Step up

The sound of music could be heard throughout the castle. The guests, in their luxurious outfits, danced with the rhythm, celebrating their last banquet in the Emperor's castle. The final day of the festival had finally come, and a grand feast was arranged for all of those who attended the party. 

Standing atop the highest platform in the hall was a middle-aged man with hair and eyes colored the same as snow, peering down at the guests of his birthday party, gaze deep and sunken, scrutinizing them akin to a deity would inspect insignificant pests loitering around his domain, evaluating their worth with his judgmental watch.

"Do you see all these people?"

To his side, a blue-haired youth, a teenager, stiffened up slightly before nodding his head.

"Yes, Your Highness."

"No need to be so formal when we are alone."

The teenager's tense muscles eased slightly.

"...Yes, father."

"Do you see all these people?" The Emperor repeated his question. "These are our subjects, Eliot."

"..."

The boy walked forward and looked down. All kinds of people with different statues were gathered there, enjoying their time. 

"Another country's noble, a royal, a merchant, but all equal with normal citizens of The Empire, no different. They are all under our command, Eliot, all are our people." He paused for an instant, shifting his position for the boy to see his face. The crown prince peeked at his father's peaceful and gentle expression, as well as his affectionate glare on the guests, before lowering his head again.

"Just as I hold my people dear, these individuals are too, important to me, no different than the ones directly under my sight."

The crown prince silently listened to his father's words, nodding his head from time to time.

"So are their lands, and everything that belongs to them." the man took his eyes off the crowd and looked back at his son. "We aren't the kind to take away what others own, Eliot. Despite having the power to conquer their lands, The Empire didn't do so, nor did we force anything upon them. Their nations are intact, safe with us being their backing. They depend on this empire and do anything to be on our good side."

The man turned around and walked away from the platform, the crown prince hurriedly accompanied him. The Emperor entered the hallway adorned with his ancestors' portraits. His finger slid across their frame, a smile etched to his lips. 

"The Empire is the most powerful land in the continent. We are these people's shield, we protect the weak from the continuous assault of the monsters; we support them with the money they lack and the food they seek. The Empire treats everyone equally, disregarding their race and gender, it's the nation of knowledge and the heart of this continent's largest religion. We, I, you, are all blessed by gods, and shall act like one; never forget that."

The crown prince nodded his head again, feeling a surge of hot emotions rise within his heart. The twinkle in his eyes brightened as he watched his father's wide back. He subconsciously straightened his posture and clenched the hilt of his sword on his waist. With the boy's properly built body and splendid clothes, such a small act was enough to give him the aura of a mature and strong crown prince.

"Yet, there are those ungrateful people blinded by greed that don't even understand The Empire's benevolence; those unthankful sightless who have fallen out of the Empire's grace, now thinking of taking it down."

The crown prince's thick brows twitched slightly at the sudden shift of subjects. 

"Are you referring to that army calling themselves The Resistance?"

"So you are aware."

"Yes!" The teenager responded energetically. "I've been trying to gather information on them."

"And?"

The due walked down a staircase and turned to the right, heading to The Emperor's office.

"I couldn't understand much. They reside near the borders and attack them from time to time, block some of the merchant groups that are headed in or out of The Empire, and keep increasing their forces. However, none of their actions seem to follow a set goal or have an aim. It looks like they only want to fight and damage us, without knowing exactly what they are doing. I don't think they'll be able to do much judging they the performance they've shown thus far. It's almost as if they have no proper strategist, a group of barbarians, only."

Clack

The two people sat foot into the room while conversing. The Emperor carefully listened to the boy's words before turning around, faintly smiling at him. 

"You've done a great job."

His hand tapped on the crown prince's shoulder a few times, causing a smile to bloom across the young man's face.

"Then, I'll leave them in your care."

Upon hearing those words, the young man's breath halted for a second, eyes widening slightly, joy flashing within his blue eyes. 

"Should I... Eliminate them?"

"Yes. Yes, do so after you are done gathering the needed information. I'll lend you enough knights when you make the request."

The crown prince bowed his head, his curls wiggling by the movement. "Yes, Your Highness."

"Good," the man sat behind his desk while his son stood on the other side of it. "How is your training going?"

A brief silence fell on the room. The crown prince hesitated a bit.

"It's... Going smoothly."

"Better improve yourself more before taking on the mission. You can't defeat those people if you aren't strong enough."

