“Loxaerion…” Leona narrowed her eyes. “You’re… Selene’s father, aren’t you?”

  He nodded once.

  “I’m surprised that you remembered, Princess. If it wasn’t for you and your allies, we would have starved to death.”

  A bitter sensation grew inside her mouth. Many people had died so she could be standing here and now. Her hand tightened painfully around Avalon.

  “I see… I’m glad that you made it, but…” She looked around, worried. “Where… where is your daughter now?”

  “Oh, don’t worry, she’s back in Akrapocalis. We got stranded in the capital thanks to that excuse of a king.” He turned around and picked up the chair he had tossed backwards. “The knights tried to take my daughter away from me, can you believe it? Thankfully the private soldiers my wife recruited did a good job coming here to get her back.”

  Leona sat on the other chair across from him while Krieg stood behind her as she continued asking.

  “I see… but why are you still here? Wouldn’t it be safer to be in Akrapocalis?”

  “Any man worth his hide would repay his debts. I’m not about to leave with a tail between my legs while my daughter’s savior fights against that crazy king.” He sighed as he looked around the room. “Besides… you saving my daughter isn’t the only debt I have. Your mother helped me greatly before I became the head of the family and I promised her I’d help you when the time came.”

  Her heart ached. She glanced down at the oil candle on the table in front of her.

  “My mother…”

  “Your Ma was one hell of an inventor. Ack, apologies. Lady Ravness was a very important figure in Akrapocalis.” He grabbed a musket from the racks and placed it on the table. “This weapon changed how we fought death angels… and our fellow men.”

  Leona had a saddened look on her face, making Gunther stumble his words.

  “But I mean this in a positive manner,” he said. “If a peasant can stand up to a knight, then we might just get some justice out of the old rotten system. No more stuck-up nobles using their names to abuse the downtrodden or tyrants like Alexander pushing others around for his little spectacle.”

  “So this armory,” she said as she looked around. “How did you find it?”

  “I didn’t find it.” He placed the firearm back on the rack and turned to her again. “I made this place. Your parents employed me for a couple of their own projects.”

  Leona raised an eyebrow as she asked, “The grand staircase from the mansion to the Great Forest, was it you?”

  “My idea with your family’s brawn,” he said, pride softening his words. “The way your parents employed demi-humans for the job was a sight I never expected to see in Arcadia.”

  The princess lowered her gaze. She thought for a few minutes before asking once more.

  “Then this is as good a time as any to make things clear, you two.” She looked at Gunther then to Emi. “If I didn’t come back, what were you planning to do with these weapons?”

  Emi, who was standing quietly with her back against the far wall during the entire conversation, leaned forward and started to speak with a gaze as firm as a blade.

  “To assassinate the king. No one like him should ever be in power of an entire kingdom.”

  “I like your straightforwardness, but that won’t do.” Leona locked eyes with her. The tactician’s aquamarine gaze made the oni swallow hard. “No, if we want to put an end to the hatred between humans and demi-humans, we must do it the right way.”

  Leona stood up and turned around to gaze at the racks with muskets neatly lined up.

  “Killing him will only serve to throw more fuel into the fire. The other nobles will rally and use it as a cause to exterminate everyone that opposed his regime. No, what we need to do is to have him tried and executed.”

  “With all due respect, Princess,” Gunther started to speak. “Isn’t that the same as an assassination?”

  “No, Gunther. If he dies, his system lives on. If the system dies with him, then we have a chance to wipe the slate clean.”

  “Are you willing to lead us then?” Emi bluntly asked.

  Leona looked over her shoulder at her and nodded.

  “I will. But with one condition.” She turned around fully to face the oni—her expression had never been sharper. “You will follow my orders down to the letter.”

  The oni bowed down.

  “As you wish, my lady.”

  “Good.” She turned around and looked at the firearms with a bitter taste forming in her mouth. “Gunther.”

  “Yes, my lady?”

  “Where do you train them?”

  “Through the back. It took a while, but with the help of a few demi-humans we managed to dig out a place large enough to train.”

  “Good. Then assemble the troops, I need to have a word with them.”

  “Aye.”

  He stood up and left the room to the inn’s cellar. Emi was about to leave with her shambling companion in tow before Leona spoke up.

  “Wait.”

  “Yes?”

