Dawn- An age of Darkness

"His highness has gone through his fair share of battles. I will not allow you to mock him, even if you\'re my friend." Gorgon raised his spear. 

Yeah, I thought as much. 

Ve came forward. "I\'ll stop right there, knight boy." Ve emanated a pressure so dense, Gorgon took a step back. But his eyes were on point. He wouldn\'t back down from a fight like this.

At least not this time. 

Couldn\'t say the same about the rest of the people here though. Because the soldiers sure were looking rather pale. 

Biteria grabbed me tight. Was she frightened of something? It was possible that the spirit was frightened since Gorgon was a holy knight and all. Or was it a paladin? Honestly, I couldn\'t remember. 

I was more infatuated with dark knights anyway. 

Well, I was here, so Biteria probably had nothing to fear.

Now that I thought about it, Biteria really was acting rather weird. I\'d really have to figure out a way to get rid of that spirit. 

"Both of you calm down. We aren\'t here to fight." We were just here to piss off people and make things go our way. 

Actually, I\'d missed taunting. Lately, I couldn\'t put my skills to action. 

They did stop but glared at me. Now I was getting glares from my own ally? How fun.

"Anyway, as I was saying, let\'s not end lives in a meaningless fashion. How about you and the king of Dwaram duked it out? That way this whole issue will be resolved. If the nobility wants to fight I\'ll take you all on, right here right now." With that said I brought out the mystic blade. They all froze in place. 

Yup, my trump card. I actually didn\'t know if they could tell this was a legendary sword or not though. I pretty much bet on the possibility that Gorgon might or might have told them. 

The idea of two old men punching each other and sweating wasn\'t really that pleasing of a thought though. 

"Gorgon, assemble the knights. We won\'t let them do whatever they please!" One of the sturdy-looking knights said from the sidelines. He was middle-aged: must have been a general. And as he stood up, the soldiers inside the room also pointed all their swords and spears at us, still looking a bit pale. 

"Gorgon I\'m pretty sure you know me. But are you sure you should be leaving at a crucial time like this?" I taunted. "Besides, we both know what this sword and I are capable." 

I actually wanted a mirror to see what kind of expression I was making. I wasn\'t making any stupid expression, right? Cause all my life, I never actively tried to be evil. 

He grunted and glared. "I don\'t know what\'s come over you. Have the elves brainwashed you? Daarc!" 

Well, he was kind of justified to think that I guess. 

"I assure you, I am completely sane." \'I most certainly hope so.\' "Now then," I pointed my blade towards the king. "Let\'s not shed meaningless blood. I\'ll say it again. Stop this war. Oh and I\'ll be taking the Mythic blade as well. The god of courage told me to get that. "

Technically, this was Alisa\'s plan. I was just pretending to be a bad boy. I kind of didn\'t want to, but after hearing the entirety of her plan, I decided to play along anyway. 

They all glared. Didn\'t they have anything better to do? "We will neve- " A minister rose up from his seat and glared. 

Too many glares!

"That\'s enough." Beatrine made her entrance. 

She looked as good as I remembered, perhaps a bit more mature. 

  "Hey, long time no see."

"I take it you have a reason for doing this?" She walked fast. Would have been better if she were here from the start. 

I tilted my head and grinned. I looked evil, obviously. 

"Your highness. Get away from him!" Gorgon charged with his spear. Ve blocked him with a smirk. This was probably the first time I saw Ve using a spear. And boy was she good.

"Why are royals so much pain?" I imbued my sword and armor. I showed some strength. The soldiers all gasped in fright. They seemed to know this. Next, I touched my pendant and a blue arm grew. I pulled out the mystic spear. With two of my weapons on each of my hands and a ball of water infused with holy attribute, I glared at the princess and the king. "Well, make a decision."

I kind of just made a small light ball inside the ball of water. There wasn\'t much application to this apart from spooking ordinary folks. 

"I will assure you we have our own reasons," Beatrine grimaced. "You have gotten better."

"Thank you for the compliment." I smiled. "I don\'t care about your reason. Stop this war, or I\'ll forcedly take over and excit- Ahem! Execute all the nobility and take over this place." I was basically the second in command of the Elven Empire, so I wasn\'t afraid of taking a bit more responsibility. But then again, this was still an act anyway. 

