CHAPTER I: Prologue
Long ago in the distant land of Erebos, there lay fields of abundant crops, clear lakes and rivers and skies as beautiful as gems. And at its heart is the great City of Helmdrr, home of the rich and the affluent, of the nobility and of the gifted in disciplines of both mind and body.
Inside its massive walls, the people live in towering houses made with the most elegant of architecture, the sturdiest of masonry and the most sparkling of glass windows. Down below lay the wide and busy streets, ever colorful as the richest of nobles prance around in various dresses made only of the finest of silk and embroidery. Their visages dotted with the sparkling of gemstones, necklaces, golden rings, and gaudy bracelets.
Helmdrr was the city of the rich, where fortune was aplenty.
But in the darkest hours of the night, black coils of depravity extend outwards, enveloping all. An alarm here, a shattered window there. Bloody footprints and a knife wedged in chests. Thieves, murderers, drug lords and rebellious gangs hidden within the city resurface like snakes from the shadows.
Indeed, under the glistening night sky, the City of Helmdrr becomes the City of Sin.
"Pleaaaase~"
"No."
"Pretty please~?"
"No matter how many times you ask, the answer is no, Fie," the man exclaimed as he laid a cardboard box at his feet. "Besides, I don't even know if it'll still fit me."
"Tight clothes hasn't stopped anyone. C' mon Rean... just for a bit?" the silver-haired girl insisted, sitting atop a stack of crates while holding what appears to be a black coat decorated with an excessive amount of belts, buckles, and chains. It had an impractical looking pauldron on one shoulder and was frayed at the edges as if it was ripped apart. Overall, an edgy looking coat.
"No," the spoilsport deadpanned.
"But it looks super cool. It's a shame to throw it away when I haven't even seen you wear it," Fie said as she took off her shoes and fitted her legs inside the high leather boots that came with the coat. "You have an entire costume here. It must've meant something to you."
"It did, once. And it's embarrassing for me to even remember it. So no. I will not wear it for whatever reason," Rean said, the faintest tinge of red on his cheeks. "I wouldn't mind the help though, we ARE paying you after all," he panned in a flat voice, eyes lidded halfway and staring at his supposed "professional" bracer friend. Said friend that was still tying the laces of her newfound loot.
"Fine, whatever." Fie hopped down her tower of crates and proceeded to grab more stacks from the shack… while still wearing her new boots.
Rean could only sigh. There was still a mountain of boxes to unpack after all.
It was a busy December day for the Schwarzer family as the winter holidays were swiftly approaching. That meant that the mansion had to be absolutely cleaned, top to bottom before any guests were scheduled to arrive. The head of the family, Teo Schwarzer and his wife, Lucia, were busy enough single-handedly cleaning the inside, so it was entrusted to Rean and Fie to clear out, unpack, organize and declutter the storage area. While Fie assured the noble she could help for free, the baron felt it unfair for the small girl and offered a hefty sum of mira after the job was finished.
In hindsight, it really wasn't such a great idea to let someone like Fie handle old and preferably forgotten personal items. After all, if there is one thing she liked as much as naps, it's to tease someone, as Rean found out when they inevitably stumbled upon an excessively sealed box. It was already far too late when he remembered what was in the box, and what embarrassing memories were held within.
A little overblown, dark and definitely too big, it looked cool though, thought 13-year-old Rean. His dad, mom and little sister all said it looked fine. They just didn't explain why they couldn't look him in the eye though. Or why they appear to be doubling over in laughter behind his back. That was why 15-year-old Rean proceeded to shove it in a box, seal it double over and then dump it into the caverns of the Schwarzer family shack, never to be unearthed ever again. That was, until now.
Filing in the back of his mind to burn the offending item later, Rean continued to shuffle through box after box of clutter, fishing out important family heirlooms from the junk before passing it to his companion to be organized and repacked into crates.
