February 21, 1976
Holy Kingdom of Soreh, Riad's Estate
(One Week Before Present Day)
(Riad's POV)
As everyone was busy upstairs attending to their own business, we suddenly heard a loud series of repeated knocks on our door.
Although we were on the second floor, nearly all of us could practically hear the knocking echo throughout the entire house.
Confused, me and Via exchanged momentary glances at each other.
"I don't suppose you ordered take out?"
I shook my head in denial before proceeding downstairs.
With every second that passed, the intense banging noises only grew louder.
...I don't care who it may be, they better have a good reason for them to be busting down my front door...
Seems like the constant knocking also caught Yamir's attention when I noticed her coming out of her own bedroom with a curious yet cautious expression.
Concerned by their unannounced, and rather, rude arrival, I gave Yamir a particular signal.
Heeding my words, she postured herself and her sheathed blade into a standby iaido stance.
Once she was in position, I slowly approached the door and peered through the doorhole.
Unfortunately, thanks to the narrow opening, I was barely able to get a clear line of sight.
Eventually relying on more then sight alone, I used my "Sixth Sense" ability to perceive the party who stood outside.
Oh, now what is this?
According to their auras, I could tell that there were atleast a couple dozen of well armored soldiers standing right outside of my front lawn.
Noticing a particular individual standing at the very front of the platoon, I let out a small combination of both a sigh, surprise and possibly a chuckle.
Silently coughing a little, I cleared his throat.
"I'll be right there!" I shouted aloud, giving the illusion that I wasn't at the door yet.
Shortly after, the repeated banging ceased.
Eventually, I looked back to Yamir and gave her another signal, except this time, to stand down.
Though still feeling rather cautious, she slid her sheath back into hiding, understanding that this wasn't some sort of attack.
As for me, I stood by the door for another minute or two before opening the door to greet my rather rude company.
What lied on the other side was a small platoon consisting of at least a dozen horseback soldiers who were neatly ordered in a rank formation.
Each soldier wore matching great armor with a color scheme consisting of white, gold and streaks of navy blue. Both helmet, breastplate and greaves alike all were bulky enough to resist the heaviest of blows and the deadliest of spells with relative ease.
The armor they wore was designed differently for both genders, allowing the females to be more agile and accurate with their attacks while the males were more bulkier in terms of defense.
However don't let the appearance of the armor fool you. Despite the intense weight, these suits of armor were extremely flexible in the hands of the capable soldiers that wore them.
With magic enchanted guantlets and leggings that boasted incredible punching and kicking power, even the females could easily hunt down ne'er-do-wells with vicious tackles.
The streamline shoulder plates and arm joint armor also had special jagged points perfect to serve as makeshift weapons during hand to hand combat.
Each of them were individually perked on top of their own majestic and well bred noble steeds that were plated with silver horse armor to protect their main body.
To top it off, head spikes were added to increase the lethality of their ramming charges.
What really brought great displeasure to me was the fact how they looked like the very definition of "rank and file".
Regardless of their appearances, these soldiers possessed quite an intimidating aura about them.
If the energy I felt was any indication, most likely, this was a team of veteran knights.
These guys were clearly bad news.
Though I'm sure I have more than enough power to defend myself and Via many times over, I rather not have these guys as my foes, unless forced to.
Especially the single brave man who led the charge.
"The Holy Sword of The Pope...To what do I owe the pleasure?" I asked, addressing that same man in particular.
Although I was smiling and even tried gesturing them inside with a warm welcome, in reality I was completely surprised as to why they were here.
"Skip the pleasantries. I have little intention of being here for long." The man rudely said.
General Sylvain Garland.
With the rigged body to match it, his deep voice was fitting for a forty year old man. Sylvain was tall and gave off this ferocious aura that towered above all who stood in his presence. With near thick brows and fair skin, he had the average yet luscious brown hair slicked back. The smell of the hair gel that he used sometimes lingered off him.
He also had a thick and fuzzy beard that ran past through his jawline and cheeks. Unlike Yamir, his black eyes weren't anything special to marvel at.
Still, his left eye seem to carry a sense of justice and power. But, for reasons undisclosed to even me, his right eye was obstructed by a mysterious black pirate-like eyepatch.
The armor he wore was similar to his peers, but it definitely stood out in its own way.
In terms of weight, they were almost two, if not, three times thicker in appearance and was atleast four or five times heavier than the average suit of armor. This made it practically impossible to be worn, not to mention, fight with.
Even by enhanced conditioned human standards, its weight was akin to an iron boulder, or perhaps a small mountain.
