Chapter 8

The sun had been very far from casting light in the tense village with only a few torches here and there. After the spark had been ignited, everyone else had engaged in arguing among themselves. The little girl from earlier now cuddled in distraught into her mothers skirt. The baron himself had engaged in an equal understanding with the village chief as he raised a heavily yet unnecessary bandaged arm and hopped around like some sort of scarecrow trying to shoo away the monster. In the midst of all the noise, only one of them seemed to keep her composure.

"That's enough!" The landlady from earlier had now spoken up. This was a voice Hera hadn't expected to hear throughout the entire night. The landlady from earlier seemed genuinely sweet as she catered their rooms and filled them with covers to fend off the cold of the night. Specially when she had willingly let him use the kitchen along with a few condiments that he knew for sure were slowly growing out of stock. Hera hadn't taken her for being such a confrontational woman, but it seems that wasn't the case at all. The entire village now laid their eyes on her, both in shock and surprise. The landlady had been knowm for her soft mannerism but now she had risen her voice. What was she going to say?

"All of you lack proper manners! If these young men were so shallow as to leave us to die then they would have fled the moment they saw that monster! Where are your common sense!?" The landlady had grown pissed at her fellow villagers attitudes. The village chief had been stripped of all the courage he had earlier as he cautiously approached the landlady. "But Margaretha... those men, they brought the monster to us in the first place-" To the entire crowds surprise, the village chief's voice had ranged from a loud horn to a squeak of a shoe in face of the landlady he had been crushing on. "You say that but you don't have proof. Who says they're the ones who brought it here!? What if they hadn't appeared and that monster still would have found us? What then? Who could defend us!?" She accusingly pointed her finger between the baron and the chief, "Mr. Scrawny twig and his side pal, Baron Bandages?!"

At this, everyone slowly settled into ease.

"C...Come to think of it...I think I heard from my sister in a village over that a monster had terrorized them lately!" Spoke one man out loud. Then a woman, as if hit by a sudden realisation turned to him in agreement, "T... That's right! Visaril Village sounded like they needed help recently with the missing persons because of this huge dark figure. That could be it!"

Slowly, everyone had started to speak up in agreement. With some scratching their heads in embarrassment, some too quick to change sides merely praised Hera by the sides, which went ignored naturally, and those too prideful to apologize merely scoffed and stayed quiet. The only person who had the courage to speak to Hera had been the landlady whom walked towards him. The village chief couldn't say anything to retaliate, and the Baron himself had disappeared to hide at the back of the crowd.

"You're already doing so much for our village. I apologize on behalf of the villages behavior just now," Sincerely, she apologized. And Hera felt it was genuine. She had those warm eyes that would look at him in concern, as if she truly cared. Much like a caring mother. It subtly made Hera falter in his enchantment, but he shook his head.

"No need to apologize. I understand why they would freak out, it happens a lot in my field of work." Hera gave a reassuring smile. That hadn't been a lie. As crown prince, he was used to the public backlash as Hera and the knights tried everything to make sure everyone would be safe. Even those who had been hardheaded like the Baron. Still, Margaretha didn't seem convinced, "They said some pretty awful things back there. It wasn't necessary when you're literally holding out mana for hours. I hear those things can be draining," That was true. Not only had Hera been holding out this barrier, at the same time, he had casted a tracking spell on Jayus to navigate his condition and whereabouts in case the situation went south. The only reason he's staying out here in the village and not running after the duke is because he hadn't felt a tug on his mana. To his surprise, the duke was holding out so well by himself. Not a single strain had been inflicted on his tracking spell this entire time. He can't help but feel impressed as a slight smile made it's way to his face. By now the little girl had also walked up beside him. "That's true! They even said you needed to leave as if you were doing nothing out here! They're meanies!" At those words, Hera lowered his head before he spoke, "That's true. I guess they're right. I should leave too before the situation gets worse," With that, the barrier popped surprising the entire village into a disarray panic. But only Hera was smiling in mischief. Even the baron seemed to soil his pants in fear. "I'm leaving now. See you later!" Hera made a run towards the forest and soon even his figure couldn't be made out in the dark. As everyone screamed and cried, it seemed only the landlady and the little girl had trusted that they would all be safe.

The barrier had been to make sure that no other monsters aside from the one Jayus had chased would infilter the village. With the barrier, Hera had assured there had been no other monsters lurking nearby that would attack those villagers. By using the barrier, it could detect any lethal threats from miles and miles away. An enchantment that Hera had been practicing for nearly an entire decade before perfection. Now he could lend the duke a hand with the situation.

