- Arthas -
Although she didn't open up about everything, she was surprisingly frank in this conversation. We talked about many types of things.
The Underworld from her perspective.
Veena has always lived in the upper society of the Underworld since birth. Not to mention that she has been alive since the time of the Great War. Her views and experiences of the Underworld were completely different from Kuroka's.
It was a… learning experience to know about the lives of the normal people of the Underworld. Even the Devil territory didn't just have Devils in the underworld but many other races, although fewer in numbers than Devils.
Apart from that, Kuroka told me many stories about different factions which she had travelled as a Stray Devil and it was quite a broad range of experience to say the least.
I also told her about how not all members of the Guild knew about the Supernatural side of things and to keep it a secret from others, for now at least.
She agreed, having already had the experience of keeping such things hidden before.
"The ones who know about the Supernatural side of things in the Guild? Hmm, I guess that would be Veena, Rose, Bina and me and oh… Elaine. She is a mage in our Guild."
"Elaine?" She asked.
"Elaine Wescott, is a magician from the Golden Dawn working for the…"
"Pendragon Family. She is in your Guild too?" She asked as she checked the list of players in the Guild menu.
"Hmm, we recruited her a while ago after we saved her from some bandits. You know her?" I asked her, already knowing the answer.
"We have…. encountered each other before. Not really acquaintances, just someone I recognised. The Wescotts were big names in the Magical society." She shrugged.
…
"Hmm, and yet she was treated as a maid by the Pendragons, even going so far as to consider her of lower class. I wonder what the Golden Dawn organisation had to say about that?"
"Probably nothing. While the Wescott name is famous… it's just that… only famous. They don't have the power they used to have back in the day. The Pendragons on the other hand have a much older history and still possess several of the artifacts which were used by the Pendragon family and their retainers back in the day. Sure many of them were taken away by the Church but even they don't push the Pendragons too hard, in fear of completely driving them away."
"So the Golden Dawn doesn't do anything because… it's not worth it?"
"Exactly. Not to mention, the current Golden Dawn is not the one still under the Wescotts. Its leaders have changed. Everyone loves power and no one wants to let the power in their hands slip. Elaine is a very talented mage no doubt and could one day enter the ranks of Ultimate Class, a monumental feat for humans mind you." She stressed this part quite hard.
In fact, a conversation with Veena earlier had made me understand how narrow minded the anime and the novels had made us about the power level of this world.
Even now I remember no one even bothering with the High Class power level, considering them lowest of the lowest, but that was only due to the constant comparison with the top levels of the world.
It's like comparing the top ranker of a local university with the top scientific minds of the world and calling him trash for not being able to match up to them.
The reality however is that even that person was still above 99.99999% of all beings in the world.
A being who could wipe out an entire mountain with a single attack. A similar feat takes modern technology months to accomplish with top tier equipment.
Maybe it was probably that everyone is brave when behind a keyboard, but only when we stand in the presence of such beings do we understand the difference in levels, and come to appreciate their power?
Veena had also said the same thing as Kuroka right now. Reaching Ultimate Class was a monumental feat for humans, normal humans at least.
Sacred Gears could be used to cheat the System but even then, only Longinus users could cross that line so easily. There were the rarest of rare cases, anomalies like Vasco Strada but one or two people in seven to eight billion… with all the help from Church and Heaven… and yet… through several centuries, he was just one of his kind… Yes, the world monumental was no exaggeration for this.
Kuroka however continued, unaware of the things I was thinking.
"Elaine Wescott could have become one of the leaders again. Obviously many people didn't want that so… they sent her to a dead end job. To bring Ley Fay Pendragon to be a part of Golden Dawn. The Pendragons obviously disagreed, and only ever agreed to associate their name with the Magician Organisation, when Elaine went there as a maid and tutor for Ley Fay Pendragon herself. This single move served to remove her from the running of the next leaders of the Golden Dawn as even when she came back, people could question her loyalty as she had been the servant of the Pendragons. Dirty Politics. Bastards tch." She clicked her tongue, annoyed.
"...for someone who is just an acquaintance, you seem to know an awful lot about her."
"I collected information about Arthur Pendragon and everyone around him as a part of a job I did in the past." She shrugged easily.
This time I didn't even know if she was lying or telling the Truth.
"Oh… you really know a lot about people, don't you?"
"Eh, I just do what I do. But enough about me. Let's talk about you now. How exactly did you find out about the supernatural side of things?"
"...hmm… that's a long story." I thought for a moment about how to say it out without shocking her more than she already was for today.
- Akeno Himejima -
"Take Cover!" Naotsugu-kun shouted, breaking their shocked gazes as all of them quickly ducked behind the carriage as they braced themselves for the crash of the attack.
The icicles shattered creating a mini storm of sorts which swept the area.
The Knights quickly put their shields up behind the carriages as they held the carriages in place to resist the Ice Magic's aftermath.
