Mavis lay on her left side on the examination table. Charlotte had carried her to a nearby clinic on her back after her fight with Matthis as the numbing agent was still in her system. She could only sit still as the doctor examined her to see if there were any lasting injuries or side effects from the drug. The doctor was a middle-aged elven man with short greying hair, his pointed ears jutted outward on the sides. An elf’s lifespan is about ten times that of a human’s and a general rule of thumb is that every ten years of an elf’s life equals one year of a human’s. For an elf to look middle aged signifies they have been around for four hundred to five hundred years.

“I didn’t find anything wrong with you physically besides not being able to move, but it seems to be almost out of your system. You should be able to move about again soon. Just relax for the next half hour and you’ll be good to leave.”

The healing pellet Mavis had consumed during the fight had healed her dislocated shoulder, leaving no lasting pain or injury, as if she had never taken that blow in the first place. There wasn’t much the doctor could do but make sure there weren't any negative side effects to the paralyzing drug, which he had grilled Matthis about earlier. Luckily the drug’s only effect was to numb a person’s limbs and make them unable to move so once it ran its course, Mavis was free to go. The elven doctor exited the room to leave Mavis and Charlotte alone to discuss what happened. As he opened the door, the sounds of children playfully yelling and screaming could be heard, as well as the sight of Paulie being pulled in different directions by a couple of kids, a boy and a girl, who looked no older than ten and seven years old respectively..

“You’ve got a couple of rambunctious rugrats, don’t you?” Mavis said to Charlotte.

Charlotte chuckled. “Yeah, they’re a handful. Today was supposed to be my day off and I wanted to spend it with them, but that moron couldn’t help but muck up my plans.” She sounded exasperated, as if this wasn’t the first time Matthis had done something like this. There was a trend of her trying to spend time with her family, only for either Matthis, or someone else to cause trouble and her having to deal with it. “I can’t really hate him for it though, as annoying as it is. It’s not like he intends to cause me trouble. But it has been happening a lot more frequently lately.”

Mavis looked at Charlotte surprised. If it was her, she would have been even harsher on Matthis with the scolding, especially if it was a frequent occurrence. It may have been a bit of bias talking given her experience with him so far, but she practically saw Charlotte as a saint right now for putting up with it.

“Does the Empire usually allow the knights, more specifically the Twelve, to act this way?” The attitudes of Matthis and Charlotte were like night and day. Charlotte seemed like a reasonable person and wouldn’t try to pull any of the stuff Matthis did to Mavis, but if he did this regularly, to the point Charlotte was annoyed with it, why hasn’t anything been done to prevent it?

“We in the Twelve are given a lot more freedom to on how we go about our assignments than other knights. We got our positions through our respective strengths and results. The logic of the bureaucrats above us is that if we are left to our own devices with minimal red tape, we would be more effective in helping the citizens. I won’t lie though, there are some… let's say eccentric individuals among us. I think they might just not want to deal with us.”

“So after all that, Matthis won’t be punished?” Mavis asked, annoyed.

“Oh he’s going to get multiple lectures. And you will likely get a written apology as well as monetary compensation for the stunt he pulled. He didn’t lie that he was on assignment though to get information on your Talent to correct the documents. The way he did it, however, was still going a bit too far.”

Mavis didn’t really hear the last bit. She just heard the words ‘monetary compensation’ and tuned out. She didn’t really care what happened to Matthis or if he would be punished after hearing she would be getting money from the whole ordeal. In her books, all was forgiven.

“There is the issue of your leaving out information on your Union documents, however” Charlotte continued. “I don’t know the reason why you did it, but it is still legally classified as an offence. While you won’t be facing any jail time, you will also need to pay a fine.”

Well shit. Mavis thought to herself. That money she was looking forward to was probably gonna be used on the fine.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

“Why didn’t you fill out the Talent section anyway?” Charlotte inquired. “From what I heard, you have a pretty strong one. You would probably be able to get better and higher paying quests from the Union with it as well as avoid this whole ordeal in the first place.”

Mavis was silent. The reason she had wasn’t a very good one. If she lied about it, she would be lying to someone who was pretty high in the government as well. She didn’t want any more trouble for herself.

“I…” Mavis had trouble finding the words to say and how to phrase it. “I don’t want people knowing everything about me.” She said quietly, not looking Charlotte in the eye. “ And I didn’t know leaving it blank when I had one was such a big deal.” She left the wording vague on purpose. What ever conclusion Charlotte drew from it, she was fine with.

