Night and Day

Lilin tried to sleep, but it wasn't happening. She slowly sat up, looking at Annie. She was asleep on a rocking chair, and she noticed a little bit of wrinkling on her hands. She didn't normally see Annie's hands because of their uniform's gloves, but she could have sworn that they didn't look like that before. She shrugged, getting up and stepping into her shoes before unlocking the door. She didn't think anybody would be up at this hour, but she quickly applied the masking magic to herself before she stepped out.

Lilin felt a burst of cold, fresh air hit her as she stepped out of the inn. She smiled, shivering slightly as she started to walk. It was very obviously the time for the last harvest for this town, as the cool air indicated, so they must have refused their taxes out of some sort of pride or disdain for the King. But, maybe it was something else. A theory slowly began to brew in Lilin's mind.

Euwelyn's presence here was strange, to say the least. With the people's harvest aided by the Earth General's Core, it had to be a big one. Maybe they were refusing their taxes to build up money and start a coup? With the Earth General by their side, the people would be bold. Not to mention, while the front desk idiot was about as against her and Annie as anybody was, she wasn't as scared as most people would be. It'd make sense if she thought her village had a way to fight back.

Lilin gritted her teeth, clenching a fist. Where did that witch live? The edge of town? Annie had fed a bunch of kids, so she had to have passed through the residential area. Lilin set off in that direction, walking with a purpose now. She was going to figure out who this Euwelyn really was, Earth General or sham.

Lilin didn't encounter any signs of life until she started to walk between houses. In the houses were dim lamplights, illuminating various things going on within them. For the most part, people were asleep, but she saw a few people up late into the night. Some of them were reading, others were cleaning. She remembered doing that, late nights spent cleaning obsessively. Her father had made her scrub out every blemish and undo every scrape in the floor every night, standing over her like a hawk. She hated it. She ran away after a while, but where did she end up? She went right back to scrubbing and cleaning and buffing out floor scratches. She grinned to herself, remembering how immature she had been, trying to run from her problems. Instead of complaining and running, she should have realized earlier that she could move up in the world just by doing her work better than others. She was happy now.

Well, not quite. She still had to move up in the world, and this was going to be how she did it. The houses were thinning, and she saw a hut all on its own. That was probably Euwelyn's workshop. On the edge of town and everything. She walked up to it, then opened the door.

"Hey, Euwelyn!" she half-shouted. In response, she heard a gasp, and the sounds of somebody scrambling.

"I-I'm closed," came a stuttering reply followed by coughing. Lilin tapped her foot impatiently, hearing the footsteps of whoever just woke up coming closer. When the person came into view, both girls stopped and looked at each other with wide eyes.

In front of Lilin was a sorry excuse for the Earth General. Her features were thin and sunken, her hair an absolute mess and her eyes dull. Still, it matched up. This was the Earth General.

Euwelyn was staring at one of her worst nightmares. The King's right-hand-woman, Lilin. She was wearing a form of disguising magic, but Euwelyn could tell who it was. Nobody had a Blood Core like she did. She quickly started to gather Mana, but Lilin moved too quickly. Euwelyn felt a hand around her throat almost immediately.

"What the HELL are you doing here?! And why are you in such a sorry state?!"

Euwelyn gasped for air, flicking her hand to unleash the Mana she had gathered in just a half second. A pillar of dirt erupted just in front of Lilin's feet, hitting the demon in the chin and knocking her back, as well as getting Euwelyn's throat free.

"AGH! Bastard!" Lilin shouted, using her claws to cleave straight through the pillar and dashing at Euwelyn immediately.

"W-Wait, stop!" Euwelyn pleaded, throwing up a stone barrier to halt her opponent's advance. Her floors were destroyed, but the safety of her house was the last thing on her mind right now.

"And why the hell should I stop?!" Lilin screamed, kicking the stone with her heel. The force cracked it in half, and she launched the upper half of the column directly at Euwelyn.

Euwelyn let out a loud grunt as she just barely dodged the sudden projectile. "B-Because, I-I don't want to fight!"

"Who cares if you want to fight!" Lilin retorted, vaulting over the stone and slashing at Euwelyn's face. Her arm was slow, and the Earth General managed to duck under her claws. Why was she holding back?

"I-I'm still loyal," Euwelyn shouted, "Why are you attacking me!?"

"Why did you try to prepare an attack the moment you saw me then?!" Lilin shouted back.

"Because... I-I thought you were an assassin!" Euwelyn screamed, barely avoiding another attack.

"LILIN!" A new voice joined, bringing everything to a halt.

Turning back, Lilin saw Annie standing there, holding the key to their room at the inn.

"I thought you promised not to hurt her!" Annie said, "And can't you see she's in no condition to fight?! Why would you try to hurt her!"

"B-Because, she's trying to start a coup!" Lilin shot back.

"A coup?!" Euwelyn said, "How would a town that just had a terrible harvest stage a coup?!"

"Bad harvest?" Lilin asked, "I thought you used a bunch of your Core to help the harvest! How the hell do they not have a good harvest?"

"I-I barely managed to give them a PASSABLE harvest with my Core! Tristan's posse sapped the Mana in the air, I've been trying to fix it ever since! I'm the only reason this place isn't part of the Deathlands!"

Lilin's scowl turned to confusion, then to regret. She looked at Euwelyn, who was absolutely terrified, and then to Annie, who was furious. She had very nearly done the one thing she swore she'd never do:

She'd almost broken a promise she made.