“Lord Sequencee.” Robert bowed.

“Robert, Loziah, I’ll be leaving again,” Sequencee held out a packet of satay for them.

“What? Why?” Loziah accepted his good grace while asking.

“I need to go to Lumbire Kingdom to meet up with the hero. There’s something we need to do there.”

“What?” Loziah couldn’t keep up.

“Allow me to join you,” Robert offered.

“I’d rather you not. I can’t guarantee your life if you come with me.”

“I won’t drag you down Young Lord.”

“Sorry. I can’t,” Sequencee remained firm with his response nevertheless.

“...”

“Putting that asides, I have some other news I need to tell you, so is it alright if we went inside?”

Loziah and Robert looked at each other.

===

“Your Highness, are you certain of this?” A woman wearing a tight suit warned. Her name was Furoie, Evelyn’s secretary and education planner.

“Yes,” writing a note on a piece of paper, she got up and handed it over to her.

“Please help me pass this to father.”

“.. There is a possibility that your actions would cause enmity. Despite the fact that you are no longer in line for the throne, it’s undeniable that people will look at you differently if this news spreads.”

“It’s a weight I’ll have to bear. Everyone has their own ideals which they chase, I was late to realize mine.”

Furoie gave Evelyn a meaningful look, “You’ve grown. I’m proud of that.”

“Stop with the flattery and go already!” Evelyn’s face burned, she pushed Furoie out of her room and shut the door with a bang.

Outside, she giggled. “A girl could do so much for one man.. really, you better make her happy.”

Furoie went to seek the parliament.

“Haah..”

Evelyn slumped down on the floor, her dress spread out on the carpet. She leaned in and hugged her knees.

“Sequencee.. are you alright..? I heard that you got injured.. I miss you.. do you miss me?”

She muttered to no one. Realizing how she sounded like a lovestruck maiden, she grabbed her hair and tugged at it like a wild beast. She paced to and fro inside her room, Schwii’s story kept echoing in her mind.

Evelyn had sent an order to inform that she will be joining the next discussion of the council. There, she would voice out her opinion in order to garner support to turn Estia into a hub linking the demon and human empire.

She knew she was at the center of a great change.. as a princess, shamefully, she chose the demon over the hero. But she didn’t regret it, for it was for the greater good.

Her future, she believed, would be fraught with challenges. As the link which will one day end the hate between the two races, she hoped that a new world peace would be established.

– One day, I hope to see humans and demons together. No fighting, no prejudices.. just good vibes and peace.

It was Anna’s dream. Evelyn wanted to honor that.

“So much has changed..” Evelyn tossed herself on top of her bed, her face sunk in the pillow.

Initially, she thought to stop the demon from taking Sequencee away, that he should be treated as a citizen of the human empire. Through the twists and turns.. and perhaps the influence of fate, that had turned into a resolve to reconcile with the war 500 years ago.

“I’m an idiot.”

She didn’t want to keep owing, she had to repay Sequencee for all he had done somehow.

“Because you made me an idiot..”

She looked up at the ceiling. She imagined him straddling on top of her.

‘Next time we meet, we’ll finally be equal.’

===

“When will they arrive..” Risa muttered with a tired look in her eyes.

Standing on top of what looked to be the tower of a giant fortress, her eyes swept across the bustling town. The day was just beginning, the sun having crested the hills in the horizon.

It had been a week since they had arrived to Lumbire Kingdom, more specifically, the Erst’s holiday estate.

Funnily enough, this was more of a queendom than it is anything else. The ruling matriarch of the region goes by the name Rellias Lumbire, the patriarch being Logues Lumbire. From the stories Risa had heard, the love which blossomed between them was one which crossed social status. One was a princess, the other a commoner who trained in the sword. Imagining the kind of courtship they had in the past, Risa was reminded of a certain story of a princess in Japan who voluntarily gave up her title in order to marry a common man back during the Heisei Era– before the Meiji Era began.

“I miss home.. mom, dad.. I wonder how you are doing..”

It had been half a year since their arrival here, which likely translated to no more than a few hours back in their world. This calculation which Risa devised by comparing the duration which Rika had disappeared– approximately a month– to the time that has passed in this fantasy world when Risa and her brother arrived to this world– five centuries.

