Chapter 37: The Archnide Situation
It was very late into the evening when Marcius got out of the temple.
The goddess gave him leave after confirming that the soul medium and Marcius's cultivation were behaving as intended.
It was there at the entrance that Marcius met both the twin priestesses and Karla.
"Congratulation on passing the trial, heir Aemilia."
It was Sati who greeted Marcius first. Her gaze held hints of respect for Marcius.
"You are the very first to pass this trial since the establishment of our village and this temple. Very great work." Atem followed.
"Congratulation Marcius Aemilia. Mother was right about you."
This time it was Karla who spoke. Then, she slowly kneeled down as the twin priestesses mirrored her action.
"You have managed to grab the attention of the great goddess, and become her champion. We are dutybound to follow the commands of the one who holds the Solas Mark. Accept our oaths of eternal service." Karla continued.
"I will not apologize for my previous actions. Until you have proven your abilities, you are to be regarded as a potential threat for the very existence of our village. And I was just acting in the best interest of our people. But, now that you hold the Solas Mark, I will serve you faithfully and dutifully."
"Please also accept our oaths of eternal service." The twin echoed Karla's words.
Marcius looked down at the three kneeling figures.
"I can understand your actions, since I am aware of the situation of your village. It is natural for you to be wary of the outsiders who know your secrets." Marcius slowly answered.
"And, yes. I accept your oaths. Please stand up."
After the whole ordeal, Marcius started leading their group back to the direction of his camp.
"I will first need to get back to my settlement. Then, I can arrange a meeting between me and your mother. I'm guess she will want to meet me?" Marcius questioned as they walked.
"Yes, mother will want to meet you. The same could also be said for the rest of the village elders. They will mostly be accepting towards you because of the goddess's mark. So, you don't need to worry."
Karla answered. The twins were just quietly shadowing them.
"But there is something I need to tell you, before you get back to your camp."
Karla's tone turned serious and Marcius's head turned sideways to pay her his full attention.
*** *** ***
Flavic forest, Aemilia clan's expeditionary camp.
Toros was managing the logistics of the settlement.
He needed to make plans for newly tightened security measures, and also had to prepare necessities for tomorrow's trip into the forest.
The spoils of battles form the previous two trips were distributed fairly among the troops, and thus raising the moral of the whole camp and encouraging the soldiers to participate in the next journeys into the forest.
It was during the time that Toros was organizing the food rations that a messenger arrived.
"Sir! I'm in charge of the main gate. Our scouts have reported sighting of troops with Aemilia clan banners heading towards our camp."
The main gate was the gate guarding the road back to Mediolan.
"Those may be the reinforcement young master Marcius mentioned. This is a really quick reaction from our clan. Send men to Ser Leon and Ser Janus. We need to meet up with the person in charge of the reinforcements."
Toros hurried towards the main gate.
After reaching the gate and waiting for a while, Marcius also noticed that Ser Leon and Ser Janus had also arrived.
The two members of knight house of Forra were wearing their day-to-day armor. Which made sense because the archnide threat was looming on their camp, and everyone needed to be ready in case of an attack.
The three of them waited patiently and after a moment, their could see the leading trrops of the reinforcements coming from Mediolan.
"Well, sh*t."
Toros heard Ser Leon muttered from besides him, and Ser Janus chastising his nephew for the uncivilized language.
The reason for Ser Leon's rude remark became clear as Toros also saw who was leading the incoming troops.
Lady Helen approached them while gracefully riding on a fierce looking war hose, which Toros could guess was descended from a demon beast.
The lady of Aemilia clan swiftly got off from her mount as the three of them looked on.
"I have organized and set out with reinforcements as soon as we received Marcius's letter. Where is my son?"
Well, sh*t indeed.
*** *** ***
Marcius slowly hummed after he finished listening to Karla's story.
Apparently, the Archnide Hive was not a naturally occurring disaster as he had thought.
When Karla's mother, lady Dina, went back to her village to discuss Marcius's proposal with the elders, it was not very well received.
The village had lived in secret for the last 3,000 years. Now, Marcius was threatening their existence with his knowledge, and many elders didn't take it well.
This was where the Archnide Hive came in.
Some of the more hostile elders had a genius idea to kill Marcius and also destroy the city of Mediolan to better hide their existence.
Those elders gathered to arrange for the emergence of this huge Archnide Hive. They used magic to evolve a strong archnide queen and sent her to a suitable location for a hive.
If they used an Archnide Hive to destroy both Marcius and the city, there would be no evidence left.
And no one would suspect a foul play, because they would think that the demon beasts destroyed the city.
"I can ask mother to arrange aid for your settlement and city. Because the elders had hidden it with magic, the hive had become too big when we realized its existence." Karla said.
"While magical support would be nice in the fight against the archnide swarm, I do not think this is the best time to reveal your village's existence. I will think of a way to deal with the hive by ourselves."
Marcius replied with a sigh.
'Why can't things be simple for just once?'
*** *** ***
Author Notes
Hello! MidnightMK here!
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Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone