Mia, Obsidia Castle
Kirito told her, Arthurio, and Brunhild the complete story of what happened since Mia left the empire. Two days ago, just hours after her master left for the northern empire, Kirito and the Unification Council were notified of a goblin arrested for murder. The case was immediately handled by Kirito, Ronie tagging along, and they headed to the barracks of the southern Centorian guard. After hearing testimonies, Kirito determined there must be foul play, as the murder weapon itself was missing despite being collected as evidence and placed in the office's armory.
Kirito believes the mountain goblin did not commit the murder because the darkworlders adhere to a similar ruling power to the Taboo Index, the Law of Power. When traveling from the dark realm to the empire, travelers are to swear on the emperor and supreme commander's names to adhere to the empire's laws. To break that is just like breaking the Taboo Index for the empire's residents, and Mia has seen two cases of what leads to, Iskahn being one of them.
Losing her right eye sounds painful, but to have it burst on its own...she shivers at the thought.
That brings Kirito and Ronie here to the Dark Territory, and what Iskahn told them. It's no secret the mage's guild, the sect that Brunhild belongs to, has not been very supportive of the new emperor and his rules. Jaymes forced them into submission much more harshly than the giants and goblins (a simple trial of combat got their tough-earned allegiance). The imperials believed the mages might be involved because of the bad duplication and disappearance of the goblin dagger. The suspect said the blade isn't real, or else a clan's mark would be present.
The current head of the guild is Kay Yu Vee, Brunhild's older sister. Brunhild doesn't boast it, but despite her sister's standing, the younger is certainly stronger. It's probably the reason Jaymes keeps her close; her physical cuteness and shy personality have long been factored out. Because of it, Brunhild has been left out of the guild's inner affairs. It's no secret between the supreme commander, the emperor, and the emperor's circle think that Kay might just be a proxy for forces greater in power than her.
So with nothing settled between the representatives of the two worlds, the subject turned to Brunhild's report of her inability to sense the emperor. She immediately consoles their shock by saying that the sensation wasn't like he died, but 'a suddenly cut off presence rather than a fading one.'She explains that when he left his realm after returning Mia, he asked her to keep an on his Life, and she's done so passively since. So when it suddenly cut off this morning, she thought it was her fault, yet no matter how she conjured the spell, she couldn't find her emperor again.
Kirito eventually calmed down, but it was obvious he was concerned; to take his mind off of the many different things they talked about, Iskahn suggested they head to the training hall of the knights Sheyta trains, including Arthurio.
After the conversation, the imperial guests were treated to a bath and rest in the guest chambers, then treated to an afternoon lunch and a carriage ride through the capital city, Obsidia. Mia, as the direct representative of Jaymes, tagged alone but kept quiet the entire time they were in the city. Her only question came during a conversation between Sheyta and Ronie about the knight's missing blade and the trainee's new sword, a Divine Object just like Mia's bow.
Once back at the castle, the supreme commander and the ambassador plenipotentiary (Sheyta's other job as the empire's representative) led them back up to the forty-ninth floor where their chambers, the guest chambers, and the emperor's chambers are all located. In all her teasings with Jaymes, she never considered that running into Iskahn and Sheyta might be possible, but so far, it hasn't happened. Then again, most times they're already in his chambers, either talking or quietly enjoying the company a master and apprentice can provide.
"Hey, Mia," Ronie calls as they reach their destination, looking at the continuously rising staircase, "what's above us?"
"The fiftieth and highest floor, which contains the throne room."
"That's right," Iskahn scowls. "When Emperor Vecta appeared a year or so ago, it happened on the floor right above us."
"C-can we go and see," Kirito asks curiously.
"I'd offer, of course, but currently only Emperor Jaymes can break the Chains of Sealing. The same was true of Vecta right up until you and Jaymes killed him. Amazing view up there, you can see the End Mountains and the Eastern Gate from there."
