-Pruning the Roses, Part 9-

There was a nice takeaway to getting thrown into Hikita's memories. Despite all the incredibly awful things we've been through the last few days, she had grown closer to us.

Unless the criteria for exciting these psychometric deals had changed, I wouldn't need to worry about her disposition toward me.

That might be the only good thing about this ordeal.

Aside from everything else, having Renault's face so close to mine was revolting.

I didn't care that this version of him was seemingly normal. I could guess at which terrible thoughts were brewing in his head and how Hikita's life turned out.

Look at this disgusting monster parading around under the face of a human.

He carried Hikita deeper down the passage, with Renaire trailing right behind, holding onto Hakaze.

Black marble walls with golden accents, large decorative pillars, and a rich blue carpet told how much Renault had spent to rebuild his kingly lifestyle.

It was extravagant for even archnobles in the republics to have such a place, let alone it be a hidden basement in an underground château.

TIP TAP. TIP TAP.

Renault's footsteps resounded as we reached the bottom of the stairs and the carpet gave way to a vault door.

He swiped his hand across the wall, revealing a depression. With a press, the lit-up display panel was revealed.

"Glory to the Kingdom of Rena."

Renault's words didn't match the way his mouth moved, and I realized I must've been auto-translating his Renaultian into Imperial Common.

CLUNK.

The door's locks disengaged, and it swung open.

CLICK.

Lights came to life from the ceiling, illuminating the way in a daylight-like brightness.

Piles of what could all be considered treasures were amassed in the next chamber.

A magickal staff set with iridescent crystals, an obsidian-handled dagger of pure amethyst, a golden crown decorated with large rubies, figurines carved from precious gems, tea sets of shining platinum, a waist-guard embedded with diamonds, leather-bound tomes covered in runic lettering, a dark cloak lined with golden thread…

Hikita's gaze swung wildly from one shiny object to the next.

"Where did this all come from, Jacques?" Renaire asked hesitantly.

The level of amassed wealth must have seemed off to her—it sure surprised me.

"Our staunch new members of the court wished to show their dedication and fealty to the sovereign of Rena."

Renault's smile had grown wicked. He no longer looked at me—Hikita—with the face of a doting parent but the one I knew best; that of an avaricious tyrant.

"Ouch, Papa!"

His eyes glazed over, and he gripped Hikita's arm too tightly, causing her to cry in pain.

"What are you—" Renaire cut herself off and rushed Renault, peeling his hand away from Hikita and taking her from him.

All I could see now were Renaire's shoulder, getting wetter with Hikita's tears, and Renault's disappearing figure as she fled back through the passage with both kids in her arms.

"Hah! Ha ha. Of course, I will. I'll take back everything they took from me! Aha-ha!"

His mad laughter echoed down the hall, and my vision blurred.

Fucking lunatic.

"Your Eminence?"

My Knight-Captain's face was front-and-center. She looked at me with a puzzled look.

"Are you alright? We can escort you back and call another team if—"

I held my hand up, gesturing for her to stop.

A glance at Hikita revealed she seemed unfazed by what I'd just witnessed, like every other time, aside from Ikuye, it appeared I experienced this round of psycho-memory-bullshit all on my own.

Aeko, Viktor, and Hawken had already disappeared down the stairway to scout it out.

Akari's troubled expression hinted that she might know I had been elsewhere in my mind, but she said nothing and waited for Flik and me to hash it out.

"No need, I'm fine. Just a little caught up in my thoughts."

Flik nodded and advanced down the passage.

I scooped Akari up in my arms, and she squirmed.

"Wha—? Why?"

"Just 'cause. You don't like to be carried?"

Akari got shy and muttered, "I do."

Something about this place, what I'd seen in that mental episode, and everything I knew about Renault made me want to keep Akari from setting foot in the vault below.

But I couldn't isolate her and leave her upstairs. So, I had reached out on instinct.

Hikita followed us down the stairs.

Worn marble walls with faded accents, ruined decorative pillars, and a torn blue carpet revealed how far Renault's pseudo-kingdom had fallen.

We came upon the vault door, just as I'd seen in Hikita's memories.

My guard knights had already occupied themselves with trying to find a way inside.

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Viktor was trying to pry the locking mechanism loose with bare strength, while Hawken was inspecting the walls.

Unfortunately for them, the door would surely hold against a regular knight, and the secret panel was on the other side from the direction Hawken was searching.

Hikita was standing at my side in a daze.

Memories from childhood weren't known to be very clear to begin with, factor in a decade of abuse under a curse and forced mental states…

She was possibly having the world's most extreme case of déjà vu.

"You've been down here before too, yeah?" I prodded.

"Yes." She admitted readily, "I think I know where the panel is, but I don't know the pass-phrase to enter. My memory is too unclear."

Hikita's declaration that she might know the way in garnered everyone's attention, and she stiffened.

Eager eyes were all on her.

I cupped my hand and whispered in her ear, and she went wide-eyed.

"How did you—?"

I waved her question off, "Go ahead and try it, everyone's waiting."

She ran her hand near-exact to how Renault had done in the past. The panel folded out from the wall, and Hikita said the old password in Renaultian.

"Gloire au Royaume de Rena."

