The Greatest Sin [Progression Fantasy][Kingdom Building]
Chapter 385 – Flick the Switch and Go In

Iliyal and his command team walked around a set of forty robots delivered from Iboud. The robots themselves weren’t the source of Iliyal’s dour mood and the reason he had a glass of whiskey in his hand. It was the letter he had received from the God of Pride.

Usually he tried to avoid drinking on the job, usually. Sometimes, there was call for celebration and sometimes there was need to drink the liquid courage not so  much for bravery but for the lack of thought it created. As much as Kassandora tried to beat it out of Iliyal, the elf knew he still had it in him. Sometimes, he sat around and analysed possibility after possibility. Iliyal assumed everyone did, speculation was so much fun after all.

But for this job, Iliyal needed to drink because it required the sort of plan-ruining creativity that only drink could do. He knew how to abandon plans if a better solution came along. The ability to detach one’s emotions from their own work was one of the most important skills in leading after all. But now? Iliyal stared at the host of robots he had gotten from the newly created Imperial Bureau of Robotics.

Some people worked slow, some worked fast, Arascus worked at the speed of lightning. In the matter of a few, construction of huge factories, offices and laboratories was already taking place in Doschia and scientists were being sent off to Iboud in Arika so that they could be pre-trained. This set of robots was from there. There would be another set arriving in two days. Apparently by next week, there would be four hundred robots on the front, but for now, it was a mere forty.

So Iliyal stared at collection of odd bots. Eight of them were on legs. Two were huge bathtub looking things painted with a majestic colour scheme of white and red. They had a set of blinking lights on the front and thick legs: ammunition and body carriers. Then the other six were various design of small robot. They all looked like the Hound that Arascus and that engineer had shown off. The rest were all various flying models. Each design had come with a booklet to explain what it could do and so on, Iliyal had scanned through them before he came to inspect the machines himself.

Arascus had great ideas. Iliyal had no doubt in his mind that the God of Pride knew what he was doing. The fact that the man had managed to wrangle so many Goddesses into a functional Pantheon was undeniable evidence of his competence and genius. But sometimes, Iliyal wandered what went on in Arascus’ head. Surely the man had a grander plan. It couldn’t be simply because he was proud of a technological advancement, could it?

Iliyal sighed and pulled out the order from Arascus again, he read the title again: “The Publicization Plan of the New Imperial Army.”

Lyca gave one final thought to No-Neck and V-Shape as they crossed another hill in the Rancais sun. It was noon, the sky was blue overheard, it was a beautiful day. Frankly, Lyca didn’t even know why he thought about them, it must be because they were some sort of freaks twisted by Divine magic that was oddly curious and fascinating. He was glad that Anassa’s sorcery wasn’t so disgusting. They had been disposed of by Fleur and then buried in the ground by Eliza. All of the bodies were, and the gas station had been collapsed. The shopkeeper had gotten away, Lyca thought about whether that was a mistake or not. They could have hunted him down most likely, but it would have taken how much time? However much was too much at the end of the day. And then…

And then nothing. The party of four crested the hill. Lyca with his shirt hooked through the loop of his backpack. Eliza with a bottle of water she was drinking. The girl had not changed out of her dirty clothes even now. Fleur in her black skirt and shirt which matched her hair. Edmonton looking like a proper soldier, the only thing that besmirched his clothes were large spots of dust where the man had sat down on the dry ground. All thought left Lyca’s mind as he saw…

Fleur’s… home? Palace? Demesne?

Lyca remembered when Fleur had showed everyone in Arcadia pictures of her home. He remembered his old house in Gracja, his family wasn’t poor by any means, but it had been a simple village home. When Fleur had shown off pictures of the place she lived in, that wasn’t so much of a gut-punch of a surprise rather than a lightning strike. Lyca had questioned why the girl had even gone to Arcadia if she lived in what was the equivalent of a modern palace, but she had, and she had made for rather good company. If only for the fact that Eliza and Lyca and Fleur and Edmonton were all the top four students when they still were in Arcadia so they naturally were drawn to one another.

But now that Lyca saw Fleur’s home in all its glory. The eternal question of what the girl even had to gain from being taught at Arcadia had returned. Fleur’s pictures had not told the whole story. This wasn’t so much a modern palace as it was a grand estate that had been transported from the ancient tales of old into today. A huge stone wall ran around the entire complex. The main building was a huge L-shaped piece of art. Apparently the architects had decided that a single inch of flat wall was a failure in design so the entire outside was covered in column and statue and fountain and balustrade, with multiple balconies and grand windows that were as large as the huge doors which led into the building. The roofs were high peaked, the mansion had three towers on top of it: one at either end and one at the bend in the middle.

Around that huge palace was field and garden and field and garden, with ponds. Lyca stared at it from the hilltop the four had just crested. Ponds! Not a pond but ponds! He had to look at Fleur again to make sure a crown did not appear at the top of her head as she stood there. As far as Lyca could see, there was a great stone wall, maybe twice the height of a man.

And one everything, flags.

The black and red bicolour of Arcadia.

“Wow.” Lyca said.

“Wow indeed.” Eliza echoed next to him.

