Reunions (Part II)

When Raymond noticed the man approaching, he immediately unsheathed his sword and positioned in front of Luna.

"Stop!"

"Raymond, wait."

"Your Highness, this man is suspicious."

"My brooch would've been stolen if it wasn't for him. I must, at least, thank him."

Raymond allowed, although reluctantly, that the man to approach. He sheathed his sword again, but kept his hand holding the grip, remaining watchful to any abrupt moves.

"Here is your brooch, Your Highness." The man offered the object with a gentle smile.

When Raymond heard him saying 'Your Highness', he, once again, positioned himself between the man and the princess.

"That's enough! Leave or I will exert the King's justice!"

"Raymond, calm down, please. If he wanted to do something, he would've already done that." Luna tried to hold her bodyguard's arm, although she wasn't nearly strong enough to actually hold him.

"Exactly. Also, you weren't very… discreet when you called her 'Your Highness' in my presence. But since you despise me so much, I will leave and take this item with me." The traveler smiled sarcastically.

"You..." Raymond got angry with that provocation, but he controlled himself and allowed the man to approach once again, however he was still watchful and with his sword partially unsheathed.

"Well, as I was saying before being rudely interrupted… Here is your brooch."

"Thank you, I will be eternally grateful." the princess thanked with such a pure smile that it should be eternalized in a painting.

When Luna retrieved the brooch, she touched the hand of the traveler and noticed that, despite his worn-out clothing, his skin was soft and well maintained.

"I understand, I'm also very attached to mine." The traveler spread his mantle, revealing his clothing under it.

He was wearing gray boots, a simple brown tunic, and dark pants. He had a medium sword on his belt, and on his tunic, next to the heart, a brooch similar to Luna's, with the same silver dragon making a circle, but the gem at the center had a round shape, and its glow was light blue.

The princess was surprised and looked with curiosity at the brooch, paying attention to every detail. It indeed looked almost identical to hers.

"Who are you? How did you get this?"

"My name is Sariel. It's a pleasure, Luna, the Silver Princess." The traveler bowed.

That movement almost made Raymond unsheathe his sword, but he stopped once he noticed Sariel had no hostile intentions.

"It's a pleasure too, Raymond." Sariel noticed his gesture and provoked him.

"You probably don't work for Ardos… Otherwise you wouldn't waste your time presenting yourself." Luna said.

"Exactly, I came to Fordurn because I got to know about your problems, so I decided to help you."

"So, you are with Aegreon?"

"Ah, no, I told you I'm not working for Ardos, contrary to Aegreon who is from the Council."

"I knew I've heard this name somewhere… Which one of the ten Pillars is he?"

"The Pillar of Conjuration, one of the most mysterious members, and we know almost nothing about him."

The term 'Pilar' was a way of how the members of the Council were identified. Of course, you could call them by their names, however, since they were the strongest people in the world, the term Pillar was adopted, since it was fair to say they were the Pillars that sustain humanity.

"Indeed, that's why trusting him is a mistake, Your Highness. In addition to him being from the Council, he's also one of the most obscure members, not even I know much about him."

"Exactly, going alone with him is risky. It's impossible to know if he says the truth." Sariel agreed.

"I don't have a choice! That's the first time I can actually decide on something, and I choose to act instead of simply waiting and observe things happening like always! This time, I will choose my own fate!"

"I'm sure there's another way, Your Highness. Firstly, we should retu-"

"Firstly, we should talk about this somewhere private." Sariel interrupted. "Let's go back to the inn and talk in the room you rented."

"You're right. Let's go." the princess said.

"Wait, Your Highness. Both Aegreon and Sariel are suspicious. He knows where you have been, knows the Council, and has a brooch like yours that is very likely to be false. He is probably lying."

"Raymond, I understand your concerns, but if he really wanted to do something, he would've already done it. Let's go."

The bodyguard decided to not discuss more, because, considering what he noticed, the traveler knew too much, so he thought it would be better to try to discover what else he knew and what were his objectives. Raymond didn't feel any hostile intentions from him, but he couldn't help but feel uneasy.

The three of them walked back to the inn, with Raymond always watchful, and Sariel keeping his serene carefree expression.

The moment they entered the room, the traveler closed the door.

"Before we discuss, let me do something to protect us from possible curious people."

The next moment, he lifted the right hand that shined weakly with a slightly transparent pink light. After that, the light expanded, spreading to the walls, ceiling, and ground, as if it was covering the whole room. Then, the light stopped shining and suddenly disappeared.

'Illusion magic.' Raymond thought.

"Done. This magic will stop any sound from inside of leaking to outside. We could kill someone here and no one would hear us."

After he said this, Sariel coldly glared at Luna, with a scary hostile and assassin aura flowing from him.

