Chapter 80
“What happened to him at the Beyor cemetery?” Asked Vale to Xavier.
Xavier gave out a sigh and finally being truthful to Vale, “He got attacked by that mysterious man,”
“What?! and you failed to inform us about this?!” Vale was upset with Xavier when the three of them have their solemn vow to help Justice and protected him along with his chosen empress. Just like king Ascend and king Edward as the best friend of king Leon back then.
“He told me not to inform the two of you, but looking at him right now...” Xavier seems concerned, he was thinking about the infection that may have spread from his wound, “Did he get an infection? Anne worried about the wound as well.” Muttered Xavier.
Vale open the collar of Justice’s neck, and he saw two puncture wounds that were already blackened. He doesn’t see any infection in the wound. The two of them left Justice to rest, they go and saw Henry; they saw Heirim having a fight with his brother.
“I told you before, if only you just listened to our father, now look at you?!” Heirim spats her frustration to Henry, while he just lay there accepting the anger, “Father told you that you should just quit after accepting the captain rank, you should focus on becoming the future duke, rather than this kind of grueling and dangerous mission!”
Henry was not in the mood to hear anything from his sister. “Heirim, please stop. I need to get some rest now, so... maybe just...”
“What?! I warned you, do not tarnish the Spencer’s name, and here you are fighting as a mere knight, while I...”
.....
“Heirim that’s enough!” shouted someone from the other side of the tent.
All of them saw Horden come inside. He was glaring at Heirim, while the girl just sulking beside Henry’s bed.
“What are you doing here?! I thought they were evaluating every exam participant right now!” Horden asked his granddaughter while scolding her openly.
“I... I thought my exam was already done after the Bahamut was slain?” Said Heirim, nervously at her grandfather.
Horden let out a sighed and pointed at the door, “Go! Go and seek your evaluator. Your duty wasn’t done after you slain the monster.”
“Fine! I’ll go, just to let you know. I was doing this town a favor by coming here. Magic knight power is ten times better than a mere knight!” Said Heirim while scoffing at her brother and grandfather.
She goes away from the healer’s tent, giving Vale and Xavier access to enter. Horden and Henry smile at the two of them, Xavier even joking about the furious Heirim.
“I take it that she will never win the sister of the year after that humiliation, Henry?”
Henry rolled his eyes at Xavier, “She never will. What are you two doing here, anyway?”
Smiling at his friend, Vale gave a chair to Horden while he opted to lean on the post of the tent. “We came from Justice’s room. Anne asked us to help him get some rest in the room.”
“So, she found him. Thank God, Justice was having a verbal fight with his brother here, poor Jason. He thought he was doing a favor for him.” Said Henry, remembering the fight between the brother inside this tent.
“Well, in a way, he was, not just for Justice, but also for the kingdom,” Horden reminded Henry and the others. Justice, after all, is their crown prince, the key for the new ruler to enter the royalty. The future of the kingdom lay in his hand, and if something happened to him, Jason and Javier will have a fight over the throne, a civil war, something that every kingdom or nation doesn’t want to deal with.
“Gramps, do you know something about Beyor’s cemetery?” Asked Henry all of a sudden.
A frown came onto Horden’s face. “Beyor cemetery, who on earth goes to Beyor’s cemetery?”
“Well, apparently, they did,” Said Henry, pointing at Xavier, “They need to find something inside the Beyor cemetery, so along with a librarian and Anne, they go for an expedition at Beyor cemetery.”
“Well, you guys are crazy. You do know that place is dangerous? There’s a reason there was never anything that could stay alive inside the cemetery.” Horden muttered while shaking his head.
“Yeah, we noticed, there was no grass or live trees, although the graves were so clean.” Said Xavier to Horden.
“What did you say? The graves were clean?” Vale asked the question to Xavier, there was a high intonation coming from his question.
Even Xavier realized the changed intonation, “Yes, why do you have to be so surprised about it?”
“No... it’s because of the legend...”
