Chapter 42 - Unholy War - Part 7 - Valkyries And Vultures

In Basilian's square, where not so long ago children ran laughing and couples met, hundreds of mercenaries gathered in front of a platform where King Rerian Aust Basilica stood with two knights on his side.

"I appreciate that you all answered my call." The king began with his deep, dry voice. "The enemy is the temple of light. The man in charge of the temple, Poston, tried to use dark magic against me and fled when he failed. before we could do anything."

"That doesn't matter! We'll fight as long as our payout is guaranteed." shouted a man from somewhere in the crowd and a chorus of voices agreed.

"Is the promise of ten thousand gold coins for every mercenary real?"

"Yes. As written on the parchment sent to you all, each mercenary will be paid ten thousand gold coins and whoever brings me Poston's head will gain something more."

The king continued his speech and informed the mercenaries of the enemy's numbers and where the next and perhaps last battlefield would decide the course of the war, while Athena and the Valkyries played with the new young members.

During the trip to Basilian, Mifa, Sura, Mhia and Lera, the girls who were part of Klad's group, talked to Athena with Lobana's encouragement and their anger subsided, but it didn't disappear.

They still resented Athena for killing Klad, but they didn't hate her. They understood, no, they knew that for the most part, it was Klad's fault and that's why they didn't hate Athena.

"Athena, you said you came from this kingdom, aren't you going to visit your family?" Mifa asked in Athena's arms.

Mifa was the one who liked Athena the most and that's why she received scolding and disapproval from the other three, but it was already impossible to make Mifa dislike Athena.

They trained together, talked about various things that happened to them until they met in Tarna, ate together, showered together and slept together.

For Athena it was as if she had gained a younger sister and for Mifa something else blossomed.

Athena looked at Mifa and stroked her grayish brown hair.

"No, I only have one daughter and one..."

"Huh? Athena has a daughter?" Everyone around Athena asked at the same time with faces full of surprise.

"Where is she?" Sahari asked.

"What is her name?" Lobana asked with bright eyes.

"How old is she?" Hale spat out the beer she was drinking.

"Aha, ahaha..." Athena laughed awkwardly. "Her name is Fotiá, she's at Sigma with Gion and she's three- No, four."

"Eh~... Athena, you are so young. I never thought you were married." Mifa said in a shaky voice.

"I'm not young and I'm not married."

"You had a daughter without getting married? You were a..." Lobana said lowering her voice without completing the sentence.

"No, I wasn't a whore. I just happened to have a daughter, guys."

"What's her birth story?" Nijha who had been silent until now, asked with noticeable interest.

Athena looked at the blindfolded woman and noticed the pink in her white cheeks. Athena smiled at Nijha's surprising interest in romance and began to think of a quick story.

She could tell the truth and get their surprise, fear and doubt, but she could also mask it all with a beautiful story and satiate their curiosity with a little romance.

"Well..."

Athena started to tell the story of Romeo and Juliet with some modifications where Juliet doesn't try to kill herself along with Romeo because of the new life emerging inside her.

The girls listened attentively to the story, forgetting the fact that they were there to talk about war and the girls' relaxed atmosphere drew the attention of mercenaries, tense with the possibility of not coming back alive.

"And that's it." Athena concluded the story.

The reactions of the women and girls were varied, from surprise, satisfaction and sadness.

Mifa hugged Athena tightly and comforted the woman as if this were the saddest story she had ever heard.

Feeling slightly guilty, Athena patted Mifa on the head and hugged her back.

***

Later in the evening, Athena, Lobana, Mifa and Sahari went to the nearby tavern where the Glory of the Goddess Ertala was "anchored".

The place was built entirely in wood, standing out from the stone buildings of the city, which caught the attention not only of Athena's group, but of other mercenaries as well.

This was a night to mentally prepare for what was to come the next day, with the temple army being less than a day from the capital.

Some chose drinking, others chose sex, and there were those who used gambling as an outlet for tension.

As they entered the noisy tavern, a chair flew toward them and shattered against the wall.

"But why do we have to fight the war with you if we're hiring you?"

The scream that came from a table where men in black armor were sitting, made the place fall into a momentary silence.

Everyone looked at the girl with short black hair and dark blue eyes who threw the chair without caring who hit.

"We accepted your request, but I didn't say when we will." Said a tall man with long white hair and a cynical smile. "I'll take the Vultures where they can make more money. You promised us five thousand coins each, the king promised ten thousand. It's nothing personal, it's just money."

The man said, everyone in the tavern laughed and Athena shrugged at the situation.

"There's an unoccupied table over there." Athena said as she led the group to a table next to the men who called themselves vultures.

"Why do you want to go to Ethers, Athena? You never said." Sahari asked as they settled into their seats.

"Um...There's someone that I need to find who might have the answer to me find myself." Athena said without much reservation. (It's not like they'll believe me if I say the person I want to meet is a weird goddess.)