Raymond instantly became tense, and was ready to unsheathe his sword, but the traveler acted before, unsheathed his sword, advanced at Luna's direction, and attacked her.

The bodyguard acted the fastest he could and stood in front of Luna, successfully blocking his enemy's sword.

Both stared at each other. Sariel's cold glare made Raymond feel an urgency in killing him, and the bodyguard counter-attacked with a thrust. Purple sparks of electricity covered the blade while Raymond's sword advanced furiously into Sariel's chest.

However, when the blade was about to hit, a golden sphere of light shone around the traveler, and the sword bounced when it touched the barrier.

'Protection magic!?"

Raymond got surprised and hesitated for a second before attacking again, this time the sword was totally engulfed in thunders, ready to destroy the shield.

He was about to attack when, suddenly, all of Sariel's hostility disappeared, and his face, that still had his cold glare, changed to a carefree expression.

"Well, well, looks like I can trust you." He turned his back to Raymond and walked away from Luna, as if nothing had happened.

"Wha-What?!" Raymond didn't understand anything.

In the interval of just some seconds, Sariel had abandoned his relaxed behavior, attacked the princess with a killing intent, and then returned to his serene mode again. These changes were so abrupt, that the bodyguard was too surprised to attack again.

Luna was also stunned with that attack, but she remained calm.

"Haha! What's the matter? Did you get scared?"

"Say your objectives at once and stop playing around, you bastard! If you do something suspicious again, I won't hesitate to kill you!" Raymond felt like a child being fooled by an adult in that situation, although their ages were similar.

"Raymond, calm down, please." Luna held his arm, trying to stop him from attacking Sariel.

"Your Highness, the sooner he's gone, the better!"

"Relax, I was just checking if you are really trustworthy."

"I'm with Your Highness for years! You should be the one trying to prove your reliability!"

"And? The best spies are the ones who remain years infiltrated, and in a position of high importance. The Angels lived peacefully for decades within us, just to learn everything and then try to exterminate us. But let's leave that aside for now, we should talk about what really matters."

"Alright, but can you please avoid doing anything weird without a warning? I don't want to see you two fighting."

"Don't worry, I won't do anything since your bodyguard has a short temper."

Luna sighed before continuing.

"Can you tell us who are you, where you came from and what are your objectives?"

"Ah, yes, I'll do better than this. I'll briefly tell my history to you, that way, I can answer all your questions before you even ask them." The traveler leaned into the room's wall.

"Well, from where should I start?"

***

Aegreon just left the inn and was heading to a small commercial area to buy food and supplies.

He was walking down a dark and empty alley when he suddenly stopped.

"You do understand that I've noticed you already, right?"

After he said that, a silhouette behind him started to slowly come out from the darkness.

But it wasn't like a person who was hiding in the shadows, but she was entirely made from darkness itself. Her whole body was entirely black, as if the shadow from a person had lost its owner and was wandering around.

"What a shame... I thought that, at this point, I was good enough to deceive you." a sensual female voice said.

"You still have a long way, but it's enough to kill someone from the Vigil."

The woman finished exiting from the shadows and her figure became evident. She was wearing dark and tight leather clothes, highlighting her slender and sensual body, although she was fairly short. She had a dark mantle, as dark as a night without a moon or stars. She also was using a black fox mask, with a red outline around the eyes, and white lines that resembled the wind blowing.

"Now, can you explain why you have been following since the palace, Shiina?"

The assassin removed her mask, revealing her beautiful and seducing face. Her eyes were slanted and as dark as her clothing. Her hair was long, tied in a ponytail, and dark with gray locks.

She had a sensual voice, she still emanated her attractiveness when talking normally, and, considering her body, she probably had an easy time with missions involving men, and some women too.

"Let's say Ardos and the Protection Pillar commissioned me to kill the little princess you are helping."

"Are you sure? This is not something they would do."

"There's no doubt. I received a letter with the Council's official stamp."

"And are you going to continue with this contract?"

"Well, if I go against Ardos' orders, I will be hunted by the whole Vigil. Thinking logically, there are no advantages in helping you."

Aegreon remained silent while menacingly staring at Shiina.

"But, since it's you, then I'll overlook this. You are lucky, because if you were anyone else from the Council, I would've already killed the little princess a long time ago."

"You'd better not provoke me." Aegreon got irritated at Shina's comments and looked coldly at her.

"I'm sorry, sorry. Your mood was a little better in the last time we met."

Aegreon didn't answer.

"Well, you want to go to Astrum Lux, right? My abilities will be useful to you, so I'll follow you. That way, I'll be able to pay my debt with you."

"I hope you're not planning in betraying me, you know that would be a terrible ideia." Aegreon turned and continued his original path.

"Don't worry, I will help you until your objective is achieved."