Wake up

Koelhar sat down his desk with a satisfied smile on his face.

In the past two days of the breakout, Koelhar had managed to suppress the majority of the advances made by the rebellion, leaving him with less problems to deal with and more time for himself.

"Hahhh…" Koelhar exhaled as he relaxed in his seat.

The gate tower was now back in operating condition, the airflow was back to normal, the lockdown was lifted, the rebels were back to hiding. Everything was working out good for Koelhar.

Except for one.

The men he had sent off to the southern air ducts were trapped in there at the mercy of the shadow demons.

Koelhar groaned at the thought.

He couldn't do anything about it since the resonance stones required to open up the gates were missing from the tower. Most likely the rebels had chiseled them off to throw during the siege.

Koelhar drank a cup of wine as he sighed, twirling it around the expensive crystal clear glass.

"It still doesn't feel right…" Koelhar grunted as he twirled the wine around. "Where could the rebels be hiding…"

It had been two days since the breakout. The rebels were still humans that needed food and water. Not to mention a place to hide 6,000 of them, to feed them alone was quite a feat.

The officials were tracking down the economic cashflow to find out if there had been a sudden increase in food purchases and narrow down the area but ultimately failed.

The rebels seemed to have split up and moved off to various locations to hide.

What seemed fishy was that the street rats that were paid by the guard to search for the rebels did not find any trace of them.

Koelhar sighed.

"No matter." Koelhar downed his drink. "I have nothing I can do about it for now."

As Koelhar was drinking away his frustrations, a knock came to his door and caused Koelhar to nearly jump up in surprise.

'Who the hell is it now…' Koelhar grumbled.

Koelhar straightened up his posture as he cleared his throat and calmly beckoned the person knocking to come into his room.

"Koelhar." The Duke greeted him as he walked in.

Koelhar immediately stiffened.

'What the hell does the Duke want with me?!' Koelhar internally screamed.

"Calm down, head Knight." The Duke waved his hand to stop Koelhar from getting up and kneel down.

"Duke Rimmenwolfe…" Koelhar managed to say. "May I have the honor to know the purpose for your visit?"

"Nothing much, Koelhar." The Duke sighed as he grabbed a glass and poured himself some wine. "I hope you don't mind me stealing some of your wine."

"N-Not at all your Lordship! I would not dare!" Koelhar spoke immediately.

The Duke simply nodded and took a sip of the wine as he comfortably sat down on one of the wooden chairs. His blue eyes glittering with that ever present melancholy.

"Koelhar, my friend…" Duke Rimmenwolfe suddenly spoke, taking Koelhar aback. "I was thinking about how to deal with the Church…"

Koelhar felt his body stiffen at every word the Duke had said.

'Dealing with the Church?!' Koelhar thought. 'Now, of all times?!'

Koelhar decided to choose his words carefully.

"Your lordship…" Koelhar paused. "If that were easy we would have done it a long time ago…"

The Duke sipped his wine again in silence as he looked a Koelhar with a conflicted look.

"There is a way. There has always been one…" The Duke spoke sadly. "One that requires a great sacrifice."

Koelhar was dumbfounded.

"NO!" Koelhar objected immediately. "WE ARE NOT!"

"There is no other choice Koelhar…" The Duke spoke softly. "I want to stop running away already."

"NONSENSE!" Koelhar spoke with defiance. "THINK ABOUT THIS FOR ONE SECOND! WHAT ABOUT YOUR FAMILY?!"

"They will be fine." The Duke spoke with confidence. "My children are capable of taking care of themselves. My wife has went off to visit her parents in Father-in-law's territory."

Koelhar did not know where this confidence of the Duke had come from but he was certain that the Duke had already put a lot of thought on this already. Koelhar knew that he was the only person who could change the Duke's mind and at this rate, he was doing a very bad job at it.

"Think about the people! Think about the legacy you will leave behind!" Koelhar was at the verge of going insane. "They will remember you as a murderer! Do you want to go down in history as a cold-blooded Killer?!"

"I do not worry about such." Duke Rimmenwolfe spoke sadly. "I just want those fanatics to leave my people in peace."

"Do you think that those exact fanatics will let you do such a thing to them?!" Koelhar stood up.

"Yes, they are rather preoccupied right now." Duke Rimmenwolfe said with certainty. "They have bigger problems than me."

"There must be some other way my lord!" Koelhar insisted. "If not you, who will take care of the people?!"

Duke Rimmenwolfe could not find the words to respond and just stared at Koelhar with conflicted emotions.

"Well…"

"Duke." Koelhar spoke with as firm determination. "No one can take care of the people better than you can!"

"There is actually-"

"No! There isn't!" Koelhar cut him off. "You cannot do this. Understand?"

