NOVEL NEXT X72: Hostage Debrief
The dim lights melted with the record players. Calm, yet a stinging nettle hung above Eliza's head. She could feel it all too greatly, all across her head and mind, that singular piece of tension, as well as all that guilt.
A fire was by the side of the room, in an archaic fireplace. Eliza watched as the Marquis slowly placed a few cut logs into the fire. Embers smoked out for a moment before the flames petered out. Chloé and Archius were also in the room, as the blazing lights of the stars illuminated the background. Standing behind the Marquis was none other than Lady Antiar Kelebori, Champion of the Imperial Knights.
The Knight was holding her head down in shame, yet hiding it whenever the Marquis glanced towards her. Archius sat in an armchair beside the fire, whilst Eliza sat in the middle armchair. Chloé's armchair was directly beside Eliza's, much closer than Archius'.
The Marquis had his chair opposing the three. Chloé seemed extra-protective of Eliza, as she had one of her hands gently placed on Eliza's shoulders. "Why am I here?" Eliza asked.
Sitting back down, the Marquis elaborated, "With the dust settling, I believe it's for the best that you ought to learn what truly happened... behind the scenes, at least."
"A debriefing?" Archius asked. "What good's that for Eliza. Right, Chloé?" Archius glanced over.
Chloé nodded, retorting, "Whatever you want from Eliza, I can assure you, you won't get it..."
"Hey..." Eliza murmured quietly to Chloé. "Let's just hear what he has to say, alright? I'm... sure it'll be fine."
"How did that work out twelve hours ago?" Chloé snorted back. "When I heard what happened, I had the Garnet Justicars on standby..."
"But you didn't need to call for them," Eliza said. "The Marquis isn't Obadiah, alright? We can trust what he has to say... far more than whatever Obadiah spewed."
Chloé grumbled, accepting that if nothing else: the Marquis was better than the snotty robber baron that had caused this whole mess to transpire. "Fine, but I'm making sure you get back to your room, Lizzie." Peering behind her, Eliza saw Nihara, the new bodyguard assigned to her.
For a moment, the guilt almost took over, but Eliza slapped her cheeks up, pressing her face back forward to face the Marquis. "You said you had something to tell us, didn't you?"
"Yes." The Marquis straightened his frock coat and bow tie, gently allowing his cloak to drape over his arms. "I would like to start out with an apology... Two Dassants in a row where you have been at the centre of such issues... I, as the organiser of this event, must humbly apologise."
Eliza coughed up slightly, shaking her head. "No! No, it's fine!" It was not. "Everything's sorted now, isn't it? Well... Kazuki sorted all of it out."
"Ah yes," Gilbera continued. "We have found links in what transpired. It seemed Obadiah did not take well to such legal threats. Delia is still on the case, but... I doubt Obadiah would be much use in the short term for you, Miss Elizabeth."
Archius chimed in, "So you got us all here just to tell us that everything's fine?! Couldn't have this been an email?"
"I must profusely state that this has been a rather drastic measure," stressed the Marquis. "With everything going on, I believe it only right to inform Elizabeth the truth of all of this."
At that, Archius' eyes seemed to glisten in curiosity. Eliza nodded, preparing herself to hear what he had to say. Chloé whispered, "You don't have to take what he says as gospel, you know?"
"What choice do I have?" asked Eliza.
Drones gently placed a dozen or so sets of tea and cookies on the coffee table in front of them. Archius gave a grateful nod and chomped down on one, whilst two drones provided a hovering platform for Chloé and Eliza to place their cups on.
"Obadiah is just the start of your problems," said the Marquis. "Guilty as he was, he is a Triarch of the Mischief Board, they do not go cheap. They remember quite fondly what happened, and what happened here they will see as an offence... They have many friends in power, too many to name."
"You are the First Consul," Chloé snapped, pointing an accusatory finger at the Marquis before downing her cup of tea. She gave a nod towards Eliza as if telling her the cuppa was safe. Eliza sipped down on hers. "You should be the one dealing with this, not us!"
Gilbera sighed, letting the face of the politician melt off to reveal a more fragile individual within, yet burning still with fire in his eyes. "I cannot hurt them," he said. "Trust me on this, no matter who they elect, or who amongst the plethora of vetted candidates they choose, we cannot hurt them."
"Then speak out!" Eliza grumbled. "Replace them or... use your influence, do something to get people to see who has not their interests in heart."
Instantly, the Marquis snarled back, "None of them do!" The booming voice of Kasté's senator silenced the trio's movements. Slowly, the Marquis regained his composure. "It won't happen. Three decades of systemic neglect have caused such indifference that only a black swan shall rupture the status quo. People want change, but they want stability, to know things will be fine... And for that, they'll believe in anything, and we must all eat it up, savouring whatever pleasures and trinkets we can get our hands on."
