24: The Woman
Eliza was in her room, Lily in her arm, reading through the ‘Angel of Battle’ book one last time.
“Tomorrow’s the day. I go out, rescue the woman… and find out who she is.”
Looking at Lily, who was asleep, Eliza sighed.
“I’m scared. I’m really scared…”
Not of the demons, no. She somehow felt as if they were beneath her, in a way. Like they could never touch her. But…
‘I’m scared of what I’ll learn.’
Lily, in her arms, was wearing one of the new dresses that Eliza had bought for her.
What if this was someone related to Eliza, who knew her past? What if the former Eliza, who was willing to abandon a child and force a random tea maker to take her place was an awful person?
It didn’t seem that much of a stretch.
She stopped thinking about it. Instead, she started to think about the positive things she could remember.
Such as how Lily had already become a swordsman, and was almost getting to the point where she could work towards being a sword expert.
Eliza had taken note of Lily’s talent. In fact, she began teaching swordsmanship in her class as well, teaching the children that it was just as valid a path as magic was. It was clear that it was true, since Lily was able to keep up with Mary and Astram when the class was doing physical activities.
By now though, it wasn’t just Mary and Astram who had been able to cast magic, though. Buck was also able to cast magic, being able to create small shards of ice similar to how Eliza could.
‘He must have been inspired by the slide.’ Eliza thought while smiling.
And then there was Lana. She truthfully didn’t have very many dreams of learning magic. Her purple hair color may have been special, but she didn’t care for it like her brother did.
The class quickly learned that Lana was sent into the class by her parents on purpose. They knew that the prince would be in the class, and had hoped that Lana would be able to grow closer to the prince, to secure her future through that method.
But that was simply not what Lana wanted.
She had dreams of riding on a mount, traveling the world and seeing the world.
With Lana being drawn to things that would help her be truly free, she had imagined her creativity would have been high enough to do magic.
But one day, Lana witnessed Lily use her sword intent… and from that point on, Lana followed Lily, mimicking everything she did with a wooden stick.
It was the igniting event that caused her to start teaching swordsmanship. Not just to Lana and Lily, but to all the children in class.
Though, Beth also helped with that. Even though Eliza had mastered sword aura and was in her own right a near swordsmaster, she still wasn’t used to formulaic swordsmanship.
She kept thinking about her students, and how they might develop in the future…
Before long, she fell asleep. Or at least, she only realized she had fallen asleep when she woke up in the morning, Lily cuddled in her arms.
She didn’t even remember when Lily crawled up next to her.
‘Was I really that tired?’ she thought to herself.
Leaving Lily to rest in bed, Eliza went downstairs, preparing to face what was waiting for her.
Down in the dining room of the inn, she saw Olivia delivering a dish to the only person besides her that was awake.
“Ah… Hello, Olivia.” She said awkwardly.
Olivia sighed. She already knew about Eliza’s plan, and while she disapproved… She somewhat understood.
“Hey there, Eliza. Ya’ goin’ out today?”
Eliza nodded.
She wanted to say something, but Olivia had already rebuked her enough.
Just yesterday, when Eliza had told her to take care of Lily if something were to happen…
“Huh? So yer’ already plannin’ yer funeral?! Shut the hell up and start thinkin’ yer’ plan some more if yer’ so determined for Lily to live a good life!” Olivia had said.
And she was right.
“I’ve thought this through. I will. I’ll do it… and be back before Lily wakes up.” Eliza said confidently.
Olivia laughed at her words.
“Good. Now go on an’ bring that girl o’ yours back.” Olivia said, smiling.
Eliza nodded. Instead of saying anything like ‘I’ll be back,’ she simply decided the best way to prove her intent was action.
So she left the city, heading for the forest. She thought back to how not long ago, she had led the drake her and secured her position in the eyes of the union.
The place still reeked of a strange ashy smell that had persisted for a long time now, but she didn’t pay it any mind. She knew that the drake perishing here would have ramifications for decades to come, let alone for just now.
Before long, she made it to the fortress, her magic cast, her scent neutralizer active, and her footsteps light. She could see it. The large pillars of wood that made up the outer walls of the encampment.
They were simply made from logs, and made jagged at the top. Planted in the ground like that, they weren’t much of a threat to a sword expert… But that wasn’t the point of the walls.
No, they were simply there from the demons to announce their presence.
That they were secure… and that if need be, they can defend it, too.
She gulped. She pulled out from her bag something Lily had gifted her some time ago… A telescope. She intended to observe the encampment from afar, hoping to get a general grasp of the situation before even attempting to breach and rescue.
