The Necromancer and the Priestess (22)

The question is whether or not to lie about the army.

There were two paths that Yin Mei could take. She could allow the demons to win. In doing so, El would rack up achievements, the demons would conquer the human world, and it would be easy to gain support for when he ascended the throne.

The second option was to allow the humans to win. By doing so, it could cast doubt on the policies of the current demon king, who would now have two failures under his doubt. El could take advantage of this to garner the support of the people and claim the throne in this manner.

Actually, Yin Mei was leaning more toward the first option. But the problem was... her eyes slid toward Leon. Even if Leon was supporting Yin Mei now, there was no way that he would support the demon army over the human army.

Yin Mei closed her eyes, before opening them again. "Kai, you're in contact with the army commanders?" She asked, looking to him.

He paused, before nodding. He was the liaison between the commanders and the church, so he did in fact have a direct line to the generals of the army.

"Then, can you introduce them to us? Leon and I have some important information to relay about the demon army." She said, and he was silent for a second, before nodding again. This serious expression, it must be very important information. Any information at this point would be helpful, for them who currently did know anything about the enemy side yet.

As the group started to walk, Leon grabbed Yin Mei's arm, stopping her in place. El noticed, also stopping as he coldly gazed at the place where Leon's hand was on Yin Mei's arm. Leon could feel a murderous intent, and quickly retracted his hand before remembering what he had intended to say. "Is that okay?" He lowered his voice, looking toward El and then back to Yin Mei.

"Is what okay?" Yin Mei said as she continued to walk once Leon let go of her. The two kept pace, while Rosella seemed absentminded, walking slightly ahead, with Kai slightly ahead of her.

Leon gaped, but then realized that Yin Mei's question had some truth in it. Why wasn't her relaying information about the demon army not okay? They didn't have the time or energy to spare to pity their enemies! Not even El had said anything in protest, so who was he to speak up?

Maybe because he was used to the image of a gentle and kind high priestess that everyone was taught about, that he continued to think this way. Continued to feel pity. To feel weakness. But nothing that Yin Mei had said was wrong. All her choices were logical.

They were logical, so why did it make him feel sad whenever she acted in this way?

After a while of walking, they had traveled to the main camp, where the guards salute Kai as the group walked in. In the center of the main camp were large and dignified looking tents - one of them was a meeting space for the generals and their advisors. Coincidentally, they were having their strategy meeting at this time, according to one of the patrolling soldiers that Kai had asked.

It was good that they were all together. It meant that Yin Mei would only have to relay the information once, instead of multiple times.

The guard announced their arrival, and after a while, were ushered inside. Torches flickered, casting shadows up against the tanned hide of the tent, while several people were gathered around a wooden table, a map of Gloom Forest and its surrounding territories spread across it.

"What is it?" A young man with long black hair in a ponytail asked, looking up from the map.

Yin Mei tilted her head, feeling that this person looked familiar.

"... Kiel?" The boy looked surprised, his eyes landing on the disguised El. After a moment, Yin Mei remembered this person. He was a childhood friend of El, the dead Kiel, and Celestina!

"Eugene, you know these people?" An elderly general with a white beard and slicked back hair said from beside the long haired man, looking to the other people aside from Kai.

Since Eve had been dumped at a tree nearby, with Rosella watching over her, it was just Leon, Yin Mei, and El who had come in with Kai. Of them, he could recognize Leon, whom he had actually met briefly before at some formal gatherings.

Aside from that, the other two were not familiar to him.

The other generals, also could not recognize them.

"Ah... these people had something important to report, so I decided to bring them here," Kai said, looking toward Yin Mei.

"Important?" Eugene moved his gaze to the girl that Kai was looking at - Yin Mei's current appearance was that of a young woman with wavy brown hair, looking older and more mature than Celestina did. Along with the change in personality and the lack of her former strong aura, there was no way that Eugene could recognize her, especially since Eugene hadn't seen Celestina in over a couple of years now.

"Leon and I went through the barrier surrounding the forest, to go look at the area near the demon bridge," Yin Mei said, and immediately murmurs spread through the tent.

"To do something so dangerous, what in the world were you thinking!" The general next to Eugene said in a sharp and scolding tone. Because these were kids who were about the age of his own grandchildren, he couldn't help but speak in this manner. But, after second thought, Leon, though not a mage at the level of Celestina, was still a master magician of the royal court.

But still, was this reckless decision the result of his young age and youthful passion?

Even though the general felt he should trust in Leon's skill, what he had done was just way too dangerous. Only two people, and not even real scouts, had gone to scope out the situation?

"The demon army has already passed through the bridge, and their numbers rival ours." But, Yin Mei didn't pay attention to the general's words, and continued anyways. And her words sent chills down the backs of those present.

Their numbers rival ours. This was the key information.

Because, from the history books, everyone knew that an average demon was stronger than the average human soldier. That meant, in normal conditions, a one on one battle with no tricks, between their army of equal numbers, the one to win would guaranteed be the demon army.

