The Queen's Retainers

"Hm? What's there?" Mika wondered as he looked over her shoulder.

The person, who was approaching them, was a man seemingly in his late twenties with long and spiky orange hair. His skin was tanned and his eyes were beige.

He wore black pants paired with boots, however, he covered his upper body with just a beige robe, which was tattered in some spots. Due to him being just lightly clothed above, one could peek at his well-trained and muscular body.

"Yo, long time no see, Ophelia! What are you doing here, after all those years?" the man greeted them with a genuine wide smile.

"Zack..."

Ophelia sounded surprised but also annoyed.

"Who is he, Ms. Ross?"

"Ross? Is that the name you go by now?" he chimed in pondering as he tilted his head and crossed his arms.

"Shhh! Be quiet!"

Ophelia silenced him quickly by putting her hands on his mouth.

"A-anyways, let me introduce him to you, Mika... This man is Zack Yorn. He's one of the retainers of the current queen of Rostanta." she explained while holding off Zack from opening his mouth.

But Zack managed to free himself.

"Hey, what are you doing- Uff!"

Ophelia did not let this chance slip off and hit him in the stomach without holding back.

"Stay here. I will have a nice chat with him for a minute." she said as she locked his head in her arm and dragged him somewhere else.

"..."

Mika just stood there flabbergasted not knowing what was going on.

"So he is a retainer, huh..."

From what he heard from Gerard and Ophelia, the nation of Rostanta was known for settling its problems with fights.

Be it small disputes, like who was in the right or in the wrong, court or political matters, they would let the different parties fight against each other and in the end, the winner would have the say.

Despite its barbaric nature, which makes other people tend to think that the nation is in chaos, the people living there have their manners and respect each other.

And if there were troublemakers, the police force, which consists of the nation's strongest and most disciplined people, are there to keep them in check.

Everything was based on violence.

Even the spot for the throne and the positions around it, like retainers, will be decided in the same manner.

But surprisingly, it was always someone from the bloodline from the first king, who prevailed against the rest for the crown.

And maybe it was because of the regular fighting and the mindset of the winner being the one in the right, that this nation, which was the second smallest nation, was also one of the strongest nations in Lorw.

"Wasn't the current queen said to be the youngest and strongest in the history of Rostanta's kings and queens...?" Mika pondered quietly while waiting for Ophelia to return.

Speaking of the devil, Ophelia came back with Zack following her.

"What were you talking about?"

She threw a fierce glare at Zack.

"N-nothing important, haha..." he laughed it off wryly.

"Putting that aside, what are you even doing here, Mr. Yorn?" she asked him with a smile that did not reach her eyes.

"Well, I'm here on the orders of you- I meant I was sent here to investigate this case." he replied while correcting himself in the middle.

His eyes shifted to the crater.

"Under the orders of our queen, we are to investigate the crater and its cause." he added seriously.

"And did you find out anything?" Ophelia asked.

"Yes. Since we've been stationed here for the last few days, we got hold of some relevant information. In fact, we decided to move to the next location today."

"Next location? Tell us more about it." she said as she raised her eyebrows.

However, he raised his hand with the palm facing Ophelia.

"I have to stop there. This is a matter the queen entrusted to us. We can't involve strangers."

This time, Mika stepped in and grabbed his raised hand.

"Please, Mr. Yorn, brief us in. My friends are potentially victims of this case. They went missing on a quest here and therefore Ms. Ross and I came here to find and rescue them." Mika explained.

"..."

Zack looked at him with pity.

"You're saying that you can't involve strangers because you can't measure their strength, right? I know that you don't want them to get into danger. However, you know what I'm capable of and I can also reassure you that this brat is even on a whole other level than me." Ophelia whispered into Zack's ear.

"Huh? What?! You mean him?!" he could not trust his ear as he pointed towards Mika in surprise.

"What's with me?" Mika asked confused.

"..."

He continued to stare at Mika with his jaw dropped.

But then, he heaved a sigh.

