Chapter 184: We all share a goal
"The saint of the G.o.ds and men, Lady Ulena." That was the name that escaped from Longinus" mouth. From the sheer reverence in his eyes as he stared at the devastated altar it was clear that this name meant a lot to him. On the other hand, what was surprising, was that they were actually surprised.
"You mean to say, that you didn"t know this?" With the sacred core safely retrieved and hidden in my pouch, I could finally afford to pay a little bit more attention to the events surrounding me.
"Well, it"s actually common knowledge… But to this point, you could ask anyone on the streets and they would all claim it was an Urban legend." Moving a step forward, Longinus placed his hand on the cold stone of the altar before closing his eyes. Taking a moment to say a prayer or something, he then returned to his senses and looked at me.
"Sir, for uncovering the truth that we were blind to see ourselves… You have my utmost grat.i.tude." Lowering his head in respect, Longinus proved that either his pride meant nothing to him or the deal was actually pretty big here.
"Wait a moment…" Still noticing the flashing light of the first of the side missions, I inquired. "Would you care to tell me the story of this… saint? I think my mission might have something to do with her." Since the quest"s name continued to flash, then there has to be a reason behind it. And given how I had absolutely no clue what that reason could be, trying out the most obvious ones appeared to be the easiest solution.
"About saint Ulena, huh…?" Muttering under her nose, Arsha finally gathered her courage to approach the altar herself. With her eyes filled with respect and nearly religious seriousness, she moved her sight on my face. "In short words, she was the chosen one. She offered herself to end the strife between two tribes of the humans."
Bit by bit, the mosaic started to fall in place. While nothing much yet, it could soon give birth to the full image of the story, allowing me to solve this quest once and for all. But as eager as I felt to already create a conjecture of the whole picture from what I saw and heard just now, I ultimately forced my own mind to ignore those thoughts and focus on Arsha"s words.
Sadly, I wasn"t given any chance to discuss this topic with her any longer.
"Wait, what has something to do with your mission? Didn"t you fulfill it already?" As she stepped forward, the look on Teria"s face changed. And I could easily tell why.
All the way to this point, she believed that she would get her hands on the sacred core as soon as we would reach the altar in the cathedral of the northern kingdom. Yet, right as this mission appeared to be fulfilled, I kept speaking about the mission as if it was in progress. In such a situation, one would have to be extremely naive to believe that situation didn"t change.
"As you can see, it might take me a little longer to give you the sacred core." Given how we already used this term pretty openly a few times in presence of both Longinus and Arsha, I paid it no mind when I called its name once again.
But for some particular reason, this time the reaction of the two was starkly different.
"Wait a second." Turning his head to the side, Longinus allowed his hand to slid off the stone of the altar, looking at me with his eyes widened in shock. "Did you just say sacred core?"
Before I could even answer, the youth"s hand moved to the hilt of his sword… but instead of unleashing it and jumping to my throat, he turned on his feet and looked around the empty hall.
"Arsha, get the rest. Mister…" Looking at me, Longinus nonverbally asked the question.
"Marius. Call me Marius." Whether he forgot the name or was just too absorbed when I revealed it for the first time, didn"t matter. But what he was doing and ordering his female companion to do had its own weight.
"Mister, seeing how you travel with a chieftain of one of the winged tribes, would I be right to a.s.sume that you are one of the restorationists?" With his hand still on the hilt of his sword, Longinus stared at me with an extremely serious look on his face. With his eyes completely motionless, glued to my own pupils, I could tell just how meaningful this question was.
Sadly, I was neither in a position nor mood to humor him.
"To be frank, I have no idea what those restorationists are." Shaking my shoulders, I glanced at the pulsating light of the side mission"s name, before moving my eyes back on Arsha. "But seeing how you behave, it"s easy to tell that it"s a big deal for you. Yet…"
Taking a moment to let the tension build up a bit, I made sure to grab Teria"s wrist and tightened my grasp around it to the point when the girl would feel a small tingle of pain. In the end, this was the only method of stopping her from interfering with the situation that I could bring into action without alerting the other party about my intentions.
"Yet, judging from everything that I know already, it"s not entirely impossible for our goals to align." Finally letting go of Teria"s wrist, I then looked at her with exactly the same, serious expression I used while making my previous statement. "And if my intuition is not wrong, that part might also include you, Teria."
I knew that drawing any conjectures from the limited knowledge that I had so far was naive if not stupid. But for now, I had two potential sources of important information about the problem told from the perspectives of two opposing sides. Yet, to make full use of this opportunity, I had to make sure everyone would play for the same side… At least for as long as it would take to discuss the details.
"And what might be interesting for me in potential cooperation with those lowly wingless?" Using the adjective in place for a name already spoke much about the relationship between the two tribes.
"Teria, stop it. If you are so against working with wingless humans, how come you are following every last step I make?" I no longer considered this girl a threat. Not because I belittled her abilities, but because I just couldn"t imagine the two of us going at each other"s throats. Not after traveling with her for a while, learning from her guidance, eating from the same pot… Even if I wouldn"t call the two of us per friend, there was no denying that we were already aquaintanced with each other.
Sadly, if she were to go against my wish to cooperate with Longinus, then I would have no other choice but to cut her out of the situation, ultimately breaking the promise I made to her.
"Stop it? Didn"t you see what they did at the front?! We had to transfigure nearly half of our population just to hold their invasion back!" Suddenly flying into a rage, Teria wrestled her hand from my grasp as quickly as I attempted to take control of it when she erupted. Taking a step back, she looked at me before sending a hateful glance towards the two local humans.
"You know perfectly well while I"m traveling with you. It"s all because I was naive enough to believe you will fulfill the promise you made. Don"t try to paint the picture blank with your lies now!" Her wings spread open, once again making her appear like some kind of angel. Regretfully, the wrath on her face only made her look like an angel of vengeance and fury.
"When did I say that I"m going to break my promise?" Opening my eyes wide, I could no longer hold myself back. The small bait I set all this time when I first mentioned my mission, finally paid off.
"What?" Teria stood in place, confused just as much as I pretended to be. And that alone proved that my little scheme was working just as expected.
"Didn"t we agree on a certain time frame? While I honestly hoped that my mission would end here, sadly, that doesn"t seem to be the case." Shaking my head with regret, I alternated my eyes between the girl and the tense duo of wingless humans to the side.
"I never said I would go back on my word. Once my time will pa.s.s, I will offer this sacred core to you." Longinus and Arsha visibly tensed up when those words reached their ears. "But from what I"m seeing right now, it seems like we will all be going to where you wanted to bring the sacred stone in the first place."
Turning on my heel, I smiled kindly to the two locals.
"Am I right, Mister Longinus?"