Hector was escorted back to his family by Gregory and Selena. The rest of the squadron was to report back for the two missions they had completed. It was the captain"s choice and even if Gregory would have preferred to go to Congress to share his information, he was now obliged to walk with Hector to the n.o.ble district of the city.The street paving stones was no longer suitable for the horses" hooves and as these animals were like friends to many of the riders, they preferred to prevent one of them from breaking a leg. However, Gregory also knew very well that a man who walks around the city, moreover, on foot, was in the grip of possible problems, before, he could have been a.s.saulted verbally, physically or even s.e.xually. Women who went to these extremes were obviously punished, knowing that the number of men in the territory of Dentelia was already minimal — about 9% of men, which made about 2 million men for about 20 million women and this, in an area as large as Africa, — Congress decided to pa.s.s different laws and rights only applicable to men to better protect them and to make their life easier.
Today, Dentelia"s men are protected by an impa.s.sive legal system, in other words, if a man is persecuted, the woman in question would be ent.i.tled to a fine or more if the facts were more serious. The death penalty had been abolished a little less than thirty years ago, but it had been replaced by a more intense system of torture than before. So the women knew what to expect and just preferred to look at the men from afar. For most of these women, there was no longer any anger or resentment in their eyes as could have been seen in the past. To date, curiosity and sometimes more was seen in their eyes; this change in behavior had taken place shortly after the Capital decided to close its doors to men, over time, the women living inside the walls of Elees" ended up desired and wanting men more than they wanted to take revenge on them like in the past.
"What makes you different from these other women?" Hector asked Selena without any tact.
"Hmm…" she growled, a little embarra.s.sed. "Elves don"t have the same needs as humans at all, our desires are not the same and don"t come in the same way… so I guess that"s why."
"This explains that…" he said, reflecting for a moment. "Gregory, how much further are we from my home?"
"About fifteen minutes at most, if there weren"t so many streets that intertwined, it"ll take a second… Aaaah… That"s why I don"t like the capital, too many streets, too many buildings, too much noise, too many women…" he breathed while hiding his face in his hand. "Besides, there"s a heat wave… what is this country…"
"You"re the grumpy type, aren"t you?" Hector smiled as he looked at a girl who seemed to be the same age as him.
The young man laughed alone for a short while as he thought back to Gregory"s words: "Too many women.". If he had said that in his Old World, everyone would have thought he was crazy.
Fortunately, Hector was a calm and thoughtful person, so he wasn"t so shocked and excited to see so many young ladies, but other men in his group of survivors would probably have gone mad or would have fallen into the trap of the facility of using the power given by demons for their own pleasures and goals. He didn"t want this, he had always dreamed of bigger… but he had to admit that seeing so many women was a great stimulus; the whole thing was to know how to control yourself.
After a ten-minute walk, they arrived almost at the top of the city. The young man was in front of a large square equipped with various small itinerant shops, as well as a large and splendid fountain with several female figures carved on it. Large buildings of Gallo-Roman architecture mixed with new ones proudly surrounded the square and made Hector feel very small. A little higher up was the Congress, a huge building that could already be seen even before arriving in town.
The women present at the scene were now rich peoples dressed in corsets or tall dresses and were sometimes accompanied by men.
"Your house is just a little lower, I don"t know if Davis will be there… However, I think at least Selena and Marie will be there. Your mother told me she was working on new herbal potions, you should find her in her workshop… knowing that when she is sad she works even harder, there is no doubt, she will be there."
"All right." Hector replied at the same time as he asked Balam for help. "They don"t expect us to come?"
"Originally, I had tried to warn the capital. But the falcon I sent here apparently never arrived… all the guards told me they didn"t receive it either this morning or at night and it"s not in any of the dovecotes in the capital… It was one of my best birds… if it didn"t get here, that means he has been killed." he explained, scratching his head. "And aimed at a bird as fast as a falcon and that in mid-flight requires more than great dexterity, there is no doubt that the person who killed it was an archer of renown."
"Would we have been followed?" Selena asks, listening carefully to her superior.