Suddenly a magi sergeant came inside the tent. “Captain Vale, we need your help.”
Vale immediately goes to the sergeant, excused himself, and gets out of the tent. Xavier had also gone away. Another huntsman called for him.
“How are you feeling?” Asked Horden to Henry, when the others goes away from the tent.
“I’m fine, gramps, it’s weird to see you worried about me, you know.” Chuckled Henry.
A sad expression came into Horden all of a sudden, “You know, I’m always worried about you and Heirim, the two of you are my grandchildren, it’s just because I could never express it so well,” He awkwardly smiled at his grandson, “Your grandmother always tells me to express my feeling more, I guess she was right.”
Henry felt so wrong after he teased Horden. He took one of his hands and grinned at him, “I was joking, gramps, although we never had seen eye to eye sometimes. I know you care about us.”
“You’re such a b*stard.” Said Horden back, although he felt the warmth of every word that came from Henry.
“Oh, Horden, I mean duke Spencer, you’re here?” A woman’s voice echoed inside the room. It was Anne, coming with her medicine bag. She was tired, but felt content.
“Oh Anne, please just Horden.” Said Horden to Anne. He asked her to sit in the chair.
Anne refused the offer, she smiled at Henry, while her hand goes to his temple, “I’m sorry I can’t, I just wanted to look at Henry,” Anne check up on him, and was satisfied with the result, “Good, you don’t have any fever, and no uneasiness everywhere? A pain, or maybe nauseated?”
Shooked his head, Henry spoke at her with a sweet tone, “I’m fine, Anne, it’s good to see you here, though.”
Sitting in the corner, Horden can see their interaction with one another, they are already comfortable with each other. A sense of pride came into him, looking at maybe the future for his beloved grandson, and a smile came onto his face.
Meanwhile, Vale and Xavier were met in the war room, where the other captains and a commander have a heated argument about the clandestine tower. Xavier yawned and tried to sleep in the corner until Vale came and flick his nose.
“Captain Xavier, please remain seated and alert. We have a good bashing to be viewed here,” Vale whispered to Xavier while the heated argument in the middle of the room continued.
Xavier’s chuckled, “Oh come on, this is typical of the magic knight captain, always the best and the right one.”
“Hear Hear.” Said another captain beside Vale.
Now all of them snorted and needed to contain their laughter. Xavier then looks at Vale. “Surely they are the most toxic captain around, like those blood plagues hundreds of years ago.”
Something came into Vale’s mind. “Sh*t! I know what happened to Justice.” Said Vale so suddenly at Xavier.
Xavier looked confused. “What? about our fight at the Beyor cemetery? Yeah, we know!”
“No, something about the blood plague...” He went quiet for a short time and run as fast as he can from the room.
Xavier followed not long after, “Vale, what the f*ck happened? Why are you running away?!”
“We need to go to his room, to Justice, something is wrong about him, f*ck!” Vale was shouting at Xavier, he even use haste to speed up their movement to Justice’s room.
When they reached the barracks, a scream came from the second floor. Xavier and Vale look at each other.
“Oh no! it was coming from Justice’s room!” Said Xavier.
They entered the room and look aghast at the view in front of them. Justice was in the middle of drinking Anne’s blood from her neck, the intoxicated face of Justice combined with the helpless body of Anne, giving the two of them a shock. Xavier’s eyes shimmered with anger. He tackled Justice and punched him in the face. Vale immediately goes to Anne and casts full protection. How glad he was when he saw a serene expression on Anne, although she pass out immediately.
Vale look into Xavier, who was punching Justice repeatedly, even though there was no pain coming into the crown prince’s face. Only satisfaction and a smile.
“F*cker! You hurt her, why are you smiling?!” Wailed Xavier, he was frustrated and enraged.
Vale shouted at Xavier, “Stop! Justice wasn’t himself right now, so stop Xavier!”
Stopping his punches, Xavier turned around to Vale. “What do you mean?”
“Vampirism, the blood plague. That’s what happened to him.” Said Vale, with a grim expression.