Way of the Knights

---

"…you are a strange one." Lucia said after a brief silence.

"Yeah, whatever. So? What now? Do you have something for me or no?" Vendrick asked, getting somewhat impatient. 

"…" Lucia didn't reply. Instead she sighed and waved her hand. 

Lights coagulated in front of Vendrick, it was blinding for a moment but when it was over, it revealed the things that Lucia prepared for him. 

A chest filled to the brim with chunks of ruby crystals. A shelf filled with books. A hill of gold and treasures, vials containing different kinds of medicine and etc...

"These are the collective inheritance that's left. Take them and use them according to your desire. Take this ring as well, you can use it to store all of your items just like the Storage Pouch. The space inside the ring is vast, you can use it to store mountains and rivers if you want."

"Oh! Now we're talking." Vendrick didn't hesitate to take the ring from her and mark it as his. He then used the ring to transfer everything in front of him inside, he even place the storage bag inside the ring.

After collecting everything, Vendrick looked up to Lucia and he could almost see a complicated expression on her face. An idea struck him and he couldn't help but ask...

"What will happen to you now?" 

"..." Lucia didn't reply at first. Vendrick could feel that she was deliberating about something. Moments later, she heard him ask: "Really strange...why do you feel so confident?" 

"Eh?" Vendrick was caught off-guard by that sudden question. He tilted his head and replied: "Am I feeling confident? I don't know about that. What I do know is stressing myself out won't help at all. Getting depressed and giving out without putting up a fight is just way out of my style."

"Are you not...afraid? Of death?" 

"Hmm..." Vendrick wore a pondering expression and replied, "Kind of, but not really. I mean, it's life's natural course isn't it? All living beings will eventually die. It's just a matter of when and how that's going to make a difference."

"So what if I die? What if I don't? What if I fail? Should I just give up because somebody told me that there's no chances of winning? How did they know? Why shouldn't I try? Am I not allowed to even choose how I die?...thinking about these things is just really stressful. Why bother? I'm just going to live how I want to live. You said it's my choice anyway, right?" 

"...right." 

"There we go." Vendrick shrugged. "You still haven't answered my question you know?"

"...you can't be possibly thinking of making me you wife now do you?" 

"Beats me, weren't you reading my thoughts? Tell me about it then." Vendrick looked blandly at her.

He could've sworn that Lucia's lips were twitching from annoyance, but that might also he his imagination as well. 

"I'm going back to sleep. I've done all I can and I've given everything away. My oath to His Majesty concludes right here. I just don't want to care anymore." 

"Cool." Vendrick shrugged. "Do that then, have a long and good sleep. But before you do that, send me out of here." 

"Keep walking that way and you'll reach the exit." Lucia pointed behind him. 

"Oh, that simple huh. Alright, I'm off then. Have a good rest." Vendrick waved his hand and began walking out. 

Lucia stared at his back as he walked away. She couldn't understand his strange behavior at all, this is probably the first time that she encountered a human like this. Vendrick was right, she is indeed reading his thoughts. How could she not after all the things that humanity did to her kind? Their creator might be human but he's a unique one too. 

This human's thoughts were nothing like the humans before him. Typically, human's thoughts were chaotic, they have a specific talent of saying things out loud while also thinking about the complete opposite of what they're spouting. The only times when they become honest is when their life is threatened or during extreme moments. 

However, Vendrick's thoughts were none of that. Forget about being chaotic, his thoughts were unnaturally quiet that it's almost frightening. She initially thought that he knows a technique that prevented her from prying to his mind but she dismissed this idea shortly after. 

Lucia has experienced many things in her life and she could tell that Vendrick didn't make any attempts on guarding his thoughts. That, or whatever he's using far surpasses her knowledge that it completely fooled her, however this is also very unlikely. 

Just as Vendrick was about to disappear from his vision, Lucia jolted. Her eyes widened when she all of sudden heard Vendrick's thoughts.

'Humans are strange creatures to begin with. It is true that we are greedy, selfish, immoral, sinners, impure, etc...in a sense, we're no different from Demonic Beasts from time to time, the only thing that sets us apart from them is that our intelligence is just a tad bit higher and our obsession for progress is immense.'

'We are strangely eccentric creatures, but also endearing at some point. I don't think races who aren't humans have the right to comment about our essence, most especially, races that were created by human hands. Biased towards their creator and disgusted towards other humans when their own creator is a human being too. I wonder, did she even stop and thought hard about the incredulity of her own words?'

'She's right about us, yes. But the way her and race worships their creator is somehow laughable. Were they honestly thinking that their creator is perfect? Psh. She said it herself didn't she? He created them when he's about to die. In short, what they witnessed was his life when he was at the peak, not when he's at his absolute worst but during his absolute best. Having such an impartial way of judgement...and they think that they're way better than humans? Don't make me laugh please.'

'If their creator truly did care about them, why didn't he stop for a moment and considered the longevity of their race? Why didn't he give them the ability to reproduce? These women couldn't possibly think that he couldn't right? After all, wasn't he a God?'

'Of course he wouldn't. Why would you give undying creatures a way to reproduce? It's not like they needed it, it's more like they're not allowed since once their population grow, their collective disgust for human being will make them break their oath. He just didn't want his own creations to the be the one who will end his 'oh-so-beloved humanity'. In the end, I wouldn't be surprised if he created them for the sole purpose of becoming concubines for the next Conquerors...'

'I mean, wouldn't that make sense? First of all, all of them were women and all of his incarnations were men! Why the hell would they be able to turn into mortals with the ability to reproduce in exchange for their Undying Trait anyway if they were supposed to be 'just guides' anyway? Why have that function? Did they honestly not realize this? Are they truly this stupid? They be shouldn't be right? Well, considering their blind adoration for him...sheesh...'action

'Anyhow, that ain't my problem. I have targets now, I should just focus on becoming stronger. Whether humanity will flourish under me or no, that'll depend on them and not me. I guess I could just leave her be. She's not my problem anyway. So long as she doesn't cross me, then she can do whatever she wants.'

'Oh, I can feel something here...is this the exit? Woah!'

*Weng!!*

Just like that Vendrick's silhouette disappeared from Lucia's vision. Despite him leaving, Lucia's thoughts remained chaotic. 

She remained where she was, silently pondering about his words. At this point, Lucia couldn't care less whether Vendrick did this on purpose or not. His words already had it's effect on her and it wouldn't simply go away no matter how much she desired to go to sleep. 

"Oh, Sisters..." Lucia looked above, tears trickling down her face as she felt endless sadness and regret. "Were we really blind? Were we really this stupid? Did our creator truly cared for us? If so, then why? Why does this person's words hurts me so?"

Lucia couldn't bear it. She felt agonized, miserable, discarded and utterly alone. All of her sisters are gone. She's the only one left. She wanted to preserve their dignity by saying that they faith was justified yet she couldn't, not after hearing all of those. 

All she could feel is the dreaded realization that Vendrick might be right. Maybe they truly were created for the sole purpose of serving humanity. Maybe they were truly just meant to be tools. If it were truly the case, then how could their creator be so cruel? At least deprive them of having any ego, that they'd have no sense of self and they'd be spared from all this pain. 

"Dear Sisters..." Lucia cried as she fell gently on the ground, hugging her knees while feeling the gnawing coldness on her chest. "What should I do?"