Volume 3 Chapter 47 – The Truth (Patreon)

"Who are you really, boy?" Azrael repeated his question to Galandir, glaring at the elf, however Morrigan stood in between them, blocking the mage's view.

"Now is not the time for that. There are still enemies outside and our magic is completely spent. What do we do?" she asked. Azrael stared her in the eyes for a moment longer, then relented.

"I do have something to help with that," he said and snapped his fingers. Three bottles containing some blue liquid appeared in his hands.

"What's that? Also, how did you get those without any magic left?" 

"I don't need any magic to reach into my pocket dimension. And these are magic restoration potions—highly potent ones too," Azrael explained, giving one potion to Morrigan and reluctantly to Galandir as well. "Granted for people like us who have larger than normal magic reserves, these aren't all that helpful." 

"If you had potions that restore magic why didn't you give them to me when I needed magic for the painting?" she growled and uncorked the bottle, taking a careful sniff of the liquid. Morrigan recoiled as the smell that hit her nose reminded her of sewage mixed with rotting fish and eggs. "What is with that smell?!"

"Yeah, that's the first reason. It smells nasty and let me tell you—the flavor is not any better. Second, it restores magic gradually, amplifying the rate at which the body recovers magic, instead of just giving a quick boost."

"Where's the potion that gives the quick boost then?" 

"There's no such thing. How the hell would you even bottle up magic? That makes no sense," Azrael shook his head and downed the potion in one swell swig. He grimaced and shuddered from the nasty flavor, sticking out his tongue in disgust.

"I've seen things much crazier than just bottling up magic, but fine," she grumbled and then drank her own potion. The flavor was so incredibly disgusting that she almost instantly spit it out. Only through sheer force of will was she able to swallow the disgusting liquid. "This is the worst-tasting thing I have ever put in my mouth."

Galandir winced a little bit as he drank the potion, but his reaction was much more subdued than theirs, "Yeah, this is not pleasant. Was there really no way to make this taste better?"

"Not without losing the potency of the potion," Azrael replied, glaring in the elf's direction. Morrigan began to feel how her strength slowly came back to her. It appeared that along with lost magic, the potion also recovered stamina. 

"How long until our magic recovers to a usable level?" she asked.

"Half a day would fully restore the magic of any normal mage but in your case it would probably take longer. On the other hand, we have this light orb just spewing magic out so that will probably speed things up."

"Half a day… We can't just sit here and do nothing for so long," she said and pointed outside where Haku was still fighting.

"Oh, I don't think you need to worry about that," Azrael said and strode out of the cathedral. Morrigan and Galandir shared a cautious look and then followed him, taking careful steps forward. However, their worries seemed to be unwarranted. When they saw the plaza in front of the cathedral it became clear that only a few enemy stragglers were left. 

But the carnage that Haku had caused in order to defeat the enemies was quite substantial. Basically, every building besides the cathedral was damaged in one way or another. Some were reduced to rubble and some were burned halfway down. It was a good thing that Haku could stop his fire as easily as he could cause it.

"Your Highness, the Old City is secured," Melanos appeared before Morrigan, kneeling in front of her. 

"Good work, everyone," Morrigan announced and the guards along with the demon soldier reinforcement that Melanos had brought cheered.

"Long live the Crown Princess!" They cheered, and some demons looked admiringly at Haku, who stood tall and proud, having been the main force of the attack. 

"We need to station guards in this area. While the black orb is gone, it's only a matter of time before the enemy realizes that I've created something that produces magic instead. The light orb should not fall into enemy hands," Morrigan said, and the demon soldiers nodded firmly.

"You heard her! Secure the perimeter, and station guards around the cathedral and the whole Old City. The artifact Princess created will change the tide of battle," Azrael ordered in an amplified voice and the soldiers got to work at once.

"Let's return to the Demon Castle. I want to check on Deziara," Morrigan said and both Galandir and Azrael nodded. Haku eagerly walked up to her and lowered himself to the guard for her to get on the saddle. She swiftly climbed up and Galandir followed after her, sitting behind her. It was a bit tight with them both sitting in the same saddle, but they managed to fit in somehow.

"Hey, where am I supposed to sit? Doesn't this dragon come with a secondary seat or something?" Azrael complained.

"Hmm… Maybe a second saddle isn't a bad idea. But currently, we only have this one. Haku can you perhaps carry Azrael in your claws? He doesn't have enough magic yet to teleport," she explained.

"It's not a problem," the dragon replied in her mind and took flight.

"Hey, you! Don't leave me… Wait, what are you doing?!" Azrael saw how Haku was reaching out for him with his claws and began running. Unfortunately for him, Azrael was not very fast without his magic, and before long Haku had him securely in his grasp.

"This is not how you treat the court mage!" he complained.

"Would you rather walk all the way back to the castle?" Morrigan said, and he went silent. The trip was not very long as Haku could cover the distance between the Old City and Demon Castle in less than five minutes. 

There were soldiers gathered in the yard who cheered when they saw Haku and Morrigan flying back.

"Crown Princess is back!"

"She broke the orb! Our magic is returning!"

"Long live Princess Morrigan!"

The buzz of excitement was almost too much for Morrigan, but then a few concubines and princesses began coming out of the castle. Among them were Lady Lily and Deziara.

