just subjected Lady Aisha to. In that life, my name was Heidi Lumen. A woman I grew to know very well stopped that attack. Would you like to know what happened to the attacker? He vanished without even a trace of blood. It was as though he blinked out of existence in the middle of his attempt to kill me. That woman is sitting across the table from you. I went into that life with nothing. It was a mission. I was to go help Elysia. I survived a difficult childhood in that life. I was ten when that attack happened. I thought I was dead, but nothing happened. My life was saved by Commander Catherine Lancet. She became a big sister to me and I enlisted under her command when I came of age. We died together in that life and met once more as Elysia and Luma. We shared a laugh, and our bond grew stronger."

"Get to the point, Sword Saint."

"I will not protect you from her."

Aderyn pounded the table, his rage on full display. "Traitor!"

Luma unleashed a tremendous amount of mana, her anger on full display. "One, she is the creator of this world. Her will is law to the church. Two, I agree with her in that vampires are people, just like you and I. The only real difference is part of their diet. Three, even if none of that mattered, and she was completely in the wrong... I would still side with her. I am no traitor. I am the Sword Saint of Elysium. My loyalty is to Elysia before any other. My loyalty, both as Luma Caliburn and Luma Athas, is to her. Heed her words. You risk making an enemy of the very namesake of this church. If you make another hostile move toward either her or the diplomat in her party, I will execute you for treason against Elysium."

It finally sank in for Cardinal Aderyn. Up until Luma's outburst, he did not believe that Kye was Elysia. Only when Luma defended Kye so earnestly did he truly understand that he was like a rodent before a tiger. There was nothing he could do. Neither High Priest Olivia nor Archbishop Carys offered him any support. Carys already believed in Kye before that meeting, and Olivia was convinced early on. Only Aderyn stubbornly refused to listen until that moment.

"This is the Church of Elysium," said the archbishop.

"Our goddess's word is law," finished the high priest.

Aisha was so out of her element that it was all she could do to remain calm and listen to the other five. Kye gave her a smile to help ease her mind. "It's okay."

*****

After a brief recess, the group reconvened and started discussing how to correct the issues Kye saw in the world. Changing everything in a day was not feasible, but covertly removing missions against vampires and other demihumans was possible. Their safety was far from guaranteed, but at least there were no more missions or bounties over their heads.

The main problem that plagued Elea was the monsters. The Slayer Academy was responsible for raising people to take on those monsters and protect humanity. Their workload would have to shift with demihumans no longer being a target. Kye asked why Luma had simply not eliminated the monsters, and she actually had done that at one point. She had once led an army and completely eradicated them one continent at a time, but the monsters returned only a few years later. Luma was at a loss at how to permanently deal with them, so the solution became to learn to live with the threat, which meant teaching enough people to fight to maintain relative peace. Large cities with enormous walls became the norm, and within one of those cities was where Kye saved Aisha.

After their meeting, Kye rested in Luma's quarters. She quickly fell asleep and did not wake until the early morning.

*****

While Kye slept, Liliana was sitting nearby quietly working on her NeuraPhone.

"Lady Liliana, I'm surprised you stayed as calm as you did during that meeting. You didn't react in the slightest while Aderyn argued with Eli."

"I have absolute trust in Princess." She answered calmly and confidently, but Luma was skeptical. Liliana noticed. "If I may speak frankly?"

"Go ahead."

*****

Revision: 2024-5-24