82 The Forgotten Duel

After that, Meridiana let the old man go, leaving only a pensive man with his mind in turmoil. Of course, unknowingly to him, he had already been under the effect of a spell made by the beautiful succubus. It was only one restraining the thoughts of the target, not letting him go against his rightful master. The moment the old human will try to rebel and break his word, his mind will be shattered and his soul dispersed immediately. On the other hand, it had none of the drawbacks of normal mind control and he still conserved his full lucidity.

The main reason for doing this is for the future. The moment the expendable magician will be captured or killed by them, an investigation will surely happen. And they rather wanted to only have an unsuspicious spell hardly detectable than one that had visible traits. And even if the elder tried to betray them, the soul bomb will appear only as retribution from the dark powers he served. But because they were not in charge of conducting the parody of attack on Archet, they were not the one that will prepare their new puppet.

He only had to reach the cavern where they first found the members of the White Hand or fought the strange reptile underground. There, a lich will directly bring him in front of either Malakov or Leilade, neither Davion or Meridiana truly knew what will happen after that. But they didn't really care since they still had a lot of things to do before the masquerade was ready to be displayed.

"You, Gwendoline. You will return to your work as if nothing happened. You will keep doing your best … hum … should I do something more?" At first, the succubus only wanted to let the young woman live her life like she was just an ordinary employee. But after a short moment of reflexion, if she could just be a little better... Not turning into a saint in a week, but just slightly better.

"I don't think it is necessary. Your spell already dulled her sense of pain or even fear. So whatever will happen afterward, she will still be the bravest woman they ever saw. That will be enough and explicable since dangerous times create extraordinary situations. The proud could turn to be a coward while the discreet could rise as a shield."

"You are right, that will be good. Anyway, we will monitor everything to make her as impressive as possible. If at the end of the battle, she isn't rewarded for all she did, it would only mean that this entire city needs a transformation more radical than planned." She nodded at the words of the orodil. Waving her hand, Gwendoline promptly bowed while murmuring "Yes, Mistress." and left the room.

"Now, we can go outside and … the rat. Do we kill it?" The immobile ratman was still smiling in the corner of the room, traces of blood on his sharp teeth. From the beginning, he never moved, except to eat the small human body. But because his mind was totally empty, he didn't mind at all. But his presence was now bothering slightly the succubus. They couldn't roam inside Archet with such a thing following them.

"Your creature, your choice." Davion just shrugged it off. He had the same desire of getting rid of that pesky follower that was not really appreciated by a lot of races. But as for what will happen to him, it was the same interest as seeing an ant at the side of his path. But Meridiana was a little pissed by that plain disinterest.

"A little help? No? Well, then let's kill him. We can't just send him back?" The two began to weight the advantages and drawbacks. Being found out, being designated as an enemy, pinpointing their location, extracting the few residual information still left inside the broken mind of the ratman. But they couldn't find a single advantage since there was no chance that the most powerful and terrifying organization would welcome the sole survivor of a group of three with enthusiasm.

Since it was the case, the succubus quickly approached the prisoner that was staring at her with his blank expression. He didn't even realize he was dying before his mind disappeared. Taking a few minutes to gather all the bodies in one part, they cleaned the entire room with an immense heat that nearly made the stones melt. Looking one last time, they found only the traces of the burning funeral, ashes dispersed everywhere and black traces on the floor and the wall. From one look, someone could easily guess that something burned. But that was it.

After ending up in the corridor inside the sewers, Davion closed the door for one last time and let Meridiana do the rest. She slowly began to melt the stones, not even leaving a single opening inside the wall. Originally, one had to be extremely sensitive to find it, if they didn't know of its existence. Now, it was totally impossible. She also made sure that the mechanism was totally broken and beyond reparation, meaning that the once secret room was unreachable. After cleaning the last miscellaneous details of that bloody night, the two left the obscurity of the underground maze and reached the cold outside, under the two moonlights.

Finally breathing some fresh hairs, the two adventurers, since they did receive their certification, found their way to a good looking establishment proposing a bed for the night. Because it was very late, their arrival was met with suspicious eyes, especially one of the innkeeper. But after seeing that they were adventurers, he relaxed a bit and offered a single room with a huge double bed. Not caring at all about that detail, they bought it and idled inside the bedroom.

During that time, because it was relatively safe for her to do so, Meridiana completely undressed and left her tight armor. Even if she was totally naked and the two were alone in a room with one bad, neither had any intentions about doing anything. If one would have asked Davion his thoughts, he would have only received something along the lines of "One shudders to imagine what inhuman thoughts lie behind that beautiful face".

