Any choice

"Good morning, Dori."

I awoke to the melodic sound of Oscar's voice, which invigorated me like rain after a drought.

"Morning, Oscar."

"How are things going? Any news?"

The question bluntly reminded me of my situation. Words caught in my mouth, so I just nodded, my somber expression giving away the rest.

"Do you… wanna talk about it?" he asked. "Or would you rather we distract ourselves for a while first?"

"…" Let's just get it over with. "The High Knight has planned an attack on Princess, and by the time we get there, it'll be too late."

Oscar gave a solemn nod, but before he could begin saying his bit, I clenched my fists and continued speaking.

"I'll keep my part of the agreement… of the oath I made with Betta. Whatever happens, I will accept it and I won't let it sink me again."

Oscar startled at my words, then followed with a few consecutive nods. "If there's anything I can do to help, let me know."

You're already helping just by being yourself. "Let's go with the others and have a light talk during breakfast."

ᗢ⫘⫘⫘⫘𖦹⫘⫘⫘⫘♡

Two and a half weeks later.

It was time.

The Northern Frontier—a wall so tall it disappeared up in the mist—loomed over us. Unlike the Western one, it didn't end in a tower, but a mountain instead. At the base of it stood a wide stone gate high enough to let carriages in, but not a single centimeter more than needed.

Only two knights guarded the gate, both of which didn't blink as we passed by.

The hallway had a brown hue lit by multiple lights along the rocky walls. On each side stood a line of heavily armored knights. In perfect unison, they all stomped the ground once then extended their polearms to form an arc under which we'd pass on our way through.

Rasbora looked at them timidly, curious but trying not to stare. Betta just stared blatantly with a smug smile plastered on her face.

The High Knight had changed since our last visit over five years ago—it made sense for the reception to be different too.

We followed the tunnel until it opened into a huge round room with half a dozen paths carved in the stone, which led to additional corridors. A wooden platform, reachable both by ramps and rope stairs, made up a second floor where another ten halls went further into different parts of the mountain. Overall, the design of the place hadn't changed much—

—except for the center of this room.

Previously, it hosted a statue of the four divines, displayed like the most important piece of the entire structure. It had been replaced by a wide table, a couple of drawers and a High Knight that stood like a statue as we approached.

She set her office here? In the middle of everything?

I wasn't sure whether to call that self-centered or efficient. All sections of the fort met here, so it was a convenient spot when it came to giving orders and receiving reports.

The previous High Knight had his office up in one of the farthest rooms, with access to a balcony with great sights… of the human side of the Frontier, and not the Cursed Lands where the fights would be happening.

When we reached the current High Knight—a girl barely a year or two older than Rasbora—she performed a deep bow I hadn't ever seen from someone of such high standing.

"Welcome, Paladins of the Divines, we have been awaiting your arrival."

"Did you know we were going to get here today?" Betta asked.

"Of course. It's only natural that I'm aware of what's going on near my surroundings. Any further questions or shall I start with the matter we're all here for?"

Betta hummed. "Go ahead."

The High Knight—who hadn't even given us her name—proceeded to spread a map on the table.

"Around two months ago, the Cursed Prince settled in a chasm in the neighboring mountains, three days away. I had a group monitor it for a while—the creature has only gone outside to catch fish and gather fruits. Odd behavior."

"Is it true you've been planning an attack?" Betta asked.

She nodded. "We struck twenty days ago. Like a mockery of bad timing, I received news that the Council had finally sent out the Paladin team a few days after. Had I known you were on your way I would have delayed the operation."

"How did it go?" I asked. "Did anyone die?"

The High Knight looked at me, her face unreadable like a blank sheet.

"Paladin Corydorin, this is the Cursed Prince, of course knights have died." Her cold words chilled me. I tensed—barely able to hold back a curse.

"Sard, Angela and Perch," she said next, her gaze still stuck on me. "Good warriors. Perch saved me from losing an arm against that monster. We also learned a lot about the limitations of its powers thanks to Sard and Angela's sacrifice."

"What happened to the Cursed Prince?" Betta asked.