It wasn't exactly wrong, Eliza thought... She was naive, yes, but she knew how politically indifferent people could be... She watched her father scoff at everything to do with politics. Elizabeth watched how that indifference had led to such suffering, even if it was masked by the neon lights and stain of pleasure.
"Now what else do you have to say?" asked Chloé almost sounding like the Marquis had other intentions for them to be here.
Archius, instead, played the mediator. "Hey, let's take it down a notch. Eliza's back and we have all the time in the foreseeable future to get things straight."
"Thank you." The Marquis gently nodded towards Archius, before turning back to Elizabeth. "You ought to learn of what will happen now that the tentative peace is broken. I have no doubts Kazuki will understand the issues brought upon him by his actions and statements. Are you sure you wish to keep him in this alliance? The twins are dead."
Eliza had no idea how she could answer that question. Removing Kazuki felt like the right thing, given how awful he's been to her... But at the same time, he had the qualities that neither Nimitz, Gilbera, Kantos or Irya have or had. He was damn near unkillable. Just now, Eliza was starting to struggle with the reality of the grand game.
People die. All the time.
Scooting away from the thought, Eliza remained silent. Chloé gave a nasty glare at Gilbera.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Eventually, the Marquis understood that this was quite the topical subject for Eliza to even think about. "I will let you ascertain that yourself. The criminal world won't lie down for this, and Kazuki's status as a Seven Mercenary will potentially bring in new conflict, across either side of the proverbial border."
"I doubt they're stupid enough to launch an attack," Archius admitted, though with a gentle smile on his face, Eliza couldn't be sure what his intentions or truths were at this very moment. "I know a lot of people, some good and some bad, but they see the Board as a figure of authority and reason, I doubt they'd want to shake that up."
"Proxy," said the Marquis. "We must be careful, all of us. There are many eyes in this place, and many pairs of ears, too many to chop off. With that... Elizabeth, I must ask what happened with Obadiah. What led to this debacle in the first place?"
Eliza tugged at the hem of her skirt. Archius curiously glanced over, probably interested in what she had to say about all this mess. Meanwhile, Chloé kept her guard up, especially as drones refilled their cups and plates of cookies. "I went to negotiate with Obadiah, with a friend of mine..."
"Who?" Archius raised an eyebrow.
"Noah Slyra-Montageu, he was an old friend of my sister," said Eliza.
Archius' eyes only kept their intense glare up as Eliza explained things. Eliza stared forward as Archius slowly placed a hand on his belt.
"Well, this friend of yours had been reported temporarily missing." Gilbera placed a folder on the table. A drone gently opened it up, as video footage of the Imperial Knights scouring the warehouses found Noah. "He testified... Obadiah's works."
The Marquis' and Lady Antiar's eyes were both on the video. Chloé had her's on it as well, but something felt wrong... Glancing to the side, Eliza noticed that Archius gently raised his hand from his belt, placing it on the armrest... Suspicion aside, Eliza cleared her head... Archius must have just been readjusting his belt.
"So this all just a setup?" inquired Eliza.
"Damn brat, did he get you mixed up in all of this?!" Chloé snapped.
A shake from Eliza's head calmed Chloé down. "Noah thought he could help me where Kazuki failed to do so... Archius... is he...?" Weakly, Eliza glanced over to Archius, who had his arms gently resting upon the armrests, as if something in his head was finally put at peace.
"I haven't talked to him in a while," Archius said. "He can get a bit pissy sometimes. Maybe he has a reason behind it. He was always the kind to keep his cards close to his chest."
Chloé rolled her eyes as she grabbed more cookies, chomping down as she moved her peachy-blonde hair aside. "No wonder why you two were inseparable."
Archius chuckled weakly before falling silent.
The Marquis' gaze then changed towards Eliza, placing his hands together before a drone served him a cup of coffee. "Did Obadiah say anything of interest, whilst he kept you hostage?"
Anything interesting? Well, of course? "He seemed rather paranoid. Maybe it was just the whole situation, but he kept saying that there was more at play."
"There always is," Gilbera shoddily interjected. "But, the single match can not blame the reactor rods if it were the one to ignite them. Whatever may be the cause of his paranoia, I would not spend too much time on... My partners knew he was a frantic man for a while. Press him for too long and he'll shatter."
"But he's a robber baron, is he not?" Chloé inquired. "That means something, doesn't it?"
The Marquis smirked and scoffed slightly. "Obadiah was not a man from the gutters, he was a coward drenched in blood and molten gold. Can you imagine someone worth their weight breaking down so easily to the point that they took an innocent young lady hostage?"
"Hostage..." Archius trailed off. "Why did he take you? He could have killed you if he wanted to hurt Kazuki the hardest... At least, that's what I'd think he'd do."
