「TRAINING ARENA - 9:00 AM」
"Lord Earl, will you be assisting me again today?" Eliza asked softly as she, Earl, and Brenda made their way toward the arena floor. Her voice had that practiced, fragile lilt that always seemed to grate on Brenda's nerves.
Brenda rolled her eyes. "Miss Eliza, Earl is already tasked with assisting me and Zen. You have Keith."
"Oh... it's just that Lord Keith doesn't seem to like me very much," Eliza murmured, looking down at her boots.
"Miss Eliza," Earl interrupted, his voice cool and professional. "You are not here to win people's hearts. You are here to uphold your duty. Focus on your performance, not your peers."
"R-right. I'm sorry," Eliza whispered.
As they entered the arena, the usual disciplined silence had been replaced by a low, chaotic hum. The presence of the Expeditionary Knights had turned the atmosphere toxic. But above the din, a sharp, familiar laughter rang out.
"HAHAHAHA! He is so stupid!"
Earl glanced up and spotted Keith, his face red with mirth, seated beside a woman radiating palpable annoyance.
"Reise," he said.
"Lady Reise? Where?" Brenda followed his gaze. "Oh my! Lady Reise!" she called out, waving.
G6 looked down, tilted her head slightly, and offered the barest acknowledgment—a hand raised in the vague concept of a wave without actually moving it.
Brenda excitedly bounded up the steps to the bleachers, Earl following at a more dignified pace, leaving Eliza momentarily behind.
"Keith! You hog," Brenda accused. Keith's delighted expression instantly soured.
"Great. The Nocturnes," he muttered to G6.
"Hey. How have you been?" G6 asked Brenda.
"I've been wonderful, despite how much I missed you!" Brenda chirped, leaning over the rail.
"Take it down a notch, Bree," Earl said. "How was the Utility Department, Reise?"
"Functional." G6's eyes were already scanning the training field again. "Are you here to train?"
"Yes. I'm to oversee Brenda and Zen, though he's running late."
I wonder if Zen has any strength left after that pitiful sight, G6 thought, recalling the Mana Form training.
"What about you, Lady Reise? You're in a dress, so I guess you're not training?" Brenda asked.
"That's right," G6 said, her eyes drifting back to Pete, the recruit who was currently being barked at by a senior knight. "But I think I'll hang around. The view is... revealing."
"Really? You're going to stay and watch me train?" Keith asked, preening.
Brenda and Earl rolled their eyes in perfect unison.
"If you don't shut up, I will push you off this rail," G6 said.
"Meanie," Keith murmured, though he didn't stop smiling.
"You've returned home, Lady Reise," Eliza said, finally joining the group and trying to insert herself into the circle.
Keith went silent. "Was it that obvious?" G6 replied, her sarcasm cutting through Eliza's polite tone like a razor. Keith looked immensely proud of the jab.
Eliza was momentarily at a loss for words. "You… have a very good taste in fashion, Lady Reise."
"Yeah. If a slit up to the thigh and a daring neckline is your definition of 'good taste,' then I suppose I do." G6's reply was flat.
Eliza offered an awkward, strained smile.
"Why don't you all commence your training? I would hate to be blamed for your continued stagnation," G6 suggested, her gaze drifting back to a familiar, anxious figure among the recruits—Pete.
"You have a real talent for phrasing insults as sensible advice, Reise. Good job," Keith jested.
"Then I suppose we should proceed. Keith, more training, less commentary. I'd prefer Miss Eliza not add to my existing workload," Earl said, his words a polite but clear boundary.
Eliza's eyes widened for a fraction of a second, a flicker of understanding—or hurt—passing through them. These people, she realized, they draw their lines with words as sharp as blades.
—-❈-—
Nearly an hour had passed since the training began, and the arena was slick with sweat and the shimmering residue of mana. When Zen finally arrived, he looked like a man who had walked back from the edge of a cliff.
He was haggard, his skin unnervingly pale, and the dark circles under his eyes made him look fragile.
