1.6.

"You should've really paid more attention to how you acted in front of Her Highness."

"What? I didn't say anything disrespectful didn't I?"

Sequencee and Leticia came down from the third floor. Awaiting below was a thirsty crowd of students.

"Who was that?!"

"You said she's royalty!?"

"Where did you find her? Why did she ask you for your help?"

"Who is that?"

"She's an elf princess."

"Are they here to find someone?"

It was utter chaos.

"I don't know. I don't know. Don't ask me. I don't know–" Sequencee kept mumbling.

The home's director's office is located on the third floor where the rest of the staff quarters were. The restrictions imposed against entry into that floor were something Sequencee and Leticia would've normally abided by if not for the princess.

"Everyone please calm down."

"If you wish to ask a question, please do it one by one."

The teachers, who could also be regarded as the staff of the home, began to manage the mess. Either way, it did little to placate the students.

"Sequence, Leticia, could you come with me?" Miss Suzy reached out, seeing as things weren't resolving.

"Ah yes Miss Suzy."

"Yes, Teacher Suzy."

She was their life raft in this tumultuous sea of salmon, all of which wished to nibble a piece out of them as if they were some bait. Accepting her help was inevitable. While the other teachers kept the students in check, the two were brought to one of the empty classrooms. She locked the door and heaved a sigh.

"How did it happen?" Turning to them, Suzy asked.

"We.." "The Princess.."

Sequencee and Leticia overlapped.

"You first," Sequencee said.

"No. You do it."

"Me? You sure?"

"Yes."

"Alright. So.."

Sequencee began filling in the details of their encounter, that, Leticia and he met Her Highness by chance when they were working at the guild tavern.

"So Her Highness has been trying to find this place?"

"I think? Her Highness and her escort used a map from 100 years ago. This home didn't exist so long ago so it's likely, not accurate."

"Makes sense. Then do you have any ideas why they're here?"

Sequencee shook his head.

"Her Highness only requested that we guide her to the director's office. Nothing more was said," Leticia spoke.

"Hm.."

Suzy fell into thought.

===

"So what happened then?!"

"Uh well.. we guided her here and then she revealed her face and that's kinda when it blew up."

"Was she beautiful?"

"Call her Her Highness!"

"Where is sh.. Her Highness now?"

'Dinner is a pain. Good luck Leticia."

Sequencee who remained tight-lipped watched as the green-haired girl in front of him struggled with the incessant questions of the crowd. Give an inch, they'll take a mile. Better not create the spark that ends it all.

Leticia glared in his direction, Sequencee acted as if he didn't see it.

"Tell me hey, why did she come here?"

Dylan somehow manages to sneak behind Sequencee and press his body against his. He leaned in, their nose almost touching. It would've been quite the sight of 'a cute couple' if not for the fact that Dylan was a guy.

"Please."

Dylan begged.

'This is so damn wrong.'

He looked towards Leticia and noticed that she had an accomplished gaze that said: if I go down, you'll go down with me.

"Please, please, please."

'Fuck off..'

"Haaa… fine jeez. I don't know, okay? We just brought the princess here, that's it. If you want you should go ask the princess herself. I don't know where she is now, maybe she's still at the third floor, so why don't you guys wait there until she comes down?"

"Oh, you're right."

"That makes sense."

"Hey! Quickly finish your meal, let's go there together."

"Meet chya' there!"

"Can we do that?"

"I think so. I want to see the princess. It's a once-in-a-lifetime chance, you know?"

"Waa! So fast?!"

Like a passing cyclone, the crowd disappeared as soon as they came. Left around the table were Dylan, Sequencee and Leticia.

"Sequencee you just.." Leticia's eyes twitched.

"Ah.. fuck."

"Huh? What's wrong?" Dylan who couldn't understand tilted his head.

'Forgive me, Your Highness. I didn't mean to send the human swarm your way.'

===

Sweep. Stab. Turn.

Shift. Step. Twist.

The dead of night had passed, the moon hung high in the sky. Flowers bloomed around the edges of the field, bits of frost could be seen on the leaves.

It was believed that the world was created by the Goddess Ra. A 'planet' or 'flat world' where humans nor demons had found the end to.

The planet theory was something proposed by Hero Rika, which denoted that they were living in a spherical world where one end would inevitably meet the other if one were to travel across the globe.

