Act 25: The Capital City of Staron

Continuing the last chapter - Madison, Daiko and Cristy left the Forest of Dreams and travels to the Capital City of Staron in the Southeast where the king is waiting for her. Unsure of the whole details of what happened to the camp and his men, Madison explained everything to Daiko about what happened while he was still caught in Cristy's illusion.

While travelling in the road, Daiko was surprised when he learned about the ghouls that lurks in the Forest of Dreams and the missing soldiers that were cursed to roam the forest for eternity.

Madison also explained, "The events that you have encountered in the forest caught my attention as I heard gunshots and screams from afar. The reason why I am in the forest is because I'm hunting ghouls and their nest that harass nearby villages. The quest was posted by some villagers who are desperately looking for help yet are ignored by the New Generation."

Daiko asked, "New Generation? What's that?"

Madison answered, "New Generation means the Adventurers, Knights and Mercenaries."

Daiko can't keep up and replied, "I don't understand. What do you mean by that? Does that mean that there are no Witch Hunters anymore?"

Madison faced down and nods as she tells the whole story about Witch Hunters, "Before the Witch Hunters existed, let us go back to the time why they created us.

Many years ago, humans, fairies, elves, beast men and even dwarves are living in harmony. The four races are in peace, the ideal time of the world that everyone sought, until darkness suddenly enveloped the skies and the monsters below began rising from the ground, ravaging and destroying everything in sight. The five races became united and created a strong front to battle the demons.

Beast men and humans fought in the frontline, elves and fairies are fighting from the rear where they can support the two races in the frontlines while the dwarves focuses on creating weapons that are almost unbreakable. Swords, spears, Bows, Arrows and Shields that are used to fight the demons.

The battle lasted for 10 years and the resources are almost closing to depletion yet the war was still far from over, the five races are almost spent in every way, they lost lands, people and battles. It was all but hopeless, their soldiers' morale hits the rock bottom, the economy collapses as chaos and civil war broke out in every nation.

The leaders of the five races debated on how to approach the situation some of the beast men leaders wanted to fight until the last man while some of the elves and dwarves wants to negotiate with the demons, but the humans wants to surrender this fight.

The decision of the humans infuriated the other races and called them cowards who turned their backs on the oath they made.

One of the elven leaders asked the humans to leave the court but before they leave the court, one of the human leaders smiled and as he laughed, he said, 'Death will come for you!'

He unsheathed his dagger and suddenly stabbed himself to death, he fell down smiling as the blood drips on the floor, a black smoke came rushing in the court, the moment they smelled the smoke, they suddenly bleeds to death.

As panic began rising in the court, the stabbed body was covered in the same black smoke until it suddenly explodes, killing all of the members of the court and there, rises the Witch Queen, Marie Antoniette, the first witch.

When the news of Marie Antoniette spreads in the public, the chaos and riot between the five races has risen exponentially to the point that peace is but impossible to obtain as their people rely on stealing, killing and other crimes to keep on living, some people even go far as raping women in the streets and even soldiers are doing it.

Some of the nobles began to corrupt people for their own interest, leaving behind their true purpose for their country. The leaders of the five races tried their best to maintain public order but in the end, they were killed by their own people who fell in the influence of the demons who controls their darkest desire."

After hearing this made Daiko realized something and replied, "This was never mentioned in any of the history books nor records, not even in the royal library. How is this possible?"

Madison answered, "Everyone wants to hide their dark past no matter what, they have to hide it at all cost. Why do you think no one knows about this country's history? That's because every generation they hide it deeper and deeper until no one can learn about this."

Two days later - they finally arrived at the city gate, Madison was surprised about how huge the wall that Staron has, it is almost ten times bigger than the walls of Siberius had.

At the city gate, the guards are checking and validating the identification cards that every person who enters and while waiting in line, Daiko asked Madison and Cristy, "Do you have identification cards?"

Cristy answered, "I have one." As she showed it to Daiko, it was a shining golden ID plate.

Daiko was speechless when he saw this and asked, "Is this the rare golden ID card that only a few people can obtain?"

"Yes..." Cristy answered.

Daiko sighs and said, "Looks like you and I will have a conversation later."

Cristy replied, "Okay..."

Daiko then turns around and asked Madison, "What about you? Do you have an ID card?"

Madison took it out of her pocket and showed it to him. Daiko became even more speechless when Madison showed him the Platinum ID card that only 3 people obtained so far.

Daiko rubs his eyes and pinched himself to see if he was dreaming, yet it is not a dream, it is real. The golden ID card represents the highest rank in the adventurers guild.

In the Adventurer's Guild, there are eight ranks in total: Novice, Nickel, Copper, Bronze, Steel, Iron, Silver and Gold as the highest rank and only a few has reached the rank Gold in the Adventurer's Guild.

After a few moments, one of the guards approached Madison and Cristy, and said, "Hey there, beauty. Want to drink with me tonight, I'll introduce you to some nice bar here in the city."

Madison smiled and rhetorical replied, "Before you start hitting on random girls, I suggest that you should choose wisely on who you should hit on, pervert."

Hearing this made the guard irritated as he replied, "Do you know who I am? I am the captain of the guards here and I am also a son of a viscount. Do you have any idea what power I have?"

Madison answered, "Really? Viscount? That's why I thought you were an insect trying to communicate with me."

The guard became infuriated with Madison's words started calling the other guards. Madison asked Daiko and Cristy to stand back, before they step back, Daiko asked Madison to hold back so that she does not injures the guards.

She did not pulled her gun out but instead, she unsheathes the katana sword that Mason once used on their adventures. It is now but a keepsake from his brother. Madison took deep breaths and taunted the guards, "Come at me, weaklings..." As she stands firm and starts focusing.

The guards attacked Madison at the same time but the moment they entered the striking zone, their spears were beautifully cut in half along with their sheathed swords and their helmets.

The guards didn't know what happened, even Daiko and Cristy can't keep up to follow Madison's movements.

The guards looked at Madison and realized the aura she's giving off, they suddenly remembered the same aura they heard in rumors and concluded that the woman they tried to hit was The Last Witch Hunter, Madison.

The guards immediately kneeled over and beg Madison for forgiveness for their impudence against her, they also realized how weak they were against one person. But unlike Mason, Madison let them off the hook in exchange for entering without validating their ID's.

The guards agrees with the condition and let Madison, Daiko and Cristy entered the city without validating their ID's.

To be continued...