Brenda was the first to notice. "Oh my goodness, Brother Zen!" she shrieked, her concern cutting through the noise of clashing wooden swords.
"Zen?" Earl called, his brow furrowed in concern. "You look… utterly drained. Are you unwell?"
Ask Lady Reise and Master Daunt, Zen thought wearily. Aloud, he said, "My apologies, Lord Earl, for my tardiness I stayed up for the last three nights sorting ancient archives in the palace library. I am simply... sleep-deprived."
"Well, I feel that," Keith chimed in. "Just looking at a book makes me tired, too."
"Don't you dare compare yourself to Zen!" Brenda hissed.
"It's quite alright. Are you fit to train today?" Earl asked.
"Of course. I had a long rest." If you can call passing out from mana exhaustion a 'rest,' Zen added silently, in truth, between the afternoon of suffering until midnight training with Edmund, they had finally grasped the "Mana Form." His body was screaming, but his core felt more alive than ever.
"Very well. Let us see what we can improve today." Earl
-ˋˏ✄ - - - - - - - ♡
The training resumed. On one side of the arena, Eliza focused intently.
"LIGHT SHIELD!" Eliza cried out, thrusting her hands forward. A translucent barrier flickered into existence.
"WATER SPEARS!" Keith countered. Five liquid projectiles materialized in the air. He fired them in rapid succession. The third spear cracked the shield; the fourth shattered it into shimmering glass shards.
Eliza slumped, clutching her knees in exhaustion. "Take five," Keith said, barely winded.
On the other side of the field, the Nocturnes were in a different league.
"EARTH BULLET!" Brenda yelped, launching a jagged stone at Earl.
"Manifest three at once! Don't let the mana dissipate!" Earl shouted, dodging the projectile with practiced ease.
Brenda's face paled with effort. "Earth Bullets!" This time, three smaller projectiles shot forth in a spread.
Earl dropped into a low crouch. "Wall Stone!" The ground shuddered as a thick barrier of earth erupted, absorbing the impacts.
"Whoa, that's insane," Brenda breathed, impressed.
Throughout the arena, other knights and recruits were similarly focused, the air buzzing with shouted spells and the crackle of expended energy.
"Zen, you spar with Brenda next," Earl instructed. Zen nodded, moving to take position, but he was interrupted.
The rhythm of the training was interrupted by the clicking of polished boots. Rarlen Vinsethorne approached, flanked by his silver-clad lackeys.
"My, my. I hadn't realized the Bastion had been annexed by Omnia." He said, his tone slick with false camaraderie. Earl, Zen, and Brenda were all originally from the Omnia branch.
"Chief Vinesthorne. We are in the midst of training. Mind your courtesies," Earl said, his voice turning cold.
"Lord Earl, still as frosty as ever. Have you forgotten? I am your senior here."
Keith, who had been tolerating the morning, now wore a look of serious displeasure.
"Of course I haven't forgotten you are a senior. May I ask—you are a Chief, yet still a B-Rank, correct?" Earl's question was a velvet-wrapped blade. "Zen and Brenda here are also B-Rank. Perhaps you could offer them advice on advancement."
Rarlen's smug expression curdled into obvious distaste. "I see. Well, my advice is to keep trying hard." He recovered slightly, aiming his own barb. "Are you also B-Rank, Lord Earl?"
"Oh, no. It would be a poor jest to train B-Rank Nocturnes if I were one myself. I am A-Rank, 45 out of 100. All without the benefit of expedition experience."
"Shut it, Earl! I'm A-Rank, 46 out of 100!" Keith interjected, unable to resist.
"Really? A single point's difference?"
"I see," Rarlen scoffed, his awkwardness palpable. "I suppose that is the privilege of being scions of the Great Pillars."
"Indeed. I suppose that illustrates the distance between your station and ours," Earl shot back, the tension in the air crystallizing into something dangerous.
"What is happening here?" An authoritative voice sliced through the standoff. Captain Kepler De Lune had approached, flanked by Vice Captain Cortez and Lieutenant Nocturne.