This idea was met with a lot of opposition from scholars, especially astrologers who had long studied the movement of celestial objects and their effect on the world.

Though Hero Rika had no concrete evidence that such a concept was true, there still remained many ardent believers in her claims.

As for Sequencee, he thought both were plausible as there hadn't been any records of anyone brave enough to venture outside this continent. Not when there existed sea monsters that could swallow a castle whole.

He swung a rock spear as he practised his form and footwork. Repeating the motion over and over, he gradually entered a meditative state until..

He felt someone step into the range of his spatial magic, shaking him awake. He burnt away the elemental beads and concentrated on raising his illusion magic around the site of his horn.

His footwork became sloppy, and even the methodology in which he swung the spear started to fall apart.

He wiped the non-existent sweat on his forehead using his forearm and heaved a sigh.

"I didn't think you'd be up so early."

Sequencee turned around and showed a shocked expression.

"Why are you here?" he asked.

"I should ask you the same. Isn't there a curfew in place? Why train at a time like this? It's unhealthy for a human as young as yourself to burden your body in this manner."

Nearl's radiant hair swayed in the wind, and her crimson eyes narrowed. Her lips arc downwards, a little frown decorated her face.

"It's not a big deal. This is just part of my routine." Sequencee swung his spear around in a sloppy manner.

"You're doing it on purpose."

"Pardon?"

The moment those words spewed out from his mouth, a blade flickered right in front of him.

Instinctively, he raised his spear and blocked the attack using the shaft while taking evasive measures.

As it was merely a cheap spear made of mana, the shaft broke and everything crumbled into particles of light. He stumbled on a rock and tripped.

Shing.

A killing intent.

She wasn't playing the fool.

The moment his back hit the ground, he used the recoil of a wind blast to roll away. The blade struck the last position where his head was.

"Gah?!"

Nearl stepped on his torso and forced him down.

"Get up."

'What in the world..'

"Otherwise I'll kill you right here."

She sent a kick that blew Sequencee a few meters away. He grabbed his stomach as he struggled to his feet.

'Fuck it hurts.. the hell is she doing?'

It's been almost three years since he last felt this sort of pain. It made him reminisce about those brutal fights he had with his mother.

"I'll give you ten seconds to confess. 9, 8, 7.."

Sequencee racked his brain for an answer to her words. As a delegatory of the elven nation, to beat up a kid who was probably a hundred years younger than herself should be quite a shameful thing.

What confession? Was it because she realized it? That he was a demon? No. It shouldn't be possible. And even if that were the case, peaceful negotiation took precedence. Only when that fails should he consider the alternative–

"Why are you.. doing this?" he choked on his breath, enduring the pain that was genuinely screaming out.

Sending her to death is a quick way to end the situation, but the moment he did that, he would be suspected for murder.

"5, 4.. I've been hearing rumours about the cursed children. There are also many missing cases of low-ranking mercenaries, with the perpetrators leaving a brutal aftermath the gutters have to deal with. Does that sound familiar?"

'Oh.. so it's not my identity then.. still.. to this it was for this reason..'

"I swear it's for self-defence.."

'It seems I'm a bounty target for the guild now.'

Her blade scintillated under the moonlight.

'Shoot. So she's going to decide it this way huh?'

She shot forth.

Just as the blade was about to reach, a thick ice wall formed in between the two.

Creak– crack!

Nearl's sword was frozen inside.

Sequencee's eyes flickered in a deep blue.

Crack!

As if they were living Trents, the ice began to crawl along the sword and shot towards her–

Fwwosh.

Raging flames burst forth from her body.

She raised the force of her grip and pierced, blowing a hole into the ice wall.

Ice fragments, mist and droplets of water scattered into the surroundings. Sequencee retreated.

'I can't make it seem as if I have a lot of mana here.'

He winced and conjured five ice pikes around him.

Nearl swung her flame-covered sword, reducing the rest of the ice wall into water and mist. And from within the mist, she slowly approached him.

"So you're going to.. kill me?" he croaked.

Nearl didn't say a word. The steps she took were small, but the distance it covered over the agonizing few seconds left Sequencee in a dilemma over whether he should fire these ice pikes at her.

Eventually, she halted her advance seven meters in front of him.

"Why did you kill them?"

She pointed her sword at him.