"Tell me more," Eugene said with a serious expression.

A half hour later, Yin Mei and the others left the tent.

Leon and Kai both had on worried and serious expressions, but Yin Mei and El's expression were unchanged, as if they had not just discussed the entire fate of the continent.

"You..." Kai suddenly said, and the group stopped in place, everyone looking back toward Kai, not knowing who he was speaking to.

"What is it?" Yin Mei asked, tilting her head in questioning. Her expression was calm, with no change, as if this was any other day. As if they weren't on the verge of a battle that would determine the fate of the continent.

"... Aren't you too calm?" Kai asked. Was this really the high priestess that he knew? The symbol of the people? The protector of the people? The so called incarnation of the goddess?

Yin Mei was confused over Kai's sudden question. "Then what else should I be, other than calm?" She asked, truly feeling confused and unsure how to react.

"I don't know," Kai was also confused why he felt this way, and even more so, was frustrated. But this question hit him right in the gut. That's right, what was he expecting of her anyways? To be panicked? To be depressed? No, none of that suited the high priestess. Actually, wasn't being calm the best reaction? In the end, they were here as soldiers. The moment they lost their calm was the moment they would die.

So, why was it that even when he thought this, he still couldn't accept it? As if there was a feeling of wrongness. As if the girl in front of him, was for some reason, abnormal.

Ah... that's right. It's because every action she took was far too logical. Even though it made sense, it lacked humanity.

He had felt this before, that it was as if this girl was isolated from the world, a barrier between her and everything else. Like she was in a world all of its own. Like this world was a chessboard, the people chess pieces, and she was the player.

It sent a shiver down his spine. Indeed, it was almost as if she was playing at god.

Was this the true nature of the powerful? That gentle and compassionate high priestess, was this her real self showing?

He recalled that smile she had shown when the demon bridge had opened.

It can't be. She couldn't possibly be the high priestess of his memories...

"Kai," Leon said, interrupting the man's thoughts. "You're asking really weird things..." He said. Actually, it wasn't that he hadn't thought this himself. But Leon knew that those thoughts were rude. After all, all that Yin Mei was doing was being logical, so what was so strange about that?

"You're right," Kai said. That's right. What was he thinking? He didn't know this girl's situation or thoughts. So all these assumptions were being rude. There was no way that she could be like that... he shook his head, getting rid of his doubts. "I'm sorry," he said, apologizing upfront as he bowed down.

"No, there's nothing to apologize for..." Yin Mei said, but inside she was wondering. Was she really too calm? Was there something wrong with that? With... her? No... it can't be, right? Look, even Kai admitted his mistake. Leon as well, said that what he asked was weird. That's right. What was wrong with being calm anyways? How else should she have reacted...?

But somehow, she felt like that a very, very long time ago, she wasn't like this...

... All people change. Change was not necessarily bad either. So, there wasn't any need for her to be worried. When she thought about it like this, she thus quickly threw her doubts to the back of her mind. Why was she even concerning herself so much with this little question?

It shouldn't concern her. So what if she was different?

That's right.

She closed her eyes, then opened them, her expression cool. El looked at her, his expression slightly concerned, as if he could see all the thoughts and emotions that had gone through her head in that short amount of time. But in the end, he didn't say anything.

They soon reached the tree where Rosella was waiting for them, Eve still unconscious and lying on the floor by the base of the tree. She asked what had happened, to which Leon politely explained everything that had gone on. She turned slightly pale, but quickly returned to normal, her face calm. Kai wondered if maybe he was the weird one - or perhaps, women were just more adaptive than men...?

"For now, I think we'll return to the capital. After all, we have Sir Kiel with us," Leon said, also glancing toward the unconscious Eve. He didn't know her name though, so didn't say anything about her, but everyone could guess that he was also talking about her as well.

"That's probably... the best thing to do," Kai said. After all, Leon, Yin Mei, and Rosella actually didn't have anywhere to stay the night. The guild's encampment was slightly further off, but they didn't have any room there to stay either - unless they wanted to share a crowded tent with the others. The reason for this was of course, because Yin Mei had decided to abuse Leon's handy ability as a space affinity mage, and thus, they were staying at the capital rather than camping out here in the wilderness.

Of course, the White Bird party was very jealous, but after all, it would be asking too much of Leon to be teleporting large groups of people across long distances daily. With just them, it was still not too much to ask for. But with each person added on, the mana consumption would start to increase exponentially.

"Alright. Then, we'll talk to you later," Leon said, and Kai nodded. He glanced at Rosella, who looked away with a dark expression. He seemed to want to say anything, but in the end, simply gave a generic goodbye to the group before watching Leon cast a spell and teleport them off.

Only when they were gone, did he let out a sigh, not knowing how to feel.

Why was it that things were this complicated now? He really wished... that they could go back to those more peaceful, more simple times.

But maybe it was because they all knew that that was impossible, and that was why things had come to this. In the end, there was no one he could blame but himself.