Chapter 12- Invasion of the Serpents II

“W-What is happening?” Vivian cannot help but fall to her knees. Thankfully, Emil supported her body before she could fall to the ground.

“I also don’t know. The serpents just suddenly appeared out of nowhere.” He responded before looking around the area when they heard a frightened cry of a child.

Emil and Vivian immediately run towards the place where they heard the cry for help. There, a young man in probable ages of sixteen to eighteen is fighting with his life against the crowd of serpents surrounding him as well as a young boy in ages eight to ten. Emil pulls out his sword and slashes through the snakes, immediately reaching the place of the two boys. After making sure that every serpent is dead, he looks towards the two and starts at them carefully, checking for some wounds before asking them if they're okay.

But the two never responds; instead looked at Emil with caution. This made Emil carefully thought of the condition of the boys. They are wearing tattered and dirty clothes, clearly, from being too used, and their odor of not bathe shows multiple signs of a beggar. Beggars are often also have done robberies. Young beggar children are usually not as innocent as they may seem. They could steal from people without even being noticed.

“I wouldn’t hurt you,” Emil stated as the two seemed wary of him. It is inevitable. Knights and guards are all terrible guys for these people. They are enemies for each other, but with the current situation, it is impossible to catch them and lock them in prison-like usual. They have more important things to do than seeing beggars.

Though both boys seemed not to believe him, they ignored him and checked each others' health.

“Where are your parents?” Vivian asked them.

The oldest one then snickered before looking at her with contempt. “We looked like orphans to you, so why even ask?” He looked up and down to Vivian before smirking again. “Of course, a noble who doesn’t know anything about life would ask that.” He then turned back to her but not trying to run away.

This made Emil laugh secretly. On regular occasions, maybe these two boys would've run away as fast as they could, but because they knew that they would never be able to survive alone, they stayed. This showed that both have a great understanding of surviving. They knew how to be arrogant and who to stay with when in unexpected events such as this.

“I don’t know what is happening, but it is better to find a place where we are safe. Staying in an open area is dangerous. Also, we don’t know what will happen next.” Emil told the group as he looks around. Many have perished in this event. It is unexpected, so no one is prepared. Besides, the behaviors of these serpents are unheard of.

“This is my first time seeing so many serpents.” The youngest boy said.

“Of course, it is your first time. This is the first time I've heard of serpents going to crowded places like a Kingdom. Normally, they stayed inside the forests.” The oldest one replied to him.

“Then, why did they appear in here in so many numbers?” The youngest one asked.

“It is either there is something that makes them leave the forest like an upcoming calamity or a dangerous predator. But if that happens then, it shouldn’t be only the serpents. There are so many animals inside the forest beside our Kingdom, but why only serpents appeared. Also, it is questionable as they didn’t appear coming from the forest but from there,” he pointed up in the sky, “I’ve never heard, no, no one has ever heard of serpents falling from the sky ever.”

Emil looked at the oldest bot and laugh. “Yeah, that is right. No serpents could have known to fly. But you know so much, huh?” He then added before looking over him.

The boy looked at Emil and snickered again. “I used to always go in the forest to hunt food. I know a lot of things.”

“With your father?” Emil asked.

“No, I am an orphan since I was a child. I used to hunt with my friends back then, but they died.” He replied. Explaining his situation but also not giving out too much information.

“Oh, only you and this guy survived then? What? From a beast?” Emil asked further.

The boy laughed before looking at him with contempt and a little bit of anger before it faded away. “You could call it that. It was from a decade ago.” He tried before laughing again.

This made Emil stop. Ten years ago was the revolution. He looked over the boy and didn’t know what to say. Back then, he was still a child. They are a noble family who stayed far away from the capital. Hence, they didn’t suffer much as how people in the capital suffered. His family also didn’t believe in God but wasn’t as angry about it as the people in the revolution. So, when they heard the down of the capital, they were calm about it. They are neutral. Just months after, some people arrived in their province to say that they have a new royal family and all nobles are to be reformed. His family is not that great as a noble. They are poor but have many lands under their hands. They cannot use it because they cannot support it. Hence, other people got it from them and replaced them as the owners. The royal family owns the land, so they thought of it as owners getting back their land. It was a peaceful negotiation. In return, their loans were paid as if it never existed as the noble who they have a loan with died in the process of the war. The new royal family killed every noble loyal to the previous rulers; hence they were killed while nobles like his family were removed from the position and became an average free citizen. They are okay with it. Nothing changed. Their lives became better. His brothers became merchants, and his sisters married ordinary people. He became the only one who is interested in serving the royal family, but because he is not a noble anymore, he wasn’t able to enter any higher position than a third knight.

This is why he wasn’t aware of anything wrong with the royal family or the revolution. Everything about the previous royal family was destroyed; pieces of evidence about the God their Kingdom used to worship were destroyed except for the Church where only one priest could reside and some apprentices whom no one cared about. It is merely a shadow to make it look like they have a religion because Kingdoms that don’t have any faith but are nomads are looked at as barbarians. They cannot be like that; hence they saved a priest who doesn’t have any Kingdom voice.

Emil kept quiet for some time after that answer.

“Are you two related?” He continued asking, making the two shock as they were sure that the man would have stopped talking to them.

“No. Big brother saved me from the bad guys back then.” The youngest one replied.

“I got him from the mountain of deaths. He was still a baby back then. He was attached to his mother. I heard him crying back then.” He replied.

Emil was once again shocked. The mountain of deaths, if he is correct, are the stacked corpses of the nobles back then. It was made like a display and never removed. They waited for the bodies to decompose before burning them. It was an inhumane action to the death. It is said that they did that so that the souls would never reach reincarnation and be stuck in between God's Kingdom and the land. Emil looked at the young boy; this means that he is a noble then. But why did they let him alive?

As if the oldest boy could hear his thoughts replied, “maybe they thought, either way, he'll die. Well, he was on the verge of dying, but I saved him.”

Emil was surprised by this. A young boy taking care of a baby and survived the revolution. He thinks that this boy is amazing—someone who has the determination to live and dares to do the impossible.

“What is your name?” Emil asks him.

The boy looked at him with surprise. “L-Leon,” he replied before pointing at the young boy, “and this is Gaoin.”

Emil smiled before looking at Vivian, who is just looking at them with a knowing look. “I am Emil, and this is Vivian.”

Leon looked at Vivian before blushing. “I am sorry for a while ago.” Vivian then smiled.

“It is fine.” She replied. “But we must go and hide. It is getting dark.” She told them.