322 Starry sky
Commander Hazor explained for a few minutes about the circumstances surrounding the members of the Twelve Thrones.
According to him, there was a condition that prevented the members from interfering in major world events without most members agreeing to it, which meant that both Hazor himself and Lescar could not prevent the start of the war between the two. Melki Empire and Broteforge Empire, neither could stop it.
However, as Emperor Callant was about to declare war on the Melki Empire seconds before the First Wave broke out, there was still living proof that demons were directly involved in the war. The names of these living proofs were Masink and Marie, the two demons who had sunk Latgor City into disgrace. When Luke and Meredith told this to Hazor, as well as the rest of the story that Hazor still didn’t know, Hazor was stunned. The turn of course was already visible before his eyes, which excited him.
Even so, the plan was the same as before. Luke Lange should first focus on weakening the First Servant before taking him down, killing the remaining Eight Servants of Chaos and collecting the cursed items. This was the surest way to win, however, everyone knew that Luke might not have much time left to achieve such a feat.
The half-wolf looked at the embers of a fire as he thought about all this. The amount of thoughts in his head felt like a stormy sea, and he daydreamed countless hypothetical scenarios about the future.
The sun was already at rest and the moon excelled in the star-filled sky. The night in that small town with the lighthouse on the shore was silent, and you could easily hear the crickets in every bush.
As everyone was tired and thoughtful after they left the underground of the Church, they decided to have a better conversation about which paths they would take only the next day. This arrangement helped Luke Lange have time to think for himself after a while, after all the half-wolf has never been alone with his own thoughts since the day he passed out in the Half-Dragon Isles and the Scale managed to access the core of your soul.
Don’t misjudge him, Luke was very grateful to have an entity as wise as the Scales guiding him, especially since she was the one who made him meet Hazor and turned the end of the war from a dream to a perfectly possible reality. However, the Scale still hid a lot of information for an unknown reason, which made the half-wolf always suspicious of its true intentions.
After all, if the Scales knew about the real power of the cursed items, why didn’t they ever tell Luke the truth?
If she knew the connection between Hazor, Lescar, and the First Servant, why didn’t she ever reveal it?
On top of all that, why did she say that Hazor would help them about the curse when, in reality, Hazor knew next to nothing about the mana curse?
There were so many questions that popped up in the half-wolf’s mind, such that he couldn’t find the answers on his own.
To make matters worse, the Scale did not respond to attempts at conversations and questions after the Tenth Servant was killed, which was making him even more nervous. The Scale’s silence was certainly excruciating for him, but also a little relieving.
Hazor was already asleep, propped up in the corner of a tree away from the fire.
The half-fox was already very sleepy, as she had not slept the night before, fought the Sakan devotees, the Bishop and also looted tens of kilos of gold from the Church’s vault. It had been a long day for everyone, but she couldn’t sleep peacefully watching her best friend look so thoughtful.
“You want to talk?” Meredith asked Luke as she sat beside him on the grass.
At first, Luke Lange didn’t answer her and was silent, but soon asked her: “Aren’t you mad at me?”
“Brave? Why would I be mad? Is it because you hid that you have a curse that has no easy cure and that you’ve been killing for over two years killing the only man I love?” Meredith hugged both bent legs and puffed out her cheeks.
“The man you love?” Luke blushed, smiled and put his arm around her shoulders, hugging her. “I’m sorry for hiding this from you, I just didn’t mean to worry you…”
The hug made her feel welcomed and understood. Meredith turned her face away and asked looking into his eyes, “Does it hurt a lot?”
Luke Lange looked to the horizon when he heard that question and, at that moment, decided that he wasn’t going to hide anything from Meredith anymore. She was the woman who had been following him around for a long time and lying to her only made him feel more guilty about himself.
“Meredith, to speak I feel almost no pain after that day I passed out on the Flying Islands. This curse is not killing my body, as you know as I am fully healthy now, but the curse will slowly erase who I am, my soul.” explained Luke, choosing his words carefully.
“Like this?” Meredith was confused, she didn’t understand exactly what he meant.
“Someday, I will become an empty, mindless body.”
The half-fox’s eyes gradually widened, and she understood how cruel the fate of the bearers of the mana curse was.
All this meant Luke Lange would still be alive, but he would be in a vegetative state, without a consciousness to move his own body, this would be what the healers called brain death. His body would age over the years, his hair would turn gray, his whole body would function fine, but Luke Lange would cease to exist.
Meredith thought about this and rested her head on the half-wolf’s right shoulder. “We’ll be able to heal you. You need to live long enough to decide what your wives order will be…”
“Wives order!?” Luke was startled by her words.
“Exactly, you will need to take responsibility for me, Alexis and Ayumi. We’re all women and we want to marry you, I don’t mind sharing you as long as I can have your love.”
The half-wolf could tell by the look in her eyes and the confidence in Meredith’s voice that she was being very serious. Therefore, he passed his right arm from her shoulder to the back of her neck and then kissed her. Initially, Meredith was surprised by the attitude, but soon realized that it was his way of showing a little hope too and kissed him back.
The two half-beasts kissed passionately under the starry sky, showing off to the entire universe the great love that was between them.
“Khmmmm! Sorry to disturb the couple, but if you guys are still awake, how about we discuss a plan I thought of?” Hazor said, standing behind them, avoiding looking directly at the scene of the two kissing.
Meredith was clearly embarrassed at being caught, broke the kiss immediately and looked down at the floor. She was still very inexperienced and shy when it came to romances, and showing her feelings still embarrassed her.
Smiling shyly as well, the half-wolf hugged Meredith with his right arm and nodded at Hazor. Luke intended to end up telling her about the Scale as well, but he didn’t want Hazor to know about the entity.
When Luke Lange allowed it, Hazor seemed to completely lose his discomfort and sat down next to the couple. “I couldn’t help but overhear some of your conversation, more precisely the part about the curse… Your next step will be crucial, Luke. Soon, the First Servant will know about what happened in this city today, and he will know that someone is sabotaging him.”
At that moment, Luke looked at Meredith, who looked back, and together they nodded simultaneously.
“There is something we must tell you, Hazor.” said the half-wolf.
The old man was hesitant and asked, “Wh-what would that be?”
“Better than telling, you better see.” Luke opened the <Normal Inventory> and took out a reinforced leather bag, which appeared to be heavy.
Then Luke opened the bag and took out each of the three objects that were inside it. On the grass in front of the trio were now two metal bracelets with intricate runes carved into them, and also a sword whose large blade was curved at the tip, like a saber. These were the cursed items Luke had gotten hold of in the last six months.
The question they would normally ask would be what those objects were and what was different about them, but Hazor could feel the aura emanating from those things. An ominous, frightening aura that constantly told him to stay away.
Consequently, knowing what those objects were, the question Hazor asked was, “How did you…get this?”
“I stole from vaults protected by corruption in the Yukiat and New Yukiat region. The bracelets were four months ago and the sword two months ago. I just wanted information about the demons and how the corruption worked, but I had to get these items because they are, shall we say, different from the others.” explained Luke.
“That changes absolutely everything… With the power of four cursed items you can defeat the Ninth Servant and Eighth with one hand if you want, but first we need to return to Stahurt, I won’t be able to break so many curses in a place like this.” Hazor looked more excited than Luke about the revelation. “By the way, the cursed items not only increase physical strength, they also increase vitality, aura and mana, which means that we will be able to delay the final symptoms of the mana curse a little bit.”
The half-beasts looked at each other when Hazor said this, and they were overjoyed.
“Okay, we leave at dawn.”