It's been close to five years since I first met Milord.
And I kept getting amazed by the day. I knew putting my faith in him was the best thing I ever did, but whenever my faith got rewarded by everything that happened, I could never thank him enough for such a reward.
Milord harbored a near-impossible dream.
He wanted to save the world...
It sounded like nothing but childish rambling, but if it came from Milord, I believed he could do it...Only he could...
He built a secret organization. He went to cull the lowlifes out there back into the Everstream of Mother Fysy every night. And, nonetheless, he never missed a day to cultivate his already terrifying power to further length.
The time Milord spent at training could be simply described as madness. No, obsession...He trained like a madman, but he was Milord...
Once, I caught a leak of mana coming out from Milord while he was eating lunch. Later, I asked him about it out of curiosity, and Milord told me that whenever he could, he would train.
Milord would, without a shred of doubt, be crowned a Saint Magician in the near future. The only question left would be when.
As strong and as enigmatic as he was, Milord had this unwavering belief that he would need help in saving the world. And that was the impetus by which the House of Light and Darkness came to be.
The Light will live under the warm gaze of the Sun to guide the way into the depths of the long, endless night. Meanwhile, the Darkness will lurk in the shadows of the abyss and exist to make the light burn radiantly and dazzlingly.
Again, it sounded like a fantasy talk from a child who never knew how the world worked. It sounded foolish.
But he had said so, and we made it...
I called every apprentice I trained and colleague who needed a touch of salvation just like I once did and brought them all upon Milord. The minute they witnessed the power of god and heard the voice of truth that resonated in the pit of their ugly, distorted souls, they knew why I brought them.
They even hurriedly took upon the mana contracts I gave as if they were afraid I would change my mind back.
The Shadows grew deeper and darker. Starting from the most trustworthy Elites, we began to recruit more and more people to complete and fill in the shades of our House.
And as time flew by, we were finally ready to welcome a new Seatholder of the House. People who would stand in the center and lead the House as its pillars.
The process was painstaking. Investigations after investigations were done. And reports came in like raindrops. It was hard...
Milord never said it to my face, but I knew how high his standard was. How couldn't I when I could see him conduct himself by grinding his bone every single day without fail? It was hard, but I shan't whine.
Thus, I did my best. And when Milord praised me for choosing the Merchant, I felt like flying to the nine heavens.
His praise was like a drug to my thirsty soul, and I kept on going, doing my best to look for the next Seatholder just so he could share his words of grace with me once again.
But fate was awfully harsh to this devout subject without any apparent reason. I came across that fucker Gelliard or whatever the hell his name was.
Statistic-wise, he was the most prominent candidate the House needed based on the general criteria Milord had given. But when we met, I was set to someday kill this man when all of this was over. I would slit his throat in his slip and enjoy the look on his face when life failed him.
I digress...
Being a retard muscle-brain that he was, I couldn't believe my ears when he proposed to duel Milord out of nowhere.
If it wasn't for the grace of Milord for such a sinner, I would have buried my dagger deep in his neck, pulled out his spine, and tossed them to wild dogs in the slums.
Outrageous...Simply outrageous!
Milord liked him, though. He said something about the giant fucker being refreshing. And I knew why he said that. I knew that he found my devotion to be over-passionate at times, and as painful as that was, I've also come to terms with it. So when someone who treated him a bit more casually came along, he was pleased.
All of this was possible only because Milord never viewed himself as a god, which was only rightful if he did...Even his humbleness knew no bounds.
I had known him the longest, but I still couldn't grasp the depth of Milord's grace...And this was proven true yet again when he recruited the next seatholder candidate.
It was the Master Magician from another Kingdom, sent to disrupt and breed chaos.
Milord made her to be one of us, not with threats or force. He simply showed her the bits of truth.
I was driven madly by jealousy when that happened. I wished he would do that to me instead. Painful as it must be, it would be all worth it.
The Spy, Clara Bennet, would be the living evidence of it. Even though she belonged to a deep-rooted organization in the Solenia Kingdom, which I hadn't even heard of, she still couldn't resist the holy calling when it was offered in front of her.
That was also the time when Milord caught them sneaking and peeking like fucking rats in sewers. It was amazing how sensitive he was to the flow of mana since even I found it hard to notice the mana fluctuation and only managed to catch it when I spiked my sense as high as I could.
I could remember the light-hearted tone he carried that day. Of course, he used magic to alter his voice and donned the usual disguise when he became Shepherd. But I knew what I heard.
I felt it in my soul as the one who became his first and most devoted subject. He was smiling as though he had cast away a burden he no longer needed.
That was the day he declared war upon everything that would stand in his way.
And the first step to realize it was the mysterious and dangerous underworld.
Thus, it began. The gears of fate had begun moving, bringing upon new winds into the House of Light and Darkness.
The Merchant was tasked to create and monopolize an entire new chain of business.
The Spy was told to find the whereabouts of someone who would be of help to Milord in the future.
And lastly, the Paladin was told to stop being the miser and stubborn fool that he was and began growing both his influence and expanding his fief.
As for me, I would obviously be by Milord's side. We went and drove our daggers into the hearts of every slave trader out there and pilfered their products to build our own army.
What could they do other than curse their own miserable fate that they just happened to meet Milord?
They fought back, they tried bluffing with empty threats, and they even tried to buy us.
But everything was for naught.
In front of the absolute power, they would soon realize none of their efforts would matter.
After when they finally understood such simple logic, they would do what every sane coward would do.
Run and ask for help like the little whores that they were.
But we wanted, and we let them run. Run so they may spread the word to them.
The Phantom Squad...
There would be no escape for you. You could choose to avoid and study the water for a while, but Milord wouldn't be as kind as to give you the freedom to think for long.
He would be relentless and void of mercy.
He was kind to his loved ones, but he would be twice as ferocious to his enemies.
He who wore the mask of two sides...The Light and Darkness.
That's why, O' denizens of the underworld, I pray all of you who gathered here tonight would be lucky enough to avoid his ire and keep your life to serve as our baits.
This was the last thing I, who was formerly known as the Dagger Flower, a former dweller of the sewer like you poor souls, could offer with all my sincerity.
"Let's begin." Tonight, once again, I could hear his words, akin to the heavenly scripture.
"By your will, Milord!"