"That seems the most logical thing to me… but nothing can prove it. In other words, I would rather not go forward too fast. I would have liked to make a report to Congress as soon as possible… I would be surprised if Captain Lena could have understood the slightest thing about what was happening given how tired she was."
The Lieutenant"s concerns were justified, but they all preferred to stop thinking about this. The Weiler"s house was right in front of them, it was definitely smaller than the others. Krein"s father had invested in this house several years ago, and actually didn"t care if it was beautiful or not, he just wanted to have a residence in the capital for him and his wife, their work forced them to travel a lot between Elees, Vaine and other small towns. Today, after years of renovations, this building was resplendent.
Gregory walked towards two large doors with a thin layer of varnish and took the handle of the knocker before knocking three times. It was a short while before the door unlocked and opened slightly, revealing half of a young girl"s face.
"Ah! Mr. Saranel! No one expected your visit…" she says, removing the second lock of the door. The girl was dressed in white and purple maid clothes. "You should have warned, we could have made you that tea you love so much."
"Don"t worry about me, Lise." he replied with a warm smile. "I sent a falcon, but it didn"t arrive at its destination… Either way, that"s not why I came." he explained, turning first to Selena, then to Hector, who was behind them.
"Krein?" she asked as her face showed signs of weakness.
"It"s me." replied the young man with a tense smile, feeling like he was lying to himself.
"Your mother herself said she saw that an a.s.sa.s.sin had killed you…" she began after fighting her urge to cry. "She wanted to help you, but the soldiers stopped her from doing it… and your father couldn"t fight everyone…"
"What happened to Davis...?" Gregory asked as he clenched his teeth.
"After fighting, he managed to escape, but was seriously wounded." explained the maid with sorrow. "He was interned at the center"s hospital, very close to the cathedral." she paused and turned back to Hector. "Y-Your father didn"t know what had happened to you, otherwise he would have come to your rescue-"
"Don"t worry about it, Lise, the important thing is that we"re all alive." he replied, trying to be as gentle as possible.
"Yes." she replied with a flickering voice as if she was going to start crying.
After being invited into the vestibule, they took off their shoes and put on the slippers that were at their disposal before moving into the lobby and then into the living room. The house"s atmosphere was warm, dark wood that looked like mahogany, covered the floor, walls, and ceiling. Lamps were suspended from large wooden beams, some flowering plants were installed in pots and furniture of all kinds adorned the room without the decoration being rococo.
It was a house that in relation to the progress of civilization in this world was rather modern, which delighted Hector. Balam took the opportunity to explain that Krein"s mother, Helena, had developed a valuable artistic sense through her training in art and floristry.
Two maids and a footman were sitting at a table and drinking coffee. They turned around after hearing Lise enter the room again and rush up the stairs. Amy, Ca.s.sandre, and Erwin? Hector"s memory had its limits and even though Balam was trying to help him, he could not remember all the names and information he had been given since the two days of his reincarnation. Everything was going so fast that his brain was having trouble keeping up.
"Krein!" shouted the young footman. "This scar! So you survived! I had thought I had lost my childhood friend… thank G.o.d…" he ended in a relieved voice as Selena smiled as she saw the reunion.
"I"m glad to see you back in one piece too, Erwin!" Hector replied, being a little embarra.s.sed. "Krein" was not him and pretending to be someone you"re not is not an easy thing.
The footman smiled at him and friendly tapped him on the shoulder. The two other maids had not gotten up and had just greeted the young man; these two did not like Krein and, to be honest, Krein was not appreciated by many people, his dirty character made him most generally frowned upon by others.
There were hasty footsteps on the wooden steps of the building. A woman dressed in a simple white Greek dress appeared at the bottom of the stairs. Her long, black, curly hair was grouped into a bun; her inky black eyes stared at Hector with emotion. She walked towards him as Lise and another girl, Marie, his little sister, went down the stairs.
Helena did not rush, she took Hector in her arms without a word before releasing him and looking him in the eye. She fixed the scar on his neck and raised Hector"s chin before touching it. Her mother took her hand off the scar and put it on the young man"s shoulder, then, after a silence where she seemed to think, she finally decided to open her lips.
"Krein...?"
"No…"