**(Midori's POV)**
"You said we would meet our father here. You got yourself covered in blood; now you order us to find a book from who knows where in the eternal library, and we still haven't met him. Now you're trying to leave? What's going on, Sebastian?" Aiko asked Sebastian.
"I'm sorry to tell you this, Aiko, but your father is not here anymore..."
"Huh? What do you mean by that?"
"The traitors came here before us. That's the reason he left you and your sister in the temple—because he knew they would come for him. I don't know if he is alive or not, but—" He was cut off by Aiko's screams. Aiko attacked Sebastian with a book he was holding in his right hand, hitting him again and again until Sebastian was once again covered in blood.
"Brother, stop! It's not Sebastian's fault that father was taken. He must have had a serious reason for making us look for that book, as well as why he didn't participate in the search. Don't you, Seb?" I asked him with a judgmental and serious look on my face.
"Of course, Midori," he said. "With that book, we would know how to cross the mountains safely to the north, as well as how to deal with the usurpers when we finally clash with them."
The usurpers? A book about the Sovereigns will help us deal with them? Something doesn't make sense. He said "the five Sovereigns," but the Sovereigns are four—the same people who created the ancient towers and the eternal libraries.
"Here's what we're gonna do..." Naru broke the silence. "Sebastian will go find out what happened to Aiko's and Midori's father, and we will look for the book. Seb knows more than all four of us combined, so we should trust him with this," he said with a firm but kind face, his dark hair glowing under the light of the false stars, and his eyes bright as the sun.
"But—"
"No buts," I cut in. "If Naru agrees as well, then we will do as he says. We said we would follow and serve him... Remember?"
"Yes, sister..." my brother said, not trying to hide his disappointment.
"Thank you both," Sebastian said, looking at Naru and me, and then left to go look for my father. In the meantime, we searched the entire library, but we weren't lucky at all. The book Sebastian asked us to find wasn't here. There were books about everything we could ever imagine—from farming to the art of war and medicine—but there was no text mentioning the Sovereigns. At one point, we stopped looking for a book specifically about the Sovereigns and started reading any book that might say anything about them, but still, nothing. The eternal library has thousands of books in it, yet none of them mention the word "Sovereign" even once. How annoying...
"Sister..." I heard a voice from behind.
"Aiko?" I asked, surprised as he caught me off guard.
"Why did you side with them when father might be in danger?" he eventually asked after a short pause.
"Why, huh... Well, if he is in danger, then our best chance is by trusting Sebastian," I told him, hoping he would be satisfied and leave, but then he said:
"So, it didn't have anything to do with the Mochizuki?"
"...!!" My heart skipped a beat; I wasn't expecting a comeback like that. "N-n-no, of course not. What matters is getting father back alive, and then we can serve Naru-sama as proper retainers," I managed to say. To my surprise, Aiko turned around and left after giving me an "Eehh" with a creepy look... Stupid brother.
~~
About four hours after Sebastian left the library, we heard a loud voice from outside the door. Naru ran immediately to see what was happening, and to everyone's surprise, it was Sebastian fighting one of the two guards who had let us into the tower—the one who had tried to cause us trouble earlier.
The guard was wearing red armor and had lightning sparks flying around him, while Sebastian was, as usual, covered in blood. Even though the guard was using a sword enhanced with lightning, Sebastian hadn't unsheathed any of his katanas yet; he was just dodging and occasionally getting hit.
"What are you doing, Seb?" Naru screamed. "What's going on?"
"That kind guard said ravens don't belong here, and in order to protect his citizens, he would kill us."
"And why the hell haven't you killed him already?" This time, Magimi was the one who screamed at Sebastian. Magimi was the only one of us who still referred to Sebastian as "Seb," even when he wasn't around. She was the daughter of a priest, yet she was in favor of killing and never gave a second thought to human lives being taken. That's something Hanzō always scolded her for.
Lightning. A lightning spear hit Sebastian in the chest, making him fly across the room. Time seemed to pass slower than usual. Screams echoed throughout the entire tower. I was afraid. Afraid of what would happen to us now that Sebastian seemed to be losing against the guard.
*Footsteps*
I heard footsteps. Someone was moving. I saw Megumi; she was running to reach Sebastian in time before the guard could deliver the finishing blow. I cried, "Megumi!" but she didn't seem to hear.
*Flash*
Everything got blurry for a second, and then I saw dark red blood flying from Sebastian's chest. The guard had hit him with another lightning spear, but he seemed confused and surprised as he failed to hit any vital point. The next moment, I saw Megumi and Naru holding Sebastian and screaming, "Run, now it's our chance!" I ran. I ran as fast as I could to reach Naru, but I didn't seem to catch up to him. I thought I would never reach him...
~~~
"We made it, Megumi; we're out," Naru said as he and Megumi gently placed the unconscious Sebastian on the ground.
"Yes, Naru, we made it." "—Naru?!" Megumi said as she saw Naru fall unconscious.
"Naru!!" I screamed. What happened? He isn't wounded, and he was fine until moments ago. I ran to get closer and see what happened.
The answer came from Sebastian, who had just woken up and was checking Naru for any wounds.