*Breath**Breath**Breath*
A woman was running in the middle of a bustling street at a high speed, dexterously evading all passers-by while her long silver ponytail hair was fluttering behind her. The long ears and her dark skin indicated that she was a dark elf.
*Breath**Breath**Breath*
She wore a military knight uniform. The symbols engraved on her shoulders showed that she had a pretty high rank. Those who knew her though could only smile wryly at that assumption because that person was known as Milia, the vice knight commander of this country.
Usually, only nobles could become knights. But due to the need for military strength for upcoming events, more and more commoners gained the privilege to train and become knights. That way they could even get a noble title. Unlike their noble counterparts, their titles were non-hereditary. As they were however only meant as cannon fodder for the event, becoming a knight was the last step on the military career ladder.
All that only made Milia more special because she was the first commander with a non-hereditary title. When she became the vice-commander the higher-ups assigned her an adjutant who would teach her noble etiquette so she would not embarrass herself and the country. An undignified commander would make the country look bad after all. That was why her adjutant would cough up blood when she saw Milia running in the middle of the street. Luckily Milia was so fast that the untrained eye of a civilian could not perceive her if they did not concentrate on her movements. And even if her adjutant found out about her undignified actions, Milia would escape scolding this time. She had a good reason. Important information to be delivered to the king as fast as possible.
Arriving at the royal palace she ignored the saluting guards and made her way to the audience hall. Without knocking she opened the large door to the throne and audience room hall, walked in, and kneeled down in front of the throne.
On the said throne sat an old man with white hair. Even though it was apparent that he was in the last part of his life, he still had a gentle and dignified expression on his face. Seeing Milia his mouth formed a subtle but affectionate smile. In contrast, however, the ministers who stood around the king all grimaced and twitched their eyes in irritation. Before they could complain Milia spoke up.
“Your Majesty, I have an important message from the temple to deliver.”
Milia glanced around her and saw that she succeeded in stopping their intention to complain as they kept quiet.
“Umu, then let us hear the message.”
“Haaah!”, Milia continued, “The High Priestess had found a person with the highest hero affinity so far.”
“””Ooooh”””, her surrounding was clearly excited. They had seemingly forgotten that they were supposed to be irritated a few seconds ago.
“That is excellent news! Vice commander Milia, bring him in so we can enroll him in the knight academy.”
Milia looked down, hesitated for a second, then looked back up at the king.
“Sadly, that person is in another world.”
The king frowned when he heard this. After a few seconds, Milia continued, “The High Priestess has a solution. She concluded that as long as the connection to that world is not cut, she may open a portal to it, so we can fetch the hero candidate. However firstly, the ritual to open the gate will take at least one week. Secondly,...”, Milia took a deep breath to calm herself, “she will never be able to cast magic again afterwards.”
While the king grimaced, his ministers around him could barely contain their joy.
“We cannot have that! The High Priestess is one of the most important persons with her powers in our country. We must look for another solutio...”
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“Ahem, your majesty!”, one of the ministers interrupted him. Milia was irritated that they would always scold her for being 'undignified', but on the other hand, they would interrupt the king when they want. Unbeknownst to her thoughts the minister went on, “I can understand your concerns. Even though I will not be able to sleep at night because of it, we have to do the ritual. It does not only concern our country but also the whole world! Sacrifices like the magic powers of the high priestess must be made!”
Upon hearing this Milia could only cough up blood internally.
'Of course, they won't be able to sleep at night. After all those old bastards would celebrate all night when Fran loses her powers.'
For the ministers, the elite of the noble society, High Priestess Fran with her enormous magic powers was a thorn. To solve to oncoming crisis the current King Thor Miriculan XXXVII, known as the 'Wiseman', made education free for all including commoners, and allowed them to visit the renowned military academy. Furthermore, he invented non-hereditary noble titles, allowing commoners to become knights, thus weakening the nobles while strengthening the commoners. Unfortunately, the king was too popular, so the nobles could not stop him from doing as he liked. As a result, Milia rose to the top of their military while Fran was now the official leader of the temple.
So the ministers could barely hide their joy from showing when they learned that High Priestess Fran, a former commoner, would lose her powers. They had no doubt, that without her powers, the current High Priestess would lose her position.
After thinking for a while the king asked Melia, “Is there anything else we should know?”
“Yes, your majesty. The High Priestess told me four people will be able to cross the portal. Furthermore, she estimated that she should be able to uphold the portal for around two to three days. But she also told me as soon as the fourth person crossed it the portal will close automatically.”
“Do you have a suggestion?”
“I think we should send one person in to fetch the potential hero. We have to guard the portal and the High Priestess with our knight orders until that person comes back with the candidate. A strong person should go though. We have no information on the other side of the portal after all.”
“Umu,” the king nodded and stretched out his hand, “Knight Commander Rick will go and pick that hero candidate up. Tell him to prepare! And also tell the High Priestess to start with the ritual immediately!”
“As you wish your majesty.”
Before Milia could stand up and leave one of the ministers spoke up.
“Wait!... Your majesty, I think it would be wise to send a second person with the knight commander!”
After thinking a bit the king visibly frowned but nodded his head nevertheless.
“I see. You want a person to guard the portal on the other side to prevent it from closing”
At that assumption the minister, no, all ministers smirked.
“As expected from you, your Majesty! They don't call you the 'Wiseman' for nothing! If I may be so rude, I would like to suggest vice knight commander Milia! She can rival Knight Commander Rick in fighting prowess and should be viable to guard the portal on the other side.“
Upon hearing that Milia gritted her teeth. She was not stupid and knew the risk of only sending one person but still inwardly hoped for the luck that nobody on the other side would see and cross the portal. She was also sure that the ministers would try getting rid of her that way. Well in fact they just did.
The king seemingly not knowing any alternatives looked in Milia's eyes with a sad face and bowed his head. Normally it was unheard of if a king bowed his head to one of his subjects, but considering what he was about to order Milia, he was not overly concerned about norms.
“Vice Knight Commander Milia, I order you to go with Knight Commander Rick and fetch that hero candidate. Please, save our world.”
Milia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. After calming down she looked with a smile at the king at saluted, “As you wish, your majesty!”
She stood up, gave a deep bow, and left the hall with determined but slightly wet eyes.
And so she left the royal palace and looked for her friends and family to say 'Good bye'. She would never ever see them again after all. Even Milia could see whether she or the knight commander was more important to the country.
***
In a castle on the highest mountain in the world, a woman dressed like a maid walked along a wide corridor. She had two black thin wings sprouting out of her back. A bit further below them, a long thin black tail with a heart shape at its end swayed left and right as she went forward.
When she arrived at a big door with a red round magic sigil with a diameter of two meters, she stretched out her hand and poured her Mana into the sigil causing it to dissolve. Afterwards, she opened the door and stepped inside. In the centre of the room was a king-sized bed with a little girl about one-meter height lying on top of it. Except for the two small horns on the left and right side of her head above her pointy ears that girl looked like a human child.
The maid walked up to the bed and kneeled down. In that instant, the eyes of the girl shot open. She straightened up stretched her small, short arms into the air, and let a drawn-out yawn escape her mouth.
“*yawn~* Is it time already?”
“Yes, milady. The Valkyria Kingdom has found a potential hero that could kill you.”
“Kukuku, well then, proceed as planned.”
“Haaah!”
The maid bowed and left the room.
When she was alone, a small smirk formed on the face of the little girl.
“Kukukuku, I can't wait... finally!”