Chapter 42 - Confession

 The base of the ladder revealed a massive underground tunnel. From the floor, the roof of the tunnel was high up, providing much more room than Tetsuo had initially expected. The tunnel could comfortably be used as a road for a carriage with vacka, ignoring the issue of getting them down here. Tetsuo felt a small drop of water land on his shoulder, as he continued listening to the sound of dripping water echo through the tunnel. The path forwards was decorated with lit braziers on each side, leading deeper into the twisting tunnel. The four of them began to travel down the path.

Unfortunately, the tunnel was not unguarded. As they continued forwards they continued encountering what seemed to be elite knights. Alon moved ahead of them, requesting they stay behind him. These small encounters would end in seconds, Alon dashing in and ending each battle in only a few strikes. Tetsuo could barely keep up with their movements, let alone Alon who moved even faster than they did. He was glad he had asked him for his help with this mission. He couldn’t imagine how he would’ve cleared through so many on his own.

As Tetsuo glanced at the equipment of one of the unconscious knights he recognized it as unsealed Ficium. While Alon was defeating them faster than they could activate it, it seemed like the kingdom had decided to give their most powerful and loyal knights stronger weapons. Tetsuo recalled what Pia had told him back when she was being interrogated and shook his head, seeing that she had been right the entire time.

The further in they went, the less dimmer the passage became. Puddles pooled on the ground, and some braziers were extinguished. They hadn’t found any more knights for a while, giving the impression they had defeated them all.

Alon froze in place signaling them to stay behind him. He looked carefully into what seemed to be darkness, before beginning to breathe heavily. His body grew tense and his grip tightened around his sword.

Tetsuo noticed that he could see his breath and the tips of his ears began to feel chilly. He looked at the ground, and pushed at it with his foot. The water pooled in the cracks of the rocks had frozen over, making it slippery to stand on. An echo of metal clanging resonated through the tunnel as meticulous slow footsteps approached.

Lunette stepped out of the darkness, walking towards the four of them. She had an impersonal cold look as she stared at the four of them with disdain. She had already drawn her sword, and began to drag it against the ground, slicing the frozen stone she stepped on. The sword scratching against ice created a high-pitched sound, akin to nails on a chalkboard. She stopped and held her sword out in front of her in a defensive guard.

“I was informed that the rebellion had intentions to strike and raid the workshop.” Her voice echoed through the cave. “I was, however, not expecting to find myself against three knights of Alvania, including my father.”

Tetsuo knew she’d be a formidable foe. He was glad that Veera was here as perhaps he could make her see reason. Tetsuo began, “Lunette ple–!”

“LUNETTE!” Alon suddenly shouted, stepping forward and interrupting Tetsuo. Tetsuo became concerned, as he looked over and saw Bianca shaking her head. “I’m sorry for not giving you an answer before. I was scared. But not anymore!”

Tetsuo leaned over to Bianca and tried to ask her what was going on.

Bianca whispered back with dread, “So, while you were busy working, Alon had a lot of questions about us…”

“You asked me for an answer, but I want to ask you something here.” Alon began to tremble, his face turning beet red. Lunette seemed completely lost as to where he was going with this.

“Sir Alon, is this really–?”

“Wait! Please hear me out!”

Bianca shook her head and muttered, “I should have known better.”

Alon cleared his through and composed himself.

“Lunette! With your father here in witness, and my soul screaming at me to do what must be done, I ask you this:

“Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife and accept my hand in marriage?”

Alon’s words echoed through the cave. His legs were shaking but his face remained stoic. Veera stood dumbfounded. Bianca already had her hands covering her face recoiling in embarrassment. Tetsuo stood embarrassed, recognizing the words akin to what he had said when he proposed. All the while, Lunette stood motionless, seemingly buffering a response.

She slowly raised her hand to cover her mouth, before a massive gust of frost blew out from her. It launched Tetsuo and Bianca backwards and forced Veera to kneel to hold his ground. Inch deep snow now caked the walls and floor, bringing the temperature of the cave down even further. Tetsuo looked up and could see Alon still standing exactly where he had proposed, his activated sword producing flames that melted the snow around him. His legs were no longer shaking and he stood defiantly in front of her, ready to face her response.

Tetsuo looked up and through the snow dancing in the air, he could see Lunette glancing around bright as a tomato.

She began to shout at Alon. “Honestly..! I mean, all I asked was if you wanted to see each other again and you spent the next three months running away from me!” Lunette began pacing in a circle. “And-And whenever we are around each other you pretend like nothing happened. Yet! You still continue to cast nervous glances my way, when you think I’m not looking! Guess what?! I can always see when you're looking! It’s metal armor! It reflects! And I’m also looking at you! I’m not blind! And n-now… All this?! I mean… That's all… It’s all just so… HONESTLY!”

Tetsuo could hear Veera mutter under his breath, “That boy will die today.”

Alon struck his chest and continued. “I’m aware of all that, but I still stand by what I’ve said. I’d be happy spending the rest of our life together making it up to you. With my honor as a knight of Alvania, I will not back down. Er, unless you tell me to.”

Lunette threw her hand up in the air and continued pacing, while muttering to herself. “Stupid, idiot, showoff. Who does he think he is? I am captain of the western ranks of the knights of Alvania! I will not be made a fool of!”

Alon spoke out. “I am the only fool here, for making you wait so lo–”

“Stop!!! I get it okay… just give me a moment…” Lunette pushed out her hand motioning for him to cease. She was breathing heavily and at this point seemed to have given up on maintaining her composure. She fanned herself and took deep breaths in heavily, as the room's temperature began to become a bit warmer again. “Alon. I hear your proposal, and reject it.”

Alon winced at the words but nodded and sheathed his sword.

“However! I’d like to offer you a counter-proposal. A second date. Should you acc–”

“YEAH! Of course! Er… I mean yes! Captain.”

Lunette muttered to herself while shaking her head embarrassedly. “At least let me finish the question…”

Tetsuo stared in disbelief at the events that had just unfolded. Bianca seemed equally as confused. Veera seemed like he was on the verge of tears, seemingly not from joy. Alon turned back and gave the three of them a thumbs up with the proudest of smiles on his face. He was rosy but was grinning cheek to cheek.

Tetsuo sighed and reminded him, “Alon, the mission.”

Alon quickly snapped back to her. “Lunette, we’re trying to find out what the kingdom is hiding. Please help us.”

“No,” Lunette replied immediately.

“But you just…”

Lunette raised her sword in front of her. “That’s that, and this is this. I have no issue having our second date in a cell if that’s how this must unfold.”

Tetsuo started to grow worried, as Alon seemed like he was considering it.

Veera stood up from the ground and walked behind Alon, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him backwards to the ground. “You kids go on ahead, I can hold ‘er off.”

Tetsuo called out to him, “Are you sure?”

Veera looked back at them and chuckled. “What kind'v a father would I be if I couldn’t play with my daughter? Besides, I gotta talk t' 'er about her poor taste in partners…”

Lunette stepped back, seeing Veera rise to the challenge. “Father!”

“Lass, how many times do I gotta say it. Just call me Papa like you did when you were lil'.”

Veera ran at her with unprecedented speed, and grabbed her blade. He slammed his shoulder into her, knocking her back. He tossed her sword to the side and the two of them began exchanging blows.

“Go! Now!” Veera called out to them.

The three of them tried to skirt around the fight, but Lunette reached out to grab one of them. Veera grabbed her arm and swung her into the wall, shaking the tunnel. Tetsuo could only watch these two titans battle as he fled towards the end of the tunnel. Despite it all, it seemed like both of them couldn’t stop themselves from smiling as they fought.