“I’ll deal with her directly,” Azekiel declared. “And she’ll possibly come with Liam this time.”

He entered the Orc Village, having Leor following him. The archers aimed at Leor while the Orcs were ready to attack.

“Don’t attack her. She is my prisoner!” Azekiel declared at the top of his lungs, making sure that even the farthest archers heard her.

“Why a prisoner? They attacked us! We should kill them!” The Leader of the Orcs questioned.

They had destroyed half the forest for this battle. They had lost their previous leader. And now that they finally had the advantage, they were letting a Triad live? That didn’t make sense at all!

“I know what I’m doing. The Triads don’t just have an army of twenty. They have hundreds. We took out twenty, but more will come. They’ll keep coming until we deal with their Queen directly! And she’ll be the link in that deal!”

Even though this was the Orc Village, Azekiel was seen as their savior. Because of him, they were alive. It’s because of him that they lost no person in this battle. Subconsciously, the Orcs had started treating him as one of their own. Even though they didn’t quite agree with him leaving Leor alive, they didn’t question him too much either.

They went along with the initial explanation and let him do as he pleased. The battle wasn’t over yet, after all. He was right about that.

“Can we call out the kids now? When might the next batch of Triads come?” The Leader of the Orcs asked.

“By tonight. And if I’m not wrong, this will be the last batch. The Triad Queen will be too impulsive, especially since she’ll know that we have her sister in our control. If I’m not wrong, she won’t wait at all. So, a few hours at best. I would suggest that you let the kids stay where they are.”

“Rest for an hour, and then meet me in the center of the village.”

****

The Triad Queen stood inside a beautiful garden that was filled with plants never seen before on earth. The plant in the center of the garden was the prettiest as it had all the scene colors.

Unfortunately, the garden wasn’t the same as before. Over twenty plants were dead.

The Triad Queen grimly observed the dead plants which belonged to the Soldiers she had sent with Leor. Only Leor’s plant was still alive.

“So many of our people died. Can the Orcs really be that strong? Even with Leor present, they managed to kill so many?”

The Triad Queen was angry; however, she was still hopeful. Leor’s plant was still alive. That meant she was alive there. And if she was alive even now, that meant she had finished the battle. She was victorious!

Azekiel gave a bit too much credit to the Triad Queen, thinking that she was as clever as Leor. He thought that this much was enough to make the Triad Queen realize that Leor was taken as a hostage.

Unfortunately, she thought the exact opposite. The Triad Queen thought that Leor was alive because the battle was over and she had won. Then again, the Triad Queen was just so confident in the abilities of Leor that she didn’t even consider the possibility of Leor failing.

She left the garden, believing that Leor was going to be back soon. For her, the battle had ended with her victory.

Instead of worrying about Leor, she went back to her bedroom, where Liam was already waiting for her. According to her, she had won the battle, but at the cost of twenty of her bravest soldiers. That in itself was slightly stressful, and she needed Liam to remove that stress.

She took off her clothes as soon as she entered the bedroom and climbed on the bed.

****

Three hours passed. Azekiel waited at the entrance of the village, waiting for the Triad Queen. Unfortunately, there was not even a glimpse of her. By now, she should’ve been here.

“Does your sister not care for you at all?” Azekiel asked Leor, frowning. “Even then, she should’ve come just for her reputation.”

The delay was strange… Too strange. Did the death of twenty Triads scare the Triad Queen? Is that why she wasn’t coming? Or was it something else? There were many questions in his head, but rarely any answer.

“Someone is coming…” Lia pointed out.

“Finally.” Azekiel sighed. “How many are with her?”

“It’s not her. It’s the Lords…” Lia explained. “The one who works for you.”

“They… So no sign of the Triads?” Azekiel inquired, glancing at the moon in the sky. It was so late. Just what were they doing?

The Orcs saw some people arrive from a distance. They raised their weapons, only to be stopped by Azekiel again.

“Calm down. They work for me.”

The Lord of Sins arrived in the Orc Village, slightly surprised that everyone was waiting for them, including Orcs.

“We did what we were asked to.”

One of the Lords handed over a coin to Azekiel. The Lord of Theft handed over a crown.

Seeing the crowd, even Leor was speechless. “The Crown of the Nature Elves?”

The Nature Elves were one of the top species in this world, right along with the Triads and the Dark Elves. As for the crown, it was something that only their Queen was allowed to have. For someone to be able to enter the Land of Elves and steal the Crown and then come out alive? That was no less than a miracle!

Even she, as a Triad, couldn’t believe that she could’ve achieved it if she wanted.

She looked in amazement. Just what were these people? Just what were they after? They were also a group of humans like Liam, but they were so different. While Liam spent most of his time in bed, rarely doing anything, Azekiel was there, protecting the Orcs, fighting the Triads, and stealing the Crown of Elves. Just why?

She didn’t know what the coin was that was given to Azekiel, but she had a feeling that it was also something species like the crow.

“Just who are you?” She asked Azekiel, frowning. “Are you really here only for Liam? Then why are you taking the Crown? Just what are you truly after?”

“What I’m after is simple. I’m after strength…” Azekiel answered. “And I’m after answers.”

“For that, I need to kill Liam and continue on my journey. The Triads can either die with Liam, or they can hand him over. In any case, Liam is getting killed by me before I leave this place…”

“It seems you’ve been having fun here,” Lord of Lies stated, seemingly amused at the sight of a beautiful lady standing beside Azekiel.

“Anyway, I have some news for you….’