"A-Alright…" The Duke seemed to have a sense of weakness within him today. "I… I will reconsider."

"Good!" Koelhar sighed in relief. "It is good that I talked some sense into you."

"Of course. Certainly." Duke Rimmenwolfe averted his eyes. "I have stayed too long. I shall take my leave."

"What?" Koelhar laughed. "Why don't you take a break, my lord! Stay for a while as we talk of all the problems in the world!"

"That sounds lovely." The Duke had a soft smile. "Such a shame that I have a lot more work these days, I cannot take you up on that offer."

"I see, I see." Koelhar sighed once again. "Please do not hesitate to come and have a chat with me if ever you encounter a crisis my lord."

After a few exchanges, the Duke had finally left the room and slumped down his chair in relief.

"How are there so many problems in two days…" Koelhar rubbed his head. "I feel like I just used up half my life in all this stress."

Koelhar closed his eyes in wariness.

"I just want it all to end already."

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rodwell walked down the upper hall of the Keep.

"Hmmm… wouldn't your lord be against this?" Yvette spoke beside him as she tilted her head to the side.

"I'm afraid not." Rodwell spoke with irritation.

"No wonder there weren't any guards stationed on the route we took." Yvette puffed her cheeks as she walked.

Rodwell finally snapped.

"Just what are you doing here?!" Rodwell could not help but snap at the dark haired beauty.

After Rodwell took a trip to the former Grand Magus' residence, he walked along the main streets when the lockdown was over and deliver some materials he picked up to the local tavern.

Once he was done with it, Sir Gunther asked him to take his position for a bit and guide a certain someone up the keep.

He did not expect it to be the same lady that shot a Templar Knight in the neck in front of the Church.

Her refined etiquette was gone and she was more informal and expressive now. Which made Rodwell think that the woman might be insane.

The lady in question seemed like an idiot that did not know what was going on too, which further roused Rodwell's suspicion..

"I don't know." Yvette shrugged. "I've spent half my life trapped in a cellar and the other half in helping people. This is the first time I did something else."

"What?" Sir Rodwell was taken aback.

He slowly realized who he was talking to.

Yvette the Saint

She was an unofficial Saint among the commoners. There were no commoners in Dwenson that did not know her and all her deeds.

She was not really a believer of the Sun God but she was a legend among healers. She had healed more than dozens of thousands of people from their wounds and other illnesses.

Her popularity started off when she was called the Lady of Pelradwyn, when a plague broke out and infected tens of thousands of people. It was said that she travelled all the way from the stronghold to Pelradwyn and saved majority of the infected until she was infected herself and she nearly died.

Then came the next few outbreaks and she did the same thing over and over while risking herself.

She was the fleeting Legend, nobody was able to contact her or know where she was.

She was called the most sophisticated lady with a golden heart, or the dark haired angel that breathes life and other types of flamboyant titles.

Rodwell felt his skin turn cold.

'Please don't tell me this is THAT Yvette…' Rodwell sized up the airhead lady in her cheap breeches and simple blouse. 'This airhead of a character is called sophisticated?!'

"Is there something on my face?" Yvette narrowed her eyes and pouted. "You have been staring for a while."

Rodwell averted his eyes. "Are you really Yvette the Saint?"

"Oh, you do recognize me!" Yvette happily clapped her hands. "That one is my favorite. It's a lot less cringe than the others."

"Dear gods…" Rodwell shook his head.

'This woman is even stranger than my wife…' Rodwell sighed.

"What are you going to do in here anyway?" Rodwell looked at her with tired eyes.

"Wait I suppose." Yvette chirped happily. "I get to be lazy I guess…"

"And I had to guide you just for that?" Rodwell was back to being irritated.

"Yup." Yvette had a thumbs up pose.

"Goddamnit." Rodwell was tired of all this already. "I'm leaving."

"Byeee!" Yvette waved him goodbye.

As Rodwell left the scene while grumbling why he had to guard such an airheaded woman up an unguarded route in the keep. Yvette took out a piece of wrapped cloth and unwrapped it as she stood in a dimly lit corner.

"To think that the Lord agreed to the plan…" Yvette's eyes turned cold as she lowered her eyelids. "Was the presence of the Shadow and the Enchanter all that really took to convince him?"

Yvette stared down at the wooden vial in front of her.

She had acted like such a detestable idiot to the knight earlier so he wouldn't be bothered as much for what has to come next. She felt like she was betraying so many people as of late, yet she knew this was all she could do to fight off the Church and make the people wake up from their sleep.

"No matter." Yvette closed her eyes in surrender. "I shall do my part."

Yvette opened the vial and drank the contents inside.

"Wake up, sleeping souls of Wyndfall." Yvette whispered. "The true plague has come to an end."