"I don't know." Eliza had not the spark of an idea of what was truly going on behind the scenes. The mere snippets she had seen through the blood and smog weren't good. Inter factional conflict... Crime and mercenaries. How could she even fathom any of this?
Eliza's eyes fell to the carpeted floor.
"Lady Antiar was present, was she not?" The Marquis inquired. Glancing up, Eliza then washed away the naive, ice-cold girl she was. That glare... that gaze, Lady Antiar was holding her head forward, a thousand-yard stare. Marquis Gilbera, on the other hand, had knives in his eyes. Eliza knew she knew all too well. If this was the case, then Kazuki must have said something to save the Champion's soul.
At that exact moment, Eliza felt like speaking the truth, telling the Marquis of the coin, the deal, everything that had happened. Yet that side of Eliza, such innocence and idealism, was slowly cracking away. Why should she? Eliza could see Archius' intrigued side-eye, glistening dark peridot, clashing with Eliza's bright rose innocence.
"Lady Antiar did all that she could," Eliza said. "When things came down to it, she tried... She really tried, I don't think I'd be alive if it weren't for her." At that exact moment, Eliza felt her heart sink, just as Archius' mask held firm to form a smirk only Eliza could faintly see.
There was some use to Lady Antiar, after all, and Eliza knew that no matter what, even if push came to shove, Eliza could trust the Champion to save her.
"I see." The Marquis' reply was swift and decisive, and Eliza felt somewhat better that Fer-Charelota dared not to speak another word on the matter. "Your friend... your name is?"
"Archius Bar Lyst." The introduction was clear, but Archius placed a hand to his chest before gently nodding his head in what Eliza suspected was an essence of fake respect, yet Eliza couldn't tell. Was Archius here for her, or for him? "Please, just call me Archius, though."
Or maybe both?
"I must ask, however," Archius continued. "Will there be justice?"
The Marquis nodded. "Belsaran justice," he noted. At that moment, Eliza thought she saw a light flicker in Archius' eyes as if the one piece of information he was seeking was unleashed.
Chloé passed a fusion cream cookie to her as Eliza briefly nommed down on it. The sweetness and texture filled in whatever bumps Eliza had across her mind.
The Máwti man and the Kasté senator shared glances, sizing each other up as Chloé's eyes darted back and forth, understanding some language Eliza could only ever grasp. At the end of it all, Archius stood up and walked over, shaking the Marquis' hand.
"Quite firm," the Marquis commented.
"My father always told me that a firm handshake shows you mean business. Kazuki will probably be expecting me to do something sometime soon," Archius replied, before sitting back down. Eliza felt as if those words alone were some sort of code, yet Eliza dared not think of why. Archius turned to Eliza. "Eliza, did something happen between you and... Kazuki?"
Eliza met his question with an ice-cold glare. "Yes." Eliza had to bite the word off by the tip of her tongue. "We had an argument, that's all."
Chloé sniggered for a moment as she and Archius exchanged amused gazes for but a moment. Standing up, Eliza wanted to leave, finishing off whatever snacks and cups of tea they had left as Chloé and Archius both rose to their feet.
"Lady Antiar will escort you out," the Marquis started. Then, the Marquis gently picked up a newsreel and began to read. Antiar walked forward, gesturing for the three to start walking, as she led them from behind.
The suite of the Marquis was grand, with archaic pillars by the sides and paintings along the wall. Achievements and accolades littered numerous display cases, but leaving the suite, Eliza was met with the cold harshness of the rest of the palace.
The air was cold, and the atmosphere was tense. Imperial Knights stood guard everywhere. Archius led from the front, gossiping with Chloé, whilst Eliza was held in the back, right in front of the Imperial Knight's one and only Champion. Eliza gulped, feeling the tall aura of the woman behind her, nearly half a head taller than her.
"Why did you say that?" Lady Antiar asked. "You should have given me up."
"I didn't want to," Eliza meekly admitted. "It felt wrong... And Kazuki must have said something else, right? Why would Fer-Charelota ask me and not him?"
Lady Antiar frowned and narrowed her eyes in thought. "The Contract-Breaker saved me where others would not dare fathom such an idea. Why? Why would he do that?"
To that, Eliza could only speculate. The idea of consistency with Kazuki was up in the air, what did he even stand for now? Was he just a Machiavellian at the heart of the Republic's politics? Was he just another mercenary warlord, primed to kill everything in his path?
Or was that man the same boy Victoria gushed about when they were younger? Elizabeth had no considerable idea of the consequences playing out, nor had she conceived the notion of just exactly what she was asking, or what Lady Antiar was asking.
To that, Eliza answered honestly. "I don't know, Antiar, I really don't."