Chapter 22, The City

I feel the very hope I've been gripping tightly on is slowly slipping away when I heard him say those words.

"However, I can offer you an alternative that may bring your sister back. But it will undoubtedly be arduous" He said as he told one of his guards to bring him a map.

My complexion showed a somewhat relieved expression hearing what he said.

The guards unfold the map of Serallia in Infront of me and point to two places.

"The guard on my left points to where the Servant Of Death currently resides, but I presume he has moved on already to his next victim. Finding him would be equal to searching a grain of sand in a mountain of gravel," He sighed.

Victim? I'm guessing the servant of death truly is the cold-blooded killer the priests said back in Galan.

"The guard on my right points you to the creator of Pale Faced plague, The Skeletal Alchemist Solace Van Heimes. I've read through his book before giving it away, and he seems to know of a way to resurrect someone back from the dead, albeit not perfectly intact,"

He knows where the bastard is!?

"Um, how do you know the bas- I mean, the skeleton's location sir?" I asked.

"I have an old friend of mine who did it for me, fortunately, he's somewhat of an overseer of the world himself,"

"But beware, he only told me about his location, anything else than that I do not know"

°°°°

After being briefed on what my options are and what I should do first, they gave me a set of exploration tools to help me on my journey.

Well, I guess it's an adventure since I'm an Adventurer.

I received a Silver Broadsword, a Small Buckler shield, a map, and a silver water canteen. It seems that silver is overly abundant here in the city since almost everything going from ordinary tools to weapons are made of silver.

"But man that's a surprise. To think even The Servant Of Order could only reanimate the dead much like a normal necromancer, kinda a letdown," I sighed.

Well, I guess it's not a complete letdown, at least I got to know where that bastard is. Sylfia, whatever he's doing there cannot be good.

Speaking of which, the city looks really peaceful and nice during the day. I wonder what Mr.Jugo meant when he said this city was bad. The only odd thing this city has is the rule of needing to wear a smiling white mask everywhere you go.

And the Servant Of Order doesn't seem all that bad compared to what the priests and Mr.Jugo said. He seems like a good guy, nothing evil about him.

"Before heading out I should probably eat something,"

Although I haven't been feeling hungry or thirsty for the past few days, I kinda miss the tastes.

Besides, that skeleton left a mountain load of money back at the labyrinth, I have at least 3 weeks worth of food and shelter at a local inn.

While walking I began to notice that everyone was walking the opposite way of where I'm going and everyone was all unusually quiet now.

I walk up to one of them and ask what and where they are going and it seems everyone's going to an execution site. He says that when the executions are performed everyone and he means everyone in the city stops what they are currently doing just to watch the execution.

Well... If everyone's going there then there should be something more than watching criminals getting beheaded right?

And since the stalls would be empty with everyone coming to watch, I don't really see the problem as to why I shouldn't come.

I follow the crowd and as the sun reached its peak I feel as if I'm standing in the desert. Suddenly everyone stops walking, which means we've arrived at the site.

I excuse myself forward to see what's going on as I hear shouts and pleas for mercy... But something's off...

As continue to excuse myself through the crowd I hear the shouts and pleads getting louder, but what's weird is... The loud pleading sounds oddly young compared to the loud shouting who I presume to be the one carrying on the execution.

And as I excuse myself for the last time I see it, children in rags even younger than me and sister.

Their hands were held in planks and their feet in chains, they all look like around five to six years old at the very least.

Tears welled up at the edges of their eyes as they struggle to try and escape the planks that hold their hands which were now bruised from red to purple from the constant struggle.

"What the fuck?" I muttered.

"Ladies and Gentle Ordelians! These children are the thieves who have been stealing our hard-earned labor. How dare they defy our Order... Our culture!"

The children pleaded with everyone, some apologized, some did nothing, but every single one of them cried.

"And as per sacred law written by the first Servant Of Order, Regles Porteur, the one who had become the first elder,"

"May those who steal have their hands be taken! Thus! We shall be cutting the hands of these thieving children!" The man declared.

Wait what!?

I look around and see that none around me seemed to be fazed by this lunacy happening right before them.

The man unsheathes his scimitar and slices off the hands of the boy next to him. The speed and technique he used just then were incredibly quick and efficient. The boy, who had his hands cut off, took a few seconds to realize until the pain finally takes him.

Blood drizzles out of his forearms and his scream gets louder and louder with visible teardrops raining down onto the wooden floor beneath him.

