Moonlight gleamed upon the city of Atrila, spilling across rooftops and winding streets in a pale, silvery wash. The clock had just struck midnight, its deep chime echoing through the quiet, each toll lingering in the air before fading into stillness. Most people had gone to sleep hours ago, preparing themselves for the next day.
A cool night breeze drifted through the city, brushing along stone walls and slipping through narrow alleys.
The water in the canals moved softly, no longer carrying the same ferocity it did during the morning. Wooden signs creaked faintly where they hung, and loose shutters tapped lightly against their frames.
Drunkards roamed the streets like hordes of undead that sought out flesh. They moaned and groaned, dragging their feet across the hard stone streets, swaying from side to side, occasionally hitting one of the building walls.
To maintain peace, the Knights of Atrila often led large-scale patrols, arresting those they deemed to be disruptive for everyone else. The rules were extremely clear: you’re allowed to make noise, scream, and even fight in a bar, but those activities would have to stay there.
As a result, the clever owners of such establishments would often provide lodging for a single night. This was mostly used by travelling merchants who had nowhere to sleep, but also for the drunks who still had enough sense of reason to stay out of trouble. If they believed they had even a chance of getting arrested, they’d rather just spend the overpriced fees to play it safe.
Besides the taverns, the only other source of light in an otherwise peaceful night was the warm embrace of orange flames stuck within the tall streetlamps scattered across the city, contrasting the natural silver beauty that the moon produced high up in the sky.
Light winter breezes blew gently. It didn’t possess enough force to knock someone, or even something, down, but was satisfying enough that most residents had slept with their windows open for the past few weeks.
Reaching higher than any other building, this was no exception for the main castle, housing some of the most important royal figures and their protective guardians.
Calling it a day, Viera had slipped under the hypnotizing temptation of sleep, her sight meeting a void of darkness as her mind wandered off into a land of unforgettable dreams. Her room was much chillier than every other in the castle, but this wasn’t due to the weather, but instead her inability to control her magical energy.
Having her Birthmark active at all times came with a grave cost. Sure, she had to be on extra guard to not overexert herself, but whenever her mind was preoccupied with other tasks or slipped into sleep, the environment around her would change drastically, which in this case was to match her magical specialty, ice magic.
At first, she found it difficult to adjust to such drastic temperatures and had to wear thicker clothing, such as a coat, to bed. But over the years, as she mellowed out and grew used to her abilities, she came to appreciate the benefits of her magic, such as its cold nature keeping her pillow cool at all times.
Snoring, she kicked the covers away, her body twisting and turning in all sorts of non-majestic ways, eventually revealing her cat-patterned pajamas. If one were to observe her from above, she would seem like a splattered crab, its limbs bent all over the place.
The noise she made in bed would bounce around the room’s walls and corners, as it was devoid of most luxury items that people of her status would often possess. She lived a simple life, a non-materialistic one. As such, her bed, which was gifted to her by her late mother, was the only thing adorned in gold in this massive, empty bedroom.
Sure, there were the essentials, such as a closet, a desk, a mirror, and such. But they were all ordinary pieces of woodwork that one would find in the streets for a minimal price. In fact, that was exactly where she had gotten such furniture.
Viera made it a point to make every guest room look nice, but as far as she was concerned, there was no need to have anything extra that simply looked nice. As long as it fulfilled its general purpose, that was all that she cared about.
Across the castle, a metal doorknob twisted as a wooden door slowly creaked open. Its hinges groaned softly, as a slender figure carefully slipped out from within the room. Her fingers lingered against the wood, guiding it shut with a delicate touch, as if she feared even the slightest sound might disturb the peace.
It wasn’t done intentionally. Despite her appearance and manner of speech often intimidating people, she had quite the sweet heart inside. Under the wrapper, she was most likely the ideal girl for most men. Kind, could stand on her own two feet, and was not afraid of being straightforward and honest with her thoughts.
As she slipped out of the room, her silver hair shone against the moonlight, highlighting her as the centerpiece of the empty hallway.
At this point in time, she had spent nearly two days in Atrila. With her time of stay coming to a close, she decided to spend her time wisely by consulting someone she considered to be a good friend and a competent leader.
Closing the door behind her, Kanami’s beautiful, blue eyes caught one last glimpse of the boy she had been treating during her entire visit. She had masqueraded her work duties in order to be able to fulfill the promise she had made to Saya, and to herself.
But now that the treatment was complete, she needed to get back on track and focus on her mission once more. Her light footsteps echoed in the dead of night, not a single maid roamed the halls, and not a single soul spoke a word.
