[MLV] 44. Hollow Victory (Patreon)

A/N

Apologies that it took so long that this Friday chapter took the place of the usual Monday chapter. I was really hoping to get it out during the weekend, but we had to rewrite this one quite a bit to make it work, so yeah...

Anyway, since we're still catching up, the Monday chapter (no. 45) might take until midweek to release, since I'm still writing it. Just wanted to give a heads-up on this one.

Thank you for your understanding, and I hope you enjoy this one!

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Alicia’s face remained solemn as she watched the battlefield.

As she feared, most distorted Vaelrin weren’t going to be saved by the crown. She tried her best to reach out to everyone while using [Corruption Reversal], but, aside from a few souls, like the Nameless, most distortions were simply too close to death that the removal of their miasma killed them. And so, each one of them simply collapsed on the battlefield, their bodies turning into ash, their names, dreams, and lives forever forgotten.

At least, they’re free from their misery…

She looked down at her palm.

She wondered how many of her kind met this fate. If this black dungeon alone killed thousands of Vaelrin, what about the other ones? The practice of sending her people to dangerous work like this wasn’t something unique to Alsatia, after all. They may call the practice differently, but in the end, they were all the same.

What should she do about this then?

Could she do something at all to reverse this, something quick and easy?

Probably not…

One of her hands crumpled into a fist. A world so big wouldn’t be changed so easily from its evil ways. Not without making a massive mess and spilling a lot of blood, and that was the last thing Alicia wanted.

Shame filled her heart as she watched the last distortions around her turn into ashes. Shame that even with this much power at her fingertips, she couldn’t do anything yet to prevent this from happening again.

“Alice!” Someone called to Alicia from behind. She turned around.

Lucille seemed to be helping a wounded draco stand and walk, his right arm over her shoulder as they limped to Alicia’s position. A small smile appeared on Alicia’s face, knowing that Lucille finally managed to meet the guy she’d been fighting for.

“Can you… can you help Leonardo here?” Lucille asked, a bit awkwardly. “I ran out of mana and potions, so…”

“No worries, I’ll help out,” Alicia said, helping Leonardo out as well. The two of them let him sit on a lone tree that stood out in the battlefield, his back resting on its trunk. Alicia then held her hand out, using her healing magic on Leonardo. As she did that, she talked to Lucille.

“By the way, the ability I used,” Alicia said. “I’ve recovered other people like Leonardo here. Tell everyone else to start taking them here. I’ll join once I’m done healing him.”

“Got it,” Lucille said, standing up. “I’ll relay orders to the soldiers.”

“Princess! Lady Lucille!” A shout distracted both of them. Lorraine, running with all her strength, finally caught up to them. She practically collapsed on her knees as she panted. “You little— I thought we had an agreement that you won’t do anything risky!”

Lucille’s face turned red as she avoided Lorraine’s stern gaze.

“Well, things happened, so…”

“What do you mean things happened?! You will retreat when it’s the logical option. I’ve told you this many times already!”

Lucille crossed her arms and looked away with a huff.

“If I did that, then it would have been a bigger disaster. I had to hold the Nameless off to buy everyone else time to escape.”

“That’s everyone else’s job, not yours!”

While both the princess and her knight bickered in the background, Alicia finished healing Leonardo. The draco chuckled as Alicia lowered her hand.

“Seems like those two get along well,” the draco said, eyeing Alicia. “Thanks. I never thought I’d see the day that an elven princess would work with a vampire.”

Alicia’s eyes widened, forgetting that she hadn’t changed back yet.

Immediately, she reactivated [Polymorph], her body changing back to the human form she used all the time at Alsatia. Both Lucille and Lorraine stopped bickering as they watched the scene unfold, and even Leonardo was shocked.

A little bit embarrassed, Alicia stood up.

“I suppose you’ll probably be wanting an explanation.”

“Yes, yes we would,” said Lorraine icily.

“Lorraine!” scolded Lucille.

“Forgive me, princess, but this isn’t something I can simply let go. A vampire this powerful emerging after all this time and trying to get close to you is not a small matter.”

“Yes, but now isn’t the time. Besides, we have no right to make demands right now. She just saved our lives.”

“Your life shouldn’t have been in danger in the first place.”

“And look what she did.” Lucille gestured all around. “Even if this was the time… how do you plan on making her answer? Do you really want to antagonize her?”

Lorraine’s face remained cold, but a hint of fear crept up it as she looked at the destruction around.

“Well…”

“Drop it for now. That’s an order.”

“…Yes, Your Highness.”

“And Alice,” said Lucille, turning around. “I understand that you must have had your reasons. As the crown princess, this isn’t something I can just ignore, but at least for now, we have more important things to worry about. We can talk in more detail later, if you’d like.”

“Ah, yes,” said Alicia. “Yes, that would be good. For now, would you mind keeping this all a secret? I don’t think it would be good for this to get out.”

“I won’t say a word until we talk,” said Lucille solemnly. “And neither will Lorraine. And Leonardo…”

“You don’t need to tell me twice,” said the draco. “I’m not going to betray my savior.”

