Once the Night's Over

"Released it..." Realizing what his foster father is trying to say, Eid flustered and denied, "No, we did not...!"

"What!? You mean you released it inside!? Brat, I don't care if it's your birthday but if you don't understand the responsibility of being a-"

"No! I mean, we didn't do anything like that!"

Eid then explained what Toko went there for.

At first, Duke Rholes was just faking his reaction and teasing Eid since everyone knows how clingy Toko is to her young master. But when Eid mentioned her being able to Imbue, Duke Rholes' jaw almost dropped onto the floor.

"That girl...! Able to Imbue!?" Duke Rholes pointed with his thumb as his head went forward like a rooster.

Eid laughed at his foster father's reaction because that was almost his reaction too.

Duke Rholes sat down on the foot of Eid's bed, defeated. He wiped the beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

"In the whole Iron Kingdom, the number of Weavers could be counted by the fingers of your hands. To be fair, the Iron Kingdom mainly worshipped the Judge and its related demigods, not the Order, but still-!"

Eid didn't hide anything from his foster father ever since he confessed to killing the duchy's residents years ago. Back then, he regretted not reciprocating the trust of his loving foster father. Now, even the Duchess knew about it. Although she was more distraught about it, she didn't completely stop Eid either.

Only the little sister, Ner, was the oblivious one. Not that she's not to be trusted but she's still too young. Eid planned to tell her everything once she reached sixteen herself.

"I don't know if that girl, Toko, is abnormal in the first place or if it's because she's always with you."

'Wait, is he saying I'm abnormal?'

"Well, in the end, that's good news. We are the only noble family with an Imbuer other than the royalty!"

After talking about Toko, the Duke finally spoke about the matter of why he was there.

"Speaking of royalty, what are you planning to do?"

Eid gulped, his suspicions were correct, "... I-"

"Wait," Duke Rholes raised his hand, "don't tell me. I'm just here to warn you." he stood up, looked into Eid's eyes, and placed that hand on his son's shoulder, "Prioritize your and Toko's safety. You can ignore any of my wishes except that one."

Eid's gaze softened and nodded.

"Then, as much as possible, do it far from the duchy. That's all. Goodnight, son."

"Goodnight... father."

With a nod, the Duke left and didn't say anything else.

"I'm so darn lucky..."

Eid muttered as he changed into his sleeping garment.

Even at the risk of further antagonizing the royal family, the Duke didn't stop Eid in his plans. It's because both of them knew that the clash against the King is inevitable.

Year after year, the King's aggression toward their family increases. The only reason he permitted one of his sons to go was to give face to the Great Sanctuary. After all, even ten Iron Kingdoms couldn't compare to the vast power of the Great Sanctuary...

Eid stopped his thoughts. He didn't want to overthink things. When he climbed onto his bed, he noticed the chainless gloves.

"Ah, it's so comfortable, I forgot to remove it."

He received a lot of presents today. His parents gave him his first scripture- Prayer for Vermillion's Justice, a one-of-a-kind Prayer-Type Scripture. Though it is far from being the strongest, only the Rohde Family owns the Vermillion's Justice.

Scriptures can only be absorbed after making a connection with Allknow. Since he received his Nobility Mark, they can finally give him the family's prized scripture. If he didn't unlock the connection, then he can always give it back to his family. Most scriptures are not one-time uses.

Meanwhile, Ner gave him a necklace made out of flowers. She worked on it for weeks, looking at the quality and complexity of the necklace. Though it's not durable so Eid didn't risk wearing it any further and placed it in a safe box.

Although those gifts made him happy, the chainmail gloves made him the happiest.

Staring at the gloves, Eid whispered, "Why do Mother and Father think that I'm doing those things to Toko?"

It's not that Eid was not attracted to Toko. Since she reached twelve of age or so a couple of years ago, she began growing up in the right places. Because of this, Eid no longer let her sleep with him like she did when he first took her in. Also, Eid only let Toko back then because she was emotionally unstable by the trauma the bandits gave her. Although they didn't touch her not to lower her price once she's sold off to a rich disgusting bastard, the feeling of being caged is still traumatizing.

Eid knew that too well.

Anyway, Eid is becoming more aware of Toko's womanly features and that's why he placed distance between them. Another example is they no longer take baths together, along with Ner. However, with how Toko's acting around him, Eid could only see her as a loyal servant, and another little sister at best...

These kinds of thoughts spiraled in Eid's head until he fell asleep.

When morning came, he woke up to find that he still had his gloves on. After coming back to his senses, Eid realized-

"Ah, it'll be embarrassing if Toko sees this. She'll think I'm like a kid who got too excited with the present he received."

Eid looked around and when he made sure that Toko was not there, he sighed in relief. Since he's going to use them now, there's no need to take them off. Getting off his bed, he changed into a black suit that's flexible to wear. Opening his closet, he looked at the many masks hanging inside its wall.

Whenever Eid does his "hunting", he would always hide his identity with a mask. Even though he had never let one person live, it never hurts to be careful.

The mask he chose was a black metallic mask that has a long slit for his eyes to see. Oh, of course, he wouldn't be ready without his pouch full of needles, and a small wheel of thin strings. These strong are his main weapons.

Eid had always used strings in his advantage back then at the capital city. He didn't use this unconventional weapon for combat at first. The first time he used strings was to make a person trip, spoiling that person's plan of escaping. That's when he became fond of these strings.

Whenever he suspected evil people to act, he would set up traps for them. There was a time when he used these strings to tie a sword to its sheath while its owner was deeply asleep. Because these strings are hard to see, the owner only realized she's been sabotaged when she acted on her plan and couldn't take her sword out.

The wonders of using these strings are that they were only harmful to a guilty action, they are hardly visible, and that they are versatile.

Well, the downside of these strings is that one needs a lot of preparation to make it useful. Which means, Eid is probably the only person who can make the full use out of these strings.

Eventually though, Eid turned these strings from unconventional traps and set-ups to a full-blown tool of war. It took Eid sometime to gain experience, experiment, develop, and practice these techniques until he could finally use strings in combat....

"Ah, let me get a dagger for good measures."

The sun had yet to rise but Eid was already on the move. He learned from his foster mother that the Prince would set out as soon as the sun rises. Fortunately, he woke up earlier than that.

Eid opened the window of his bedroom and saw the bright moon hanging in the sky. Yet, its faint moon glow was not enough to illuminate the dark land before him.

Eid stepped on the windowsill and jumped. His bedroom was only on the second floor of the villa so a somersault on landing dispersed most of the fall's momentum.

Upon landing, another figure joined him. Like him, she wore a black suit of the same material and a mask as well.

Since she was nearby, Eid could see the moonlight reflect on the edges of her curvaceous body. Realizing he's been staring at her body, Eid shook his head.

'This is because of those thoughts last night.'

This figure beside him was obviously Toko. She had long joined him in his nightly hunt. This time is no different.

"Let's go."

Eid's voice echoed within the metallic mask, making it unrecognizable.

Seeing that her young master was wearing her gift made Toko squirm a little before she followed him.

In the darkness of the night, the two set off to who knows where.

***

An hour or so later, in the break of dawn, Prince Frederick expressed his gratitude to the Rohde couple for letting him stay and the hospitality they had given him.

"I apologized for Eid not seeing you off. He must've been so excited last night that he slept late." Duke Rholes laughed but the Prince didn't mind it. Yesterday, Eid even had the audacity not to see Priest Cerviel off.

The Prince then sets off together with his escorts filled with powerful knights. The white knights from yesterday were Priest Cerviel's men, while this more than a dozen were his.

As they began to travel, they have no idea what was coming for them.