Chapter 67: The Last Hours
The late morning sun was warm on my back, a pleasant lie after the cold hell of the last two days. The west wall hadn't been hammered as hard as the north, but it had still taken a beating. Here, the repairs weren't about clearing molten rock and corpses; it was about hauling new stone, mixing mortar, and rebuilding collapsed parapets. It was hard, honest, boring work.
And I was spectating.
From my perch on a stack of timber, I had a perfect view of Freya orchestrating the chaos. She was in her element, a general of reconstruction.
"Not that one, you lout! The one with the flat side! Do you want this section to fall on someone's head?" she barked at a sweating laborer, who quickly swapped stones.
Her eyes, sharp as ever, flicked to me. "You could make yourself useful, you know. Instead of just taking up space."
"I'm recovering," I said, leaning back on my elbows. "Doctor's orders. Well, Kaku's orders. 'Stay out of the way and recover.' I'm a model patient."
A familiar, grimy laugh sounded from my left. Gerric, the soldier with the busted shield-arm, now in a sling-ambled over, using his good hand to carry a water skin. "Model patient, my arse. You look like you're sunbathing. We should all take such brutal recovery regimens."
"Hey, I earned this," I said, gesturing to my completely functional, if still slightly sore, body. "I got hit by a blast of dark magic. What's your excuse?" I nodded at his sling.
"Tried to stop a boar with my face. It was a tactical disagreement, and the boar won." He took a swig of water. "Still, better than your method."
Lyra, the wiry dual-sword adventurer, dropped down from a scaffold above us, landing with a light thud. She wiped sweat from her brow, leaving a new smear of dirt. "Don't listen to him, Kaizen. We all know the real reason you're just sitting there. You're scared of a little manual labor. All that 'I'm not a hero' talk was just a cover for 'I'm allergic to hard work.'"
"Damn, you figured me out," I said, deadpan. "The goblin chief, the beast horde, the dark magic... all just an elaborate performance to get out of mixing mortar. My ultimate goal is a lifetime of leisure."
Bren, the burly guardsman, hefted a massive stone block into place with a grunt. "Would've been easier to just become a merchant," he called over, his voice strained.
"Less exciting, though," I shot back. "And the retirement plan is worse. You get a bad heart. I get disintegrated. Much more dramatic."
Freya planted her hands on her hips, her patience clearly fraying at the edges of our little comedy show. "You're all encouraging him."
"Someone has to," Lyra grinned. "He's the most entertaining thing on this wall since Davik tried to bet on how many seagulls would land on the new flagpole."
The banter was easy, familiar. These were the people I'd fought beside, the ones who'd seen me at my most desperate and bloody. They'd earned the right to give me shit, and I gave it right back. It was a strange feeling, this camaraderie. It almost made me feel like I belonged here.
00:58:12... 11... 10...
The timer was a silent drumbeat in my skull, a constant reminder that this was all temporary.
"So, is it true?" Gerric asked, his tone shifting to something more curious. "What they're saying about you at Ronta Vro? That you told the Iron Fangs to piss off and walked away from a fight?"
The mood didn't turn cold, but it did become more focused. All eyes were on me, including Freya's.
"Yeah, it's true," I said, not denying it. No point.
Lyra whistled. "Ballsy. Or stupid. Still deciding."
"I told them I wasn't a hero." I shrugged. "Turns out, I was right. I'm just a guy who's good at not dying. There's a difference."
"And yet, here you are," Bren said, pausing to wipe his forehead. "Stuck to the Silver-Blade like her shadow. Not very 'not a hero' of you."
I looked over at Freya, who was watching me intently, her expression unreadable. "Let's just call it a temporary character flaw. A momentary lapse in my otherwise sterling record of self-preservation. It'll pass soon."
00:03:47... 46... 45...
Freya finally broke her stare, turning back to the work. "Just... try not to be a complete waste of space for the next few minutes."
"I'll do my best," I muttered, my attention turning inward.
The final minutes stretched, each second a small eternity. I watched Freya point, direct, and occasionally heft a stone herself. She was a force of nature, relentless and capable. She didn't need my protection. Not really. But the System didn't care about capability. It only cared about results.
00:00:10... 9... 8...
I took a slow breath.
...3... 2... 1...
00:00:00
A familiar, translucent box snapped into the center of my vision, its text stark and simple.
***---***
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
Mission 2: Freya Mikaelson: COMPLETE
Primary Objective: Protect Freya Mikaelson – SUCCESS
All Rewards bonuses and new features deferred until Host is alone and secured.