"What was the reason you got lost?" Lobana asked with curiosity in her eyes.

Athena looked at Lobana with a dry smile, but before she could respond, Athena was hit by something and hurled against the wall.

"It was really you!"

"Vitia, stop!"

"If you're not going to fight, Den, stay out of it. I'm going to avenge Horx!"

Athena rose from among the boards and pieces of chair and looked at the table where she was standing.

Lobana, Sahari and were with their swords drawn pointed at the girl who threw the chair earlier and Mifa was with her hair and tail hair ruffled, with her claws and fangs showing for the girl.

(What the hell was that? I didn't notice any mana flow... Unless... But that also uses mana, so how? Well... It doesn't matter now, she attacked me.)

Athena pushed the thought away, drew her sword, covered herself with the [Death Aura] and when Lobana and the others were going to attack Vitia, a blue ray went through them and hit the girl in the chest making her fly towards the table of Vultures.

"Vitia!" Den yelled when he saw Vitia thrown on the other side.

"Lobana, Sahari, Mifa, this fight is mine." Athena said with her sword electrified and pointed to where Vitia was.

Lobana and Sahari looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders, but just as they were about to sheath their swords, the Vultures were standing with twisted expressions.

"Look what you did." The white-haired man said with the same cynical smile as before.

As Vitia flew across the table, food and drink washed over the men, leaving some with wet and dirty clothes or armor and others with their faces smeared with sauce and dripping with beer and or wine.

"Now you have called us all to fight."

"Is it? So come on." Athena said.

As soon as she finished speaking, the Vultures drew their weapons, the white-haired man disappeared from the Valkyrie's field of vision, and a crash occurred behind them.

In a matter of milliseconds, before the man even drew his sword, he slammed into Athena, blowing a hole in the wall at the back of the tavern.

Again Athena could not understand. The man didn't use mana and she didn't feel him approach.

All she could do in that short moment was place her sword between her and the man's sword and be pushed against the wall, no, through it.

"I see you have a lot of mana, but that doesn't mean you're strong." The man said and then felt his cheek burn. "Huh?"

A line of blood ran down his smooth face and dripped from his chin to the floor.

At the ends of Athena's hair, blood dripped as they swayed vividly like snakes.

"Interesting skill." The man said in a smile for the first time genuine and licked the blood off his finger. "What is your class?"

Athena took a deep breath, regaining her stance, and stared at the man with attention to each movement and his flow of mana.

(He can't be using brute force, can he?) Athena felt her mouth go dry. "Why would I tell you?"

"Hum... You're right. You don't have to give an enemy an advantage." The man studied Athena's posture and smiled crookedly. "That's a good stance, but back to your class, it's weird that you use magic and use a sword."

"Really? It's pretty common where I come from." Athena smirk. (A lot of idiots were trying to force the creation of the 'magic swordsman' class in the game. It was a good idea, though.)

"Enough talking. But before I kill you, let me tell you the name of the man who will make you meet the creator god."

"There's no need for that!" Athena said and moved forward. "[Hew]"

The moment Athena streaked the air with her stay, the man's slightly red eyes widened and dodged the thin line of mana that cut the air toward her.

However, Athena wouldn't let him get away so easily and followed him, slashing through walls and floors and anything in her path, like barrels and alley rats.

"This is another interesting skill! I'm even more interested in knowing what your class is before I kill you." The man said and licked his lips as if seeing something juicy.

The man looked amused as Athena began to get annoyed at not being able to cut him. She wanted to use [Eradication], but she held back from thinking that she could kill one of the girls.

"Tsk! Argh! {Shooting Star}!" Athena said in a voice full of power and anger.

The night sky lit up with a radiant fireball that descended toward where Athena and the man were fighting.

In extreme speed and overwhelming power, the sixth-cycle magic hit the ground, hitting both Athena and the man and others near the alley, covering the place in dense dust.

Athena used [Hew] to cut everything that came her way while the [Death Aura] protected Athena from what passed through her cuts in the dust.

"Athena!" Lobana yelled in a worried voice.

"I am fine."

"What was this?"

"Magic."

"Was that guy a wizard?"

"I do not know."

Athena heard Lobana's voice more relieved and felt relieved to know that she had time to worry about her.

This meant that nothing much was happening on Lobana's side.

Well, the damage was much greater than the situation allowed Athena to see, but Lobana saw a part of the damage and so asked, worried about Athena's condition.

Athena summoned ten stars in the capital and the damage was far greater than she could have imagined.

Athena didn't know that, and if she did, she wouldn't care, though.

Amidst that dense dust and darkness, only the sound of clashing swords was audible and it seemed that the number of people fighting had increased.

Athena thought about what to do now and then heard footsteps.

"I am not a wizard."

"Tsk!" Athena clicked her tongue and frowned.

This was the second time she had gone to so much trouble to kill something in this world.