“Yawn~
This is so boring. Why do we have to do this? Nothing is going to happen anyway.”
A man yawned, walked into a particular room where a Whispering Sigil Scroll was stored. This particular scroll was connected to all of their Spy Network spread throughout the district and was updated every two hours.
Of course, in cases of emergency, it is updated faster, and once it does, the guards guarding the storeroom would quickly inform the higher-ups. However, since the scroll hadn’t been updated in the past two hours, everyone knew nothing was wrong.
The next update would just be a report of how things are exactly the same as they predicted. This was also the reason the man looked so lazy; he didn’t want to read the same thing again.
He had been doing it for years now.
“Do not forget your duty, Raver, and stop being lazy.”
Another man walking beside him spoke in a strict tone.
“You won’t get any pay increase just because you are a stuck-up bitch, you know? You are only torturing yourself. Drink some booze, fuck some women, try to live a little.”
Raver suggested, however, seeing the man completely ignore him, he just shook his head and sighed.
“Do whatever you want, man, it is your life. I was only trying to make it a bett—”
Bzzz
Before Raver could complete, he and the man next to him heard a buzz. They glanced at the guards guarding the door, and the two seemed a little taken aback as well.
All four of them recognized this sound. It was the Whispering Sigil Scroll but…
There were still about 2 minutes left before the next report. Why did it activate right now? Did one of the spies mistakenly send the report a bit early?
No, that shouldn’t be possible. These weren’t just any ordinary spies; they would never make such a grave error.
Something was wrong.
In an instant, Raver and the man beside him rushed into the room and glanced at the scroll.
{The King is here.}
“What…?”
Raver widened his eyes in surprise.
He glanced at the man next to him. The two nodded at each other, and a decision was made.
“We need to inform Lord Zarak.”
Zarak was an Eighth Stage Warrior and the Head of Operations. Raver didn’t know why the King was here, but now that he was, Lord Zarak needed to know.
Quickly, the two rushed towards Zarak’s training quarters, where they knew they would find him, and just as they expected, he was training with his sword.
“What is it?”
Zarak questioned.
He was a tall man with a muscular build. The big scar on his face gave him a menacing appearance. He had black hair and piercing green eyes. He was a man known for his loyalty and shrewdness.
When his training was interrupted, Zarak wasn’t annoyed or angry. He knew his subordinates well; he knew they wouldn’t come to him if it wasn’t important. Raver quickly showed him the scroll without any formalities, something Zarak didn’t seem to mind very much.
He was a man of action and looked down on all the pretence.
“The King is here?”
“Yes.”
Raver nodded.
“Why?”
“We do not know. We did not receive any message from the Royal Capital. We only know that Famzal, who was positioned on the Northwest Position Six, saw him and reported it.”
Zarak narrowed his eyes. This didn’t make sense.
The King shouldn’t be here. The last thing he would want is to direct attention to the place his daughter was in.
“Has Famzal made contact?”
Zarak questioned.
“No, he awaits your orders.”
Raver answered. Zarak nodded at those words.
“Let’s go. The King cannot attract too much attention. We need to meet him in secret. Make preparations. We leave in 10 minutes.”
Zarak instructed.
“Yes, Lord Zarak.”
Raver nodded as he got to work.
The haste with which he changed his laid-back attitude and became active was honestly surprising.
Just as Zarak ordered, he and five of his close subordinates left the base and moved Northwest to meet Famzal, who would take them to the King.
…
On the other side, a man named Jasper was sitting on a counter, acting like a receptionist. Soon, however, Jasper saw a familiar face and frowned,
“William? What are you doing here?”
He questioned as he glanced at the scrawny man carrying a bowl of curry and stale bread.
“Need to feed her.”
William answered in a hurry as he continued walking. Jasper, however, frowned at those words,
“I was told that she needs to be fed 3 hours before the sunrise.”
“…I will be unavailable early morning.”
William answered as he tried to continue walking, but,
“That is not your call to ma—”
Jasper couldn’t just let him go and tried to stop him,
William paused, then, he turned around. His black eyes stared right into Jasper’s eyes as he closed the distance between them and,
“Alright, I give up.”
