[Before the "Final Exam"]
Within the Victoria Household, two of its residents were of a certain note despite being mere servants from the outlook of it.
Two young girls, who to the rest of the household were known only as Sakuya and Alisa. As far as anyone in the household knew, even to the Lord and Lady, the two girls were simply friends of the young master who he had taken in after finding them in poor straights after surviving some unfortunate bandit attacks, and where nowhere else to go, they were allowed to remain with the household as new members of the servant staff.
Of course, what wasn't known was their other identities. Members of the Shadow Garden, by night known not by their names but by numbers alone: 398 and 577, the members of the "Light Squadron" headed by Artorias, otherwise known within the secretive organization as Knight. Granted, they weren't the only members of that group, it being far wider and in fact consisting of every Possessed whom Knight had personally restored with his own magic.
Not that their group was a large one, perhaps only totaling about a dozen members in total including the three "leaders", but such things were mostly of moot points when it came to operating with Shadow Garden.
Currently, at the least.
For now, though, the two were simply servants, and it was time to go about such duties.
The routine always began the same, waking up bright and early to begin the morning chores. Since they were still quite new to the general staff, Sakuya and Alisa were still primarily helpers with the morning cleanup, although Sakuya, at her own insistence, had begun taking lessons in cooking from the kitchen staff.
And perhaps it was because of the sense of individuality that had also been founded into the two by way of their membership in Shadow Garden, the two also found other things to help out with during their days of work and had marked themselves out by taking to wearing more personalized uniforms than the other house servants.
Sakuya had brought in some of her own Eastern flavoring to things, showing quite apt at sewing as she'd made herself an Eastern-styled uniform to wear when going about her duties, giving her own style to it all with the layered tunic and overcoat that made the centerpieces of her choice of clothing. When she wasn't helping in the kitchen, she had also taken to helping the gardening staff, having particularly taken to introducing some eastern plants into the estate to, in her words "add some more color" to things.
Alisa, otherwise, filled some of her extra time on the training field with the knights that served under Duke Victoria. Even if she had in essence cast aside her old titles, her noble background meant she still found herself continuing to practice the art of the blade, even if now she was simply a mere servant of a different household. As it were, she did find a certain enjoyment in being one of the only people on the property who could hold a candle to Artorias' skill nowadays.
Though, considering all they had been taught thanks to Shadow Garden, it was perhaps only natural that despite their youth, they'd found themselves quickly surpassing their elder dark knights. Though to Alisa's amusement, they seemed to be trying to save their egos by chalking it up to "talent" more than anything.
Of course, the two girls knew far better.
It was during a break period though, while Artorias was out with his father doing some hunting, as the Duke so did enjoy, that the two girls found the time to convene, knowing what was to come that night.
"So, it's time that happened, isn't it?" Alisa began the conversation, the two girls hiding away in a corner of the manor gardens they knew wouldn't be prone to interruption. "About time Knight gets cut loose from Alpha's reigns and does his own thing. Finally…"
"You've never really liked how Shadow Garden operates, huh?" Sakuya chuckled as she swirled her tea, Alisa giving a huff. "Well, not like I can blame you. Their attitude towards Shadow is… how to put it… a bit disconcerting?"
"A bit? Please, most of the Shades talk about the guy like he's some kind of god. I find it best to just let them say their peace and nod along. I can buy he's somehow able to beat a mist dragon, but not much more than that."
"I mean perhaps their praise of him is earnest, couldn't you say?"
"There is a gigantic, multi-story statue of the guy at the main headquarters. A little bit excessive if you ask me."
Sakuya chuckled at Alisa's dry remarks, taking a long sip of her tea before speaking again.
"We have our own plans for a reason after all. We work with Shadow Garden to harness these powers and find out what we need. But not much more than that. After all, I wouldn't say my loyalty lies with the organization."
"Well, it's not like two years was enough to show we had any reason to leave so far," said Alisa. "That and the connections Shadow Garden has at this point are useful. The Shades are annoyingly competent in their specialty fields, that's for sure."
"Indeed."
"Buuuut… I'm not in this so we can accidentally replace one cult with another."
"Neither am I. But that is why we wait for Knight to decide. The kind of person he is… if the Garden decides to stray away from their supposedly shared ideals, we can rest assured he'll likely break away to stick to his own path as is."
"Then let's see whether or not that happens."
Whether that day would come or not, for those two who lived within the Shadows, they knew well enough they would just as easily move back to the Light if called upon. They would just have to wait and see.