"Simon, are you asleep?" June asked her companion.
It took a while, but Simon's eyes flickered open and his head turned to face her.
"N-not really," he replied. "Is there a problem?"
"No... I just can't go to sleep..." she sighed. "We're at the edge of the Twilight forest, after all."
"Oh, are you worried about the forest's inhabitants?" asked Simon, propping himself up with his elbow. "I did hear about the monsters and demons living in the forest, and that the remnants of the Demon king's monstrous army were all banished there."
"Right, they say some of the demons living deep inside the Twilight forest were on par with the Demon king himself," said June. "That's why the Emperor tasked the empire's magicians to place a magical barrier around the vast forest to keep its inhabitants imprisoned inside it."
"Well, since the whole area is a sunken depression, it would take a lot of effort for the monsters to scale the cliffs that surround it," said Simon. "It's naturally built like a basin after all."
"That's right, I read that the whole area was actually the massivecrater of an ancient volcano,and that the Twilight mountain in the middle is where the peak of that dormant volcano is located,"June said excitedly. "They say the size of the forest can fit the whole capital inside it, six times over!"
"Wow, is it really that big?" Simon asked wide eyed.
June gave him a knowing nod.
"That's the reason why it takes so long to get to the capital. We would need to travel for five whole months around the Twilight Forest to get there without a warp portal," she continued. "After all, the capital is at the other end of the forest from us."
"The travel time would have been much shorter if we went aroundclockwise along the southern edgeof the Twilight forest, but the Devil's Horns mountain ranges are in the way," Simon sighed. "No one has ever gone through that perilous place before, since the mountains there reach up to the heavens, and the Dark Woods of Elenore are located at its feet."
"That's right, isn't that where the Behemoth was said to have come from?"
"Actually, no one really knows where that monster originate from, it is considered uncharted territory after all," said Simon. "Though, witnesses reported that the Behemoth came out from the active volcano, mount Mal-veda, which is one of the peaks in the Devil's Horns mountain ranges."
"By the way, they say the Dark Woods was an enchanted forest? Did you feel magic inside it? I wish I could visit it, too! they say that the other side of the Devil's Horns mountain ranges used to be forested as well, but it was turned into a desert during the Demon King's reign."
"It was?"
"There's an old atlas back home showing various maps before the time of the Demon king," June told Simon, beaming. "It showed that the area on the other side of the mountain rages was once a lush forest, and near it was a country rules by elves and beastmen."
"A country where elves and beastmen lived together?" Simon looked even more interested.
"That's right, it was the time before humans ruled the land," June explained like a teacher to her pupil. "It was before the Demon king's 500 year reign, when the five races still kept the pact that elves, beastmen, dwarfs, demons and humans must live in mutual respect of each other."
"Hmm... very interesting... our tutors never mentioned such things to us in the past," Simon said thoughtfully.
"That's because the last Demon King ordered all the history books to be burned when he started his tyrannical rule about a hundred years ago," June pointed out. "It is said that he used to be a good leader at the beginning of his 500 years rule, but he got too drunk with power and eventually ended up oppressing the rest of the races. It was only 20 years ago when his reign of tyranny was finally ended by the Golden Hero and his companions."
Simon perked up, "Oh, I'm quite fond of that story! I'm a big fan of the Golden Hero after all!"
Simon unconsciously looked at the window behind June, where Will was still sitting while he stood watch for the night.
"Then did you know that the current emperor on the throne is an impostor?" June said in a whisper.
Simon's eyes widen at her bold words.
"The current emperor claims that he's the Golden Hero of legend, but he's just a prince who was knighted as a crusader and took all the glory from the real Hero!"
"J-June, I don't think you should be saying such things!" Simon said, hushing her up. "If someone hears you talking lèse-majesté or insulting the emperor..."
"Why? There's no one here to hear us, and it's the truth, after all," she added haughtily.
"Even so… I heard you can go to prison for spreading such things… you can even be executed for treason together with your whole family!"
"Hmph. Are you going to tell on me, then?" she asked Simon who quickly shook his head. "Anyway, you don't look too surprised to hear about these so-called 'insults'?"
"Well, you see, my nanny used to tell me stories about the real Golden Hero when I was much younger, back when my mother was still alive…"
"Oh, my goodness, does she have first hand experience from actual events?!"
"First hand…?" Simon looked at a wide-eyed June. "Well… yes, she said she was a lady-in-waiting of one of the Demon King's concubines, and saw how the Golden Hero defeated the Demon King..."
"Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Where is she now? You think I could interview her?"
"I'm afraid she had passed away eight years ago, but I do remember her stories," Simon said shyly. "She said that the Golden Hero was able to defeat the Demon King with the help of Prince Jonas who later became emperor, and his sister, Princess Ann, who became the Grand Meister."
He noticed June's expression darken at the mention of the princess' name.
"She said that the Golden Hero was a holy knight who wielded a bastard sword and was blessed with such strong holy power that he glowed golden as the rays of sun god Arah's light."
"No, he wasn't a holy knight, he was a battle mage," June corrected him. "She probably confused him with Prince Jonas. They were always together after all."
"Oh… but what makes you so sure?" Simon asked with a frown.
"Because, a holy knight or crusader uses holy power bestowed to them by the sun god Arah, and the Golden Hero was a farmer's son who used magic from mana. Everybody knows that 'holy power' from gods can't mix with 'mana' from nature, just as a warrior's spiritual energy or 'chakra' can't mix with both!"
"Oh…" Simon felt his face burn.
He never knew any of that.
"I guess our tutors haven't taught us about that yet…"
"Really?" June raised an eyebrow at him. "Just what were they teaching you in the royal palace, then? Well, anyway–"
June was about to lecture him some more, when her words were interrupted by a knock on the carriage's wall.
"Hey, aren't you kids going to sleep yet?" came Will's rough voice.
Simon could hear his irritation in it.
"Who are you calling a kid?" June complained.
"Sorry!" Simon quickly pipped in. "I think we better get some rest, too," he told his companion while stifling a yawn. "We've still got a long way to go before reaching the capital, there's more time to talk about these stuff next time."
"You've got a point there," June yawned as well. "Then I guess it's time to call it a night."
The carriage finally went silent as the two youths went to sleep.
Outside, sitting on the driver's seat, Will kept his eyes to the starry sky as he watched gray clouds hide the crescent moon.
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Go to Part 50
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