“Vice Captain!”

Soft footsteps approached and called to me. The voice it belonged to was my youngest subordinate, Mynah Argente.

“You found him?”

For hours now, we’ve been on pursuit of the young man who perpetrated the assassination of Marshal Evaris, owner of Evaris Trading.

“No sir. I’ve sent my clones all over the forest and so far we haven’t found nary a trace.”

This lass was the last one to fight him. She was waiting on the other side of the barrier in case he escapes, but even with her clones, the most she could do was cut his side.

According to the lass, the young man was able to cut almost all her clones down, smiling as he did it. After almost using up all her mana to re-summon her clones, the young man used a fruit scented smoke to aid his escape.

It only took minutes after the smoke subsided! How was he able to get away so fast?!

“How’s your mana?”

I asked the lass who was panting and had beads of sweat forming from her face. She’s the youngest but still a diligent knight, so seeing her like this shows how formidable that young man is.

“I can’t summon any more than 10. As long as my clones aren’t killed, I’m still able to fight to the fullest.”

She nodded full of determination.

The young man’s magic and skills were bewildering. Considering the color of his hair and his eyes, he would be most probably from the Cuppra family. But to be able to use fire and speed akin to a wind mage, was far from the innate magic that comes from his appearance.

Since ancient times, the hair color and eyes were a huge indication of a person’s aptitude in magic: brown being earth, green for wind, blue for water and red for fire. The only different color that was special was yellow or golden.

For dozens of millennia since the creation of humans, gold has been the color of the Aurelian royalty. The first King that established the kingdom and has the ability to use the Light god’s attribute was the first Aurelis. Capable of healing, purifying undead and even seeing the future, light magic was considered the most sacred magic of all humanity.

And from this, the first King’s descendants were made members of the Aurelian nobility. They were those who had other colors mixed in with their bloodlines.

The Argente who governed water, Ferrum that governed fire, Mercuria that governed wind and Cuppra that governed earth.

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Based on these facts, that young man was a member of the Cuppra nobility. Changing ones hair color wasn’t impossible, but ones eyes was unheard of!

“Vice captain.”

Another called me but this time, it carried a sleepy sounding voice. Thane often looked lethargic and often sounds sleepy, but he’s the most veteran out of the three.

He does his mission with precise efficiency and rational decisions, making him the best lead in each mission. Though, he says he does it to increase his sleeping time.

Without saying a word, he shook his head, meaning he also found nothing. It was frustrating. We were supposed to watch over the target, but a lone kid was able to kill him right under our noses and was able to escape both my best subordinate’s assault.

If I had been serious right from the start... if I hadn’t thought of playing...

Self-condemning words circled through my head. 70 years... for 70 years, the order of light had been buried in obscurity due to our past mistake. Now, with the coming of age of the new generation of kings, we can’t let anymore mistakes happen.

My thoughts mirrored my expression, and my subordinates felt the same way. They were still young, two of which came from the youngest generation.

So the mistakes of the past were nothing but stories to them. But those mistakes will continue to be a brand and if another mistake were to ever happen with the reign of the current royals—

“Excuse me.”

A voice, clear as a bell called out through the silence. Everyone looked at each other with surprised faces and immediately turned to the owner of the voice.

Behind me, a girl stood under a shadow of a tree. Her eyes were closed and she held onto the tree for support. Her red dress that suited her, was far more elegant than the dresses I saw girls wore in the capital. Her rose-colored hair that was lightly blown by the forest breeze, released a soothing sweet scent, releasing our tension built up from worry.

When did she?!

“...excuse me?”

She asked once again. Her worried face shone brightly from the dim light of the moon, but her eyes were still completely closed.

Is she blind?

She should’t be here!

“You shouldn’t be here.”

The first one to say so was the youngest lass, Mynah. She walked closer towards the girl and bent her back a little to meet the girl’s height.

“Mynah!”

I tried to stop her from approaching but contrary to the wariness of my voice, the girl continued to carry a worried expression.

“Yes, but... have you seen Nadi’s brother?”

Still with her eyes closed, she tilted her head delivering a complex feeling of wanting to protect her.

What is this?

Unbeknownst to us, her charms garnered the protection from the two lass, leading Becca to approach her as well.

But... brother...? Evaris had children but they were both sons, I haven’t heard any information about a daughter...

“Brother?”

“Yes, you see, we were supposed to meet after the monster attack, but Nadi and Andi never met.”

During the attack?!

Something is odd about this girl! There were four of us highly trained knights but nobody even noticed her presence. She even said she was supposed to meet with her brother during the attack, but we’ve sealed this area completely and even searched each corner thoroughly. There’s no way that they would’ve been able to avoid us!

Unless...!

“Brother looks very similar to Nadi, he’s a little bit taller but we have the same face. We’re twins you see, so I’m sure you’ll remember him...”

Before I could warn the two who went to her, she continued to speak.

“...because he has the same distinct golden eyes as I do.”

At the end of her sentence, the sweet voice she bore turned grim and a malicious smile replaced her worried expression.

As she opened her eyes slowly, two golden orbs glowed magnificently under the moonlight.