Chapter 1

Deep in the miasma infected forest, enrage growls, screeches and howls of monsters are all around. At the center of the commotion are two men. One clearly a mage, with the insignia of a double headed snake coiled around a chalice imprinted on his fancy blue and white robe. He clutches a device to his chest while panicky looks around him as he runs. The other, long dark red hair, tall, lean, obsidian eyes and raven masked ruthlessly hacks monsters left and right trying to protect the mage.

Even with a dozen or more monsters down, there are still a lot of furious monsters relentlessly after them. Ran, the masked man, who is already busy dealing with the monsters behind them hears the loud yelp of the mage. Risking a glance towards the mage while still fighting, sees the mage stumble. With annoyance, Ran rushes to slay the monsters that are close to mauling the mage. But as soon as he rushes he gets clawed in the back he curses so foul the mage is shocked.

"DRAGON FECAL!" Ran hisses and furiously activates all his buff enchantments engraved on both his skin and accessories. Not caring anymore if the mage reports about it to the duke he works for later. With tons of buff, he completely massacred the monsters in their immediate surroundings.

Coughing a mouth full of blood, a backlash from using too many enchantments at the same time, Ran takes a deep breath and using the sleeves of his clothes wipes off the blood from his mouth. As blood starts trickling down his nose too, he once again makes foul curses in his mind. Combing his messy hair back with his hands, *This is bad, I'm almost at my limit. Tsk, I should've taken more precaution since it's a mission from that eccentric duke.* he massages his wrist as he thinks to himself.

Finally having some time, he surveys the surroundings and still sees the mage on the ground shaking and on his butt, he can't help but yell.

"Don't just sit there! use the fricken transportation scroll!"

Startled, the mage did just that without taking to account that Ran is out of the range of the spell. Fortunately, Ran is able to dash in at the last minute. At last, they're out of the forest and just a few blocks away from the town's north gate. Miles away from the notorious miasma infected forest Mir.

Relieved, the mage starts crying and puking at the same time while still clutching at the device close to his chest. Hearing the unwanted commotion when Ran is just about to relax, Ran almost silences the mage with his blade.

Trying to calm his irritation, Ran runs his hand through his hair and closes his eyes. He reasons to himself that he should be relieved that they were out of the sinister void-loved place. Still…

"So, what the hell did you just try to pull back there?" Ran with murderous glint in his eyes questions the mage.

"I...I" the mage stutters as Ran, full of murderous intent, stares at him.

"You what?"

"I was just following Duke Elheim's order!"

"To get yourself killed and drag me with you?"

"No, I just tried to use the duke's newest invention but I needed more mana than I thought so, um ah…"

"So you almost got us killed," Ran coldly concludes. "Triple the payment."

"What!!"

"Triple it or," Ran makes a motion with his hand slicing the throat.

"Okay…" the mage mumbles shakily.

"Good," Ran states coldly while still eyeing the mage murderously.

Without further problem, Ran and the mage enter the town of Pole. The center and the only populated part of the count Exceles' territory. They go straight to the mercenary bank to settle the mission payment. The client gives Ran the previously discussed amount of reward and gives him a silver token with the Elheim insignia which Ran can use to claim the rest of the reward directly from the Duke Elheim estate.

Satisfied, Ran activates the teleportation spell engraved in his gloves. Instantly, Ran is transported a couple of streets away from the entrance of the count mansion, which is located in the very east-side of the town. Ran looks up to the clear night sky with three moons. He sighs from both relief and tiredness while combing his hair back with his hands.

With another sigh as he looks at his gloves, he mulls over the fact he wasted a lot of resources on this mission. Even though he doesn't have to worry about the backlash since there's crushed mana crystals embedded in the gloves to compensate for the mana required by the spell, he still regrets having used it. This spell is supposed to be used as a last resort, but feeling the scourging pain on his back and with how heavy and sore his body inside-out, he did not hesitate to use it anyway.

Hoping the rest of the night would be uneventful, he slowly heads over to the Count Exceles mansion. But then, he hears roaring taunts just a few paces ahead of him. Massaging his wrist, he stops on his tracks to think whether to wait out the commotion to die out or risk using another embed spell to quickly get inside the mansion. But before he could make up his mind, a sudden chill runs through his spine and his senses goes overdrive. Keenly aware that someone is preparing a powerful spell. Ran curses once again.

"Oi, better stop what you're doing," Ran warns as he quickly runs to the commotion. The smell of strong liquor assaults his nose making Ran almost gag. Seeing two patrol guards without their batons, Ran assumes that they probably went out to drink after their shift. And now, they're confronting this almost-seven-feet tall dark hooded suspicious man.

"Huh, WHO YOU? Bwesides…its we business to confront ttis stwager!," two drunk patrol guards swaying left and right shout.

"I was trying to but then you guys just have to be so loud. Besides it's for your own good," Ran declares with such exasperation.

"But! We doin this for good of evyone!" they shout back.

Putting himself between the drunk guards and the suspicious man, Ran tries to reason with the guards while discreetly accessing the tall hooded man. The guards keep shouting that it's their duty to keep the streets safe and so, it's normal to confront someone suspicious. Ran agrees and promises to keep an eye on the suspicious man for them till an active patrol guard comes by. Reluctant but sensible, the drunkards swaying, take their leave to go home.

"Welp, guess that's that," not wanting to be involved farther, Ran leaves quickly without looking back at the silent motionless hooded man. Ran, didn't even hesitate to use another last resort embed spell to finally get home but before he could even activate it the man grabs his arm and asks

"Who are you?"

Ran immediately frees his arm and distance himself away from the hooded man. With how hard the man grabbed his arm, Ran wouldn't be surprise if it left a mark. He then glares at the man,

"I should ask you the same," Ran retorts.

"I ask you first," the hooded man demands with a strong tusk empire accent.

Ran could feel the man's overwhelming aura trying to intimidate him. If the mission earlier wasn't so damn dangerous and taxing, he could've been beating this damn arrogant man already. But now, he has no choice but to settle things with less force than possible. And that means answering this dragon fecal of a man to avoid anymore tension.

"Ran, a mercenary. Happy?" Ran full of annoyance answers.

"No," The hooded man answers with a snort but he withdraws his intimidating aura.

"Well too bad. That's all the answer you will get from me," Ran coldly answers back as he icily glares at the man. He couldn't help but to coldly retort once again with how arrogant the man is. *There goes my intention of diffusing the tension...* Ran muses in his mind.

The hooded man sensing Ran's hostile glare slowly walks towards him. Seeing the man approaching, Ran tries to keep himself calm and still, as not to give into the man's intimidation. He crosses his arms and keeps his eyes on the hooded man. Ran watches the man intently, carefully inspecting for any small or subtle actions that show any sign of trouble. He is already thinking of multiple ways to escape if the situation escalates to one he could not win.

The hooded man, on the other hand, gets closer and closer with a relaxed stance. But, his aura is getting stronger and stronger to the point that it's visible to even those who aren't trained to sense it. Also, loud crackling from extreme condensed magic around the hooded man is getting intense. It's as if the hooded man wants to crush Ran into submission.

*Tsk, this love child of the void! what the smashed cricket insides is he trying to gain from confronting me?!* Ran loudly wails in his mind.

Ran, only a few steps away, feels the hair on the back of his neck standing up from the magic static and perhaps even from dread.*Smashed, ripped cricket innards!* Ran curses the man in his mind non-stop. He knew it! He should've teleported directly inside the count's mansion earlier no matter the consequence.

And so, not wanting to waste any opening to escape, he acts as confident as he can. With his arms crossed and he scrutinizes the man. He calmly, for a few moments, walks towards the hooded man as if he would confront him. Seeing Ran coming towards him the hooded man stops as if expecting Ran's ultimate submission to him, and so he relaxes a bit. Ran smirks then sprints away.

Thinking he outwitted the hooded man, Ran grins childishly. Yet, after a couple of seconds he quickly dodges to his side to avoid a curse imbued throwing knife.

"Tsk!" Ran clicks his tongue as he maneuvers to avoid another incoming knife.

"Stop you asshole!" Ran shouts as the literal curse knife comes close to cutting his neck. After shouting did he only realize how foolish it is to ask for the hooded man to stop. *Who in their right mind stops when told too when that person is the one you want to hurt?!* Ran argues with himself in his head. The mission earlier might have also robbed him of his sanity along with his strength.

Cursing non-stop on his mind, again, Ran rushes through hoping to reach the count mansion's boundary. Seeing the familiar majestic gate with the emblem of two eagles, Ran smiles. He takes off his gloves and pushes the gate open while activating the highest defensive magic embedded on the gate.

