There shall be Hell to Pay // Private // Job

we paint white roses red, each shade from a different person's head

And tell me exactly why am I supposed to give an honest damn about this forsaken land?

The voice that had kept a calm, bored tone the past few hours had now become a whisper, cold and deadly, indicating that the owner of the otherwise soft voice was not amused with the situation that she was living. Janneline Ariel was, without doubt, not amused. At all. Her hands against the mahogany desk, the pig-tailed blonde stared at the man who had raised her with suspicion. The arrival of her father had been a surprise; Janna had not expected him to arrive in Fiore, a land which he, like his daughter, disliked greatly. A land inhabitated by non-magical people was a repulsive land, without doubt. A place where the mediocre, mainstream gathered, attempting to look unique among the graceful mages that roamed the lands of Fiore. It was pathetic, how humans failed to accept that only a minor part of the world was destined to posess magical abilities; a minority that was so potent, that normal beings often found it difficult to comprehend how the powers of their supperiors worked. Clearing his throat lightly, Erio LeBlanc looked at his daughter, giving her his trademark stern, yet calm look, which clearly indicated that Janna was supposed to sit down and calm down a bit. Letting herself fall in the soft chair behind her, Janna crossed her legs and arms, cold blue eyes focused on her father's warm brown ones, biting her tongue in an attempt to avoid responding to her creator. The entire situation annoyed her.

Fiore had always been a land destined to succumb into tragedies and be destroyed by immaginable beasts. The fact that only a small part of the habitants were gifted with magic only made the entire country very weak; only a small portion of the habitants could go ahead and defend their country if mythical beasts were to attack it, while the humans would be perfectly useless against beasts of Sin, for example. The country would fall in the matter of weeks if an attack such as that happened to ocurr. Countries like Bellum, though, which had a very large portion of their population that has been gifted with magic, were way more secure during an attack of such magnitudes, since a much higher percentage of the population could defend their country against the ambush of the unknown forces. This is why Janna loved her home country; and wasn't exactly fond of this hell hole.

The only reason she still stood here, suffering the constant attacks of those who had different beliefs than hers, was because she was eager to conquer this pathetic lands. She desired to purge the lands of Fiore from the unworthy and rule this kingdom, imposing her ideals and removing the strict, oppressing system of the Magic Council and the King. She would impose the ideas of liberty for everyone. This country had suffered enough because of the Rune Knights. They were corrupt; ironic enough, as they accused those deemed "illegal" mages as corrupt and taken by sin. How... interesting, was it not? The land of Fiore needed to be freed from such corrupt forces, which only looked after the well-being of those who had enough money in their pockets. Those who were unfortunate enough to be poor, were simply ignored and left to the wolves.

I didn't create you to be impulsive, darling. Just think it through. Demons are going to attack Fiore, destroy the Kingdom you want to conquer and purge so badly. What are you going to do with a Kingdom in Ashes? Your population will consist of corpses; your castle will be a simple pile of debris, and the lights of your cities will be the fire that the woods caught after the Demons made Fiore perish. Is this what you desire, Diana? Think it through logically, I beg. Erio's voice was soft, and calm, his honey eyes staring at his daughter's cold blue ones. He had created a mastermind, he wanted to see her logic in action. She was not supposed to react impulsively, mostly to things regarding wars, considering she was created to be a mastermind knight, master of the swords and mistress of strategical thinking. A small smile appearing on his face as she saw her shift uncomfortably in her seat at the mention of her real name, Erio shook his head slightly. Oh, please, do you still keep this foolish, childish habit of hiding your name, darling? You're Diana Valeria LeBlanc, daughter of Erio LeBlanc, member of the LeBlanc family, one of the oldest and most important families in Bellum. You can chose your fate, Diana, but you cannot choose your parents nor your lineage. Well, your parent, in our case.

Refusing to speak, Janna simply huffed and tapped her foot against the ground, similar to how she did when she was a little child. The memories of little Janna, then Diana, as she did not hide under a fake alias as a child, running around the halls of an enormous mansion, a happy smile on her face, carrying a sword around.

Look, daddy! I'm going to be a brave soldier! I'm going to defend the liberty and peace all around the world!

How foolish she had been then.

Those memories seemed so distant and weird now, as if they had happened eons ago, as if they were simple dreams, not actual memories. Janna had changed so much through the years, the cause of this being the fact that she had realised that the world was cruel as no human could ever be, and that she could not fight for the ideas she loved so much as a child, if nobody imposed them first. And honestly, it was in nobody's interest to impose those ideas. The desire she had to protect people had vanished, replaced with the burning desire to fix this world, remodel it into the perfect scene she wanted it to be. She wanted to fix the world from all its flaws, hence why she was thrown into the mud, deemed as dark and evil. And the time she had spent among those who were truly evil had changed her. From a calm, sweet and rational individual, she had become a psychotic, yet calm and rational egocentric person. Her evolution had been atonishing. Not even her father could believe that an Artificial Human could develop more and ideas than those that were imposed into them since their birth, and keep evolving. There was either something wrong with Janna; or perhaps Erio had created the most perfect Artificial Human that could ever exist. One that lacked the human flaws, one that could not get ill or die from an illness or oldness, yet one that behaved like an actual human being. Not even the most brilliant alchemist mind could understand how this peculiar artificial human worked. And that was where the magic of artificial humans was.

The mystery surrounding them was charming.

... I don't like admitting it, oh dear daddy, but you're right. As always. I wouldn't want my playground destroyed and burned. It's no fun like that. Don't get me wrong; I'm still reluctant about this... But do tell me, what does this "thankless, demon hunting job" you're speaking about consists in, more precisely?