Lady in black

A full moon hung high in the night sky, surrounded by stars trying to compete with its brilliance. In a large courtyard within the Kalel family mansion, Clyde sat on a chair and looked up at the beautiful sight. Eventually, another figure appeared in the courtyard and drifted closer.

The figure slowly coalesced into Clyde's cousin Kylie, noble and elegant as always. While she normally seemed like an arrogant brat at the academy or when dealing with strangers, in front of Clyde she always acted like a virtuous and wise beauty who would support him in any endeavour. She slowly sat down next to him, but he completely ignored her and continued to look at the sky in a daze.

"Cousin, winning and losing are both common occurrences for mages or knights. There's no need to worry about it," said Kylie to her dispirited cousin. After a few more seconds of silence, she continued, "For example, remember the story of the Emperor losing a fight to a nameless junior mage when he was young? Even the Dean of the academy lost a fight or two when he was young, and he's considered the most powerful mage throughout the Empire. But ultimately, those defeats were meaningless. When you stand at the peak of strength like the Dean and think back to your defeat, won't you think that they were just a part of sharpening yourself? Even though you lost this time, you still have the ability to continue training and challenge him again once you get stronger. You have a gold level innate talent and have the possibility of reaching a 9th class mage in the future!"

Ever since she was a child, Kylie had a crush on Clyde despite being cousins. Kylie was the daughter of Gomez's younger sister, at least in name. In actuality, she was adopted at a young age due to her beauty and her innate talent for ice magic. Even Kylie did not know that she was adopted, but despite thinking she was closely related to Clyde, she could not change her feelings for Clyde. Unfortunately, he had never returned those feelings and went out of his way to avoid her whenever possible.

"If cousin wants to fight him again, I will ask grandpa -"

"Enough! I am not a child!" shouted Clyde angrily, interrupting Kylie and startling her into silence. "I never asked for your help. I have been training nonstop for years, and finally became the top junior mage of the academy. Yet he came and destroyed everything I worked so hard for in a single fight. Before he came along, I was considered an unparalleled genius throughout the Empire. Our family was one of the strongest families in the Empire, with two gold level talents, and even the Imperial Family had to treat us with respect and caution. But everything changed once his talent became known. I have been living in his shadow my entire life, do you have any idea how infuriating that is?!"

The more Clyde spoke, the more agitated he became. Despite being the scion of the Kalel family, he had spent his entire life trying to catch up to Shad. While this was hard enough on its own, Clyde knew more about Shad than most other people due to his family connection. For example, he knew that Shad began to speak only a few days after birth, was capable of running and reading within a few weeks, and started absorbing mana in his first few months of life. All of this information was kept secret by the Imperial Family, so not many people knew of Shad's innate talent.

As Shad continued his tirade, Kylie's sadness continued to grow because she did not know how to console him. She was not privy to the information about Shad, and still believed that Clyde could win if he only got a little stronger. If she knew that Shad had already broken through to a 4th class mage, she would have never considered such a foolish notion.

"Tomorrow, I will leave the Imperial Capital and start my training on Frost Island. I won't return until I've broken through to a 4th class mage," said Clyde resolutely. Before Kylie could object, Clyde sprang up from his seat and made his exit. Kylie continued to sit dejectedly as she watched Clyde disappear, unable to help him in any way.

......................................

Shad laid on his bed, looking at the ceiling of his room aimlessly. The room was very bright, with two magic lamps visible, one on the ceiling and the other next to his bed on a small table. The room itself was very simple, aside from his bed, closet, and table, the room had no other decorations or furniture. No one would ever guess that this was the room of an Imperial Prince of one of the most powerful empires on the continent, but Shad always preferred simplicity.

While Shad lay in thought, a small black hole appeared in the middle of the room next to the door. Shad glanced at this strange phenomenon for a second, before returning his gaze to the ceiling. A woman in black clothing with a white fox mask stepped out of the black hole before it winked out of existence.

"Young master," said the woman. Her voice was particularly enchanting, capable of ensnaring any one who heard it. She gracefully walked closer towards the bed, finally stopping in front of Shad. Her tight black pants and shirt could not hide her beautiful figure. Her waist was willow-thin, with a round butt that was highlighted by the tight pants she wore, and her shirt clung to every contour of her well-rounded breasts. It was difficult to describe her beauty with mere words.