And it was just in time, just a few seconds late and the hooded man could've gotten a hold of him. Ran hears the deep resonating laughter behind him which he didn't pay any attention to, since who knows why that maniac hooded man is laughing. Heading straight to the farthest window on the second floor, on the right side of the mansion, Ran once again massages his wrists and sighs.

"It's really been quite a night," He whispers as he scales the wall, and jumps over the balcony to reach a room with wide glass-tainted windows. With casual familiarity, opening the sliding door on the balcony leading to a bedroom, Ran comes inside. He then lights the fireplace with a simple flint spell. He takes off his mask and puts it on top of the writing desk near the entrance of the balcony door where he came from.

Finally losing that persistent hooded man and safely inside his own house, Ran deactivates the enchantment tattooed in his right shoulder. When the enchantment is released, his appearance changes to that of a lovely petite lady with long lustrous wavy, sky blue hair, and amber eyes. Ran, the most ruthless mercenary in town, turns out to be none other than Lady Anna, the count's own *gentle* beloved daughter.

Hissing, she strips all her dirty bloody clothes and throws them on the fireplace to burn. She then takes off her now loose shoes and throws them to the fireplace to burn as well. She then walks towards her bed. She takes out the top grade healing potion on her nightstand drawer and takes a few sips from it. The wounds internal and external from her mission earlier heals instantly, making it hard to believe that she was injured in the first place.

Letting out a soft sweet chuckle, Anna is always amazed at how fast the potion heals her wounds. And this time, it's quite the welcome balm to her strained nerves. About to relax, she sees blood drops on the floor. She frowns and quickly taps on the lily carving on the headboard activating a purify spell on the entire room.

"Better~"Anna comments, satisfied that her bedroom is clean showing no trace of her going out. Finally, she goes to the bathroom to wash up.

Although she usually takes a long soak after a mission, this time it took quite some time to come back, so she decides to just have a quick shower and rest. Getting out of the shower with her still dripping wet hair, she yawns. She wants to rest already but she still have to drink her favorite blueberry flavored milk or else she wouldn't feel relax at all~

Just after drying her hair, Anna hears a knock on the door. Judging from how she only senses the person's presence at the last minute, it must be George. George, their elite head butler who's at the door.

"Come in."

"Welcome back my lady," George politely tells Anna with a gentle smile and adds "the lord wants to see you, my lady."

"Alright," Anna answers as she puts on a shawl. She then follows George to her father's study located at the middle of the second floor of the mansion. As she walks, she looks out the window to check if the defensive labyrinth spell is still activated. Judging by the bright red moon glow surrounding the gate area, the maniac man is probably still actively trying to get through it.

"Suffer," She mutters wickedly under her breath.

George hearing what Anna said only shakes his head with amusement.

Reaching her father's study room, George knocks and announces that Anna is here.

"Enter," her father answers with a deep and cold tone. Anna enters while George stays just outside the door. He quietly closes the door after Anna enters, leaving only Anna and her father in the room.

Entering, she sees the deep scowl on her father's face, she knows he called her not for the night report today.

"What's wrong pops?" Anna asks as she gets close to her father's desk. Seeing the piled up paperwork, Anna heads towards the small coffee/tea corner of her father's study while picking up the cup on the edge of father's side table.

"Royals," her father replies with deepening scowl.

"Uh huh, they have always been a problem," Anna answers nonchalantly while warming her father's cold tea and handing it to him.

"Well this time it's a troublesome and totally unreasonable royal decree, for you in particular," Anna's father answers with a sigh as he gratefully accepts the tea Anna warmed.

"Me?" Anna replies, her eyebrows arched. Crossing her arm and tapping one of her fingers against her arm, she looks at her father thinking.

"Yes you, dear darling daughter of mine." Anna's father answers while looking at her with underlying affection and teasing tone, "They want you to be part of the ten elite ladies that would be sent to the Tusk empire to be part of their crown prince consort candidate. It's one of the demands the Tusk empire put forward in order for them to send more powerful shamans to help our kingdom in controlling the spread of deadly miasma."

Hearing what her father said, she scowls mirroring her father's look a while ago.

"What the void," she blurts.

"Language," the count reminds her daughter but amused nevertheless at his precious daughter's word of choice.

"Sorry," Anna apologizes while handing her father a slice of carrot cake, his favorite, and refilling his now empty tea cup.

"But yes, 'what the void' indeed," the count replies with a grin after taking a bite of cake and a few sips of tea. Anna, glad her father is relaxing a bit, sits on the chair in front of his desk.