But never in a million years had I thought I\'d make the same frigging mistake as the geezer. Back then I berated him and look at me now. Sigh. I guess Karma was real.

"Would it really solve anything? Will the people really accept you?" Beatrine pretended like she didn\'t hear anything, and I was glad for that. 

"We have the apostle of the god of courage right here! V!" I did my best with the presentation, a little cringe but oh well. "Besides, we could always spread rumors about how the royalty have been going on war for a prince and purposefully made countless slums in the process. Plus I\'m a human, in charge of the elves and men- you can see where I am going with this." I winked.  Somehow it\'d work out, right?

Probably not.

Beatrine gave a wry smile. She didn\'t seem that convinced. Honestly, I wasn\'t convinced either.

"No, that would be you. Lord Trerortra, Ashirnae, and Lord Xerphas all selected you as their apostle so don\'t pin it on me: You\'re even favored by Lord Damsel and Lady Anverosa." This much Ve said with a clear voice but then she turned all erratic! "And for the last time its Veniolar Xerces the demigod of flame!!!"

Well, someone was pissed. 

Not only did V ruined my plans, but she also added another layer of weirdness. Since when did I become Ashirnae\'s apostle? But I didn\'t have the time to frown.

At least he didn\'t use the name Jamsau. Apparently, that name itself was cursed. 

"Fine whatever. You heard him. I\'m an apostle. I\'d rather not be, but it wasn\'t a choice. And I would really like to avoid getting blood on my hands." I looked Gorgon. "I believe you know that this is pointless. Let\'s stop this and stop this war. If we unite in our search for the two of them, I bet we could find them at ease."

I had no idea how we were going to do that, but at this point, I didn\'t have a choice but to make empty promises. I guess I was turning into more of a politician than I thought. 

"What if-" The princess started.

"What if you are right and they are really hiding them? In that case, they\'ll be punished accordingly. So don\'t worry about that." Next, I glared at the king. "SO, what will it be, king?"

I actually didn\'t know how I\'d punish the criminals either. Hypothetically if a king was wrong, we could dethrone him, but what if their people don\'t like that?

I kind of didn\'t know anything about any of these I didn\'t want to waste my brain cells on them either. \'We\'ll cross the bridge when we get there if we ever get there.\'

"Your majesty. He has defeated two grand monsters and fought with gods and monarchs. I don\'t think-" Gorgon didn\'t get to finish.

"Gorgon you can\'t possibly suggest-" The general like guy attempted again.

The king stopped all the commotion and looked at me. "You will keep your word, I trust if, they are found guilty?"

Looks like he was considering. Meaning, I had to respond seriously. "Of course, the same goes for you."

"Very well. We will have negotiations."

Wait, that\'s it?

"I\'ll act as third party then, watching over the whole thing," I said. 

Well, that went well. And it was easy, too easy?

"Very well."

Well, stage two was a major success. Now to stage three. "But first, I have two requests."

The nobles were ready to spit at me. They hated me that much. "Those are?"

"The wastelands of Alablaster. I want that. I have a promise to keep. And I want to try and wield the Mythic blade. If the sword chooses me I will use it, if it doesn\'t I won\'t ask you again."

On my way here, I\'d asked about those two things. Obviously, Gorgon was a bit reluctant but he gave me honest answers. 

"You dare ask for land!" A minister literally pointed fingers at me. I just ignored him. 

"I trust this promise has weight for you to request things from your enemies?" The king asked. 

"I don\'t consider you an enemy but it does."

"Very well. I\'ll talk with my nephew."

\'Does this guy have any other way to go affirmative?\'

"Please stay the night while we send envoys to the Dwarven Empire," Beatrine said, smiling. 

"You killed their envoy, remember? So what makes you think they won\'t kill yours?"

Besides, the dwarves were also pissed. 

"We did no such thing!" Beatrine had a hand on her chest, she was serious. 

I sighed. I guess something really was up with all this. "Fine, we\'ll stay the night and in the morning we\'ll personally go to the Dwarven capital."

And so the meeting ended. I\'d say it went my way.. It was more of a blackmail than a meeting but oh well.