Chapter 94: A Blood Vow

Dakota slowly opens her eyes.

Her mind is groggy, and her body feels slightly numb.

As sensation gradually returns to her, the first thing she notices is the feeling of something cool and damp on her forehead.

It is refreshing. So much so that she almost wants to go back to sleep.

But in the distance, she hears muffled voices. That is all it takes for her instincts to kick in.

She makes her first attempt to sit up and reaches a horrific realization.

Her chestplate is gone, laid aside next to her.

Her chest is fully exposed. Her entire midsection is wrapped in some sort of hastily made bandages.

She draws in a quick, short breath, and that is all it takes to alert her captors.

And suddenly, she is pounced upon by a long-eared figure.

“Friend Dakota! You are alive! I am so relieved! If you died in this awful, disgusting place, I would have wept for days on end and-”

Suddenly, Nila is lifted off Dakota by the scruff of her neck.

“Go easy on her, you loud mouth, she’s just waking up.”

Solomon’s words hit like thunder in Dakota’s ears.

Suddenly, she rolls away and backs herself into the far corners of the cave. She wraps her hands tightly around her chest as she trembles like a leaf.

“N-No… you’re wrong… I am not… I am not…” Tears begin to well up in Dakota’s eyes.

Solomon and Nila clam up involuntarily.

Dakota’s behavior is entirely uncharacteristic of her. Not once have either of them ever seen her like this.

But then again, there was apparently a lot they didn’t know about their friend.

Solomon places Nila back on her feet and slowly approaches Dakota.

He kneels around four feet away from her and speaks in the most gentle voice he can muster.

“…We don’t care about your gender, Dakota. You are a part of our team, and… a valuable friend.”

Solomon had always known that Dakota had a dark past. He only understood now that it must have been even darker than he could have imagined.

Dakota had a litany of old scars on her body that were usually covered by her gloves and chest plate.

Her back and hands were heavily calloused, but it was her chest that had the most damage. Dozens upon dozens of shallow, quick cuts could be seen across nearly every inch of her breasts.

Solomon knew self-inflicted injuries when he saw them. And judging by her behavior just now, he could wager a guess as to why Dakota would have reacted the way she did.

“….I did not remember at first, but long ago… a man who was like my father told me about the Von Valiis.” Solomon resists the urge to smile. “Actually, he… told me that if I didn’t shape up during training, he was going to hire them to poison me in my bed at night.”

“This is a very fucked up story…” Nila mutters.

“T-The point is… I learned about your family and their shadowy existence… I also learned that the only heirs have only ever been men.”

Dakota flinches.

“I can’t imagine what you must have endured in a setting like that. But I think now I understand better why you wanted to leave behind everything that you knew and start fresh as a knight.”

Dakota is no longer shaking, but she has not lifted her head either.

Taking a chance, Solomon shuffles closer to his friend.

“Hey.”

Finally, Dakota looks up at him.

When their eyes meet, Solomon’s are alight with a wicked glow that is neither angry nor vengeful.

“How about we make a deal…? Upon our graduation, let us return to your family home and burn it all to the ground.”

Dakota’s eyes widen.

“You are forgetting something.” Nila knocks on the back of Solomon’s head. “If we graduate, then we will be knights bound to a house. We cannot just run off to murder all of Dakota’s family on a whim, even if they do deserve it.”

“W-Wait…” Dakota stammers.

“I’m planning on opting out of graduation, if I’m honest. I will serve no other house but the one I will start for myself.”

Sparkles immediately show up in Nila’s eyes. “T-Truly!? How wonderous! I, too, wish to be included in this house of friendship and camaraderie!”

“Please don’t make it sound like a social club…”

“W-Wait a minute!” Dakota finally yells, catching the attention of both her teammates.

“You can’t… beat my family. It is impossible. My father…. he is a monster beyond all of your understanding.”

“…”

“…”

Solomon and Nila stop staring at Dakota and turn back to each other.

