Of Organizations and Ghosts

"Hmmm..." The high monk walked around aimlessly, as though she didn't even know the answer to my simple question. Just as my patience was wearing thin, she said, "The Order is a secretive organization, aimed to transfer souls into the afterlife, long before their time."

"..."

Eva smiled at me, her dimples making her look very much like a child, especially in her petite form. "I suppose that would be how I would describe the organization I lead."

"Assassination," I mumbled, my head aching a bit. "Is that it?"

"Ah, I did try to sugarcoat it since you are simply a child, but it seems I may have underestimated the knowledge of the young princess," she said, sipping at her chocolate.

I have always known there were numerous large groups offering their assassination services, but to think that I would find myself inside such a group. Although assassination was no longer as public as before, it still happened frequently these days. In fact, I would bet my father's socks that this business could be booming all the more due to the Continental Wars. I wouldn't even put it past my own Kingdom's king to use this method in his political plays.

"But then..." I muttered. "Farseer and Regina know of this too, or am I wrong?"

"Of course they know about it," Eva said. "They are two of our few oldest allies, and sometimes, our own esteemed sponsors."

I could never imagine my mentor nor the Second Magician to ever be cruel enough to murder people, but I knew there was more to this than the simple taking of lives.

"... But you are a good organization, are you not?" I asked doubtfully.

"Ha HA ha! Good?" Eva shook too much that I feared her beverage would spill over. "Oh, I don't know about that, princess. Any person who would knowingly take a life would never be good in my eyes. But, in case you doubt your guardians, then yes, the Order aims for a good cause, even through the worst of means."

I sighed in relief, although it still made me feel scared. It would have broken me to know that my own mentor was an evil man. "Then, tell me, High Monk Eva. For what great cause does your group operate for?"

"Well, that's rather a long story." She came forward, making me flinch. However, she only walked past me and sat back down on our table. "Come, sit. Our conversation might be a bit long."

I cautiously sat back down, staring at her startling violet eyes. Then, she started.

Long story short, the Order has always been an assassination organization. And no one really knows when it started to appear. The Order was large and widespread across the whole world. Many of their infamous deeds included the massacre of an entire royal family. They didn't discriminate among the young, old, and sickly. But, just as she had claimed, the deaths of their victims seem to have brought more betterment than grief. Entire new leadership systems have been born after the death of dictatorial leaders, and now, many countries have been on the path to prosperity.

Most of the members were descendants of previous members, and how these members came to be, was quite unknown. However, once in a while, new members would be sought out from the outside. Eva was one of these people as well.

"I only recall receiving a letter in my dorm at the Lunar Academy, a long long time ago," she told. "I had always been a curious little thing, and I didn't quite belong at the Academy, so there I was, bravely answering the Master's call. And, here I am, and in the outside world, I had long been proclaimed dead."

The Master she speaks of was the mysterious person who sends letters to the Order's members, usually to the head assassin herself. The high monk was the current head assassin, so she was the one to commune the most with the Master.

"Although I call it communing, it is only ever a one-way communication for us. I did try asking questions to the Master, but he never does reply."

And although the Order could do whatever they wanted most of the time (with their usual activities being the personal assassins of numerous country leaders and the extremely affluent), the Master sometimes gives out orders that they had to obey.

"Well, we can only be this strong and powerful because of the teachings of the Order, so whenever an order from the Master comes, we look at it as a chance to pay back the favor."

"And this time, have you been given an order?" I asked warily. Because I had no doubt that if their Master had told them to murder the whole royal family of the Saule Kingdom, they probably would.

"Well, as a matter of fact, we did receive an order a few weeks ago. All of the branches stationed in the Aerim Continent, including our floating branch, has been preparing for this job. But this time, our target is a bit of a challenge."

I gulped a bit. There were only ever two nations who can pose a challenge to a widespread and ancient assassination group such as the Order. I only hoped it was the other country.

Seeing my pale face, the head assassin laughed. "Oh, don't you worry. If our target was your family, you would have long been dead."

I paled even more, but at least I was still breathing. "... Then is it the Empire?"

"Yes," she affirmed with a nod. "It seems like a certain member of the royal family has gone on the bad side of the Master."

I never really cared that much for the Mond Empire, but it does worry me especially because its relationship with the Saule Kingdom can only be described as shaky. There has been many approaches for peace, despite the decades long animosity, and so far the Empire's open market has been a step forward to this peace. But, if a member of the Empire's royal family would be assassinated, the first to be pointed fingers to would be no other than the Saule Kingdom. Suffice to say, the situation was all complicated and it was fragile enough to break into tiny pieces.

"Are you still worried about your kingdom, Princess Eleftheria?" Eva asked while I was deep in thought.

"... I suppose." I didn't deny it. "Three months away from my post could never erase my education."

"You seem to be too responsible for your age, princess," she observed. "I had thought you had chosen to escape simply because of your childishness, but I seem to have been proven wrong."

I stopped at that, wondering what the tiny woman meant.

"You see, I had imagined you as nothing but a child swept away by the words of your allies, but it seems like you have your own vision in mind. I won't ask any further, but I know I might have to think of you not as a child, but as a thinking adult." Eva looked at me seriously. "Do you have any qualms about my proposition?"

Being looked at as an adult would mean that my faults would be mine alone, and alongside that, my victories would be under my name as well. "I have no objections to that, High Monk Eva. I believe I am able minded to be responsible for my actions. With that, I would like to declare that our conversation and the presence of the Order will never be revealed to any outsider from my mouth or hands. So, I do hope you would trust me on that."

"... Oh, I trust you, Princess Eleftheria," Eva said softly. "I only hope you would come to trust us too."

I stood up at that signal, knowing our meeting was about to end. I bowed down deeply, and thanked her for welcoming me as a guest of the organization. I walked out of the room, my mind still registering all it had learned. It seems like I had just been introduced to a fearsome and formidable group.

Regina came upon me just as I had entered the waiting room.

"Oh, you're alive!" the mage shouted. "I mean I'm glad you're back... in one piece..."

"Am I supposed to laugh, Regina?" I asked with a blank face.

"Oh ho ho~ Well, I do am glad you made it back safely. Was the high monk too scary?"

"... Extremely."

With that, I was shockingly brought into a few of her comforting hugs and showered with wet kisses. "Oh, I knew you were too young! That blasted old scrooge! I should have stopped him, but oh, he was so stubborn!"

I laughed a bit, and looking past her shoulder, I saw Janmira calmly sitting down, sipping at her cup. I whispered, "But Janmira was probably as young as me when she first knew of the Order?"

Regina lessened her tight hug to look at me and glanced back at the girl. "Hmm... Well, Janmira will be Janmira. Even I still don't understand that girl."

I shrugged, imagining how the ghost might have gone back all stoic faced after her talk with an intimidating assassin. She might have even spooked out assassins in her wake. I simply couldn't ignore how she was being avoided by the few people we had encountered, almost as though they were repelled by her own presence.

"Well, then!" Regina shouted brightly, as though to remove the heaviness in the air. "Now that all the formalities have been conducted, why don't we meet up with that old man of yours?"

I still had a million questions, and the emblem still haunted me, but I followed the magician nonetheless. She seemed to know the crisscrossing paths quite well, and as we walked through the dark corridors, I couldn't help but be wary of the shadows. Somewhere, sometime, a body will be drained of its soul by these people's hands, and all that was left would be their hollowed out screams, their hands reaching out, to grasp for help or to scratch at their killers.

I sighed, feeling the stress on my own weary soul, and I tried not to imagine the girl following behind us as an actual, haunting ghost.