***---***
A wave of sheer, unadulterated relief washed over me so powerfully it felt like a physical blow. The tension that had been coiling in my gut for over thirty hours simply vanished. It was over. I'd done it. She was alive. I was alive.
The sounds of the worksite rushed back in. Lyra was complaining about the quality of the rope. Gerric was telling a crude joke. Freya was shouting for more mortar.
And I was free.
The debt, as I had defined it, was paid. The mission was over. I could walk away. The thought was as terrifying as it was liberating.
I looked at Freya, now scowling at a poorly laid line of bricks. The shadow could finally recede. But as I watched her, the name Okutake whispered in the back of my mind, a ghost from a cave that refused to stay buried.
Freedom, it seemed, was just another kind of cage.
The walk back to the Mikaelson Inn felt different. The air was the same, thick with dust and effort, but the weight was gone. My steps were lighter, my shoulders weren't braced for an impact that never came. I was just a man walking through a damaged city, anonymous and, for the first time since I'd gotten here, truly free.
I pushed open the familiar, heavy door to the inn. The common room was quiet, a stark contrast to its usual bustling self. A few off-duty guards sat in a corner, nursing pints in silence. And behind the bar, polishing a glass with a worn cloth, was the tall, skinny frame of Erik.
He looked up as I entered, his eyes, so much like his daughter's but infinitely kinder, crinkling with a weary smile. "Kaizen, my boy. Back from your… supervisory duties?"
"You could say that," I said, sliding onto a stool at the bar. The wood felt solid, real. "The shift is over."
Erik placed the glass down and studied me. He had a way of looking at you that felt like he was reading the chapters you'd tried to skip. "You look different. Lighter."
"I feel it," I admitted, and it wasn't a lie. "The debt's paid. I'm a free man."
His eyebrows raised slightly. "Is that so? And what does a 'free man' plan to do with his newfound liberty?"
"Get the hell out of Torak for a while," I said, the idea forming as I spoke it. It felt right. "A few days. Maybe a week. Go somewhere the air doesn't smell like blood and burnt rock. Somewhere I'm not… known."
Erik chuckled, a dry, rasping sound. He reached under the bar and pulled out a bottle of amber liquid and two small glasses. He poured two fingers into each and slid one toward me. "A wise plan. A city after a battle is no place for a man seeking peace. It's all ghosts and memories."
I knocked the drink back. It burned a clean, welcome path down my throat. "It's not peace I'm after. It's… anonymity. I'm tired of being the guy who started the invasion or the guy who follows Freya around like a lost puppy. I just want to be nobody for a bit."
"Anonymity is a rare commodity for a man who stands in the wreckage of a beast commander," Erik said softly, nursing his own drink. "But I understand the sentiment." He refilled my glass. "Freedom is a strange beast, Kaizen. Men spend their lives chasing it, and when they finally catch it, they often find they don't know what to do with it."
"I'll figure it out," I said, taking the second shot. This one warmed my chest. "First, I'm going to have a bath. A long, hot one. I want to soak until the last layer of grime and blood and whatever the hell that dark magic was is gone. Can you have one prepared?"
"Of course," Erik nodded. "I'll have the girls heat the water immediately. It will be the finest bath you've had since arriving in this world from your mother's pussy, I can promise you that."
"Thanks, Erik." I meant it. This man, who had vouched for me when no one else would, who offered a quiet room and a kind word, felt like the closest thing to an anchor I had.
He leaned on the bar, his voice dropping. "And Freya? What does she think of your… freedom?"
I let out a short breath. "She don't know. And I don't care. That's the point. The deal is done. She's safe. I'm off the hook. We don't have to be in each other's pockets anymore."
Erik watched me for a long moment, his expression unreadable. "You saved her life, Kaizen. More than once, from what I hear. A debt like that… it has a way of creating bonds, whether you want them or not."
"Bonds are complications," I said, standing up from the stool. The room swam pleasantly for a second. "And I've had enough complications to last a lifetime. Right now, all I want is that bath, a clean bed, and a road that leads away from this city tomorrow."
Erik simply nodded, his smile gentle but his eyes holding a world of unspoken wisdom. "As you wish. I'll see to your bath. Enjoy your freedom, son. While it lasts."
I headed for the stairs, the warmth of the liquor and the warmth of my success mingling into a heady cocktail. Erik's final words echoed in my mind, but I brushed them aside. He was a worrier by nature.
The mission was over. The debt was paid. I was free.
For the first time, the future was a blank page, and I was ready to write whatever the hell I wanted on it.
[A/N: Can't wait to see what happens next? Get exclusive early access on patreon.com/saiyanprincenovels. If you enjoyed this chapter and want to see more, don't forget to drop a power stone! Your support helps this story reach more readers!]