CRACK. CLUNK. SNAP.

BANG!

The door's lock loudly disengaged, and the whole thing fell forward nearly crushing Viktor as he stupidly tried to defend against it with his shield.

If Aeko hadn't pulled him back, he might've injured his legs—or worse.

I stayed quiet as Flik and Aeko both berated him.

The rest of us stepped over the door and through the passage into the vault proper.

Faded yellow aethertech lights flickered on overhead, revealing the contents of the room in a pale brightness.

Pretty much barren compared to before.

The glittering gold and mountains of treasures were long gone.

Instead, the room was littered with what looked like clothing. An occasional gemstone or jewel-encrusted bauble could be seen, but it was a far cry from what I'd seen.

This was more bandit's plunder than a kingdom's treasure hoard.

We crossed the heaps of pillaged cloth and valuables.

"Oh, yuck." Aeko stated her displeasure after following in behind us.

"Yuck?" I asked, turning around.

She was holding two dresses in her hands.

"These are terrible. The colors are bad and don't even start with the style. Nobody would want these. Where's the treasure? The piles of gold?"

"I didn't know you cared about fashion." Viktor said.

"I don't," Aeko snapped, "I care about money. How can we pilfer the enemy coffers if all that's left is cloth not even worth turning to rags?"

The dresses certainly weren't in the Vanixian style I was familiar with, but I had no baseline to gauge their worth.

Airis had a few dresses in her closet in the family manor, but they were for when she had to entertain close noble families or attend fancier events. Any other court-related things, she just wore her divisional uniform.

I didn't see the appeal of frilly and restrictive outerwear either.

Flik chopped Aeko on the head.

"We wouldn't try to sell off plundered spoils such as these, anyhow. Everybody with a brain can see these were most likely stolen from nobles who went against Renault. The teams clearing the VX districts have found similar caches of stolen items."

"Y-Your Majesty!" Hawken cried in alarm.

He had gone ahead, but was running back and uncharacteristically flustered.

Flik gripped her sword, "Report!"

"Body. A body. It's… you need to come see for yourself. I think it's Renault."

My urge to keep Akari safe in my arms seemed the right call. This place had to be cursed or unholy in some way. I handed her over to Aeko and sent Hawken for reinforcements.

The communirune didn't seem to work in the basement, and who knew what was about to happen.

Renault's half-charred body was really here, lying on an altar-like marble protrusion at the very far end of the vault.

The hole Airis had cut when piercing his heart was visible. And it was clear from the state his body was in that this was the same man that had been burned up in that foul acidic void-fluid, albeit slightly less blackened than I remembered.

What wasn't right, however, was the fact that the body was still moving as if breathing.

"Maybe it's a gift." I muttered.

Hikita snapped her gaze onto me, "In what way? I thought you said he was dead."

"He was dead. Airis killed him." I said flatly, "There was a whole shitty thing with some divine seal, a cranky snake, and an unstable beam of power. I was really pissed. Had to play cleanup and didn't even get to kill the guy myself. That's why this is like a gift."

I motioned to one of Hikita's swords, and continued, "Could be your chance, if you wanted. Airis cursed the bastard, but your power might actually send his soul to the inescapable depths of the underworld."

"It might work… but I'm not sure." She said, staring at her swords.

"Well, in any case, let's not wait around for him to wake up and do any void shit."

I unsheathed Dáinsleif, and it flared to life with crimson rage.

This whole side adventure has been so unsatisfying. Learned all this awful stuff, and the guy I wanted to take it out on was already dead.

But now he's back, hah. I sighed heavily.

Can't be a good thing, but that's for us to deal with after he's dead again.

"We should have done this before. Airis let you off too easily. She told ya' we'd take your head."

SQUELCH. THUD.

Blood spattered on my face as his head rolled to a stop on the stone slab.

I spit on Renault's corpse.

"How–pre–dict–able."

I froze. Hikita jumped back.

Renault's unsteady voice had come from the severed head facing me.

"Gods." I shuddered, "You're like a roach."

"You–seem–diffe–rent. Chan–ged.

His lips moved uncannily.

Renault's voice wasn't created in a physical sense; Hikita's switch to high alert and her arming one of her swords with SOUL TEAR reinforced my belief that whatever was allowing him to speak was through some void magick.

Hikita and I exchanged a look.

"I really just can't stand it," I glared at Renault's face and took two steps back, "The thought of your filth-rotten spirit intermingling with others in the underworld, that is."

Hikita swung her weapon with both hands, crushing the side of Renault's skull. Wispy tendrils of void magick snaked back up the blade.

When you reach the depths of Aver'teria, tell your nasty god to keep his fingers away from Terae.

I spat at the smashed remnants of his face.

"Is he dead-dead this time?"

Hikita was caught up in her thoughts, staring at her viscera-covered sword.

She snapped out of it with a good clap on the back.

"I think…" Her voice trailed off, and her gaze lingered on her sword again.

"Eh?" I ribbed her, "You think what? He's gone for good? He'll come back to haunt us? Renault has transcended mortality and become a lich king?"

Hikita shook at head at my nonsense, letting out a dry laugh "No, I dunno about any of that. I just think it felt good. To crush his head like he crushed my mind."

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