A Red Carpet Welcome

"D*mn it... I knew I should've been in the vanguard..." Rui cursed at herself for not listening to her instincts. The captain told her that he had it taken care of and that sending too many soldiers would be disadvantageous because they would risk hitting each other in such a small room. But now, look how things turned out. There wasn't a captain anymore to tell her off. He was dead along with the rest of his squad.

Rui peered into the bloodied doorway and counted fifteen bodies. The exact number of soldiers that went in. In other words, the entire squad was killed by them. "What happened?" Iris tried to peek into the room but was pulled back by Kies. "Hey!" she complained. "I wanna see!"

Iris struggled to get Kies to loosen his grip but he wouldn't let go. He pulled Iris away from the place and told her what it was. When they came back a moment later, she had a sickened look on her face and lost all interest in trying to see what was behind the door.

"Iceblade Rui, shall we head in?" a couple of guards approached her and asked Rui. Iceblade was her title. Apparently, all royal guards had a title that matched their skills or fighting style, and Rui's was Iceblade. It was a very impressive title that was given to her because of her magic.

"No," Rui instantly refused the idea. "It's too dangerous. I'll go in," she proposed instead.

"What? But-" the guards looked like they wanted to say something but stopped themselves. Rui was a higher rank than them and she had the final say in this matter. They couldn't say no to any of her decisions. Rui drew her sword and marched into the dark building by herself.

Kies and the others watched as she disappeared into the room. Her footsteps made a splashing sound as they collided with what was presumably blood on the floor. After a bit, the sound disappeared and they no longer had any way to know if Rui was still okay or not.

After she went in, the guards also moved up, but respected her orders and didn't enter. They instead stood guard outside of the door to make sure that no one else goes in or comes out.

"Are you sure that we can't trust her?" Kies quietly asked Iris. She told him that the royal guards were blaming the princesses for the poisoning of the queen, but Rui seemed like a person that was open to reason. They could talk to her about the problem and she could help them greatly with it.

"It's better if we don't risk it," Iris whispered back. Rui may look like a reasonable person, but it was better if they just kept to themselves.

"Okay then..." As much as Kies wanted to get this whole mess over with, he had to respect Iris' decision since there is nothing wrong with being careful. Being too careful may cause them to lose opportunities, but being careless may cause them to lose their lives.

They waited patiently outside of the building for Rui. An hour passed and she still didn't come out. The guards were starting to get worried, but they soon were relieved to see Rui coming out of the door perfectly unharmed. Even though she was fine, she had an unhappy look on her face.

"What happened, Iceblade Rui?" the soldiers asked her when he came out. Behind her, the sands stained red with her footsteps from the blood for a little bit before they faded off. She stopped in front of Kies and told them about what she saw. "There's a bunch of dangerous beasts in the basement. The entire place is also booby-trapped to the brim. You can't go one meter without getting a needle, knife, or whatever shot at you from within the walls."

"Sounds... dangerous," Kies agreed.

"So these smugglers that I'm after and the thieves that you're after are the same people..."

"Yes, they are." They got that already when they saw the maps. They showed the same exact place.

"Well, I guess I will have to report this. But before that, I need to take care of those beasts. Can't have them getting loose. But before that, I need to chase after those thieves... Ugh..."

"One thing at a time," Kies told her. Worrying about too many things will get her nowhere. It was best if they did everything in order.

"I know. I'll kill those beasts first. Then I'll chase after them. Then, I'll make the report after that... No, wait... I can't," Rui ruffled her hair frustratedly. "I can make the report right now," Rui snapped her fingers and a snowflake appeared in her hand. "But I need to chase after those thieves or otherwise they will get away."

"I can deal with the beasts," Kies offered. It didn't sound like that hard of a task since they should all be locked up in the basement. All he needed to do was kill them while they were restrained.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Alright. You have my gratitude then. I'll go and chase the thieves in the meantime." Rui turned to her guards and waved for them to follow her. "Come! We're chasing those thieves!"

"Yes!" The guards hurried over to her.

Rui looked back at Kies and gave him a warning before she headed off. "The place still has a lot of traps. I didn't clear them all so be careful. Actually, I think it's best if I-"

"Don't worry, I can handle it," Kies assured her. Even if there were traps, they couldn't kill him. Unless the traps were imbued with powerful magic, nothing could get through his cloak. And even if it did, it had to hit his core for him to die.

"Okay... I'll leave it to you then." Rui hesitated for a moment, contemplating on whether or not she should really leave Kies to deal with all this, but Kies pointed out to her that she was wasting time standing here and that the thieves were getting further away the more time she spent standing here.

Rui cursed to herself when he realized this. "You're right... We're moving out now!" she called out to her guards. "Be careful," she gave Kies one final warning before running off.

Kies, Iris, and Wompa watched as the guards rode away on their horses and then turned back to the old trashed-up building. Kies started to walk towards it but Iris stopped him. "Wait, I'll come with you."

"No, there are bodies in there. You don't want to see them." He was already used to seeing blood so he didn't mind it at all, but Iris, on the other hand, didn't seem like the type that had seen this stuff before so it was best if she didn't go in, or so he thought. Iris didn't agree with his decision.

"I can handle it. This isn't the first time I've seen bodies."

"I don't think you can. They're badly mutilated." Rui told him that their heads were almost split from their necks and body parts were everywhere. It wasn't a pretty sight.

"Stop treating me like a child! I'm- I'm..." Iris' voice faded off. "The reason why you don't like talking to me is that you think I'm a child, isn't it?" Iris asked him.

"Hm? Why would I-" Kies stopped and thought about it for a moment. His first impression of her was immature and hot-headed, and he's never taken anything she said seriously. What she said was true. He treated her like a child because she was always messing with him. He always tried to ignore her because he thought of her like a toddler. In reality, she was a lot more mature than that.

"You're right..." Kies realized. Without knowing it, he started thinking of her as an annoying kid who wouldn't get off his back. But she was a deep thinker. She was caring. She got right back up and walked it off after what those mercenaries almost did to her. She was a lot stronger than she looked.

"Please, just trust me," Iris begged Kies with pleading eyes. "I kept your secret safe all this time. You can at least trust me that much," she pointed out. She didn't know when Kies started thinking of her as untrustworthy, but it needed to change.

Wompa didn't know what her sister was talking about when she referred to his secret but also nodded her head in support of her sister.

"Alright..." If even Wompa said so, then he should let her. "I guess I should say sorry," he apologized to her for treating her like an annoying brat all this time.

"It's okay. I know I'm annoying... I'll try to be... less annoying."

"You're fine. I'm just not used to it," he told her. He wasn't used to traveling with people, and whenever he did, it was for mutual benefit. But most of the time, he ended up having to protect them or something and he was tired of it. Iris was different. Even though she still needed his protection, she had the ability to somewhat protect herself so he didn't need to worry about her all that much. "Anyway, let's head in."

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