Although Jayus had gradually caught up to the momster, the monster hasn't gone any slower either. Despite the multiple attempts to block it's way, the monster would just find another way to avoid it. This had become an entire cat and mouse chase episode. Jayus himself was starting to get tired. It seemed the monster was getting smarter by the minute and every attack Jayus sent out had become a total missed ball. I have to end this quickly. Red eyes darted around his surroundings for what he could use to stop this creature. Then he saw it. Just a few meters from the right lies the old abandoned river by the hanging bridge. If Jayus could just lure this lump towards it. He raised two fingers and placed the knuckles on his lips before casting another chant, when a light emerged from it, he aimed it towards the monster's left leg. Don't miss this time. And he shot at it. The monster cried out once more as the enchantment burned his leg so severely that he began to stumble in his run. Because of it's right leg running faster than the injured one, he staggered limping to towards the edge of the ground. Before the monster could realize it, it lost it's balance and fell rolling down towards the shallow river. Jayus wasted no time summoning his sword in thin air before jumping after the monster, in his adrenaline, he slashed deeply across it's neck before jumping off the monster at the last second before it plummeted to the water with a splash. Shallow as it was, when Jayus landed, he had expected the water to be a little bit deeper than ankle deep but thank goodness for that or else he'd drown from exhaustion. But he couldn't rest yet. The monster growled deeply as it struggled to get out, the lumps on its skin moved around as if it had a life of it's own. Now that Jayus had a good look at it, it made him feel uneasy and disturbed. The monster didn't seem to have the strength to fight back either and merely wriggle defeatedly on the ground. When Jayus was sure it wouldn't fight back anymore, he took out a tiny compact from his pocket. The compact had been a tiny wooden cube adorned with incantations on its edges. Despite it's tacky design, the empress had said it to be quite the useful little thing. A little device that her majesty had instructed him to use in order to apprehend the creature by himself. "Now how do I use this?" Jayus pressed the smooth surface on the compact and when nothing happened, he shook it around before flipping it on all sides trying to figure out how to use it. Now the monster was looking at him disappointed. Those murky eyes held a quiet judgement towards the duke. Even Jayus felt embarrassed and judged, "Hey don't look at me like that. This is a new gadget made recently, I'm not always up for new trends." After a couple seconds of nonsense hitting and smacking around, the compact set off and began to emit a fog before a magic circle appeared. By accident, Jayus dropped the compact and landed it towards the monster. In a split of a second, the fog gathered around the monster, eating it until it covered it whole. When the fog disappeared, so did the creature, leaving only the tacky box on the water. "...I still have no idea how it works."

"My lord!" A voice called from above. Almost instinctively, Jayus responded to the call as he turned towards the young man on top of the gorge he had just dropped from. "Hera?" Surprised, he inched towards the stones as if trying to bring himself closer to the grinning man. "What are you doing here?" Jayus asked in full wonder. No, but what was Hera doing here and for how long has he been there? What if Jayus hadn't apprehend the monster yet and he got hurt? Hera was only supposed to stay with the villagers.

"I can't hear you! Hold on, let me get down!" Came the concerning response from Hera.

"Huh!? Wait-!" Jayus couldn't even stop the butler before Hera flung his himself against the steep rocky walls and slid down carefully from there. Unknown to Jayus, Hera had a pretty good experience with jumping off from insane heights as a kid trying to escape from his nanny by jumping of the palace windows. By age fifteen, he had already master the arts of wall climbing. He could stealthy climb down any wall at this point. Something like this was nothing more than light work. Unfortunately, for the duke, he had no idea. So as Hera slowly made his way down the rocky wall, Jayus ran from side to side as if attempting to catch the man if he were to slip and fall. When Hera finally reached the ground, he patted the dusty off his hands, the proud look on his face showed how he still had the same skills as before but when he faced the duke, he still had his arms up in position, frozen by surprised.

"What's wrong, My lord?" Hera asked, genuine concern grew in his voice as he stared at Jayus. His thoughts finally catching up to his actions, Jayus let out an awkward cough to diffuse the situation. "It's nothing." Jayus said, turning his face away in hopes Hera couldn't catch notice of his reddening face. "I just apprehended the creature just now, there was no need to come looking for me. What if you got hurt? Who would help me finish all the paper I left out to do for the last minute?!" Jayus scolded and joked. However, Hera only faked a laugh as he glared at the duke, "I'm so grateful for that opportunity, My lord! How could I repay such kindness from doing your paperwork and affairs?"

You could give me a kiss. Jayus bit back his tongue from speaking those words out loud. It seemed Hera was the only butler Jayus had met whom would blatantly express sarcasm towards his master. Jayus shook his head, "I'm serious. Next time, there's no need to come running to my aid in these types of situations. Let me handle it, you know I can do it." To make sure Hera knew he was serious, he held Hera's shoulder and squeezed it tightly. Hera grabbed his wrist but didn't push him away, "My trust does not equal my concern. Those are two different things. I could trust you keep safe but I can't promise that I will stay still," This answer shocked Jayus into being still as a statue as Hera pushed his arm aside "You'll have to get used to the fact that I'll always come running by your side to aid you, Duke Frasirr." When Hera finished talking, he walked off to investigate their surroundings. Clueless to the grinning duke who couldn't hide his delight from hearning those words. He couldn't help it. Who wouldn't be overjoyed to hear those words?

"That's sweet and all," Jayus said as he finally and barely managed to control his heartbeat "But I already captured the monster-...Right here in this little box," He waved around the compact capsule in his hand for Hera to see. Stunned, Hera leaned to it to get a closer look, blue eyes literally sparkling in curiosity, "Wow- really? That's amazing! There hasn't even been a device like that back in the Eckleis Era. To think it could contain a monster that large..."

This had been Jayus's first time using it, even he was impressed. To capture a creature that height would require a handful amount of mana so where could the Empress have gathered such an amount? Jayus decided to ponder less on that for the mean time as he stored away the compact.

"For now, we should get out of here and get some rest. We have a lot to do tomorrow after setting foot in Vasiril." Jayus said. Hera straightened up, that was true. They both needed rest. One was shaking from too much mana consumption and the other was shaking from muscle pain. They both overworked themselves. A well needed rest was highly recommended. As they both glanced up at the gorge they had dropped from, they both realized the distance between them and the bed was far from close. Starting their way up the rocky wall, Jayus came to a sudden question "How did you know where to find me anyways?"

Hera grabbed a rock stuck inside the wall and made sure it didn't fall off before pulling himself up, "Through Mana Tracking. I used my mana to track yours and found you here," He said, as if that hadn't been the most shocking revelation he had heard. It was one thing to detect mana, but Hera was implying he tracked Jayus's mana from miles and miles away. "You can do that?" Awestruck, Jayus didn't move from his spot before he realized he was starting to lag behind in which he quickly began catching up to Hera's pace. "It's my first time trying it out but I've been studying it for a while-"

"And it worked? No faulty?" Jayus asked.

"I think it depends on the mana? Mine seemed to react to yours so I was able to find you in seconds. I guess it has something to do with compatibility." Hera answered. Despite Jayus's great efforts, he had tried to convince himself that Hera meant it to be their mana. Still, he couldn't help but try to pull those words out of context. "That's amazing." had been the only answer coming from Jayus below him. When Hera found silence afterwards, he turned back to check on the duke. In the dimly star lit night, Hera could easily make out that soft smile and astonished look on Jayus's face, each droplets of water on his face seemed to glow like tiny stars in that night sky. Those ruby red eyes fixated on Hera's own as if Hera had been the most amazing being he had ever seen.

The walk back to the village had been silent, with both young men shaking to their very core like dried out grapes learning how to walk. The people at the village practically danced in joy as soon as they spotted them. For all they knew, that only meant good news. But the two of them could barely stand up. That night, the entire village had cheered and gathered out of their houses surrounding a bonfire as they celebrated, the only people not present being the two young men and the Baron who had been too embarrassed to show his face.

Soon, morning came and flashed on their faces. Regardless of their best efforts, they barely managed to pull themselves out of bed, get dressed and bid farewell to the villagers before they set off towards Visaril Village. As the carriage began to move, Jayus yawned before he stretched his body into a a satisfying pop. The night had taken a toll on both of them, that's a penny for a fact. Even Hera, who had always been so diligent and showed proper decorum in front of Jayus, now yawned without a care. His eyes stared tirelessly at the seat infront of him, still looking fast asleep despite being awake. As Hera watched the seat in contempt, Jayus stared at Hera throughout the entire ride. At least, that's what Jayus thought would happen. It seems despite Hera's lack of awareness, it didn't stop his senses from kicking in, "My lord..." He paused to yawn, "Please avert your gaze elsewhere." Jayus couldn't help but give a light laugh. Messy hair, eyebags for eyelids, and wrongly buttoned shirt, Hera could still tell when someone would be looking at him.

"Why should I?" Jayus asked, as a mere provocation towards Hera. But the answer he had been given made him laugh so hard it brought him wide awake.

