Chapter 7: Ariane

After I had managed to calm down, the general started to ask her questions.

“Teacher, you said that the devils had been sealed, if that is true, then why are we being taught that they had been killed?”

“That my dear Selena is a good question. And it is simply because in a way they are dead.” William said with a smile.

Both I and the general were confused by this answer, after all, William had said that the devils had been sealed because the gods hadn´t had the power to kill them.

“Now, now, let me explain. I am saying that they are practically dead because it has been a thousand years since the devils had been sealed away and yet there had never been any signs that they attempted to escape.” William said with a smile.

“How can you be sure about that? No one has set foot into the lands of the demons since that war, so how would anyone besides the demons know about the current status of the devils and the seal?” Selena asked suspiciously.

“Because if there had been even the slightest chance of the devils breaking out of the seal, then the gods would have made a move and informed their followers. Although the gods are still weak from that war, they would have done everything to alert the nations about it.” William explained in a serious tone.

The general nodded and didn´t say anything else, well his explanation made sense, but I think that the demons would also have acted differently if something like that happened.

William opened his mouth to say more but the door was opened forcefully and someone quickly ran into the room.

“What is the meaning of this?” the general yelled angrily.

“I am sorry general… *huff* *huff* But I bring urgent news from the northern border.” said the person.

She was a young woman with long deep blue hair.

She had a slim figure and was about a head shorter than me.

Instead of arms, she had a pair of wings with long feathers in the same color as her hair.

Her legs were bird-like, especially like those of parrots.

She wore blue leather armor with some armor plates at the chest and shoulders.

Her armor was more focused on maneuverability than defense, although I am not sure that she would be able to fly with much more armor on her.

“Ariane, what do you have to report?” the general asked as she narrowed her eyes.

“The outpost near the great forest in the north had spotted movements of the barbaric tribes.” Ariane, the harpy answered.

“Movements? Number? Which tribes?”

“They are currently moving deeper into the forest. As for their numbers, the scouts at the outpost were not able to make out the whole size of the enemy forces, but at least a thousand. Confirmed has been the emblems of three smaller clans.” Ariane answered as quickly as possible.

“Have the others been informed?” General Selena asked as she stood up and walked toward the door.

“I notified a few and let them inform the commanders and captains of the order.” Ariane answered as she stepped aside and saluted before the general.

“Well done, Ariane. We should hurry. William! I leave him with you.” The general said and gave William and me one last look before exiting the room.

Ariane also exited the room and closed the door, leaving me and William back.

“What just happened?” I asked William in confusion, I will be honest everything happened a bit too fast for me to understand.

William chuckled and took out a bottle of wine and two glasses from one of the drawers of his desk.

“That my friend was what happens when Selena goes into duty mode. Although the followers of Athena may say that the world would be peaceful if the demons didn´t exist but the truth is far different and far more complex.” William said while pouring the wine into the two glasses and handing one of them to me.

I took the glass and took a small sip of it.

Ok, the legal drinking age in America was 21, but I doubt that I know anyone that follows it, and this is a different world so laws from earth should no longer work here… hopefully.

As for the wine itself, it had a nice fruity taste and a good aroma.

“You would think that the war against the devils would have united the world, but in reality, the peace only held a relatively short time before the problems and grudges of old rose once again. Even to this day conflicts between nations and different races occur frequently.” William said before taking a sip from his glass.

William continued to talk about the occurring conflicts until the bottle of wine was finished and he decided to bring me back to the church.

On the trip back, both of us didn´t say a word.

After everything that William had said to me today, it made me think about the current situation, and what I could do.

But also worry about the future, which seemed darker and darker the further I thought about it.

As we arrived, William opened the door of the carriage and said while looking into my eyes, “You shouldn´t worry too much about everything, there is not much that you can do. So, there is not much help in worrying about it. What you need to look at is to improve as much as you can.”

I sighed, he was tight, but with everything I learned, it wasn´t really easy to not worry about it.

So, I simply nodded and exited the carriage.

I thanked William for the sword and what he had taught me and walked toward the entrance of the church.

I could hear the door of the carriage moving but it didn´t close and William yelled, “You really should get accustomed to sleeping early, Selena is going to put you through hell in her training.”

The second that I heard that I stopped and slowly turned around while starting to panic in my mind.

What I saw was a laughing William that finally closed the door of the carriage and it started to leave.

‘That bastard!’, was the first thing that went through my mind after I calmed down.

That bastard had waited for the perfect moment to tell me this and enjoy my reaction.

“*Sigh* With a teacher like that no wonder the general is such a serious person.” I said while walking toward the church.

As I stepped into the building I was greeted by multiple soldiers and Father Alexander, all of them looking sternly at me.

Whelp looks like I am screwed.

“Good evening, John, I would like to talk with you about where you were this whole time?” Father Alexander asked while smiling gently, which in this case didn´t seem warm or calming but threatening and cold.

I would be lying if I would say that I wasn´t afraid, why are the people in this world so scary?

“I… I was out with the general… Because none of the weapons that she and the knights had brought felt right to me… I thought that she had told you about this.” I explained earnestly.

There was no point in lying to him, don´t even know what he would want to hear in such a situation, the only thing that I can´t tell him is that weapon, everything else shouldn´t be too bad… Hopefully.

Father Alexander raised an eyebrow and stared at me with a questioning look before saying, “She had informed me, but even then, this shouldn´t have taken so long.”

Ok, that confused me, why does he care so much about what I talked about with the general and William?

“The general, me, and the man in charge of the arsenal talked about a few things, however, something came up and the general had to leave, leaving me behind wondering how to get back.” I said with a bit of sarcasm because I just wanted to go to bed already.

“You should watch your mouth!” yelled one of the soldiers in anger, his hand grabbed the handle of his sword.

This was surprising, I never would have thought that the soldiers here would be this violent.

Was the kindness that they showed us just an act, or did they just act like this toward me?

“Silence, you fool!” yelled Father Alexander at the soldier.

The soldier wanted to say something in his defense but the Father wouldn´t allow it and continued to berate him before looking back at me.

“I do not know what you talked about with them, but you need to remember that many things are not as they seem, only the followers of Athena know the truth of everything.” Father Alexander warned me and stepped aside, signaling to me that I can go.

‘Yeah right, you may think so but from what I have seen today, it is far from the truth.’ I thought and went to my room.