"You are now free of these filthy hands child," he said, holding up the boy's severed hands which were dyed red in blood.

The man passes the boy and moves to the girl next to him. He whips his sword out into the air as to rid the blood of its blade.

"Oi stop! STOP!!!"

I dash in and thrust my silver broadsword forward. My blade clashes with his, I tighten my grip and parry his out of the way.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!? They're just kids(I'm a kid too though) and you're telling me their hands should be cut off!?" I shouted.

The man fell silent and slowly he step forward. The moment he fell silent I could have sworn I saw his mask twisted into a painful sorrow. The shadow of his tall figure, similar to the guard of who had guided washed over me.

Before I was brave enough to think that well... Somehow my words would at least be able to convince him to stop this lunacy, but now I feel my body trembling as fear crept down my spine.

He stops awfully close to my face and bends his head down to the side of my face.

"The sacred law dictates, those who steal be freed from their hands. However, the law also dictates that those who disrupt said punishment to relieve criminals be whipped a hundred times" He whispered.

"T-that's insane! Who the hell would think those are justifiable punishme-"

"Enough"

A loud and imperative voice boomed from far back behind the organized crowd. As soon as that word escaped his mouth , I feel my voice fade away and my body stagger. I sheathe my sword and so did the man who held the execution.

The boy stopped screaming and I see the wound of his cut off hands healed in an instant. But his hands didn't grew back as I hoped it would.

"Sleep"

The boy's eyes went blank and he falls asleep and so did the rest of the children who by now have dropped down to their knees and dozed off.

I think now I know why the city was feared by nations all across Enriya. It wasn't the elite Knight force they employed, but it was The Servant Of Order's power itself.

The power to bend everyone and everything to its will with mere words.

The crowd disperse and all that's left standing is me, the man beside me, and Shinnoth standing Infront of us.

Somehow the pressure he's emitting is now even more intense than how it was during the throne room, well I guess that's natural since I may have fucked up here.

"Mr.Abade, I am aware that you might have been shaken by this execution. However, disrupting it is out of the question" He said, his words cold and his eyes shows a sense of disappointment in me.

"You are forgiven of your transgression for you are a foreigner from the outside. But if you so much as to do this same mistake once more. I will not be there to pardon you" He said.

"B-but... Cutting off someone's hands just because they stole something and they're children no less! Isn't all of this a bit too much!"

Before he answered my question I could have sworn I heard him muttered "It's minor..." as he clenched his fists tightly.

"Your way of thinking and morality from the outside do not exist here. Here we follow the laws created over millenniums past before you were even born- no, before humanity and all other races were born, by the Beast Of Order,"

"The execution you see here is not only part of our Law and Justice system. It is part of our culture altogether. You, a foreigner, disrupting this very execution counts as an insult towards all who live here" He said, his stare sharpened and his figure looking more imposing than before.

That's one hell of a fucked up culture you guys have been living under then.

"Judging by your face I suppose you are either in utter disagreement or you're merely mocking me from within. I suggest you proceed with your original objective rather than meddle with our regular affairs, I wouldn't want my time given to you wasted,"

"Wasted?"

"Does being whipped a hundred times seem attractive to you?" He scoffed.

"...no" I said.

****

"To think that an explanation was needed for him to understand..." I said to myself, as I watch the roads around which are full of people.

Was my sacrifice all back then all in vain? Are these rules truly violent for this day and age? Was it right for me to be angry at a misfortune child?

I thought to myself all this questions... questions I have been asking myself ever since I was appointed to be Servant.

But every time doubt started to linger in my heart and mind, I am embraced by a cold yet pleasant feeling all around me, whispering words into my mind.

"The Order is right... the Order is absolute... the order is just... the order is righteous..."

I mutter the whispered words as I fall into a trance where I do nothing but obey the whispers. I walk and walk, muttering every word whispered into me until it all stop.

And by then, I found myself sitting back on the throne. The headache given by the whispers was not light despite being a Servant myself. I feel stress and depressed but never sadness, fear, anger, nor happiness.

It's as if I was incapable of feeling so, an essential part of what I was stripped away from me everytime I am on the throne.

One of the guards stared at me, despite the mask he wore I could his feel worry towards me, making me anxious somehow.

"Leave" I said, with no second thought they all left the throne room, leaving me alone... all to myself.

Strange... I feel... worse than when they were here.