Chapter 8: Attack

A few days after the king left, twenty men in black arrived at Aelaranthae Town. They carried a fleam and clyster meant for extracting Aelaranthae’s blood. They snuck into Aelaranthae’s house with great effort. By carrying a ladder, they climbed over the tall fence. However, it was futile for the door that led to Aelaranthae’s room was enforced by living vines, there was no lock for their lockpicking skills. When they drew their daggers and started hacking at the vines, It send signals to The Aelaranthae. The vines then lashed out like a whip, hitting the thieves. The treehouse was alive and the Aelaranthae controlled it. The ground beneath them began to shake as if to convey the anger of these greedy humans that dared to trespass into Aelaranthae’s abode.

“AAAAH!” The thieves screamed as they ran for their lives. However, the stairs were narrow and the spiky vines caught them. They trashed and screamed, but it was futile. Their resistance only hastened their demise as the thorny vines bled them to their death. Their cries of agony as they died was heard by the residents of Aelaranthae Town. Once they died, their bodies were tossed out from the treehouse like trash.

As morning came, residents of Aelaranthae town saw the discarded and mangled body through the gaps of the fence surrounding the treehouse. They muttered to themselves, wondering whether they should do something to the corpse that began to exude rotting odor.

“You may do with the corpse as you wish. They trespass into my house without permission.” Ae Zir said to the villager when she did her groceries. Using magic, she threw away the corpses out from her gate and the residents dutifully cleaned the bodies and buried them far from the villages. The villagers whispered to each other as the atmosphere grew strained.

Several days later, another attempt was made. This time, the assassin used magic. With their wands, they jumped the fence in one go. However, they met a similar fate with the first group. However, this time, out of ten people that infiltrated, two managed to get away by jumping out from the tree house right onto the ground below. Using magic, they dampened the fall. They were wounded, but alive.

The king was not happy with the failure. This was a chance of a lifetime. While one of the Aelaranthae is sick and vulnerable, he could extract their blood if the other Aelaranth guarding her left just for a while. Once he captured the sick Aelaranth, the other Aelaranth would be on his beck and call. He opted for a more ruthless method. Using the same black ops, he began targeting Aelaranthae town’s citizens. After his black ops kidnapped those citizens, they gave the Aelaranthae a letter, blackmailing them for their blood.

Aelaranthae liked the citizens. However, unbeknownst to the king, they merely view the citizens like people view cats and dogs. They are cute to keep, but their attachment grew no further than that. They wouldn’t risk their lives for them. The Aelaranthae did not lift a finger even after one of citizen’s heads were delivered before their gate. Ae Zir merely walked past the head and did her grocery.

“Esteemed Aelaranthae! My wife was kidnapped. Please, help her!”

“My apologies, but I have a task I need to do. You may hire mercenaries to do so.” Ae Zir answered.

“Esteemed Aelaranthae! There was a fight at my inn. If you do not interfere, I am afraid there will be casualties!”

“You may do as you need to prevent such casualties. I will not punish you. I apologize for there is a place I need to go. Shopkeeper, the usual please.”

Usually, when such trouble occurred, the Aelaranthae would patrol the town and evict or punish such evildoers. However, Ae Zir didn’t want to leave Ae Nae even for a minute more than necessary. That’s why the town has become somewhat abandoned. The villagers were increasingly agitated. Some even outright blamed Aelaranthae for neglecting their duties. However, their voices fell on deaf ears.

Usually, the mob would blame the lord for their negligence. However, Aelaranthae town never had standing soldiers nor did they field taxes, so the resident has no ground to complain. But the problem was grave, so they had to turn to Aelaranthae Academy. Aelaranthae Academy is full of strong mages and swordmage from both countries. The villagers plead for their protection. At first, the mages were hesitant, however, since the Aelaranthae had no intention to arbitrate the matter, they accepted the request.

A huge skirmish happened inside Aelaranthae town by mercs from Aelaranthae Academy and black ops pretending to be rich and arrogant merchants from Antheria that night. Fires burned their warehouse as the hostage was released. The following morning, Ae Zir went to do her grocery run when she noticed a burning building. The villagers and the mages from the academy eyed them carefully. However, to their relief and disappointment, Ae Zir merely went with her usual routine and returned to her castle, sparing the burning warehouse no more than a single glance. She neither complained nor acted against it.

