335 The Concerns Of The Duchess
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Julia stared into the window, the day had gone by since Maria went to the dungeon, and despite the ghost being busy and having a blast destroying monsters, several hours had passed within the outside world, and it was already night. With the sun resting below the horizon, the little Duchess stared into the sky with eyes filled with hope. She was hoping for Maria to come back safe and sound and holding into her promise as well.
What had happened to the dungeon was not something that she could handle at all, not even with the B-Rank Adventurer that was currently busy and not in the fiefdom as of now. Maria and her companions had already showed to be amazingly dexterous and great fighters as well as possesing insane capabilities after having completely cleansed the graveyard from all Undead and even defeating the giant Darkbound, a B Rank Undead Monster with enough strength to destroy the entire town.
She knew of their strength, but couldn’t help but feel rather worried, not for Maria that much, but for herself and the future of her fiefdom. It has already been several months since her uncle died suddenly, and it had happened just in the same day as the coffin of the Witch of Misfortune was found wide open and even destroyed, without her bones or even a soul left…
After various investigations done by the priests of the Kingdom, and after a series of events in the neighborhood Fiefdom, it was discovered that the vengeful soul of the witch had turned into a frighteningly powerful Ghost, an Undead Monster without a physical body, strong enough to kill soldiers and knights, and even various priests… Ultimately, it was attributed the death of the previous Duke to this ghost. Julia herself had been frightened about this ghost, and originally didn’t really wanted this position.
However, she was forced by the King, her grandfather, and was slightly convinced by her mother who wanted her to shine and show all the talents she really had. Julia was still developing as a girl of royalty but was quickly thrown into a dire situation where she had to somehow recover a fiefdom that was barely holding on.
She had done her best and worked hard, recruiting competent people at her side as well to help her with her duty, over the months, she managed to bring the fiefdom back from almost its ruin, and now, due to the intervention of an obscure and mysterious group of people, things had begun to get bad once more. People started going around screaming insanely, there were now special and strange magical drugs that made people addicted but also turned them into complete nutjobs, and there was as an ever-growing anxiety within the population of the fiefdom…
Marie and her group were like the thing she always needed, especially now when things were turning even darker, the Graveyard becoming filled with Undead who were mysteriously raised by someone to distract the duchess from the city itself, and then the dungeon being filled with miasma through what seemed to be many sacrificed slaves to enhance its power and… bring monsters endlessly. It was as if someone was setting up the destruction of her fiefdom, but at the same time didn’t particularly wanted to destroy it, they just wanted to… distract her and make her lower her guard. That one assassination attempt wasn’t going to be the last one.
Marie was her hope now, and with her allies, it might be possible to eliminate these threats before they take her down, but now, to deal with the dungeon, the group had to go away from her and leave her alone. Well, not really alone. Julia looked into her shadows, as she felt the dark, creepy phantasmal presences of various Undead within its interior, watching over her… Marie had very unique powers, amongst them, the ability to raise Undead and manipulate shadows, combining both powers, he was able to put Undead inside shadows, and left Marie her strongest Undead to protect her if there were to be ever a threat. She trusted them but…
“Ugh, this is really creepy… Maybe I should go to sleep now and just forget about this.”
Julia walked back to her room where a few maids followed her to serve her in several things, while doing so, she spoke with the two, who were actual twins, both were half-elves with dark green and light green hair, named Faire and Fiere, Faire was a silent and hardworking maid, while Fiere was the cheerful and slightly lazy and childish of the two. The two twin maids had been with Julia even when she was a little child and came here to this fiefdom with her.
“Is there something troubling you, Lady Julia?” Wondered Fiere, with her beautiful light green hair and her bright emerald eyes. She was always bringing light to the daily life of Julia, even in the gloomiest of days, this half-elf girl was always cute and cheerful, despite her many flaws, Julia found this to be a big plus, and even when she committed many mistakes, such as tripping with tea, falling off the stairs, or spilling tea over her dress, she always kept her around.
“Fiere, don’t annoy Lady Julia with useless questions. If she doesn’t talk, keep your mouth shut. It has been like this for years and you never learn.” Sighed Faire. She was strict and disciplined unlike her sister and was a figure of authority that even Julia feared a bit sometimes. Nonetheless, she was very dedicated to Julia and her work, and always took care of her like a big sister.
“Geez! You don’t have to be so rude with me, sis…” Sighed Fiere.
“I am not being rude; it is merely etiquette.” Sighed Faire.
“You two, stop discussing, it is alright… I am simply having trouble. There’s something lingering in my mind for a while now…” Sighed Julia. “It is related with the assassination attempt…”
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