Burning Embers Part II: Conspiracy [Arc 6-10]

Arc 7 Epilogue

Present time...

Why am I thinking about this now?

Kotori knelt in front of the flowerbeds, realising that she had been zoning out completely and not doing her job. It was a Sunday, 29th of July in the Year 5071, and a typical summer day. While not too hot, it was quite sunny, and thus staying out this long was uncomfortable. She had been given the task of weeding the singular flowerbed in front of the castle, if it could be called as such.

The "castle" was not very big, and looked much more like a mansion with a ruined outer-wall. Even the wall itself had not been very tall, nor very thick, so she wondered what purpose it had even served. Regardless, maintaining such a place was a big task for just ten people, so much of their mornings were spent doing chores like cleaning the kitchen and weeding the flowerbeds.

Since they arrived here, Findaris had refurbished much of the place and kept adding new decorations; making two small flowerbeds in front of the mansion-castle a few months ago. Unfortunately for the other guild members, this was quite difficult to maintain, and he was quite strict with it, even though he never did it himself. Despite that, they all respected him as a leader and knew he did a lot of work elsewhere, and would not skip his own chores either.

But Kotori had been thinking of something else this entire time. While she was weeding the flowerbeds, her mind had wandered off, and she relived the nightmare she often had in her sleep. Even now, Findaris would never really look her in the eye, and did his best to avoid her whenever he could, even calling her and the others "mere tools". He really had changed, and it was all her fault.

Once again, the melancholic feeling overcame her, and she felt sick to the core, feeling her vision get blurry as she clenched her fists in anger and despair. Had she never come into his life, Findaris would be a better person, and wouldn't be so full of mistrust and hatred. When she had met him, he already hated monsters and would torment them while fighting, but now he seemed to view humans the same way. It was all her fault, all because of her.

Feeling her tears fall on the back of her hands, she furiously wiped her eyes, trying to pull herself together.

"Sis Kotori?" a voice called out. It was Andrea.

Oh no.

Kotori quickly wiped her tears away, turning to face her fellow guild member. "Yeah?"

Andrea was wearing a simple tunic and trousers; she had started to dress differently after the trip to Ariogow, but instead of her usual cheerful expression, she looked worried.

"You were crying," she stated more than asked.

"N-No!"

"Yes."

"Yes..."

Andrea plopped down beside her, staring at her with wide eyes until she responded. "W-What?"

"So, what's wrong?" Andrea inquired, tilting her head and looking genuinely curious.

Kotori narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "You're just excited about hearing an interesting story, aren't you?"

"Aw, come on! I would never!"

No, you totally were.

"Unfortunately for you, it was nothing interesting. I was just recalling an old play I once watched, and it was really emotional," Kotori lied through her teeth. "And so I zoned out a bit."

"Huh? Really? That's it? You really are an emotional type, aren't you, sis Kotori?" Andrea gave her a very knowing look, then got up. "Well, it's fine if you don't wanna tell me, but I'll be around if you do wanna talk. Got nothing better to do, yknow!" She winked, walking away bouncily.