"Brother!" Keith called, his posture relaxing a fraction.
"Keith. Are you faring well?" Kepler asked.
"Greetings, Lord Earl," Lieutenant Nocturne offered with a respectful nod.
"Just Earl, please. We are cousins," Earl replied, his tone warming slightly.
"So, where is my nephew?" Vice Captain Haily Cortez inquired, looking between Earl and Keith for Prince Dio. Fire-affinity powerhouse of the Royal Family's extended tree.
"I believe he has not yet returned from the main palace," Earl answered.
"Let's return to the matter at hand. What is the issue here?" Captain Kepler's gaze settled on Rarlen.
"Oh, it's nothing, Captain."
"Chief Vinesthorne, are you aware that interrupting training for 'nothing' is a sign of profound disrespect? You are a Chief of the Silver Company. You should know better." Kepler's reprimand was calm, absolute, and utterly final.
"Y-yes, Captain. If you'll excuse me." Rarlen bowed stiffly and retreated.
"Hey, brother. That guy needs a serious attitude adjustment," Keith muttered.
"Don't mind him. Continue your training," Kepler said. "We have to go greet the new recruits."
G6 remained nestled in the deep shadows of the stone archway, watching the pathetic display of noble ego with the detached amusement of a spectator at a circus. When she finally moved, it was with the silent fluidity of a predator.
"Hey there, kid," she called out.
Pete, who was scurrying back toward the building, nearly jumped out of his skin. He spun around, eyes wide. "O-oh… Lady Reise? Please forgive my disrespect! I didn't see you!"
"Easy." G6 remained still, a near-invisible silhouette in black. "I've noticed you're not participating in the basic training with your squadron."
Pete looked away, fingers twisting nervously. "U-uhmm… w-well…"
"What?" Her voice sharpened, a blade of cold air in the dimness.
"The knights said my age disqualifies me from the official recruitment. They said I should just… serve as a page boy instead," he mumbled.
"A page boy? Like a water boy for a basketball team?"
"B-basketball?" Pete repeated the alien word, bewildered.
"Never mind. I didn't insist on your admission just for you to become a servant."
"I'm truly sorry, Lady Reise," Pete whispered, his shoulders slumping.
"Hmm. Did you know I no longer have a purpose here?" G6 said, her tone conversational.
Pete's head snapped up. "D-does that mean you're leaving?" His voice held a tremor of genuine distress.
"That's right. I've been planning to resign. It's become tedious." She watched him closely.
"I… I see." He bit his lip hard, fighting to keep his disappointment from showing.
"Well, I was. Until I saw you looking like a kicked puppy and heard they'd demoted you to a glorified errand boy." A hint of something like challenge entered her voice. "Since I was the one who insisted on your admission, I suppose I can waste my remaining time on you."
Better than sitting in that office doing paperwork until my brain rots, she thought.
"R-really?!" Pete's eyes lit up, then dimmed just as quickly. "But… I don't wish to impose, Lady Reise."
"Cut the act, kid. I saw that spark. Come with me."
She strode from the shadows back into the bright training ground, Pete trailing hesitantly behind. Her entrance was a silent spectacle—the striking figure in the daring black dress cutting through the arena's dusty chaos.
"Reise!" Keith called out. His eyes flicked to her companion. "Why's that recruit with you?"
"Why do you care?" she shot back. "This is Pete." She motioned for the boy to step forward.
"H-hello," Pete managed, bowing his head low.
"You remember him? From the recruitment trials?" G6 asked the group.
"Oh yeah," Earl said, crossing his arms. "The kid who lied about being sixteen when he's actually fourteen."
"Correct. And I'll be overseeing his training while I'm still here."
"WHAT?!" The outburst came in unison from Keith, Brenda, and Earl.
"That's blatant favoritism!" Keith protested.
"Absolutely!" Brenda agreed.
"I must concur, Reise," Earl said, his voice grave. "Such special treatment will only invite more trouble for him. He'll be targeted by commoners and nobles alike."
