Evermore Royal Palace, Throne Room
As Marquis Adlard left the room, the King reached for something hidden on his robe—a letter.
"Why do you feel the need to hide this matter from him, Viscount Campbell?"
'To his Majesty, King Arthur of Evermore,
My King, with all due respect and humility, I write to you.
I deeply apologize for having to write a report to your Majesty in a letter, but there is something that I definitely can't say when Lord Marquis Adlard is around.
It is hard to believe this, but I fear there is a chance that Marquis Adlard is a potential spy in the castle.
With this, I presented to you the house Insignia of the Adlard family.
We found the Insignia inside the pocket of someone who is most probably the bandit leader.
Though we cannot assume based on this evidence alone, this may be a trap to lead our suspicions to the wrong party; further investigation is needed.
Then, I'll start my full report:
When we arrived at the bandit camp, we found something completely unexpected.
We're marching, fully expecting there will be a battle, but all we see was dozens of dead bodies laying around.
After some exploring be done, we found a cave where the bandit hides Princess Charlotte and other prisoners.
We've done some questioning about who caused all the mess outside, and all the answers were pretty much the same.
"An unknown Shadow came to the cave and slashed open the prison lock without saying anything, then he walked away."
The figure appeared to be a boy, about 8–10 years old. Since the Shadow's face was covered in darkness, no one actually knows what he looks like.
The Mysterious Shadow, The Adlard Insignia, and The Kidnapping of the Princess—I think there's more to this than we've known.
I humbly advise that your majesty keep this matter into secrecy, at the very least until further investigation is done.
Princess Charlotte and the other prisoners have agreed not to let this matter slip.
My King, Please be careful.
Your humble servant,
Demacia Campbell.'
"Marquis Malford Adlard, I promote him as my royal advisor by the will of my deceased father, since my father and his were on really good terms. Truthfully, I didn't suspect him of anything until now, even though he's a quiet person, he always gets the job done."
Reading the letter once more, King Arthur muttered quietly.
"I really hope you're not the one behind all this."
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"Have you heard? The Viscount just took down a huge bandit camp; they say there are over fifty people hiding there."
"Yeah, The Viscount is amazing. They didn't even suffer any single casualties, as expected of the Blue Knight's Order."
"They hide themselves with an illusion magic item, no wonder how they can grow without being seen all this time."
"Hmph, those scumbags can only hide for so long. Serves them right!"
Hi there, I'm Finn.
Today is Sunday, so I got a day off from the daily beating of my older sister. As you can tell, the news travels fast. The people under my father's territory are singing praises of him.
Well, as the Blue Knight's 4th Division Captain, of course, he'll be looked up to by everyone.
The Blue Knight Order is one of the highest orders of Knights in the Kingdom of Evermore. They have a total of Six Divisions, ranked from Highest to Lowest.
All their members can at least use 5th Tier Magic, and some can even use 6th. My father is one of them. He's a scary man, isn't he?
Above the Blue Knight's Order is the Order of the Knight of Rounds, which only exists for the 12 Strongest Knights in the whole Kingdom.
Every kid my age dreams to become one of them. After all, becoming a Knight of Rounds ensures you are loved by everyone, live in a huge castle, meet the King and Princesses, etc.
What about me? I dreamed too, of course, of defeating them. One day I will be strong enough that my power makes them look like insignificant ants. Just you wait.
For that purpose, I'm currently on my first errand right now! My mother told me to get some ingredients for tonight's dinner, so here I am.
By playing the obedient child role, I can steadily increase my power without raising suspicion. After all, I'm just one clueless boy on his first errand; no one will suspect anything.
"Excuse me, can I have this, please?"
I said to the Veggies Sreet Vendor Uncle
"Oh, isn't it Finn Boy? Coming here alone?"
"Yes, Mom said it is time for me to run my first errand!"
"Hooh, isn't that great? It means you're already growing up!"
"Yes! I'm excited too, I hope I can do well."
Giving him my most innocent smile, the street vendor's uncle smiled from ear to ear.
"Hahahaha, don't worry! You're the son of the Viscount after all, I'm sure you'll do just fine!"
After he gave me the vegetables I needed, I thanked him and headed to the next vendor.
"Let's see, the Meat Vendor is next."
After some walking around, I finally got everything I needed.
"Thank you for the bread, aunty!"
"Of course, be careful on your way home, Finn!"
Exiting the Bakery and walking towards home, I stopped midway after hearing something interesting.
"H-help..."
A small voice can be heard from the back alley, though from the noise of the crowd, it looks like only I can hear it.
"Oh, what's this? Not only did I get a day off from my Sister's daily beating, I even got the chance to show off."
Curiosity won over me. As I approached the noises, I realized that my guess was indeed correct—there was a kidnapping happening here!
Looks like they chose this rush hour to cover their tracks using the crowd, huh? A decent attempt, I must say.
The victim is a Little Girl my age; she is dressed like a commoner, with pink hair and pink eyes. Actually...she reminds me a lot of the Aunty in the Bakery, is she her daughter?
"Now then, how should I proceed? I can't just use my Shadow persona when there are so many people..."
I can kill them easily from here without being seen, but that would just take the fun away.
I need some refreshment after all those stressful days with my Sister after all.
I guess I just have to follow them for now. Who knows? They might lead me to their hideout, there may be some gold I can rob.
