Oath Kingdom - A bloody trap

A wide smile grew on Iris’s lips as she perched her ass on the windowsill and looked at Cain with interest.

“So you indeed know Seth. How did you two meet?”

Cain sneaked a peek at Molly before answering: “He found me in the town I was living in and offered to give me that knowledge in exchange for me keeping watch over his parents.”

Iris nodded and asked: “When was the last time you saw him?”

“Not long before I came to the capital.”

“And what did he ask you to do in the capital?”

Cain shook his head and said: “He didn’t ask me to do anything. I came to the capital on my own.”

“Aaaa.” A pained cry came from the side, and Cain turned to see Molly’s little finger dropping onto the floor below. An angry look appeared on his face, and he turned to yell at Iris: “Why did you do that? I answered your question.”

“Because I get the feeling you’re lying to me. Why would Seth come to see you just before you moved towards the capital if not for him requesting something off of you?” Said Iris. “Do you want to try again?”

Cain clenched his fists so hard that one could hear the bones of his fist cracking, but Molly was the one to speak first.

“He told you the truth. Didn’t you say you were a friend of Seth? How could you do this?”

Iris chuckled and said: “Stupid little girl. Shut up when the adults speak before I cut even more of your fingers.” She then turned towards Cain. “So?”

“I already told you it’s the truth. Seth moved with a large group towards the south and asked me to join him, but I refused since I still had unfinished business in the capital.” Said Cain.

“Oh really? And where was he going with that group of his?”

Cain could notice the interest that appeared in Iris’s eyes and said: “If I tell you where he's going, will you let us go?”

Iris’s eyes turned cold, and her energy swirled around again, cutting Molly’s ring finger. Cain closed his eyes and did his best to ignore the pained cry coming from Molly.

Iris appeared even more enraged by his reaction, and Cain immediately said: “You can kill us if that would make you feel better about yourself, but then you'll never get what you want to know. Still, I’m a bit sad not to be there to see your face when Seth returns and wipes this entire kingdom off the face of the continent.”

Iris’s energy stopped, and she looked at Cain in silence. Her face was still contorted in anger, but inside, her heart was starting to beat in excitement. She didn’t take his threat to heart, but she could understand that Seth must care somewhat about those two.

Thinking of Seth’s womanizing ways, she turned towards the crying Molly and thought, ‘Is this brat one of his? She did come to look for traces of him at the academy….’

‘But that doesn’t make sense. Seth took everyone we could use against him south…’ she then remembered Cain’s words, and a smile appeared on her lips as she asked: “What did you come to do in the capital?”

“I want to kill my father.” Replied Cain.

‘She might be important to Seth, but with this fool’s ambition, he had no choice but to leave her behind. They might both be so since he gave him the energy and even left the girl with him. No matter, I’ll just take the girl...’

Her thoughts traveling here, Iris said: “Fine, we can make a deal.”

“I won’t kill you two, but I also can’t let you freely stir chaos throughout the capital without a way to control you, so we’ll do it like this. Tell me where Seth has gone, and I’ll imprison this girl. I give you my word as protector of the kingdom that I’ll not hurt her as long as you behave. What do you say?”

Cain opened his eyes to look at Iris and asked: “Why imprison her? Why not me?”

Iris shrugged and said: “That’s my business. Do we have a deal or not?”

Cain gritted his teeth and said: “I agree.”

“Where is Seth?”

“The Blood Kingdom. He traveled to the Blood Kingdom.”

“What is he doing there?” asked Iris with a frown. ‘So he is indeed heading towards Blood. This might be my chance….’

“He didn’t tell me. He only said he needed to leave Oath for a while and asked if I wanted to join him in traveling to Blood.”

Iris’s frown deepened, and she removed the energy binding Cain in place. Without saying another word, she took Molly with her and flew out of the window.

Cain looked at Iris’s departing back with deep hatred in his eyes. Turning around, he rushed out of the door, straight into John’s room.

John immediately stood up when he spotted Cain’s expression and asked: “What happened?”

“We fucked up. Molly went to the academy and was tracked by Iris.”

John’s eyes turned red, and he looked past Cain’s shoulder as he asked: “Where’s she?”

A regretful expression appeared on Cain’s face as he sighed and said: “She’s fine for now, but Iris took her. I imagine she plans to use her against Seth somehow.”