"Deziara, you're fine!" Morrigan cheered, running towards her sister as soon as Haku landed.

"Somewhat," Deziara said shakily, leaning onto her mother.

"You both are just such a lot of trouble," Lady Lily said angrily, tears welling in her eyes. "First my daughter was brought to me unconscious when I thought she was safe and sound on the other side of the Underworld. Then I hear that Morrigan is in the cathedral trying to destroy the magic-sucking orb with only a handful of demons for guards!"

Both Deziara and Morrigan looked down shamefully, but Lady Lily then pulled both of them into a tight hug. "I'm so glad that both of you are safe."

When she released them both from the hug, Lady Lily went up to Galandir. Morrigan worried what she would say to the elf, but was surprised to see her bow before him. "Thank you for healing my daughter's injuries despite not being a demon."

"Of course," Galandir replied somewhat awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. Clearly, he had not been expecting such a reaction either.

For a moment, all of them just stood together listening to the cheers of the soldiers and enjoying a moment of respite. Then Deziara spoke up, "What now?"

"We wait for the magic to recover. I'm going to join the front lines as soon as I feel I've recovered enough," Azrael said.

"I'm going too," Morrigan said resolutely.

"NO!" Many voices screamed at her—Azrael, Lady Lilly, and most of the soldiers.

"You need to remain here, where it is safe!" Lady Lily took Morrigan by her shoulders firmly, looking her straight in the eyes. "You've already done enough."

"But—" 

"No buts! Your father will have our heads if we allow you to go there," the demoness said firmly and the soldiers nodded along with her, their faces going white at the mention of the King.

"Lady Lily is right. Kids like you have no business on the battlefield. You'll just be a big flying target and an obvious weakness our enemies can exploit. Be a good princess and get back to your castle," Azrael shooed for her to get inside. Morrigan glared at them each in turn but said nothing.

Dejectedly, she sighed and motioned Galandir to follow her inside. Azrael gave him a distrustful glance, but for now, he said nothing. Morrigan sensed that the only reason why he wasn't interrogating the boy was due to the critical situation they were in. Once it was over, he would no doubt question the elf again. But she wasn't going to let that happen—not before she asked Galandir about it first.

So Morrigan, Galandir, and all the concubines and princesses headed back inside the castle. She was showered by praise from all sides, even the usually hostile concubines looked somewhat relieved and happy. It appeared that times of adversity could unite even them.

But Morrigan did not linger with the crowd long, instead deciding to rest in her room while her magic recovered. Gunna met her somewhere along the way, crying tears of joy at her safe return and then rushing off to the kitchen to prepare some food for her.

"Is it really alright for me to go in there?" Galandir asked lingering on the threshold of her living room.

"Yes. Father isn't here right now," she said with a sad note. Thoughts of what Alphegor was doing right now appeared in her mind but she pushed them aside. She knew that if she dwelled on them, she would just rush to the front line that instant.

Slowly, taking ginger steps Galandir walked inside the living room, looking around everything. Smile appeared on his face once he saw how Morrigan's side of the living room was littered with paints and other drawing supplies.

"Remember how when I first arrived at the Demon Kingdom, I tried to sneak into your room?" he said, picking up one of the notepads and sifting through it. It contained drawings from plants and animals on Earth, as well as Morrigan was able to draw them from memory.

"How could I forget? You stubbornly insisted on trying to get in, despite me catching you. I was so worried that Father would just kill you on the spot," Morrigan said with a nervous chuckle.

"Yeah. I have no idea what took over me then. It was the first time I was allowed to roam free and the fallen had given me the mission of getting blood from the Crown Princess of Demon Kingdom. They had promised to set me free if I did that," he said, his lips pursed together. "What a fool I was back then…"

"You were just a kid trying to be free again. I can't fault you for that," Morrigan said, going to stand by his side to look at her drawings. It felt reassuring being back in her room and seeing her favorite painting corner. But it also felt jarring—there was a crisis going on outside and yet she was just standing here and chatting.

"I can't forgive myself for that. You've been nothing but kind to me from the very beginning, but I kept acting like a brat. In your place, I would have just let the fallen drag me away after the competition was over."

"Hey, don't say that. Who'd take care of Haku then?" she said with a chuckle, trying to ease the tension but Galandir did not laugh.

"I'm still a fool, you know. Despite all we've been through, I still haven't told you about who I really am. The only reason I'm considering it is because I'll be forced to do so anyway. I'd rather tell you of free will."

Morrigan wanted to say that he didn't have to tell her if he didn't want to, but she knew she couldn't say that anymore. It was he who gave her his magic that she was able to create an artifact. She still couldn't process that fact properly—an artifact that created magic. It seemed impossible. Yet somehow with their combined magic, it became possible.

"I assume you're not just any regular elf," she said.

"No. You know how I told you that the fallen killed my parents and everyone in my village," he said, and she nodded. His fingers had stopped flipping the pages of her notepad, stopping on a drawing of a bird flying.

"That was only half the truth. My mother was killed as were all the villagers in the place where I grew up…" Galandir paused and then looked at Morrigan. "However, my father is still alive. He is the King of the Light Kingdom in the Overworld."

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