Venatores Noctis: Bastard Inheritor: Chapter 4 – Under Paid, Little Appreciation, Still Blessed

Chapter 4 – Under Paid, Little Appreciation, Still Blessed

As the beastmen enter the city, the citizens of the city are taken aback by their number and all the types of beastmen entering it, especially the ones that have the appearance of pests, insects, and some of which are Corpus. This large force scares many including the Church’s guards and army who hold their weapons at the ready as if anticipating some attack. Word of their arrival reaches the leaders of the Church before they reach the capital building and the leaders go to meet them.

“Stop right there! What do you think you’re doing marching down the streets with that army?” one of the leaders says.

“It’s what you told me to bring. I have new recruits plus my old soldiers who will fight in the final battle against the vampires,” Nave says.

“Yes, but-”

“But what? I think it’s obvious that our participation in this historic event is God's will.”

“God’s will?! God wouldn’t want insectmen, ratmen, lizardmen, walking corpses, and the like to fight for Him. They’re all wretched sinners and so are their cursed spawn,” another leader says.

“We may all be sinners, but so are you and yours, and how can you say that it isn’t God’s will that we serve Him when no human on earth is without sin. We even have some Corpus in our ranks, people who somehow became vampires and are in a state of grace so that every action of theirs is a result of God’s direct control and permissive will? In addition, this large force was gathered with time to spare, train, and gather more men to add to it. Does that not seem like a miracle to you?”

“It’s all rather impressive,” Zhuge says while clapping.

“What’s more is that we are willing to fight in this battle with no expectations of receiving our just dues. Instead, we fight because it is right!” Nave’s army cheers out. “We fight because we are called to by our God!” The army cheers out again. “And we will claim victory even if it comes at the cost of our deaths!” Again, the army cheers, but even louder.

The surrounding crowds become mixed in their reactions. Some think the beastmen are truly willing to give their lives for God and are thus actually good or still wary because of their bias against them. While this is happening, the leaders talk amongst themselves.

Zhuge approaches Nave and says, “It really is a miracle that you managed to do this. Even I had my doubts that you would accomplish it.”

“Trust me when I say that I doubted it more than you did,” Nave admits.

It is then that the army and crowds begin to quiet as the pope finally makes it to the scene.

“What? Can’t I join in on the fun?” the pope asks.

“Your excellency,” Nave says as he bows down with his army, Zhuge, the leaders, and the crowds around them.

“I’m glad you’re back from your assignment, Nave. I was hoping you’d join us in the battle so I can give you a job offer.”

“What will it be?”

“I’d like you and your beastmen to be my personal guard in Rome. We need soldiers with enhanced senses and strength like you to defend the Church from our next greatest threat. Do you know what that might be?”

“The wolves.”

“Correct. The worst enemy is the one that used to be a friend and still pretends to be even as they stab you in the back.”

“My soldiers and I have been relentlessly attacked by them as I was gathering them. It goes without saying that we should weed out the traitors as soon as we can.”

“And I trust that the son of a great strategist who already was doing that already has a plan for this?”

“We do.”

“Good, then I charge you with accomplishing as much as you can of this while also training your soldiers for the battle ahead of us. After the final battle against the vampires, we will divert all our attention to the wolves.”

“As you wish, your excellency.”

Some of the leaders of the Church disagree with the pope’s decision and try to change his mind, but the supporters of Nave and his army push back and silence their complaints. After a few days of training and gathering more recruits, the Church’s armies meet the vampire’s armies at the vampire’s last castle, which is more like a city because of how far it stretches and how many castles that comprise it. The many castles have different designs and crests on them and are separated by walls that group the castles together implying that the castles in the inner circle belong to the most important vampires. On the outskirts of the castle are ruins that are said to have belonged to a sinful city whose name is lost to time.

Before the battle properly begins, Nave tells one of his senior soldiers, “Be wary of any wolves that may strike us while we’re busy.”

“We should enact the same plan that your father did,” his friend says.

