A usual event - I

"Am I a step closer now..."

Her shiny black hair sparkled green as she brushed past her hair. The orange pearls faced the glimmering nightsky.

A sense of melancholy became clear on her stern face.

"To get our revenge...?"

Rudia Erynhyes Rudgard. That was the name of the person who said those words. No, that was the maid Rudia's real name.

But who exactly was she? Her identity wasn't something that anyone existing would ever be able to figure out. After all, all those who had known her were no longer alive.

Thunkkk

As she was going to open her mouth, something fell just in front of her. A faint smile lingered on her lips. As if she were expecting that.

Clank thunk thunk

The sounds of metal clashing against each other tore apart the serenity of silence. The shadows around her fists slowly dispersed around to form a hood to hide her hair.

If she had not used up too much of her strength, maintaining the full body armour would've been an easy task for her. But sadly, she had used too much of her strength. Now there was only one thing she could do.

A black-purple mist surrounded her maid uniform, making it unrecognisable.

"INTRUDER! SURRENDER ALREADY! YOU ARE SURROUNDED BY THE ELITES OF OUR KINGDOM!"

When those words had just roared out loud, the shadows under her feet moved violently to break the spear that had landed just in front of her.

Rudia glanced at her surroundings before closing her eyes.

The sounds of several feet tapping on the ground gradually became clear. It was true. Whatever the owner of that voice said wasn't a lie. She was totally surrounded.

But then again...

Swoosh

Something moved in front of the knights, who had made a circle around the culprit behind the destruction of the barrier. The knights thought that they had caught the culprit. Unfortunately, they didn't know an important thing.

"Surrender...? Surrounded...? Me...?"

Rudia's voice changed when she spoke. She was infusing mana in her words itself.

Heh-

A light snicker escaped her lips as the pitchblack radiance glowed faintly. Rudia was a person who could manipulate shadows. And...

Swoosh

The shadow could never be captured. Even if someone tried to touch it, they would never be able to catch it.

"Until we meet again..."

Her whole body slowly sank into the ground with those parting words.

Rudia wasn't able to see the faces of knights properly due to the dull darkness of night, but she was certain that most of them must've been terrified. That was almost an alien power they were witnessing.

Even Jaden had no memory of writing about such a power in his original work.

And in front of such a mysterious power, all they could do was watch the culprit escape without any trouble. Rudia was gone before they could even realise it.

"Sh*t..."

The person who had shouted loudly a while ago muttered to herself with a grimaced face. Steadily, her golden eyes moved towards the broken spear stuck in the ground.

'The piece of 'white steel' is reacting?!'

That purple taint on the broken spear was a sign. The metal called 'white steel' was the very type that could display something called 'corruption'.

Goosebumps rose on her arms along with a sudden chilly sensation.

"A-attention everyone! We are returning to the palace! Right now!"

That was the only best option she could choose. They had no way of chasing after the enemy, who ran without leaving behind any trail. Reporting the matters was their topmost priority.

She grabbed tightly the reins on her horse and galloped towards the city again. Even though they were quick to respond to the crisis, the preparator had escaped already.

It was a continuous cycle of failures. Barrier getting destroyed aside, they also let the culprit escape.

'How should I explain this to her majesty...?'

She bit her lips with a weird sense of fury. Had she been careful, they might've succeeded in catching the culprit. That's what she thought.

But her thoughts were wrong. Even if in her stead there was someone else stronger than her, Rudia would've still managed to run away easily.

Rudia specialised in such things, after all.

Not that the knight drowning in guilt knew anything about it. Then suddenly a sound fell on ears as she was deep in her own thoughts.

"Vice commander Elyria... It wasn't your fault."

Instead of responding to those words, she grinded her own teeth while bending forward. She simply nodded lightly as her horse began galloping even faster.

-------------------------

Ting

The sounds of windchimes were clearly audible; man could see the star fall clearly. His feet were being pushed into the soft forest soil as he continued to run. He glanced at the red-haired man behind him.

Mages were rarely athletic people. Surprisingly, that man was unlike any other mages he had known about or seen.

'He is the Magic Tower Master for a reason, I suppose.'

A faint smile formed to dissolve at the same moment. He had much more pressing matters to be concerned about.

A tentative toned voice directed towards him when he thought that it was too quiet.

"Lord Jaden, aren't you curious to know why she has called us here?"

Not curious? No way. Jaden was curious yet uneasy at the same time. He had no clue why they were being asked to travel to such a faraway place. Surely, there must be a valid reason for that.

Jaden shook his head aside lightly before making a slight nod. He was confused himself about it. He didn't say anything after that.

A few minutes passed by as they continued to run in the direction of the flare.

Then his feet slowly came to a stop. An awkward smile forced its way on his lips. He let out a sigh while speaking.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?"

The violet hair fluttered as she untied her ponytail. Not letting it cover her right eye, Aliana pulled her hair sideways. Aside from her head, the black robe covered her body completely.

Her pink eyes moved to notice the people she had been expecting.

"Indeed..."

She smiled at him brightly. A faint sense of guilt lingered on her lips. Or maybe it was just Jaden's imagination.

Sigh

It was neither one out of them who let out that sigh. Jaden, Aliana, and Blaise turned towards the source of it.

Her blonde hair became visible. Besides her was a little girl with red hair. Not as bright as Blaise's, but a bit darker than his. The two people slowly became visible under the starlight.

The stars weren't mobile anymore.

The glitters of orange and white that painted the night sky soon gleamed in the same direction. Everyone standing there, taken by surprise, was forced to turn their heads towards the scene. Soon, a sound followed from the same direction.

CRACKKKKK

The faint green light that was trapped in the same place had been freed. As if it were celebrating its independence, the liberated fragments of the green light danced in the air.

Jaden stood frozen in his spot, in awe. He couldn't help but admire the scene he was witnessing. He couldn't believe his eyes.

At some point in time, even that was a world he remembered writing about. Despite being different from what he had actually written, he treasured it the same.

No writer could ever hate his own creations. Jaden was the same. Even though he had his circumstances, he loved and enjoyed writing that story.

"It's about time."

Those words managed to drift away Jaden's eyes as well as attention. The starfall reflected on Aliana's pretty pink eyes.

Jaden shivered from the cold sensation he was getting. That look in her eyes was the same one as when she told them the plan about infiltrating the elven forest. It was bad news for Jaden.

He smiled widely and peacefully at himself as if he had given up on everything.

"We should head towards the palace now."

'Here we go again.'

It's been the same story every time. Aliana would just confront everyone head-on. Jaden knew that she was strong, but this was still reckless. That place was a different story.

The Aranthia Kingdom was way stronger than any other nation. The soldiers were far above any average soldiers other nations had.

Jaden himself didn't know much about the Aranthia Kingdom. The only thing he wrote was a certain part where the protagonists managed to enter the city at night.

That was just to take their leave the very next morning. He didn't write much detail, but he was certain that it wouldn't be easy.

Blaise was glancing at Jaden's troubled expression from a distance.

"... Aren't you overly reckless?"

Aliana stared at Blaise for a bit before putting her hand on her right cheek. She let out an exhausted sigh.

"Why can't you guys just follow me quietly without any questions?"

She grumbled like a person who got annoyed by some noisy kids.

Jaden and Blaise looked at each other with a dumbfounded face. Claire and Melanie simply heard them speak meanwhile.

All of them were simply at a loss of words. As Blaise didn't respond for a bit, Aliana continued to speak.

"I will explain it to you on our way there, so just follow me already."