Dawn- An age of Darkness

"You really know how to do stuff don\'t you?" V inquired, just outside the throne room.

"I did watch too many movies –" And yes, for once in my life, I was very proud of that fact. 

"This way, you\'re majesty." A maid led the way. V and I followed. I thought we weren\'t probably going to get warm reception but I guess I was wrong. 

Then again this maid was Beatrine\'s. So, this probably had more to do with the princess than anyone else. 

I actually kind of forgot the maid\'s name.

"Be on guard," V whispered.

"Always am."  But this went a lot easier than I thought. Almost too easy. "Say, do you think-" I tried to whisper. 

"They probably expected this and most of their replies were predetermined," V whispered back fast.

Yeah, I thought as much. "Wait, doesn\'t that mean-" Well, it sure meant a lot of things.

The maid stopped and smiled. "We\'re here."

And we\'d arrived. 

It was a guestroom for two. I guess they didn\'t feel obliged to provide anything for the bunny. I was a little offended but oh well. 

Not the best room, but it wasn\'t far from it either. 

"I will stand outside. Please rest." With that, the maid left. 

This was a fairly big room and judging from the cleanliness. This was definitely preplanned. 

"Looks like we\'ve been had." I sighed. 

"You didn\'t lose anything. So it\'s not a bad outcome."

She was right. Whether this was staged or not, didn\'t have anything to do with the outcome. After all, I didn\'t lose anything and got my objectives fulfilled too. But the question did remain, who could have pulled off such a large stunt?

"Fair enough I guess." Well, did have my guesses. 

Biteria finally got out of my cape and jumped onto the bed, looking pleased. Seriously, what was up with her and beds?

Well, it certainly didn\'t bother me. 

I sat on the bed too. "Let\'s just hope Alisa and the others had better luck. Wait, what were they doing again?"

No matter how many times I asked, they didn\'t tell me anything. 

"I\'m not sure, but if I had to guess they\'re probably figuring out what countries or even syndicates might be involved. Damsel was also the god of wisdom. So, I think she\'ll figure out something." With a sigh, Ve sat down on her bed. "It pains me to admit it, but the daughter of Damsel might have been right about us."

\'Yeah, I don\'t want to hear that from you of all people.\'

So technically she was the goddess of wisdom of this world. Yeah, after what I\'d gone through I didn\'t feel the need to be surprised again. Though this did make sense in a way. 

"Well, she\'s smart, I\'d give her that."

"Yes, she is." Ve thought over something, debated, and finally opened her mouth. "Can we really trust the half-elf? It just seems to me, she doesn\'t have any real motivation to help us."

To be honest, I felt the same. She didn\'t have any reason to help us, and yet she decided to help us for the price of me trying to get some land under my name. 

Honestly, I felt the way Ve did. "For now, we don\'t have any reason to not trust her, but that being said, I don\'t trust her fully. So we might need to keep an eye on her." I sighed and just lied down. "I can trust you with keeping guard right?"

"You\'re going to sleep now?"

"I feel like we\'d be here for a long while. Got nothing better to do. And you and I both know, we have to keep watch either way. Let\'s just say, you can sleep after midnight and I\'ll keep the watch."

As much as I wanted to believe no one was stupid enough to attack a guy like me, I couldn\'t believe that. Definitely not in this world. 

"Fine." V didn\'t mind though I got the feeling she was irritated by something, that something being Biteria clinging to my neck. 

That actually did remind, me, how come Biteria chose me? Why?

I stared at Biteria and she stared back. She cocked her head just like a bunny. "Why did you choose me?"

Apparently, I forgot she couldn\'t talk. 

She just purred. She could still understand me, right? So why the hell was she pretending to be dumb now?

She looked too damn cute, damn it. Sigh. 

"Perhaps she loves you?"

"Can we drop this? I\'m sure she doesn\'t have that kind of feelings for me. After all, all this time I\'ve treated her nothing more than just my pet bunny."

Besides, I nearly killed it a dozen times already. Oh wait, it was already dead. 

"Sometimes, it\'s better to see things from other perspectives too." Ve, without another word, lied down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "Perhaps try to understand the meaning behind why people might act nice to you. Why they\'d fight for you, and why they\'d try to protect you."

I sighed again. I guess she was kind of right? But all this time, I\'d treated Biteria, just like my pet and I had no desire to treat her any differently. Besides, I already had a lover. 

Not to mention I\'d be morally wrong to do this. Biteira looked like a sixteen- maybe seventeen years old and if anything she was more like my daughter. Not someone I even had the slightest shred of desire to make love to, no. 

Biteria let go of my neck, got down from the bed, and sat next to Ve: staring at me rather intensely. 

I guess she didn\'t like my answer. 

Knock!

\'Perfect timing!\'

Our attention was on the door as three people came in. 

One, Gorgon, two, Beatrine, and three, the guy who was with Gorgon when we first landed. I really didn\'t like that third guy for some reason. 

"Well, that was something." Beatrine was the first to speak.

I didn\'t stand up or did anything in particular and neither did Ve. 

Gorgon and the knight stood at the door while Beatrine made her way towards me. 

I sat down, this was the minimum respect I could show her I guess. 

"Yeah, it was."

"You\'ve changed."

"Maybe?"

She giggled. "Yes, you have. Back then you had a boyish charm, now-" She hesitated. "Manlier?" She sat down. 

Why the hell was she asking me that? And I still believed I was the same. Maybe I didn\'t trust people as much, but I was the same, at least I believed so.

Okay, probably not. 

"Don\'t know about that really but a lot happened."

"Do you believe humans are responsible?" Beatrine had a faint smile. Whenever she was out of the court, her attitude was a bit different. I guess she had to put up a front too. 

I didn\'t expect her to be this direct though. 

"I\'m not sure and that\'s why I\'m trying to end this before it starts, so we can resolve all this before it\'s too late."

She giggled. "I guess that is logical." She looked into my eyes. "So you married the elf?"

Well, that came out of nowhere. 

"Well, we\'re just engaged and the talk about marriage, is, kind of just a matter of talks."

"Oh? So, it\'s a political arrangement between the two of you and can be broken off." 

I for a moment forgot this girl was actually a princess and knew more about all these things than me. I also forgot for a moment that I should have kept quiet about this. I looked at V and she didn\'t care.

Where was Alisa when you needed her?

Since I made this mistake I had to own it. "Yes, but- it\'s very much true that we love each other and I have all the plans to marrying her and even potentially have a family with her." Well, I\'d thought about this, and to make it a reality I had to first live past this, but after thinking way too hard, I decided to go with it. 

There was a small snapping sound coming from my left. Apparently, both of my companions were now glaring at me and it was Biteria who had broken a handle of the bed.

Beatrine chuckled. "So love runs deep." She paused. "Anyway, I\'ll talk to my brother to ensure you get the sword and even the land." She paused. "The sword I understand, but why the land?"

I figured I had to explain at least something. 

"You know the legend of the mage of six clouds right?"

Apparently, it wasn\'t just a legend among the elves. Since the mage traveled all across the globe, his legends were really also all across the globe. 

"You mean the legend of Boriosa? Wasn\'t it just a-" She paused and looked serious. "Go on."

I grinned and showed her my ring.  "This is the ring of Boriosa and-" I opened a small portal, pulled out Boriosa\'s cane. "This is his scepter."

For a moment Beatrine was perplexed and then she smiled. "You never cease to surprise me. When I\'d heard you fell to the sea, I was really disappointed, but I never knew you could achieve this much.. But that still doesn\'t explain why you\'d want land."