"Is that so?" G6 turned to Pete. "What do you think?"
"W-well… I'll be fine, Lady Reise. I don't want you to be looked down on because of me…" He hung his head, adding softly, "But I suppose your plan to leave the Collegium for good will happen now."
"WHAT?!" Another chorus of shock from the trio.
"What's the meaning of this, Reise?" Keith demanded.
"You recall I said I'd achieved my goal? That's the meaning. I had reconsidered for Pete's sake, but if you're all opposed… I suppose I'll just leave. Perhaps relocate to the utility department permanently." A faint, taunting smirk played on her lips.
"T-that is not happening!" Keith blurted. "Fine! I don't care if you want to personally train the kid on your own time!"
"Me too! I'll even help!" Brenda added quickly.
Earl let out a long, resigned sigh. "Very well. If it will alleviate your boredom. But please, do not make the favoritism too overt."
"I see. Alright then." G6 leaned down, bringing her lips close to Pete's ear. Her whisper was for him alone. "I know what you're doing, you sly little brat."
She straightened, meeting his wide eyes with a smile that held no warmth, only a sharp recognition of the cunning potential she saw in him.
Besides, G6 thought as she looked at the relieved faces of the young nobles, the Queen would never let me leave this place anyway. Idiots.
-ˋˏ✄ - - - - - - - ♡
Later that night…
「WEST VILLA, G6'S ROOM」
11:25 P.M.
As was her custom, G6's room was illuminated only by a single candle on the mantlepiece and the cold silver of moonlight spilling through the open balcony doors.
She sat at her tea table, a silhouette against the night, casually sipping hard whiskey from a cut-crystal glass. Dressed in a simple black nightdress, she looked no less lethal for the informality, a predator at repose.
"I never expected a personal visit from you at this hour," she said, her voice cutting through the quiet. She turned her head slightly toward the figure seated deep in the shadows of her couch. "It gives me the distinct impression you require something."
The figure remained still for a prolonged moment. "How was your outing?" The Queen's voice was measured, giving nothing away.
"Did you come here for small talk?" G6 took another slow sip. "Well, if you must know... that thing tucked under the daily gazette on the table. That was my souvenir for you."
The Queen lifted the folded newspaper from her lap. A single piece of parchment, starkly smeared with dried blood, was concealed within. Unfolding it, her composed expression hardened into grim stone. "This is a log of the knights' departure for the border expeditions."
"Is that so?" G6 response, playing innocent.
The Queen scoffed, though her eyes held no humor, only a dull, calculating coldness. "How did you come by this?"
"Who knows?" G6 set her glass down with a soft click, her gaze piercing the darkness to find the Queen's own. "Perhaps I was simply fortunate."
"Cease playing games with me, Reise."
"You're the one who initiated this game the moment you knocked on my door alone. Was that not the opening move?" G6's tone was mild, almost bored. "However, that little gift would be useless without provenance. I did some… cleaning on the cliff road. I liberated it from bandits who were most insistent they did not wish to be cleansed of their sins."
The Queen's eyes narrowed. Did she… kill them? "How did they acquire it?"
"That is one question too many. This is your final clue. They claimed ignorance—said it was dropped by a random crow at their hideout." G6's expression shifted, her neutrality melting into something quietly intimidating. "The rest of the puzzle is yours to solve."
"I see. I am… profoundly grateful for this thoughtful gift." The Queen's voice was a velvet sheath over a blade of ice. "Those damnable traitors."
"Now," G6 said, placing her empty glass on the table with finality. "Isn't it time you told me what you actually want, Your Majesty?"
The Queen finally leaned forward, allowing the moonlight to reveal her face. She looked at G6 as if the words she was about to speak would sever the last pretense of 'Lady Reise,' the noblewoman, entirely.
"Have you heard?" the Queen began, her voice deceptively light. "The serial murderer has been apprehended."
"I did. I don't particularly care."
"Indulge me, Reise. If you were to decide his punishment, what would it be?"
