Since she was small, Reiren noticed that she could see the colors of sound. Every time something made a noise, she could see colors coming from it. Red, green, blue, like a rainbow. It was beautiful, yet quite strange, because when she told people around her, they just stared at her in confusion. Some thought that she was joking, some even thought she was crazy.

Until she met her. Eliphia Rosabeth, a little girl with golden hair and cute buns hairstyles.

When Reiren told her about the colors of sound, she didn't look surprised. She didn't look at her as if she was crazy either. Instead, it was an understanding look.

"Don't tell me, you can see the colors too?" Reiren asked.

But Eliphia shook her head, almost making Reiren disappointed. Until she said, "I can't see the color, but I can feel it."

"What do you mean?" Reiren asked.

"It was hard to explain, but if it was within a certain radius from me, I could feel it when something made a sound," Eliphia said.

"So, you feel the sound?" Reiren said, trying to understand. "Not hearing it?"

Eliphia nodded. "I knew even when my ears didn't really hear it. For example, behind this building, there was an apple tree there. And one of the fruits fell just now. I couldn't see it, I didn't really hear it, but I knew an apple had just made a falling sound."

Reiren immediately checked it and as Eliphia said, there was an apple that had fallen not far from the tree.

Since then, they often spent time together. And their meeting was not an accident because they were part of a secret assassins organization called Silent Sentinel, a group that had been protecting the land from darkness for hundreds of years.

Naturally, later on, they were taught to become future assassins. Reiren was mentored by an old man named Baal. She didn't know who her parents were, so she always thought of him as a father, even though she never said it out loud.

Meanwhile, Eliphia was mentored by a woman named Morrigan. Reiren didn't know much about her, but she knew that Eliphia didn't like her that much, probably because she was strict and always looked angry.

Thankfully, Eliphia's ability turned out to be super useful for this job. With just her sound detection, she could tell what was happening inside a building without even seeing or hearing directly, making her perfect for stealth missions. This made Morrigan less annoying towards her.

On the other hand, Reiren discovered something about her own ability too. If she touched the floating colors that appeared from sound, they would turn black and the sound would suddenly disappear. It turned out her ability was more than just seeing colors of sound; she could also mute it.

While honing her assassin's abilities, she also made sure to improve this special skill. Soon she could mute her own walking sound. A few months later, she could mute the sound when she swung her knife. And in a few years, she could even mute the screams of her target, making her one of the most promising assassins in their group.

This was important because the royalty and nobles in that kingdom started to become more and more corrupt, especially the princess Catherina Vil Valoria, someone who looked beautiful on the outside but was really rotten on the inside. Their works were becoming more and more needed.

Still, even if their skills were great, they weren't yet great assassins. After all, killing people, even if it was for the greater good, was still hard for the younger generation. Especially Eliphia, who was strongly against the idea.

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The first time Eliphia stabbed a target, her attack was too shallow. She got scared and ended up abandoning the mission, going straight to Reiren and starting to cry. She then became sick with a fever for a week.

After that, no matter what people around her said, Eliphia didn't want to continue. This made Morrigan angry, but Eliphia didn't change her mind. Killing or hurting someone was too much for her. However, the assassins' organization didn't want to let go of such talent, so they kept pestering her to continue. This made Eliphia even more scared.

When Eliphia locked herself in her room, Reiren came. She stood right in front of her home and started asking for the door to be opened. She didn't even knock or yell. She talked as if Eliphia was right in front of her, even though her room was on the second floor.

Reiren knew that Eliphia could hear her, which was why she kept asking to be let in.

After a few hours, Eliphia finally opened the door.

"You're so noisy," she said, her eyes puffed from crying so much.

Reiren just smiled.

Eliphia then let Reiren enter her home. They just sat in silence for a while until Reiren decided to speak.

"Do you think what we do is wrong?" Reiren asked. This was something that she had been asking herself too. She understood the philosophy of her mentor and the people around them. The whole organization even. They were doing a bad thing for a good reason. Someone had to do it. They were walking on the dark path for the betterment of people.

It sounded good when people said it, but truthfully, it wasn't easy for her either, even though she didn't take it as badly as Eliphia.

