“Prostrate before the 6th Coat of Arms, Regin Xandra!” She rolled up her left sleeve and revealed six intersecting lines drawn on her forearm. They glowed red in the dimly lit guild room. My mind flashed back to a conversation Jane and I had concerning her past with the Azure Kingdom. She had revealed herself to be a magician of King Pola’s court, and had herself counted amongst the ten “Coat of Arms.” A group which consisted of the most elite fighters the kingdom had to offer. I had no idea what she wanted, or even where her specialties lied. Meanwhile, I could assume she knew something about me since they even knew about the photons that I could manipulate.
As I was thinking of a way to reason with her, Hazeel stepped forward from behind me. “You never change, huh? You overly dramatical elf.” Regin’s long ears twitched at the provocation and she scowled at Hazeel.
“Who are you you filthy Wood Elf!? Who dares to speak to me like that!?” Regin was fuming, but her small stature made her rage-induced trembling seem more like fear instead.
Hazeel flashed a fearless smile at Regin. “Oh my, it’s only been 15 years, maybe your memory isn’t as good as we thought it was. How could you ever forget the face of your elder sister? Hazeel rubbed her left forearm until the image of one spiraling line was revealed. Unlike Xandra’s, it glowed pure gold.
Regin’s jaw dropped as Hazeel started to speak, openly flaunting her left arm. “As sad as it is, Little Regin, I suppose I should introduce myself to you, and that subordinate of yours. I am Hazeel the Conqueror, former Military Commander of the Azure Kingdom and former First Coat of Arms.”
---
Bella struggled to hold in her gasp at Hazeel’s reveal. She had a feeling that the wood elf was more than what she let on, but never imagined her to have been such an important figure.
Bella remembered her promise with Regin earlier in the morning. The young elf had told her, “I want to meet this boy, so please bring him to the guild. If you do, I will tell you a way to reforge a divine sword.”
Looking back on it, Bella would never have imagined that it would turn out this way. However, Bella remained silent above the scene, keeping her promise with Regin to not interfere, no matter what happened.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to Bella, ‘Had Leo known about Hazeel being a Coat of Arms?’ She glanced at the boy, but his widened eyes revealed that this was likely kept a secret from him as well.
Bella then turned to see how Regin’s subordinate was taking it, but he had already fainted on the floor. Stifling a sigh, she turned her attention back towards the pair, but the younger Elf had already deflated and sat back in her chair.
“Ugh… Hazeel, why do you always have to steal my thunder! What’s with you, why do you look so different from before anyways!?” Regin had curled up into a ball in her chair and started hurling questions at Hazeel. However, the wood elf shrugged them off calmly and laughed at Regin.
“I guess you really don’t have a good memory, huh? We’ve been over this before. Unlike you high elves that hardly age after adolescence, all other elves’ bodies continue to mature until the age of 60. Since we have twice the lifespan of normal humans, it’s roughly equivalent to their age of 30.”
Regin didn't say anything in response. Instead, tears welled up in her eyes and she spun her chair around so it was no longer facing Hazeel. “Just when I finally thought I’d found something interesting, it already belongs to you… how frustrating!”
Hazeel puffed out her chest with pride. “Exactly, Leo already belongs to me!” The boy in question sighed and shook his head before walking up behind Hazeel. He pinched her neck, eliciting a squeal in the process.
“I don’t remember becoming your property.” Leo shook his head. “Don’t you remember what we said about using my real name in public? Honestly, sometimes I wonder what’s going through your head.”
Hazeel stood up and coughed, acting like she had never uttered a sound in the first place. “I suppose I did get a little ahead of myself there, apologies.” Leo walked up to Regin’s table and sat down in the chair opposite her.
“Sorry that Hazeel burst your bubble. For now, would you mind telling us what you did with our friend? We truly only came inside the guild to get her.” Still pouting, Regin pointed to the ceiling, and a wave of energy pulsed from her fingertips as her spell came undone, revealing the rafters where Bella had been hiding.
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Forcing herself to smile, Bella waved at Leo and Hazeel. “Hey you two… sorry, but I was in on this as well.” She then dropped down behind Hazeel and continued speaking. “Regin just wanted to meet Leo, and in exchange she would reveal the location where we could reforge your sword.”
