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Chapter 166: (12/30): Broken Contract

It’s been a few days since they left Dianene. Although Camilla decided to keep moving at a leisurely pace, they still easily outpaced the distance that might’ve been covered by a rider alternating horses. Elyss was fast and the ground seemed to shrink beneath her feet, making her even faster. However, as much stamina as Elyss had, there was still a time when she ran out of steam.

Riding on Elyss’s back with Kagriss, Camilla had nothing to do but to practice her magic. Although Kagriss was already at the limits of her power and had been for quite a while, there was plenty of room left for Camilla to grow. The mana in the air that Elyss naturally attracted gave her plenty of mana to draw from, and her raw strength as an undead grew steadily under Kagriss’s tutelage.

But in the end, she wasn’t actually doing anything useful, and the only person putting in real effort was Elyss. So she watched Elyss like a hawk, and sure enough after nearly three days of ambling along at a leisurely yet scarily fast pace, Elyss showed signs of faltering for the first time.

“Okay, stop!” Camilla said, breaking out of half-trance she put herself in, startling both Elyss and Kagriss.

An arm fell on her shoulders and she looked up to find herself staring into and getting lost in a pair of violet eyes. “Did you run into any troubles?”

Camilla stared for a while longer. How could anyone have eyes so pretty? But she soon snapped out of it and shook her head. “No, it’s nothing. Wait, I mean…” she patted Elyss’s back, feeling the muscles moving steadily below her fingertips. “Elyss, it’s time for a break! You’re going to run yourself into the ground at this rate!”

A small snort came from below. “Why don’t you keep dreaming? What makes you think a little exercising like this will make me tired?”

“And why wouldn’t it?” Camilla began to count, stopping every few seconds to start over.

Elyss didn’t reply, although her ears pricked up, clearly listening to Camilla’s counting. Even Kagriss was looking at her strangely.

“Milla, what are you doing?”

“Shh!” Camilla scrunched her eyes again, continuing to count. After a dozen or so repetitions, she looked up, triumphant. “I was right. Your steps are about one-nineth slower than a day ago. It’s pretty steady too, which means you’re definitely tired. Besides,” she said, pressing her palm against the velvety fur beneath her, “your breathing is getting a bit ragged, don’t you think?”

Elyss was a bit speechless. “How bored do you have to be to be counting my steps?”

At those words, just as Camilla was about to reply, a cold gaze settled on her forehead and she looked up at the lich sitting in front of her. Although Kagriss didn’t have an expression on her, as usual, frost covered her eyes.

“Who was the one that wanted me to teach her how to get stronger again? So instead of practicing, you were thinking about someone else?”

“Really? No, I think that’s missing the point…” Camilla said. “Anyways, I’m just concerned about Elyss. You really have been running for too long, even if you’re keeping a good pace. Plus, I’m not sure bearing two people is really good for your body.”

Although it was true that she didn’t say anything when Sariel and Ariel were the ones riding on Elyss, the difference between the weight of two young girls and two fully grown women was quite substantial.

When Elyss looked as if she was going to make a rebuttal, Camilla simply jumped off Elyss’s back. In the instance she landed on the ground, almost falling over, Elyss flashed past, her form a shadow like a charging knight. Far faster than a warhorse could stop, Elyss turned round and ran back, coming to a halt in front of Camilla. Her chest heaved, slightly out of breath, as Camilla guessed.

Perhaps it was the running that distracted her, but the moment Elyss stopped running, her breathing grew heavier, as if the exhaustion that she had been outrunning all day suddenly caught up with her. Her eyelids drooped.

Camilla smiled and patted the side of her head, avoiding her whiskers. “Told you so.”

“Shut… up. Grrr, fine, I’ll rest. But after I walk off all this heat,” Elyss growled, shaking her body.

Rather than wait to be violently flung off Elyss’s back, Kagriss jumped off as well, landing gracefully next to Camilla. She reached out and used Camilla’s shoulder to steady herself, even though she didn’t need it. Her eyes were clear, like the icy frost that covered them earlier had all been an illusion.

They walked for a few more minutes, close to half an hour, before they stopped near a rather large tree with roots protruding from the ground, making for handy temporary benches. But the real reason they chose to stop here was because of a tiny stream cutting through the forest.