  “Tell me, who is that person that has been walking with you?”

  Silence. Emi remained staring at the back of Leona’s neck until the tactician turned around again.

  “That’s… my husband, or at least, what is left of him.”

  Leona narrowed her eyes.

  “What do you mean…?”

  “Marco died protecting me.”

  She hesitantly removed the hood over the shambling figure’s head—revealing a pale skinned human with short dark hair. His half open mouth and unfocused gaze sent chills down Leona’s spine.

  The tactician remembered him as the knight that could almost go toe to toe against Krieg back then. To be reduced to a shambling corpse, it felt… surreal.

  “What did that to him?”

  “Alexander.” Emi clenched her hands into painfully tight fists. “I don’t know what happened, he just… came back after being struck by some magic.”

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  “I see…”

  Leona focused her eyes at the man, but she couldn’t feel anything other than ambient mana surrounding him. There was no ‘self’ anymore.

  “Can he do anything other than follow you?”

  She nodded.

  “He… attacks people that try to harm me.”

  The tactician nodded slowly.

  “Do others know about him?”

  She shook her head.

  “Only Gunther.”

  “Alright. Don’t let this get out then. We’ll figure something out later.”

  “Understood.”

  She was about to leave before Leona gave one last word.

  “For what it’s worth… I’m sorry for your loss.”

  Emi stopped and smiled faintly.

  “Thank you, Princess Leona.”

  With heavy steps, Emi left the room as well. Krieg remained standing quietly behind Leona until she turned around to face him.

  “I’ll need your help, Krieg.”

  “I’m ready for whatever you may need, Leona.”

  She nodded.

  “We’ll storm the castle in a full front assault. I’ll need you to be the one leading the charge. Can you do it?”

  “Your will is my command.”

  It took a few minutes, but both Gunther and Emi came back with more than just a handful of demi-humans. Their races varied from half-demons, fully fledged demons, onis, dwarves, half elves, and even some humans. But one thing was common amongst them. Dissatisfaction, fear, and anger towards the usurper king.

  Little by little they filled the back of the armory, where the training grounds were. The place was a large room that could fill about fifty individuals and still have some space to spare. However, the low gas lamp light and poor ventilation made it feel a bit claustrophobic.

  Chit-chat filled the space, some even looked at Leona with a tinge of recognition before eventually shaking their heads as if they couldn’t believe their own eyes. After the last group entered the room—Leona started her speech.

  “Fellow Arcadians!” She raised her voice and the chatter stopped—all eyes were drawn to the tactician atop of a wooden crate. “Today marks the start of a new Arcadia. One that does not turn its back to their fellow men and women because of race. One that will lead its people towards a prosperous future. One that will not forget the sacrifices made to be here today.”

  “Why did you come back now?” A lone voice from the middle of the group called out. “Why weren’t you here when we needed you the most?”

  Krieg was about to make his way to the man saying those words, but Leona stopped him with her staff.

  “Because I was weak.” She spoke plainly. “I was too weak to protect all of you. I was too weak to lead. I was too weak to face the consequences of my own lack of courage.”

  “Then why now?” A young blonde haired woman stepped forward, she was a bit taller than Leona, but her voice betrayed her determination. “Have you come to replace a tyrant with another?”

  “No, I haven’t. What I have to offer is the path to a proper future. A proper kingdom.” She looked up at all eyes looking at her expectantly. “My resolve is second to none and I promise all of you, his tyranny will not end with his head on a pike. What we need is a new beginning. A new era. With your strength and my vision, we will rebuild this kingdom!”

  After that statement, about a third of the group started to leave shaking their heads alongside the man that questioned her before. Seeing that, the rest started to murmur amongst themselves. But that didn’t stop Leona.

  “Think about your own future! Will you want to be known for mindlessly killing or as the heroes who saved the kingdom?!”

  “What difference will this make? The nobles will still use us as they see fit!” Another shouted from the crowd.

  “They will and they will not stop doing so if you don’t rise up to the challenge.” She raised her voice. “We will bleed, we will suffer, but at the end of that arduous path I know. There lies an Arcadia many would want to live in. An Arcadia that you, your children, and grandchildren would want!”

  “Princess,” a man in his forties, stepped forward, his broad shoulders and straightened posture made Leona realize he was probably a former city guard. “You wish to put Alexander in a trial, correct? To make him pay for his crimes.”

