(It's really hard to walk on snow.)
The young man struggles to continue walking in the thick snow under his feet. But with determination and two walking feet, what he wills will be gained.
The river appears still, yet she flows under the thinnest of ice, awaiting the gentle touch of the sun. Though the air bares only the coldness and the ground is frozen once more, they glitter with the gift of each nascent ray.
It is as if God ensured there would be hope even on the deepest and most wintry of days, asking us to see the sparks that remain even when the world is frozen. And so he choose not to see the blanket of ice but the waters that remain deep and moving, ever onward to join the ocean in its slow yet sure way.
The frozen winter would add a few points in beauty for the scenery, stare into the frozen river, the river will also be staring at you. With your face, that is.
Noah stared, it was a young man, a handsome young man with white armor. As white as the snow, like an angel giving her blessings.
"Hey second-in-command, are you gonna just stand there doing nothing?"
A girlish voice. Beautiful yet lacks elegancy. Truly befitting of a female warrior. Noah turned his head around, revealing a elegant, charming paladin.
The only problem is that Noah know her true nature.
"Saniel, you… followed me… all the way here. That's… stalking…"
"It's rude to call a beauty a stalker, especially towards a beauty like me, second-in-command."
"Noah, Noah is enough…… calling me… "second in command"…all the time is… uncomfortable…"
Noah proceeds to sit beside the frozen river. A fish swam by under the thin layer of ice. Saniel walks up, taking a sit beside him.
The white scenery, the crystal blue river. Around them, nothing but white filled trees. Ice sculptures hanging from the edges of tree branches.
Some icicles are standing horizontally on the snow, with a tree branch intact on the top.
"Beautiful……don't you feel."
"Agreed, it's relaxing. Coming here for a picnic might be a decent idea. Oh, I've almost forgot, I'm here to bring you a file."
"A file? From who?"
"Hell if I know? The file only says "Hand this to co-leader Noah Baraja", it's sealed with magic though. Originally, Captain Yunle was in charge of handing this over to you..."
"…Then why… did you came here… instead of that…idiot?"
Saniel smiled. It was a face replying "Do I have to answer that?" expression. She stood up, turned around, and walked back from where she came.
"I guess… his habits are something…even god can't fix."
Noah took a deep sigh, exhaling a could of white breath.
"Let me guess, he… went and flirt with… some girls in… the academy…?"
Saniel didn't reply, she just let out a small chuckle. "You two sure know each other very well." She hinted that Gluck also knew that Noah comes here most of his free time.
"You should open the file when we get back. I feel like it would be important. There should be a patrol outside the wall later."
Saniel stood up. She jogged away, leaving Noah behind with the letter in hand.
A long echo reached back to Noah, though Noah couldn't understand the words, but he certainly knew what it meant .It seems that Saniel can't track herself back.
"Yeah… she's the kind of person that would get lost even with signs… after all."
Noah took a deep sigh, the crystal like river surface in front of him reflects an upside down world.
Noah crouched down, and saw his own reflection. (Did it expanded? I don't think anything has changed since I last checked.)
The reflected image was indeed Noah, with a tiny, little difference. The face shown is Noah, just the left portion of his face is…… brown.
Noah's skin is yellowish white, the reflection shows that the left portion is brown. Noah also checked. Apparently, about a quarter of his body is brown in the reflection.
Like a demon, slowly eating away his soul.
The reason of that is unknown.
"Oi, second-in-command?! Are you done looking at yourself? You're handsome I'll give you that!"
"I'm on… my way!"
Noah realized how much time he wasted, so he continued to guide Saniel Gardener out of this beautiful forest.
"One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight…"
In the middle of the town, a little girl skips on top of the shops and houses. At first glance, she's a young nun.
Her blonde hair extends to her waists. As beautiful as a blonde succubus, would be the case to describe her, if she wasn't wearing that nun outfit.
What you might be overlooking is that she is skipping through the roof tops in the town. No one in town seems to care about it, nor even register her presence.
Especially for a beautiful little girl doing something dangerous under plain sight.
She continues to skip around the area until she comes across a young couple.
"Ehh~ it's him~. Might as well go say hi to him.~"
As the romantic snow floods the streets, Captain Gluck Yunle can be found either going on a date with his girlfriend or flirting with a girl because he broke up with the last one.
"Noah, that's captain. Right? Or is my eye sight just horrible?"
"No… you're eyes are… fine."
Noah, alongside Saniel, are currently searching for Gluck in the busy streets around the city.
Just when they decided to search another area, the dim silhouette of Gluck just appears from their eye. They followed that silhouette, or rather, they followed their instincts. And they end up following Gluck all the way on his date.
"I figured… that bastard got… himself another girlfriend. Through… unknown means."
Noah did not recognize the girl that had been together with Gluck. So he already came to a conclusion that he broke up with the last one.
Well, Gluck isn't the kind of man that will cheat on his girlfriend.
"So… this is the 20th… 21,22… I think I lost track…"
"26th."
That's the amount if girls that Gluck has dated according to their knowledge.
