The morning before departure had started the same way most mornings did lately:
With Híroÿ trying to hit me in the face.
Wood cracked against wood as our practice weapons collided in the castle courtyard, sharp enough to make nearby knights tense. Morning mist still clung to the stone beneath our feet, but sweat already rolled down my neck as we exchanged blows faster and faster.
Híroÿ swung low with his scythe.
I pivoted sideways, my bokken grazing the shaft before I drove my shoulder toward his chest. He twisted at the last second, one hand planting against the ground as lightning burst beneath him, propelling him backward.
"Using magic already?" I laughed, rolling my shoulder. "Scared you might lose?"
"You started using enhancement magic first," he shot back calmly.
A lie.
A terrible lie.
The faint gold dancing around his body made that obvious.
"You're glowing like a hero in a bad fantasy play," I said.
"And your eyes are turning purple again."
That made me pause.
Only for half a second.
But Híroÿ noticed everything.
I clicked my tongue and rushed him again before he could say more. Our weapons collided repeatedly as we moved across the courtyard in violent bursts, neither of us holding back enough to make the knights comfortable.
The watching guards had learned quickly:
When Híroÿ and I sparred, staying close was dangerous.
He swung his scythe in a broad arc. I ducked underneath it, grabbed the center pole, and drove a kick toward his stomach. He caught my ankle.
For a second, we froze.
Then both of us smirked simultaneously.
"Still predictable," he said.
"Still talking too much."
We exploded backward at the same time, creating distance.
Around us, the courtyard floor had fractured from stray impacts.
One knight muttered something about monsters.
Another agreed.
Before we could continue, Princess Yullia stepped into the courtyard, her violet hair swaying lightly in the morning breeze.
"If you two destroy the capital before we leave," she sighed, "my father will likely charge you for repairs."
Híroÿ scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
I pointed at him immediately. "Most of the damage was his."
"You threw me through a pillar."
"You dodged INTO the pillar."
Yullia covered a laugh behind her hand while nearby knights looked moments away from developing headaches.
For a brief moment, things felt... normal.
Simple.
Just me and Híroÿ pushing each other the same way we always had.
Then the journey began.
---
The carriage jolted along the uneven road as we traveled toward the town of Galford. Inside, the constant sidelong glares from the knights riding ahead had become so routine that I barely noticed them anymore. Instead, I buried myself in a newly purchased book on support magic, its pages rough but filled with potential.
I had picked it up after a brief conversation with Izula, the youngest member of the other party. With time on our hands, studying seemed wiser than listening to armored men silently judge my existence.
The princess rode in the central carriage alongside the two brothers and their female companion, while the party's mage traveled with me.
Before departure, Princess Yullia had explained our destination more thoroughly. The city we'd left behind was the capital of Exium. Galford, meanwhile, had slowly fallen under the control of a corrupted noble whose greed had rotted the territory from the inside out.
Taxes had tripled.
People had vanished.
Entire villages had reportedly gone silent overnight.
The king had finally been forced to intervene.
Apparently, in this world, women most commonly inherited the throne. It still felt strange hearing kingdoms refer to princesses as future rulers instead of political ornaments.
By late evening, the sun had begun sinking beneath the horizon, staining the sky orange and violet.
According to the map, a river clearing nearby would make the safest place to camp.
I closed my book.
"I'll scout ahead."
The lead knight barely looked at me. "Fine."
The knight beside him, however, tightened his grip around his spear hard enough for the wood to creak.
Still hates me.
Interesting.
I whistled softly.
A second later, Kyoko descended from above in her smaller dragon form before expanding large enough for me to mount.
Several nearby horses panicked instantly.
I smirked.
"Still working on the intimidation issue."
Kyoko snorted proudly as if terrifying people was a personal achievement.
We launched into the sky.
Cool wind rushed through my hair as the forest stretched endlessly below us. Rivers glimmered beneath fading sunlight while distant mountain ranges cut into the horizon like jagged teeth.
Then I felt it.
Pressure.
Not magical.
Intent.
"Kyo."
"I feel them too," she rumbled quietly.
Ahead, near the riverbank, sat a clearing almost too perfect.
Kyoko dipped lower.
I jumped from her back before she even landed, catching myself on a tree branch overlooking the area.
Silence.
Too silent.
Then instinct screamed.
I twisted sideways.
THUNK.
A knife buried itself deep into the bark where my chest had been moments earlier.
Below me, shadows shifted.
Twenty men emerged from the forest.
Bandits.
Dirty armor. Rusted blades. Starving eyes.
Predators desperate enough to mistake me for prey.
"Bandits, huh?" I said quietly, hopping down from the branch. "If you think you can take me, go ahead and try."
Their leader sneered.
"Cocky bastard. You'll be nothing but a stain by the time we're done."
They charged.
Two reached me first.
I grabbed both by the wrists and redirected their momentum, hurling them directly into another pair before planting my foot against a nearby tree and launching myself forward.
My fist slammed into the leader's chest.
CRACK.
He folded instantly.
Another tried flanking me from the right.
I spun midair, my heel crashing against his skull hard enough to send him skidding through the dirt.
Three swordsmen came next.
Too slow.
I weaved between their strikes effortlessly, my movements flowing naturally as though the attacks had already happened in my head before they moved.
One slash.
Sidestep.
Elbow.
Knee.
Roundhouse.
Bodies dropped.
An arrow sliced toward my face.
I tilted my head slightly and let it pass close enough to graze my hair.
Behind me, my eyes flickered dark violet for the briefest moment.
The remaining bandits hesitated.
Fear.
Good.
I rushed them before they could recover.
Fists blurred.
Bones cracked.
Screams echoed through the trees.
And then...
Silence.
Only one remained standing.
He stared at me in horror.
"Who sent you?" I asked calmly, walking toward him.
He ran immediately.
Coward.
I sighed softly and raised my hand.
Roots exploded upward from the earth, wrapping around his legs before slamming him face-first into the ground. The forest dragged him back toward me while he screamed.
"You ran," I said coldly, violet glowing faintly beneath my hood. "Abandoning your comrades makes you lower than scum."
Then I crushed his skull beneath my boot.
The forest went still afterward.
Even the insects stopped making noise.
Kyoko landed nearby silently, watching me carefully.
Not afraid.
Never afraid.
After tying up the survivors, I cleaned the blood from my boots with water magic and questioned the conscious ones. Unfortunately, they knew almost nothing.
Paid to kill travelers.
No names.
No faces.
Just coin.
An hour later, the others arrived.
I had already started a fire and prepared dinner by then.
The lead knight stared at the unconscious bodies scattered around camp before slowly looking at me.
"You did this alone?"
I looked up from stirring the pot.
"Was I supposed to wait?"
Several knights visibly swallowed.
Good.
Maybe they'd stop drawing swords at me every other hour.
Maybe.
Probably not.
As the prisoners were hauled away for transport back to Exium, the camp slowly settled into uneasy quiet. Laughter rose occasionally from the fireside while the princess spoke with the others.
But I stayed away from the noise.
Perched atop a tree branch, I stared upward at the stars.
They looked different here.
Cleaner.
Endless.
For the first time in a long while, the universe above me didn't feel suffocating.
I folded my arms behind my head.
"I wonder what Híroÿ's group is up to," I whispered quietly.
Far away, a golden light flickered somewhere beyond the horizon.
And without realizing it...
dark purple flickered in my eyes in response.