Running for three days without stopping stressed Elyss’s body. Although she was stronger than any normal animal, she still needed to cool down and recharge. As Camilla and Kagriss settled against the tree, Elyss was drinking her fill from the stream, sending droplets of water flying into her mouth and down her parched throat with each lap of her tongue.

When she had drunk her fill, she returned to where Camilla and Kagriss waited. As Camilla continued to absorb the undead mana from the air, filtering them out from the raw mana around her with Kagriss’s help, Elyss laid down with her huge head atop crossed forepaws and closed her eyes.

“Resting?” Camilla asked. “The sun’s coming up. Won’t it be too bright?”

“A sunny day is perfect for a nap,” Elyss replied, not bothering to open her eyes as she answered.

“If you say so. Daylight is when a bunch of animals are out and about as well. Maybe the next time you wake up, you’ll find a whole deer roast turning a fire waiting for you.”

The sound of swallowing made her laugh, and Elyss turned to face another direction.

Camilla  kind of wanted to keep teasing Elyss, but she knew that Elyss needed rest, so she kept her next words locked lightly behind her lips. But just as she was about to let someone go, another set her eyes on her. A hand tugged at her own and she met Kagriss’s eyes again.

Those purple eyes glowed mischievously. “Look only at me,” she said.

“I will!”

“Then… Do you want to do it?”

Camilla’s face flushed red at those words that came out of the blue. “Kagriss, what are you saying at a time like this? It’s morning, you know. And we’re out here in the middle of nowhere.”

“It’s exactly because we’re in the middle of nowhere that we’re here alone for as long as Elyss keeps sleeping,” Kagriss said, her lips spreading in a rare grin. While beautiful, there was a dangerous, devilish charm hidden with it.

Camilla almost found herself agreeing before she caught herself and shook her head firmly.

“Hmph.”

Even Kagriss had childish times. Camilla smiled as she watched Kagriss pursed her lips and looked away.

“Don’t smile.”

With some effort, Camilla fixed her expression, coaxing her muscles back into a relaxed deadpan. She’d have expected that becoming stronger and more experienced as an undead would grant her more control over her expressions, but for some reason she could never really suppress a smile that always rose unbidden to her lips when she was around Kagriss. With a sigh, she leaned into the chest of the woman next to her. Cool arms wrapped around her in turn.

Judging by how long Elyss ran, she will be out for a while.

Camilla decided that she had enough time for a quick nap as well before going hunting. Hunting probably won’t be too hard in any case. This deep in the forest with no settlements nearby, even large prey should be plentiful.

“Are you tired?”

“A little.” Her eyelids drooped heavily as she prepared to give herself to a deep trance.

“Even though you didn’t really do anything?”

Camilla poked Kagriss’s belly. “Processing and absorbing that mana takes a lot of concentration too! It’s mental fatigue, okay? Anyways, you should rest too. Helping me purify all that mana can’t be easy.”

But Kagriss just shook her head. “I’m not tired at all. I’ll keep watch.”

“Then… I’m going to sleep, okay?” Camilla closed her eyes, but no sooner had she done so than a shock ran through her body. She jolted as a burst of magic activated deep within her, as if a clump of holy mana had exploded. It went off like a horn sounding for the start of a battle, a warning. “This…”

“What’s wrong?”

Accompanying the mana was a surge of emotion, one that Kagriss felt as well through their bond. Now Kagriss stared at her in concern, all of her muscles tensed, poised to react to anything dangerous.

It took a while for Camilla to understand what had just happened, but she froze when she did. “This is… a broken oath. Do you remember that apprentice archpriest we met that I made an oath with? He broke the oath.”

The first thing that Camilla felt was worry. Worry for Fleur and then Arvel. She didn’t know what betrayal might mean for them. But after a bit of thinking, she calmed down a tiny bit. Arvel was probably fine since neither Arvel nor Justin knew of each other, so even if Justin betrayed her, he couldn’t expose Arvel.

But Fleur and her girlfriend were different. She had a clear connection to Camilla, and she had no idea what Justin might do to them. What the Church might do to them. Camilla bit her lips. “I’m worried about Fleur.”

