Special Chapter IX - Truth (part 1)

This cave is beautiful… too beautiful.

There's a wide waterfall falling from the skies, where the hole in the ceiling leads to the surface. From that hole, we can see the night skies and starry night clearly. 

In the middle of this quite cylindrical cave, is one huge tree, with a bunch of stairs and platforms on it. The waterfall drops down to a large pond that is surrounding the tree, which connects to the river that goes all around the cave.

There's more than one entrance, and every single entrance had a bridge for crossing the river.

The entrance where I came from had a bridge, and at the other side is something even more beautiful than this entire cave combined.

Seeing them standing there, just waving their hands at me suddenly made me realize how weak I am. I realized how the world is still horrifying, how I am not entirely safe just yet.

The two... are completely fine.

"Lyona… Eva…!!"

I took off my mask and ran towards them. The hood covering my head got shoved backwards from the wind as I ran at full speed, showing my hair to everyone.

I landed on the shoulders of my new two favourite people, Lyona and Eva, who seemed to be alright. They quickly accepted my hug, and the three of us did not say a thing as we did this.

"Ha! I knewz that guy iz a female!"

Ezerio shouted while pointing at me, making the captain confused.

"You knew the whole time and you didn't tell me?"

"You were with her ze whole time and you didn't know?"

The captain shook his shoulder.

"Fair enough."

The guys behind us are commenting about my appearance, but at this point, I don't care about my identity anymore. I'm just glad that Lyona and Eva are alive.

The other knight who was with Lyona and Eva walked towards the captain and saluted.

"Report, captain! Sorry for the sudden change in the mission, but the dwarves are here to-"

The captain wasted no second. He let out a sigh and moved forward to hug the knight. Seeing me, Lyona, and Eva hugged one another probably also made him teary eyed. After all, he already lost so many of his men.

"Glad you are okay, bud."

"Yes, Captain. Thank you for worrying."

The captain let go of the hug, and the two began saluting at one another.

"Report."

"Yes! The dwarves are actually here to aid the rebellion, who seemed to be on the 'good' side."

"The 'good' side?"

The captain turned to the dwarf, but the dwarf simply shook his shoulder.

"Come inzide. We will brief you more."

The dwarf walked past the group of girls hugging each other, followed by the captain and the knight.

Noticing that they are going to the tree, Eva patted my head while telling me.

"We should… probably follow them…"

Eva said while being in my arms. It doesn't sound like she is uncomfortable, but too long isn't good.

"I was... so close..."

I muttered to them, and the two only smiled softly. They probably think that I was so close to saving them. However, what I meant isn't anything like what they thought.

I was so close to changing. So close to completely forgetting who I am. So close to losing myself.

When I saw Eva's burned body on the ground... it felt like something inside me wanted to come out. It felt like I wanted to puke out every healthy state of mind that I have and just go... berserk.

I was very close to losing myself completely. I was cursing myself for being unable to comprehend the situation properly, and I played right into the enemy's hands. I was enraged, and everything could've been different.

This evening, a separate timeline could have existed. A timeline where Eva and Lyona genuinely got hurt. A timeline where the enemies were actually the ones who burned the carriage.

In that timeline... I am very certain. By the time morning comes, Veldonia Kingdom would've been wiped out of existence.

"Rize, Rize! Too tight!"

"Right… Sorry."

After Lyona complained, I slowly let go. I stared at their faces and let out a breath. They are alive... there's no need for me to worry.

"Rize, you are crying."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"I just had pepper on my eyes."

I wiped away the water from my eyes. The two of them simply chuckled as they turned around before walking.

"How do you have pepper on your eyes?"

"It's the ingredient for barbeque."

"… Valid reason."

Lyona turned her head away, but she laughed after that. Me and Eva smiled at that as the three of us began walking towards the giant tree.

"Come. Let's join the briefing. And by the way, you removed the mask?"

Lyona asked after she noticed me not wearing a mask, but I only laughed remembering.

"I don't care about my identity anymore. I'm just too happy to see you two."

"You are actually soft, you know, Rize?"

I chuckled to that as I put the mask and hood back on.

Soft... I wish I am soft like you, Lyona.

Had things turned out differently, so many lives could've been lost. I was able to hold myself back from killing anyone this whole trip, but that can change... very easily.

The three of us continued talking while walking towards the giant tree, and Lyona and Eva used that chance to tell me what happened to them. Once we are at the stairs of the tree, there are a couple noticeable things on the tree's platforms.

Aside from us, there are also other humans here. From their attires, they looked to be warriors. Some wore armour, as well as being armed. Their weapons, scars on their body, it shows me that these people are quite experienced.

There are also a few dwarves here. And judging from their attire, I can tell Ezerio is someone important in the dwarves ranking. His clothes were too fancy for some commoner.

We entered a large room on the second floor or platform inside the tree. Inside the room is one large round table, where multiple people had gathered. Maps and boards were placed on the sides, with much information drawn and written on them. 

You can tell easily that this is the war planning room.

Three of them are humans, all wearing armour and had weapons behind their backs. One of them is a female with a bow. The two others are guys, one with a large sword and another with a dual axe.

The other party in the room are from the dwarves. There are two dwarves inside, and now that Ezerio is here, there's three. And just like Ezerio, these two dwarves also had some fancy attires.

Aside from those two sides, there are also our group. The captain and his knight, along with me, Eva, and Lyona.

"Okay, looks like everyone is here."

The first dwarf spoke. She looks to be a female dwarf, and she spoke with no problem with her accent, unlike Ezerio.

"Welcome to our temporary hideout station, people of Mazino. My name is Elzia, and I am the one in charge of this station."

"Captain Margen. Leader of the Mazino group coming to Veldon."

The captain introduced himself, and it was the first time I learned of his name.

"Captain Margen, I must apologize for the sudden change in your plans. To see your friend's corpse charred like that, that must be hard for you."

Yes. It's… very hard.

"That might be true... But I'm just glad that they are alive."

The captain actually took it much better than me. If it wasn't for finding out the corpse was fake, I would already be wreaking havoc in Veldon right about now.

"Then, I apologize from the bottom of my heart as I'm the one who came up with that plan. We needed to fool the kingdom to think that the messenger from Mazino had already died, so that they couldn't do much to her."

"And for that plan, I thank you."

"No need, this is for the sake of all our sides as well. Plus, we tried a more peaceful approach by sending spies to silently recruit her, but the spies said they were beaten down by a man in a mask."

Everyone else turned their annoyed gaze at me. I lifted one palm towards them.

"Sorry."

Lyona chuckled silently behind me, and so did Eva.

The leader of the dwarves seemed to be cooperative. Her plan was quite devastating for me, but it's a well thought plan. At least now, Veldonia will act as if the mediator from Mazino has died, along with her knights.