“No, we shouldn’t at least not until you know for sure that they’re here.”

“Why?”

“Because the pope and many other spiritual leaders are here giving their prayers and penance for our success.”

“But the pope has already given his permission to find the wolves and you’ve already read the reports.”

“They’re unconfirmed and just rumors. I mean, can you possibly believe the rumor that the pope is a wolf when he’s given us his permission to smoke them out? You have permission to keep a close eye on our leaders and protect the pope. Just don’t act unless you think it’s absolutely necessary, so I am, in a way, permitting you to use the same plan as my father’s. I only ask that you show restraint.”

“But why?”

“Because even though my father’s plan worked out, it was also controversial and didn’t help the negative image people had of the beastmen since they saw us what we deemed right without any permission other than our own. We have a chance to completely clear our image thanks to the role the pope gave us. Trust me on this.”

“Okay, fine.”

The final battle against the vampires then begins with the Church surrounding the castles and firing their catapults at them. Meanwhile, the vampires send their flying serfs and lower vampires out to sacrifice themselves to stop the catapults, however, the flaming rocks sent by the catapults are blessed and the catapults are defended by archers and other soldiers, so the serfs and lower vampires do very little to stall the catapults. In addition, the vampire devils are sent out to cause mental disruptions to the Church’s soldiers in the area, but thanks to the prayers of the pope and spiritual leaders, this disruption is lessened. Seeing as how they can do nothing else, the vampires send out their army to clash with the Church’s. Both sides push against each other and the battle seems to go nowhere with neither side gaining any ground at this point in time. Meanwhile, Nave has found his way into the castle thanks to a hidden entrance that his scouts found before the battle. Some of his other beastmen take the other secret entrances and clear it of the vampires and their serfs who are trying to flank the Church’s soldiers from behind.

Inside the castle walls, Nave finds himself inside layer one out of three. Thankfully, the catapults have broken the walls in front of him so that he can enter the second layer of the castle. He sneaks through the shadows and sees some vampires and serfs moving to the third innermost layer with blessed weapons in their hands. Following these suspicious people leads Nave to a secret entrance to the inner layer and center of the entire castle. There, the vampires and their serfs encounter others like them.

“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t your class be out on the front lines?” one of the vampires asks.

“I have better things to do than that such as taking back the throne that my family once had. You can either join me or fall by my blade,” the other vampire answers.

Lower and middle class vampires join forces or fight among themselves outside the main castle while some take advantage of this to make their way in with no one knowing that Nave has made his way in as well. While the vampires and their servants are busy with their civil war, Nave finds his soldiers in the castle with him.

“Glad you made it here. It looks like the scouts were right about the vampires wanting an excuse to kill each other were true,” Nave says.

“They always want an excuse to steal power from one another. It’s just in their sinful nature,” a beastman says.

“Looks like we have our work cut out for us then. Clean out this castle, free any prisoners you find, and kill any stragglers from the in-fighting. I’ll take out the vampire gods and high lords by myself or rather with my guardian angel.”

“Are you sure?”

“I can handle them and hey, maybe my ancestors in Heaven will help out like they have before.”

“Okay. We’ll do as you command, sir.”

Nave makes his way up the sky high castle as stealthy as possible. He kills every enemy that he comes across and frees the few slaves that he finds. Further up, he begins to feel the influence of the vampire gods who whisper tempting thoughts into his mind.

“Why did you come up with this plan by yourself? Who are you trying to impress?” a voice asks.

“I thought you fought without thinking about a reward.”

“Why risk your life this way?”

“We can give you the love you desire.”

“Abandon those who have abandoned you.”

“Your life will get no easier after this-”

It is then that Nave’s guardian angel appears and kills several of the vampire gods to bring them out of the shadows where they were.

“Good timing as always,” Nave says. More vampire gods converge on Nave’s location. They come from the walls, ceiling, and lower floors. “I’m not saying that we can’t take them, but is back up coming?”

