Liore is a kingdom where only 10% of its population can use magic. In the country, the name of two people brought sadness and hope at the same time to the citizens.
Kaius, and Martin, were two powerful mages who joined forces against the monarch abusing his power over the people.
Their power was unrivalled. No one wanted to make an enemy of those two as it would be seeking death.
Kaius and Martin had almost succeeded in overthrowing the king until the latter pleaded for support from two other countries.
In the end, both ended up almost dead and lost 90% of their power. The good side was that they managed to escape from the king and have since been hiding for their injuries to heal.
Somewhere in the wood
"Princess Lisa, please stop running!" A guard shouted.
In front of the guards, a blonde-haired girl wearing an orange dress and a short skirt that barely concealed anything and showed her slender legs, was running away.
The bow on her back didn't seem to slow her down as the distance between her and the guards was widening more and more.
The constant confident smile on her face gave the impression that she had a trick up on her sleeve. And indeed, after shooting many arrows in the air, they crashed into the forest when falling back down, exploding on the ground, and disturbing the calm of the forest.
"Where is the princess Lisa?!"
"Let's disperse ourselves! She must not be far away!"
"We're all dead if we don't bring her back to the castle!"
"Ahah!" Meanwhile, in a cave not far away but hidden, the blonde-haired girl was giggling at the guards, proud of her skill. "They are so dumb."
"Oh" After the knights left, Lisa paid attention to the place she was in. "What is this place? Could there be a hidden treasure like those I've read in books?"
But soon, disappointment replaced her enthusiasm. The cave had nothing unordinary. It was so boring that no one would want to live there.
"Maybe there is a hidden secret button?" With this in mind, her green eyes turned blood red as she looked everywhere around her. "I must have read too many books."
As a princess of the country, she was born with a special ability that even few people from royalty had.
[Royal Eyes], an ability that allows the user to detect hidden traps, concealment arrays, and many more.
"Wait!" she shouted. "There is something there!"
An orange dot. An imperceptible and very small one. It was so hard to detect that even with her [Royal Eyes], she had almost missed.
'This concealment array must have been set up by an expert!'
"Who are you?" Someone asked behind her. "How did you find my hiding spot?"
Due to the sword under her neck, she couldn't do anything other than telling the truth. "Hey, calm down! I didn't come here with bad intentions. I found your array by 'accident' with my special ability [Royal Eyes]."
"So, you are from royalty, huh?"
Suddenly, Lisa felt like she shouldn't have told that to the unknown man as he seemed to know about her ability and who possessed it. She shouldn't have expected less from an expert. Revealing her identity was a fatal mistake since royalties had many enemies.
"Quick! I found princess Lisa!"
"Who is that guy putting a sword beside her neck?!"
"Kill him!"
Their appearance gave her some hope. Those guys were her elite guards who have gone through inhuman training under the military general Keiz.
But before she could celebrate, the unknown man had already beaten them up.
A phenomenal amount of wind rushed towards the guards and it was so strong that it broke through their diamond armours, and swept them so far away that they didn't risk coming back before long.
"Was that all your knights could do? That's... disappointing."
"Wait... That voice..." Lisa murmured. "You are Kaius, the Warstar?!"
"Hmm?" he replied. "Knowing my identity won't save you."
"I have been looking for you the whole time!" She smiled like a little kid. The fear of the sword under her neck disappeared and was replaced by excitement. "I need your help!"
"Why should I help you, a person from the royalty which I despise?"
Was this girl dumb? Why was she asking him for assistance as if he was a kind saint helping everyone in need?
"I know where my father, the king, had hidden yours and Martin's saint artifacts."
Hearing this, Kaius turned serious as he brought the sword nearer to her neck. "Aren't you afraid I will just force you to reveal the place?"
For any mage, their saint artifacts were as precious as their life. Without it, a mage will only be able to use 10% of his total power.
But for Kaius, his saint artifact represented something more important. His father had sacrificed his life to give the saint artifact to him.
Not every mage was born with a saint artifact, and Kaius belonged to one of them.
Someone who had a saint artifact could sacrifice their life to give theirs to the person who didn't have one.
Trading them was impossible. It needed absolute trust between two people and also those who were already born with a saint artifact could never receive one.
Although a saint artifact was indestructible, it will disappear if it had existed outside the host's mana core for too long.
"You can try, but I can assure you that I'd rather die than tell you."
As an experienced fighter, he could detect from her eyes that the girl in front of him was dead serious. "Why me? I am sure other strong mages are working under your father."
"Other than Martin, you are the only person with extraordinary power I know who would dare to go against my father." She continued in a low voice, and her smile disappeared. "My father is planning to forcefully marry my older sister to a despicable man for political power. As her sister, I can't stand to see her separated from her lover to marry that trash instead and live a life filled with sorrow. I want you to save my sister. Even if it cost my life, as long as she can live a happy life, it would be worth it."
'What a mess...'
But to get his precious saint artifact back, Kaius was ready to do anything, even if it was extremely risky for his life. After all, something that his father had sacrificed for was priceless. "Alright. I will save your sister."
Lisa who has now regained her smile said, "I knew you would say that. Let's sign a contract then."