Chapter 47

Genzou was on his table surrounded by sorcerers in shorter cloaks long enough to touch the floor. The doctor had worn a mask while burning the black cloth which lay on his table.

But Shinji was interested in something else. He couldn’t help himself from staring at a sword which leaned on the wall.
“It will be yours soon.” Ser Akimitsu knew where Shinji’s eyes were.
Shinji’s eyeballs rolled to the blond knight on chair.
“I wasn’t expecting it, ser.”
“The sharpest sword goes to the one who needs it the most.”
“Isn’t she beautiful?” Genzou said by removing the mask over his nose and mouth.
Nodding was the only wise thing Shinji could think of.
“Why did you bring me here?” Shinji dared to ask.
“AARGHHH…” agonized yells travelled to their room from the dungeon.
When the cry repeated itself then Shinji didn’t fail to recognize whom it belonged to.
“What are you doing to Fujimoto?” Shinji threw a question at the doctor.
Genzou had silence in his response.
Meanwhile the painful screams kept coming to the room.
Commander Eiga shut the door then the chamber was free of voice filled with anguish.
“Sympathy for him can cost you the opportunity to live.” Ser Akimitsu got up from his chair.
Shinji couldn’t match eyes with the knight but Ser Akimitsu kept seeking for the eye contact.
“What do you want me to do?” Shinji’s lips trembled in wrath as he spoke.
“Be a frontier.”
A guinea pig.
“Against?”
Loud knocks came from the closed door.
“Let the violinist come, Eiga.” Genzou made himself heard.
Denying wasn’t what Commander Eiga was known for.
A man with a wooden mask bigger than his head entered inside the room through the door opened by the violinist. Then came the men in long robes whom castle beings classified as Long Robers.
Violinist was the last one to show his presence there. Two more men appeared there but didn’t enter inside the crowded room. Instead they left a wooden pot half the Shinji’s height.
“Get on your knees, Shinji.” Ser Akimitsu said.
Shinji descended till his knees were firm on the floor.
“Be still.” Commander Eiga said, tying the light pot on his back.
The commander tied ropes around his waist as well as shoulder. His shoulder was the place where the rope had been putting maximum pressure.
“Make sure to tighten this lid.” Eiga showed him the lid and closed the pot’s mouth by it.
“What do I have to carry?” Shinji squinted at him.
“Snakes.”
Ser Akimitsu saw the worry which had spread across Shinji’s face. Ser Akimitsu knew he had every right to be worried. It was about his life and death after all.
Shinji lost every bit of interest he had with the sword with a big pot tied to his back. By the time the sword came to his waist, it was just an ordinary piece of metal.