"Why does your family even HAVE all these crap?" said the girl, boredom apparent in her tone as she peered through an old and obsolete Water Quartz and adding it to the "To be Sold" pile.
"My dad has never been one to organize, as you may have guessed. That and the fact that trade here in Ymir is scarce enough to not warrant a daily trip to Roer. We get all we need from the mountains so these things basically just sit here until someone comes in to toss them out. In this case, us."
"Fair enough. But why now?" Fie asked.
"Oh, I haven't told you guys? Elise will be governing Ymir starting January next year. Taking the reins if you would. So it's only natural for her to start on a clean slate," the instructor explained.
"Oh… huh. Congratulations to her then," Fie responded with a sincere smile. "So… you agreed to do this for her?"
"Yeah, of course, I would."
"... a serious case of sister complex," Fie sighed as she went back to the monotonous grind of putting stuff in a pile of more stuff and putting said pile in a crate of even more stuff.
It was only after the umpteenth box when Fie noticed the widened eyes of her sister-obsessed friend. Mouth slightly ajar, Rean gawked at the contents of the box. Naturally, this spiked her curiosity as Fie moved closer to peek. She only saw what appears to have been a book of some kind before Rean closed the box in a hurry.
"Hey-" Fie scowled.
"It's nothing. Don't worry about it." Being strangely unresponsive, Rean stood up and carried the box inside the mansion.
"What was THAT about?"
Thanks, Elise," Fie said, wiping the sweat from her brow as the last of the crates have been placed near the station in Ymir.
"Oh no need to thank me!" the heiress said, bowing thankfully to the bracer. "If anything, I should be thanking you. Rean said this was all for my becoming acting Baroness next year, so it would be remiss of me to not at least help out."
"No worries, it's sorta my job. Congratulations by the way."
"Hehehe, thank you very much. I would do my utmost best for the people of Ymir. I wouldn't want to worry Rean after all."
"Well, with a brother like him, I'm sure dealing with a bunch of male nobles would go smoothly," Fie said with quirked eyebrows.
"O-On second thought… this might not go so well after all," sighed Elise as her anxiety pooled at the thought of her slightly overprotective brother coming along to meet other nobles.
"Oh yeah, speaking of, do you know anything about a costume belonging to Rean?" asked the ever curious bracer.
"A costume?"
"Yeah. Black. Edgy. Lots of belts. It came with huge shades too."
Elise blinked for a few moments before a chuckle escaped her lips. Catching herself quite easily, her hand covered her mouth as she tried in vain to control her mirth. "I-I have no idea…"
Fie could only stare as the heiress seemed to giggle uncontrollably at something. "O-kay… totally not suspicious. Anyway, I'm gonna head back to the mansion. See ya."
"I shall see you later as well, Fie," Elise replied elegantly. Or as elegantly one can say while stifling a laugh.
Twilight approached Ymir as the light hitting the mountain range quickly dissipated. Grabbing a quick snack at the General Goods store, Fie made her way back to the Schwarzer family mansion. With her work done earlier than expected thanks to Elise, Fie found herself exploring the freshly dusted hallways in boredom before gravitating towards her former classmate's room.
Knocking twice (as Rean preferred it as opposed to barging in unannounced), she entered the bedroom anyway.
"Rean, you here?" she questioned to nobody apparently as the room sat empty and organized, save for a distinctly out-of-place box tucked in the corner.
…
I shouldn't. You can handle it. What's a little curiosity to an ex-jaeger anyway? she thought to herself, shaking her head and opting to lay on the bed and take a nap instead.
To no avail, of course.
C'mon Fie, you know you can't resist. It could be something deliciously scandalous. Think of all the things you can tease him with! her inner-devil spoke as she crawled to the edge of the bed. Yellow-green eyes stared neutrally at the box, hoping to burn a hole through the cardboard and uncover the mystery that lay within.