"So, do we just break his date or wh——"
Before Saniel finished her sentence, the two could feel the whole crowd staring at a certain direction. When they checked, it is the direction where Gluck and his new girlfriend is.
The girl is no longer there. And Gluck is just standing there, with a red palm on his face.
"Looks to me… that he got… distracted by some… lady walking by."
"Phth… he just got slapped by that girl~"
The little girl on the roof laughs at Gluck down the streets. Her laughter could be described as childish, maybe some happiness mixed in it.
"Is it fine if you continue tormenting your successor's love life? He might end up being depressed."
The girl turned around, towards the source of the voice. She sees a man in a black knight standing on the roof along side with her.
"Ehh~ aren't you the same too~?"
"I'm not as horrible to ruin someone's relationship, little priest brat."
"Death-san…you influenced your successor's mind into farming blood for experiments. You're definitely worse than me~"
The black knight just stood there. The little girl did the same. The awkwardness filled the air as they argue.
*Deep sigh* "Anyway, just stop using your illusions to distract people. It might cause a huge problem later."
"Fine~ I'll be careful with this. You happy now?"
The knight left jumped down the roof. The body of the knight seems to mix into a human's body and disappeared. Leaving the little priest standing on the roof.
"Don't cause a huge problem? Didn't he already caused one by giving his successor the Giada Crystal before the scheduled time?"
"Oi, captain… your girlfriend just dumped you in the middle of the street, now the whole town knows about your existence."
"S-shut up! I thought I saw something there and she just slapped me for no reason at all…"
Saniel and Gluck are discussing about the ruckes Gluck caused a few hours ago. It seems that Gluck himself doesn't know what went wrong.
Noah walks into the resting room with a tray and three cups of coffee. He places the tray on the coffee table and sits on the nearest chair.
"According to me… you got distracted… by a women… with significantly… larger bust size… than your latest ex-girlfriend."
"Did I?!", Gluck asked in shock, because he felt that a opportunity was missed.
"Yes… you did, you perverted… paladin." Noah did not forget to criticize Gluck. It almost feels like a natural reaction than a habit for Noah.
"Look at the time, we have another hour before we are in charge of patrolling."
The Great Wall
Most of the time, Two paladin team will be in charge of guarding the nearby forest outside the wall. Rather than a "guarding", it's more like a slaughter or extermination. In case of demi-human scouts are preparing a siege.
"Sir, I don't see the other team coming." A young paladin handed the report to his team leader.
"Seriously? No, wait… don't tell me that Captain Yunle is still going on a date…"
"Um… no sir. He would most likely be depressed because he just broke up with her in the middle of the street."
"Really? That's some great news… oh, here they are." The captain of the team points towards the western part of the city, as a team being led by captain Gluck Yunle walks towards the wall.
It's been 3 hours since the two teams went on patrol. 10:20p.m. According to the shift schedule, it will probably be over after another 10 minutes.
By the way, the patrolling paladins would just be near the gate, about 100 meters or so. Sometimes you can come across goblins or kobolds. Not really often, but they have to be terminated.
"Uwah… captain, can we return already? We will probably reach the wall if we return now, plus everything is so dark that you can barely see things."
The one that complaint was Saniel. This is her first time going out a long patrol. Most people in the team has at least 6 patrol experience. Mostly…
Everyone in the team is either a rich boy that skipped being a squire, a talented student that skipped being a squire, an undercover bodyguard to protect the rich boy in case of something happens or some that just graduated being a squire.
Back to reality, Gluck, as the team leader, has the responsibility to make decisions. In this case, return, or patrol for another twenty minutes.
"Umm… Noah, what do you think?"
"……Go back then…"
"Hmm… your argument have reasons behind them. We shall return then!"
Just like the captain of the paladin order, Gluck does not use his brain a lot, or simply just has part of the gears rusty.
So, he just pushes all the thinking to Noah, and just pretends that he thinks deep into the matter and agrees to whatever Noah says.
Noah, at this point is more like the captain rather than the co-captain. Well, Noah would actually suggest patrolling for another 20 minutes, if it weren't the fact that some noble paid to "take care" of his son, which is one of the members of the team.
12:20a.m.
Noah returns to his dorm. He took a shower and ate supper, and now is the perfect time to sleep.
The file on his desk remains untouched. And not opening it before sleep is gonna cause some major anxiety for Noah. Well, in case if the unpredictable factor (Gluck) did something stupid.
"Just opening a file wouldn't mess up my sleep schedule."
Noah opens the file, he discovers a letter inside the file. Under the candle light, Noah carefully reads every letter in the letter. While opening the letter, Noah noticed a small ring inside the letter.
To: Co-leader of the 15 division of the paladin team, Noah Baraja.
Burn this letter after you've finished reading, this is an order.
Noah Baraja, you are required to arrive at the Royal Palace one week from today
(21th, Middle Water). Your answers will be given when you arrive.
Show the ring to the guard, it is proof for your identity.
By: The captain of the paladin order.
It's a short letter, but it does fill Noah's heart with curiosity. Especially when the letter came from Remedios Custodio herself.
Noah lit the letter on fire. As he watched the letter completely burnt into crisp, he went to sleep.