“That is something.” Edmonton said. Fleur said nothing, Lyca thought of cracking a joke to try and cheer her up but he held it to himself. The girl obviously wasn’t in the mood. But even then, Lyca couldn’t even blame Anarchia’s supporters for taking over this compound. If he was in their position, he would do the same after all. They took three more steps and then Edmonton caught up to Fleur. Lyca felt Eliza hold his hand and pull him back. That was fine, Lyca wasn’t here to give emotional support. He had never been much good at that.

“I just need to say something Fleur.” Edmonton caught her arm and manhandled the girl into facing him. “And I think you know what I’m going to say.”

“What Ed?” Fleur replied coldly.

“It’s Anarchia’s banners. It’s your home.” He took a deep sigh and looked at the girl as if trying to find a way to say the words whilst shielding Fleur from the blow. Lyca knew exactly what the man was trying to say, Eliza probably knew too. Fleur must know… right? She was far too smart to not get what the man was trying to hint at. But it was her family though…

“What do you want to say?” Fleur’s tone rose into a shout, her cheeks went red, a tear formed in her eye. The cool dam in the girl cracked and finally Fleur let out some sort of emotion. “Well Ed? Out with it! Go on! Say it! Say it Ed! I know what you’re going to say anyway!”

Edmonton looked at Fleur dryly. Lyca imagined the scenario in his head, if he had to say this to Eliza. And Lyca blinked his own tear away. The very thought of doing that hurt so much he couldn’t even stomach trying to weigh and amuse it. He would walk through Hell. He would go through a hundred Kirinyaan Invasions, he would even repeat the battle at Melukal, but he would not be able to face Eliza as Edmonton faced Fleur now. Lyca grabbed Ela’s fingers and held onto them tightly. Eliza hugged his arm in return. And Edmonton said it. He did not hint, he gave no medicine to soften the blow, he simply amputated the arm right away. “They may be dead.”

And Fleur’s legs faltered as she looked at Edmonton. That fine face of hers, so delicate in its permanent sneer, cracked, her lips quivered, she would have fallen in Edmonton wasn’t there to catch her. Lyca felt Eliza hold onto him tighter and he was she did. The fact she needed him to hold it together excavated a strength he didn’t know he had. “I know Ed.” Fleur finally said. “I know.”

“I just needed to say it to you before went in.” Edmonton said as he hugged Fleur. The Rancais girl was not even short, but Edmonton was still able to put his chin on top of her head. He kissed her hair and stroked her back gently as she stood there. “Are you sure you want to go in?”

“And if I don’t, then who?”

“I’ll go.” Edmonton said. “And Lyca will. You and Eliza can stay out here.”

“I wouldn’t be able to.” Eliza said gently and earnestly. “So really Fleur, don’t worry. I can stay here with you. I know you’d do the same for me.” Fleur hugged Edmonton tighter and hid her face in his chest. Lyca’s ears heard the whisper.

“Thank you Ed.” She said so quietly that even Edmonton would probably to struggle to hear the girl. “Thank you, truly. But no.”

“Do you have to?” Edmonton asked as he kept on stroking Fleur’s back.

“I have to.” Fleur replied. “I have to.”

“I understand.” Edmonton said.

“I’d probably have to too.” Eliza added.

“I would go in.” Lyca added and Fleur finally pulled away from Edmonton.

“Thank you.” She said. “Thank you, everyone. Really. I shouldn’t have pulled you into this.”

“We’ve not even faced anything yet.” Edmonton said. “But we’re a team.” And then the man took a deep breath as he caught Fleur’s shoulders and made her look up at him. “And if we go in, we’re going to be a team.”

“I know.” Fleur said.

And once again, Lyca knew what Edmonton was going to say, and he was simply in awe at the fact that the man had the strength to say it. Edmonton held the silence for a few moments as a pair of birds flew overhead. Black ravens. The man talked slowly, his tone serious. “Fleur, if we go in, you’ll need to hold yourself together. At least until it’s over. Can you do that?”

Fleur looked up at Edmonton for a few moments. Her mouth twisted into a pained smile and she laughed nervously. “Ed…”

“If we go in, it will be up to us to get everyone out.” Edmonton said. “It could be just your parents, it could be just your brothers and sisters. It could be only one person is remaining. Whoever it is, you can’t break down. You’ll have to hold until we get out.”

“I will.” Fleur replied. “I know Ed. I’ll hold it. I promise. I will. It’s just like in Kirinyaa. We flick the switch and we go in.”

“And if there’s no one left?” Edmonton asked. “Because that’s a serious possibility too.” Lyca stared at the man in awe as he felt Eliza’s finger lock around his. He remembered once, there had been a time when Lyca had a rivalry with Edmonton about who should be this group’s leader. Even after that, Lyca had his doubts. He was sure he could beat Edmonton in a test of magic or a test of sorcery. But now? No. No chance at all. Lyca was not cut out for holding people in the way that Edmonton held Fleur right now.

Fleur took a deep breath and nodded at Edmonton. “Then...” She sighed, not uncertain of her words but rather sounding as if she was questioning herself for even needing to say them. “Then that’s it. Then we fucking kill everyone and leave.”