Endless Leveling Done Right!-Chapter 227: The Second Oath [Part 1]

Many believed that money was the source of all evil.

I would beg to disagree.

It wasn’t money.

It was greed.

Humans could have everything, yet they would still always want more of something.

And sometimes, they didn’t care what method they used in order to get what they wanted.

Whether it be money, women, resources, or anything of value, the common emotion behind all of this was greed.

But greed wasn’t the only deadly sin in the world.

As powerful as greed, there was envy.

Perhaps, envy had to come first before greed could manifest.

When people see their peers have something they do not have, they can’t help but feel envious.

These two emotions were probably the reason why the Damne Viscounty had fallen.

It was not because we were envious of others or greedy for more.

No.

It was the opposite.

Our neighbors grew envious of us and thirsted over our status and lands. They wished to take what we had and make it their own.

And these noble families banded together in order to force us into submission.

When our ancestor had been made a Viscount, the King had granted him a plot of mere barren land.

The territory was at the edge of a frontier, which the Kingdom had believed was of no use to them.

But humans were very good at adapting and coming up with solutions.

And the first Viscount of the Damne Family had been a very, very resourceful person.

He had prioritized building canals, reservoirs, cisterns, and wells. Thanks to the improved irrigation, the land had slowly but surely developed. Eventually, it had become suitable for farming.

What had once been barren became a thriving region after three centuries of hard work.

People praised him. Even the King had to acknowledge that he had underestimated my great-great-grandfather.

As such, our family led a relatively happy and peaceful life.

That was until our neighbors started coveting our lands.

They resorted to banditry and petty crimes that slowly ate up our lands and hurt our people.

They framed our family with crimes that we had no knowledge of.

We asked the kingdom’s officials to mediate, but they were corrupted to the core. They understood that they could get a share of the pie if they simply turned a blind eye and, thus, supported the noble houses who wished to take over our land.

The current King had been so sick to the point of being bedridden. He was obviously not aware of what was happening at the northernmost edge of his kingdom, where our family was located.

My father asked for an audience, but only the Crown Prince would meet with him.

Promises were made...

And promises were broken.

The Damne Family endured, endured, and endured more until the fateful day that I was born.

With great hardships, my mother gave birth to me, perishing not long after.

My Father and Grandfather knew that I was the last hope of our family. And to keep me safe, they hid my gender.

They declared to the world that a daughter had been born.

What the noble families didn’t want to see was an heir who might miraculously turn things around.

If the child were a boy, his life would be one of constant danger as assassins after assassins attempted to end the Damne Bloodline. After all, a baby was easier to kill than an adult.

But what if the child were a girl?

Most Noble families regarded their daughters as nothing more than bargaining chips that could secure alliances. Useful, but not indispensable.

Ever since I could remember, I had been treated as a girl.

Dressed in fancy clothes, I learned etiquette, household management, and other skills "proper ladies" ought to have.

The Noble families bordering our lands were very eager to have their children marry me, so they could legitimately get their hands on our lands.

They all believed I was of no threat to them for I was a girl.

In their eyes, the only worth I had was to give birth, extending their lineage, and bless their children with my ancestors’ land.

This tightly guarded secret was maintained for sixteen whole years.

But due to one drunken mistake, the secret was exposed.

By one of the noble sons in a party I attended, the secret was exposed.

At a party with other scions, a young man tried to intoxicate and assault me, believing that he could then pressure me into marriage with threats of public shame and disgrace.

He succeeded in doing the first part.

Unfortunately, when he planned to do the deed, he noticed that the two of us had a few things in common.

Yes.

Both of us were boys.

But after his initial shock subsided, he decided to use this to blackmail me.

As such, I was finally engaged to someone.

And that was the heir of the Montclair Viscounty.

Still, their greed knew no bounds.

They started to get impatient. They thought my father and grandfather were too long-lived. And so, the Montclairs poisoned the Damne Viscount and his son, leaving me as the only successor of the house.

Then they went ahead and set the date of the marriage while placing me under house arrest.

However, my nursemaid, who had served me loyally since I was born, sacrificed herself in order to let me escape.

As long as I was alive, they wouldn’t be able to claim my lands as their own. Without me, they would never have the legal right to do it.

So I ran.

I ran desperately.

But Fate liked to play with people in mysterious ways.

I collapsed somewhere. When I woke up, I found myself being nursed to health by a beautiful woman.

She listened to my troubles, held me when I cried, and promised me that everything was going to be alright.

"Do you want revenge?" she asked.

"Yes!" I answered without hesitation.

