V. Mourn

At the Lunarfall Castle, Lunexe City..

"Your Majesty, Commander Hiedd has come back from his search." Said the King's Advisor, his name is Vincent.

King Aston who heard Vincent suddenly jolted up from his throne, he couldn't wait any longer, as he walked forward hurriedly, he told his Advisor..

"Open the door, quick."

"Understood, Open the door! Let Commander Hiedd enter!" Said Vincent to the knights guarding the door.

The knights soon opened the massive door for the Majesty and Hiedd, the two of them met at the entrance, before Hiedd could enter the room, King Aston had already approached him, he then grabbed Hiedd's shoulder and demands his report.

"Hiedd, tell me, did you succeed?.." Aston said in distress.

Hiedd saw Aston's desperate face, it was a face that he frequently saw throughout his life as a commander, a face that can only be made when someone lost their loved one, although Hiedd wasn't the only commander in the castle who was tasked with the search for Princess Calea, he still felt like it was his fault that he failed to capture the culprit or even tracked his trail.

After a brief delay, Hiedd finally spoke..

"Your Majesty, i— I'm truly sorry, we couldn't find Princess Calea traces, the kidnapper didn't left any mana residue and there was no footprints that were seen inside or outside of Lunexe"

That sentence hit deep inside Aston's heart, he didn't know he could feel this hopeless, he thought he was a strong leader, yet he couldn't even prevent his own daughter from being kidnapped, if only he observed Calea more often, if only he paid attention to her..

"Is that so..." Aston said.

"Your Majesty..."

Aston then let go of his hand from Hiedd's shoulder before fixing his posture and stands tall, he realized that he just showed everyone something that a king shouldn't do, and he felt a bit embarrassed about it.

"Ehem— Have we checked all of the small villages and town throughout the kingdom?" Aston said, his voice goes back to the usual stern and charismatic.

"So far, we had only searched Lunexe and its surrounding, we arrived at the cross section between Aquaris River and Liqua River, other than that we also went into the Mudleave Swamp, but because of the monsters that lived there, thorough search might take some time, Your Majesty" Hiedd replied, "If we want to send soldiers to each of the villages and towns in the kingdom, it would mean sacrificing our defense in this city, i suggest we should just send an official order to the guards at every villages and town and then make them report back their findings"

"Hmm— You're right, i also think sending out soldiers is not the best idea right now– What do you think Vincent?" Aston said, he turned his head around to see Vincent behind him.

"I think it's not a bad idea, we can just send two knights to each villages and towns as a messenger instead of ten knights, that way we can reduce the amount of mobilized soldiers." Vincent added.

"And if we didn't receive a report from one place or two, we can assume that there's something going on there and check it out ourselves." Hiedd responded.

Aston then nodded at the suggestion, and at that moment, an official order was made and shared throughout the kingdom, not a single place was left behind, the next day, many knights will leave the city to go to their respective destination in the kingdom.

However, a few hours after the order was decided, Aston was seen in his royal bedroom, he sat down on a chair with a wooden desk infront of him, a candle became his companion in this rough moments as the sun set beyond the horizon, although he always tries to hide it from others, when Aston was left alone, he couldn't bear the tears that were stored in his eyes, his mind was filled with Calea and the moment where he would see her and occassionally greets her, for some reason, Aston couldn't find any memory of him hugging or playing with Calea.

"Was i, really that out of touch with my own daughter.." He said, "Now that i think of it, she grew up with the maids and butlers, i was way too busy with my role as a king, i forget about the fact that in the middle of being a leader, i'm also a father.."

Creakk..

Someone suddenly opened the door to Aston's bedroom, it caught him off guard and he immediately wiped his tears off of his face, it would be unpleasant if any of his people saw him like this.

"Dear?..." Said someone behind Aston, that voice sounded familiar to him, too familiar that he immediately knew who it was.

Aston looked back and saw Verosa, peeking through the door crevice, her face looks concerned, she must've felt the same thing as her husband.

"..Verosa– A- ah, im sorry.." Aston said, feeling a little embarrassed for showing his weak side to his wife.

