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Changes in Oath
🕑 Added 2022-12-06 12:00:07 +0000 UTCSeth returned to his room and was getting ready to resume his tasks when a sudden notification caught his attention.
<Host. The innkeeper of the Hidden Page Inn has just passed the border of Oath, heading towards the capital of Endora.>
‘Huh? Only him? Did Cain fail?’
<Affirmative. Molly has been captured by Iris, who plans to use her as a shield against the host. Cain was also forced into inaction.>
Seth’s eyebrows rose in surprise, and he asked: ‘What about Elise?’
<Iris had figured out her weakness, and she had to use the king’s life as a token to form a sensible deal with her. Her situation is also precarious, and she doesn’t want to push Iris too far, so she cannot assist Cain.>
<I apologize for failing to inform the host of the situation, but everything was going fine before I lost access to the past records. The situation in Oath was no longer a priority, with all the kingdoms starting to move.>
‘It’s fine. Is Molly alright?’
<She has lost two fingers to Iris’s interrogation. Besides that, her imprisonment, and her body being filled with dormant air energy, she appears to be alright.>
‘Show me.’ Said Seth, an image of Iris’s office appearing in his vision. Seth looked at Molly’s right hand and noticed the absence of her ring and pinkie finger.
Seth took a deep breath and teleported to his throne room, where Maya had just granted an audience to a citizen of the kingdom. Noticing Seth’s expression, Maya waved her hand and addressed the citizen in the throne room.
“You’re free to go. We’ll continue this later.”
The citizen knelt before Maya and the approaching Seth before scurrying out of the throne room. Once he was gone, Maya looked at Seth with worry and asked: “What is it?”
“Iris.” Said Seth, creating a small picture with Molly, complete with her missing fingers.
Maya grabbed the picture and immediately noticed the cut fingers as she asked in amazement: “Did Iris do that? That’s not like her. Why?”
“Because she got wind of Molly knowing me. She now plans on using her as leverage against me….”
“How do you know this? And where do you have an image of it from?….”
Seth smiled wryly and shook his head: “Let’s just say I had a way of keeping an eye on Oath this entire time….”
Maya didn’t ask more about it and looked at the picture again. “So, what do you plan on doing?” she could tell Seth was angry, but at the same time, she still didn’t want him to hurt Iris.
“I don’t know… That’s why I came here first. What do you think?” asked Seth with a sigh.
Maya sat down on her throne, staring at the girl’s fingers with a frown. “Can you… save her without killing Iris?”
“Honestly, I don’t think I can do anything without rereleasing my divinity… even then, Iris has her energy dormant inside Molly’s body. The best way to save her would be to kill Iris before she could activate that energy….”
Maya lowered her head, trying to prevent herself from crying. Her mood was already not the best after finding out that she couldn’t have children, so now that her only friend was about to once more butt heads with her lover, she felt her heart was about to shatter.
“Is there really no other way?”
“My divinity can only be safely used for three seconds. Cleansing the energy inside Molly and fighting Iris back in that time window might be impossible. If I try to do both with my current strength, it might backfire….”
“Why? Why does she have to be so stubborn?” asked Maya, tears welling up in her eyes. Clenching her fists, Maya asked hesitantly: “Do you really have to save that girl?”
She hated herself for asking that question, but even now, she didn’t want to lose Iris.
Seth lowered his head, looking at tears dropping into Maya’s lap, and sighed before saying: “I don’t, but at the same time, I don’t want to let her die because of me….”
Maya clenched her fists, crunching the picture in her hand, and said: “You promised me, Seth…”.
Seth remained silent for a long time before turning around and starting to walk away.
“I know. I’ll figure something out….”
After he was gone, Maya broke into a silent cry in the throne room.
Seth also teleported high onto the palace roof, looking over his kingdom with a hesitant look.
‘Can I save Molly and keep Iris alive?’
<The chances are lower than 10%. She appears to always keep Molly by her side, giving host no chance to move her out of her energy activation range.>
“Outside her activation range? That extends for miles...She really did force my hand this time…” muttered Seth. ‘What about that 10%?’
<If host can find a way to separate the two for enough time to cleanse her energy from Molly’s body and teleport her away.>
‘Yeah, but she must already know I will come to rescue her, and her energy is at the border of the seventh shell. It will be challenging separating the two for that long... to say the least.’
<…>
Seth continued thinking about a way, but even after spending the entire day on that rooftop, all the ideas he could come up with had little chance of success.
After not making any headway, he teleported into Hollie’s office.
“So you finally came to ask my opinion.” Said Hollie with a smile, closing the book she was reading and placing it on the side.
Seth nodded and said, “I can’t figure out what to do. I want to save Molly, but at the same time, I don’t want to break Maya’s heart….”
“I know… I’ve heard you two talk… I think you need to find a way to make her leave Molly while you cleanse her body.”
“I thought about that as well, but I can’t think of a way to do it….”
Hollie chuckled and said: “There is a way. All we have to use is her weak spot.”