Charlotte looked at Mavis, confused, but she didn’t press further. She could tell this was something personal for Mavis and didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable. She had already been attacked by one of her own co-workers today. She would only speak about the issue the bare minimum that was required to resolve it.

“Alright, I’ll take your word for it.” Charlotte said, calmly. “Just make sure to be more aware of this in the future, okay?”

Mavis nodded her head. She had regained a little bit of mobility so she weakly raised her hand and gave her a thumbs up.

“Did Matty Boy already head back to the palace?” Mavis asked

“Yeah, he did. Along with a message handwritten by me with all of your testimonies.” Charlotte sighed, exhausted. She really didn’t want to have to work on a day she had planned to spend with her kids. “I made it a point to tell him that there would be far worse consequences if he didn’t report it himself. While I can’t directly punish him as everyone in the Twelve technically have the same rank in the army, I can make sure he never hears the end of it, which motivates him a lot more than you would think.”

Mavis let out a slight chuckle. That thought amused her more than he should. Matthis being forced to behave under the threat of Charlotte acting like his mother and nagging him. She could totally see her being a natural at that being an actual mother herself.

“That put a smile on your face, didn’t it?” Charlotte said, pointing out the grin not even Mavis noticed. “Well, I assume you can get home by yourself after you’ve recovered, so I’m going to get my kids and relieve your employee of babysitting duty. Make sure to stay out of trouble, okay?” She flashed Mavis a smile before exiting the room.

Mavis slowly rose from the examination table, taking her time to get her bearings as she sat up. She sat in contemplation. Initially, she thought of the rest of the Twelve to be scumbags like Matthis, but Charlotte seemed like a reasonable and kind individual. She did mention that the rest were pretty eccentric and shuttered to think of what they were all like. Was Charlotte the outlier? Or was Matthis? She knew of the other members, their names and faces, because of how profitable their merchandise was, but she knew nothing about them as people. Some of them did interviews with different magazines but a lot of what they told about themselves were just what kinds of food they like, and their hobbies. It said nothing about them as people. As she was thinking of this, she raised her hand to one of her pointed ears. She noticed Charlotte never once mentioned anything about her race. She was kind to her. Mavis was more used to negative attention due to being a half-elf, but Charlotte did nothing of the sort. Thinking back, Matthis didn’t either. He didn’t antagonise her because she was a half-elf, he did it because he was just a dick. Maybe there were people out there that wouldn’t care. They would see her not as “the half-breed” but as Mavis Millwood.

“I think I can do this.” Mavis said out loud. Her first step on her journey was a rocky one, but she didn’t let it stop her. Instead, she found more motivation to push her dreams forward.

In the Hresvelgr Palace at night, Matthis walked the halls, the sound of his loafers echoing a clip clop sound with each step he took. He had just finished handing in his report and got another scolding for it, which was better than one from Charlotte. There was one patch of shadow, not illuminated by the light of the moon via the large windows. Matthis stopped walking as he passed it by.

“Mission accomplished?” a voice said from the shadow.

Matthis was silent for a moment, looking towards the floor before answering. “Which one?”

“Did you figure out if this Mavis Millwood is Shadow?” The voice said, calmly.

“... It’s a possibility. I did feel something while we fought, but I can’t be one hundred percent sure. She didn’t use any shadow magic.” Matthis didn’t look at the person. He just stared at the floor as he spoke. He was reluctant to even give this report to the voice from the shadow.

“Then keep an eye on her. If there is anything that could prove it without a doubt, you are to report it to me immediately. Not that you wouldn’t. We both know what would happen otherwise.”

Matthis placed the palm of his hand over his heart, his face with an expression of frustration and worry. “You don’t have to remind me.”

“Good.” The voice responded. “She is the most likely suspect. Her arrival in the capital coincided with me picking up the mana of another Lord. That’s the second one to make the city their residence and we still don’t know the identity of the other.”

Matthis side-eyed the voice. “You didn’t tell me there was another one here. For how long have you held onto that information without sharing it with me?” He said, irritated.

“About three months. Long before you ‘joined’ us. Shadow is the only one we’re concerned with and I have already confirmed the other isn’t Shadow.”

Matthis clicked his tongue. He hated being this person’s pawn, on top of them neglecting to relay important information to him. But he had no choice but to put up with it.

“You’re dismissed, Mister Edenz. Get some rest.” The voice said, almost mockingly. When Matthis could no longer sense the presence of the person the voice belonged to, he let out a long, tired groan.

“I hope you drop dead.” He said under his breath. He made his way to his quarters in the barracks for another restless night.