Chapter Six: The Root of Evil 

“Could you tell me your name?” Once more, the room is silent, and Elwood approaches the peace offering. “I don’t mind, you know.” Elwood starts, and the peace offering appears perplexed by that remark.

"...that you wounded me in combat; in fact, I find it fascinating to find someone who could do so.”

He taps his fingers on the table placed next to them, asking, “Do you realize your king abandoned you to die by my hand?”

No reply.

“Is it because of this small little mark I made on you?” Elwood grabs the tip of his sleeve and rubs the mark, watching the pale snowflake on his cheek fade away like a small patch of snow. “Why don’t we make a deal? Hmm…But how can I bargain with someone whose name I don’t know? What should we do?” Elwood tugs at him to sit where the previous idiotic king was just moments before and jokingly pouts.

The peace offering was clenching his teeth, and Elwood could see it, and he deeply took a breath and gently exhaled it to calm himself. “What’s the deal? I’ll tell you my name once you tell me what exactly you want with me.”

Elwood, who interpreted this as a victory, strode over and took a seat on top of the table, placing himself directly in front of the peace offering. “Since you hurt me so severely the last time, you obviously have talent, so how about you become my bodyguard? You see, I’d like to protect myself from harm, but I’m still injured, so I’m in need of your services. If you agree, you’ll receive the room next to mine rather than the dungeon, have three meals daily, and have some alone time. I’ll even let you roam the courtyard if you agree right now.”

“How do you know that I won’t simply attack you or try to escape?” The peace offering tenses up, not in a way that shows fear but as if he is getting ready for something.

Elwood wags his finger in the air and says, “I won’t be responding to anything until I know your name.” They stared at each other for a solid second before the other gruffed out, “Valentine, my name is Valentine Barlot.”

“Wow, that wasn’t so hard now, was it? Well, to answer you... I don’t know.” Shrugging his shoulders, “You can attempt to harm me again or even try to run away, but since you are in my territory, do you really believe I will make it so simple for you?”

Elwood's eyes crinkle up when he observes the other lower his head in surrender. “What’s your response, then? Your access to the outdoors is slowly fading away.” His smile is wide before two piercing green eyes stare out back at him, and Elwood feels something burning in his stomach once more as his face begins to heat up. What is this feeling, he wonders?

“I’ll do it.” Elwood got to his feet and strode briskly toward the door as Valentine replied in a rough and evidently angry voice. “Very well, come with me.”

They enter a decent-sized room next to Elwood’s own, and Valentine saunters over to the low table and takes a seat across from him.

“I know your weariness towards me and your desire to get out of here as soon as possible, but we made a bargain. You will be given as much freedom as I can while you are here, and in exchange, you will guard over me. If you follow this agreement, I’ll let you go in six months.”

“Why six months?”

“Why ask questions and tarnish this moment when you ought to be over the moon right now?” Elwood sighs. “But for now, I can assure you that nothing bad will happen to you beyond six months, so don’t worry.”

“How can I trust that you will honor this deal?”

Elwood hums. What a wise question, he thinks. “Would you like this done on paper so it’s official? We can use blood to bind us to the pact; will that suffice?”

Valentine nods. “Okay, that will do.”

“By tomorrow, I’ll have the contract completed and ready.” Elwood grinned before returning his attention to Valentine. “I’m going to leave you alone today as a test of your trust, and I hope you understand where I’m coming from. Suppose you violate the terms of the agreement today by attacking me or anybody else or attempting to flee. In that case, I will add a new condition to the contract tomorrow, and you will lose another freedom.

Valentine stands up, blocking Elwood’s way. “I could kill you right now and leave.”

“Do it.”

Elwood could say he admires this person’s aggressiveness and transparency in his remarks. Why is this so enticing to him? He speculates that perhaps he finds this person amusing simply because he has never met anyone so straightforward. Or that he might have some psychological problems.

“It would free the people from your tyrannical reign and save thousands.”

They both stay in their spots. Motionless.

“Would it?” Elwood questions.

“It would.” Valentine waits a moment before releasing a little power as a warning. “I witnessed the massacre you unleashed on the Ionoe Kingdom firsthand and can attest to the evil in your heart.”