She bowed deeply before Shad, saying "I have returned from the mission you assigned me." She stood close enough that he could smell her intoxicating scent, carried on the wind from the half open window. Her sweet fragrance, combined with her peerless curves and beautiful voice, were more than enough to fill any man's heart with elation at being in her presence.

"Good. Did anything major occur while I was gone?" asked Shad casually, acting completely unaffected by the woman's natural charms.

"The crown prince of the Draco Empire broke through to a 6th class mage, and the Nicholas Empire occupied a good portion of the lands from the Mulan Kingdom. Most of the Dukes have separated themselves from the king and pledged their allegiance to the Nicholas Empire in secret. The king is still allied with the Djage Empire. Aside from that, some smaller territories under control of the king have been taken over and occupied by bandits. My sources tell me that most of the bandits are supported by the Nicholas Empire with weapons and supplies, and some of them are even soldiers disguised as bandits." She continued to relay information to Shad, detailing everything that happened while he was training. After thirty-five minutes of information, she finally finished her report. Her final piece of information was from earlier that same day.

"Finally, the main reason I came here in the middle of the night is because someone contacted Chronos and put a huge price on your head. I accepted the mission and tried to discover who issued it, but I was unsuccessful," said the woman. Her body was leaking killing intent despite her best efforts to hide it. Just thinking about the person who wanted to assassinate her young master made her lose her calm demeanor.

"Oh, that was fast. Don't worry, I already have a clue of who it might be," said Shad. His eyes turned cold, causing the woman in front of him to shudder in fear. She felt as if she was in the presence of a predator, or one of the ancient beasts living in the Great Tower, but she recovered quickly.

"Tell me who it is, young master. I will take care of it," she said hurriedly.

"You are still too weak to fight against that person, and your Void Magic doesn't possess any offensive capabilities," responded Shad with a genuine smile to take the sting out of his words. The woman could only smile helplessly in return. While her Gate skill could let her travel to any place she had previously visited, she could not kill people with it, nor were any of her other spells geared towards offense.

"You still have to be very careful, young master. At least 3 other people accepted this mission that I know of, and all 3 of those were silver level assassins," she said. Even though her face was hidden, the concern for Shad was easy to see.

"I know," answered Shad. "So, now that I've returned, what are your plans?"

"I plan on completing enough missions to raise my level to silver. I have been stuck in copper for the past two years and it's time to upgrade. Have you broken through to a 4th class mage, young master?" she asked with a look of anticipation.

"Yeah, I broke through about three months ago."

"That's great! We can finally accept more difficult for missions. For the last two years I've spent most of my time travelling throughout the continent so that I can use Gate to return. With your strength and my mobility, we can finally complete missions without arousing any suspicion," said the woman happily.

"It must have been hard on you." Shad caressed the woman's hair in commiseration of her suffering.

"You have it worse, young master. Being forced to work in both the light and the darkness just to protect your family. Just don't forget, I will always be here for you. Ever since you found me and took me from that place, I vowed to give my body and soul to you," she said.

"I know, and I told you that I don't want you to feel indebted to me. I gave you your freedom long ago, yet still insist on following me. Even worse, you insisted on that servant oath. Now you'll never be free." Shad shook his head in sorrow for the woman's plight.

"You were hell-bent on letting me go. I had no choice, it was the only way to stay with you," said the woman. She sounded more like a spoiled brat than someone who was six years Shad's senior.

They both sat in silence for a few minutes, thinking about the past, before the woman spoke up again. "I've missed young master." As she said that, she hesitantly moved behind Shad and began to give him a gentle massage.

"Mmm." Shad closed his eyes in pleasure at her gentle touch, spending the next few minutes enjoying the moment. Suddenly, he felt a spiritual force within the palace.

"You have to go now, I can feel my father scanning the palace," said Shad hurriedly. The woman wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek before quickly using her Gate spell to leave the room. Before the Gate fully closed, he heard her voice floating back through the portal.

"I have a big present for you, young master. I will give it to you after your coming of age ceremony."

Shad simply smiled in response. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this bold woman. Eventually he regained his former tranquility, and laid back on the bed and fell asleep.