"Y-yes..."

The boy kept his head lowered, his hand clenching his sword tight. The pleasant feelings from moments ago were gone like a flash and what remained was a cold shame and embarrassment. 

"You may leave."

"Yes, father."

Eliot walked back without raising his head and left the room with his back slightly bent.

'It's so... disappointing... Everything was going fine until my training was brought up... again...'

It was still alright. His father didn't seem too disappointed in him. He just gave his son some advice because he was worried.

'I'm doing my best, though. I'm doing my best. And I'll do even greater in the future. Mother said it's amazing to be so good in both sword and Aether at my age! I'm only 17! I'll do better!'

The boy huffed under his breath and increased his speed, rushing to his personal training ground. 

. . . . . . . . .

In the corner of a house in one of the capital's districts, under a wooden box used by kittens to sleep, a folded piece of paper was buried lightly under some soil. A gloved hand moved slowly and took out the paper before pushing it inside a pocket and disappearing into the night. 

Minutes later, a silhouette appeared in one of the nearby alleys. The man bowed slightly and offered the piece of paper to someone else with both hands. 

"I told you there is no need to do such stuff!"

"It's us alone, so there shouldn't be any problems."

"Tsk!"

Ian shook his head and grabbed the letter. Opening it, there were only a few words written on it. 

[This old man doesn't see any need for him to step up.]

"Hmm~"

He folded the letter and pushed it into his shirt's pocket. Ian was always left amused by this old man's attitude no matter how many times he experienced it.

'Then I'll show a reason to step up~'

Ian turned to look at the man to his side, "You sure everything is gathered here?"

"Yes."

Despite receiving a positive response, Ian checked the package for the third time to ensure everything was in place.

"Alright, throw this inside her house."

The swordsman hesitated a bit but obeyed the order regardless. A thick pocket was shot inside a house through the open window. 

"This should be enough."

After making sure the pocket was inside the house, Ian turned around to leave.

"Are you sure that person will be moved by that?"

"No, he won't be moved."

The contents of what Ian sent weren't something to push that man to action but a hint to show him the reality that had been hidden from him and the truth of his land being already in danger. The disappearances of a few saints couldn't be regarded as an extremely serious case, especially when neither The Emperor nor the churches were agitated at all. However, added to the future documents Ian planned on gathering, they'd form a great combination to eliminate the hallucination of security from the people of this land. 

"Should we continue the investigation?"

Ian climbed the black horse as if it were his own, and beckoned for his "knight" to come over. 

"It's up to you two. Isn't it a mission given to you by your organization? You'll be paid for further investigating it, so why not?"

The mercenary guild immediately agreed to pay and support this mission, asking the due to do anything they could to gather information. Since then, the group of three had been wandering around, searching for any clues related to the case and gathering as much information as they could. 

A summary of all of their efforts was placed inside an envelope and thrown inside the captain of The Royal Guards' house. 

"The two of us? We won't be taking that woman with us anymore?"

"First of all, calling Miss Eleen 'that woman' is pretty rude. You better learn how to respect the others. Also, wrong! You guys won't be taking me anymore."

"What?"

The horse neighed as if in response to its master. 

"My master will be returning back soon, probably this morning! I'll have to go back to them. By the way, you guys should take me to my master's for them to believe that you found me. Anyway, we'll discuss that later."

"What the- I won't let you-"

"Quit nagging and ride the horse."

"Crown prince!"

"Naaay I don't hear youuu~"

That night, Ian had to endure Kieran throwing a fuss for hours. 

. . . . . . . . .

The nobles that had all come to attend the party began leaving the capital one by one as soon as the sun rose. The son of Count Poqlen of Loyatou was no exception. The convoy left the inn it stayed at and moved alongside the road, out of the capital. The son of Duke Blicra and a merchant group were also traveling not too far from him. 

The noble's head was drooping and shoulders slumped, back bent in an unusual way. 

'We couldn't find him in the end...'

Despite his request to stay a few days longer, the convoy was forced to leave early in the morning. No one cared about a lost servant nor desired to spare any effort in finding him. 

Alaric was left wondering if his friend really ran away, and fled from his life as a servant to join a church. He could have a proper life if he did so. However, Alaric hoped he didn't. He knew he had to wish good for Ian and not want him to be enslaved, but then, that way, they could still be friends!