Sheyta agrees with Iskahn. Her Black Lily Sword was said to be able to cut anything, though she doubts the Chains of Sealing will yield. They've only opened themselves when Vecta arrived. What Iskahn isn't telling Kirito is that her master forced the doors open with his sword, but since that time, the throne room has been open unless, like right now, he's absent from the castle. She doesn't know how he did it, changing the chains as he did, she just knows that's the power of Falchion.
Kirito looks longingly at the staircase and sighs. "All right. Guess I'll have to forget about seeing the throne room for now."
"I'll make it up to you, though: We'll put together a dinner of all sorts of stuff you've never eaten before."
"That sounds fun."
Sheyta steps back and turns for the forty-ninth floor. "I'm going to give Leazetta her milk now. I'll see you at dinner."
"Oops, I've got to go with you. I've only seen my little girl's face once today." Commander Iskahn and Lady Sheyta walk off, Mia and the imperials waving goodbye to them. Kirito then takes another glance at the staircase, earning a sharp glare from his apprentice.
"I know, I know. Well... I'm going back to our rooms. What about you, Ronie?"
Ronie looks back to Mia and smiles. "Mia, you don't mind if I accompany you until dinner, do you?"
"I don't really have much to do, and it's kinda boring without Master Jaymes around, but sure."
Kirito smirks. "All right, enjoy yourself, Ronie. I'm putting her in your hands, Mia... Heh, 'Master.' If Strea and Rei heard that, you'd be screwed." Seeing the girls' confused faces, Kirito steps away and waves. Mia forces a wave back and looks at Ronie.
"Your mentor is weird."
"So is yours."
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Mia eyes Ronie as she continues to talk about her time as Kirito's page two years ago, before he and Tiese's mentor were captured by the former Axiom Church. Holding her teacup close to her rosy lips, Mia hides her smile behind it and fakes a drink before sighing and setting the cup on the table between the girls.
With Jaymes gone, his quarters have been as they left it weeks ago. Ever since she woke up back in the Dark Territory, Mia has taken residence here, more so to give some life back to her favorite spot in the castle. It's not the same without him, though.
Tired of Ronie's yapping about her mentor, Mia interrupts with a new, more personal subject in mind. "Hey, Ronie?"
"Huh?"
"Tiese loved her mentor, right?"
"Y-Yes."
"So...do you?" Ronie didn't even have a chance to answer. Her face, red as the sky, said it all, and Mia cannot help but giggle and lean her head back on the top of the couch. "Wow. Hate to burst your bubble, but it's impossible."
"I-I... I already know that."
"Master says that no matter how many girls surround Sir Kirito, he only has eyes for Lady Asuna. I can see why, she's super beautiful. A literal goddess."
"...I know."
"If anything, you're more like a cute little sister. So to have feelings for him... It sounds forbidden." Mia opens her eyes and glances at Ronie. She looks hurt, knowing her feelings will never be returned. Mia wholefully understands it and decides to switch gears on that note. "It sucks, I know. I like a guy myself, but all he cares about is being a knight. I even tried making him jealous by being all clingy to Master, and I mean extra clingy."
"Wait, so you don't-"
"No. Master is a great guy, someone who, if I met him as you met Kirito, I would easily fall for, but my heart was already set on someone else by that time. He's just the brother I never had, and with my sister dead, the only big sibling I have. Besides, Master seems to have his heart elsewhere."
Ronie drops her head and picks up his teacup. "Lady Lunaria. That's who it is."
Mia frowns. She's never heard of this 'Lunaria' before, not in the context Ronie is suggesting. Survivors of the war speak of a light descending from the heaven and splitting the earth open (Stacia, aka Lady Asuna), a warrior in green who assisted the orcs and pugilists (Terraria, who Iskahn also called Leafa), No one spoke of a Solus or Lunaria before, so for Ronie to mention the latter means she too descended from the heavens-no, from another world. "Lunaria?"
"Jaymes hasn't spoken of her?"
"No, he hasn't."
"Hmm. Interesting. Yes, she came from the heavens and saved me from that man who would lead the red army. She had black hair dark as the darkest night, with skin as bright as the whitest moon. Her eyes were bright like the prettiest emerald, and for the little while I knew her, she was very kind and powerful. I've only seen Jaymes cry once, and that's when he saw her."
