Sometime later…
"About time you woke up." A familiar voice echoed in Ashton's ears.
Ashton was greeted with Mera's scarred face the moment he woke up. At first, he was startled, not knowing what she was doing in his room, but the memories of the previous day soon flooded his head.
A lot had happened back on the island and Ashton didn't realise how fatigued he was until Jonathan, Mera and him, were already on their way back to Deja. Fighting all those creatures didn't help him either. In the end, his body had been stretched long past his limits and he fell unconscious on the way back.
That's all he remembered. Still, he couldn't get past the uncertainties of the circumstance he found himself in. However, now wasn't the time to dwell on such minute details. For a bigger problem was probably waiting for him in the form of Mera and Jonathan.
"Let the boy breathe a bit, Mera. The questions can wait." Jonathan's voice echoed from the opposite corner.
He and Mera were the only ones in the room beside Ashton, inside his bungalow. Ashton turned to greet Jonathan, after all, he was the king and had to be treated with respect. But before he could put his thoughts into action, Mera jumped off the bed, staring at Jonathan like she was going to rip his eyes out.
"You're the one saying that when you forced him to fight those creatures back on the island?" She lashed out.
"The situation is different from then and now. That was a battlefield. This," Jonathan pointed around the room, "is his home. A place to rest and collect his thoughts."
"You might have a way with words father, but please, try feeding your bullshit to someone else who would believe you." Mera scoffed, "Why don't you just say that you want to ask him about everything there, in my absence?"
"If you know it that well, then why don't you do me a favour and get going?" Jonathan smiled before heading towards Ashton, "As much as I want you to be correct, I am genuinely concerned about him. If I wasn't, I wouldn't have personally made the journey to rescue him."
Mera opened her mouth to say something but quickly shut it back. She knew no matter what she said, Jonathan would easily turn her words against her.
After all, he wasn't only the king of the Lycania, but also a great politician and strategist who had a talent for using others' words against them. Much like Marc Antony, who in the tales of Julius Caesar, had once turned the roman crowd against Brutus by saying mere 30 lines. No more, no less.
That was one of the many reasons the other kingdoms did not want to interfere in his business. At least, till he did something he shouldn't and try to step into their territories.
"Also, how do you plan on questioning him with the culprits being absent?" Jonathan continued with a smile.
"The Conundrum? I thought they-"
"Oh, they must be tough to find for someone like you. But you don't think I'm foolish enough to let them operate without a leash around their neck, do you?"
"…"
Once again it was Mera's turn to remain silent. She didn't know for sure whether what Jonathan said was an intentional jab regarding Donovan or not. But it sure felt like it.
It hurt more because she knew she messed up by allowing Donovan to live as what happened with Ashton could also lead to Donovan one way or the other. After all, they more or less knew Donovan was working for the conundrum and not the king.
"Either way, those bastards would be in front of the court and will be trialled for heresy. Ashton, you will have to be there as well, as a witness." Jonathan stated what he had to and left the two of them there alone.
Mera stayed there for a couple of minutes before leaving as well. Finally, Ashton had some time to collect his thoughts for once. The answers he was seeking weren't going to appear in from of him out of thin air.
But he had a good way of finding a way to get a rough idea of what must have conspired at the eastern palace while he was 'unconscious'.
'Open mission logs.'
A tab with a complete list of the missions he had been assigned and those he had completed opened up in front of him. And sure enough, just as he had expected, someone or something must have helped him out while he was knocked out.
Not only the mission related to uncovering the secret of the palace had been completed, but he also had another mission that he didn't remember ever accepting in the first place. A mission to prove his worth to become a successor or some shit.
'The priority of the mission was set at 10. I would not have been able to get out of there without completing the quest.' Ashton slowly began piecing the puzzle together, 'Considering that I am out of there and alive, it means I completed the quest…'
He shook his head. How could he complete a quest if, for the life of him, he was knocked out? But if he somehow managed to do it, it would also explain the unknown rewards he had in his inventory. The skill books and… the cloak.
"Wait for a second! The Grim Reaper's Cloak? What the hell? I sure as hell did not find anything like this. I can forget about breathing but not about finding such a piece of equipment!"
Now he was sure as heck someone was controlling his body while he was unconscious. Someone must have used his body to take care of the automatons as well as the quest. That was the only possible explanation Ashton could come up with.
But without his memories, jumping to a conclusion just yet wasn't the right thing to do. Thankfully, he knew of a way to find for sure whether someone else was using his body and if what he was thinking was correct, then who was it?
"Lucifer needs to answer some questions. If he can control my blessing, then it wouldn't surprise me if he could also control me. I need to meet Rose. She is the only one who can help me get into contact with Lucifer."
He continued, "But before that, I need to sort the mess here first. As weird as it must sound…. I'm looking forward to meeting those who almost got me killed."