女神归来的夏天

Chapter 238: Journey to the Barony of James VIII

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Sally continues to weep hard into my shoulder. She needs to hear that the things she thinks about herself are wrong. I slowly run my fingers through her hair and let her cry, thinking about my answer. "You\'re not disgusting, Sally... You\'re a girl who had an incredibly hard life... You\'re pure, Sally... You\'re a pure girl with a clean soul..." Her crying slows down really fast as I say those words. This world\'s definition of pure is wrong, and how someone can be branded as impure makes me sick. It was out of her control, and that doesn\'t make her impure.

She leans up and looks at me with really puffy eyes and some snot running down her nose. She searches my face and eyes for any doubt in my words, but there isn\'t a shred. She is a pure girl. She isn\'t a disgusting existence. Her eyes begin to water even more, and she buries her face in my chest, and she tries to hold back the sobs. "You\'re the only woman I\'ve been like this during my entire life. That may not mean much to someone else, but to me, it means you are truly special." She grips my leather chest piece and releases heavy sobs.

I hope my words are reaching her, making a change in some way. She continues to cry her eyes out and let all the pain and bottled-up feelings out. Holding it in for so long, it will explode as it is now. I hold her in my arms, and she slowly calms down over the course of a few minutes. "You really think I\'m a pure woman..." Her voice vibrates through my chest as she asks that question. People telling her that she isn\'t pure has caused a huge problem for her. She must be fighting inside with the ideal, the wrong one. She is pure, and others saying she isn\'t is wrong.

She has waited long enough for my response. "You are a pure woman, Sally... I love you..." I feel like it\'s one of those moments that it needs to be said. She lifts her head at my words and stares into my eyes again. Her chin quivers, and she crawls up my body and leans her head down as we are now face to face. I place my hand on her lower back and run it up and down as she lowers her lips unto mine. After a connection, many tears fall from her eyes. They fall on my cheeks as we slowly move our lips together.

As Cera and Sally begin the escalation of the moment. Someone has finally arrived at the city in the Barony of James. Hailey has arrived ahead of schedule and sees the city up ahead. The city is 15 miles south of the actual fort the Jamess family resides in, so she will be staying in the town and asking around about the important facts. Their schedule, who their allies are, who their enemies are. The weaknesses in their defenses and how many troops are at the fort. Hailey is unaware that her brother and his partner are on their way there too.

I see the glowing lights of the city up ahead. It\'s very small compared to the capital cities that I have been to. Avalon was a very amazing place to see, and I\'m glad I made it to tier 2. I can only wonder what tier Cera is at. "Mew!~" A familiar sound comes from my backpack, and that means Emerald is awake. The cub pops her head out of the opening and yawns. I stop for a second, pull her out, and place her in her favorite place to rest on long journeys. The home of my enemies is just beyond that city, and if I want to do this incognito, then I can\'t reveal my identity.

Emerald purrs as she rests between the back of my neck and my backpack. I only have the backpack for her. Since I can\'t store her in my inventory, this was the next best thing. I calmly walk the road and eventually see the line that is stretching out from the gate. I don\'t know why their security is high, but that won\'t be a problem for me. I doubt any of them know who I am just by my looks alone. I start cutting in line and walking beside it, heading straight to the front. Many give glares at my actions, but I\'m not wasting hours sitting in a line.

The guard sees me approaching and holds up his hand. "No cutting in line, Head to the back." I pull out a little bag that has about 10 gold in it. I toss it to him, and he looks at the bag. He feels around and never breaks eye contact. He steps aside, and I make my way in. No one says anything cause this is pretty normal in places like the Barony of James. Once inside the city, I see plenty of inns and drunks walking around. Now that the workday is over, the ones that have time off are getting wasted. That just makes things easier for me.

I follow the main road and head to the richer district of the city. I find myself a nice inn and pay for the next week. I\'ll pay more if it takes me longer to take down the James family. I lay Emerald on the soft bed, and she purrs against the soft covers. I unequip my clothes and lay on the bed in my underwear. Emerald hops on my chest and curls up into a little ball. I pet her as she purrs and vibrates through my body. "We are going to be staying here for a little while Emerald... Make yourself at home..." She lets out a little mew in response to my words.

With Hailey now fully in the city in the Barony of James. Other people are making moves. As such, there is a huge commotion happening in Zenith. It turns out someone in the coalition has sent an assassin to kill Jackson or his wife. The couple is sitting in their throne room. They are going to head to bed any minute now. However, someone has snuck onto the property. The assassin is sneaking through the halls and slowly making his way to the throne room. Where he is to kill either the queen or king. Whoever sent him left no connection.

I sit with my wife as we see the empty throne room. There are no more problems to deal with, and it\'s about time we also made out way to bed. "I think it\'s about time we retire. Don\'t you think?" I stand up from the throne and stretch my body as I say that. I look to my queen, and I hold out my hand. She takes it, but before she can respond. There is shouting coming from the halls to the west. I turn my head, and a man in a dark cloak burst through the door. He turns his attention directly to us and charges with a shortsword in hand.

Everything is in slow motion, and I try to cast magic fast enough, but it\'s taking just a little too long. I hear my queen scream as the man gets closer, and the guards have looks of distress as they try and catch him from behind. A bright light from the direction of my queen appears, and I look to see what is happening. Suddenly the strike from the cloaked man is stopped, and a white shield is surrounding us. I look to the origin of the light, and it\'s the feather that Slayer Zern gave her for our wedding. It\'s creating a protective barrier.

Suddenly, white tendrils come from the barrier and grip the man. My wife continues to scream in horror, not realizing that he isn\'t going to make it. Suddenly, the tendrils crush the man as if he\'s nothing, and he falls to the ground, lifeless. The light from the feather stops as my wife calms down. I hold her in my arms as the guards quickly run up and shield us from the body. They stab it multiple times to make sure the man is actually dead. "What the fuck is going on!?" I yell to the captain of my guards as I see him enter the throne room with bated breath.

He quickly approaches and kneels on the ground. "I\'m sorry, my King! He snuck past our perimeter and made it into the castle before one of our units spotted him. Once compromised, he made sure that he got here. Many guards are dead, and there are no clues on how he got past the magic perimeter." I hold my wife as she clings to me and lightly sobs. This is the closest she\'s ever come to death, and it terrified her. I look at the feather, and I give a silent thanks to The Almighty Father and Slayer Zern for protecting my wife. The power of the feather should be further explored. For now, it\'s time to discuss what just happened.