CHAPTER 2.5: NATASHA OF THE DEMONS

***The borders of the Holy Palatial Gardens and League of the Valley Cities***

Five hooded figures stood by the banks of the swollen river at the limits of the Holy Palatial Garden’s territory. According to the information that they gathered from a nearby village, that place was where a shallow part could be forded, even amidst a heavy downpour.

“…”

The leading person in that group, James Walter Reed, knew that on the other side of the river lay his salvation, for the Saint’s Paladin Guards Corps could not easily cross another state’s borders without consent from its ruler. However, that law applied to him as well, for, by rights, he was a ruler of another nation…

And James knew he didn’t prepare for the event if he was exposed, and had to run.

If he is captured by another royal, that can mean the end of his run. And surely Maddie will not forgive him easily.

“…”

The fugitive royal could only wait for his scouts, for he had sent them to find the possibility of crossing back into Nerfes by another, more direct, route.

However…

“!!!”

Soon they heard horses approaching their direction. James and his companions drew their swords in anticipation of the worst. But then, what came out was one of the scouts, bringing in some news.

“Milord, the Paladins also closed-off the borders to the northwest and captured some of my companions!” he reported, “You should escape to the other side; the Paladins surrounded this place and closing on us!”

“Your Majesty, please cross the river while we hold off the paladins!” one of his men told him.

At that moment, James knew he had no choice but to take the risk and cross into the borders of the Valley Cities. Though the downpour was relentless, and the river’s water was raging, he threw off his armor and prodded his horse to the other side.

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***The Holy Palatial Gardens, inside the Saint’s Chambers***

Lily had just come from the grand dining room of the Holy Palatial Gardens to the private quarters of the Human Saint. Upon knocking three times on the door, it was opened halfway for her…

“What’s the password?”

“Eris…you know there’s no password.”

“Hehe, of course! I’m just playing around.”

At once, Eris let the head maid in, along with the cart of food that she had just brought along. It’s the dinner of the Saints Maddie and Natasha. The moment she entered Maddie’s room, she was shocked to be greeted by piles of paper with different magic circles, overturned ink bottles and squeezed out paint tubes, and ripped pillows and blankets everywhere.

The entire place was in utter disorder.

Lily turned to Eris. The young maid was quick to defend herself, “When I came in a bit earlier than you, Lady Lily, the place is already in this state!”

The head maid could only shake her head in dismay. However, she had more pressing concerns…

“Maddie, your father, and friends were waiting for you at the dinner table earlier. I had to make excuses so that they won’t suspect anything, but I can’t keep doing this forever, you know?”

“Ssh! Can I ask you to be quiet, Lily?” Maddie told her, “I’m concentrating here, see?”

“Steady your hand, or it’ll be weakened,” Natasha was instructing her, as the latter was focused on trying to draw perfect and intricate magic lines.

“Yes, I’m doing my best! Can’t you see it?” the human saint snapped.

“Careful!” Natasha turned on the maids, “Don’t spill anything on those, or we’ll have to repeat drawing those magic circles again.”

The maids gently treaded amidst the towers of paper while trying to balance the trays they were carrying. Once they reached the table beside the saints, they were relieved to put those down.

“Your Holiness, what are those?” Eris was overcome by her curiosity and asked.

“These are various magic circle designs that we’ve been testing,” Natasha answered; Maddie was too focused on what she was doing to be bothered.

“Testing?” Lily followed-up.

“Yes. We’re trying to create a ‘crossing’ to Cherwind even if it’s a little portal.”

“But Your Holiness, isn’t that possible only with the consent of the other saint of the land?”

“Well, that’s what the heavens decreed in the past,” Natasha told them, “However, I believe we could actually create an exception to that rule since I and Maddie are saints of this world. Thus, we’re trying out various magic circle designs and see which ones would work.”

“Err…” it was Lily, “But, if you’re doing that, wouldn’t it be defying the heavens?”

“Of course it is, Princess von Leese. Isn’t it what I told you before?” the Saint of Darkness confirmed, “However, consider this. The High King of the Gods wouldn’t intervene, nor we’d want Him to since we already asked a lot of favors in the past. And the Lord Gaius’ reign is already over. Who, do you think, is still in the heavens watching if the rules about crossing into another land are being followed or not?”

“N-None?”

“Exactly. And because we wanted to save Kuro from that accursed doggie saint, we’re doing what we can to open the crossing…though it’s a matter of trial and error, see?”

“Oh…”

“I’m curious, Your Holiness…” Eris spoke, “…how far have you gone through the experiments?”

“Well, most of those magic circles didn’t work. But so far we created magic circles that formed a small rain-cloud, teleported this room into the void, summoned some weird-looking monster claiming to be a god named ‘Nyarlatho—’…actually, the name’s pretty hard to pronounce so I wasn’t able to remember much.”

“Impressive!”

“But yeah, we have had little luck on opening the crossing from Chersea to Cherwind.”

“Wait, Your Holiness…” Lily had a concerned look on her face, “…do you mean to say that Maddie was taking on these illegal experiments?”

“Well, let’s say that she’s helping me; but she’s not directly involved. I’m the one who’s powering these circles so that if punishment comes, I’m the only one who’d be responsible.”

Lily and Eris had confused expressions. They were still about to ask something, when suddenly…

“I finally did it!”

“!!!”

Lily, Eris, and Natasha almost jumped from their seats when Maddie shouted out of the blue; she was raising her hands in a victory pose, and the perfectly-drawn magic circle was clearly defined on the paper she was holding.

“Ah great! Let’s try this thing you made!” Natasha grabbed the paper from Maddie, put it over the bed where the human saint was sitting, and started channeling mana unto it.

“Err…should we get out now, Your Holiness?” the maids slowly retreated to the far side of the room.

“What are you saying?” Natasha had a big grin on her lips, “It’ll be fine! After all, you’re in the presence of the Saint of Darkness, Natasha of the Demons!”