Chapter 426 No thanks
"... Because you are too naive," Elius said. "I wonder how come you can be so naive considering that you fought them many times."
"I helped them, but then some of them tried to brainwash me and killed them," Zaos said. "I probably killed more than any of you while I was escaping and yet, why do I feel not everything our kingdom did is excusable? If you look for some books in the royal library, you will find the answer."
"Why not just tell us right now?" Elius asked.
"I suppose so, but I imagine it would be easier for you guys to understand if you confirm that by using a book," Zaos said. "The reason why you hate them is because they are descendants of the demon god. The demon god is returning and that is why his followers became more powerful. In the books, you will learn that he had the power to terrorize and was hated by others just due to his aura."
"... The demon god? Are you for real, kid?" Elius frowned.
"No, I am crazy," Zaos replied. "That is why I am talking to you, even though you came following Drannor's orders and you obviously will cause trouble for me later."
Everyone there realized that if Zaos had lost his mind, he wouldn't be talking with them. Still, his explanation was a bit insane… even though that explained why the followers of the demon god were getting stronger. It seemed that Nyana wanted to ask something, So Zaos put the cloth on Elius' mouth and then gave her the chance to talk.
"Zaos… why did you do all this? Why didn't you try to talk with us?" Nyana asked.
"As I told you, it is because of the curse of the demon god. You act and think like everything done to his followers are justified, like they are really monsters," Zaos said. "Killing in the battlefield is one thing, but using lives on experiments… That is disgusting beyond reason. You can't see that because of the hatred caused by the curse."
"If that is true, why are you immune to the curse?" Nyana asked.
"That, I cannot answer," Zaos replied.
"Then why you killed Ameria and kidnapped her daughter?" Nyana asked.
"I cannot answer that as well," Zaos replied.
"... What were you looking for in the castle of the Ashiris kingdom?" Nyana asked after she frowned.
"Some books about the demon god, like I said, he is returning and I wanted to learn more things about him, unfortunately, one of his servants took over the queen's body and destroyed everything useful in that library," Zaos replied.
"The queen? How?" Nyana furrowed her eyebrows.
"I have no idea, but the demon god will have the help of his servants and they can take over the bodies of certain humans," Zaos said. "If you had been there, then you probably know what my magic did to the queen. She had been taken over by one of the servants of the demon god alongside some members of the royal guard and I had to kill them."
Zaos' story was making even less sense now. Possession from the dead? They had never heard of magic that could do something like that… still, considering that Zaos used his Thunder Blade, only something very powerful would be able to endure it without melting. It was hard to imagine that the queen of the Ashiris kingdom would be that resilient…
"All right, who is next?" Zaos said, and he also covered Nyana's mouth. "You two inverted your roles? I always thought that Melisse was the one who didn't respect me even a little bit."
"Don't worry about him, he is getting grumpy with old age," Melisse said. "As you know, we came here to find you and Drannor is preparing for another war since the king and the queen are ill and probably won't live for long. Do you want to live knowing that you might end up causing the death of another royal family?"
"... It is a pity, but there is no other way," Zaos said after thinking for a while and then pulled Two rings from his backpack. "If you give them these, they might get better. If they die and everyone wants to blame me for it, I will live with that guilt."
"What is this?" Melisse asked while looking at the ring Zaos put in front of her.
"A magic ring that restores health automatically," Zaos replied. "Since they have control over the mines of the Ashiris kingdom, you can easily charge the magic stones."
"Why are you trying to help them? They put a huge bounty in your head," Melisse said.
"They had all the reasons to do it, I won't make any excuses for it, I killed Ameria," Zaos said. "Maybe one day I will have to pay for that crime, but I won't let it happen so easily."
"... What is your goal, Zaos?" Melisse asked with an unusually serious tone. "What are you trying to accomplish?"
"World domination," Zaos replied. "All right, next."
"Answer seriously… Another war is going to start and you are the main reason behind it," Melisse said. "You lost everything, no… you threw away everything. You can't visit your mother's grave and your own father swore to the whole kingdom that he will be the one who will kill you… why?"
"Because I already failed twice and I don't want to fail again," Zaos replied. "I suppose that my goal now is to prevent my third failure… if I succeed on that, I can die without regrets, even if I go down in history like the worst human being in the history of this world."
Everyone knew that Zaos blamed himself for the death of his mother, and he considered that his greatest failure, but no one knew what was his second… In any case, it was more than obvious that Zaos hadn't lost his mind and that he was determined to keep following that path. Zaos couldn't care less about what the world thinks of him.
"All right… I will help you," Melisse said.
"No thanks," Zaos said.
