Chapter 103: Son of Lancelot & Persephone (2)

We would all have given our lives for Lancelot. For he had taught us that one survives only by protecting one another and by limiting collateral victims.

Yet, I must admit, a part of me, the impatient young man that I was, sometimes felt useless. Lancelot was an army composed of a single man.

His strategy, his presence on the battlefield, his ability to inspire… everything seemed so perfect that we, his swordsmen, were sometimes only spectators in the battles.

Then after his death, came Persephone, I had heard rumors before meeting her. After all she was called the she-devil. The one who had conquered the heart of the greatest swordsman of Hundun.

I could not understand. How could a man so good, so benevolent, have fallen in love with a woman who seemed to be his absolute opposite ?

She was never at the front. She did not know strategy at least, not the one we understood. She did not even stand at the side of her troops.

She contented herself with sending her orders.

I recall that day as if it were yesterday. We were returning from an operation against a criminal organization. Mika, my friend, one of the most promising knights of our generation, had lost the use of his right arm.

Persephone entered the barracks.

Her eyes scanned the room, counting the wounded, evaluating the damage. Her face remained perfectly impassive.

” With only one of the bases, you are so exhausted ? ” Her voice was icy and as usual without emotion. ” So pathetic. At least, there were no serious wounded. “

Rage overwhelmed me. Without thinking, I shouted that my friend had lost his arm.

The silence that followed made me nervous. I immediately realized my idiocy. Confronting Persephone, yelling at her. Some have died for less than that, my bones would not even be good enough to make fertilizer…

But she did not look at me. She advanced toward Mika’s bed, contemplated his bandaged stump with an expression I could not decipher.

” Low-level criminals dared to amputate you ? Here are the swordsmen that Lloyd trained ? Incompetents who show too much compassion. “

Then she turned around and left, without another word.

That night, throughout Hundun, one could hear screams of pain.

Six criminal bases… And in each, they had both arms amputated.

The next morning, Persephone returned to the barracks. Her appearance was impeccable, not a trace of blood on her clothes. But the smell… that metallic and nauseating smell that emanated from her… I will always know how to recognize the smell of the carnage she had sown.

” Tomorrow, you will have finished the work “, she announced. ” I want my knights to be so feared that the enemy will be afraid to raise his weapon. So if there is one who shows pity, he will be considered the one who amputated my swordsman. “

I understood that day that Persephone and Lancelot were two sides of the same coin each with their methods.

And under her banner, the criminals preferred to get arrested and judged rather than risk injuring a swordsman and seeing their entire lineage decimated.

And then, just like Lord Lancelot, Persephone disappeared.

And after a few years, their son became our chief.

No one liked Daemon. He had the reputation of being a spoiled kid, the heir who had never deserved anything. But like all the others, I had confidence in Lancelot, and I revered Persephone. Their son must have something of them, even if we did not see it yet.

Today, I had barely parried a volley of arrows when a gust of wind projected me backward. My sword slipped from my hands. Before I could regain my senses, a man already had a dagger arriving near my throat.

” Shit, I am going to die ! “

But at the last moment, a hand seized the blade.

Blood flowed between his fingers falling on my face.

Lord Daemon furrowed his brows while staring at the assassin.

” Allying with the Spear Clan is one thing, but openly attacking the Winter House… The House of Wind has lost the little sense it had left ! “

The surprised assassin began to tremble : ” Daemon ! How is this possible ? Young master Liam said that you were dead !”

” Your master does not have the latest updates. “

Daemon violently twisted the man’s wrist, Then drew his katana in a fluid movement.

” By using your left arm to injure a swordsman, you must be ready to have it amputated. “

The assassin’s arm fell to the ground, and the blood gushed, splattering my face.

” AAAAAAARRHHHHH ! “

The scream was so piercing that it made the other attackers tremble with terror.

But he seized the man’s dagger and planted it in his eye piercing his brain.

Lord Daemon turned toward me, his hand still bloodied, his eyes shining with a gleam that reminded me so much of his mother.

” Swordsman Jack, can you get up ? “

” You… you know my name ? ” I said astonished.

” You are one of the few veterans who fought alongside my father. Of course I recognize you. “

He held out his wounded hand. I hesitated a moment, then took it.

” I must say that I am quite surprised, Lord Daemon. “

Daemon smiled, and for an instant, I thought I saw Lord Lancelot.

” I have always been a spoiled kid. But now, I am no longer a kid. I am the chief of the Winter House. You all have already proven yourselves, it is up to me to prove mine. “

He turned toward the battlefield.

” So, Knight Jack, are you in a state to fight ? “

I picked up my sword, for the first time in a long while, I felt the excitement of combat invade me.

” Affirmative, Lord Daemon ! “

” Good ! I am going ahead, we must quickly bring support to Kristian ! “

He launched himself without waiting, charging toward the heart of the melee.

And in that moment, I understood our new leader.

” Injuring himself for his knights and inspiring terror in his enemies… ” I murmured while running at his side. ” It seems that Lord Daemon is truly the son of Lancelot and Persephone. “

The future of the Winter House was certainly uncertain. But since the disappearance of his parents, I believe that we have found a chief worthy of their inheritance.