Leo’s eyes lit up and he sat up in his chair. “Regin, what did you want to talk about? I’d love to hear the information you have, so please let me hear you first.”
“Yes Regin, I never imagined that you would become so successful after the King outlawed demi-humans. I’m really interested to hear how you ended up as the leader of the most powerful guild in the continent.” Hazeel added fuel to the fire, and with her back still turned, Regin rubbed her eyes. Slowly, she turned back to face the trio and sniffled.
“Heh, I knew your interest would be peaked in me! I’ll allow you to know what I want, and where those feelings came from.”
---
“Hazeel the Conqueror has gone missing. It is believed that she died after killing the Gold Empire’s Naval commander, Umizo, and her body lies under the rubble of the Gold Empire’s beached warship. The messenger dared not look up, as he had just delivered the worst news of the century to the ten… well, now nine most powerful people in the country. Regin Xandra, the Sixth Coat started bawling her eyes out, while several others began to tear up. Jane cleared her throat, and with tears in her eyes, began to speak.
“Hazeel was a symbol of power to us all, but that is not all she was. She was a protector, a teacher, a beloved student, as well as an older sister and a daughter to some of us. She will never be forgotten, be it her military accolades, who she was as a person, or even her leadership in forming the Coat of Arms in the first place. Let us all have a moment of silence for her.”
What would have been a joyous celebration of the Gold continent’s defeat was destroyed by the tragic passing of Hazeel, who fell at the battle of Pharona. As much as she wanted to respect this moment of silence, Regin couldn’t stop herself from wailing aloud. The high elf was still young, and the youngest member of the Coat of Arms. At only 15 years old, and her heart had never experienced loss like this before. The others looked at her in pity, and only after Jane coughed did Regin try to control her sadness.
“I will be in charge of sorting the dead, and maybe…. Hopefully we can find Hazeel’s body as well, to give her a proper burial. It might take a week or two, but I promise we’ll leave no stone unturned.”
---
“Even though we found you a week later, those emotions never left me.” Finishing her short backstory, Regin drummed her fingers on her desk. I realized I had nothing physical, no records at all to remember Hazeel by. When I became the head of the Guild of Lust, I made it my mission to make sure we had records on everything, everyone, and every situation in Songrande. So I would never have to experience the fear of forgetting something I loved ever again. Wah-!”
Regin let out an unladylike noise as Hazeel hugged her from behind. “This is the first time I’ve heard this story! I didn’t realize you’d missed your big sister that much!” Regin tensed up and pouted once more.
“You really don’t have a great personality, you know that?” Regin sighed, and kept talking. “After King Pola Azeur outlawed demi-human residency in the Azure Kingdom, I thought of moving to a foreign continent to live out my days, like some members of the coat had chosen to do, but all that I had built up in Songrande kept me from starting anew. As such, my title as guild leader is something of an open secret with the townspeople.”
Somehow managing to break free of Hazeel’s hug, Regin got up from her chair and held her hand out to me. I just wanted to see what the face of someone from another world looked like. Please get along with me in the future, Leo.”
I took her hand and uttered, “Likewise.”
Regin’s expression lit up. “That’s great! Now, there’s a divine forge in the Gold Continent’s capital, Sakurashi. There’s a few bits of bad news to speak of before anything else.”
Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t stop a smile from forming on my face after hearing that I finally had a direction to go in. “Thanks Regin! What is the bad news?”
“There are three things. First, since the Azure continent has closed its borders, no one in their right mind would take you to another continent. All attempts at doing so would land you in hot water with the Azure Kingdom’s enforcement.” I frowned and was about to speak, but Regin continued.
“Second, even if you did manage to get to another continent, you’d need identification papers. Without these, you’ll be treated as a criminal and held in captivity until you are proven innocent or die, whichever comes first. The only one who can issue said identification is the ruler of Songrande, and King Pola isn’t exactly the most popular figure in the world community.”
“Couldn’t we just brute force our way through?” I voiced my opinion and Regin shook her head.
“Sure, you could do that… until one day you try and fail. The world is a wide place with many powerful people. You never know which ones are where, and you always run the risk of incurring more losses than benefits in those situations. But that brings us to our final problem.”
“Lastly, and the most pressing at the moment, most of the Azure Kingdom’s military is waiting outside the guild in order to capture the ‘Traitor of Humanity.’ They’re waiting for you, Leo.”