Eventually, the angelic-side of this once former reaper of death won out. Closing her eyes and sighing, Fie did the only thing someone could do in that situation. Sleep and ignore it.
…
The sound of adhesives being ripped off echoed in the room as a hand carefully and quietly unsealed the mystery container.
"Just a peek." Fie mentally assured herself as the last of the tape was removed. As if handling a ticking bomb, the senior bracer pulled the flaps of the box open.
"Aww," a disappointed Fie cooed. Inside the box was a bunch of knick-knacks that are by no means scandalous. Old figurines, a broken orbal watch and other common junk littered the box.
Not really giving up, Fie shuffled her hand inside. After a few moments, she felt something at the bottom of the box. A flat, smooth object similar to paper brushed by her fingertips.
"Mhmm, so it really was a book huh? Maybe a diary~?" Fie hummed as she fished out the article out of the box.
Turning the indescribable object around indicated nothing of what was written in its pages. The cover was a simple black paper stapled on top of what could have been the original page, sort of like a makeshift cover, no doubt to protect it. The front showed only the title of the book written on masking tape that was haphazardly placed diagonally across it.
"The Dark Prince of Helmdrr… huh? Never heard of it." Curiosity peaked, her hand slowly flipped the covers open.
No sooner than she flipped the page, the sound of the only door in the room opening resounded. Jaeger instincts kicking in, Fie dove under the bed to hide from the intruder. In her defense, it only took her a split second to correctly deduce that an assassin was impossible given her location, and another split second to realize that this person was several times more dangerous than an assassin.
Crap. Not good. Her eyes darted across the floor, to the open door and down to the incriminating material in her hands. Huddled under the bed, Fie prayed to Aidios that the person would leave immediately.
Alas, that was not the case as a metallic pair of footsteps entered the room and locked the door. Her means of escape cut off, Fie hid deeper under the bed and started to weigh her options. The windows or the door? Still viable, but escaping like so would be akin to implicitly offering her guilt on a silver plate. She still had her flash grenades on her, but going that route was a tad bit excessive. Wait it out? Fie mentally kicked herself for being too careless, as her crime was right out in the open, to be discovered by the very person she definitely did not want to find out.
She decided that the least violent approach was the best course of action, both to respect her closest friend and to preserve what little integrity she had left. Closing her eyes and steeling her resolve, Fie crawled out of the bed and stood up at the same time the person at the door flicked open the lights.
"I am very, very sorry Rean. I shouldn't have-" Fie apologized midway before she noticed that the familiar white instructor overcoat was nowhere to be seen.
In its place, however, was a long, black coat with shredded edges, held together by a white belt looping over the male's broad shoulders. His chiseled, naked torso was only partially covered under the open coat. Down below, his skin-tight jet-black pants and dark leather boots barely contained his shapely and muscular legs. A flash of skin was visible through the intentionally ripped fabric as her eyes wandered upwards to the hips. Fie was looking at him from the front, but her imagination helpfully conjured an image of the stud's posterior.
It was amazing.
Ogling the eye candy, Fie forced herself to look past the exposed chest and midriff and over the deliciously tender-looking neck. Translucent black shades hid the man's eyes and large black-red domes covered their ears, all supported by a dark headband arching over his spiked, raven colored hair. The expression of shock and embarrassment on his face only added a touch of cuteness to his handsome frame.
"F-Fie…?" the hunk of steamy goodness stammered out, the pure hotness radiating from his soul burning his cheeks red.
Unable to respond or control the blush on her face, Fie averted her gaze from the dangerously luscious man standing in front of her. She glared down at the dumb book that caused this whole mess. Her eyes widened as she stared at an image of almost exactly the same person right in front of her, with only the much darker shade of hair being the difference. Below it was the caption that read, in bold letters:
"I am the Dark Prince! Helmdrr's Greatest Detective and Superhero!"
Fie looked back and forth between the picture and Rean as an audacious grin formed on her lips.
"Huh…"