“Then that’s settled,” said Lucille with a nod. “Once this is all over, we can meet in my office and talk more.”

“Yes, that would be perfect,” said Alicia.

Lucille smiled, then turned away and started giving her knight orders. Alicia breathed a sigh of relief. Not everything was resolved yet, but she was glad that things at least were going well. Revealing herself had been a risk, but given Lucille’s attitude, it didn’t look like things were going wrong. And if she could secure a proper alliance with Lucille out of it, she had gained much more than she lost by letting her secret out.

The rest of the early morning was spent this way. Alicia, Lucille, Lorraine, and even the Vaelrin soldiers, who finally managed to regroup with the trio, began searching for survivors in the battlefield. Most of them were unconscious, sleeping peacefully in the grass or wherever they collapsed.

Each one of them was healed back to full health by Alicia. All in all, there were only fifteen of them out of the thousands affected by [Corruption Reversal], with Leonardo included in the mix. Lucille made up an alternative explanation about what happened earlier to the troops, and most of them ate it up, believing that Lucille and Alicia managed to do some kind of AoE spell that could reverse the black dungeon’s corruption.

It was a much better story than telling them that Alicia had the Demon King’s crown, capable of controlling miasma, somehow.

She still felt a throbbing headache thinking about that. The black crown can influence miasma, Alicia repeated over and over in her mind. Now, the temptation to use it regularly grew further, especially if she had to do that to research and discover more about its abilities. She felt like she was being slowly pulled away from her personal vow to avoid using it as much as possible.

But for now, a more pressing problem remained.

The question of what to do with Antonio, Leonardo, and every Vaelrin soldier stuck with them

Earlier, Lucille made a speech in front of the assembled soldiers. It was a rather fiery speech where she promised to fight for their Vaelrin rights. She also told them that even if the army doesn’t recognize or reward them for their valiant action during the previous battle, she was going to use her personal wealth to compensate their families monetarily.

The soldiers were very ecstatic upon hearing this. Sure, they weren’t going home yet, but hearing the crown princess not only talking about rewarding their families materially but also about fighting for their rights was something new to them. After fighting for so long for the most barebones compensation, these soldiers who knew nothing better saw her promises as treasure.

But Alicia wasn’t satisfied by this. In fact, she was saddened that Vaelrin soldiers in Alsatia were so mistreated that even the bare minimum was enough to raise their spirits.  The conditions of the Demon Brigades were so appalling that she wanted to do something more about this, but she recognized that unless she went against the Alsatian government itself—which she wouldn’t, because she had absolutely no answer about the ‘what comes after’ question—her options were very limited.

And so, she kept the ideas swirling in her head to herself until Lucille asked Alicia while they shared breakfast, both of them sitting on or near a couple of logs in front of a small campfire.

“I can tell you’ve been dying to tell me something,” Lucille said, as she lowered her cup, staring at Alicia curiously.

Alicia sighed.

“...I don’t want to leave these soldiers behind here. Especially the former distortions we recovered,” said Alicia with a frown. “I want to bring them to my homeland, where they’ll all be safe.”

The princess went silent for a little while.

Then, she smiled.

“Your ‘homeland,’ huh?”

“It’s fairly obvious now, I think. Yes, my homeland is Vael. All this time, I’ve been staying here in Alsatia using a fake Polonian identity to take advantage of this country’s wealth. I’m sorry for lying to you.”

“There’s no need to say sorry at all. To be honest, after learning that you’re a vampire, everything made sense to me.”

A faint smile graced her face as she looked at her side.

“You’re trying to save your homeland and your people, aren’t you?”

Alicia didn’t answer Lucille’s question.

“I can’t trust the leaders of the Alsatian military, Lucille,” Alicia said. “I’d like to offer the soldiers with us an alternative to fighting a war such as this. I can bring them back with me. Give them a new home where they won’t be discriminated against.”

For a brief while, the princess silently considered Alicia’s idea. Then, Alicia continued as she looked down.

“But, I recognize that they might not want to have their lives uprooted all of a sudden to go to an unknown land. They don’t even know who I really am because I’m keeping my identity a secret. Forget about it, I’m just being an idealistic fool again.”

“No, not at all. It’s not a bad idea,” Lucille said. “We’ll have to do it delicately, though.”

“I know. I’m still thinking about it.”

“I see,” Lucille smiled faintly. “Anyhow, we should make preparations to march out back to Florimont. After what they went through, the soldiers need somewhere proper to rest, have a warm meal, and relax.”

“I agree.”

The two of them stood up after finishing their meal, went to Antonio, and told the draco brothers to assemble the troops. While they were preparing themselves, Alicia moved the soldiers they recovered like Leonardo, who were all still unconscious, straight to Vael. Unlike other soldiers, since no one knew these men, Alicia and Lucille both agreed that it would be best for them to be taken to Vael, where they could rest and recover safely.

It was good luck that Lyra, Moshan, and Vittorio were all awake when Alicia dropped by at Orevogorsk with unconscious Vaelrin soldiers. She didn’t have much time to talk and explain things to them, so she basically just told them that she wanted the soldiers taken care of in her palace and promptly left to return to Alsatia.

