A King's Guardian

It took a lot of effort convincing Lentis to go rest but Rui finally managed to do so. That was a relief. She had been worried that he would still stubbornly refuse her but thankfully, he still had some sense of reasoning left in his tired mind. It might only be for a half-hour, but at least he was getting rest.

'Why did he want to read the report so badly anyway?' Rui wondered to herself. Judging from the actions, it seemed that it was something really important. He had asked her to go outside to fetch that report from the soldiers this morning. Did something big happen?

Rui picked up the report that was sitting atop a pile of papers on the desk, sat down, and began flipping through it. It contained details about the investigation regarding where the missing demon went. According to what was written, it seemed that the demon was still in the city and was hiding somewhere.

That was a pretty big concern. No wonder Lentis wanted to read the report as soon as possible. They needed to catch the demon before she recovered and escaped. Or even worse, they needed to find her before she wreaks havoc on the city. Siegfried had gone to Otane and brought along with him a good number of the knights and soldiers. They were very weak right now and the only people who were capable of taking on a demon toe to toe were her and Lentis, and neither of them was in their best condition right now either.

Rui continued to flip through the report and her eyes widened as she saw what else it contained. "Wow..." The escaped slaves were still on the loose and causing a mess throughout the city with their riots and attacks. Not only that but it was also discovered that there was an underground organization in Silverfield that was doing a bunch of shady things. It wasn't known what they were doing as it was still being investigated, but they were definitely up to no good. The last few pages of the report contained information on the fallen nobles. There was still a handful of them running around loose and it seemed that they had plans to retake the throne.

All of this... Why didn't he tell her about it? He had been keeping all of this to himself and trying to figure it out all on his own. Ugh... she really wished that he trusted them more. Well, maybe just her. She wasn't sure about Siegfried since he had muscles for a brain, but she could definitely help out with most of these.

Rui tossed the report back onto the pile and walked over to the window and opened the curtains. Sunlight flooded the room, blinding her for a second as her eyes adjusted to the brightness. She leaned her arms against the sill and peered outside. The knights' training ground was right under the office and she could see a couple training there.

Most of them were the sons and daughters of the nobles and even after watching their parents get beheaded, they said nothing. To become a knight, one had to swore absolute loyalty to the kingdom. It was because of this oath that they cut ties with their families once they became a knight. But of course, there were still a few knights that stayed by their families' side when Lentis announced the rebellion. They were slain alongside their families. It was a shame, but it had to be done.

She herself had watched her father die but felt nothing as she did so. He was a parasite that had been leeching off the well-being of the people in order to profit. Thinking about him again made her feel disgusted. Worse of all, it was his magic that she inherited and not her mother's. Whenever she used magic, she would be reminded of her sc*m of a father.

Her mother was a common who was unlucky enough to have been born with the ability to use magic. It didn't take long for news of there being a commoner who could use magic to reach the ears of the nobles and her mother was forcefully taken away from her family and presented to her father.

What happened afterward is pretty self-explanatory. After giving birth to her, her mother had been thrown out of the house without a second thought. She was a wind mage and therefore, deemed useless. If Rui had been born with her magic, she would have been thrown out as well. But fate wasn't on her side and she ended up inheriting his magic which she treated more as a curse than a blessing. Ever since she learned the truth about her mother, Rui had avoided using her magic and only relied solely on her swordsmanship.

She made it this far relying only on her skills and not the magic she was cursed with. It was something she was proud of as she made it to the rank of Commander like this. The only times she ever used her magic was when the situation really required her to. And even then, they were nothing compared to their blade. But that was mainly due to the fact that she barely used it at all so it was very weak.

Rui pushed herself from the windowsill and stretched her back which had become sore from hunching over for so long. Maybe she should rest as well. She had been busy all morning and didn't have the time for a break. Since there really wasn't much going on right now, it was the perfect time to go take a nap.

Thirty minutes should have passed by now and she was supposed to go wake Lentis, but he needed the extra rest. If Rui knew anything about him, it was that he was going to work for another twenty-four hours straight the moment he woke up and if he was going to do that, he needed the additional time.

"Hopefully, he won't be too mad at me when he wakes up."

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