Chapter 29: Lilith (Part 2)
It was close to the end of the year when Lilith finally dug up some news from the Second Knights Order.
Back then, nobody knew that the already-dead Captain of the Third Knights Order had his own little schemes simmering in his head. That fateful night, after returning to the camp tent where Barry and the others were, he spun a tall tale instead of sharing the real deal, trying to rope everyone into his mess to save his own skin.
And shockingly enough, he succeeded! Well, mostly because by that point, the Third Knights Order was already a hotbed of suspicion due to all sorts of drama, and resentment had been brewing for ages.
But of course, things took a turn for the worse.
That fateful night, the Third Knights Order kicked off what they called a “mutiny.” A couple hundred knights donned their armor, brandished their blades, and charged from the east camp to the north camp, aiming to capture the Vice Captain and use him as a bargaining chip to escape the city. However, they weren’t prepared for the fact that the whispers had already spread too far, and the well-prepped Second Knights Order surrounded them the moment they reached the north camp.
The sounds of slaughter supposedly echoed all night long. Come the dawn, the camp was painted red with bl**d, and numerous warriors lay dead, while the few who remained were dragged out of the city by the furious Vice Captain of the Second Knights Order under the accusation of “heresy.”
Panic washed over the city once again.
To shift the public’s eyes away and curb the wild speculations growing in their minds, the third knights’ narrative of “being corrupted by demons, trying to reclaim the city for heresy” started circulating from taverns around town and soon snowballed into a full-blown media scandal.
As for that self-righteous Captain? His head ended up hanging by the city gates for nearly six months.
“That night, Barry was just as clueless and thoughtlessly followed them…”
At this, Lilith’s voice caught a bit in her throat.
On that very night, she was with her mother, a bunch of nobles, and servants meeting with the Second Knights Order when she first sensed something brewing near the Vice Captain’s tent. Even though she had no idea what was going on, she decided to sneak off to find Barry.
But before she could locate him, chaos erupted in the camp! Amidst the mayhem, she nearly got caught in the crossfire. Luckily, a knight from the Third Knights Order managed to help her reach safety, only to find Barry, who was now completely off the rails, trying to capture the Vice Captain.
She warned Barry it was a trap, literally twisting herself into a pretzel to convince him, and even risked dressing him up as a male servant to sneak him out of the camp. She hid him in a firewood shed near the castle, desperately trying to keep what happened next from Barry, but secrets don’t last long, and soon, during a dark night, Barry slipped away.
“I feared he’d go off on a revenge trip… so… I searched for him with everything I had…”
The woman spent three whole months searching for him in the city.
From north to south, from west to east, in just three months, she practically chased down every alley and corner of Alectine City. Whenever she got the chance to step outside, she’d be convinced Barry was somewhere in that direction, and she’d rush off to check every tavern, brothel, camp, and even the sketchiest backstreets. A few times, she nearly got kidnapped and attacked—although she didn’t share that part with me, I could hear it lurking in the cracks of her voice.
In essence, she covered more ground in those three months than in her entire life combined.
Eventually, she found Barry buried under a pile of stinky garbage behind a tavern on Jasmine Lane.
“He was really itching for revenge… but… he never got the chance…”
When she found him, he hadn’t eaten for days, and while trying to scrounge food in Jasmine Lane, some equally starving refugees beat him up. He ended up passed out and dumped in that trash heap, bruised all over. If Lilith hadn’t shown up in time, he might’ve turned into a permanent fixture of the garbage—a sad reality when revenge hardly matters when you can’t even find your next meal.
“Even in that state… he never thought to come back to me… stubborn as a mule…”
After that, Lilith set out to orchestrate his escape from Alectine City.
She hid him back in the firewood shed, diligently caring for him while dodging detection from others—especially her own family—who wouldn’t want to find out she was harboring a church “criminal,” which could drag her entire family into the mud.
Taking a massive risk, she treated his wounds and snuck him food. Initially, she stole from the castle kitchen, but when her mother became suspicious, she had to switch tactics and scrimped from her own meals, sometimes eating just half a portion herself and giving the rest to Barry. Only her two most trusted maids knew of this, not even Barry was in the loop.
As I listened to her recount all this, I paid close attention to her face.
In the dark, I hadn’t noticed before, but now that I looked closely, I could see she was trying hard to hide her fatigue with makeup—it was clear she looked ill and drained, and her hands—exposed—were worryingly thin.
“And then what happened?” I asked her.
“Well…”
According to Lilith, Barry fell into a phase where he lost a lot of will to live.
Not that he was exactly ready to throw in the towel. He’d wake up and sit in the firewood shed, accepting food and drink without refusing, then flop down and sleep. Lilith tried to have heart-to-heart talks with him, wanting to see him rejuvenated, but nothing seemed to work; Barry didn’t want to converse with anyone.
“Actually, even before all this happened, his demeanor was already… strange… He got emotional over nothing, yelling at people and breaking stuff… crying alone at night… and eventually stopped wanting to meet me…”
“Because at the beginning of that year, he found out from the church’s last public notice that his beloved sister had returned to the embrace of the Deity… When that chaotic episode happened, he just couldn’t handle it and… well…”
He lost it a bit.
There was one time, when Lilith tried to comfort him with a gentle hug, Barry drew his blade and pressed it against her neck, roaring for her to get out. He wanted to d*e right there.
Lilith was heartbroken.
But she didn’t wave the white flag and give up on Barry.
“I kept trying to reach him… I told him… I wanted to see again… that bright-eyed, ambitious hero-wannabe Barry… I said your sister wouldn’t want to see you in this state…”
“I wasn’t scared of his sword… because I knew… that Barry would never truly harm me…”
Eventually, Barry started to crawl out from under the weight of despair a little.
Thanks to Lilith’s relentless encouragement.
Once he was healed, she set up several hideouts for him, changing locations every so often. Come nightfall, Barry began to move again, but this time, wherever he went, he made sure to return before dawn.
Meanwhile, Lilith was busy working out the escape plan for him.
“I got in touch with… some people I’m not sure are trustworthy. I’m not clear on their motives or true identities, but I can guarantee one thing—they are definitely not from the church and they’d never be after Barry’s bounty; they have no ties with any forces in the city…”
“They don’t lack money or food; they seem to be investigating something else in town… About six months ago, I started dealing with them… They have the capability to get Barry out of here…”
“So I thought I’d take a shot and ask for their help.”