Kagriss rubbed her back, trying to comfort her. “Are you sure? Maybe you’re mistaken,” she said.

“I’m not mistaken. It’s definitely a broken oath. I’m quite familiar with broken oaths after all.” Camilla shook her head as some unpleasant memories floated up into her mind—memories she thought she had buried.

The oathstone was partially bound to the current leader of the Order, and as the leader of the Order during the campaign into vampire lands, there had been some betrayals from her ranks. Although the feeling wasn’t exactly the same, the similarities were unmistakable.

“But why now? It’s so sudden. How long has it been since we left?” she muttered. “Months? And so early in the morning too. I’d have expected him to tell much earlier than that, if he was ever going to. Perhaps something changed.”

She sighed. “I knew it was a risk, but deep down, I hoped that my judgement of character had been right. If anything happens to Fleur, I swear to the heavens that…” Sharp fangs extended from her gums as she clenched her teeth, tickling her mouth and cutting her off. Realizing that her temper had rear its head, Camilla took another deep breath and calmed down. The fangs receded, only for her to feel a dull pulse from her palm.

Blood oozed from four scarlet holes, punctured by her claws. Camilla pulled back her claws as well. Her head drooped. “I don’t know what to do. If only he betrayed us earlier, then perhaps we can head back, but now we’re in the middle of nowhere. Kagriss…”

Cool hands enveloped her own. A dark mist covered their hands, and when Kagriss pulled away, the wounds on Camilla’s palms were gone, healed.

“Don’t worry, Milla. Maybe things aren’t as bad as you think.”

“What do you mean? Fleur could be in danger right—”

“Milla!” Kagriss interrupted her, grabbing her shoulders. “Calm down! Even if Fleur is in danger, what can you do? There’s no sense in beating yourself up over something you can’t change.”

Camilla blinked. “But…”

“Besides, how can you be so sure that it’s a true betrayal?” Kagriss said. She stared into Camilla’s eyes and forced Camilla to look back as well. Camilla felt the worry drain from her mind, washed away by violet pools. “Don’t go to the worst-case scenario. Perhaps that Justin had to tell Fleur? You had kept her in the dark as well.”

“You’re right…” With the panic gone, Camilla felt a lot better. Her head was clearer now, and several possibilities about why Justin might violate the oath appeared in her mind. One of them, the same one Kagriss suggested, jumped out at her. “And following on with that, perhaps it’s a signal to me…?”

“Maybe.” Kagriss didn’t look convinced about that. “He should know we’d be too far to provide any help after so long. But if he violated his oath, then he should be suffering the punishment right now. Maybe you should nullify the oath entirely.”

Camilla nodded. Although it sounded unthinkable because of the possibility of betrayal, Kagriss’s suggestion made sense with a bit of thought. “If he didn’t betray us, then it will be in our best interests to dissolve the contract. He might need the power to get himself, and maybe Fleur, out of trouble. But if he did, then everyone knows everything, and him regaining his magic won’t change anything about the terrible situation. Arvel will protect them.”

The whole thing was a scale weighing the benefits and detriments, and the benefits clearly outweigh the detriments. Mostly because the detriments pale in comparison to the grand scheme of things. Still, Camilla couldn’t help but hesitate the moment she dissolved the contract, but in the end, she gritted her teeth and did it before she could regret it.

The moment the presence of the contract, and the blaring alarm of mana, disappeared from her mind, it was like a large weight fell off her shoulders.

“I’m still worried about Fleur though.”

“There’s nothing you can do besides turn back. Even if we turn back now, it will be at least a month before we can help them.”

Camilla sighed. “I’m… going to rest now.” Without rest and a clear mind, she couldn’t help anyone.

It seemed like an eternity since the interruption of her rest, but in reality, it had only been mere moments before that the contract was broken. Yet, the gravity of the situation and the emotions she felt stretched those moments out until exhaustion washed over her.

Her fidgeting hands were covered by Kagriss’s and Camilla settled into an uneasy trance—a trance deeper than she had planned. A heavy fog filled her dreams, hiding within it the muffled sounds of battle and fallen feathers.