Kanami’s body moved naturally as she turned corners and climbed flights of stairs with ease. She had been to the castle various times, but with the building being so big, not even those who lived there, such as the Sword Saint, carried themselves with such striking amounts of confidence.
After a few minutes of walking, she entered yet another hallway. It looked identical to the others, and the young lady couldn’t help but feel sorry for all the maids who lived here, as they were perpetually stuck in a never-ending maze.
Unlike the other hallways, however, there was a single stream of light creeping out from the door’s open gap at the bottom. There wasn’t a single lamp that had been lit before, and Kanami had to use the celestial body above as a way to guide herself to her destination.
“Gotchaaa~” she sang, shuffling her feet toward the door. Without asking or even knocking, she twisted the handle and slid the door open, far more confidently than she had closed the one that housed Albo inside.
But the two people were completely different in personality, and in what they represented to her. One was an old friend, whom she had once loved and cared for so dearly. So, despite not being able to wake up no matter how much noise she made, there was an instinctive feeling within her to be as careful around them as possible.
The person she was about to interrupt, on the other hand, was merely a friend she took joy in talking to, but had no real immediate connections to. Her shared bond between the two was worlds apart.
Perhaps this was her true nature, only showing her softer side toward those she truly cared about, such as Saya, her sister, and Albo.
Pushing the door open as hard as she could, the sudden gust of wind produced from her force sent a flurry of papers flying. Documents that had been stacked on top of one another like five massive towers were immediately shaved off, their “debris” now scattered all across the floor, as the giant monster had deemed it.
“I’m going to kill you.” KL proclaimed with a groan. His brows were furrowed in genuine frustration at the thought of having to reorganize and re-stack every single paper that had spilled onto the ground.
If it were Hana, or even Viera, this would have been light work, as they would often organize and mark their works appropriately. But being lazy, KL opted not to do that, which bit him right back in the ass.
“I’ve told ya like a million times, get your stuff organized already.” Kanami fired back, her head turned away from guilt.
She had only meant to startle the man, but seeing the aftermath, she couldn’t help but feel a little bad for him. But still, she wouldn’t fully admit to being at fault, otherwise it would mean she was in the wrong, and to let KL be a winner in anything was tantamount to heresy.
Leaning back against his office chair, KL tapped the switch at the end of his pen against his forehead, lifting his hair ever so slightly. The repetitive clicks echoed faintly through the room, which was the only thing that still kept him sane after the ever-so rude intrusion.
Placing her hands on her jacket’s pocket, entered the room.
Unlike most rooms in the palace, the office that KL worked in was filled with expensive jewelry, paintings, and ornaments. The carpets were lined with intricate artwork that one would find at a noble’s house, and the wooden desk he sat behind was carved from the world’s finest wood.
It was something that not even the Guildmaster, the man who managed all four major nations, made in terms of salary. Instead, these artifacts and pieces of furniture were gifts from said nations, tokens of their gratitude for eliminating unnecessary expenditures and aiding in economic growth.
While there were no monsters to slay, for centuries nations would go to war against one another for financial and resource gain. When the new generation rose to power, the Queen of Fridan, Grand Chief of Aimafina, President of Keptas, and the Calamity Dragon formed an alliance, assigning one trustworthy and unbiased man, alongside his team, to manage all four nations’ resources.
Velion was also naturally invited to join the alliance, but had turned down the offer in fear of manipulation. Of course, there was never truly an “unbiased” person, but KL was the best they could get for the role. Despite his overexaggerated humor, throughout his five years as the Guildmaster, he had not failed any expectations once, handling each job as smoothly and swiftly as humanly possible.
“So, what’d you even come here for?” KL asked, shuffling the nearby pieces of paper back toward his desk. Kanami approached him closer and closer, carefully maneuvering her steps so as not to step on a single document.
“I actually got a favor to ask ya.” Kanami replied, stopping in front of KL, who still had the look of someone who had lost their life savings.
“Do you need MY help, or the Guildmaster’s help?”
“Because even Viera has to go through an official process if it's Guildmaster stuff.”
Kanami shook her head. “Ah, no. I mean… I guess it’s kinda both. I’m lookin’ for somethin’ of mine that went missin’. I checked back at the Church, but it looked like someone forced the box it was in open.”
Scooting his chair back in, KL opened a drawer, only to reveal even more documents. The flood of paper truly overwhelmed Kanami, as she could never imagine having to live life reading such mundane proposals. To her, this was the epitome of lame.
