The Ninth Wonder-Chapter 33: The seer (2)

Harley and Vernox had to miraculously kill a dragon for the first trial to end...

As simple as it sounded, it came as a huge shock to Harley. Because he was expecting something dangerous, but not that dangerous.

"A dragon?" Harley mumbled one more time, glancing back to make sure people weren’t listening in on their conversation.

"The seer translated the hint to us. The dragon is actually being controlled by Knave, the one who overthrew the castle." Vernox explained with a shrug, keeping his cool.

Harley, on the other hand, was not cool at all. He gritted his teeth hard, thinking of all the possibilities. He couldn’t even think of standing up to the drake that went for the Jester’s village, talk more of fighting a dragon that could fly.

"Then what about the fourth scenario? What is there?" Harley asked, and Vernox shook his head, closing his eyes.

"I don’t know."

Harley let out a breath, going ahead to sit in a wedge that protruded from the wall close to Vernox. His voice was calm and steady.

"So how do we kill it? I’ve had an encounter with a similar creature. They’re big." Harley spoke, looking at Vernox for an answer.

"I don’t know."

Hearing Vernox’s reply, Harley stared at him some more, seeing him looking as determined as ever, but he also looked like he was contemplating something.

Ever since the black winter messed with him in an illusion, Vernox hadn’t been himself, and Harley could tell.

"What exactly happened in the illusion to make you like this?"

Faced with the question finally, Vernox looked up, blinking his eyes twice before turning away and giving an answer.

"I was only reminded of why I have to grow stronger." He gritted his teeth hard once more.

’A man with goals, huh?’ Harley smiled.

He himself found conviction in this trial. He would never settle for what life threw at him. He would create his own life with strength, and he would acquire it... piece by piece.

He couldn’t ask Vernox directly what his goals were, because he wasn’t willing to share his. To others, Harley’s goal would seem empty, with no definition, but all he wanted was to do whatever he wanted. Even settling down and having a family didn’t feel bad.

Harley shook his head, dismissing the thoughts.

"Tomorrow night they want to lay siege, right? At that point we’ll have only two days to kill the dragon. It has to work." Harley straightened as Vernox soon began telling him the siege plan.

"We’re going to have a siege meeting tomorrow in the morning. But what I know is that we’ll be facing at least... a thousand soldiers, even more. But that’s still when we get to Solace Mountain, where the palace resides." Vernox said, explaining everything he knew so far about the siege.

There wasn’t much information except for the most dangerous of warriors under Knave: the watcher. Harley had brushed with the watcher once, and if he had to describe the knight in two words:

Fast and ruthless.

Back when the watcher pursued both him and the princess with those demonic dogs, they were almost caught. However, knowing that he had grown considerably in strength over these few days made him want to sneak up on the bastard and end him in his sleep.

"Apart from the watcher, Knave himself is the true threat. That is why we would have to lay siege at night while he does his mischievous deeds in the castle. The dragon he controls is the true threat. But for us, it’s our target." Vernox spoke, putting his hand on his chin as he drew out dummies on the floor.

"No, we would need to still kill the knights first." Harley suddenly spoke up, and Vernox raised a brow at him, pausing his drawing.

"We can’t let archers and knights attack us at the same time as the dragon. We have to take care of all the distractions first." Harley spoke with a stark tone, and Vernox could understand where they were going with this.

"Let’s work hard." Vernox raised a fist towards Harley, and the white-haired man smiled, fist-bumping Vernox before walking away.

"Yeah, let’s work hard."

...

It seemed like the underground base that the rebellion carved from the sewage system was even deeper than he thought. Although there was a stream after a couple of turns underground, and the one that brought him here was...

"Do you like it?" The seer asked, a gentle smile playing on her lips.

"Miss Rachel, shouldn’t this be like exclusive for the princess?" Harley smirked, looking at the warm smile on the woman’s face.

Honestly, it was hard to tell her intentions behind that warm smile of hers. Earlier she was the one who left the room after she told him where the godsworn was.

"I need to tell you something before you go in the water, though. I can tell that you’re fighting out of something like an order. An order that has consequences."

Harley frowned.

The seer took a few steps forward, and then she sat in front of the stream, inviting him by tapping the ground near her.

’Is she using magic?’ he wondered.

Magic was something that was mysterious to Harley. He was very fascinated at being able to cast spells, like that healing magic that Anne used back in the dungeon. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

’She’s called a seer though.’ Harley finally walked forward to sit beside her.

It was kind of weird for someone inside a trial to identify a person from outside of it. She clearly said that he was following some kind of order which... technically she wasn’t wrong.

"Sometimes it’s a burden..." She spoke up first.

"What is?"

She shrugged.

"Knowing the future, being responsible for people’s lives. Being responsible for so much." She sighed, putting a hand backward before leaning.

"I can’t imagine myself doing such." Harley chuckled, imagining a life where he had to take care of people.

He shuddered at the thought.

"Oh I know. When I was treating you, I saw something about you in a strange vision. And it made me want to know more." She spoke, tilting her head.

Meanwhile, Harley only had a frown.

"What did you see?" He asked, raising a brow as he watched Rachel stand up.

"You carry a heavy burden that you don’t even know. The future is very, very pitiful, Harlequin." Rachel spoke, removing the blindfolds covering her eyes for the first time.