"Then what price are you willing to pay?" she asked once more.

"What do you want?" I asked back.

"I want your everything," she replied.

I was desperate, young, and naive.

Like a boy trapped inside a well, I reached out to grab the rope that was tossed in my direction.

"I will give you my everything. So please, reclaim what I have lost and punish those who have schemed to bring about the downfall of my family!"

The deal was set.

The promise was made.

And then...

I lost control of my body.

The beautiful woman, who called herself Willow, kissed me. It might have been an alias, but I didn’t dwell on it.

Willow said she wanted my body, and I agreed to it.

But I misunderstood her.

She didn’t plan to treat me as a bed warmer or a slave.

No.

She wanted my body in a literal sense, and I gave her permission to take it.

Unable to resist, I felt myself falling back into that well.

Deep in that dark and empty place that was deprived of everything.

After that, I fell asleep for an unknown period of time.

When I woke up again, I saw myself doing things I would have never done on my own.

I killed people.

There were people whom I wanted to kill, but what horrified me was that the victims were not enemies I wanted to retaliate against.

They were innocent civilians.

"So, you’re awake?" Willow asked. "Did you see how I killed this little girl? Did you see her confusion as blood seeped out from her chest after I stabbed her with a dagger?"

I saw it.

I saw everything.

And hated every second of it.

What I didn’t know was that Willow was breaking my willpower and spirit, so soon, I wouldn’t be able to resist her.

Sometimes, she did attack and kill someone from the Montclair Family, giving me hope that she was a woman of her word.

But after doing it twice, she never did it again.

Instead, she murdered innocent people, using my face, using my voice, using my everything to charm, entice, seduce, blackmail, persuade, and coerce.

My soul and willpower, which weren’t strong to begin with, began to falter. I no longer had the power to defy her.

As such, I experienced hell even before I died.

And now, I was again about to murder more innocent people. This time, they were the students of Frieden Academy.

The place where I had once wanted to attend so I could make friends and learn skills that would allow me to reclaim what I had lost and bring back the glory of the Damne Family. But that was a distant dream.

Willow made sure to tell me how she was going to kill the first student she came across in great detail, making me feel numb inside.

I had already seen countless deaths. However, every time I felt her emotions running wild, I would still fantasize about someone killing this body so that she wouldn’t be able to use it to hurt others again.

Someone!

Anyone!

Please, kill me!

End my suffering!

"Sorry, but that’s not going to happen," a young man with silver hair said with a smile. "I came here for only one thing, and that is to save Vaan. You are the one who should die, you sick b*tch!"

"Vaan, do you still not see? Do you still believe that what she is doing will help you and your family rise up once more? I know you’re not stupid. So, why are you letting her take over your life?"

Yes. I was stupid.

I did not wish for her to take over my life, but it was already far too late.

I could no longer do anything.

’I’m sorry for being weak,’ I thought sadly. ’I’m sorry for existing!’

It was then when the young man spoke once more.

"Vaan, I know that you can hear me. I’m sure you must be feeling terrible now since you can’t do anything. But don’t worry. The storm will always pass. Even the darkest nights eventually give way to dawn.

"You don’t have to fight right now. You don’t even have to move. Just breathe. That’s enough. That’s more than enough. Because every breath you take is defiance. Every heartbeat is proof that you’re still here.

"And if you’re still here... then you still have a chance. You’re not weak, Vaan. You’re just hurt. But pain doesn’t mean defeat, it means you’ve endured."

For some reason, the young man’s words made me feel something that I thought I had lost long ago.

And that was...

Hope.

"Please, save me," I said with everything I had. "Please, wake me up from this nightmare!"

The young man looked surprised, but this surprise quickly faded and he smiled again. This time, it was a kind and reassuring smile.

"Hang on tight, Vaan," the young man replied. "I swear that I will save you. I’ll punish this b*tch for taking something that doesn’t belong to her."

I watched as the young man raised his sword and pointed it at the heavens.

"I’m sorry, but I lied earlier," the young man admitted. There was a lump in my throat, and I feared he was as sadistic as Willow. "My name isn’t Renard Vale. It is Alex Stratos. And I hereby declare under my name that I will save you, Vaan Damne. And this is my Second Oath as the Oathkeeper."

At that moment, I saw something that made my cold heart beat once more.

Dark clouds had already covered the heavens, and yet, a ray of light broke through.

This ray of light shone upon the young man, bathing him in a radiance that made him look like one of those Knights I had read about in my treasured storybooks.

A knight that would fight the evil of the world and do everything in his power to make sure that the innocent and powerless would no longer have to cry ever again.