Despite that, Sylvain boasted incredible, almost near literal god-like strength equivalent if not, exceeding the augmented strength that even I formally possessed, allowing him to equip that same incredibly heavy armor with relative ease.
Unlike his companions behind him who only carried swords and/or spears, Sylvain had a giant yet well crafted greatsword resting firmly on his back. Its dimensions were as tall as he was with half the width of his bulky body.
With a face that never seemed to smile, from mere appearances alone could a person tell that Sylvain was not a person you would want to hang around with.
Thanks to his incredible feats he accomplished during his time in the army, he also garnished one hell of a reputation. Although his comrades referred to him by different names and titles, his true title was "The Holy Sword of The Pope" considering how he was the woman's right hand man.
Under her authority, he and his personal regiment of elite soldiers, "The Templars" governed over the vast squadron, called Regiments, who in turn made up The Holy Knights as a whole.
To put simply, he was the second man in charge.
"I come to deliver you a message directly from her highness."
Saying that, he stiffly reached into his back pocket and pulled out a thick looking envelope before handing it over to me.
Taking it from his hands, I appraised the royal wax seal and noticed the particular spell in which it was enchanted with. Its credibility was unquestioned.
"Must be quite important if it's coming straight from the top." I joked.
"Indeed. You'll find all the necessary details inside, but to put simply, it's an investigation operation."
"Is that so? As "interesting" as it may sound, can it perhaps wait till I return? You see, I have somewhere else that I need to be right now."
As if expecting this answer, Sylvain let out a dejected sigh of disappointment.
With no words to respond with, he raised his right knee a little bit into the air.
Curious of what he was doing, my intuition suddenly flared. Something dangerous was about to happen.
Not even a literal second later, Sylvain stomped his foot back into the ground, with a might so tremendous, one would mistook for a giant.
A great yet well restrained tremor erupted from their area, a long stream of shockwave-like force exploded in the earth beneath.
Cracks in the earth akin to an earthquake formed from his foot towards Riad's estate.
That force collided with the underground parts of the lower floor before slamming into the surface, creating a great explosion in the living room.
Slanted stalagmites bursted through the layers of reinforced concrete before practically ripping through the carpet and furniture, leaving behind crude debris, and the like.
"VIA!!?" I cried out aloud, prioritizing my girlfriend above all else.
"I'm fine! Yamir is good too!"
Thankfully, she responded back not even a moment later, as if unharmed by the situation.
Almost inclined to breathe a sigh of relief, I redirected my attention towards Sylvain.
"Tch, WHAT THE HELL WAS ALL THAT ABOUT!?"
Being completely aggravated by his actions, I didn't notice that he had dropped the letter somewhere down the line.
As I was angrily walking towards, Sylvain smiled before raising his right hand into the air.
*SHINK! SHINK! SHINK! SHINK!*
Signally his troops with a snap of his fingers, multiple sounds of metal unsheathing loudly echoed throughout the air.
"Gah!?"
To my surprise, those repeated sounds were extremely disturbing his eardrums, making me flinch and stagger my movements.
As Holy Knights are supposed "warriors" who must handle civil affairs on a day to day basis, it is a necessity to know different ways of fighting and immobilizing "out of hand" targets with relative ease.
The "Steel Cry Bushido", as seen used now, was an ability that weaponizes the sound of undrawing swords from their sheathes by magnifying it with magic and then projecting it into a high pitched echo intended to rattle and disarm intended targets.
Such decibels can even reach such levels where it could cause irreparable damage to the eardrums, leaving them permanently deaf.
Even I found it crazy how such cunning skills were the required norm here.
"As I said. This order comes from her highness. You know more than anyone that refusal is not an option. Not unless you wish to risk insubordination."
Leaving those words behind, Sylvain prepared his men to move out.
However, such dangerous words fell on deaf ears.
Suffering from the magic's intense feedback, K was left unable to hear what he said, nevertheless, respond.
By the time I was able to recover, a large dust cloud of trampling was all that remained of their presence.
The sounds of galloping weren't heard too far either as I could clearly see the squad of knights taking off into the distance.
".....GRAAAAAAAH!"
Unable to hold back the sudden built up anger, I too stomped my foot into the ground out of anger.
Although I didn't cause no dramatic explosion like he did, I was still pissed off all the same.
I had finally found the location of the "goddess" I have been hunting down for so long, even going as far as swearing to properly finish the "job" I couldn't before, all to have some bitch in white telling me to go the other way.