“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! This is bad!” I ranted, grabbing my head and pulling on my hair. “They’re going to put me in prison, right? I won’t ever see the sunlight again, will I?”
“Calm down, Lucas,” Nero tried to reassure me, gently patting my back.
“Yeah, take a few deep breaths and think of a solution. You can get out of this. You are the smartest person I know,” Anastasia suggested.
But their words failed to pacify me, and I continued to panic. “Think of a solution, how?! There’s not a lawyer in the world who can defend me now! This is bad!”
Amelia sighed while walking beside me and shrugged nonchalantly. “I mean, it’s not that bad.”
“…”
“…”
“…”
A long silence followed.
All of us stared at Amelia as if she had said the most stupid thing one could say in the world. Even the guards were stupefied!
Amelia shifted uncomfortably under our gazes as one of the guards from earlier – the one with the energy rifle – spoke up, “Your friend is right. It is bad.”
Nero turned to him, clearly annoyed by his presence. “I’m sorry, but we never asked for your opinion.”
The guard tilted his head. “Hey, don’t hate me, kid. I’m just following the orders given to me. I listened to your request and didn’t handcuff your friend, did I?”
“Oh, you’re right. You listened to my ‘request’ after I threatened to sever your hands if you dared to touch him!” Nero snapped.
The guard raised both hands defensively. “Gods, you kids are too aggressive. I’ve served on the border, seen horrors you can’t imagine. Have you faced death, kid? I have! You should respect soldiers that came before you cadets…”
As the guard continued to yapp nonsense, Nero carried on arguing with him, but my mind was elsewhere, plagued with more pressing concerns.
Why was I in such dismay, one might wonder?
Well, after leaving the room, Nero briefed me on what happened after I died.
Just a few seconds after my death, the instructors arrived at the scene and engaged with the Hydra in a deadly fray. Other cadets rushed to aid them from the sidelines.
However, they weren’t the only ones who came to fight the Hydra. From the skies, a giant bird of prey with tumultuous flames in place of wings and blazing fury in its eyes dove down.
It ripped one of the Hydra’s heads apart with its destructive beak, while the instructors dealt with the rest.
When the grueling battle was finally over, they were about to attack the Phoenix that had appeared from the skies.
However, before they could, the fiery bird transformed into a human – a little girl, to be exact – and rushed to the spot where my body was burnt to ashes.
She cleared the smoldering ashes with her bare hands, as if fire didn’t bother her, and hugged my newly restored body while continuously wailing, “Papa!”
Needless to say, everyone present was too stunned to understand what was even going on.
The instructors were the first ones to shake off their daze.
They apprehended Sera and decided not to make any decisions until questioning me about her. And now, I was on my way to being questioned.
Haaa.
I said earlier that killing a Vampire King and taking its loot isn’t a crime. But then fostering and hiding the possession of a mythical mana beast is most definitely a crime.
I could actually be put into prison for that since I defied the laws issued directly by the Central Government.
Using my thumb and fingers, I massaged my forehead to smoothen the wrinkles that appeared there due to exasperation.
I could physically feel myself getting old. This was too much for me. I just died and got revived. The Gods should cut me some slack!
But before I could continue my pity party, we arrived in front of an assembly hall in the second building.
“We’re here,” the leader of the guards spoke, pointing at the closed gates of the hall. “Go in, Cadet Lucas. Rest of you, stay here.”
I couldn’t help but let out a deep, resigned sigh. “Well, I think I enjoyed this life while it lasted.”
“Okay, seriously, stop it!” Nero exclaimed. “You will be fine. Just think of something like you always do.”
Wow, he’s so bad at pet talk. Am I really sure he’s the protagonist? Shouldn’t he be good at boosting morale?
“What’s the worst they could do? Put you in a prison? Don’t worry. We’ll visit you… um, whenever we have time.” Amelia gave a reassuring smile.
“….” I stared at her with a blank expression. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“Amelia is only trying to lift your mood, Lucas,” Anastasia chipped in. “I mean, if we consider your feats, the government would be reluctant to let go of a future strong soldier like you. Make use of their reluctance.”
“Indeed,” Amelia nodded, her tone deprived of humor now. “I’m not worried about you. I know you’ll be fine. Who I’m actually worried about is Sera.”
“Sera?” Nero frowned with a confused look. “Is that her name? The phoenix?”
I nodded in affirmation. Amelia sighed then gave me a serious look. “I know this is asking a lot, but try to save her. I really like her.”
“Obviously,” I rolled my eyes and turned around, heading for the hall gates. “I was going to do that anyway.”
The gates swung open inwardly as soon as I stepped closer, allowing me to enter before closing behind me.
A gust of cool, air-conditioned wind brushed against my face as soon as I stepped inside the assembly hall, making me shiver.
Phoenix’s Embrace never protected me from the cold, but without it now, I had been feeling a little… exposed. As if I was walking naked without any protection.
The spot on my chest where the crimson ruby used to be embedded had also been feeling empty. And my ears felt lighter than usual since I didn’t have those spiky earrings now.
Shaking my head to stop lamenting the loss of my trusted armor, I looked up. In front of me, a semi-circular table was set.
Sitting behind that table were seven individuals, their gazes locked on me the moment I appeared in the hall.
Some faces were familiar to me, some I did not recognize. However, they seemed to be staring at me as if they knew everything about me.
“Cadet Lucas Morningstar, welcome to your trial.”