"Wiik! Wiik!"
The wiik-bat suddenly appeared from the side and flapped around Mark excitedly. It flew around him a few times before it landed on his shoulder and made an apologetic noise at the back of its throat. The wiik-bat had been trying for almost five hours to get into the museum, but it couldn't because of the high magical defenses around.
Mark smiled as he gently scratched the wiik-bat in the space between its antennae.
"You useless bastard. You couldn't get through and now you're acting all cute."
"Wiik! Wiik!" Your journey continues at m v|l-e'-novelhall.net
'I'm sorry.'
The wiik-bat apologized again and Mark just chuckled. Mark knew that it would be hard for the wiik-bat to get inside because of the high magical defenses, so he was not angry.
"It's fine, you can go meet Luna and rest. You know where she is, right? I'll be fine, so -"
"Wiik! Wiik!"
The wiik-bat did not even wait for Mark to finish what he had been saying as it flapped its wings in excitement and jumped off Mark's shoulder to go and meet Luna. It was no longer apologetic at all and it abandoned Mark once it heard Luna's name. Mark watched the wiik-bat fly away with an irritated look on his face.
"The bastard really gets on my nerves."
Mark shook his head and forgot about the damn traitor as he focused back on the building in front of him. Mark wasn't the best sensor, but even he could tell that there was a ton of magic surrounding this building, and all of it was focused on preventing anything from getting in without permission.
Mark could try to force his way in, but he didn't know if there were any other traps or deterrents that they put in place for situations like that. Imagine trying to break in and suddenly you're skewered by magic arrows. Knowing the sort of monsters that were summoned in this game, I wouldn't be surprised if the king could do something like that.
Gilles suddenly shouted at Mark in anger.
"Stop fucking around, little boy! Who do you think you are!? The great Lady Joan has invited you to speak and you are to insult her by refusing! I will cut you down like you are nothing!"
"Gilles, that is enough."
A voice suddenly spoke up from behind Gilles and the man turned around to see a woman standing behind him. Mark also looked behind Gilles and he saw that there was a civilian standing there. She was obviously not the king.
She was wearing modern-day clothing, with brown hair and a kind smile but she had an empty look in her eyes that made her seem like she was looking at something far away from the present. She was just one of the puppets that had been standing around the building earlier.
"Lady Joan, you should not be exerting yourself so much."
Gilles suddenly spoke up in worry as he saw the woman and Mark raised a brow. So Joan possessed a body to talk to him? How did that work? Was that one of the skills given to the king or is it something she can do normally?
The woman raised her hand and told Gilles to calm down before turning to look at Mark. The sun shining in her eyes did not even bother her and she made sure to make eye contact with Mark before she started talking.
"So you are the one chosen by the gods over me. It is a surreal feeling, standing before your replacement."
Mark did not react to her words and Joan just smiled.
"I understand that you possess power beyond what I did in my time. But I don't think you really know what you are getting yourself into. Tell me, do you think the gods really care about us? All this, the powers, the games, the fights, what do you think they are for? Do you think the gods did this for us? No, they did not.
They did all this for themselves. To them, we are nothing but entertainment to be discarded whenever they wish. But I have a plan. I will cut my connection to the gods and I will gain power. And when the time is right, I will kill the gods."
Joan raised her hands to her sides as she spoke dramatically and Gilles looked like he just heard the messiah's final speech as he listened raptly. He fell to his knees and bowed to Joan reverently and Mark almost chuckled at the comedic display.