"I'm... not sure," Eliphia said, looking uneasy. "But I just can't do it. I'm sorry..."

"Even if they were bad people?" Reiren asked.

Eliphia nodded. "Even if they were bad people."

"Even if they hurt you?" Reiren asked. "Or even hurt someone important to you?"

"I... I didn't know. If, for example, they hurt you, I might have been really angry," Eliphia said, looking hurt for real, "but... I still wouldn't have liked to hurt them."

"I see," Reiren said, putting her hand on top of her friend's hand. "Then, want to be my partner?"

Eliphia blinked in surprise. "What?"

"You just need to support me," Reiren said, "while I can do the dirty job for the two of us. It's a win-win solution, right?"

Eliphia gulped. "Are... are you really okay with that?"

Reiren smiled. "Of course," she said. "You can depend on me!"

Reiren wasn't sure about anything, if she was being honest. To sacrifice herself for the greater good, sometimes she thought it was unfair. She never chose this, and one part of her actually wanted to live as a normal girl.

But if it meant she could help her best friend too, she didn't mind doing it anymore.

After that, things started to get better. The combination of their skills made them stand out, even compared to the most talented members of the group. They began to be trusted with bigger missions, which gave them more freedom and less work.

A few months continued like this. Things seemed to be going great for both of them, until that night came.

Reiren and Eliphia had just returned from a big mission to eliminate a Viscount from the east area. They were tired and all they wanted was to rest and have a good sleep. But then Eliphia stopped, grabbing Reiren's hand. Her face was pale.

"Something... happened to our hideout," she said. "They're all... dead."

"Wait here!" Reiren said, understanding that something big was happening. She immediately used her power to hide their sounds and rushed toward their hideout.

As Eliphia said, that place was destroyed. The remaining building was being burned by the attackers, knights of the Valoria kingdom. They were numerous, hundreds even, and they had slaughtered everyone there.

Even her mentor, Baal, was tortured and tied to the floor, not moving anymore.

Looking at this disturbing scene made Reiren's heart sink and made her careless. She failed to mute her surroundings, so when her leg hit something, it immediately alerted the whole army of knights.

Reiren immediately jumped back and ran toward where Eliphia was waiting. She grabbed her hand and then both of them ran away. A few knights tried to catch up to them, but they were quickly melted into the night and disappeared without any sound.

The next day, Reiren found out that not only their hideout had been found, but all the other branches as well. They were all destroyed by knights ordered by Princess Catherina.

"But how?" Eliphia said, holding back her tears. "How could she know? Haven't we been hidden for hundreds of years? Why did this suddenly happen?"

Reiren punched the wall in frustration. "There must be a traitor among us," she said.

Eliphia wiped her tears. "But..."

"What else could it be?" Reiren asked. "There's no way Princess Catherina could have known about it if she didn't hear it from one of the members. Or do you have another idea?"

"I... I don't know," Eliphia said. "But suspecting our own members after this happened was..."

"I know!" Reiren interrupted. "I don't want to either! But what other explanation is there?"

"I think..." Eliphia suddenly stopped and looked back, her expression one of panic. "Assassins that survived from other branches are here," she said, gulping. "And they don't have good intentions towards us. They think the same, they thought we were the traitor--"

Reiren grabbed her friend's hand. "Let's go then! I'm not going to fight with them. Not unless I find out for sure who the traitor is."

Eliphia nodded, and they ran away.

That's all they could do at that time, keep running away, yet unable to find an answer while the situation around the kingdom was getting worse, especially because Princess Catherina became more daring in her exploits.

"Let's just leave this kingdom," Eliphia suggested. "There's nothing we can do here anymore."

From the top of the building, Reiren stared at the condition of the commoners. Poverty and starvation, the smell of death everywhere.

"We can't," Reiren said. "I want revenge, but most of all, I now understand they need to be stopped. At the very least that princess... Too many people are suffering for nothing. I want to help them, even a little."

Eliphia sighed. "If that's what you want, then so be it," she said. "I will always support you."

Reiren nodded, and they disappeared without a sound.

***