Whipping out a single, thin piece of paper, he read through its contents slowly and carefully. The quiet ticks of the clock and their breaths were the only sounds audible in the room. Kanami looked around awkwardly so that she wouldn’t be staring at the man for a prolonged period of time.
“There aren’t any records here about the church possessing something.”
“So either you guys were doing some illegal shit, or you’re being delusional.”
“Haaah? Check again, dumbass. It should say the Church was holdin’ a big chunk of metal.” Kanami retaliated. She wasn’t sure why her strong Keptas language had surfaced before him, but it was too late to back out of it now.
Slamming the document onto the desk, he tapped his finger, the sound of his nails tapping against the smooth, exquisite wood oddly soothing Kanami’s ears.
“Look, see, there literally isn’t anything about a piece of metal.”
Swiping the paper, Kanami drew it close to her face. Her eyes scanned from top to bottom, reading it again and again so as not to miss even a single word. At this point, if she were to be proven wrong, she wouldn’t be able to handle KL’s smug attitude during the rest of her trip. But alas, he was right, and there was no mention of any artifact whatsoever.
Clicking her tongue, Kanami flicked the paper back toward KL. It drifted lazily through the air before settling onto the desk, disappearing into the scattered mess of documents as if it had never left.
KL’s volume went up by two octaves, hints of laughter sprinkled into his first word. “YEAHH! YOU SEE?”
Rolling her eyes, Kanami shouted back, matching his volume. “Whateveeerrr. Doesn’t change the fact someone stole somethin’ from the Church. Like, who even does that?”
“Dude, literally the world’s biggest threat right now is a crazy religious group. I’d say churches are actually the least peaceful locations right now.” KL corrected her.
“Aghh, shut up already. Can you just help me find the damn thing? I’m leavin’ soon, and I really don’t feel like goin’ back to my superiors beggin’ for forgiveness.”
“If they find out I haven’t actually been doin’ my job this whole time, I’m screwed. I’ll get fired.”
A smirk curled around KL’s face. “Sounds like an ish-you not an ish-me.”
“Are you tryin’ to say ‘issue’? You—” Kanami slammed the desk with an open palm. Unfazed, KL simply raised both his hands, his wrists bending horizontally as he feigned ignorance.
“Whatever could you meaaaann?”
Kanami took a step back, her eyes still staring daggers at KL. No matter how many she threw, however, he remained unfazed. This was the result of having the Sword Saint as a wife and the Queen of Fridan as his best friend.
Having lived alongside people far more intimidating than her, there was truly no human being in this world that would be able to rattle him, especially not someone as young as Kanami.
“What are you even trying to look for anyways? If it's something simple, isn’t the Grand Church rich enough to fund whatever’s stolen?” KL asked, continuing to press his pen’s button against his cheek.
“That money’s for fixin’ up places, not blowin’ it on expensive crap. And this artifact’s literally one of a kind.” Kanami replied.
“Yeah, everyone knows that’s not true. The first part anyways.” Though he meant it as a joke, Kanami knew his words held some significant amount of truth, as it had been a topic that greatly bothered her throughout her life.
“Whatever, what are you looking for? I’ll put up a notice.”
Raising her hand, Kanami showcased the approximate size of the artifact she was looking for. She formed her fingers into a pinch gesture. “It’s a chunk of metal. White, with like, gold linin’ on it. Though honestly, it’s prob’ly rusted like hell by now though.”
There was a momentary pause in KL’s mind. Like blocks falling into perfectly shaped holes, his thoughts snapped into place as he reached for his brown leather belt, his fingers fumbling to unbutton the pockets. Kanami watched on in silence as one of the most important men in the world struggled against his own accessory.
Finally, he pulled out the item he was looking for, raising it up as high as he could. Immediately, the light from the ceiling reflected off the surface of the piece of metal he held tightly between his thumb and pointer finger. It was exactly how Kanami had described it, a white piece of metal with gold lining its surface.
Kanami’s jaws dropped, “Wait, why do you have that?!”
Standing from his chair, KL had the biggest smile on his face, as if he had solved world hunger with only a single coin of gold. It wasn’t even a smug smile either, he was brimming with genuine happiness at the fact that he had such a “main character” moment.
Lowering his arm, KL placed the piece of metal onto Kanami’s hand, her palm naturally extending outward to accept it.
“I was wondering what that was. I was actually gonna prop it up somewhere in the room here, so I guess it’s a good thing you came looking for it.” His entire demeanor had changed, to a point where Kanami didn’t even recognize the man.