“Her weak spot?” asked Seth with a frown, only for realization to hit right after, and he exclaimed: “Lian.”
“Exactly. As long Lian’s life is in danger, she will not hesitate to rush to his aid.”
“Yes, but if I threaten Lian, she will also take Molly with her…” muttered Seth.
“Yes, but didn’t you leave that girl of the blood race in charge of keeping watch over Oath? She’s perfect to use.”
Slowly, a plan started to take root in Seth’s mind without Hollie having to explain anything further. Jumping from his chair, he kissed her lips and said: “You’re a genius. Thank you.”
After Hollie nodded, Seth teleported away, arriving in Maya’s room. Maya looked down as soon as Seth arrived, avoiding his eyes.
Seth came before her and surprised Maya by pulling her in his arms. “Sorry. I was stupid to put you in that terrible position earlier….”
Maya nodded and started crying in his arms. Seth consoled her as he said: “I’ve worked things out with Hollie and thought of a way we might be able to save Molly without injuring Iris. The chances of success are slim to none, but I want you to know that if things don’t work out the way I planned, my promise to you will come first….”
“Also, I’ll probably end up fighting her anyway. When that happens, I might have to cripple her cultivation...”
Maya nodded again and silently cried in Seth’s chest. After finally calming down, she wiped her face on his clothes and said: “When are you leaving then?”
“It will take about two months for Molly’s father to reach the kingdom, so I’m going to leave before then. The situation appears stable now, so maybe in two or three weeks….”
“Why do you want to leave before he arrives?” asked Maya with a frown.
“Because Iris might be able to estimate how long it will take him to reach here and back. Also, he’ll beg me to take him along if he arrives here, further delaying my journey.”
“If I leave early, I’ll be able to appear in Oath earlier than Iris expected and take her by surprise. This is really important for my plan to work….”
Maya nodded and used her water energy to clear the stains she left on Seth’s clothes before saying: “I understand. Seth, if it comes to it... do what you have to do; just don’t die.”
Seth kissed her lips and said: “I won’t. I still have many promises to keep.”
“I’m sorry for always being on the run, but I need to check on Tiana and see how her recruitment is going. I also need to prepare some lust vials for Katy, continue my experiments with my lust source, prepare the wedding for the others, and so on.”
Maya nodded silently and kissed Seth back before watching him disappear before her eyes. She then sighed and looked towards the north.
“Iris… I did everything I could to keep you safe….”
————
Seth teleported inside the Knights Quarters, where a large gathering of young people was waiting to take his test. As soon as he appeared, they all moved to make way for him with respectful looks, their heads lowered.
“Your Majesty.”
“Your Majesty.”
………………
Seth nodded towards them and walked up to the front of the queue, where two young knight trainees were taking test results from the people in the line.
“Good work. Keep at it.” Said Seth before passing by them and walking into the back, where Tiana was busy organizing the results.
She didn’t lift her head when the door opened and said: “Put it on the left side. The right is already arranged.”
Seth looked at all the papers around the room and sighed as he walked towards her. “When did I ask you to also organize them?”
Tiana was surprised by the familiar voice and raised her head quickly from the paper she was reading. Jumping to her feet, she quickly said: “Ma - Your Majesty, why are you here?”
“I came to see how you were doing.” Said Seth, walking up and pulling her in his arms. “You silly girl. I only needed you to gather the answers and send them to me, not waste time organizing them.”
Tiana blushed in his arms and said softly: “But, Your Highness, it will take too long if you have to go through each paper, so I’ve worked with Hollie to figure out the answers before organizing them by the number of right answers.”
Seth chuckled and messed her curly brown hair before saying: “I have my own way of working through the results. There was no need for you to go through so much trouble.”
Seeing Tiana lowering her head, Seth grabbed her chin and raised it back up as he said: “You still did a good job and deserve a reward.”
Creating a small sphere of destruction energy around them, he whispered in her ear: “So tell me, Tiana, how would you like your master to reward you?”
Tiana’s breathing became somewhat heavy as she looked up, her eyes hesitant as she asked: “Can Tiana ask master for anything?”
Seth smiled and nodded, causing Tiana’s face to turn bright red as she whispered: “There’s something I found inside the training room that I find interesting.”
Seth chuckled and talked to the system. ‘Pile up the results. Check the ones that did the best against the former timeline and pick the most promising five. I’ll take the results once I’m done with rewarding Tiana.’
After his order to the system, Seth teleported away with Tiana, arriving in the room he had specially built for her inside the Palace Grounds.
//The side story has already reached the end and will continue into the main story.//
//I'll adjust the Patreon subscriptions starting tomorrow, adding another chapter in advance to the 5$ since my backlog looks quite good, having 15 chapters in advance from even Patreon.//
//I'll also release my discord server. Every patron will receive a special role on discord and be able to request side content they want to see getting posted going forward, like maybe from chapters from the former timeline, more smut scenes about a certain character, and so on.//
//Thank you all for the support ^^//