"We retreated. The purpose of the attack was to gather intel, so we prioritized a defensive approach with minimal risks. Though losing lives is never ideal, this result was far better than my initial estimations. The creature proved to be less aggressive than expected."

"Then how about we don't attack her again?" I wanted to say so badly.

Betta was giving me a side eye, like saying "Whatever you're thinking, don't."

"I've prepared a copy of our gathered information for each of you," the High Knight said. "I'd like you to read it and then discuss strategy together with me and two of my most trustworthy knights. Any questions?"

Why did you have to be so competent?

She'd done things about as well as one could ask, given she didn't know Princess could be reasoned with.

Curses.

I'd told myself I was ready to accept this outcome, so why was I now trying to find a way to go back on my word?

ᗢ⫘⫘⫘⫘𖦹⫘⫘⫘⫘♡

We were given some time to unpack, rest and read the reports. We'd talk again with the High Knight—whose name I still didn't know—tomorrow morning.

Rasbora sat next to me in the lounge.

"I'm sorry, Corydorin."

I didn't reply and just kept reading the report, though most of the details didn't sink in. It mentioned types of spells Princess tended to use, ranges, downtime intervals and even potential counterstrategies.

But I doubted even the best plan would be enough to compensate for the fact that we were missing a Paladin and my powers were weaker than ever. With how fast she developed, by now Princess couldn't be much weaker than the Cursed King we'd faced back in the day—yet all we had this time were one and a half veteran Paladins, one novice Paladin, and an army of knights we couldn't deploy inside the cramped chasm.

And once Princess started feeling seriously threatened, she'd likely show much more power than what these reports knew about.

"Hey." Betta interrupted my thoughts. "What are you going to do? You gonna cooperate or we need to have another talk?"

"If we fight her, people will die. Don't you think that maybe it'd be better to avoid—"

"Maybe, but only if you're willing to give up your dumb dream."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Wasn't there something about you wanting to make humanity understand it was possible to co-exist with Cursed? Well, the way I see it, if you spare this Princess after she's taken four lives, you should discard that plan entirely."

"She's only killed in self-defense. Besides, I don't believe I can achieve that naive ideal anymore."

"Yeah, you probably can't, more so now that you're about to retire." She sat on the couch in front of me. "But I can, provided the right circumstances."

What?

"Eh?" Rasbora exclaimed.

"I said I'm willing to end this dumb war we have against a bunch of bugs that don't even care to fight us to begin with. But to do that, your pet must die."

"That doesn't make any sense," I said, standing up. "What kind of twisted logic is that?"

"It's quite simple, actually, as I know people like simple stories. If you go around saying 'my pet is good but was forced to kill humans' they won't give a crap about complex nuances and will just say all Cursed are killing machines like her."

Somewhat, to a certain extent, I could understand the reasoning behind her words—and I hated that I did.

"You want others to accept the Cursed?" Betta said. "Then start simple: some Cursed are harmless, others are not. Yours was not, but if a person cares for one of them from the start of its life, it can be harmless like the wolves shepherds use to protect cattle."

"And your simple lie is better than the truth?"

"Short-term, definitely. But hey, if you'd rather wait until humanity forgets about Princess to try and convince them to stop killing Cursed, be my guest" She stood and approached until her face was a palm away from mine. "Is her life more important than the thousands of Cursed that would die during all those years?"

"I hate those kinds of questions. You shouldn't be talking about some lives being more important than others."

"Well, then they all have the same value, no? So the answer should be obvious."

"Enough!" I pushed her away and stormed out.

"Corydorin!" Rasbora followed me.

I ran with all I had and tried to shake her off, but her steps trailed me like a shadow. After I went outside she still stayed close behind despite the many twists I made in the foggy marshes.

Until I gave up on getting rid of her and sat down against a rock.

Panting, Rasbora remained standing next to me.

"Sorry," she said. "For following. But ah don't wanna leave ya alone right now."

"... It's alright, just… give me some time to think."

"Aye."

Don't avoid it.

Face what Betta says, and make a choice.

It can be hard.

It can even be… wrong. You can make a mistake.

Anything… except going back to a life of running away.