"Wow, she sounds amazing. She has to be important to him if he cried like a baby."
"Hehe, Kirito says she was that to Jaymes, him, and Asuna. Her real name is Koharu if I remember correctly."
"...Well, Master has some explaining to do when I see him again."
xxxxxxxxx
After dinner and a nice, relaxing bath, Mia's peaceful slumber was interrupted by the wild shakes and rushed whispers of Brunhild, the mage dressed in her pajamas. Mia would question why her friend is waking her up at such an ungodly hour, but the dark mage's expression and handling of Mia's sword and bow to her answers the question enough to raise the emperor's right hand off the couch and to her feet.
Who the hell is bold enough to intrude on Obsidia Castle?
As she swung her bow over her shoulders, the doors to the emperor's residence opened. Arthurio and a few guards enter, and upon locking eyes with Mia, the knight sighs and rushes over to her. "Oh, great, you're safe."
Normally, her heart would swell at the sight of him happy to see her, but her duty as a knight has taken over all other thoughts. "Arthurio, what's going on?"
"Minions infiltrated the treasury on the forty-eighth floor, but Sir Kirito said they were buying time to take something more precious. The commander lead a force to his room, I guess for Leazette, but I thought it'd be you, considering how you're...umm, precious to His Majesty."
"I'm fine...but minions?"
"Yes. Kirito froze them with about thirty ice elements-"
"Not important, and not impressive, I've seen better. Let's check on the commander." Brunhild and Arthurio nod and follow Mia out of the emperor's residence to the commander's. When they arrived, the guards outside let her and the two behind her pass. She could see Kirito healing two guards, poisoned by the minions by the looks of things. Damn creatures are tough to beat; resistant to all arts, piercing attacks, and blunt force; only by a sharp, slashing weapon can one hope to defeat a minion...and even then, their blood is poisonous on contact. Without caution, one could take themselves out while claiming victory over the creatures.
More troublesome is that the winged beasts serve the dark mages.
She didn't need to ask what has transpired here, the attack on the guards and the absence of a baby girl tell it all. Brushing her deep violet hair out of her face, Mia quickly scans the area and walks to the broken window while listening to the guards speak to the supreme commander and the swordsman delegate.
"The first thing I want to know about is the appearance of this dark mage. Did you see a face? Hear a voice?"
"Well...The figure wore a black hood pulled low, hiding their face...I couldn't tell you any details about the mage's voice. I couldn't even tell if this person was a man or a woman..."
"I see..."
"How many minutes passed between the mage escaping through the window and us coming back to the room?"
"Three...maybe only two minutes..."
"Two minutes...?"
"They rode on an injured minion and vanished in just two minutes?"
"Impossible," Brunhild adds from beside Mia, "minions don't fly fast enough to be completely out of sight so quickly. They're no faster than a running human."
'The real question," Iskahn's voice spits with held-together rage, "is why this mage came for my daughter."
"Um, I found this in the bed." Mia turns her head to see the commander take a wrapped note from the knight trainee's hand. His one eye stared in shock as he dropped to the bed, then Lady Sheyta took the note from him. The same expression took over her, Ronie, and Kirito as Arthurio claims the note from the delegate and takes it over to Mia and Brunhild to read.
"By sundown on the twenty-first day of the second month, the Human Unification Council's swordsman delegate must be publicly executed in the great coliseum for the crime of an attempted assassination of the Dark Territory's supreme commander, and his head must be sent back to the human realm. If this requirement is not met, the head of an innocent babe will be delivered to Obsidia Palace."
Mia seeths in anger as Iskahn dismisses the two guards, ordering them to not let anyone inside. Two things ran through her mind. One, she doubts Iskahn and Sheytaa would harm Kirito and Ronie, but this is their child's life on the line. Second, if the couple did attack, what would Mia do? As a resident of the Dark Territory, the Law of Power binds her to the will of the emperor and the supreme commander. If Iskahn fights, she's sworn to defend him as she would Jaymes. However, Kirito is a dear friend of Jaymes, one of his own, and Ronie is someone who Jaymes looked after in his days in the empire. To strike them also betrays her master.