"Fine... Let's talk somewhere else for now... Follow me." Zack said defeated.

Thus, the two followed Zack, who led them to a nearby house.

"This is our current base of operations." he said before he knocked on the door.

"Open the door, Wendy! We have some guests!" he announced in a commanding and yet tired tone.

"Wendy?"

Ophelia sounded surprised.

He knocked, but there was no sign for three minutes.

Therefore, he knocked again, or rather, banged on the door loudly.

And finally, the door slowly opened with a creaking sound.

"You're too damn loud, Zack..."

The voice appeared childish.

"Then, why did you take so long to open the door?" he asked threateningly while smiling.

"To get dressed, of course!"

The door was opened wide and in front of the three stood a small girl, who was at least a head smaller than Mika.

The girl seemed like she was a child based on her small body. Her face also seemed like that of a young girl.

Her long hair was unkempt and her still-tired green eyes, which were common for wind mages, matched her hair color.

She wore wide dark blue pants as well as a pair of black high heels. In addition, she wore a black skin-tight long-sleeve with an iron plate on her chest.

"Wendy..." Ophelia muttered as if she was almost speechless.

Then, the girl looked up to Ophelia.

It was only then that her eyes got rid of tiredness.

"Ophelia!"

Overjoyed, she jumped at her and went for a tight hug.

"Ophelia! It's been too long!"

Small tears of happiness formed in her eyes.

With a soothed smile, Ophelia stroked her head gently.

Only a minute later, Zack interrupted them as he cleared his throat awkwardly.

"I don't want to disturb you, but there are still some things left to do."

"But first things first, how about you introduce yourself to the other guest?" he added as he looked over to Mika.

While still hugging Ophelia, the girl faced Mika with a smile on her face.

"Sure! My name is Wendy Relaren. I'm a retainer of the nation's queen! Nice to meet you!"

"I'm Mika Elbar. Nice to- Wait! You're a retainer, too?! At such a young age?!"

"Young age? Hehe, boy you're flattering me..." she said with a blushing face while twirling the ends of her hair with her finger.

"You may not believe it, but she is actually older than me." Zack stated bluntly.

"Huh?!"

Mika could not close his jaw as he looked back and forth between Wendy and Zack.

However, after a few moments, he accepted reality.

Sighing, he approached Wendy.

"How long do you plan on clinging onto, Ms. Ross? Do you know each other?" he asked.

"Ms. Ross?"

She looked up to her.

"Well, you see..."

She was nervously and desperately searching for words.

Wendy looked at Zack, who was standing behind Mika.

He pointed at Ophelia and then formed a cross with his forearms.

"I don't know her?" she said confused about her own words.

"Well, that's what I'm asking you." Mika responded warily.

"I-"

However, before she could continue, a man equipped with full armor approached Zack.

He removed his helmet, revealing his face.

The man had a brown and thick mustache as well as brown hair only on the sides of his head leaving the middle part bald.

His yellow eyes meant that he was able to use lightning magic.

However, even though he had the equipment of a knight, he seemed rather out of shape and on his round face there were already wrinkles.

"Mr. Retyr?"

"No need to be so formal with me, Mr. Yorn. You can call me Gustav." the man said with a relaxed attitude.

"Did something happen?" Wendy asked releasing Ophelia from the hug.

"I came here to announce that we're ready to depart." Gustav stated firmly.

"Good. We will be ready shortly. Let's meet up outside." Zack said.

"Yes!"

The knight left the house.

"Where are you going?" Ophelia asked.

"I already told you, didn't I? We are moving to the next location."

"Are you coming with us?"

Wendy's eyes were beaming with joy.

"Think twice if you want to tag along. Even if your friends may be involved in this case. Our destination is for sure not a pleasant one." Zack warned them with his gaze, especially on Mika.

"What's the destination?"

It did not matter what the answer was.

Mika was determined to go no matter what.

"We are heading to the enemy's hideout."

Zack sharpened his eyes.

"This time, we will ambush the demon."