It lasted for several seconds but when the attack was over they took a moment to look through the cracks of the carriage in front of them but couldn't see anything as the entire place was covered with ice.
That attack… it was beyond anything she had yet seen in the game. If it were the outside world, it would easily be an attack from a High Class Devil.
What tier was it in the game world? T5? T6? Or maybe something higher?
While none of their team members had reached T5 yet, she had seen T5 Knights and monsters during the raids and even when she had visited the Knight's Academy with Arthur and Naotsugu-kun. In fact, the lead Knight of their group was a T5 too but none of them were even near this level. That only meant T6 or above.
Just who were these people?
T6 and above would be the same as the City Lord and higher but those people don't just appear anywhere.
"Who are these people? You said something about Archmage Antony or something… who's that?" Naotsugu-kun asked the lead Knight who was looking at the duo who were walking towards their group at a casual pace.
"Keep your guard up. The enemies are not all gone." One of the Knights who had climbed the carriage to check the scene on the other side warned loudly before crouching slightly, dogging an arrow.
The lead Knight however didn't pay attention to them and quickly ran towards the old man and the young blonde girl and quickly kneeled formally in front of them.
"Archmage Antonidas, Lady Proudmoore."
The old man just looked at him casually and then around the scene, his eyes landing on the kids for a while as his eyes narrowed and then his gaze shifted towards the carriages… no, it was almost as if he was looking beyond the carriages at the attackers.
"What is going on here? Who are the people attacking you?" He asked calmly but the authority in his voice was unshakable. The girl on the other hand just walked forward and checked on the kids, even offering some potions to some of them who were injured in the attack.
Mari and the rest were already there, helping with the healing and the only reason she was here was because she had to hold on the line of defense.
The lead Knight explained the situation quickly, making the old man frown.
He raised his staff as the carriages moved aside making a way in the ice towards the other group.
It was only then that the other side was finally revealed for their eyes. On the other side, the scene looked completely different from moments before.
Several people were gravely injured. Most of the attackers, especially ones who were of the lower tiers were frozen solid by the attack and more than half of them had their bodies then shattered into pieces.
In the fallen pieces, she even recognised several members of the Black Fiends group.
Although not everyone was dead.
Several of the attacking Knights were still alive with the leader of the Black Fiends behind him. Everyone looked scared out of their minds probably by the destruction caused by the previous magic.
"Who is the leader among your group?" The old man asked. His voice was calm and soft but it still echoed throughout the field, carrying an unquestionable tone of authority which no one wanted to question.
There was however no reply for a moment after which, the same person, the Sword Knight from the enemies side who had ordered the attack previously.
He stood up staggeringly, throwing aside someone he had held as a shield… who was coincidentally a Shield Knight… and while at normal times, she might have been amused at the irony of the situation, all she felt at this moment was rage.
That bastard had almost driven them all to death.
"Y-y-you! Do you know who you have attacked? We are the Knights of Lord Falkner. You will not escape this crime so easily. You will be chased by the entire Kingdom and hunted down like dogs!" The man shouted deliriously.
Akeno noticed that the man was missing a leg below his knee and was bleeding heavily from there.
"Oh my? That would be quite troublesome. After all, at my age, it is a bit inconvenient to run around." The old man joked around casually. "Jaina, dear… could you tell me who this Falkner person is? Maybe my age is catching up to me as I am failing to remember such a person?"
The blonde woman who had by now come to his side replied. "The only Falkner I know in this Kingdom is Gilford Falkner. He is an Arcane Knight under the Magic Tower."
"Yes. My lord Gilbur Falkner is the son of Lord Gilford Falkner. You attacked us and killed his men. You will never escape this place alive." The man kept shouting madly.
"That fool…" The lead Knight on their side cursed under his breath. "He doesn't recognise the Archmage."
It was another Knight beside him who refuted. "Captain, I doubt most Knights of our rank would recognise him. Even I only knew who he was after hearing his name from your mouth and that too because you always tell us the story about meeting him when you get drunk."
"Umm, who is he?" She couldn't help but ask. "Actually, who are those two people… if you don't mind me asking?"
"He is Archmage Antonidas, one of the leaders of the Magic Tower. A T8 Archmage. The woman beside him is Lady Jaina Proudmoore, the princess of the nearby Kheadel Kingdom. She is the apprentice of the Archmage. Those fools have no idea who they are cursing at. Even Gilford Falkner can only kneel in the presence of the Archmage, both being the part of the Magic Tower as Gilford is an Arcane Knight… It's only that the Archmage is his superior in the organisation. They have messed with the absolute last person they should."
"Serves them right. I seriously thought people were trying to spread rumours about his bad habits to affect Lord Falkner's reputation and that's why I had mostly ignored it but to think they were being this blatant about the whole thing. It's worse than bandits." Another Knight cursed.
His sentiment was shared by many, especially after watching one of their comrades nearly dying and having escaped death by such a small margin themselves.
As they were talking, the whole scene on the other side was on its end too.