"Iskahn, Sheyta...I'm sorry. It's my fault this has happened..."
"What are you talking about?" Iskahn snaps. "You're not responsible for this. It's my fault. I let Lea's guard be thinned out, and I fell right for that diversion. But...And I hate to make excuses, but the dark mages' minions aren't supposed to be able to fly to this height. Only the dragon riders of the dark knighthood can get this high, but they're forbidden from approaching any point but the landing platform around the back. So I just assumed that no one would be able to sneak through the window, coming after us..."
"Even still, I'm the one who invited this situation," Kirito says. "Ronie recognized the possibility that the murder in the human realm could have been a trap to get me to travel to Obsidia. But I assumed that if I traveled to Obsidia in a single day, whatever conspiracy was being concocted couldn't catch up with me. The people who stole Leazetta were a step ahead of me, though...They had people in both lands, and they have a means of communication faster than a dragoncraft."
"Dragon...craft? And you can use that to travel from Centoria to Obsidia in a day?" Sheyta responds with marvel.
"Yeah. I'll show it to you some time. But your daughter comes first...," Kirito says. He takes the paper from Arthurio and reads it again. "Their purpose, I presume, is to pit the human realm and dark realm against each other again. If we ignore them, they're certain to make good on their threat. I'm going to give everything I have to get Leazetta back...but if I fail to find her, then I want you to—"
"Don't say it!" Iskahn interrupts. "Even if I was to consider it, I know that if I thought of hurting you, that's a strike against the emperor...and he defeated the pontifex and fought the former emperor twice before you assisted. That's all I need to know not to piss him off."
"Commander, if I may." Brunhild steps towards the commander, glancing at the baby-less crib. "I will go to the guild. I think the mage is unaffiliated, and though I can make minions myself, this doesn't sound like the formula I'm familiar with. If we're to learn something, it's best to meet with my sisters."
"All right...I'll go with you, Sheyta as well. If it's just you, the damn mages might try to weasel their way out of telling the truth." The man and woman of the quarters begin to quickly change while Kirito joins Mia and stares out the window. Brunhild uses her magic to switch out her clothes, an art taught by the emperor.
Once they're changed, Kirito asks a question. "Is it possible that the mage and the minion who kidnapped Leazetta returned to the castle on a different floor?"
Iskahn scowls at Kirito's question. "Hmm...All the windows are locked at this hour, and if they broke through one to get inside, the guards on that floor would notice...but if there's a mole in the palace, they could open a window to let them inside."
Mia crosses her arms. "Commander, we'll search the entire castle then while you're away."
"Can Ronie and I help with that?"
Iskahn accepts without hesitation. "Please do. If there are more minions about, we'll need your power. Take this." He opens a drawer at the end of the bed, retrieving a silver necklace, and tosses it to Kirito, Iskahn jabs a thumb at his own headband and points to Mia. "She's the sign of the emperor's dominion, this is the sign of the military's supreme commander, and that's the sign of his deputy. Show that and give them my name, and you can get away with just about anything."
"Got it. Thanks," Kirito said, placing the chain with a small silver pendant with a crest on it around his neck.
"Brunhild, have you located the emperor yet?"
"No. I'm still being blocked."
"Then we have to handle this on our own." Iskahn marches over and clasps Kirito's shoulder. "Please," He turns to Mia and Arthurio, nods, and dashes out of the room with Brunhild and Sheyta. As they left, the four o'clock bell rang, and for the first time in a year and three months, Mia hated to hear them.
She stares out the window one more time as Ronie and Kirito exit the chamber, leaving her and Arthurio behind for a moment before he exits to oversee the commander's orders. She has nothing left to think about except one thing: the emperor has yet to be found, and now, the hidden enemy calls for the swordsman delegate's head. The leaders of two worlds, killed on opposing sides...
That will set everything her master has worked for back to zero, and as Jaymes' disciple and sword, she has the duty to protect his work at all costs.