:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Claim\u00a0<\/p>\n
Part II: I Can\u2019t Take It Anymore\u00a0<\/p>\n
The elf queen approached Dantriel and said to him, \u201cI want to know what happened to my sister, and I want the complete story. Do you understand?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, Your Majesty, but I beg you to heal Ethan. If you leave him in that state, he will die anyway.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The queen approached Ethan, placed her hand on him, and healed all the wounds he had received during the torture with her light magic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTake him to the dungeons,\u201d the queen ordered as she walked away from Ethan and instructed the remaining guards to escort Dantriel to her office.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The queen left first. Before they took Ethan away, Dantriel asked the guards for a minute. He wanted to make sure his friend was okay. Out of respect and admiration for him, the guards\u00a0<\/p>\n
accepted his request.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dantriel approached his friend, who had fainted at some point, and asked him, \u201cAre you okay,\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ethan?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ethan regained consciousness for a moment and said to him, \u201cDon\u2019t tell her anything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I don\u2019t, she will kill us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI promised Sophia, you can\u2019t.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry, Ethan, but I can\u2019t die, and I won\u2019t let\u00a0<\/p>\n
you either.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The guards grabbed Dantriel and said to him, \u201cWe have to go, you know the queen hates waiting.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dantriel was taken to the queen\u2019s office. She was sitting in her chair behind a large wooden desk, and she said to him, \u201cSit down.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He did as she ordered, and shortly after, she commanded the guards to leave. Once alone, she said to him, \u201cStart talking. This time I don\u2019t want half\u2013truths. Even though you are one of my best generals, and there is history between us, if you lie to me again, you won\u2019t live to tell the tale.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t dare, my queen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou better make sure of that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYour Majesty, there is something I wish to ask before we begin speaking.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/4\u00a0<\/p>\n
< Part II I Can\u2019t Take It Anymore\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe you are not in a position to demand anything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEthan will be set free.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Claim\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you tell me everything I wish to know, I will set him free, but you will not be able to leave the kingdom for a long time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dantriel nodded and began to speak, telling the whole story of Princess Sophia and her half\u2013breed daughter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The queen listened in silence, her face showing no emotion, but in her eyes, Dantriel could see the unrestrained anger she was feeling. It made his skin crawl.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When he finished telling the story, the queen asked him a single question. \u201cWhere is the half\u2013breed?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you plan to do with her?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is none of your concern. Answer what I have asked you: where is the half\u2013breed?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the kingdom of Cosset.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The queen stood up, approached the door, and called the guards, ordering them to take Dantriel to the dungeons.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He stood up immediately. \u201cYour Majesty-\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDo not get upset. Your confinement is only temporary. I do not want you to alert the half\u2013breed about her existence and cause her to escape.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Taren was unconscious all afternoon. He woke up late at night, and Abril, who was by his side, asked him, \u201cHow do you feel?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLike I have been spun around a thousand times and a horse has trampled over me,\u201d he replied.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sirius said, \u201cYou\u2019re still alive. You\u2019re fine.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Taren sat up and asked, \u201cWhere are we?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the royal capital of Laios, in an inn in the slums to be more precise.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought we would go straight to the royal palace.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWith you unconscious?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re right, it wasn\u2019t a good idea. By the way, what was that monster that attacked us in the\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/4\u00a0<\/p>\n
< Part II: I Can\u2019t Take It Anymore\u00a0<\/p>\n
forest?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Claim\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know. It\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve seen a monster in human form, and it\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve faced such a strong monster\u2013a monster that is hardly affected by my light magic,\u201d said Abril with a worried expression on her face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sirius said, \u201cI think there are stronger monsters. The war we thought was over has not yet\u00a0<\/p>\n
ended.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd here I thought that closing the Hades rift would be the end of it all,\u201d said Taren as he tried to sit up in bed. Abril helped him as he seemed to have trouble getting up and said, \u201cIt seems like our victory was just an illusion, our peace a lie that we desperately clung to.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody said that peace was easy to obtain.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd what do we do now?\u201d asked Taren.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor now, we will do what we had planned to do\u2013close the Hades rift\u2013then we will figure out\u00a0<\/p>\n
what to do next.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI also think that will be the best course of action.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sirius heard a bird pecking at the window. He looked out, and the eagle entered the room. It was the king\u2019s messenger bird, wearing a red tear\u2013shaped collar tied to one of its legs and a small note attached to the other.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sirius took the collar and the note. The note said, \u201cFor Abril, think of me when you receive\u00a0<\/p>\n
this. -Alessandro.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sirius passed the note to Abril after reading it, then took the collar and asked, \u201cIs there nothing else?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cJust that note and the collar,\u201d replied Sirius as he gave some jerky to the bird. Abril approached the eagle and asked, \u201cHow did it manage to find us?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis bird uses a magical artifact, see?\u201d Sirius pointed to a small stone that the bird was wearing on one of its legs. It was so small that if he hadn\u2019t pointed it out, she wouldn\u2019t have noticed it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey can deliver messages to someone no matter where they are.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI see. I would like to send a letter to Alessandro. Can he take it?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe can only carry small objects. You could only send a small note, but you can write your letter. I will send it with my magic. I also need to send my daily report.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
3\/4\u00a0<\/p>\n
:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Claim\u00a0<\/p>\n
< Part II: I Can\u2019t Take It Anymore\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSirius, don\u2019t tell Alessandro about the new species of monster we fought today. That will only worry him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t worry, I won\u2019t.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you. I don\u2019t want to worry him more than necessary.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
He Threw Away and Sold to the Devil 254 :\u00a0 Claim\u00a0 Part II: I Can\u2019t Take It Anymore\u00a0 The elf […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-his-regret-their-knees-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30022\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}