Chapter 10 Battle in the west

Azmaveth POV

I'm 16 now. Turning 17 in a few months. We are now preparing to go to the west. The king's cousin is the duke of the west. He, as a relative of the king, asked for reinforcement. Terrorists from the neighboring land tried to break the wall into the dark forest. That will be total chaos since the forest is home of the demon beast.

"Your ladyship, a letter from the Imperial Palace has arrived." one of my maids said.

"From which side of the palace?" I asked.

"From the Halcyon wing, your highness."

"Thank you. You may go now." I said while opening the letter.

My Dearest Ryne,

I won't say anything much however, I want you to know that I do believe that you will bring home another victory. May the Gods bless you.

Always take care.

Your loving and dearest friend,

Atasha

"My sister has a smile on her face. I'm glad that you are in a good mood despite all the commotion you will go through." I immediately cleared my throat and fixed my posture and face.

"And I believe that there are always dead spots in every ecstatic place. How is your training Cion?" I said and asked folding the letter I received from Atasha.

"Getting better. Don't worry sister, in a year or two, I will join you to battle. My skills are getting better, my light magic is steadily becoming stronger." he proudly said. As expected from a son of a Duke.

"Amazing! I'm proud of you. Can't wait to have you on my side in war. Though I don't want to have wars. I'll be going then. Need to prepare a few things and we'll go."

"I pray that the Gods bless you. See you after your victory in the west."

After our little conversation, I continue to prepare and march once the time has come.

This will be a long journey.

~~~~~~

3rd person POV

"What the heck is happening?!" the Duke shouted when the report of the soldier was heard. "How about the reinforcement from the Capital? The terrorists are only 20,000 people, why are we losing?!" he continued.

"They have demon beasts and some magicians on their side, sire. Our soldiers don't have many magicians." one captain said.

"According to the report, there were 5,000 magicians who were using dark magic and 1,750 demon beasts."

"Your grace! The Quillion soldiers are arriving. Headed by the Saintess." one knight informed the captains and the duke inside their tent.

The captains and the Duke look at each other. The face of anger and anxiousness began to be hopeful. They immediately go outside to welcome the Saintess slash the daughter of the Duke.

"We greet your Ladyship." The captains and soldiers bowed as Azmaveth came down from her horse.

"Lady Azmaveth, we are glad to have your troops come to help." the duke of the west greeted.

"Greetings Duke. Fill me up on the situation." Azmaveth said without even resting for a bit.

After they report everything to the Saintess, while Quillion Knights who distributed healing potion as instructed by Azmaveth, they did some planning and strategy. Later that evening, they began their move.

~~~

"Please help."

"Help me."

"Help us."

Azmaveth paused when she heard voices asking for help.

She looked around the battlefield, corpses, humans and beasts. People are fighting with each other, terrorists vs the soldiers.

Splash

Blood of the beast who tried to attack Azmaveth splattered.

Something's wrong. That's what Azmaveth is thinking.

She observed carefully while slashing anything who tried to attack her. But there are some who will charge with their fangs and long nails to her but then will find another prey. She spotted one again and this time she won't kill but casted a spell to bind it, a magic rope.

"Help. Please don't kill me." It is definitely coming from the thing she bound by rope she casted.

"Your highness, what's happening?" One soldier asked. Since their original plan is to immediately kill the beasts. But the one in front of Azmaveth was bound by a rope.

Azmaveth carefully looked at the thing in front of her. The thing is drooling and shouting like a mad animal. Upon closer look, Azmaveth saw something shining on its neck. But not as bright, you will only notice it if you look closer.

She looked around and some had shining characters on their necks.

"Listen! Look at their neck, if you see something shining, a color violet, on their neck, don't kill it. Bind them. Or focus on their feet!" She shouted an instruction and others immediately followed.

*Sound of a horn

That's the signal that the enemies had surrendered.

~~~

"We are grateful for your assistance, Lady Azmaveth. We pray that you will have a safe trip back to the capital."

More congratulations and thankful remarks were made before departing the west.

It's been months before it ends. There are places and villages that Azmaveth visited to cast barriers.

Going back to the capital, she is riding a carriage, after a week, she will ride her horse to shorten the arrival time.

In the past months, there have been times that she asked to deliver letters to the capital, one is to report to her father and the other is to reply to the letters that her dearest princess wrote to her. The duke of the west is responsible for reporting to the imperial palace.

Flashback

"Duke, I will have the 10 prisoners. I'll need them for my experiments." Azmaveth said while they were going back to the camp. There are 65 prisoners that have the mark on their necks that were captured and the saintess will have to find out on how to get them back to their former self.

The Duke was hesitant at first to have some prisoners be taken to the capital but it was the Saintess of the kingdom who made the decision but after much thought he gave in. Since the Lady has knowledge and has an interest in magic and power, it is natural for her to get some test subjects, that's what the Duke concluded.

End of flashback

Azmaveth POV

Another Flashback

"Great Saintess, please let me become your servant. I'll do everything. I can cook and clean. I am strong too for a girl. I don't have any families left and our village was slaughtered. I beg you, please." a girl who I think at the age of ten or twelve was kneeling to the ground begging me to have her. I looked around and no one dared to come to her.

"What is your name child?" I asked. When I asked that I noticed that other people looked at us, they wanted to say something.

"My name is Noelle."

"What exactly happened to your parents?" I asked further, she is still kneeling and her head bowed.

"They were killed protecting me. They hid me in a barrel and I saw them slashed by those men." I casted a spell, examining if she's lying. And she's not. Her mana is not totally human. She's a hybrid. What's this? Mana of a dwarf, elf and a human?

"What can you offer to me as a sign of loyalty?" I asked. I read from books that dwarves and elves have a ritual for swearing allegiance to a person or other kind.

She looked at her left and then right, she was looking for something. And she tried looking up to me. When she noticed that I was looking down on her she immediately bowed her head again.

"Your Ladyship, if you will please lend me a dagger. I will do the loyalty ritual." She said. Then I throw the dagger in front of her. She ripped her clothes' collar and by using the dagger she carved a moon on her skin, located at the upper center of her boobs. Blood flows from the wound, she as a 10 year old girl, shouts in pain.

So the closer the mark on the heart the bigger the loyalty is. She will have her reward.

With heavy breathing and tears flowing from her eyes she waited for my response.

"You did well child. That dagger will be my first gift to you. Don't disappoint me." I said and instructed a knight to give her new clothes and give her food. I heard her thankful remarks before I left.

End of Flashback

While looking outside the window, my mind is now thinking of the princess. No irregularities in her mana means the princess is not in danger. I reached into my inner pocket of my cloth and held the handkerchief given by Atasha, which became my lucky charm.

I can't wait to see you again, Atasha.