“No, seriously. Where’d you get that?” Kanami’s voice tightened, her tone no longer carrying the sarcasm it did before. Her mind raced as she imagined how the Guildmaster would come across such a precious artifact.
KL’s face deflated as he sat back down on his chair. Sensing that something was clearly sucking the life out of Kanami, he had no intention of making light of the situation. Awareness was one of his most defining features, which had landed him such a crucial job. He only pretended to lack it whenever talking to most people.
“At this point, I assume you know about how Saya lost her arm?” he asked.
Kanami nodded, her head lifting slightly to match his gaze.
“Well, when we were performing healing magic, we thought she was going to die for certain.”
“There was too much loss of blood, and for someone so inexperienced to fire a spell of that scale, every single one of her Magical Gears should have been fried to oblivion, never to be used ever again.”
“Hell, not even Kuno can cast something that big so casually. Even if Saya had the potential inside her all along, it’s just unimaginable that she would make it out in one piece like she did.”
“But on the night we started operating on her, we found that her Magical Gears hadn’t been destroyed at all.”
“How come?” Kanami asked.
“Sorry, I misspoke. They did get destroyed, but that piece of metal was lodged into her torn shoulder, and it healed all the injuries she had sustained. At first, we thought it was just debris from the city’s destruction, but when we pulled it out of her body, I used my devices from Keptas to scan its metallic properties.”
Pulling out yet another drawer, KL placed a heavy object onto the desk. It gleamed like the metallic piece she had reclaimed, but instead of metal, it was made of glass. Purple in color, its shape took that of a butterfly.
“I was shocked to find that, this glass gift that Kuno gave us, and that metal thing…”
Kanami cut into his sentence, “was made up of the same properties.”
KL nodded, his brows raised in suspicion as to how Kanami could possibly know about their inner workings, especially when he made it a point not to write a report about this particular incident.
If the world were to find out about an object that had the ability to heal Magical Gears, wars would spark once more, and with how many powerful mages lived in this era, the world would surely end.
“If you know something, I need to know as well. Right now, I’m not your friend, I’m the Guildmaster.”
Swallowing hard, Kanami replied, “This is a fragment of the Spear of Eudoxia.”
The mere mention of the name took him by surprise, his body recoiling backward in shock. The Spear of Eudoxia was supposed to be something only mentioned in myth and legends. Either the girl before him had a sense of misguided faith, or she was telling the absolute truth, and there was no in-between.
“I hid it under the Church a while back. The first pastor knew about it, but I guess Pastor Lee never got told before he died. Which means he died not even knowin’ why the cult was after it.”
Closing her palm, Kanami felt the faint energy of the spear coursing through her veins.
“I never told you the church was attacked by the cult.” KL stated, the alarm bells in his head ringing at an all-time high. However, Kanami stood her ground confidently.
“There’s only one person actually goin’ around chasin’ the True Spear.”
“True Spear?” KL asked while cocking his head to his shoulder.
“Just listen for a sec. I’m tellin’ you this so you’ll be ready when the time comes.” Kanami warned, as she shoved the piece of the spear into her jacket pocket. Sure, to KL it seemed like such an unreliable place to keep such an important item, but for Kanami, there was no safer place.
“The Feathers of Celica’s main goal has always been to seek out the Spear of Eudoxia.”
“Their leader’s someone you’re probably not aware of. After doin’ this eighty-eight times, I’m sure she’s found a way to hide her presence from all outside forces besides Saya.”
“Hell, she’s even managed to evade me until the very last second for the last five loops.”
Two words were highlighted in a bright neon yellow within KL’s mind: eighty-eight and loops. He had no idea what Kanami was referring to, but he figured it might be best to leave the more detailed questions for later, as it would deviate from their conversation.
“What does this leader look like then? I’ll make sure to put a bounty on her head. Surely with four nations and thousands being on the lookout, it can’t be that hard.”
There was a momentary pause. KL leaned forward, placing both his elbows on his desk. His attention was now in full focus, as he needed the most amount of detail as possible. A part of him hoped it was a demi-human or a dragon, as that would narrow the search down far more easily than a regular human would.
Kanami was deep in thought, contemplating whether or not she should commit to this. While on the surface the choice might have seemed so obvious, the fact that telling her allies about the secret mastermind made no difference in the past led her to eventually see it as a waste of her energy.
But with how many anomalies were erupting in this particular loop, a part of her hoped that the end result would be different. Sharply inhaling, Kanami finally decided to declare the name and face of the person who had been orchestrating Saya’s torment behind the scenes.
“Her name’s Quintella.”
“She looks like me. A younger, shorter, child-like version of me.”