“Hey, this is their town, right. Why aren’t they taking care of it?” One of the villagers grumbled.

“I heard the other one got sick, so she was looking for medicine. She won’t make a move until the other one recovers.”

“This town is ours then?”

“Don’t touch the castle or you will meet the same fate as those intruders.”

“Don’t touch the marketplace either. She is peevish lately. Those thieves that were spotted in the marketplace lost his legs.”

The Aelaranthae didn’t like the taste of the surrounding atmosphere either. It felt suffocating. However, that pales in comparison with Ae Nae’s state. The lump on her chest has grown bigger. Whenever Ae Zir connected with her, her voice seemed to echo. It felt surreal, felt alien. Even though Ae Zir knew her companion was suffering, Ae Nae felt happy and full of expectation, it was odd. It was as if she rejoiced in suffering from the bump on her chest.

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Aelaranthae didn’t know, but they could feel it. They could feel this was their course of life. Similar to when a human grew bigger. From children to men or women. As Ae Zir looked at Ae Nae, she wondered whether she too would experience the same sorrow and expectation as Ae Nae. The longing and yearning from her came from within, it didn’t come from the citizens or animals. Ae Nae felt joy not from the outside emotion for the first time in her life.

[The villagers were not happy….] Ae Nae muttered in the Virtual room. Ae Zir nodded. Ae Nae said, [We neglected them too much]

[They targeted us. You. Now that you are weakened, they could even kill you.] Ae Zir answered.

[they only wanted blood, right? Maybe we should give them some?]

[They will surely do this again in the future. I don’t like being forced to give something.] Ae Zir frowned. [Moreover, I don’t think they will ask for a mere drop of blood this time. The fleam and clyster those guys carried is about a half a pint worth of blood if full.]

[That would damage us permanently….]

[I wonder when we will recover if we gave that much blood at once. We might have to sleep continuously for five years or more. We might also risk our body strengthening technique.]

Aelaranthae were powerful, it was all because of her blood carried instruction and power in a form of mana. As their blood flows through their body, mana also circulates within. Such mana were usually spent to protect Aelaranthae’s body or cast spells. So, what happens if they lose a lot of blood? Their body will be weakened as the mana were less condensed. This is why The Aelaranthae were hesitant in giving even a drop of their blood.

Their value is too high and The Aelaranthae knew that. Humans didn’t enslave The Aelaranthae because they couldn’t. Aelaranthae were powerful. However, if their body was weakened, Humans would surely enslave and extract all of their blood for their own gain. Like they did to cattles or sheeps.

Amantuile had sent letters to the Aelaranthae, warning them of the king’s intention. But the Aelaranthae merely sighed. They already knew this would happen years ago. The bump on Ae Nae’s chest had grown to almost the size of a person’s head now and the echo within their virtual room was getting more dissonant.

After the incident, Amantuile and LeAestas secretly send soldiers to Aelaranthae town in hopes of raising its security. However, such acts made The Aelaranthae nervous. The tree house was merely a tree, it could be burned or chopped down with an axe. So, she strengthened the fence around it, hoping it would at least make it noticeable if someone decided to cut it down. A mana link was then formed and extended to the fence. This kind of magecraft was supposed to be easy if The Aelaranthae worked together, but since Ae Nae was incapacitated, Ae Zir had no other choice to do it by herself.

[Sorry, for being selfish.] Nae apologized.

[I received the call too. I would have accepted if you didn’t. it was tempting, like we should do it to progress. To develop.] Ae Zir sighed. [I wonder whether we should disappear until you are done with The Call. Maybe we can hide in the forest, or caves, or island? Somewhere more secluded. Hunting birds or animals or eating fruits in the wild should be easier than this. We made a mistake thinking gold was better. We thought we could get more variety of food by buying it from merchants.]

Meanwhile in the royal castle in Antheria, Lucoria and his party walked to the empty throne room with dreaded steps. There lies the distraught king. He was so obsessed with the Aelaranthae that he had alienated even his own family. Many criticized him for attacking the Aelaranthae. The kidnapped citizens’ complaints further lower his standing in The Alliance.

