Chapter 10: Where It Started

This is what people always do when the blame is on them. They would put it on others just to lighten up their guilt that has placed in their heart at the moment. I think this is what Liora is doing right now.

But Liora wasn't at fault at all and there's no reason for her to bear the guilt. The one to blame for this destruction was the vampires and Madam Nia. She was the one that invited the vampires into this village in the first place.

If Madam Nia doesn't invite them, all of this would never happen and this village might still exist as it used to.

Still, there's no use for me to tell Liora that as she would definitely reject it at all. She will just keep blaming herself or me. The best thing I could do right now was to explain that I didn't put any spell on her that made her faint at that time.

"Liora… I don't put any spell on you at all. It was all an effect of you casting the advanced spell and the amount of magical energy that you received from me." I say that as I hope she will understand.

"So you're saying that you didn't cast any spell at all?" Liora says that she simply doesn't trust me yet. "How could I be sure… you might be telling me that to trick me because I do not have any knowledge about magic at all."

"Why would I make that story up? Didn't I tell you before when you were trying to cast an advanced spell? That your body would not be able to handle that kind of spell and it would affect sooner or later." I say towards Liora.

"You did tell me that but I couldn't recall you giving your magical energy to me… I clearly don't remember that happening."

"Of course, you do not remember it. You were unconscious at that time. Remember when you run out of magical energy after casting a light orb spell." I say, "You would die from a magic deficiency and there's no way I was going to let that happen. I then transfer my magical energy to you to keep you alive."

I really hope with that being said, Liora would trust me and stop accusing me anymore for the things that I don't even do.

Liora didn't say a word after that. She simply looks away from me for a moment.

Does she need some time to think about whether I was telling the truth or she just couldn't admit that all I said was true? Well, I do not want to pressure her at this time as she has been dealing with a lot these past hours.

With the death of her friends and the destruction of her village. It must be really hard for her right now and there's no way I would act like a child and demand she apologize for accusing me.

"Sorry…" Liora suddenly said that.

I almost didn't hear it at all as she was talking in a tiny voice. I guess Liora must feel a little bit shy after accusing me of putting her in a spell. She must realize that what I said to her was the truth by now.

"It's okay, Liora, I wasn't mad or anything," I replied to her.

She then decided to answer a question that I didn't think she would ask. "Don't you feel anything after seeing all of the burnt corpses… why are you able to remain that calm?"

"I've been in a lot of places over the past thousand years... I know that I said Aeqelar was a peaceful world but it wasn't that peaceful at all. It does reach a peaceful state but to achieve that. There's been a lot of war over many hundred years. Everywhere I go at that time, people are dying from plague, war, starvation or monsters. I've seen a lot of deaths and I do feel sorry for them. But I guess I was prepared for the worst. I knew that there would be a time when I will see the same sight again along my way. So I've decided not to let it affect me."

"Then you are stronger than I am, ring." She said, "Seeing all of the burned corpses… It made me feel intense pain in my chest. As if I could feel the suffering of each of them and somehow felt the fear that they went through before they took their last breath."

After talking about all of the stuff with me, I told Liora that we should check out the mansion as it was the only place that we haven't checked yet.

"Why? Isn't there no use for us to go there… you're the one that said there would be no survivors at all." Liora asked me.

"It's not that there will be a survivor but we might find something interesting there that we could use like gold or jewelry," I reply.

"So what you're saying is that I should be looting, I wouldn't do that as it would be an immoral thing to do," Liora says towards me.

Was looting from the dead would be immoral, I ask myself as there's nothing wrong with doing that. Besides, I think Liora would need the gold as she had nothing left. The vampires burned her house down with everything in it. How would she survive without gold in this world?

I then said to Liora that it was for her own good. Taking some precious item that survived the fire would surely be guaranteed gold for her.

"I would rather work for it. I would not do that at all." She said as she still doesn't want to do it.

"How if I say that with that gold you could help some people in the town you work for, I see there's a lot of people that are pretty much starving and begging for food," I say that as I see that Liora was trying to reconsider it.

I then make one final push as I know Liora would take it. "If you didn't take it, other people would surely take it and who knows what they're doing with those items…"

Before I could finish, Liora said that she would take it and donate it to the church. With that being said, she then walks towards the mansion.

We arrived at the mansion and it's hard to believe that the big beautiful mansion had turned into some ruin. It doesn't even look like a mansion anymore as most of it was burned by the fire. Liora explores the destroyed mansion and in an area.

There's a lot of burned corpses gathered here. Does that mean all of the people, including Madam Nia, die in this place? It was a horrible sight to see as I noticed that Liora almost puked looking at the corpses.

The stairs to the second floor have collapsed, so there's no way for Liora to get there. We found nothing at all and with that, Liora was heading back to the outside when we stumbled upon something when one of the corpses fell.

Liora didn't dare to go near it first, but I insisted she see what it was. She takes a deep breath as she approaches the corpse that seems to drop something on the ground.

When Liora takes a close look at what had been on the ground, we both realize that it was a blue color brooch. It wasn't an ordinary item after a close inspection as it was a sapphire brooch that Madam Nia wore last night.

If this fell out from that corpse, does it mean that this corpse was Madam Nia? It must be as there's no other person that had the sapphire brooch beside her. I thought Liora didn't realize it but when I saw her face.

Tears started to come out and she touched the corpse, "I'm really sorry, Madam… If only I had not fainted, I would be able to prevent all of this from even happening." Liora said as she held the brooch in her hand.

"Well, we still could do something about the vampires. We should hunt them down and make sure both of the vampires pay for what they had done to your village, Liora." I say, "And also make sure the vampires wouldn't be able to do this again in other villages."

"Yes, you're right, ring…" Liora said as she wiped out her tears, "I would stop the vampire as I do not want anyone to suffer as the villagers here did."

"Good but know that you have to do a lot to stop them. With your current power, you wouldn't be able to do anything. To stop the vampire, you need to train to use your magical energy efficiently and learn about the advanced spell."

"So that means you are going to train me right, ring?" Liora asked me that.

"Of course, I would train you for you to become a full-fledged mage like myself used to be," I said that confidently.