Groggy, a man rolls out of bed and on to the floor. Picking himself up off the carpet, his will to lift himself gives way, his arms following suit and he ends up back on the floor, back to step one. ‘Matt, you need to get up. But then I want sleep. But I also want to finish today.’

Rolling on his back, he scrunched his legs and pushed his torso off the ground, before finally standing up. When he looked at empty bed, he sighed. ‘She’s already at it. Guess I should too.’

After lazily pulling off the nearest clothes from his closet and drawer, he wandered into the kitchen, grabbed an apple, and walked outside. Drinking in the same monotonous view, Matthew Baronia felt a force hit him like a house, a force named realization. It had been four years since Thomas had inspected the knight, and through those years he had maintained his hobby, improving and perfecting his craft as best he could without any outside scrutiny. He had promised his girlfriend that if it came to this, he would meet the chancellor. After he finished the armor he was crafting, that is.

“Phew, finally done with you” the knight spoke to the armor propped up on a rack. With the flick of his wrist, his watch read eleven. ‘Time flies when you’re making armor.’

“Hey Matt!” The dragoon landed next to the bench, a masterful landing, his feet touching the ground softly, yet he didn’t seem to struggle to reacquaint himself with the earth. “Hope I’m not interrupting.”

“Nah, it’s fine man. What do you want?”

“The queen wants us. She says it’s urgent!”

‘An urgent matter from the queen? The hell? Hope it’s nothing too serious.’

The knight followed his friend, a dreadful sense of familiarity washing over him. Though he was situated far from his parents, the road to the castle was nondifferentiable from his childhood. Perhaps it was because from traveling with the only the dragoon again, or maybe it was the urgency to head to the castle. Regardless, seeing his friends gathered by the castle entrance only raised the tension in his blood.

“Matt!” Without hesitation, the elf flung herself on to the towering man. “Sorry about ditching you this morning, I was hoping to surprise you with a special lunch. Guess that’s not happening.” Despite her sad demeanor, the knight embraced her tightly, a relief in the storm of terrible recollecting.

As the group entered the castle, there was an undeniable unease about the interior.

“How Has everyone been?” Eric tried to break the ice formed by the sheer cold nature of the meeting, but is voice was too shaky to mask his own nervousness.

“Little woozy lately. Getting yanked to the castle didn’t help.” The redhead had decided against drinking, a decision she was cursing herself for.

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Entering the throne room, the six kneeled in front of the queen, her face grave and her eyes filled with ominous news.

“You may stand.” She paused, walking over to them as they stood up. “The news hasn’t reach the general public yet, so I figure you six may not have heard what happened recently. Have you not?”

Matt shook his head, the others following his lead.

“There’s been an explosion in Branton. Many have died, many more were injured. Those who survived recall seeing a devil performing the blast. We believe the sevens sins are at fault for this.”

The group looked at their leader, the knight felt his stomach drop, taking his heart along with it.

“We can’t take this action sitting down. That is why I have brought you here. I want you six to kill the seven sins. I was a fool to let them live after the kidnapping, but I won’t let them get away with taking lives. Only when they perish will the kingdom know peace.”

“I will not kill my sister” the knight spoke out.

“Your sister is one of the sins? Yes, I believe you told me as much. Matthew,” the older woman walked within arms reach of the knight, “if you do this mission for me, I will ask nothing more of you. If you do this for me, I will grant anything, anything you desire. Literally nothing will be beyond me to fulfill. Moving to Umbro or Pyora? It can be done. Retiring for the rest of your lives? It can be done. Your lineage having to never lift a finger for as long as they live? It can be done.”

“I still refuse.” Matthew could see the others question his defiance with their reactions, but he shrugged off their objection.

“Sibling love, how quaint. I suspect you know your sister better than anyone, and I suppose there’s no convincing you otherwise. Fine,” the monarch sighed in relent, “kill the other six then, I can compromise, as long as you can confirm your sister’s innocence.”

“We will agree to that.” Adriana spoke over Matthew, though Matt nodded in agreement with her. “Yes, that will be fine then.”

“While I can only request of you, it may behoove you to pursue your targets post-haste. There has been suspect activity in Jerule and Hammington, the neighboring cities east and west of Lumina. Please do take care of the sins as soon as you are able, lest we have more casualties.”

Both parties had parted ways, the queen returning to her throne while the warriors exited the castle, deciding that an action plan would be formed the day after. The knight and archer departed from the group, the rest sticking around to discuss.

“You think we can trust Matt that Lucy wasn’t the one to blow up a city?” The group was spooked to hear this come from Brian, who looked confused at their reactions.

“I’m surprised you’re the one to question him.” The rogue was the one speak out, but she merely echoed the sentiment of the cleric and mage.

“I don’t know. I trust Matt to make decisions based on actions or whatever, but I wonder how well he knows people.”

“Ehem” a new voice had grabbed the four’s attention, “I don’t mean to interrupt, but I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation.” Turning to the source, the group could saw the queen standing before them.

“Your majesty, I’ve never seen you outside of the castle before.” The dragoon was scrambling to figure out what to say.

“It’s a rare occasion, unfortunately, but desperate times call for desperate measures.” The queen’s turned her head to analyze each member of her audience. “As I was saying, you kids were questioning Baronia. I too question him, his bias for his sister may be clouding his judgement, and I don’t want his bias possibly leading to more death. That is why I must ask you all to fulfill my whole request.”

“Yes my queen. We will take care of it.” The cleric was the one to answer this time, kneeling as he did so, the others joining in.

‘I’m sorry Matthew, it’s for your own good.’