"I said I don't care." G6's response was flat. "But since you seem thirsty for my opinion... I am not someone who decides punishment." She turned her head, her gaze locking onto the Queen's with menacing clarity. "I am the one who delivers it."
Here she goes again with her evasive rhetoric… yet the meaning is clear. She doesn't judge; she executes. The Queen's thoughts were a storm behind a placid mask.
"The Head of the Upper Court House is demanding custody of the criminal. He is an artificial user of Invisibility magic—a bloodline art thought lost with House Neviden. He is not… mentally sound enough for interrogation. Under the pretext of expertise, they wish to take him. In truth, they want to dissect his blood." The Queen's jaw tightened.
"You're afraid they'll build an army of artificial mages." G6 finished the thought, a smirk touching her lips. "What's in it for me?"
The question, so blunt and transactional, made the Queen's guarded posture loosen a fraction. I knew it. Reise is inscrutable. Ally or enemy? Or simply a force of nature, uninterested in anything beyond her immediate sphere?
G6 observed the silent struggle, a ghost of amusement in her eyes.
"I want you to dispose him." The Queen's command was stripped of all royal pretense, stark and direct.
G6's eyes widened momentarily, then she let out a short, sharp laugh. "Ha. My, my… what are you saying, Your Majesty?"
The Queen allowed herself a thin, matching smirk. "Playing the fool? My dear, before I entrusted you with that book, I knew everything. The two gates. The one law. Who can wield it. Its purpose… and the condition required to strengthen it."
G6 tilted her head, flipping her hair back to reveal one piercing grey eye. The look in it was lethal. "If you are thinking of using me, you should leave. Now."
"I would not dare," the Queen said, though the statement felt like its own kind of threat. "I am proposing a mutual benefit. I require certain… pests removed, ones beyond the reach of royal law. You require those very pests to grow stronger."
G6 leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. "You want to make a deal with me?" She laughed again, the sound cold and mirthless. "This is amusing. Your Majesty, why does your expression suggest you're bargaining with a devil?"
"Does it?" the Queen sneered.
"Hmm. You really are entertaining to talk to." G6's demeanor shifted back to casual calculation. "I want the Black Ledger."
The Queen froze. She knows about the Ledger? The list of every corrupt noble, their sins inked in damning detail.
"As your… prospective client, should you not first demonstrate your capability?" the Queen countered, recovering her composure.
"Clever." G6 poured another measure of whiskey into a fresh glass. "Alright."
"You… accept?"
"Didn't you say it was beneficial for us both?"
"Now, what do you demand as insurance in case I go back on my word?"
G6 looked at her with utter deadpan sincerity. "I don't require collateral." She pushed the glass of whiskey across the table. "I could simply come for your head. Now, drink. Isn't our relationship so much cozier now?" Her smile was a razor's edge.
The Queen's famed composure fractured. So, if I betray our agreement, my life is forfeit? How brazen can this child be, to threaten the Mother of the Kingdom so casually? As if titles and thrones mean nothing to her.
She took the glass and drank, the whiskey burning a path down her throat.
I've killed tycoons and kingpins who held more power than this woman ever will, G6 thought. There's no such thing as politics. It's just an errand. G6 watched the Queen drink, her own thoughts cold and measured.
"Three days from now. The main palace arena grounds," the Queen stated, rising to her feet. "I will take my leave."
"Perfect. That's my outing day. I'll drop by then." G6's tone was as casual as if discussing a social call.
Drop by? The Queen stifled the urge to question further. This child speaks with the chilling ease of vast, bloody experience.
She merely nodded. As she reached the door, she glanced back. G6 was still watching her, that predator's gaze fixed on her as if she were already being tracked.
G6 raised a hand in a slow, casual wave, her smile deepening.
A cold shiver traced the Queen's spine, settling deep in her marrow.
Was she really going to be my daughter-in-law? the Queen thought as she stepped into the hallway. What a terrifying monster I've invited into my home.
–To be continued…–