—A bright flame. That was the best descriptor for the man in red hair and white attire. A single sheathed sword lay silent by his waist, a lone hand taken hold of its intricately designed hilt, a testament that both the man and his sword were not the casual sort.
At his feet were two strange people huddled up together as if they were sleeping comfortably, but it was much far from that. Riddled in dangerous wounds, open wounds covered in dried blood, the two were in a state that was anything but comfortable. And that's without mentioning their breathing, hitched and slow in every movement. The man of fire stared down at the couple, his thoughts in a spiral about this situation.
Emilia-sama and a strange-looking boy.
Frowning, the man examined both their physical states. From observation alone, it was apparent that what had done this had targeted somewhat similar areas on the two's bodies. There were some small differences, though, such as the boy suffering much more damage to his ears, including a severe temperature decrease in contrast to the girl's heated ears. He could pretty much guess why the boy's ears were like that, but he was still having trouble wrapping his head on what could have put the two in such a situation anyways.
Though, it's not hard to guess the source, at least.
Staring out to the slums, the flame turned its embers towards the area the couple were facing away from—the slums. Infested by blots of pure darkness, hands of shadow waving back and forth as if looking to grasp hold of something, there was no way that this area would ever see residents trying to make it a home anytime in the future. No, now it was undoubtedly a threat. If a single mistake was made in his action going forward, it would surely have dastardly consequences.
A quiet click made the flame's eyes wander downwards. The man smiled as he grabbed hold of the hilt of the sword at his waist and pulled it out, revealing a thin-cut sword with metal that seemed to perfectly reflect the world around. Its reflective properties gave it an illusion of a moonlight glow emanating from just itself. To put simply, it was beautiful. A beautiful sword that perfectly complemented its master.
Without further hesitation, the sword was lifted into the air with purpose as the man looked ahead at the diseased slums. He was well aware of the ramifications his actions here would have on many people, but there was no time to fret about this kind of situation. He had already taken too long to get here.
In all truth, he had been momentarily preoccupied with keeping shadows at bay back at the capital, and after he destroyed those shadows (with immense damage), he had been instructed to go to the slums and get rid of it. He was off-duty, but this was not a matter he could simply ignore with the excuse of being off-job.
Still, he must admit that it was unsettling that these shadows had bypassed the country's defenses to such a disastrous extent. It's totally possible that these shadows have spawned elsewhere too, isn't it? After wrapping things up here, he should get on his way to confirm that suspicion.
With all that in note, however, there was another issue that had to be paid close attention to. That fact was these shadows of pure hostility, dark in both appearance and aura, resembled someone that the world had suffered at the hands to once a time ago.
The Jealous Witch. —Satella.
This was no small thing to point out, and even the mere thought that these shadows could have such an underlying meaning made him feel shivers down his spine. If these shadows bear any connection to the Jealous Witch, then this goes beyond just a breach of national security—right, this is an issue that the entire world will bear the consequence of.
With that steeled conviction, his pondering ceased as he glared towards the hellish space before him. All hints of worry and hesitation vanished, and the sword that lay dormant, shimmering brightly in his tight grip, suddenly began to emulate a beautiful glow from its blade.
Mana gathered around the knight and his weapon, the fluorescent lights slowly being absorbed by their very presence.. It was not incorrect to claim the sight was akin to a blackhole. By merely standing there and making their presence known, the world had submitted to their every command. Two existences of absolute might, holding power that would never be replicated in any lifetime.
—Finally, the flame had swung his companion downwards.
With a single slash, a bright light filled the immediate vicinity. Past that, and through the slums, white engulfed throughout the entire area, wiping everything and utterly everything in sight. Not a single cubic meter of space was given even a moment to breathe. With pure, blinding light, the slums had been reformed in a single slash, its fate inescapable.
When the earth had cleared, only moments after, the sky that had darkened seemed to gain artificial light to it, a blue hue covering its previous red. And besides that, to the ground below, lay flowers with beautiful petals of varying colors spread across what used to be filled with dilapidated homes and rough concrete.
Every inch of land, to even what the knight himself couldn't see, his slash truly spelt the end of the slums as a whole. Normally, this kind of thing was not desirable. But even he wasn't able to run around the slums and clear these dangerous entities one by one without raising considerable risk over time. When all's said and done—
It would've become a bigger issue if not taken care of now.
And that was that. That was all there was to it. Unable to do anything else, this was the best choice. —With his own slash, the slums had been destroyed and birthed anew. Many had lost their homes, and he understood that. He was not so unrealistic to believe a happy-ending would come from his actions. The role that was given to him after his birth was not so positive as to ensure everyone's happiness.
