Bound by Deception

30.2 A Villain in Disguise

"That's a charming thought," Sterling sneered. "Alright. What are we going to do?"

Kazuki went silent. He thought for a moment, then retreated behind the tree he had been leaning against. He pulled back the moss and moved aside plates of bark that had been piled upon each other against the tree. With the trunk uncovered, he revealed to them a small, rickety gate that was wasting away into the soil. The fence around it was still quite sturdy, and Aria guessed that it had recently been renovated.

"This is a gateway to Grandville," Kazuki explained. "It leads to the main city. I figured if we want to get answers, we're going to have to delve into enemy territory...if they are our enemies."

"For now, we'll give that the benefit of the doubt,' Aria said, "As we still have no proof that they're innocent. I mean - you've heard the stories, Kazuki. Is it really safe for us to be going there?"

"Are you doubting yourself?"

"I'm doubting my knowledge of Grandville. We're going into this place blindly. They could fight differently; have different weapons; we don't know."

"Perhaps we don't. Perhaps we'll even die going there. But it's worth a try, don't you think? We need to get these answers. How else will we protect ourselves...and the ones we love?"

Kazuki's question made Aria hesitate in responding. It pained her to think of it, but she caught a brief image of her family slip through her mind. Of her parents, her aunt and uncle, of her cousin and his wife. They all had lives to live and they were living them with carelessness. They cared nothing about the war if there ever was one.

"Fine." She nodded. "Let's do this."

"Wait." Sterling raised an eyebrow and pointed at the tree. "Why is the gate in a hole? Why can't it be...like an actual gate?"

Kazuki glared at him. "Seriously? That's the question you're asking right now."

"It's a valid question."

"Sterling, move it!" Aria slid behind him and gave him a push from behind his shoulder blades. The man yelped, tumbling into the hole headfirst. His partner and Kazuki followed with a sigh.

The gateway was similar to a rabbit hole, except instead of falling, the mud caused them to slide through the small tunnel and land in a dark, unpaved alley shrouded with dirty laundry and a slew of stray cats.

"Ugh. I think I landed on cat shit," Kazuki groaned.

"Fuck. I think I landed on your coat tail," Sterling grumbled.

"You guys are gross." Aria, who had luckily landed on a pile of clothes, said with overt disgust as she watched the boys remove their aristocratic coats and brush the poop from them. She turned toward the end of the alley, squinting at the yellow rays that met her sunburned skin.

They stepped into a busy marketplace, overwhelmed by the swarm of people that weaved through them. Men bartered with other merchants and flirted with young ladies. Women giggled with their friends or wrangled unruly children as the kids would play with fake swords or roll balls along the ground. Every now and then a group of young, teenage girls would pass by Aria with a basket of flowers and books, whispering not-so-secretly about the noble boys that played football with their village counterparts.

"Odd." Sterling rubbed his butt. "I don't see any soldiers."

Kazuki touched one of the clothes. "Their shirts are clean," he noticed. "And their houses...the colors are so bright."

"Yeah...oh!" Aria yelped when a group of children rushed past her, tossing a ball to one another. Upon hearing her shout they stopped and rushed to hold her before she toppled over.

"Sorry, Miss!" They chorused, looking at Aria with their big, colorful eyes.

"Er...it's okay." Aria blushed, waving to them as they ran away. To Sterling, she said: "They're so polite! I heard that they were supposed to be quite brutish."

"It certainly doesn't seem that way," Sterling murmured, taking her hand in his. "Come one. Let's walk around a little. Perhaps we'll see a regiment patrolling a more secluded corner."

But they didn't. The deeper they walked into the town, the more enthralled they became. Life in Grandville appeared to be idyllic. There was a sense of excitement and happiness that didn't cover Rouver at all. Maybe it was the bright colors, the laughter, or even the many families that Aria would see enjoying time with one another, but she was beginning to suspect that - to her dismay - everything she had been taught by Madame had been nothing but a tarnished lie.

Nobody recognized that they were from Rouver, but Aria definitely recognized a few of her village-mates frolicking with the Grandville nobles, playing with the children, or bartering with the well-dressed merchants. The sheer peacefulness of the city rendered Aria speechless. She honestly could say nothing, and she wasn't surprised when her partners also remained silent throughout their inspection.

"I don't understand any of this," Sterling muttered, sounding utterly defeated. "This place...it looks so perfect! How can it be war-torn? Nobody seems to even know of such a war that we have been preparing for."

"Looks can be deceiving." Kazuki scratched his chin. "But you've got a point. Aria, what do you think?"

"There's not been a soldier in sight, and every official we've seen has done nothing suspicious," Aria said, her voice hard with contemplation. "Guys...I don't think there's any war."

Sterling nodded. "I've been suspecting the same thing, but I wasn't sure. We've been fighting against nobody. All our preparations have most likely been for nothing."

"That's a fair assumption, but we don't have any proof." Kazuki was still holding on to the fleeting truth that Madame hadn't been lying to them, even though his face most obviously betrayed him. "We...we need something! Something solid!"

Sterling and Aria glanced wearily at each other.

"How about we head to the tavern," Sterling suggested. "We can get a drink and maybe listen to some conversations?"

"Alright. There's bound to be some drunkard who'll spill something he wasn't supposed to say," Kazuki agreed begrudgingly. They were lucky that they were standing right beside a tavern, which seemed to be quite popular once they entered as it took twenty minutes for one of the servers to get a table for them. She seated them at the back, politely requesting their orders and leaving them with the menu.

"Damn, some of these foods are Rouver's finest," Aria gasped. "But it says that they originate from Grandville."

"I can't believe that the government would steal from them," Sterling said. "But, after everything that's happened recently, I don't know what to believe anymore."

"Believe what your eyes tell you," Kazuki growled, sipping the water he was giving as though he were testing for poison. "These people...they're too nice, you know? This isn't the Grandville that we were taught about."

-------------------

So...we're in Grandville now, but is it really what they thought it would be? Why is everyone so nice? 

VOTE/COMMENT/ENJOY :D