Chapter 154 - The Mysterious Woman

Sarah snaps her finger, to bring my attention back to her.

"Collin, is something wrong?"

I sigh.

"No, I've just been stressed out lately."

she asks.

"does it have to do with the missing students?"

I nod, as I think to myself.

"that woman we brought back, is still recovering."

I scratch my hair and reply to Sarah.

"yeah, I'm just worried about what could have happened to them."

at this point most students in the academy are aware of the their fellow classmates being missing for so long, but we've been trying to keep things under wraps ever since we told King Dave about the existence of Mauri's Cult, since we don't want to cause a panic over some fanatics that worship a person like Mauri like a god, Sarah

"thanks for the food, I'll see you again whenever you are available again."

I nod.

"yeah, be careful and take care of yourself."

I leave the academy, and as I walk through the crowds of people in the city of Grezia, someone pats me on the shoulder behind me, I turn around and see Felnor who is out of breath, says to me.

"Collin I've been looking for you."

I ask curiously.

"why?"

he answers still catching his breath.

"that woman we brought back has finally woken up."

"let's go then."

as we walk towards King Dave's palace, I ask Felnor.

"so what do you think about Leonard confirming that Mauri being the fourth hero during the great war?"

he replies.

"Gale took it pretty hard, but as for me it doesn't really change anything since I grew up in the orc region."

he looks at me and asks.

"how do you feel about it?"

I reply.

"I don't know, but I'm curious why she turned out the way she did after the war."

"yeah when we tried to get more information out of Leonard, he just looked like he didn't want to talk about it."

I then think back about King Dave's not being fazed about what we found out about Mauri and ask Felnor.

"didn't you find it strange that King Dave didn't had no reaction."

Felnor shrugs.

"well he is king, so he probably has access to information and history that is not yet known tp the public."

we finally arrive at the palace where we are met Gale, who is sitting down at a bench that is in front of the courtyard's water fountain, he waves at us and says as we approach him.

"that woman we brought here, is finally awake."

I ask.

"where is Selshruuk?"

"your Dragonoid friend is with her already trying to get information out of her."

he stands up from the bench and as we walk inside the palace I ask.

"has she said anything?"

he shakes his head.

"she has been quiet since waking up."

we make our way, towards the recovery room and see that King Dave and Ying are with Selshruuk, surprised by there presence, I greet them.

"how are you doing your highness? what brings you here Ying?"

Kind Dave replies.

"I'm doing fine, I'm just checking on our guest."

"once I heard about this Mauri cult thing you guys found, I had to come back."

the woman replies to Ying's comment, with a condescending tone.

"Cult? don't you dare speak ill of our great lord Mauri."

I look at Selshruuk and ask.

"are these her first words, since waking up?"

he nods.

"I couldn't get her to speak."

I approach her bed and ask.

"so tell me, if you are a devoted follower of Mauri,

then why were you locked in a cell."

she answers with a weak smile.

"it was a test, to prove that I am worthy of becoming one of her many chosen ones."

I ask confused.

"chosen? but you were left, locked in there starving, how is that a test?"

she chuckles.

"of course unenlightened fools like you wouldn't comprehend any of her teachings."

I then ask.

"the kids that were taken, were all born with the hero's blessing, does that mean you were also born with it?"

she replies.

"Lord Mauri gave me this blessing when I was born, it is not a hero's blessing."

I grow impatient with her and just ask bluntly.

"where are the kids, and why did you take them?"

she answers.

"they have been chosen to undergo the same test as me."

I grab her shoulders and squeeze them hard as I shout with anger.

"why were those kids chosen? they don't follow your insane ideology!"

she replies trying to hide her pained voice.

"I will speak no more."

as I'm about to punch her, Selshruuk grabs me by the wrist to stop me and says.

"relax, we won't find those kids if we cause anymore damage that could lead to her death."

I storm out of the recovery room, so that I can subside the anger inside of me, I then ask myself.

"what can I do to make her tell us, the location where the kids are being kept at?"

I sit down with my back against the wall and on the floor of the hallway, trying to think of ways to get her to talk, but I come up empty, until Ying exits the recovery room and whispers his plan to me, I nod and reply.

"we could try it."

we both enter the recovery room, where I say to the woman.

"we want to negotiate about letting you go."

she stays silent as I tell her what we want.

"we are willing to release you from our custody, if you reveal the location of where the kids are being kept at."

she asks.

"why would you let me go? if all I'll do is tell everyone that you know where we are at."

I respond in a disgusted voice.

"because, in the end, we will kill all of you, for committing crimes against humanity."

she sighs.

"okay I'll tell you, but only when I'm releases outside of this city."

I reply.

"alright."

King Dave asks completely baffled.

"what are you doing?"

I answer.

"right now, we need to bring those kids back."

he sighs.

"I hope you know what you're doing."

I then say to Ying.

"alright, let's meet outside the city, I'm going to get Celeste."

Ying nods.

"okay I'll meet you there."

as I leave, I hear Ying ask the woman.

"can you walk on your own?"

she replies.

"yes."

I quickly make my way back home, where I say to Celeste who is sitting down talking with Ellena.

"can you help me with something?"

she asks.

"with what?"

I reply.

"we have someone that knows where the students are being kept at and we are going to need you, so we can teleport there once she visualizes where it's at."

she nods."

"okay let's go."

I then blow a kiss to Ellena.

"I'll be back soon."

we leave the house and make our way to meet Ying, where he's standing around with the woman in front of him, I approach him and ask.

"she didn't give you trouble?"

he shakes.

"no, she was well behaved the whole walk here."

I look at the woman and say.

"before you tell us the location, I need to know if Daurl is involved with you guys?"

she replies.

"since he is a chosen one, I'm forbidden from talking about him."

I sigh.

"alright, just visualize the location they are being kept at."

Celeste steps up to her and says.

"okay, you can go ahead and start visualizing it."

Celeste nods her head at me.

"got it."

the woman chuckles at us.

"well this is goodbye, until we meet again."

I nod at Ying and say to the woman.

"that's not going to happen."

she asks visibly confused.

"what do you mean?"

as Ying quickly thrusts with his bright red enchanted sword, through her, I answer with zero remorse.

"you and your people are too dangerous to be kept alive."

as her body hits the ground, I say to Ying.

"let's remove the mana blocking shackles and prepare ourselves to bring back those kids."

while Celeste asks with a worried expression.

"you are going now?"

I respond.

"I have to, or the kids are going to die of starvation."

I pause and give her a kiss.

"we are going to need you to do, what you did last time."

she nods.

"of course, I'll help you with whatever I can."

once we removed the shackles off of the woman, we notified the guards to dispose of the body, while me, Celeste and Ying head to the palace with urgency.