Staring at the slums sadly, the man momentarily pondered over his power. But just like his overpowering attack, even his pondering lasted for no fair length of time.
"—Emilia-sama!"
A voice, one of pure neutrality, called out in haste. Light pattering of footsteps slowly grew in volume, causing a turn of the head to face the source of the noise, an abnormality to the previous solemn silence of eerie darkness.
What approached, uncaring to his own presence, was the alarmed voice of what looked like a maid girl. WIth low-cut hair that covered her similarly-colored pink eyes, that maid crouched down to the silver-haired woman. She grabbed the disheveled boy off from the candidate and placed them next to each other.
"Miss," the man spoke, approaching the girl. "Are you associated with these two?"
The maid looked up at the red hair, her voice faint. "...Reinhard, the Sword Saint. —Then, this is a big issue, isn't it?"
The maid had come sprinting from the bigger commotions back at the more populated areas of the capital. She bore witness to people frantically running. There, too, she had seen this boy sprinting past her line of sight, but she failed to catch the half-elf, and thus had not followed them at the time. It was only later when the moon appeared that her instincts riled up and caused her to come running in this particular direction. When she arrived, the most unfortunate situation had happened.
"Truly," the Sword Saint—Reinhard—had replied. "Considering your attire, I take it you are in association with the Margrave?"
The maid shook her head quickly.
"Understood," Reinhard continued. Unfortunately, I am unable to heal these two, but I am quite confident in my speed."
The maid nodded. In truth, she was also unable to use healing magic because of an issue of affinity. But, as she too was but another citizen of the Dragonfriend Kingdom of Lugunica, all of her worries vanished in the presence of the sword saint. Whether that was due to her own beliefs in his power, or due to an innate ability he had himself, she wouldn't know. Regardless,
" —I'll be on my way to the Mathers Domain now."
"I will catch up in due time, Sword Saint-sama."
Reinhard nodded. Normally it would be convenient to take them to a normal healer and have them leave together, but he understood that for Emilia, it would only cause inconvenience. Reinhard was not so low of a knight to cause purposeful annoyances to those of higher status than himself.
With a huff, the knight's steps cracked the earth below him as launched forward, using his Divine Protection of Wind Evasion in earnest as he made his way to Mather's domain, racing through the city with haste.
—For that blazing flame, even the wind lacked effect on him. The embers flaring from its own radiance had spread to both the slums and the unconscious couple. Like a wildfire, its mere presence had changed the fate of a multitude of people, and he himself would never be able to truly understand what effect he would have on the world in the future. Unpredictable and non-haltingly, that flame continued to spread forth.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
When he arrived after a handful of minutes (completely thanks to his own speed and strength), Reinhard had been greeted in earnest by Roswaal L. Mathers—the owner of this vast domain as well as the one referred to as the "Margrave". That same man, wearing colored makeup that made him look like a professional clown, stared at the injured couple before turning his heterochromatic eyes to the Swords Saint, who was completely unbothered.
"What could have haaappened for this to occur, I wonder?" Roswaal questioned, looking through the man in front of him.
"I would be glad to explain the situation, but I must implore that we treat Emilia-sama and her compatriots first."
"Ineeeed. Allow me to express my thaaaanks as well, Sword Saint-san."
As such, the two quickly made their way inside as to treat the most important matter at hand.
Immediately, inside stood a blue-haired girl in servant attire, which reminded Reinhard of the girl from the capital. The girl bowed respectfully, her hands placed carefully in front of her, and pronounced greetings to Reinhard as "Sword Saint-sama".
Roswaal patted her on the shoulder as he walked past, and that was cue for her to step to the side, making way for Reinhard in particular, who was carrying two injured people. The servant's expression was stoic, but something deep within her one showing eye was something not of positive nature. However, no one had acknowledged this, despite her being so obvious about it to the sword saint and the margrave's eyes.
As the two reached and traversed up the spiral staircase, Roswaal opened his mouth once more. What came out was a name—not of the sword saint or the maid's, but of someone of far greater value.
"—Puck, would you bring out Beatrice? This is a matter of seveeeeere importance."
Appearing out from the silver-hair of the half-elf in Reinhard's arms, the tiny gray cat named Puck narrowed his eyes at the horrendous sight. Blood and mud stained her facial features, grime and dirt ruined her white outfit, it was not a sight that the gray spirit wanted to see. He deadpanned as he scanned over the boy's injuries as well.
On one hand, this boy had certainly been the cause of his daughter's suffering. —Yet on the other, he had risked himself to save her. Though only brief, this caused minor turmoil in Puck's thoughts.
