It’s been three days since the saint convoy left for Avignon. So far the journey has been kind towards them with good weather. But now they’re faced with a huge problem going forwards. The quickest way to Avignon is to cross Corsica border and take a boat ride to Francia. However, now with the political situation being really tense as it is, most of the soldiers began to reconsider and weighing their options on taking alternative routes.

  Some suggest crossing the pine mountain range. However someone immediately shut down that idea as that road is really unsafe for a big convoy like this. Some also suggest crossing the Ravena Kingdom border with the downside being adding five more days to their journey.

  As the soldiers argue with each other inside the command camp tonight, Sebastian is busy training alone, outside with the help of a dim moonlight. His body is drenched in sweat and letting out steam into this cold night. His eyes are sharps as ever and his movement definitely improve since the last fight he have back in Isildus. Down on the ground are the books he always bring everywhere he goes. The last remnant of Father Daniel existence. Unnamed martial arts that Sebastian trying to master.

  With several month of rest and not doing anything besides training. Sebastian managed to finished a three quarter of the book. He trained from dawn till the moon shone brightly above. The only rest time he has is when he’s eating or sleeping. Other than that he’s always in the training room honing his skill until his body just can’t take it anymore. That’s also the reason why the Diocese told everyone that he’s the patron saint of Martial Arts, even when they know that he’s not.

  As Sebastian trained, Dalia can be seen peeking her head out looking after him. She’s wondering why Sebastian trained that hard. There must be a reason for this excessive amount of training even when people just brush it off as some sort of dedication. Dalia walk closer towards Sebastian and as she become even closer, she can feel the heat radiating around blocking the cold wind of the night. Feeling this warm sensation is really unnerving for Dalia. What Sebastian doing is borderline on the insane for his body to radiate that much heat. However she steel her heart and move forwards albeit slowly.

  Sebastian noticed Dalia was approaching, then he looked at her with such intensity and anger. Dalia almost fell backward from the pressure, she never felt this much pressure from a look alone. This kinda explains why Carlos was so terrified of Sebastian now. Sebastian was definitely in the zone. His mind was so focused on training, slight disturbance from Dalia is enough to irritate him deeply. However seeing Dalia smile awkwardly, made Sebastian lower his guard and calm himself.

  “What do you want?”

  “I-I was just wondering why are you training this hard everyday.”

  Sebastian just goes back into his training routine and say “A busy body is an empty mind and an empty mind soothe the soul.”

  “That sounds really depressing. Considering you train at every chance you get.”

  Sebastian didn’t want to comment on that. However, he got something to ask of Dalia. Something that has been gnawing on his mind for a long time.

  “Have you ever met someone that’s irredeemable? Someone you can’t forgive?”

  That question came from nowhere. Dalia searched her mind for a while and came up with zero answer. As long as she lived, she can alway forgive everyone who has done wrong to her. Someone that’s irredeemable is such an alien concept for her. Everyone deserves a second chance no matter what. Even some of the saints from the old times come from sinful or rough backgrounds and God gave them another chance to do good. Forgive and forget.

  “I never met someone like that. I also believe everyone deserves a second chance,” Dalia Said with a smile.

  “That’s a naive way of thinking, don’t you think? Maybe that person didn’t want to ask for forgiveness. Maybe he enjoyed whatever sinful thing he did.” Sebastian's eyes reflect a lot of burning anger inside. “Irredeemable person, rotten to the core, not once ask for forgiveness or even gave a hint why he’s doing what he does.”

  “Carrying revenge on one's heart is like carrying a huge stone on your chest.” Dalia sat on the ground. “It crushed your heart and made it hard to breathe. However it’s not the other person's fault that you’re carrying that stone around. He merely gave it to you and you decided to hold it, clinging to the idea that he’ll take it back one day and you finally can breathe like you used to. But you’ll learn one day that the person responsible won’t take the stone back... ever... and you ended up carrying that stone around for nothing but torturing yourself.”

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  Sebastian stopped his movement and glanced towards Dalia. There she just smiled like she used to. The warm smile he gave to everyone around. Sebastian shakes his head and wipe the sweat that is pouring down on his face. He felt irritated. Hearing Dalia's sermon feels like needle stabbing on his body and fire burning on his ears. She would never understand. Such a sheltered girl like her is the last thing Sebastian wanted to ask for life advice for.

  Without a word Sebastian walked past Dalia in a hurry. Seeing her face just irritated him more and more, especially seeing her usual smile. Dalia on the other hand just let Sebastian go without saying anything. She knows there’s a huge turmoil and storm inside Sebastian's head and all she can do is to calm it slowly. Maybe just maybe. In the future that storm and turmoil would calm

  down and sunshine finally rose from the darkness.

  *

  Ipsilas came out from his carriage and stared at the beautiful Avignon he long to see. Beggar loiter the street and shady people are all around being a menace to society. Such a ripe city for Ipsilas to harvest. And that’s why he’s here right now.