"Consort candidate for the Tusks empire's crown prince, what a bunch of cricket innards. What they want is someone to manipulate to spy back on the kingdom," Anna speaks what's on her mind while reading the decree that her father is talking about.

"I think so too, but since our kingdom is lacking powerful shamans to purify the miasma, the king can't really oppose the demand of the Tusk empire. Especially, when there's little to lose, financially speaking. And, the king could make the deal happen without resorting to military force he currently lacks," the count answers with a satisfied sigh after finishing his tea and slice of cake.

"Heh, the king is such a weakling..." Anna comments with a chuckle.

"Anna," the count gently reprimands.

"I mean he could've negotiated on attaining the training method for shamans instead, and use the mana crystals mines as bargaining chip. But no~, the king wants to keep the mines for himself and monopolize crystals to gain more power. The same goes for most of the noble factions." Anna justifies.

"Well, it's in his authority to do so. So of course he'll take advantage of it, after all it's one of the perks of being royal," the count states as he goes back to dealing with the paperwork.

"Welp that's true, Should we migrate instead then?" Anna jokingly says while getting up and taking her father's empty tea cup and refiling it once again. Then putting away her father's empty cake saucer, she puts a menthol soft candy on her father's side desk.

"Hmm, I've also thought about that but Elaine..."

"Yeah, Mom has her friends here and her garden. It would also be tough on her body if we travel."

"I'm sure she'll agree if we ask her but I don't want her to be troubled in any way," the count answers wearily.

"Speaking of trouble, I guess I should accept the invitation then. It would be more troublesome if I don't. And, as you said pops, I hate to trouble mom and you when it's not much of a big deal anyway. Still annoying though, but I could take this opportunity to get some Intel of possible cures for mom in the Tusk Empire. Where there's a lot more powerful and diverse shamans there than here." Anna muses and adds, "Besides, I can still slip and be mercenary at night. So I guess I just have to be the perfect country bumpkin naive noble lady in order to be ignored and sent back quickly," Anna smiles at her father.

He smiles back.

"That's right, the most bland wallflower there is that they would send you back in a jiffy!" the count replies with a laugh.

Coming to an agreement on how to deal with the royal decree, the counts dismiss his daughter to get some rest. Anna agrees that it's about time to get some rest walks towards the door but remembers what happened earlier in her mission with the magician activating a certain artifact cautions her father.

"Oh, before I go. Pop's you should look into Duke Elheim actions. He sent a magician to Mir forest to test some artifact that gather, and then condenses the miasma into a small area. Which is the true objective of the misleading escort mission given to me today. The artifact might be for good intention but you never know. And there seems to be a shaman from the Tusk empire just outside the mansion. Quite a powerful one with terrible personality attacking with no reason." Just remembering how that stupid maniac hooded shaman tried to harm her when she was already so exhausted irks her so bad that she's once again cursing him on her mind.

"Oh?" already aware of the intruder and letting George deal with it already, the count, intrigued by his daughter's reaction remarks.

"That dragon fecal tried to kill me! Well, Ran the mercenary, but you know Ran and me are one in the same..." Anna trails off while avoiding her father's sharp gaze. Knowing she should've said the word 'dragon fecal' but not wanting to take it back, so she just waits for her father to speak.

"Alright, I'll look into both things." the count waves off Anna away. He wants to let his daughter rest already, so he lets her get away with her choice of words for now.

"Thanks pops!" Anna knowing her father let her get away with it for now, hurries off to her room to rest. She enters her room, closes the door, and immediately dives to her bed. She rolls around for a few moments then goes under her blankets and smiles as she falls deeply asleep.

Meanwhile in front of the count mansion residence, George confronts the intruder. The hooded man apparently broke through the defensive spell of the gate. And now, George is forced to face him head on. Sensing the overwhelming aura surrounding the man, George decides to negotiate but the hooded immediately attacks him.

"Good sir, May I know why you have come to count Exceles residence this late at night?" George asks while defending assaults from the tall hooded man that Ran/Anna encountered.

"Count Exceles?" The man instantly stops his attacks when he hears George mention count Exceles and replies,"I apologize, I let my obsession of confronting powerful beings get the best of me, not even recognizing that this is the mansion of the well respected count Exceles." pulling off his hood, and snapping his fingers a healing spell is instantaneously cast on George, healing all of his injuries. The man then greets,"I am Alex, a diplomat from the Tusk empire here to escort the crown prince consort candidates."