Chapter 10: Forfeit Forest

I’m surprised that I was executed or shipped off to Ravivui, but I figured that Aldous was practicing keeping your enemies close. I have noticed that I’m almost never alone anymore, I still work as a maid, but there are always a few soldiers in every room I go into. Guard patrols are more frequent in the halls of the servants’ rooms, I always feel watched every minute of the day, making my next task all that harder, but not impossible. Today I had snuck off to Forfeit Forest to meet up with the traveler between worlds, the undead merchant, Garth. I had fastened my skirt around my neck, so it flowed behind me like a cape. My special knife may had been taken away, along with most of my stash, but some of my secret compartments still remained a secret.

I took in the rich forest air. Critters scurried around just out of sight. Most humans are too afraid to enter this place, but for me, this is where I feel safest. Everything went still, the wind, every animal had vacated the area, still I kept walking. Cold hands that I could feel through my sleeves grabbed my shoulders. “That’s not the knife you usually carry.” A young echoey voice commented. “What happened?”

“I was caught.” I stated, ignoring Garth’s attempt to scare me.

“Caught? Ar-are you undead as well now? How long ago?” He floated up beside me, his orange eyes wide in fear. Even the dead are scared of Aldous.

“I’m still as undead as before. About a week ago, are you familiar with Lord Trockalon?” I asked him, turning my head to look at him.

“Uh, somewhat, unfortunately. Like with most people I try to avoid him. He doesn’t seem like a potential client.” Garth leaned back on the air while scratching his face. “He is one that reincarnates often?”

“Yes, I too try to avoid him, he is quite annoying. He broke in and attacked one of the maids. The official records say that I stabbed him twenty-three times. Some unimportant demon lords saw me do it. I was thrown in the dungeon for stashing weapons. I was stuck in there for four days, now the castle is on high alert, I can barely do anything without someone breathing down my neck.” I explained.

“Ah, don’t take this the wrong way, but I kind of wish they killed you and you became a ghost.” Garth almost whined.

“Tch, I know your lonely, but who knows what would happen if I die again. Becoming a ghost is extremely rare, even more so to become a wandering spirit like yourself.” I then made a turn and Garth followed. “How have you been holding up?”

“Eh, pretty good. I got a new client, some lass from the dark dimension, so I shouldn’t be losing her for a few hundred years.” Garth mentioned.

“Ah, what kind of items is she after?” I followed up.

“Uh-nun-uh, client confidentiality.” Garth waggled his finger in his face.

“I’m surprised you know such a big word.” I sneered.

“Gah!” Garth clenched his fists. “I’m like a thousand years old! I know some pretty big words!” He squawked at me.

Garth started down a different way than what I was going. “I’m going to the apothecary first; I’ll meet you back at my place if you don’t want to come.” I pointed to the path I was taking.

“Yeah, I’ll try not to trash the place while you run your errands.” Garth shrugged.

“Ugh, you better not! See you later.” I waved goodbye and trekked off. The traveled the forest alone, enjoying the cool shade and the much-needed alone time. The deer-made trail merged with a person-made trail and became wider. I came to a clearing where a house and a small shop stood. Various well used paths led to different parts of the forest, I could see a goblin that was leaving turn her head slightly to see if I was coming after her.

The shopkeeper saw me coming and called out. “Ah, Amice! It has been quite some time.” He called out. He was a boar monster, as far as I know, I am his only human customer. “I was worried that you had been killed in seize on the castle, or in that human attack about a week ago.”

“Oh, that attack was nothing, I dealt with him easily.” I waved as if to fan away his concern.

“Huh? You took care of him? Are you alright?” He slammed his hands on the counter as he leaned forward.

“Un-huh, it’s no biggie. I did get in trouble for having weapons, though.” I answered him.

“Well, as long as everyone is alright.” He crossed his arms as he sighed.

“How is business?” I asked as I put my hands on the counter.

“Erm, steady. My health potion sales have dropped, but everything else has been doing better so it evens out. I’ve been thinking about getting my son to start doing deliveries since we won’t have as many human attacks anymore. His tusks are starting to come in so it might be best to give him more freedom.” He scratched the bottom of his chin.

“Ah, how old is he now?” I continued the conversation.

“He is ten now, oh I still remember when he was your height, he is growing so fast. He is still as skinny as ever, though.” He rubbed his hands together then turned into his back to me to grab something. “Well, I shouldn’t keep you any longer.” He placed a small bag on the counter.

"Huh, it so small, wait, is that-!" I stammered.

"Yep." The shopkeeper nodded. "That's a pocket dimension pouch, ora PD Pouch for short. Can hold up to one hundred items, no extra charge!"

“Thank you very much.” I pulled out a bag. “So that three hundred pearls, right?” He nodded again. I handed him three smaller bags from within my back. “That should be it.

He made a small check into each bag. “Looks to be. Stay out of trouble now, you hear!”

I took my PD Pouch, I waved as I started off. “No promises!”I made my way through the forest, until I came to a stone wall, where a seemingly abandoned house was inside. Even though I lived at the castle, this was my home, and where we would escape to if we had to. I went to unlock the gate, but it was already unlocked. “Garth…” I murmured to myself.

No sooner did I open the gate and walked in; Garth was flying out at full speed. “It was nice knowing you! I hope we meet again!” He called out as he disappeared into the forest.

I drew my knife as I kept my guard up, my eyes dashing around to see what had spooked him. “That’s not your usual knife.” A crackly old voice echoed around my yard. I then heard boss music, literally. The gate closed and locked suddenly. She leapt down from a tree branch, landing in the very center of the yard. I knew she was: Cloelia, master sorceress and mother of Aldous.