As for the rest of the Vaelrin troops, the only explanation they gave them for now was that Alicia evacuated them to Lucille’s residence, where they would get better treatment. The soldiers made very little fuss about it, as they didn’t even know who the unconscious soldiers were.

And so, they finally marched out afterward.

Hours later, the column of Vaelrin soldiers led by Lucille and Alicia neared the city of Florimont.

At the moment, spirits were rather high. The soldiers seemed truly satisfied about the fact that they survived the fight and that the princess promised them many great things. Even so, Alicia felt that it was far too hollow and too little for them to be at ease. So whenever she looked back at them, she was bewildered at the sight of soldiers casually talking, bickering, or bantering with each other, as if there were no troubles left on the road ahead of them.

Goodness, I’m such a worrywart, Alicia thought to herself, grumbling. Trying to ruin the vibes when they just won a hard fight.

They deserve to have something to look forward to for now.

Still, a part of her wanted to convince them to come with her, where they would all be safer, and she was starting to get curious about what they would think about her.

Deciding that she could maybe ask a few innocent questions, Alicia slowed her pace down until the first Vaelrin soldier she saw earlier at Florimont, Antonio, was right beside her. The draco, who was walking beside his older brother Leonardo, was bewildered when Alicia was suddenly right beside him.

“Alice? What is it?” Antonio asked, confused that she suddenly approached them..

“I’ve been wondering, aren’t the two of you completely done with this war?” Alicia asked. “Don’t you want to move somewhere else, where you won’t have to do this just to get basic rights?”

The question momentarily stunned the draco brothers, both of them looking at one another as if trying to figure out what answer they should give her. Unable to come into a silent consensus, Leonardo decided to answer first.

“Somewhere else?” Asked Leonardo. “Where exactly? Alsatia is our home. Why would I want to leave my home? Besides, every other country will treat us the same anyway, won’t they?”

The draco scoffed.

“My answer is no. My father fought to keep the plot of land my family owned for generations. My grandfather did the same. So did my great-grandfather and my great-great-grandfather. I won’t be the one who’ll break ranks and run away.”

“Okay, say, if you can go to the homeland of Vaelrin, Vael,” Alicia added, attempting to clarify her earlier question. “Where you’ll fit in, and people will accept you for who you are, would you move there?”

“Accept me for who I am?” This time, it was Antonio who spoke up. “But I don’t speak a wink of Vaelrin. I don’t even know their way of life. Hell, does that country still exist? Weren’t they destroyed a few years ago?”

Antonio let out a tired laugh as he stared at the sky.

“I don’t know. Maybe I’d like to move there if there’s no other option left. That’s all I can say.”

Alicia noticed that Leonardo was staring at her seriously. Since unlike Antonio, he knew that Alicia was a vampire, Leonardo probably figured out that Alicia was scheming something. She couldn’t tell, however, if Leonardo approved of it or not.

I suppose Antonio does have a point, Alicia thought. I nearly forgot I’m talking to them only in Alsatian.

These soldiers, she realized, spoke only Alsatian, behaved like Alsatians, dressed like Alsatians, and knew only Alsatia. If she brought them to her homeland, they wouldn’t even be able to understand Alicia’s subjects. They’d just think that their fellow Vaelrin spoke gibberish, and vice versa, and then there would be all kinds of trouble coming out of that.

After all, unlike Polonia, Alsatia had a more aggressive cultural assimilation program for centuries. Just like other groups that the empire conquered, Vaelrin identity was long wiped out and lost, replaced by what the state wanted them to be. It only made Alicia feel more bitter that Alsatia destroyed the identity of people like Leonardo and Antonio and forced Alsatian identity on them, yet still refused to accept them as true Alsatians.

In the end, Alicia simply sighed to herself, turning to them with a faint smile on her face.

“Thanks for answering my questions,” Alicia said. “It was nice talking to you two.”

“You’re welcome,” Antonio said casually, and Leonardo did the same afterward.

She went back right beside Lucille and Lorraine.

“We’re close now,” Lucille said. “Looks like the imperial army is here.”

“I see.”

Alicia took a deep breath. She hoped that things would be alright now that they finally defeated the Nameless. If there was any silver lining out there, it was that they fought and won. They were safe, Alicia reminded herself. The soldiers survived, and the threat was stopped.

They achieved victory. She should be happy for them.

And so, she tried to put on a confident face as they marched on, getting closer and closer to the city.

But then, Alicia stopped as she stared at the entrance to Florimont.

Hanged on top of the wall were three Vaelrin soldiers, stripped of their armor and weapons. A sign was hanged in front of their lifeless bodies, seemingly serving as an intimidating warning to those who would read it.

She read the signs one-by-one.

“I’m a coward who deserted my post.”

“I mutinied and killed my fellow soldiers.”

“I allowed the devils to cross the river.”

As she watched a young, flamboyantly dressed elven officer on horseback gallop to them with a smug expression on his face, Alicia felt her blood beginning to boil.