The raven haired woman was once again staring out the window of her office with a sombre smile on her face. This had been happening more often—Lady Rio lost in her own world, barely eating, her once-sharp focus now clouded by something he couldn't quite grasp.
"Lady Rio?" Said Noah with a weak voice not befitting his powerful frame, "Is something the matter?"
The templar did not say anything in response, and just continued staring over the city from her window. Noah grew increasingly worried, these frequent "daydreams" were becoming more frequent and going on for longer periods of time, more than the day dreams Noah was more worried that Rio had been eating less and less. Despite his Lady's incredible ability sometimes the attendant found himself wishing she would rely on others a bit more.
Finally, Rio turned back round to the stack of paper work on her desk and adjusted the round spectacles resting on her nose. "Bring me Colwyn's report on the tomb of Aeolus, he should have submitted it by now."
It was very subtle, but Noah was positive he detected a spike of venom when she mentioned the drake knights name. Brushing over it, Noah moved to the large file box on the other side of the room and pulled out a small piece of paper that had hardly anything written on it.
Noah's face twisted into a snarl. Sir Colwyn had barely spent any time on this at all, could he even call this a report? Perhaps Noah should come up with some excuse and go hunt down the knight, after all, he couldn't possibly insult lady Rio with such a document.
The small piece of paper was a few lines detailing nothing more than:
"-The tomb was empty
-Recruited a potential initiate
-Found a rather large amount of rabbits on the way back"
"Stop dawdling and bring it here." Said Rio again, this time her voice was uncharacteristically sweet, almost like she was particularly annoyed and was doubling down on the fake smiles and charms to hide it.
Controlling a shiver Noah sprung back in a half-run, half-walk in an attempt to be graceful and efficient at the same time. He hadn't meant to waste Rio's precious time, what a fool he had been to allow such a thing to happen!
Snatching the "report" from Noah's hands Rio quickly scanned over it, the pleasant smile not leaving her face once.
"Strange..." she murmured, her eyes narrowing as she scanned the page. "I didn't think Colwyn was the type to integrate someone."
Noah frowned. "I'm sure it is nothing, my lady, probably nothing more than one of Colwyn's eccentricities,"
Rio leaned back in her chair, her thin frame seeming even more delicate in the soft light. She closed her eyes for a moment, as if deep in thought. When she spoke again, her voice was quieter, almost contemplative.
"Find this 'potential initiate' and bring him to me. I want to have a chat."
<---o--->
"Don't ever expect me to pledge allegiance to you after that." Muttered Azel resolutely, as he nursed the various bruises across his body.
"You're an undead, you'll be back to tip-top condition by noon," responded Colwyn, "Besides what makes you think I want some brain dead zombie as a vassal anyway,"
Azel felt his brow crease in annoyance, "You... Calling me braindead? Clearly you've pushed yourself to far, Sir Colwyn, you're speaking nonsense."
Watching Colwyn stand suddenly, Azel flinched as he worried about the hellish training session resuming. Thankfully it was just Colwyn heading back inside his rather large house.
After a moment of blissful peace the knight returned with an old dusty leather journal. Tossing it to Azel the knight spoke rather seriously for once, "Memorise the contents, it could mean the difference between life and death."
Pausing for a moment to take in Colwyn's sudden declaration, Azel read the front page of the journal aloud:
"A general study of Regalia, By Remus Lance"
Azel stared at the journal in his hands, its worn leather cover rough against his fingers. His lips pressed into a thin line as unease crept into his thoughts.
Regalia... He didn't fully understand the concept, but the word itself carried a weight that settled uneasily in his chest. "And what exactly is this?"
"Well, that's why im giving you the book, so I don't need to waste time explaining things to you." Responded Colwyn matter of factly.
Grunting in annoyance Azel opened the first page of the journal and read slowly at first before slowly picking up the pace once he was positive that he wasn't making any mistakes in the process.
'An introduction:
Regalia, in its simplest form, is the awakening of an individuals true potential during periods of high stress.
Despite clearly being a supernatural ability, Regalia itself uses no mana, life force or even stamina. Instead the unique abilities granted by it are seemingly conjured from nothing but the will of the user themselves.
As an experienced adventurer, I have found myself in situations where by all means I should of awakened my Regalia and yet I did not. This leads me to believe there are two conditions for regalia to awaken:
First, an individual must find themself in a situation where there in no possible way to survive without regalia. Of course if this is the only condition any incompetent fool would awaken regalia on their death bed, which leads me to my second condition.
Now what I propose may sound foolish at first but you must remember that no matter how ridiculous a theory is, if there is no other alternative, it must be true. Any individual who has awakened regalia have achieved incredible deeds before hand.
For example, the cardinal of Redgrave awakened his ability after slaying the tyrant kind who ruled before him, not before or during this act but after. Therefore the second requirement is...'
"What is this, Colwyn? Why are you having me read this?" Said Azel, having quickly gotten uncomfortable from how intensely Colwyn was watching him from under his helmet.
Sighing in annoyance, Colwyn finally gave an answer, "Well remember that Rio girl I was talking about... Considering she is our biggest threat I thought that you should learn about her greatest weapon."