Whispers of A Dead Empire

Chapter 54

I sat at the table, and looked through the newspapers, and quickly jotted down some notes. I was slowly building up a surplus of information to bring back to Paris. My mind was made up on doing my best to ensure that the domain would still be standing after this. But I knew it was going to be an uphill fight.

I stood up, and carefully grabbed a few of the newspapers, and folded them, so I could place them into my holding bag to bring back to the guild. I would need every piece of evidence I could get my hands on, no matter how small it seemed to be. Once I was finished, I set my bag on the table, and a yawn escaped from my lips, followed by a quiet rumble in my stomach. I would eat once Alinore and Carter were up. At least that way, they can get something too.

I limped over to the couch and sat down again. Gunther was over by the window, watching the road to ensure that nothing was coming our way. The undead we were not all that worried about. It was whoever teleported into the safe house that had us worried. But we should beat them as long as they don't get a drop on us. I sat down and flipped through my notes, making sure I detailed the route we took, as well as the conversation with Kharon. Even the stronghold and how the undead seemed to fight each other. So far, everything was looking good, and I couldn't complain about it. Hopefully, whatever we uncovered next would be what we needed.

As I was flipping through my notepad, the quiet squeal of a door swinging on its hinges tore me from my thoughts. I glanced in the bedroom's direction, and I relaxed slightly when I saw it was Carter. "Hey Carter, can you come over here? I need to talk to you about some stuff."

"Sure, just let me take a leak real quick." His voice grew quiet as he walked through the cabin, and I nodded my head as I made a mental list of what I needed to talk to him about. The first thing was his position on this domain and whether I could talk him into joining Gunther and I. The next was how he and Alinore were doing. I took a deep breath and played the conversation through my head a few times to make sure I got it to sound right while I was waiting.

"What's up?" He asked as he sat down on the couch next to me. He was wearing a tight black shirt that clung to his muscles like a second skin. His pants were also tight and left little to the imagination. All for the sake of creeping, I guess.

"How do you feel about the domain? We haven't really talked much since we arrived here." I asked as I kicked my feet up on my bag, taking a moment to relax.

"Ah, to be honest. I'm not really too concerned about it. Alinore and I talked about it a bit, and she says the magic here is far different from what necromancers use. It's more free and pure, and the undead seem to have more control over themselves." He reached up to his necklace and ran his fingers across the moonstone.

"I see. Well, Gunther and I decided we wanted to find this Empress. To see if this domain was truly evil or not." Carter's face twisted slightly as he thought it over.

"Knowing you, Redrick, there is more to it than just that. What do you really want from this place?" His words hung in the air between us, and I judged just how much I wanted to tell him. Just a little of the truth won't hurt.

"I want to restore my family, Carter. I want to restore my name and no longer be that disgraced noble. This domain is my stepping stone to doing that. I'm tired of being an adventurer, and I'm tired of looking death in the face every day. What I really want is to stop running from the nobles that ruined my life and stripped me of everything that I knew and loved." The words poured from my lips as anger flared in my chest. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that I was out here risking my life day after day to just scrape by while the ones that took everything from me sat around a table gorging themselves on wine and women laughing at my family.

"Sometimes Redrick, some things are better left forgotten. If you keep trying to pursue that path, then you will only die in the end. They won't sit back on their laurels watching you get your life together. The second that they even get a whiff of you doing something they don't like, they will try to dispose of you. You know this." I clenched my teeth and tried to calm myself. I know. It wasn't fair. I wanted this all to end. I wanted Gunther and those two to live a happy life, one that wouldn't end because of me. I so badly wanted to send them away, to protect them, but I knew I couldn't do this independently. If the time ever came that I had to trade my life for theirs, I would. They didn't deserve to be dragged into this.