Assassin's Chronicle

Dawn was approaching, but except for Niya, no one had the intention of sleeping. Anfey, Suzanna, and Christian gathered in the hallway and were talking in hushed whispers. Slanbrea was downstairs in the courtyard, facing the east and muttering prayers quietly. A lot of people may not have understood that studying was like sailing a boat. Not progressing was regressing. People who actually live by this saying were much rarer. The most powerful men in the world were all very talented, but talent was not the only reason they became powerful. Hard work was another thing all these people had in common.

Everything came at a price, and even if a man was born into money and power, he would never become a powerful man without hard work. In this way, the world was just.

General Jerrofick from Ellisen Empire was once famous for his strength and was the youngest man to become a master swordsman. However, he stopped focusing on his skills and instead began focusing on political intrigues. So when he was challenged by Ernest, he knew that he was no match for him, and had resort to cheating to win the match. Without hard work, even powerful men could fall from grace.

Anfey tapped Suzanna on the shoulder.

"What is it?"

"Can you fetch that Fallen Angel Emblem for me?" Anfey asked, looking at Slanbrea.

"The Fallen Angel Emblem?" Christian asked, frowning. "What are you going to do with that?"

"Shh," Anfey said.

"Rude!" Christian snapped back.

"What are you going to do do with it?" Suzanna asked.

"I just want to look at it," Anfey said.

"Fine," Suzanna said with a sigh. She went into the room to look for her bag.

"You really have a Fallen Angel Emblem?" Christian asked.

Anfey nodded. "Do you know it?"

"Who doesn’t?" Christian asked with a smile.

Suzanna returned but without the bag. She held out her hands and said, "There’s a seal on the bag."

"You’re a senior swordsmaster. Can’t you destroy the seal?"

"Of course I can," Suzanna said and glared at Anfey. "Use your brain, for goodness sake."

Anfey frowned, then nodded. Suzanna could destroy the seal, but she couldn’t fix it. Destroying the seal would also draw Slanbrea’s attention.

Anfey sighed. "Next time, I suppose. Christian, tell me more about the Emblem."

"Well, do you know where necromancers came from?" Christian cleared his throat and asked.

"Not from this mansion, that’s for sure," Anfey said.

Suzanna poked him and said, "Shhh."

"According to legend, there was an angel that fell in love with a mortal princess during the ancient War of the Gods."

"Cliche," Anfey interrupted. "That’s nothing special. I fell in love with a princess too..." He glanced at Suzanna.

"Oh, shut up," Suzanna said, blushing.

"Do you want to hear about this or not?" Christian asked. "I’m tired. If you are not going to listen, I’m just going to go to sleep."

"Sorry, sorry," Anfey said. "I’ll listen." He felt that Slanbrea was listening to their conversation, and wanted to pretend he was just asking the question out of curiosity.

"All legends are cliches," Christian said. "But this story should have at least some truth to it. The mortal princess’s kingdom became involved in a battle. When the angel arrived at the battlefield, she was already dead, her body mingled with the other bodies and was gone. The angel was heartbroken and refused to believe the she was dead. In the end, he abandoned his creed and believed that it was God of Light who started the war and all his suffering was caused by the god.

"In order to see his lover again, he used the Great Resurrection on the battlefield. Perhaps it was because he was filled with bitterness, or perhaps it was because the power of the Light betrayed him after he betrayed it, or maybe it was simply because there were too many bodies, all the dead were revived. These revived bodies, however, were empty vessels without souls."

"Really? Zombies are created by light magic?" Anfey asked, shocked.

"Stop interrupting me," Christian scowled. "The angel couldn’t find his lover, but he did not give up. He spent days with his creations, trying to find his lover. After a while, those beings he revived became intelligent as well. He did find his lover in the end, but she was already a witch.

"After learning what the angel had done, God of Light was furious. He condemned his actions and turned all the revived beings into dust. The angel and his lover, however, did not disappear. They became a gemstone. One side was an image of a male fallen angel, the other side was a female. The stone was found by an ordinary man many centuries later. He turned the gemstone into an emblem, and accidentally tapped into the angel’s memory while doing so. That is the birth of death magic."

"This is the history of that emblem we found?"

"Not exactly," Christian said, shaking his head. "Necromancers all wore emblems like that to honor their founder. The more powerful ones would keep the emblem with the male angel on it. The others tended to keep the female emblem."

"So you’re saying Nana was a good necromancer?"

Christian nodded. "I know, I am confused, too. Nana doesn’t seem like a powerful one. He couldn’t use magic or combat power, so I don’t know how he became a necromancer. Maybe death magic is fundamentally different?"

"I think that’s an answer only necromancers can give," Anfey said, shrugging.

"You’re right," Christian said with a sigh.

"I’ve never heard about this before," Suzanna said.

"I remembered reading it when I was young," Christian said. "From a forbidden book. God knows how long it took me to find those books."

"I wish I had known you earlier," Anfey said with a smile.

"What do you mean?"

"I loved forbidden books too, when I was young."

"Really?" Christian asked. "Tell me about it."

"Heart of Maidens, heard of it?" Anfey asked. Of course, he was talking about a book from his old world that did not exist here.

"Heart of Maidens?" Christian repeated, frowning. "What is it about?"

"It’s about creating lives," Anfey said.

"Creation myth?" Christian asked, his eyes lighting up.

"Close enough," Anfey said with a smile. He didn’t have the heart to tell them that it was about something much more bawdy than what he brought up.

"Tell us more," Suzanna urged.

"A long time ago, I saw Suzanna," Anfey said with a grin.

Christian sighed and rolled his eyes. Suzanna scowled but it soon turned into a smile.

Anfey grinned and saw that Slanbrea was making his way upstairs.

"Did you really read it?"

"Of course I did," Anfey said, sighing. "You see the stars up there? What do you think those are?"

"Stars?" Christian repeated, frowning. "There are hundreds of theories, but no one has proposed a theory that convinced everyone yet."

"I think they are souls of our ancestors," Suzanna said. "Didn’t the hero Brunswick turn into a star?"

"You are, unfortunately, wrong," Slanbrea walked over and said gently. "Stars are the tears of God of Light. Of course, the story Christian just told you was not entirely correct, either."