“I am-“ I began to declare, but she took her hand off her cane and waved.

“Hehe, I know who you are. Amice the Isekai’d.” Her eyes locked on me.

“How?” I braced myself, ready for her to attack at any second.

“I knew the day you arrived. I know what you have done, all those you killed for entertainment.” She sneered.

I took a step back in shock. “I-I didn’t know it was real.” I tried to defend my actions.

“Let’s see how well you fight, now that it’s actually you doing the fighting.” She tapped her cane on the ground.

Magic orbs came flying at me, I dodged as best I could, running for my life, but they kept coming, they had a lock on me and were gaining on me. This wasn’t a test of strength; it was a test of the mind. I slowed my pace, then put Cloelia in between me and the orbs. She took the hits unaffected. She tapped her cane again, lasers shot out around her. I jumped over one, ducked under the next, jump, jump, duck. Next came two lasers that were parallel, the top one was too high for me to jump over and the bottom one was too low for me to duck under. I jumped up and hoped that I could get my body flat enough to fit through the gap. I was wrong. I was hit by both lasers, I knew I had taken significant damage while my clothes were unharmed.

I ran towards Cloelia, hoping I could get a hit in, she hadn’t hit her cane on the ground again yet. Her eyes suddenly snapped to my direction as I went for a slash. She nimbly dodged. She hit me with her cane, magic flying out as I took damage. I fell to one knee. I wiped the blood from my lip. I reached into my hair and threw three shuriken at her. She was able to deflect them nonchalantly, still, it gave me the opportunity to get behind her for a stab. As my blade touched her cloak, she spun around, pushing me away with her cane.

I jumped back as she launched a magic attack. I really wish I had MP right now. As soon as the spell dissipated, I ran forward once more. A fireball came at me, I zigged to the right, another fireball came at me, I zagged to the left. This finally fireball I knew I couldn’t dodge, but I knew I could tank it. So, as I was engulfed in flames, I blindly slashed.

When the heat died down, I opened my eyes and allowed myself to breath. My eyes locked onto Cloelia’s hand. I had successfully cut her. I smiled that I was able to draw blood. I was then promptly hit in the face with her cane. “Going to pause and drink a health potion now?” Cloelia taunted.

“I can go a bit longer, grandma!” I took to my feet and charged at her.

“Ha! I wish.” She cawed back as she blocked my strike. She cast a spell on the ground, causing my feet to go back like I was standing still on a treadmill. She then waved her cane and ghost-like hands grabbed my wrists and ankles. She held me in the air as she spoke to me. “If I wanted to kill you, I would have just obliterated you right off the get go. But then what kind of guide would I be? No, you have curbed your murderous tendencies now that you know you are actually hurting people.”

“Guide?” I uttered a question barely loud enough for myself to hear.

“Yes, as Harriette is Princess Freya’s guide, as Mavis is Prince Ronald’s guide, I am yours. I must admit I have done a poor job, but we were very limited on what we could do before. Back when we were trapped in a story where everyone’s fates were sealed.” She licked her lips and swallowed. “Which brings me to my next point. You have been having a moral dilemma. You do not know what side for you to choose. You made a promise thirteen years ago, you feel if you join my son, then you are breaking that promise?”

“Yes.” I knew that there was no point in lying to her. “I swore loyalty to the kingdom of Bugalas.”

“Not the royal family, to Bugalas herself. What do you believe would be best for her?” She began to hobble around me as she asked.

I took my time to think. “Well, now that I’m outside of the games’ narrative, it seems like Aldous rule would be best. After all I’ve read and seen, he cares for all peoples, not just one more then the others. I don’t want to believe that Pri-“

“Oh ho no! Princess Freya and Prince Ronald were never evil, heavens no. They were always good people, they are like you, well I guess until you were isekai’d you were the same person, people?” She scratched her face in thought. “That’s not the point.” She waved away the thought. “They had the same knowledge as you. Now that you know more, and are capable of making your own judgment, now that you can choose. You must decide, what are you fighting for?” She then released me.

A sat there on the ground. “Uh, um…” I tried to think of where I stood in all this.

“You don’t have to decide right this minute. Come along now, they are missing you back at the castle.” Cloelia waved for me to come along. I stood up and ran to catch up with her.

As we made our way back to the castle, we chatted casually. I quite enjoyed getting to know her better. I never thought of her as an evil monster back in my old life, just as a woman willing to do anything for her children, who made fourth wall breaks. I put my skirt back around my waste before we made it out of the forest, I still had appearances to uphold. When we reached the gates, the guards initially refused to open the doors, until they called over their superior, who recognised both of us and let us in. Cloelia led me straight to the courtyard where Harriette and Aldous were arguing.

“Like I told you, I have no bloody clue where she is! It’s not like she has a free will of her own!” Harriette screeched.

“Well, I need ideas on where she might be!” Aldous yelled back.

“Ahem!” Cloelia faked clearing her throat.

Aldous turned with a scowl, that melted away when he saw her. “Mom! Your not supposed to be here for another week.”

“Well, I was in the neighborhood.” She waddled up to him and they exchanged a hug.

Guards then came and grabbed my arms. Ignatius loomed over me. “Where the heck have you been, you are in for a world of-“

Aldous interrupted him. “Don’t bother, it probably wasn’t her own fault. My mother was involved. She probably teleported her out just to cause some chaos.”

“I needed someone to carry my luggage.” Cloelia covered for me as she began to shuffle away, motioning for me to come with her. I then noticed the PD Pouch on my waist with her name on it. The guards let me go and I swiftly followed her.

“That doesn’t make any sense?” Ignatius questioned with his hands on his hips.

“It’s my mother, nothing makes sense.” Aldous replied flatly.