  “What a beautiful city.”

  Avignon is a city managed by the Diocese and Francia Kingdom. It’s an autonomous area inside Francia itself. Cardinals from the church are the Viceroy for this country and they rotate the position every 5 years to ensure no one holds too much political power in this city. However, the current ruling Viceroy, Cardinal Faust, has been reigning on this city for 20 years. He managed to weasel his way into the city and church politics to cement himself as the ruler of Avignon until he died.

  Just like all fairy tales, Cardinal Faust's first five years managing Avignon was nothing but spectacular. The citizens love him, Francia court adores his personality and he managed to turn the city into a fortress to stop mountain bandits and many criminals alike. However those good old days turn out to be nothing but a cover, a veil of his ambition to come.

  Because of his popularity amongst the people, he was offered as a permanent custodian of the city by Francia and was permitted by the Diocese. The job last until the day he died and at that time the church was oblivious to Faust scheme and ambition. As soon as he takes the mantle of power. The slow decline of the city began.

  He treats the city coffer just like his own personal coffer. Demolish a lot of the citizen house for his layered city project. And lastly kill any dissident that might arise without trial. The plan of the city is simple. The rich are placed on the inner layer of the city, the middle class on the middle and the poor on the very outskirts of the city. Of course the citizens try to fight back this tyranny. But with Faust's connection to Francia court, many of his high ranked friends managed to turn blind eye to the citizens' suffering. And for the Diocese... they couldn’t do anything besides send some reprimanding letter to Faust which he definitely never read and just threw in the trash.

  The city is bloated with hatred and anger. The perfect place for Ipsilas to spread his wings and bask in its filth. He just needs to light a single flame before this whole city explodes and burns the ground. However, he just can’t do that willy-nilly. A lot of eyes would be directed to him and that’s one thing he didn’t want right now. At least until he finally reveals himself to the world.

  Ipsilas jumped to one of the rundown house roofs. In the process he nearly broke the roof even though he barely put any weight on it. Such life in the outskirt of the town. As ipsilas looked at the full view of the city. He noticed the jarring disparity between the center, middle and outskirts of the city. There’s a huge wall separating each section with a checkpoint guarded by soldiers. Then Ipsilas could hear the sound of an amazing party that echoes from the center of the city.

  Such debauchery and decadence in life these noble and corrupt priests have. While their citizen suffer from hunger. These noble are busy gorging their mouth with exotic food and luxury condiments. Ipsilas smiled before he ran towards the outskirt city center. There he could see many homeless people laying on the street covered by a thin blanket to shiled themselve from the cold. Ipsilas covered himself with a black coat and a mask. Now it’s show time.

  “HEAR HEAR THE CITIZEN OF AVIGNON!” Ipsilas screamed at the top of his lungs.

  A lot of the citizens looked up at the skies as they watched Ipsilas standing on the top of a ruined church building.

  “THE CORRUPTION OF THE CHURCH HAS GONE TOO FAR! THE CARDINAL HAVE RUINED THIS CITY! AND WHAT DOES THE DIOCESE DO?! NOTHING! THEY CONSPIRE WITH FRANCIA AND TURN A BLIND EYES TO YOUR GREAT SUFFERING! THEY CLAIM TO PROTECT YOU. BUT WHERE WERE THEY NOW?! THEY TURNED THEIR BACK FROM THEIR OWN TEACHING, DISCARDING THEIR HOLY SCRIPTURE FOR GOLD COINS AND HARLOT! WE MUST STAND ON OUR OWN! FIGHT FOR OUR OWN! THIS CITY IS YOUR CITY! NOT THEM!”

  Ipsilas jumped down towards the ground, many people now gathered around him. Curious on what he’s going to say or do next.

  “ANYONE WHO WANTED TO FIGHT, RAISE YOUR HAND!”

  Some of the people began raising their hands Slowly. However suddenly the city guard came storming with their pike aimed at Ipsilas. They’re smiling and grinning. Some even looked like they’re drunk and came here in a hurry. The captain of the city guard came forward. His chest puffed up and his fat fold prevented him from putting on his helmet.

  “YOU’RE UNDER ARREST BY THE CHARGE OF CAUSING DISTURBANCE AND INCITING A REBEL-“

  Suddenly blood burst out from the captain's body and he fell down to the ground. Not long after that, all the city guard was slaughtered in a mere second. A lot of people ran away from the scene. They didn’t want to get involved in crazy things like that. However many stood their grounds at they watch Ipsilas from the sideline. They got nothing left to lose. All they have is anger and hatred towards the ruling class of this city and mostly towards Faust.

  “Good. I don’t need cowards on my crusade. I’ll make sure everyone who stays will see the bright future I planned ahead. Now follow me, we got a lot thing to do now.”