The man starts running through the backstreet with the girl in his arm, trying to struggle but with no result. After some time, he arrived at a random shack in the hoodlum's area and threw the little girl there.
"There, you stay here for a while, little missy. My client will come at midnight; I don't know why he specifically asked for you, but no hard feelings, okay?"
Putting some ducktape on her mouth and tying her up, the man sits down on a chair and starts reading some newspaper.
"You know, kid? Looks like the Viscount just took down a huge bandit camp that is hiding in the forest. Ironic, isn't it? When he does not even realize this kind of damned thing happens regularly."
"Hmmpphh-- hmmph--"
"Shut the fuck up little missy, you make any noise and I pull your eyeball out."
"Hmph-"
The girl's eyes became more teary, but she managed to stop herself from crying.
"His client will come at midnight, huh?"
I thought to myself while looking at all that happening from a tiny gap of the window.
I mean, I have to return these groceries and finish my errand before that time. I guess I could just go home and come back at midnight as my Shadow persona, but...
Looking at the teary-eyed little girl, my chest started to ache a little.
"Huft...I guess I can't just go home after seeing all this."
Well, the Bakery Aunty has been really nice to me. She even gave me a loaf of bread for free to celebrate my first errand mission.
Consider this as me returning the favor.
Cloaking myself in the Shadow Cloak, I summon my Shadow Blade and bust open the damn door.
"Wha-, who the fuck are you?"
Surprised, the man pulled back and readied his knife.
"Close your eyes, little one."
"I SAID WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU!?"
"A mere Pathetic like you does not deserve to know."
As the man lunges towards me, I immediately activate my newly learned skill "Shadowstep", this allows me to teleport anywhere as long as there is a Shadow. I arrived behind the little girl and whispered in her ear.
"It's okay, just close your eyes, and everything will be alright."
"U-um!"
The girl shut her eyes tight and put her trust in the Shadow.
Soon as she did that, she heard something fall to the ground, still closing her eyes and not daring to look.
As she felt the rope that tied her get untied and the duck tape released, she bravely opened her eyes.
The man who kidnapped her is gone, leaving only a trail of blood on the floor, and the Mysterious Shadow walks out of the door.
"W-wait-"
"Hmm..?"
She struggled to open her mouth as tears dropped out of her eyes.
"T-thank you, thank you so much! W-why? Why did they do such a terrible thing to me? Hiks-, hiks-, I was so scared!"
She couldn't understand why that man had kidnapped her, why someone could be so evil, why it must be her, and why the Knights was not coming to save her.
The Shadow stopped and looked at the girl right in the eyes. Though his face is shrouded in darkness, she could clearly feel the cold gaze in his eyes.
There was no sympathy, no pity, just confusion and disgust.
The girl shut her mouth and started to tremble as her tears began to fall more and more.
Why? Why is he angry? Isn't he a good person? Did she do something bad to anger him? What did she do wrong? Why did she have to go through all this? She couldn't understand.
A moment later, the Shadow starts to speak with a tone of indifference.
"How curious, you don't even know something so obvious about why that man does all this to you?"
The girl shakes her head rapidly.
"It's because he can."
Hearing this, the girl froze in shock. He does all this just because he can. How could it be? Since when has the world been so scary? She failed to understand; all her understanding of the world has completely changed. Has the world always been so evil and cruel?
"And because he can, he was allowed to do it. Because he knows you're weak, he found you an easy prey. Because he knows you couldn't protect yourself, he can kidnap you. Because he knows that no one will come to save you, he's doing all this."
Her eyes start to wander nervously, and her head feels so dizzy that she feels like passing out. Her mother always said that the Knights would protect the people all the time, but she's not so sure anymore.
Surely what the shadow said can't be true, right? The Knights are good and strong people, that's what everyone always said after all.
"But there are the knights and the guards too.
They're good people who save others, right?"
"Then why don't they save you?"
"..."
She couldn't find an answer.
"Huft...you're not wrong about the Knights or the Guards. They do protect people, Slay evil, and Save others."
"T-then!"
"But you're not right either. No matter how strong or reliable the Knight is, at the end of the day, you only have yourselves to rely on.
Stop expecting that someone will always come to save you, little one."
"Then...what should I do?"
She doesn't know. She's weak, so if the Knights couldn't protect her, who would? Soon, the realization of how powerless she is makes her so scared, the world she sees becoming darker and darker, a terrifying and terrible place.
"You're weak, you know that."
"Yes..."
"Because you're weak, all this happened to you."
"Yes..."
"Then the answer to what you should do is simple."
Simple? What is that? What should she do? She hopes that the Shadow gives her the needed answer.
"You just need to become strong."
"...You're telling me to get stronger?"
"Not just stronger. Become strong, so strong that no one will ever hurt you anymore."
"But, how should I do that? As you said, I'm weak. Then, how could I become strong?"
"Learn magic, little one. Learn it, Pursue it like no other, and I guarantee that you'll become strong."
"Magic? Can I do it?"
"The fact that you don't even know that is the reason why you should try it. The rest, depends on the individual."
The Shadow vanished into thin air as the girl stared deeply and reminisced about his words.
"The fact that I don't know about it is the reason why I should try."
The girl stands up as if she has found a new reason to live, a goal to achieve.
"Magic."