Greg Erst is the queen’s younger brother, given the title duke, he became the head of military affairs in Lumbire Kingdom. Risa thought perhaps the queen was a brocon, seeing their interaction with one another during the ballroom party which was held to celebrate their arrival to the kingdom, and how both the duke and the man whom she married looked ripped. Risa laughed inwards, remembering the scene where Logues had to tear the queen away from Greg out of jealousy.

While the duke possessed a dukedom of his own, it was said that he spent most of the year in the main castle, likely influenced by the bro-con nature of the ruling queen who didn’t like to be separated from him. So until the rest of the party arrived, they wouldn’t be traveling to the actual dukedom which guarded the border between the human empire and beastkin territories.

Anyhow, Greg Erst is Matilda’s father. His wife goes by the name Marilyn Erst.

Matilda has three siblings including herself. An elder brother and younger brother. The elder brother had gone back to the border after returning to receive the welcome of the two heroes, while her younger brother..

Risa tilted her head and shot a furtive glance into the towerkeep. The shadow quickly hid behind the door.

She sighed deeply.

“I wonder if Rika got marriage proposals like these back in the days..”

As for Matilda’s younger brother.. he was a brat. He came and proposed marriage to Risa in front of an awestruck crowd. She didn’t know if his guts were mightier than his brain or that this was some kind of interesting plot development to make her life difficult.. either way, she had to deny such a pitiful man in front of so many people.

Fortunately it didn’t harbor any badwill from the duke. In fact, she heard that he had been scolded harshly for his actions. But hey, what did you expect from a kid undergoing puberty? More so, this scion was actually a prodigy which could possibly outshine Matilda one day.

“I wonder where’s Iona..”

“Anything?”

“Uwegkh?!” Risa recoiled.

Iona, who had been enjoying the scenery of the city, turned to look at her.

“You scared the shit out of me. How long have you been here?”

‘Demon generals are no joke.’

Iona had very recently upgraded her gift [Activated Trait: Presence Adjustment] to the max, tier 4. It came to a point where not even Risa could detect her unless she used [Blessing: Appraisal] and a lot of focus].

“Not long.”

Risa leaned against the stone wall and sighed once more.

“...”

“Do you know when they will arrive? It’s been a week and a day now hasn’t it?”

“I wish I knew the answer myself.”

“It’s pretty lame how we only have two of those communication crystals. Is there anyway to create another one?”

“It is something which you can acquire in the demon empire. I plan to have a few made when I return with Her Highness.”

“Figured.. speaking of which, aren’t you worried about Schwii? I didn’t think you’d choose to guard us instead of her.”

“There are reasons for my choice.”

“You’re quite the mysterious person yourself..”

“Are you hungry?”

“You’re cooking today?”

“No. But I have been given permission to use the kitchen for my own purposes.”

“I want omurice!”

“Understood.”

The two of them veered off the edge and made their way back in.

The little scion who had been stalking them all this time panicked and hid in one of the dark corners. He watched as their shadows passed by without pause.

A few seconds passed, he exhaled in relief.

“Omurice.. isn’t that the legendary dish that came from the hero’s world..?” he muttered to himself.

===

Swing–

Clack.

Their swords clashed with a loud bang. Shiro was driven back, Matilda closed in to his flank.

Forcing his eyes open, he brandished his sword and parried the attack coming from his bottom left– a feint.

He twisted his body in that unstable position as the blade passed right by.

Not leaving him a chance to escape, Matilda swung her leg and him squarely on his back.

[Activated Skill: Aimbot]

His hands moved as if possessed, hitting Matilda’s leg at just the right angle that the trajectory was deflected.

Shiro staggered forward and turned back around to meet her in stance.

She wasted no time in another advance.

A flurry of attacks which came at a blurring speed, Shiro barely able to keep up with the assault, driven back one step at a time.

For a while now, Shiro had been noticing patterns which her sword followed. As a disciple of Aaron, the way she used her sword was completely different.