Elwood can’t refute that, since he does have a point, but there are simply things that need to be done sometimes, and that was one of them. He can get the reasoning behind this man’s logic, but the other man has too little information to go off to fully understand his actions.

“Hmmm, what do you make of what the Fertility God is doing, then? Do you really think what she gave to that kingdom was done with a pure heart?”

“If it wasn’t done from a pure heart, how could it have been done with malice? She supplied the people with safe food and water that’s actually drinkable! You knew she had to get help from the goddess in order to survive this crisis! And yet you had the audacity to kill her for providing for her people!” His voice shook with pure anger, and his tone was sharp, like it could pierce through his soul. Elwood rolls his eyes nevertheless. “You see, talking honestly with people like you is…challenging. The goddess could have easily stopped this lands' poisonous upsurge. So why is it necessary for her to work with the kingdoms? Do you understand what the kingdoms must do to get non-poisonous food and water in any case?” Before Valentine could answer, Elwood continued with haste and with the same ferocious snide he was shown before with the Goddess “Do you know how the fertility goddess purifies the earth from the tainted god’s curse that is poisoning us?”

Elwood gives Valentine a second before laughing in the same breath. “They give her human slaves. She nourishes the earth with people; human blood makes the earth pure; did you know that infant blood is even more delectable? She cultivates the crops and provides the kingdoms with her blood-soaked food once the land has been cleansed.”

Valentine’s eyes widened in disbelief as Elwood’s words sank in. “Your lying.” He couldn’t believe it and wouldn’t believe it; it can’t be true that a goddess who follows the heavenly principals could do something that disturbing. Just thinking about the notion of gathering up poor souls to purify the earth made him sick; he couldn’t fathom how such a practice could be justified.

“That’s barbaric; the goddess would never,” Valentine loudly stated, his voice filled with a mix of horror and confusion. “How can sacrificing innocent lives be considered purification? It goes against everything we believe in, doesn’t it? Plus…She wouldn’t—she wouldn’t do that! She’s a goddess.”

“What does being a goddess have to do with her methods of purifying the soil? Don’t be naive and trust in those in power; it will only lead to your downfall.”

“I don’t believe you. What proof do you have?” Valentine spits out; Elwood should have expected this, but remembering human nature, he is at least glad that this one had a brain to ask for proof. “Have you not seen the missing person posters that have been going around the nation, especially the ones that are more abundant in the regions she controls?”

“Missing persons?” Valentine repeats, his eyes narrowing. “I’ve heard whispers about it, but they were nothing but rumors... Are you saying you think that there might be a connection between the missing people and the goddess?”

Elwood nods solemnly, his expression grave. “Yes, there is. People have been vanishing without a trace in the regions under her control. Families are torn apart, searching for their loved ones who seemed to have simply vanished into thin air.”

“But why?” Valentine asks, his voice barely above a whisper, then glares, “Why!? What purpose did she have in doing so?” 

Thousands lost in the wind—it didn’t seem like something a goddess of her nature would do. She was a beacon of hope, and everyone knew she was the last protector, the last light of hope. She would rather discard her godliness than fall to those levels.

Silence rolls through the room, and Valentine is left alone in his thoughts as Elwood refuses to answer his dire questions. The horrifying detail of it all was that...  It made sense. There’s been an upsurge of missing people ever since the Goddess touched ground on this land, and yet...

Elwood stands up, waking him up from his trance. “Rest for tonight. Tomorrow morning, we will continue and sign that contract. Okay?”

“You told my king that you would look for Abigail.” He tugs on Elwood’s sleeve and asks, “Is she…”

“Most likely dead?” Elwood tilts his head, heading towards the door. “Yes.”

Elwood exits the room and closes the door behind him. Maybe he gave him too much information; having this stuff in your head will surely keep him up at night. However, Elwood can’t say he disliked conversing with someone outside his inner circle or his thoughts. Everyone around him thinks he is crazy to accuse the goddess of these things, and he is well aware of that, but this man— He did not completely disagree with him, but he did question him and use his reasoning skills. Finally, he had someone interesting in his hands.

Valentine was more like the king he had imagined the Asaka Kingdom to have, which was unfortunate for that nation because he had no plans to give him back once this was all over. For now, though, Elwood needs to do some paperwork and draw up that contract for tomorrow.

He slumps his shoulders. “So much to do and so little time,” he mummers.