She had never known it would have come in handy today. A birthday gift from over a year ago being used to save a woman’s life?
Lily seemed proud of herself when Eliza had asked her if she was fine with using it in this way.
Not because she wanted the telescope to be damaged…
But because she was simply happy that she was able to help her mom save someone. In a way, she felt like she would be helping save the woman too.
Eliza thought back to the past, smiling. Even in a situation like this… If she couldn’t guarantee the safety of the woman, she might leave. She still felt like her hotheaded decision was the right one…
Just that she had something else she knew she would need to focus on as well.
She set up her telescope and began to look at the encampment. It was circular in structure with the outer fencing protecting three sides. There was a large hall on the north, and on the west there was some kind of training area… But on the east side, there was an elevated building, seemingly to live in.
Because from afar, through the telescope, she saw it.
A girl… No, an adult woman with pure white hair, gold eyes, and an usual sense of superiority surrounding her. She was wearing a white dress with gold imprint on it in the shape of an hourglass. Her face was smooth, without blemishes, and she was wearing pure black slippers of some kind.
Moreover, she had two golden earrings on her ears that flowed freely when she moved her head.
Overall, a near identical clone of Eliza… And she didn’t look at all like a prisoner.
‘Strange. If the demons kidnapped her for any purpose, wouldn’t leaving a valuable dress on her not be a good idea?’ Eliza thought to herself.
And moreover, the demons were walking around this girl, as if she didn’t exist. They didn’t hold weapons near her either, even though the rest of the demons in the encampment all did.
She continued watching for a while, and then… The girl seemed to freeze up in place. As she did, the demons turned to look at her…
And then, she began to strangely emit a pathetic aura of sorts.
Eliza couldn’t explain it, but… The woman seemed to be putting no strength into her body.
‘Is it poison? What’s going on for even the demons to be alarmed?’ she thought to herself.
She decided to make a commitment and wait until she learned the way that the guards would rotate, intending to strike then.
But then, something unusual happened.
All of the demons in the encampment began gathering themselves in a large hall on the northern side, including the guards of the woman trapped inside.
They simply left their prisoner alone, in an undefended camp, perfectly ripe for rescuing.
‘Is this a meeting? This is the perfect time!’ Eliza thought to herself.
But…
“This is too easy. It must be a trap.” Eliza thought to herself. So… she waited, and observed the encampment from afar with her telescope.
Time continued to pass for a few minutes, with Eliza expecting to find some sort of trap awaiting for her if she sought to rescue the woman at that moment.
But even after waiting, she couldn’t see any more demons whatsoever. Only the girl.
Her mind was ringing with alarm bells, but…
‘Damnit, even if it is a trap, this is still my best chance, isn’t it?’
She saw that it was almost as if the encampment was completely empty. Every part of it was completely void of demons.
Whatever it was… Eliza knew she had to go.
She leapt forward, choosing to spend time in the air to minimize the noise she was making. Moreover, with her absurdly strong body, she was able to leap at least 5 meters in distance each time. Not enough to break the world record on earth… But still enough to accomplish her goals.
For a moment, while she was bounding towards the encampment, she wondered if she was able to beat any world records on Earth with her overly enhanced body, but that thought was quickly cut short when she reached the walls of the encampment.
The woman’s position was on the eastern side, high up in elevation. Eliza’s only method of reaching her safely for now… was to climb.
She formed two picks made of ice in her hands and began stabbing them into the wooden palisade, creating more whenever she stuck one in, and using those below her as footholds.
In her mind, it was a good method, since the only damage it would leave on the defenses were small holes, left after the water had melted.
By the time the demons would notice the small holes, Eliza would be long gone from the area.
For anyone else, she knew it would be enough, but she wasn’t confident if it would work on the demons. So she hurried her efforts, climbing to the top, where she found her.
The woman… For a second, Eliza could see a strange expression on her face.
It wasn’t fear, or anything like that. It was… almost smug? She seemed incredibly pleased to see Eliza.
But then the girl’s expression changed to that of a fearful face, as if she was simply pretending to be afraid.
Eliza felt like the situation was weird… But she didn’t want to stop. She was close to doing what she felt needed done.
“Nod if you want me to rescue you. To bring you to The Shelf. The union.” she said quietly.
When Eliza saw the woman fearfully nod, she picked her up carefully in a princess carry. The woman blushed and her eyes widened, then she grabbed on to Eliza, her hands trembling.
But…
Even though the woman nodded and seemed to want to be brought back…
Why did Eliza feel like this woman wasn’t in any actual danger here?