It wasn't long before Verosa comes in and hugged Aston tightly, she covered him with her warmth and just then, the world seems to stop rotating as they began to share their emotions, convincing each other that everything would be fine, that they shouldn't dwell on the past and blame themselves for it.

"You might not know, but Calea isn't a weak girl anymore, she has found her talent at magic, and i heard she's pretty strong— Let's believe in her.. No matter where she is, we'll find her– that's a promise." Verosa whispered, her soothing voice felt like an angel to Aston's ears.

If only she hadn't said that infront of Aston, he wouldn't burst into tears at this very moment, even though it's still in the evening, it seems like the day was over for the two royal couple at the castle, with the newly found spirit, Aston promised that he would be better from this point on, mourning at the lost of someone is a normal behaviour, however if he didn't move on and take another step in life, he will never be a good leader, if he's not a king, then who will lead this kingdom into greatness? As long as his body still breathing, he will stop at nothing for the prosperity of his people.

'Wait for me, Calea.. I will meet you again, as my new self.'

***

Back to the enslavement camp at an unknown place..

Everyone who has chosen their instructor was told to go back to their shack, however instead of living in the same roof for every boys at the camp, they're now living at a different shack from each other, the wooden shacks was divided into 6 and they represent all of the instructors weapon.

Inside of the Scythe's Shack..

"Man.. They really made us walk for 10 minutes, this building is way too far from that open field" Said a boy in there with black short hair and brown eyes, his name was Deon Wynsteph.

"Yeah, and we almost got caught up in the rain.." Another boy who had a dark green hair and black eyes replied to Deon, his name was Zayn Coldstone.

As Zayn and Deon were talking, another boy stood up from his sitting position and gathered everyone's attention by clapping once, he then said..

"Hey, you all have been staying silent this whole time, i thought that since we're on the same boat here, and we have somehow ended up with the same instructor, why don't we introduce ourselves? Im guessing we'll work as a team in the future, so knowing each other will make things easier."

The boy who just spoke had a blonde hair that almost stretches to his chin, his eyes glowed in blue color like a calm ocean, his body was well built, showing sign of early training.

After the boy spoke, everyone simultaneously collected their thoughts, they all went silent for a few seconds, before Deon rised his hand up.

"That's okay by me, i think i also don't want to call you guys slave number 1, 2, and 3— My name is Deon Wynsteph."

"Uhh, i'm Zayn Coldstone."

"My name is Orbeth Deadcrow"

"I'm Seir Medd."

"Nice to meet you, just call me Endi, Laveren Endi."

"Ehh, i guess it's my turn, My name is Hughen Aimworth! Let's be friend!"

"Vedra Redborn"

"Oohh, That's a sick name! Mine is Kalioseth Emberwon, you can call me Kalios."

"Shut up." Vedra responded to Kalios coldly.

8 People have told their name, now it's just Calea and the blonde boy left, everyone in the building looked at Calea, they were curious with her name since she was the only girl in this whole camp.

"You, You're the only girl i saw in this place, i didn't expect you'd be here, that time when you pushed that guy for his spot was brutal. What's your name?" Deon asked.

"Now that you said it, i also didn't see any girl except her! She might be a special case!" Orbeth replied.

Having everyone's eyes locked onto Calea made her feel extremely uncomfortable, it's as if she was being framed for doing something wrong, when in reality they're just curious, at first Calea wanted to tell them her real name, however after opening her mouth, she remembered Nedu's reaction upon hearing her name.

'—If i tell them my real name, they would probably have the same reaction as him, and gaining that much attention isn't really a good idea, especially in this place..' Calea thought.

"Umm— My name is.. Karera Deremica" She said with a little bit of smile, trying to convince everyone that it's her real name, thankfully they all believed her and nodded.

"That's a nice name, nice to meet you" Said Endi.

"...Alright, i guess that leaves me alone" Said the blonde boy, "My name is Carsel Fa' Bloodheir"

When Carsel said his name infront of everyone, their eyes widened as if they're in shock with Carsel's name.