Chapter 124 Persona

Another week passed very slowly since nothing happened. That was quite good since Aion could focus on improving his classes in the dungeon, but the fact that the enemies didn't give up on the war bothered him a bit. While he was waiting for something to happen, he heard that some messengers were sent to his town… only the lords use them, so he could tell who sent those.

When Aion entered his office, he saw a young man in his thirties smiling, but he began to sweat after he had endured Aion's stare for a while.

"Good morning, my lord," The messenger said. "I am an envoy of the lord Heral Armand, and…"

"Scram, I won't say it again," Aion said. "Also, tell your lord that he will get what he deserves."

The messenger understood with just that and then left with his head down in a hurry. He didn't have anything with the problem between those two, but Aion had to make his point as clearly as possible.

"Don't be so hard with those uninvolved in this," Artemisia said.

"Rather than that, what can we do to get that… guy for good?" Aion asked.

"You want to pay him back right now?" Artemisia asked. "It isn't like they use our territories that much, and since they do most of their trades using maritime routes, there isn't much we can do to affect him without causing problems to others. We can stop selling the materials of the dungeon to his territory, but they had been buying it for a while, so that won't bother them any time soon. Moreover, you would lose some money as well."

"I guess a personal touch is required for this kind of job… this is a job for the cloaked wanderer," Aion said.

"You gave yourself that nickname?" Artemisia asked.

"No, I heard the former prisoners that came from the South referring to me as that," Aion replied. "I kept my identity hidden, after all."

"Even if your identity isn't linked to that… persona, it will raise problems later since you just said that you would get him for that," Artemisia said. "That will make some people connect the dots."

"I guess I will create another alter ego, then…" Aion said while rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"At least wait until the war is over…" Artemisia said and then sighed.

It was already quite surprising that Artemisia wasn't trying to stop Aion from doing some vandalism to annoy the barrel lord. In any case, she had a point… if things work well, Aion will get some more death knights, and he can use them to cause havoc on that guy's territory. It was just to make him lose a lot of money without killing anyone, so an utterly obedient death knight would be a perfect tool for that.

While Aion was thinking about that, one of the servants of the house entered the room while holding a message delivered by a raven. He asked him to give that to his mother, and her expression darkened a little bit… something happened, but not something good.

p1ease visit n0ve1b(in).ne)t

"They got the city under the control of the Histart family…" Artemisia said.

"That is the city on the territory of the mines… I guess they want those resources as well," Aion thought. "Both the archer and the swordsman were sent there?"

"Yes, that city is… Or was the strongest stronghold on this side of the kingdom. Now that they managed to conquer it, they'll have the best base to expand their territory in all directions," Artemisia said.

"I knew that, but I honestly didn't believe that they could take over the city. Only someone like Sauros would have the ability to destroy those walls," Aion said while frowning.

"The report said that the whole Histart family managed to escape, and a good part of the population fled, but there is a problem," Artemisia said and then took a deep breath. "Until now, both sides fighting in the war tried not to make the use of the mages of the kingdom. However, that city is too important to be left alone in the hands of the enemy. The head of the Histart family asked the king to send them, and the king allowed that. There is a chance that some of your sisters might be sent there…"

"You have to be kidding me…" Aion said after opening his eyes widely.

They weren't that close, to begin with. Since their mothers were from famous families, they felt even more prejudice toward the Mirellis kingdom. They were raised like that as well, and they spent a good part of ten years ignoring him and his mother. Still, far worse things could have been done to them. Their prejudice was unjustified from Aion's perspective. Still, he wasn't someone who witnessed a war that ended with the destruction of a whole kingdom. Mirellis' kingdom wasn't the only one that lost hundreds of thousands of people.

Once again, Aion found himself in an annoying situation where he found many reasons to try to recover that city and not to try. The family was family, and you can't turn your back on family. His half-sisters were basically kids, and they didn't deserve to become victims of war, even less so in the hands of those Legendary monsters.

On the other hand, Aion had his own territory to guard, and he was doing a good job protecting it and fighting on two fronts. He couldn't do more than that with the number of soldiers in his hands… he could keep thinking of both lists for hours, and they would keep growing.

"Aion, a bad friend still is a friend, and a bad sibling still is a sibling," Artemisia said. "I don't think that they have been bad to you, and you might not be as close as you wanted, but they are still your sisters, even if they are half-sisters."

"Yeah, I get it… I will prevent them from facing those guys," Aion said.