“My king, we should stop this. We should not provoke The Aelaranthae any further.”

“I didn’t want to provoke them! All I want is their blood! Was it so hard to give? They stay in my land! They are my subjects! They should bow down to me!” The king threw his golden chalice at the empty chalice of life. The clay pot housing the chalice shattered with the bonsai tree the Aelaranthae fashioned into the cup. The king never took care of the chalice after it fulfilled its use, So it had wilted and dried. The beautiful chalice adorned with spots of green leaf and white flower was now turned into ugly brown dried husk.

Part of Lucoria agreed with the king. However, he sensed something sinister about the King’s word. The king has gone mad. He must be stopped.

“Father, stop this already. It’s already time for you to hand over the throne. You are going senile” His son came to their room. The king merely scoffed at his elderly son. The Crown Prince looked like the king’s father instead. Lucoria was flabbergasted. Now that they were lined side by side, everything finally clicked together.

“My king, you should stop using the chalice of life! You should stop this demonic temptation!” Lucoria plead but the king spat on him.

“Bah! You merely wanted my throne, didn’t you? Leeches! All of you! I saw through your greed. When I was old and crippled, I saw through your false concern. All of you have been waiting for my death, haven't you!” The king pointed to his son. He then laughed maniacally. “However, that doesn’t matter. Look at me now! I have obtained the elixir of youth! I shall be the emperor of Antheria forever!”

“You are crazy!” Lucoria drew his sword and the king did the same.

“See? you are all traitorous scum. Oh well, The Aelaranthae are weakened. I no longer need to save on the potion.” The king took a carafe from his pouch and drank it all in one go. Inside the glass, a translucent pink liquid, like rose wine sloshed. Lucoria knew what the liquid was.

“Heh… I was your sword instructor thirty years ago, Lucoria. Let’s see how much age has taken your sword skill.” The king grinned.

“Lucoria, We shall subdue the mad king!” The Crown Prince also drew his sword. However, he was nearing his 70 and had never exercised. his hand weakly grasped the sword.

The king plowed through Lucoria's personal guard one at a time. It was as if he was back in his prime. Lucoria reminiscent when he was in a campaign together with the king, defeating evil bloodletter cultists of the north. The king finally reached Lucoria. Lucoria empowered his body, using his enchanted sword, Blacksteel, he moved with astonishing speed toward The king. His body still remembered the feeling of the sword even when he had never fought in the frontline as a soldier for more than ten years. However, the king repelled his attacks with ease. His enchanted sword, Golden Lion not only enhanced his perception, it also bestowed upon him strength. No matter how Lucoria assaulted him, The king managed to deflect them all.

The crown price jumped in to help but it was in vain. The King managed to defeat both of them. With an upward parry, Lucoria’s Blacksteel was thrown in the air and stabbed a wall nearby while his son’s sword was bisected into two with a single swoop. Lucoria fell down with a ragged breath. The mad king inched closer to the defeated son. With his sword drawn, there is only one thing that came to mind to all.

“Father! Are you seriously going to kill me? Your only son?”

“I will be the emperor forever! What use is a traitorous son to me?” The king scoffed as his son pitifully pleaded for his life. Without any mercy, the king slid his golden blade unto his chest. Blood seeped out from the wound. The son looked at him in horror, his eyes looked at him in disbelief. As life fleeted away from his life, The son let out a silent curse. A soldier came, then another. Not all soldiers sided with Lucoria and the crown prince. When the throne room was filled with the King's royal guard, Lucoria knew it was over. His coup had failed.

“Not going to plead for your life?” The king smirked “Your skills were as good as I remember. Too bad, you got old. Your strength has failed you. You were no match for me, who was empowered by Aelaranthae blood. You see? This power could have been yours too. There is enough for both of us. Yet, you choose to disobey me! I am disappointed, Lucoria. You were my prized disciple.”

“... Long live the empire….” Lucoria said his last words before the king impaled him with his sword. He let no curse defile his final battle. He let his final wish, his final prayer for Antheria as life left his body and his eyes grew dark.

“Get your troops ready, we shall march to Lucianne.” The king commanded. The king amassed yet another army. However, unlike before, they didn’t target Aelaranthae town for he knew he couldn’t win against them. He had another plan for them.