As if to answer him, more vampire gods are killed by two other lights that then appear next to him. These lights form into Nave’s parents. His mother, Loretta, appears with her golden hair, fierce green eyes, and clothed in a golden dress while his father, Evan, still has his bestial appearance, white skin, jet black hair, dark green eyes, and white as snow skin with patches of beige and brown bits.

“Mother! Father! You’re here,” Nave says in surprise.

“We’ve always been watching over you,” Evan says.

“Never forget that. Let’s sort this trash out, son,” Loretta says before heading into the fight.

With his family and guardian angel, Nave kills the vampire gods and high lords of the castle. Together, they blow through the castle going up and down it, and are so effective at cleaning house that they take some of the kills of Nave’s soldiers.

“I told you I had this,” Nave says to his soldier before continuing the fight and jumping through the hole in the ceiling that he came through.

“Yeah, but you don’t have to be such a show off about it,” his soldier says.

The battle is won shortly after and the other vampires and their serfs who sought to take the innermost castle for themselves are disposed of as well. Nave’s soldiers bring the slaves they freed to the Church’s army who have just broken into the walls.

“Can you stay a little while longer?” Nave says to his parents.

“We can’t, but we’ll be listening and interceding for you,” Evan says as he disappears.

“Don’t lose hope. I love you,” Loretta says as she disappears as well.

Nave sighs and then looks at the sky. It changes as the veil of the night put up by the vampires to enhance their power is lifted and the noon sun shines through it.

One of Nave’s soldiers runs to him and says, “Sir! You have to get back to camp!”

“What is it? Wolves?”

“Yes!”

Running back to camp, Nave finds out that sympathizers of the beastmen have been killed including the pope. Among the dead and dying, are Nave’s soldiers one of which is still alive.

He grips her hand as she dies and says, “I’m so sorry! I should’ve-”

“You didn’t do anything wrong…”

Even though the girl dies, Nave still grips her hand and shakes it as if trying to bring her back to life. It turns out that there were wolves in the area, but there were also normal humans who worked with the wolves that wanted to make sure that the beastmen’s status stays the way it is. These traitors that are still alive are taken into custody. Despite what the beastmen did, the leaders of the Church punish them because they went through with the plan inspired by Nave’s father and cut some of the people in the camps with blessed weapons, which they say forced the hands of the wolves into action. Their army is dissolved and their authority to investigate the wolves in the Church is taken away from them, however, their supporters lighten their sentence by allowing them to go without any other punishment. They aren’t given any recognition in the celebration over the final victory nor any help in burying their dead. As a result of all this, Nave secludes himself in a dark place in a part of the city that’s mostly inhabited by beastman after coming home from the battle. He stares at a dagger that isn’t his own as suicidal thoughts renter his head.

“Sir!” one of Nave’s soldiers says.

A large crowd of beastmen and Nave’s surviving soldiers finds and surround him.

“What is it? Go and celebrate however you can. Don’t mind me,” Nave says while hiding the dagger.

“What do you mean? We still have traitors to bring to justice.”

“We don’t have the authority to legitimately do so.”

“So what?”

“So, it’s going to be incredibly difficult to find them all and if the authorities find out what we’re doing, then the beastmen will look even worse.”

“Again, I ask so what? We still have a duty to God to fulfill even if the so called leaders of the Church won’t allow us to do it. Besides, do you have anything better to do? Is sulking in your sorrow really the best thing to do right now?”

“Okay, okay. Let’s get to work.”

Throughout the next few months, the beastmen work together with their sympathizers to root out the wolves from within the Church. They question the human allies of the wolves and follow the trail of the wolves to the location of each one of them. Eventually, the wolves are killed one by one or group by group unbeknownst to the average citizen. Even the higher ranking members of the Church, law enforcement, and military are completely unaware of what is happening. Sometimes, Nave’s father's tactic is enacted in secret so that groups of people were checked by being cut with blessed weapons to see if any were wolves.