As for him, even if they had no reason to believe that someone would spy on them in the middle of the night, he couldn't leave his armor. He just took off his helmet, still protected by the magic mask. No one wanted to suffer or be bothered by something if they could just avoid it. If it had been a true battlefield, that type of behavior would have disappeared instantly.

The next morning, after patiently waiting for the sun to rise, the two left the building without a word. Some adventurers were already awake and either talking between each other or enjoying a warm meal in the vast room prepared for that. Nearly all the inns were based on one of two principles. Either it was a place to sleep and a place to drink or a place to sleep and a place to eat. This one was the latter.

If some were wearing the same clothes they used during their missions, most had lighter clothes on them in this period, to not be bothered at all. But no one was without weapons, and a wide display was clearly visible, even at the entrance of the building. Some were new, other old, some were damaged. But all paled in front of what Davion and Meridiana were wearing.

Seeing the two moving armors, many were puzzled by their appearance while others were remembering where they had seen them. In the time the two left, the previously calm but a bit loud room was turned into a true mess where everyone was asking what was that. The previous display of strength made by Meridiana truly made everyone renew their first opinions. But that wasn't enough for them to be accepted, especially when the two weird individuals were clearly disrespecting the very function of being an adventurer.

Those scenes were not reproduced in the nearly empty streets, but as they approached the nearby building where most warriors and fighters were heading, they kept appearing. Besides the young men and women that didn't care, most veterans were looking with attention to what new problem will arise.

Whether it was luck or the opposite, but the very same group that belittle them in the first place was also present in this splendid morning. The female thief and the elven archer immediately locked their sights on the unmistakable living armors. Not expecting this, both Davion and Meridiana stopped talking for a few seconds, not really knowing what to do. Now that the succubus was a lot calmer than previously, she realized that it was petty for her to lower herself at the level of those idiots.

Thinking this, she resumed her travel, quickly followed by the orodil. They bypassed the group that was trying to kill them with their stares and arrived in front of the receptionist. Like the one they saw the first time, she was a beauty that was very pleasant to the eyes. They truly did a good job of finding those women. Maybe because she was not present the first time and only heard the rumors, but the human seemed very award while dealing with them.

"Good morning… May I help you with something?"

"We want …"

"They need nothing at all, just to leave this place." The knight that previously stood up for his companions still cut the exchange that had nothing to do with them. He still hadn't forgotten that Meridiana threatened his friend of death the next time they saw each other. He won't stand still until this was resolved.

"And here I thought that you guys would be smart enough to not bother us. But no, better interrupt my discussion with this beautiful flower. So what if I don't listen to your instructions? You will do what? Kill us?"

The succubus still wore her helmet, otherwise, her face would have expressed her sentiments far better. She was already trying her best at being merciful and not killing them, so why did they wanted to die that much? Feeling the hand of Davion on her shoulder, she was even more exasperated. Like she will slaughter people in the public? Actually, she was thinking about that, but she won't admit it.

"No, but you previously attack my friends for no reason. Killing you will be as bad for us, but there are still some rules where two groups of adventurers can fight between each other. Do you accept?" He was looking confidently at the two foreigners, sure that they will refuse. They were vastly outnumbered, maybe even out skilled, so they had no reason to accept. As for what Meridiana did, it was a fluke, in that messy situation, anything could have happened.

"Great, great. Like killing us would be bad for you. Maybe not as bad as being dead? No? Truly a sight to behold, that's how the humans of that city treat the others, eh. Well, too bad for you, but you made the wrong person mad. We … no, I mean, I accept your duel or whatever it is. I don't need anyone else to help me with that."

The now grumpy succubus immediately left the building, under the stunned stare of everyone else. She dared to fight against seven full-fledged adventurers on her own. Without even having any help from anyone else, like her companion. Baffled by this suicidal behavior, the previously angered knight became a lot calmer. To his knowledge, only someone excessively strong would behave like that. For the first time, he doubted that it was a fluke, and as he walked, he conveyed his suspicions to his colleagues. The rest didn't pay any attention and only smiled at their ever worrying leader.

"You… you won't stop her?" The receptionist looked at Davion, expecting something from the immense armor. Even if she didn't know the relation between the two, it was obvious that they were a team. Was he not worried about his friend? Feeling the gaze of something dangerous living behind the dark metal, she curled up a little bit, not asking anything else. In the end, while everyone else was leaving the building to see the fight, only the woman and the armor stayed together.