"..." The great spirit quickly formed his own conclusion, putting his daughter as the most foremost priority in his reasoning. What was important for now was making sure his daughter was alright. —Healing the boy and questioning him later was the best course of action, he concluded.
The spirit then turned away from the unconscious couple and flew down the long halls only a few feet away, seemingly disappearing in its sheer length.
It took not long before a door nearby opened itself, and out a child revealed herself, as well as Puck sitting on her hair silently.
Reinhard and Roswaal approached the small child, whom of which was ignoring Reinhard's presence and staring at Roswaal. With a click of her tongue, the girl's expression twisted into one of annoyance.
"Roswaal…" The girl began, yet halted in her words, "..no, for now take the two into the room to my left, I suppose. I will heal them both at the same time."
The girl spoke without hesitation, leaving no room for misunderstandings whatsoever. At this notion, Roswaal put on an uncanny smile and spoke creepily, "Whyyyy, I thank you Beatrice. I would be so helpless withoooout you."
—It was almost audible; the way her brows furrowed in irritance as she turned to enter the room to her left. No doubt it stemmed from the clown's odd way of speech.
Reinhard in particular did not speak a single word, understanding his place as a simple knight. However, as he was still human, he couldn't help but think about how amazing it was that the Mathers Domain sheltered not just one, but two Great Spirits. Well, one of them wasn't a true Great Spirit, but her innate power was comparable to one that she could very well have been one. Even Reinhard was able to understand such a thing.
Taking a deep breath, the man of flame set down the boy and the girl onto the bed, which was followed shortly by a light 'hup' of a small girl.
Following was that same girl's voice, speaking authoritatively, "Leave, I suppose. I will require full concentration on this task."
Roswaal smiled ever-greatly even at her sentiments, and beckoned Reinhard to follow in earnest. Unexpectedly, the gray spirit did not follow that instruction, and instead flew himself over to the royal candidate. A glow and a hum resonated from his paws, and followed by a similar sight from the "child"'s own hands.
So the two left the room, and the door shut behind them seemingly on its own. Roswaal's smile turned back to a frown as he stared at Reinhard, the latter of which nodding as he prepared to fulfill his other objective in coming here.
"So, the situation at the capital…"
A serious conversation was indulged upon as the two walked away from the room.
Roswaal lowered his head, setting down a steaming cup of black tea onto the table in front of him. In his lap sat a pink-haired girl in servant attire. A single bang covered her left eye, but the one uncovered stared intently at her master nonetheless.
"So, what do you think of this…?" the clown asked quietly, his right hand rested on the girl's hair.
Earlier that evening, before now, the sword saint had described to him the situation at the capital and the slums. At the time of debrief, Roswaal had also confirmed seeing something similar at a lesser extent on his side of the capital where he was conducting business. Being the Court Mage of Lugunica, he had been entrusted to take care of the issues, though it was not without damages. When that was done, he had immediately flown back to his domain in fear of something having happened.
When they were done, the Sword Saint had offered protection for the domain, making note of Emilia's injuries and the potential dangers these shadows might pose, but was waved off by Roswaal. As such, Reinhard left without much friction, bringing them to the scene now.
"—That boy is surely suspicious. I have never seen him before, and yet the two were cuddled up together in wounds when I found them," the girl spoke, sort of hesitantly. She remembered seeing how the two were pretty much holding onto one another, although very loosely.
Roswaal narrowed his eyes. "Nothing about this could have been foreseen at all. For noooow, let us observe the situation carefully. —Ram."
"Yes, Roswaal-sama?"
"I would not like it if something hooooorrible were to befall our new guest. As suspicious as he maaaaay be, he is to be considered of importance, as without him, I suspeeeeect that Emilia-sama would've faaaaallen under something much more undesiraaaaable."
The girl grimaced as she understood the underlying meanings in the clown's words.
"Understood, Roswaal-sama."
The clown smiled, stroking the girl's hair ever diligently. A blush formed on her cheeks as her eyes shut slightly.
"Now then… I'm sure you're quite peeeent up, so I'll begin noooow…."
"...Yes, Roswaal-sama…"
—In that dreadful night, the two implored one another. What happened next was unobservable to even the moon.
Author's Note.
—I know people don't like these kinds of chapters, but I wanted to make it nonetheless. I've been trying to get the interactions down, but I'm still struggling a lot. Anyways, I hope this can satisfy you temporarily as I continue to work on the next one, which I've finished like a good 35% of already (been focused on this short one being as good as possible).
Thanks for reading. I hope to improve in the coming chapters. I'll try and release Chapter 3 as soon as possible since I have lots of free time now.