Heaving a sigh, the boy pushed away the curtains to his carriage and stared out the window, at the sunrise that was the same color of his pupils. The carriage felt lonelier than usual with no one accompanying him. Alaric didn't even feel like studying magic, he was just not in the mood for that.

"Hmm?"

After a few minutes, he thought he saw a shadow from the distance. Alaric narrowed his eyes and stared at the dot. It was getting bigger and bigger as if moving closer to him. 

'...Isn't that... Raven's horse? And Miss Eleen's also...'

"Hey, halt the carriage! Stop!"

Alaric shouted to the coachman and jumped down the carriage as soon as it stopped moving. The two horses were now close enough for him to recognize the faces of people riding them. 

"Hah, seriously!"

There was a blue-haired guy tightly clenching Raven's clothes from behind, trying not to fall off the horse that rode at a fiercely fast speed.

The old man who rushed to Alaric's side also froze for an instant before huffing soundly, eyes gleaming dangerously. The two horses arrived at them soon, and a certain guy was pushed forward to stand in front of his master and explain himself. 

"A-am I going to be expelled?"

Ian asked with a fear-stricken face after describing how he followed something strange and got lost only to be found by these two and forced to do errands for them for the past few days. 

"That's something to be decided once we go back to the state!"

If Ian's career fate were to be decided by voting, Ranger would vote on him getting expelled for sure. 

"Anyway, let's go!"

The master, whose smile didn't leave his face for a second, grabbed his attendant's hand and pulled him into his own carriage as if it were only natural. He didn't want to be exposed to Raven's murderous glares anymore, so, he decided to run away. The mercenaries bid farewell and left the noblemen's carriage, saying that they had to continue on their mission. 

"Thank god you are safe, I was worried you might get caught by those churches!"

As soon as Raven and Miss Eleen left, Alaric turned to his friend and opened his mouth excitedly. 

"I'm sorry, young master."

"No no don't apologize, just be more careful from now on! Why do you keep getting in trouble all the time? Get poisoned, injured, lost, and more! Are you a trouble attractor or something? Anyway, take more care from now on!"

"Yeah..."

Having spent a few days with a guy who barely spoke and a calm and elegant woman, Ian had almost forgotten how it felt to constantly be forced into conversations by someone. 

"Ian Ian! You should've been there when we went to the Imperial Castle! It was so big and luxurious! Looking at the walls made your eyes hurt from the amount of jewelry used in building them! The banquets were also nice, but they were a little bit boring. It would be good if you were there so we could converse from time to time. It was totally your loss, Ian! Have you seen the kinds of food served there, you would never want to leave that castle! I'd be sure to secretly push some of the dishes to you!"

The way Alaric described things made Ian gradually start to feel regret. He could've just covered his face and entered the castle, couldn't he? 

"By the way, I saw the emperor as well. He looked so dignified... I don't know how to explain. That man gave off heavy pressure, just like an emperor! He was no joke!" 

Ian listened to his master's explanations of the banquet that went from the nobles he'd seen to the royals and then to the emperor. 

"When we passed the hallway, there were portraits of all of the previous rulers of Asteriand. I didn't pay too much attention to them but they were all pretty good-looking! The Emperor also wasn't half-bad. His children also looked stunning, however, most of them acted grumpy and cold to the others. I wonder why would they behave like that when they aren't even selected as the next emperor!"

Alaric chuckled, mocking those royals. He went on about how frustrated he was when he greeted one of the princes and the man only walked past him without even glancing his way.

"The real crown prince wasn't like any of them, though. He respected the guests properly and treated them warmly. I think that's why he's chosen as the crown prince! He was rather cute, to be honest. He felt too young to be a crown prince, though. I think he wasn't even 20? I wonder how old he was."

"17."

"Yeah?"

"17 years old."

"Oh..."

When the story reached that point, A thin smile gradually formed across the servant's lips, as if enjoying the topic. He even corrected his master, declaring the crown prince's age confidently. Alaric went on happily.

"Then I recognized something! The crown prince looked completely different from his siblings! He had blue hair and eyes while the rest of them had silver or light-blue ones. Isn't it strange? Then I thought back and realized that the other rulers too, had dark blue hair. That was pretty interesting, but I don't think it has any deep meaning to it, right? I mean, I have a blue-haired friend, and he is a servant! Blue hair can not be anything special, right?"

"....."

The smile froze on Ian's face, replaced with a dazed surprise.