Ch. 10 The Knight
1157 Words
Nana felt something warm penetrate her body and merge with her magic power while she was in Aria's arms. She felt that her strength had gone up a level, and she had obtained one more kind of beast that he could summon.
The girl shook her head and withdrew before Aria fell unconscious from giving her a magic transfusion without realizing it.
"Even if you offend me, I have no right to be mad. I just didn't expect you to think of me as a friend. The others must be very envious."
Aria chuckled at that. "What should I think of you if you're not my friend? Aren't you on my side?"
"On your side? Lady Aria, do you understand the meaning of claiming ownership of the Sovereign token?"
Aria scratched her neck awkwardly while answering. "Is there a special meaning? At the time, I just didn't want Lyod's token to be stolen or belong to someone else. At the same time, I feel like I once had this token, but… I don't think that's possible."
Nana smiled as she grabbed Aria's hand, who was holding the rectangular token.
"You really are her," Nana muttered in a voice so low that it was barely audible.
"Who?"
"Lady Aria, did you know that we no-face squad are just slaves in token space?"
Aria's brows furrowed in disapproval of the girl's words. What does it mean by slaves?
"We were given the immortality and invincibility power that everyone craved most. In exchange, we are slaves to our masters. Anyone who claims ownership of sovereign tokens can use our full power and command us whatever he wants."
Nana and the others knew that once someone claimed them, they would never escape until their master died. It's a different story if a vampire lord wants them. They would be under the vampire's hand for the rest of their lives, considering the vampire had an eternal lifespan.
They cleverly hid in the Enchanted Forest. No vampire would dare to enter the forest, and if anyone were desperate, the heart would chase them away.
"Have… you ever…."
"No. You are our first master, but… we are still in touch with our comrades in other tokens. We can feel what they feel."
Their comrades were being used as trading tools, as services that the no-face squad could perform. They were dressed like everyone else to hide that they were squad members and blend in so that no one would recognize them as a no-face squad.
Nana also wore a no-face uniform armor, but she decided to dress normally, so Aria would feel comfortable with her.
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"At least we had better luck meeting you."
Aria didn't know what to say other than give a friendly smile. "It's already late. Let's get some sleep, shall we?" Aria stretched out her hand to repeat her offer.
This time Nana accepted, and they both slept soundly, with Allidragon being their guardian.
They continued their journey while chatting for the next and the following day. The closer they got to the countryside, the fewer animals followed them.
On the second day, when Aria was close to the exit, Nana returned to the token space to be replaced with an aristocratic man dressed like a gallant knight.
This man had unique platinum hair with sapphire blue eyes. The strange part was… Aria felt familiar with this man's posture.
"Athalos at your service, my lady," greeted the man while giving a typical knight salute.
"Athalos? So this is how you look." Aria recognized this person from his voice. This person was the first to speak in her mind when she summoned the no-face squad for the first time. And it was this man who warned her of her father. "Can I call you Atha?"
"As you wish."
Unlike Nana, who loved to tell stories and never ran out of things to talk about, Atha was quieter but never stopped smiling. Even when the man wasn't smiling, his face seemed to have a smile.
"You don't talk much, do you?"
"Is there something you want to talk about?" instead of answering, the man asked back.
"Hm… how old are you? I know that's a silly question, but… it's been a long time since I wanted to ask it the day I met Nana." Aria wanted to ask Nana's age, but seeing her childlike figure, it was really hard to ask.
"My apology. It's not that I don't want to answer it, but I don't know myself. We slept for more than ten centuries until, at one point, we no longer found out the date of the day we woke up. We haven't celebrated our birthdays in a long time, so…" To be more precise, they had no recollection of when they celebrated their birthdays.
Aria sighed in resignation while shaking her head. Why does she always ask the wrong things? She felt herself constantly reminding the squad of unhappy things.
At least Atha would not cry like Nana.
"I heard you are a seal specialist and a demon hunter."
"Yes, my lady."
"What kind of demon you hunt?"
"Everything that comes from the Underworld."
"Care to explain what the Underworld is?"
Underworld was a parallel world to the one Aria knew. If this world has four realms, so does the underworld, but had no portal in each domain. The difference was that the occupants and the practical use of magic differ from this world.
Most of the underworld was filled with black magic and beasts whose only purpose was to kill. These creatures were called demons, and the most annoying and troublesome creature who sovereign there were called undeads.
"They also have vampires, werewolves, fox-men, and mimicry. However, all of them were evil and only knew to kill their whole life."
"Should I worry that the demon would come to this world?"
"Nothing to worry about. No one can leave the Underworld without the gatekeeper's permission."
"How about your sealing skills? Can you seal all kinds of energy?"
"Yes, my lady."
"..." Aria was pensive hearing this, and a few seconds later, she smiled faintly as she continued on her way.
Atha realized what Aria was thinking, and this made him sigh sadly.
"Lady Aria, I hope you never ask me what you think."
Aria turned to Atha and pretended not to know. "What am I thinking?"
"..." Atha didn't answer when he realized they were approaching the border. "We have arrived. I don't think you need me anymore."
"Eh?"
"My lady, in case something bothers you that you can barely hold it in, don't forget to summon us. Of course, we can force our way out of the token space, but our power will not only weaken, but yours will also drop. Therefore, you should summon us first so that the token's strength can maintain our existence."
"Wait..." Alas, Atha has returned to the token space.
- Writer
