Florentine late at night had an atmosphere hard to describe, yet easy to sink into.
The square had gone quiet an hour ago. The lanterns above the side streets were down to the last hour of their oil, their flames casting a warm glow that softened the whole city.
Eli walked with the wine package tucked under one arm. Every few paces, his other hand brushed absently against Juli's sheath, just to remind himself she was still there.
'Everything's fine. Everything's good.'
The inn they had booked for the night was three streets over from the flower shop. It was a small place with a green-painted door. The innkeeper was already fast asleep at his counter when they came in. Before he could rouse himself, Juli waved him off with a gentle flutter of her hand.
Mr. Cross, their coachman, had already booked the rooms, and they didn't want to interrupt his peaceful sleep.
They went up the narrow stairs, down the hall, and stopped at the second door on the right. Juli unlocked it and stepped in first, sweeping the room with her eyes. Only then did she stand aside to let Eli in.
It was a simple room, with one queen-sized bed pushed against the middle wall. Eli set the wine package down on the nightstand.
Juli tapped his shoulder from behind.
"Hey. I'm going to grab some food, okay? Get some rest."
Eli nodded.
"I'm counting on you."
Juli patted him gently on the back before leaving, and the hollow darkness closed in behind her.
Eli sat on the edge of the bed, and at last — finally — he let himself breathe.
'…Oh gods.'
His hands were shaking. Eli pressed his palms flat against his knees and willed them still, but they only trembled harder.
'I'm scared, man…'
His breath hitched, coming in shallow, ragged bursts.
He finally cracked.
Thrust into a fantasy world with death flags hanging over the entire Sienne fiefdom, Eli finally cracked.
His heart and mind couldn't bear it any longer.
'What am I supposed to do… What can I even do?'
It had only been two days since the transmigration, yet everything had happened in a flash. Eli was running on pure adrenaline, but once it faded, what could he rely on — burdened with the knowledge of doom?
Irene, Juli, Ravi, and the one he hadn't mentioned: Cyllene. Who knew how many more the game might decide to kill off?
It was insanity to think he could pull it off. He wasn't a cold, calculating strategist. He wasn't an overpowered protagonist either, or at least, not right now.
Everything he had just displayed was false bravado, the belief that everything would be all right if he followed the script.
No!
It wasn't as simple as the game had made it seem.
He was only sixteen back in the real world. Back home, the biggest decision he'd ever had to make in a day was whether to finish his pudding or save it for the night nurse.
He was just a kid who cried whenever a heroine met their death. He had cried when Nora's cat died. He had cried when Arlene willingly jumped off the Valley of Omen to stop the demons from pouring out. He had cried reading Joanne's last letter to Irene, wishing her well before succumbing to her injuries.
And now… his decisions could cost lives or save them.
Eli wasn't ready for this kind of responsibility. Not at all.
But still…
'Eli. Calm down, okay? You'll be alright.'
He had always been optimistic.
He had always been able to find solutions to any problem.
He had always been able to knock some sense into himself whenever panic overwhelmed his body and mind.
And so, Eli forced himself to calm down.
He opened up the questline, his eyes wavering.
╭────-·ˋˏ-༻𖤓༺-ˎˊ·-────╮
[Heroine Quest: Cyllene Rosenthal]
A young mage who swore to protect the children and to sing their sorrows, soon to stand alone against a fire to complete her elegy of dreams.
[Objective]: Ensure the survival of Cyllene Rosenthal.
[Reward]: The Heroine of Aegis, Cyllene Rosenthal.
╰────-·ˋˏ-༻𖤓༺-ˎˊ·-────╯
Cyllene Rosenthal… the only heroine who died in her own side story. She didn't even make an appearance in the main story. He had always thought it was strange. Every heroine contributed something there, yet Cyllene failed to appear even once.
Side stories were standalone routes, and while they were canon, their timelines were often unclear. Cyllene's story, for example, centered on the attack on the Magic Academy, carried out by the Church of the Red Moon, who worshipped devils and demons.
She was a professor at the Magic Academy, loved by her students and adored by her peers. Her screen time was short, limited to a side story, but its impact on him and the players was enormous. Cyllene was the image of a saint, sacrificing her life to save her students.
Yet not once had her story crossed his mind before the meeting with Joanne and the revelation it gave.
Why would it have? The timeline was vague. The attackers were a faction that appeared much later in the main story, so he naturally assumed Cyllene's side story lay far in the future.
But that certainty shattered the moment Joanne spoke those two words in her office.
'Two days.'
That was when it all made sense.
Everything clicked when Joanne said she was leaving Florentine.
The timeline fit perfectly into the grand scheme.
In two days, chaos would ensue. The Church of the Red Moon would attack the vulnerable academy, exactly as the side story had played out.
But what tied everything together was the side story's ending.
'The troops surrounding the Academy.'
The Academies were the treasures of House Lagranche. An attack on them would be a disaster in its own right. Moreover, the wine season gathered many important figures to Florentine. So what was the obvious thing for the Lord of Sienne to do?
Defend.
The Lord would strip the House of its garrison and send them to Florentine.
And who might the Lord of House Lagranche be at any given moment?
'Irene.'
Irene would certainly send most of her troops to defend against the Church's attack. And the moment that garrison left the gates, the House would be at its most vulnerable, which meant Irene would be at her most vulnerable.
Eli clenched his hand so hard it felt like he might break a bone.
That was their entire plan. The attack on the academy was a diversion, a bonus for the Church, while the real goal was to lure out House Lagranche's soldiers so they could carry out the assassination.
That was why Eli had felt something was off when Joanne mentioned the House's military might. No matter how skilled those assassins were, thinking they could break through the House's defenses at full strength was pure folly.
And the fact that the Church and the Duchess were co-conspirators?
Eli could never have imagined this scenario.
If he couldn't stop Joanne from leaving Florentine, the academy would burn down, and Irene would send her troops, even if he warned her not to. And if that were to happen, Irene would die.
Eli stared down at the floorboards and let the weight of that settle.
Gillian's documents would arrive soon. He would have them in his hands before sunrise and on Joanne's desk before she ever reached the front gate of the academy.
He would drag Juli and Mr. Cross out of bed at the first crack of light if he had to.
'…I can do that much. That much, I can do.'
But he didn't want to stop there. Joanne leaving was the least of his problems, because he wanted to catch every one of these bastards. If he didn't, they would just come again.
Eli wanted to make an example of them — that if anyone dared to mess with House Lagranche, the return would be tenfold.
He looked at Cyllene's card one more time before closing it quietly.
'Just you fucking wait, Luwenda Ambrosia.'
Between fear and anger, Eli chose both; while fear was a new, untapped power, anger remained the force that drove him the most.