One day, the location of the traitor who killed the leaders of the Church when Nave was guarding them and who also killed the pope that supported the beastman is discovered. His name is not known nor his motives but knowing that getting rid of him will greatly help the beastmen, Nave decides to personally kill him. He finds the traitor with his other wolves meeting in a secluded area underneath a church. Without wanting to waste any time, Nave kills the group of wolves with his guardian angel, which makes this a quick and easy victory. Curious about the main traitor’s identity, Nave moves the man’s cloak aside to see that the traitor was Zhuge. Now of all times, he wished that he stayed his blade, but then he thinks that he would’ve hesitated if he knew this beforehand leading to Zhuge getting away again.

Because of the decrease in wolves and their influence, more sympathy grows for the beastmen even though their heroic actions are only spread through rumors. Nave, feeling unsatisfied by everything and the slow grind towards any small real change, goes to a place in his hometown where beastmen and humans live in relative harmony. He sits underneath a tree and looks up at the noon sun.

 

“My role here is done. There’s nothing else for me to do,” he says to himself.

A legless beastman sees Nave and approaches him as she walks to him on two hands. She wears a large white shirt with the ends tied up where her legs used to be so that she’s covered at the bottom, has two cat ears, two human ears, one arm covered in fur that has a hand with the claws of a cat, and cat-like eyes but no tail.

“Are you okay?” she asks.

“No, I’m not,” Nave bluntly answers.

“How can I help you?”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think you can.”

“I can try my best. What’s your name?”

“Nave.”

“Oh, you’re that famous general. My name is Rowan.” Rowan sits next to Nave and looks intently at him. “I know that look in your eyes. You’ve given up on life, haven’t you?”

“It’s not the first time. I’ll get over it.”

“You don’t sound too hopeful.”

“Frankly, I’m not, but what else am I supposed to do?”

“You should be somewhat at peace and relax, maybe even celebrate. I heard that you got rid of a lot of vampire wolves within the Church. Is that true?”

“It is but don’t tell anyone I told you. It’s meant to be a secret.”

“Okay. Still, it’s a good deed to feel good about, isn’t it?”

“Sure, but…”

“But?”

“But I thought more would happen because of it. I feel that the event should’ve been grander, lead to the beastmen slowly but surely getting the respect we deserve, and answers as to the motives of the traitors and why they betrayed us all. All that’s happened as a result of our actions is that we’re kind of getting more respect, but everything still seems the same as if nothing happened.”

“I understand and get it, but it was still all worth it, wasn’t it?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that it was still worth it because you’re doing the right thing no matter the reward. Doing what God wants you to do is always worth it even if you aren’t immediately or ever rewarded in this life because it’s the right thing to do and because God loves us. Isn’t that right?”

“It is, but just saying that doesn’t make all the suffering feel like it was worth it.”

“Then I’ll help you.”

“And again, I’ll say that I don’t think you can.”

“Do you have anyone to talk to about how you feel?”

“Not really.”

“Then I’ll be that person and encourage you to keep going. How does that sound?”

“I mean, okay, I guess, but I don’t think you should. Most people who I know either die or disappear.”

“Do you regret the time you spent with those people?”

“No.”

“Then let’s make the most of our time together.”

“If you say so.”

“Oh, cheer up already.” Rowan hugs Nave, which makes him feel warm and his spirits somewhat lifted. “There. Do you feel better now?”

“A bit.”

“You better because my friends say my hugs make everyone feel better.”

Through Rowan’s hug, Nave is reminded of the little things that keep him going.

“Actually, I feel a lot better. Thank you, Rowan. What you said reminded me of something I needed to hear again.”

Nave lifts her up into his arms as he hugs her as well.

“You’re welcome, but you don’t need to carry me. People will think we’re a couple.”

“Well, since you’re coming with me and you have no legs, I thought it would be very gentleman-like of me to carry you.”

“That’s very sweet of you. I accept it.”

“How would you like me to take you around the city? I can leap around it and show the highest heights.”

“That would be amazing!”

“Let’s go then.”

Nave leaps into the air with Rowan in his arms and is happy that God has given him a gift and another reason to live.

 

The End