59 Chapter 59 Even Bugs Are Edible (1/2)
Crown prince Joseph of Dantares. I must get to the forest quickly and warn the fey. My mother was kidnapped by our enemies and used to force my father to betray the fey delegation. He is terrified of the Fey-folk but would do anything to save my mother. My escort was cut down several times by pursuing troops until only this handful of men is left with me. Arrows come out of the woods and take down several of my men.
”Wait!” I scream out. ”We are not your enemies!”
I block two arrows with my sword, before I see her drop down from the tree in front of me. The stories of them being beautiful are certainly true. Beautiful ruby eyes and a figure I wanted to spend days with in order to explore slowly.
”Humans will betray us. My elders were wrong to trust you.”
An arrow takes my horse from the side and I roll as it falls. She pins me to the ground through the chest with her sword. d.a.m.n, this hurts.
I try to speak. I must warn them even if I am to die here. The vile Voronians have contracted with demons and offered them this forest. It will blight the land until the end of time if they succeed. Blood fills my lungs as I try to speak.
She twists the blade and I can't say anything. Please for the love of the light let me warn them. She breaks out in a smile, cute little canines peeking out and says to her companions in the language of the fey.
”With this, the humans should understand that we will not let them into our forest.”
I'm glad I took the time to learn their language. I start to fade out. If the amba.s.sador team meets the same fate as we did, maybe their plans will be stopped here. As long as they aren't able to get the demon's blood to the Fey capital it will be alright.
Please let it be alright. I pray for my people and wished with a lingering regret that I hadn't met the woman who killed me under better circ.u.mstances.
I'm sure I could have held off enough rounds to have warned her if my full guard was here and we hadn't gone two days without sleep while being chased.
Her face faded as my vision went dark. The last thing I saw, was the glint of her red ruby eyes.
'System?'
(YES?)
'Was that a younger Sylva that just killed me?'
(IT WAS A YOUNGER SYLVA THAT KILLED YOU A VERY LONG TIME AGO.)
'I was a crown prince and that wasn't helpful to my current goal?'
(CORRECT. THE LINE OF SUCCESSION IS TOO LONG AGO AND YOUR KINGDOM IS DEEP IN THE AREA NOW CALLED THE WASTELANDS. YOU WOULD HAVE NO SUBJECTS OR LOYALISTS TO CALL UPON EVEN IF YOU ONCE MORE TRIED TO RAISE THE FLAG OF DANTARES.)
'I don't get it. I have no idea who the Voronians are, why Sylva killed me, or anything about the cult of demon wors.h.i.+ppers.'
(SEE, I TOLD YOU THAT MEMORY WOULD NOT BE HELPFUL. YOU ARE HANDLING THE STRESS MUCH BETTER THAN I ANTIc.i.p.aTED THOUGH. THE LAST TIME YOU REMEMBERED DYING THERE WAS CONSIDERABLY MORE SHOCK IN YOUR SYSTEM.)
'No, I'm traumatized. I can tell I probably have a host of mental problems ranging from trust issues, mild phobias, PTSD, and other general trauma.'
(THAT IS A SURPRISINGLY ASTUTE DESCRIPTION OF YOURSELF. BUT IF THAT IS TRUE, HOW ARE YOU STILL FUNCTIONAL?)
'Coping mechanisms I learned from my past life. I joke a lot with Stella. I also devote myself to my work like when I was working on catching sc.u.mbags. Lastly, I prioritize survival for myself and Stella and push everything else that interferes, away with willpower. If this was either of my old worlds, I would sign up for several years of counseling, but with people currently trying to a.s.sa.s.sinate me, I don't have time. It was a miracle I learned TEST FOOD the very day we were all going to be poisoned. I would have died again if I hadn't gotten breath to the intermediate level barely in time for the a.s.sa.s.sin's attack. I intend to be able to resist the next time people come.'
(THEN WHY AREN'T YOU STUDYING? THIS MENTAL ACTIVITY DOES NOT SEEM TO BE HELPFUL WITH EITHER LEARNING MAGIC OR THE FOOD CRISIS.)
'Fine I get it.'
There was a meeting shortly after lunch. Stella had already sent the others the figures for calculating the number of mages that would be required to feed them. Joseph might be able to hold a banquet for a few dozen, like last night, purifying food with cooks helping, but there was no way his magic could feed the number of people they had. With the men already there, the slaves, and the others the king sent with them, there was almost 7500 people.
The meeting had two of the king's men that he sent with them, Stella, another 8 of Joseph's people, Daniel and Joseph. It looked like these people would probably become the council with Joseph being the final decision maker for the foreseeable future. The report came first and was actually worse than he expected.