Chapter 123 Triumph in Tragedy and Tragedy in Triumph

With the threat taken care of and the mysterious voice no longer there, the world returned to normal. The people within the crowd and the city finally had a sense of calmness come over them.

King Leodoro had given the order to stand down to all soldiers, letting himself and the other three men with boosted stats work together to contain the remaining cetuses. Rather than kill them, Tridon and King Leodoro had a different idea.

While King Leodoro corraled them with strands of lightning, Tomas and the strong soldier forced any straggling cetuses into the lightning cage. Tridon went about knocking them all unconscious.

They wanted to take advantage of the situation and grow the forces of Reinolt. Also, Jack and the adventurers were only able to convince Tridon to give up a couple of his beasts by promising him all surviving cetuses. King Leodoro didn't disagree, in fact, he wanted to help and offered Tridon a new title as the Reinolt Kingdom's Beast Master.

After rendering them all unconscious, Tridon hurried to brand them all with a strange beast seal. It was one the would allow more than one person to be its master, so long as they also had the same seal and was only temporary. The few cetuses over lv. 30 received the same type of seal, yet it was different. That way he could be more careful with whoever controlled the four remaining lv. 32 and lv. 33 cetuses.

With seventeen cetuses over lv. 20, eight cetuses over lv. 25, and four cetuses over lv. 30, Tridon was over the moon.

The soldiers were dismissed after gathering all the corpses, with the beast and human corpses going to their separate piles. It was a grueling battle, but they were glad that the casualties this time were less than any of the other two cetus attacks.

King Leodoro noticed the pride in Tridon's eyes and asked, "So, now what?"

"Why should I be so focused on the future right now? Can't I enjoy my present achievement?" laughed Tridon.

"You know what I mean. With such a strong force in the Salendar family's hands, many people will think you won't respect the Royal Court."

"If it's the same Royal Court we just crushed, then why would I respect it?" joked Tridon.

Leodoro smiled. "Well, Beast Master Tridon, I want to ask you a favor."

"No, I'm not joining your court."

"I don't want you to. Actually, I want you to form your own power, not as a noble family but as its own entity. What if you had your own beast taming academy?"

Tridon looked away from his newly acquired beasts and saw the king's genuine smile. He chuckled, "You know, once I make something like that, I'll be just as powerful as Zariff and rival your little court with my beasts alone. If I can attract strong people too, I may overtake your court."

"Honestly, I'd like that. So long as we're allies, I'd be happy to have such a power within the city. But help out when you can, alright? We have no clue if the syndicate will return, so we'll need you and your cetus army if that happens." King Leodoro sighed, glad to see things start changing for the better in Reinolt.

"If you support the Salendar Beast Academy, then why not?"

Both men chuckled and embraced each other's arms like brothers of war. No more words were spoken, only looks of respect were shared as they waited for the cetuses to wake up to their new master.

*****

Those at the association building gathered the corpses of the few soldiers and adventurers that were killed, as well as the syndicate members. Nobody dared loot a single corpse. They respected those that fell amongst the soldiers and adventurers while they knew their chief would be in charge of inspecting the syndicate corpses.

Though they won the battle with very minimal losses in terms of numbers, neither Zariff, Maynard, nor Rydel was happy with the end result.

They looted the syndicate members and didn't find anything too precious or unusual beside gold and a powerful weapon or two. The hooded leader was the only one with an item they didn't recognize.

Not wasting time, they stowed everything away and would wait for a better moment to mention the item to Jack.

The three men slowly walked toward the forlorn Jack. He was speechless. Staring at the lifeless Slivia in his arms, Jack was motionless and looked to be near lifeless himself. At his side was Daliea, who seemed touched by Jack's sadness. She had finally gotten to see evidence that Jack had already given his heart to someone.

Zariff was in a unique position. He cared for both Jack and Slivia for different reasons. Slivia was someone he had helped protect and save in the past, representing a turning point in his life. Jack was someone who could save his own life and was an instant friend after joining the association. Both were important to him and he would never want to choose between the two in a life or death situation.

"Jack…" After a few minutes of silence, Zariff finally spoke but never received a response. "Jack, bring her inside. Let's go upstairs."

Jack said nothing and showed no signs that he heard Zariff, but after a few seconds, the weak Jack managed to cradle Slivia's body in his arms. He turned around and approached the association building.

The others opened the door for him and made sure Jack only had to walk. They wanted to offer to carry her since he was already weak with his own injury, but they knew he would never let them.

It took some time, but they finally got Jack upstairs. They watched him lay her across the conference table. Jack stood over her. He was still in shock from her sudden self-sacrifice.

Rydel left the room and quickly came back with Bowzer. The young fox hurried onto the table and immediately started cuddling up to Slivia's corpse.

No one was able to understand Bowzer's cries. While the others had no mental link to him, Jack wasn't paying Bowzer's cries any attention.

After it grew late into the night, more people entered the room. King Leodoro, Tridon, and Tomas had returned with the news of their battle with smiles on their faces, but they all frowned after reading the mood of the room.

Marisha was the next to enter, hugging and comforting her husband who rarely had such watery eyes.

The last to join the mourning was Maura. She had been locked and stowed away in a backroom by her mother. By no means was she allowed to come out, just like Jack had done with Bowzer.

The syndicate was too much of a threat. Jack feared that Bowzer may be captured if a beast tamer was somehow involved and Marisha feared that her headstrong daughter would cause more trouble then help if she was let out.

When Maura learned of their victory, she was overjoyed. But very quickly that joy was replaced with sorrow. Her only sister-like figure had been killed, sacrificing herself for Jack. No one understood how she did it, but Maura didn't care. She hurried through the halls without hesitation, searching for the others.

Entering the somber room was a heavy blow to her heart. Her eyes first laid on Slivia. She couldn't understand why Slivia was smiling during her final moments.

Then, Maura turned to look at Jack. A small part of her wanted to be at his side and just hug him, but she didn't. She didn't know if he would let her and she was too scared to try and be rejected in front of so many people.

The coldness of Jack's eyes brought Maura even more tears. That happy-go-lucky Jack she had first met was nowhere to be found. There was only coldness. It was clear to her and everyone that he had no desire to talk with anyone.

When Marisha left to bring food for everyone, most ate it and some at least finished a portion. However, Jack never even acknowledged the plate's existence.

As night turned to day, everyone beside Jack eventually left for their own beds in need of a good night's sleep.

Alone with Slivia's now cold body, Jack finally sat down in front of her. He struggled to remain conscious, but his weak self wasn't able to last before the sun came up.

When Maura came back to the room with Jack and Bowzer's breakfast, her heart ached. She saw his head resting on her shoulder and tear stains in his eyes. Bowzer was nuzzled up in her arm, trying to find the warmth that was no longer there.

She stared at them for quite a while, not realizing how much time had passed. When she finally set the food down, a voice startled her.

"Maura…"

Maura stood up straight and noticed Jack turn his head. His eyes were no longer cold, but broken and passionless.

"Maura… Why couldn't it be me instead?"