John’s knees crumbled, and he fell from his feet, punching the inn floor. “That stupid girl. Why did I take care of her for so many years? So she can get herself killed like this?”

Seeing the tears falling onto the floor from his friend’s eyes, Cain’s eyes also turned red, and he knelt next to John, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, friend. It’s my fault for allowing her to come with us. But all is not lost. She’s still fine. I doubt the proud protector of the kingdom will kill her.”

As he spoke, Cain cut his finger and used his blood to write something on the floor in front of John.

‘Don’t react. Iris might still be listening. I need you to sneak out of the capital and travel to Blood. We need Seth.’

John looked at the writing on the floor and nodded. Wiping his tears before sitting up, he said: “Leave me alone. I want to remain alone.”

Cain nodded and patted his friend’s shoulder to give him courage before walking out of the room.

Iris was flying towards the palace, a smile appearing on her lips after hearing the conversation between the two. Turning towards Maya behind her, she said: “It looks like your father agrees with me. You really are a stupid little girl.”

Ignoring the angry look from Molly, Iris continued flying towards the royal palace, heading straight inside the king’s room.

“Protector?” asked the king, looking confused towards the girl accompanying Iris.

“Your Majesty. I’ve confirmed Seth’s location. He’s in the Blood Kingdom. Please give me permission to go and deal with him once and for all.” Said Iris, a cold look in her eyes.

King Lian was stunned by Iris’s words and asked: “Tell me what happened? We already knew his destination but decided to let him go for now. What changed?”

“This girl came to the academy, and since I was monitoring the entire academy for the last few months, I happened to hear her mention Seth’s name. Following her, I found she came with a party from the south.”

“After interrogating her and her party, I found out one of the members of the said party was one of Seth’s students, and he even knew Seth’s destination after leaving the kingdom. This girl also appears to be somewhat important to him, so I will use her as a shield if Seth decides to fight against me. This is the chance we’ve been waiting for. We finally have something to use against him.”

Molly’s face contorted in fear as she listened to the conversation between Iris and King Lian.

Lian frowned and asked: “Won’t it be better to use her as a shield when Seth returns here? We might be able to use her to capture him. His knowledge will be instrumental in increasing the strength of our Kingdom.”

“With all due respect, Your Majesty, Seth is not someone we can control as we want. If we give him time, he will find a way to turn our leverage against us. Striking first is the right play here. Before he finds a way to turn our advantage against us.”

Lian sighed and sat down, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the table next to him. After a while, he asked: “What about the others that came with this girl?”

“A darkness ascended at the second shell and some common bandits. They pose no threat to your majesty and are better kept alive as a backup. We can even get the darkness knowledge out of that ascended after we deal with Seth.”

“This way, we’ll have our hands on the darkness knowledge without the need to capture Seth alive.”

Lian fell in deep thought once more before sighing and shaking his head: “Your plan is not bad, but the time is also not right. You can’t leave the kingdom now….”

“Why?” asked Iris.

“I have yet to tell you, but I received news that our enemies are convening in the Kingdom of Hope for a meeting. The reason for the meeting appears to be some plague that had befallen their lands, but that’s simply an excuse to meet and plan to move against us.

“With the damage Seth’s departure did to our fighting force, having our strongest ascended leave the kingdom is too risky….”

“But I can be in the Blood Kingdom and back in less than a month. They will need more time to move that quickly. If we continue to remain passive -“

“That’s enough, protector. This is an order. Return to the academy.” Said Lian with a raised voice.

Iris clenched her teeth and bowed: “Understood, Your Majesty.”

With a sulking face, she took Molly and flew towards the academy.

Molly, who was being dragged behind her, laughed loudly and said: “So you’re nothing more than the king’s bitch.”

Iris turned around with a black face, grabbing onto Molly’s face. “What did you say?”

Molly smiled mockingly and said: “Will cutting more of my fingers make you less of a bitch than you already are? You can even kill me if you want to.”

“Hehe, little girl, are you trying to make me kill you so I won’t use you against Seth? Nice try, but you are still too young to try tricks like that with me.”

Molly’s face turned sour as she lowered her head and said: “Nothing will change even if you kill me...”

“What does that mean?” asked Iris with a raised eyebrow, but Molly refused to answer.

Snorting, Iris resumed her journey toward the academy, flying straight inside her office. She had already considered that the king might refuse to let her chase after Seth, but she had a backup plan.

‘Guess we’ll still fight it out here, Seth. Hurry and come.’