The French House by Helen Fripp (ebook reader with highlight function TXT) 📕

just any young boy. It was the boy that ran away earlier. Adrian. He was curled up in a ball and quietly crying.

"Leave me alone."

His voice was hoarse but soft. He looked up and glared at the Inquisitor with defiance.

"You— you’re a murderer."

Fria almost wanted to snap back at the boy, but stopped herself. He was a child, and she was an adult. Getting angry would not achieve anything. So she looked back at him, and spoke as kindly as she could.

"Why am I a murderer?"

"What do you mean— you killed Melas’ mother!"

The young woman nodded thoughtfully. She met his glare with cool eyes. "By Melas’ mother, do you mean the Fiend?"

"She is not the Fiend! I don’t even know who that is! She— she’s Ms Aria, and she’s a kind woman who saved my life. She never did anything wrong. You killed her, and now Melas is gone too..."

The boy choked on his words. He buried his face on his hands as tears streamed down his cheeks. Fria just stared at him.

"So, is killing wrong?"

"Of course it is!"

Adrian snapped back. He was furious, but Fria did not back down. She continued, and spoke slowly this time.

"Well, the Fi— this Ms Aria killed my friends. Does that make her a murderer too?"

Her voice was quiet. Solemn. But Adrian just looked up and glared. "You attacked her first!"

Fria nodded her head, and continued.

"Not just them. She was a part of the Shadow Evangelium. They were the cause of millions of deaths. And this Ms Aria herself was responsible for at least tens of thousands."

Yes, that was what Fria almost forgot. The Fiend got her name for her ruthlessness. Her cruelty. Not just in battle, not just against soldiers, but against civilians too. The Fiend took part in the Xantioch massacre, where an entire city was burned down to the ground and all its citizens killed.

Fria’s friends were not the first one to be killed by the Fiend. But they were the last. And that— even if it pained her to admit it— was a good thing. Fria met Adrian’s gaze, and the boy looked incredulous.

"...you’re lying."

Fria shook her head and shrugged.

"You don’t have to believe me. But these are the things we learned in the academy. Not just in the Holy Xan Empire, but here in the Rem Republic, the Puer Kingdom, even the Free Cities teach it. It’s in all the history books, you know?"

Fria looked down at Adrian, and the boy’s eyes were wide in disbelief. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he was struggling. So Fria just continued.

"You say she wasn’t wrong for killing my friends because we attacked her first. But we attacked her because she’s killed so many people. Because she was a danger, even if she wasn’t doing anything bad at that moment. So are we— am I really the bad guy here? Do you still think I’m evil?"

The Inquisitor looked at the boy expectantly. But Adrian could not meet her gaze. He looked away and spoke hesitantly.

"...yes."

The young woman looked at the boy, and sighed.

"Then I guess I’m evil then. But you can’t just claim someone is evil without knowing anything at all. So come with us to Xanderia, and you can learn anything you want. Maybe you will even learn to become strong enough to do something about it." The young woman half turned and shrugged. "Or just stay here and do nothing. Remain in this tiny village and remain ignorant and helpless to all the injustices of this world. It’s your choice."

The young boy looked up at Fria, and they locked eyes for a moment. Just a moment. Then the Inquisitor walked away, leaving Adrian by himself.

It was morning when Saint Theron and Fria were about to leave Villamcreek two days later. Even though they killed the village’s Herbalist. Even though they destroyed a few homes. The villagers all gathered to bid farewell to their visitors.

Because they were from the Church. An Inquisitor and an actual Saint. This might be the only time they ever got to meet an Inquisitor, let alone a Saint. Plus their Herbalist was actually evil, and they got quite a lot of gold from them. So when these prominent and rich visitors were about to leave, the entire village gathered to say goodbye.

The entire village, except for one boy.

The red haired woman sighed as she scanned the sea of faces and did not see Adrian. She saw his parents approach. But no brown haired child.

And Fria thought what she said actually got to him. It was too bad.

She turned to the approaching couple and smiled as Saint Theron started speaking with them.

"Has Adrian changed his mind?"

"No— not yet. We tried to find him again this morning, but he still hasn’t returned home. We don’t know where he is… could you please just wait a little longer?"

Saint Theron shook his head apologetically, and even Fria had to agree. She glanced at the horses, packed with equipment and ready to go. There were seven of them, and only two riders. The two horses being used had to be tied to the other five, which would dramatically slow down travelling speed.

It would take at least half a week to even get to the nearest city with a train station. And then they had to switch trains to reach a dock city, and then take a flying ship to—

Fria shook her head at the thought. It would take around a month and a half before they returned to their continent of Soli. They could not waste too much time in this village. They were just about to leave when someone pushed through the crowd of villagers.

"Wait!" Walden shouted as he waded his way through the small crowd.