"So I can sleep without you knowing."

Soon enough, they had reached the wooden arch entrance for Vasiril. Vasiril, despite being a village far from the palace, was quite the well developed village. The moment you passed that wooden arch, cobblestones replaced the dirt ground and spread through out the entire village. Their markets too, brimmed with fresh and vibrant vegetables, and fish from a nearby river. Jayus and Hera dropped down at the arch and let the carriage settle down somewhere safe since it couldn't exactly fit to roam through the village. They had to walk by foot towards the Village chief's house. Or as he rather liked to call it, his headquarters. As they both roamed the village, they got to see all kinds of candies and entertainment. On one road, a line of stalls became rowdy as they urged people to buy their products, in another road a little stage had been held for a jester to perform tricks as both adults and children enjoyed the show. In their walk, something seemed to catch Hera's attention, "My lord, look over there." Confused, Jayus followed Hera's finger which landed on a small chapel nearby. A crowd of people had gathered around in urgency and left as soon as possible. With every person to come out of the chapel, they carried a bag of what Jayus could make out to be goods and products. "It seems like they're currently holding a program, possibly to help those who lost a loved one to the monster kidnappings,"

The crowd flocked around, Jayus could closely make out the black and white hair in the middle of the sea of people. A haircolor anyone could recognize quite well in a mile away.

"The Bishop's here," Those three words seem to intrigue Hera as his eyes popped wide open, "What? Where!?" In hopes to catch a glimpse of the Bishop, Hera waved his head around but the crowd of people kept blocking his sight from where he stood. Jayus shook his head and dragged him away by the arm. "She's obviously busy. No need to disturb her. Let's get going,"

Hera obviously hadn't taken a liking to that answer yet he couldn't just protest the duke either and casually let himself be dragged away. "But that was a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet the Bishop. I've heard all sorts of thinfs about her— People say, back in the day, she had single handedly changed the course of the ministry, influence at least half of the entire world to let go of such barbaric traditions. She's an inspiration to many!" Hera said in awe. For a reason Jayus was not ready to admit, he found Hera's talk of someone else a little agitating to the ears.

"Aughh!! God,why would he take her from me!?" That defeaning cry forced Jayus to stop. A woman, who already showed signs of aging, had cried a river of tears. Her face twisted into that of a worn out rag from exhaustion and grief. Based on her cries, she probably had been a relative of one of the missing girls. Her hair had become a rat's next and her clothes started to fit her body structure less. Everyone who watched her from afar gave her sympathetic looks but no one had enough courage to walk up to her. It wasn't only her, those poor families who lost a wife, daughter or mother all grieved within their homes. It was impossible to join in the celebration after a loss. Jayus unconsciously took a step towards the woman but stopped himself when he realized what he was doing.

What can I even do in this situation? A sense of guilt stabbed inside his chest. There is nothing in this world that can heal a wound like that.

Before he could react any further, amidst the flock of buzzing people emerged a head of black and white hair parted from the middle. An indication of balance between good and bad. Only one person would have such a hairstyle in this world. Hera watched the woman in surprise as she headed straight for the grieving woman. Jayus knew who that person was. The Bishop. Adorned in Black and white robes and a cross around her neck. Her dark eyes gazed softly at the woman she held in her arms. Jayus could clearly see her lips move but he couldn't hear what they were from the distance they had.

"So that's the Bishop." Hera wondered out loud. Even before his time, he had never once caught a glimpse at the Bishop. He thought he had used up his entire life's worth of luck from becoming drinking buddies with the Maganaya king. To think he'd casually see her here. Jayus on the other hand couldn't seem to show he cared. Even if it was to pretend. Sparing no more second there, he continued to drag Hera away. "Let's get moving. We're not yet close to done with our purpose here."

Finally, after running around in circles all day long, they had found their way to the village chief's home. What could go wrong? It was an easy report about the apprehension of the monster, a little small talk, then they could leave. A simple one, two ,three. So why did Jayus feel so uneasy holding the door? Was it because of his encounter with the Bishop that had him rattled but he was too prideful to admit? Like a gust of winter had passed by, he felt a chilling sensation at the back of his neck, even the doorknob felt cold under his grasp. Hera had become aware of the hesitation between breaths and his face twisted to one of concern.

"My lord, are you okay?"

Before Jayus could answer, the wooden door squeaked open and a man stepped out from the other side. In that sunny day, of what seemed to have been a mere celebration of the apprehension of a monster, it had become an unexpected revelation to be meeting at a place like this.