He sighed, staring at Jasper with eyes full of determination. His voice couldn’t hide that he was in a hurry.
“I need a favor.”
“A favor—”
“I will be busy at night, and if everything goes well, I won’t be free by the morning. I need to get this over with.”
“Huh?”
Jasper frowned at those words, but before he could understand what William was talking about, the man explained.
“She has three friends.”
“She?”
“Do you still not get it?”
William questioned, sounding slightly frustrated.
“You dirty dog, did you finally find someon—”
Jasper questioned with a wide grin on his face, but once again, since William was in a hurry, he interrupted and,
“I am not sure, but I think I will be able to pull this one off— ah, fuck the details, I don’t have time. Just know that I even bought the pills!”
“That confident?”
“Yes. I have been marinating for days now.”
William nodded.
“Dang, I didn’t know you had it in yo—”
Jasper grinned, but again, before he could complete his sentence,
“Anyways, don’t report this, will you? It’s just six hours early anyway. It won’t make too big of a difference in her Mana when she is already so weakened.
I will go feed her. You will stop anyone else from coming in, okay?
I will owe you one.”
“You will owe me?”
Jasper raised his eyebrow.
“Did you not hear me? She has three friends.”
The instant he heard those words, Jasper’s grin widened.
“Did I ever tell you how much I love y—”
“Shut it.”
William cursed. He had already gotten a few meters away.
Clearly, he was in a hurry. Even their conversation only lasted about 12 seconds. Jasper, however, understood a fellow brother’s ‘pain’, so he didn’t mind the rude exit. Rather, he just grinned at the thought of meeting three new ‘prospects.’
On the other side, William rushed into the back of the building, reaching the end of the corridor where no one could see him. He then grabbed the fire lamp hanging on the wall, and the instant he did,
Clank Clank Clank
As if some mechanism were activated, the wall slid aside, revealing a staircase leading underground.
William hurried in, completely ignoring the damp, oppressive, and silent atmosphere as if he didn’t care about all this one bit.
The sound of his hurried footsteps echoed through the silent, almost haunting hall. He continued walking for a few seconds until finally, his eyes fell on her.
A woman so beautiful that one would question her very existence.
She, however, was chained in a way where moving seemed almost impossible. Her hands were hung on either side, her legs were chained in a way that made sure she could not move them at all. Even her neck was restricted by a collar.
She was forced to kneel on the cold floor, and considering how dust and dirt had covered her body, it was clear that she had been in this place for a long time.
Sensing a movement, the woman moved ever so slightly. Her hollow, dead purple eyes stared at the familiar man in front of her. However, just as she was about to lower her head in disinterest,
Something happened.
The man’s scrawny body began to transform. His height grew, the clothes he was wearing transformed into a loose cloak. His sluggish, brownish hair turned dense black, and his black eyes turned blue.
“We finally meet, Princess Lavinia.”
Kael spoke with a light smile on his face.
Lavinia frowned,
“Who are you?”
She questioned.
“Kael Carter.”
Kael introduced himself politely. Then, seeing the bread he was carrying, a thought appeared in his mind and he questioned,
“They were quite careful. I found out that they only feed you once every three days because they are worried that you will turn excessive food into Mana and escape.
Can you actually do that?
Because if food’s all you need, I have plenty.”
He spoke. Lavinia stared at the piece of hard bread in his hand and didn’t say anything,
“Not this, of course.”
As if he realized something, Kael quickly threw the bread away and took out freshly hunted beasts that he had cooked and stored in his Sanctuary.
“Fair warning, I am not the best of the chefs,
But you will have to make do with this.”
Kael spoke as he extended his hand towards Lavinia, bringing the food close to her mouth. Lavinia stared at him, her hollow, purple eyes showed an expression after years.
This was the first real encounter between the Hero and the Princess.
An encounter that would mark the rise of a Power Couple so ridiculously strong that it was almost unfair.