“Are you planning to take my precious Aunt as the lady of this house?”

“What are you asking… Neither of us has really considered that far ahead yet. It is still early.”

“Hear me now, Solomon A’Kenai! If you think you are going to lust over my aunt, you’d better at least have the decency to marry her!”

“C-Calm down, I am not at all opposed to the idea!”

“That’s not good enough! You need to be intentional about courting my aunt! She is very beautiful, and deserves no less than your best effort! Wait until you see her true appearance, and then…”

Slowly, Nila’s eyes widen.

She grabs Solomon by his neck, nearly strangling him.

“MY AUNT TRUSTED YOU ENOUGH TO SHOW YOU HER TRUE APPEARANCE!? UNTHINKABLE! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?! IF YOU HAVE HYPNOTIZED HER WITH THIS HANDSOME FACE, I WILL CUT IT OFF!”

“Calm down, you rampaging she-beast! I told you that we were close!”

“How close!? Hear me now, human, if you attempt to bring that beastly appendage near my aunt, I will feed it to your three-headed hound!”

Solomon clams up once again.

“What is the meaning of that expression!?” Nila snaps.

“N-Nothing, calm down!”

“Liar! Raizel says that when you lie, you go quiet and look away!”

“That giant metal prick..”

Dakota blinks slowly.

She uncurls her body and tries to get the attention of both of her friends.

“Hey… why aren’t either of you listening to me..?”

Solomon and Nila stop arguing long enough to turn their gazes to their injured friend.

“Huh?”

“You say something?”

Dakota is unsure whether the two are joking.

“About my family… I told you that my father is not someone who can be so easily killed.”

“It matters little if he’s hard to kill; all that matters is that he isn’t immortal. I am not burdened by the idea of challenge.”

“…Your father is nothing in the face of the vanquisher, I can tell you that right now!”

“Your family will die for every travesty he has inflicted upon you. I swear it on my name.”

“After I remove his head, I will forget all pretenses of being lady-like, and I will defecate upon his corpse!”

“We’re going to kill him.”

“In broad daylight, leaving him nowhere to hide.”

“No army necessary.”

“I am the fucking army.”

Solomon and Nila fist-bump without looking at each other.

Dakota stares at her friends for a long time.

She briefly considers that they might be joking, but a single look at their faces is all that it takes to convince her that they aren’t.

She should be scared for them. She knows better than anyone the kind of monster her father is.

And yet, when she looks at both of them, she cannot help but believe in their ability.

“…Pft… Hahaha!”

Dakota throws back her head and laughs.

Solomon and Nila are visibly shocked, as they have never seen Dakota do more than show half-smiles.

Her laughter is clear and incredibly innocent.

She laughs until her sides are sore beyond belief.

Finally, she wipes a tear from her eyes and turns to her friends again.

This time, when she speaks, she is no longer forcing her voice to sound more masculine.

“Never in my life have I known individuals like the two of you… I am glad I ran away from home. If I hadn’t, I never would have been able to call you my friends.”

Nila finally releases Solomon’s neck and goes toward Dakota.

She wraps her arms around her friend, surprising her.

“I am also glad to call you my friend, young Dakota. I always did find you much more pleasant to be around than the others.”

Solomon can only roll his eyes.

“Alright, alright, we can hug her later when we’re out of this infernal realm, clothed, and bathed.”

Dakota and Nila sniffed each other at the same time.

They wisely decided to heed Solomon’s advice and pull apart.

“Can you stand..?” Solomon asks.

Dakota nods as she slowly rises to her feet. “Yes, captain…”

Solomon smiles at her. “Search this place for anything you think might be able to make the journey home easier. In the meantime, I’m going to start-”

Suddenly, the group hears a series of gentle clicking noises.

All three of them turn to the mouth of the cave.

Staring back at them with wide, black eyes is a herd of ghostly white horses.

Nila gasps instinctively, letting out a noise like an innocent little girl.

“Well… I guess that’s one way to get out of here.”

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