  “Yes, that is what I intend to do.”

  “Then… why was my wife executed without one?”

  The room suddenly felt cold. Nobody dared to speak up. Leona looked at the man with sorrow in her eyes.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “She was accused of hiding demi-humans,” he said while grasping at his own chest. “It didn’t matter that she only gave food for the children. The decree said harboring enemies of the crown. Alexander signed it himself.”

  He took half a step further.

  “You say killing him would only add fuel to the fire,” the man went on, pain clear in his voice. “But tell me this—how many fires has he already lit?”

  The crowd started to look at each other, murmuring.

  “If he lives long enough to stand trial,” the man pressed, “how many more people will die just so we can say we did things the right way?”

  Krieg tightened his hands as if he was about to shut the man up for good, but Leona glanced sideways at him before shaking her head.

  “You think a trial will bring justice,” the man continued. “I think it brings delay. Delays cost lives. Yours might be worth more than mine—but my daughter’s isn’t.”

  Leona closed her eyes for a moment as she remembered everything she had learned so far back in Nara. How the state would demand no less than everything from her. She then opened her eyes again—everyone looked at her with bated breath.

  “If I order his death now, then I decide who deserves justice and who does not.”

  “You already are,” the man pleaded. “The moment you choose how this ends.”

  She looked inward and smiled to herself.

  ‘I’m sorry, but I’m no Empress.’

  She then lifted her head—looking across everyone in the room.

  “You are right. A trial will cost lives, I won’t deny that.”

  “Then—”

  “But if we begin this kingdom by proving that justice is optional when it’s inconvenient, then nothing we build will survive time.”

  She then looked from the crowd back at him.

  “I won’t promise that no one else will die, I will promise that if we succeed, no king will ever again be able to kill anyone again without answering for it.”

  The man stopped and looked at her with hope.

  “And if we fail?” he asked.

  “Then history will remember that we tried to be better than him.”

  Heavy silence filled the room. Everyone looked at each other in a silent agreement. The man before her lowered his head and said with a tired resolve in his voice.

  “…I’ll follow you then. Not because I agree. But because someone has to try.”

  Suddenly, the blonde woman that had previously questioned her stepped forward and stood in front of her before turning around and loudly shouting.

  “I, Priscilla Avellion, stand with the Queen!” She straightened her back and kept going with her raised voice. “If you truly consider yourself an Arcadian, then you’d do well to carve your own path! Now is the time to rise up to the challenge!”

  Half of the crowd looked at her in surprise and after a brief period of talking amongst themselves, they also stepped forward.

  “We stand with you!”

  It took another while before the rest could be convinced to stay. But when they did so, Leona now felt like her resolve had finally cemented itself.

  After the speech was over, Leona climbed down from the crate and went over to thank each person that decided to stay.

  A few minutes later, she was finally able to have a word with Priscilla, who was talking to Gunther on the side.

  “Priscilla,” Leona called out to her as she approached. “May I have a word with you?”

  The young woman nodded as she turned to her.

  “Of course, what may I be of service?”

  “Why did you decide to join our cause?”

  “Why? Because it’s the right thing to do.” She spoke with such confidence that it even made Leona widen her eyes in surprise. “To be honest, my family has always looked up to you, Princess.” She smiled. “The Crossfords never stopped helping those in need just because they became nobles and you are still doing the same.”

  ‘Avellion… is that her father…?’

  Leona adjusted her posture and cleared her throat.

  “Very well.” She bowed slightly. “Thank you for being the first to step up.”

  “Ah, please raise your head.” Priscilla smiled gently. “I was simply doing what I thought was right.”

  “Still. Thank you.” Leona raised her head and glanced at Priscilla’s hip. There was a sheathed rapier tied to her belt. “Have you ever fought before?”

  “Oh, this? I learned from my father. I know a bit of magic as well.”

  “Alright you lot!” Gunther shouted while clapping his hand in order to get the attention he wanted. “Go grab your weapons. Let’s show the future Queen what you are all capable of!”

  “Aye!”

  In unison, the others went back to the armory and started to arm themselves. Leona glanced sideways at Priscilla and said.

  “We’ll talk more after this.”

  She nodded in return.