Knight's Selection

Kain wrinkled his nose as he walked through the sea of people. The sun was too hot, and the passing people made it hard for him to walk through, and the smell of sweat among the people was making it hard for him to breathe.

He had been searching for the two girls around the market for days. But unfortunately, he knew nothing about the two girls and it was difficult for him to look for them.

Kain could still remember meeting one of the girls when he first arrived in the Noa Kingdom.

At that time, the girl had helped to explain things about the situation in the Noa Kingdom.

When they met again, the girl was lying on the ground and there was blood across on her body. If he did not bring her to the doctor as soon as possible, there was a chance that the girl might end up dying.

But that night, after he had helped to rescue the two girls and brought them to see the doctor, the girls suddenly disappeared that very same night.

He merely stepped out for a while to look for the Prince, and when he came back, the girls were no longer around.

According to the doctor's assistant, a girl claimed to be the injured girl's sister had shown up and brought the girl back home. But Kain could not help but think that there was something suspicious about it.

"What are you doing out here?"

Kain snapped out of his thought and turned around to see that Prince Laif was staring at him with his arms crossed on his chest. He did not even realize that he had walked around the city and had made a circle back to the inn.

"I was looking for you," Kain said as he touched the tip of his nose.

Laif raised a brow and looked askance.

Noticing that the Prince did not believe in his words, Kain tried to feign his anger. "Where have you been? You've disappeared after breakfast without informing me where you went to. You know very well that I will worry about you. If anything happened to you, I would be in deep trouble!"

"Am I someone who would need you to babysit me all the time?" Laif ignored his question, walked across the street, and headed to a small stall. He ordered a drink and some snacks when the waitress approached then turned to his guard. "Sit down."

Kain did as he was told with his arms still crossed over his chest.

Laif smiled at the waitress and poured them both a cup of tea. He drank his tea and turned to Kain with excitement on his face. "I went out to investigate."

"Investigate what?" Suddenly, Kain had a foreboding.

"You didn't forget the reason why we made this trip to this place, did you?" Laif flashed a smile. He leaned closer and spoke in a low voice. "A few days ago, I sent Sapphire to investigate the location of the magic artifact. According to Saff, that thing is in the palace."

Kain stared at the Prince for a few seconds longer and said, "You... don't tell me that you're going to break in into the palace? Wait! You let that blue feathered bird fly around? What if someone saw him?"

Laif clicked his tongue disapprovingly. "Am I that stupid? I sent Saff during the night. No one saw him." He lowered his gaze. Anyway, Laif was not planning to tell his friend that a girl had seen the bird.

"I don't want to get into trouble. You know the people in the Noa Kingdom did not appreciate the use of magic that much."

"You don't need to worry that much," Laif waved his hand.

Kain heaved a sigh, but soon realized the bigger question. "You were really planning to infiltrate the palace to look for that thing?"

"When I sent Saff only told me the rough location of that artifact," Laif said. "Even if I infiltrate the palace, I would not have enough time to find out the artifact. Therefore, I found another way for us to go in safely." He smiled and pulled out a paper from his pocket.

"What is this?"

"This," Laif made a dramatic pause as he unfolded the paper. "This is our ticket into the palace."

Kain raised a brow. He took the paper from Laif and studied every word on it. "They are having a selection for the Princess's Royal Knight. What does that get to do with the artifact?"

Laif heaved a long sigh. "We can enter the palace using this excuse. If we pass the selection, it will be easier for us to wander around the palace without anyone getting suspicious of us."

"Are you insane?" Kain laughed nervously. He folded the paper and shoved it into his pocket. "There is no way that we're going to apply as the Princess's Knight. You cannot do this. It's too dangerous." he said with disbelief. "You need to come up with a better plan."

"Fine," Laif heaved a sigh, poured another cup of tea, and swallowed it down. "If you did not want to go with me, that's alright. I am not asking for your permission. I have already made up my mind. I will still enter the palace using the selection as my excuse."

Kain studied the Prince's expression and swallowed when he realized that there was nothing he could do to change his mind. He sunk into his chair and buried his face into his palm. "Your parents are going to furious. They will murder me if I ever agree with your plan."

"If nobody said a word, they would not know anything," Laif's lips curled into a lopsided smile. "I heard that they're in need of Royal Knights as soon as possible. This means... they will need to hasten the training process. I've heard that the boot camp will be held for a week before the selection process. Then, the real training will begin. When the training begins, we can naturally go around the palace without anyone suspicious of us."

Kain laughed nervously and repeated, "You're insane."

"Oh, come on, Kain. It'll be our little adventure. I promise it will be fun. What do you say?" Laif coaxed. "I promise you that once we find this artifact, we'll go back to Hase."

Kain looked doubtful. He weighed his decision for a while and finally nodded, causing Laif to shout out in joy. "Don't get too excited." He frowned.

"Sorry," Laif smiled. He chewed on his snack and turned to Kain again. A mischievous grin plastered on his face.

"What?"

"Well... we may have one tiny problem before we do this."

Kain swallowed. He didn't like the tone that Laif was using right now. It sounded a lot like trouble.