Matilda’s blows weren’t as heavy as Aarons, however, they nudge you into a corner ever so slightly, pushing you into a position where you have no choice but to retreat. Her attacks made it seem as if there were many openings, different from Aaron’s guarded stance. However, those openings were traps which Shiro had lost to many times. He couldn’t tell when to strike, when to wait.

He just wasn’t at that level intuitively.

Sure, he had progressed a lot since he came here. But ultimately..

Matilda swung her sword in a great arch. The force created a whip-like sound as Shiro’s sword was deflected. His hands which had been forced upwards hurt, almost releasing the grip of the handle.

He swung down. She sidestepped to his left and pointed her sword right at his neck.

Shiro’s posture loosened.

“My loss,” Shiro admitted.

Matilda shook her head.

“You must not only take note of how to best swing your sword against the coming strikes, but also know where there are openings to the defense. When you attack, you tend to strike towards my dominant hand, when most of the openings are found in the non-dominant hand.”

“That.. If I do that then I become susceptible to your attacks right? Since I don’t have the speed you have, the moment I try to attack your side, you’ll come right at me with a simple stab on my open flank.”

“I can’t deny that. There’s a lot you need to work on.”

“Matilda, just asking personally.. is there a need to be good at the sword..?”

“...” her straight stare gave him the chills.

“I’m not like my sister. I’m weak, I have the body of a commoner. There’s no way I can reach your level without years of training, you’re probably aware of that yourself. The day I came to this world, I wasn’t blessed with some talent. My sister is probably the real hero, I’m probably just an extra who wasn’t meant to be here. If I want a quick method of growing stronger, then the best option I have is to depend on my gifts.”

“Don’t worry,” Matilda stepped forward, narrowing their distance by a step, their body were inches apart.

Despite the workout earlier, he could still smell the scent of flowers coming from her. He was such a novice that she probably didn’t even sweat a drop fighting him.

“I’m here to protect you. This is what the Goddess has assigned me for.”

Shiro took a couple steps backwards and looked down on the ground with a dim expression.

“From the day we met, we will be together till death do us apart. That is the vow I made.”

Matilda had a particular dream a few months ago.

It was an unusual dream. She remembered standing before a divine being, pure terror assailed her as some form behest her to kneel before ‘her’. A beautiful white space, the air was clean, the floor made of lustrous marble.

– Raise your head.

So she did.

Even though she wasn’t able to see her face, she knew right away that it was the Goddess Ra. She was not in a normal dream, it was an oracle.

Her, of all people, bestowed an oracle? Wasn’t this a privilege reserved for a saintess? Why her?

– Find the hero, Shiro, and from henceforth you will protect him with your life.

Her voice was timbre, it rang out like a beautiful chorus. Yet only dread could be felt when contracting the two existences.

– I will bestow you a blessing, you shall become my apostle.

Those words were riveted deep into her heart.

– QHH)9)@**$#)U)#QJW*!H FQ)*M!@$)098

Her words seemed to distort.. like some sort of encryption, she couldn’t remember what She said next.

And when Matilda woke up, she found herself with a new gift– a blessing.

[Blessing: Seraphication]

It was the ability to transform into a seraph. At the current tier zero, it was a skill which was already at the level of a cheat. She became an incarnation of something between an angel and human, her mana is boosted, physically she becomes stronger, she could fly, and after transforming back to her normal form, there were no repercussions, mana cost, or drawbacks at all.

The only limit to the blessing was that she couldn’t use it for more than two hours a day. Which was already quite generous.

Hearing this story from Matilda, he wasn’t sure if it was because Goddess Ra felt guilty for not bestowing him with the necessary gifts like Risa, or because she didn’t want him to die.

Also, the part where she mentioned how the Goddess’ words were obscured, it reminded him of his own situation.

Like her, he and Risa were also given some message at the beginning of their journey, but he couldn’t remember the contents of the conversation. There was some condition which needed to be met in order to unveil that memory–

Only time would tell.

Matilda glanced towards the gates of the mansion.

There was a white haired girl staring at them with eerie red eyes. Behind her was a similarly white-haired boy restraining her from acting out.

Matilda shook her head once more. It’s because of these two that they have to go on such a dangerous mission.