Swordmeister of Rome

"It's been a long time. How have you been?"

Marquis Narasha spoke to an empty area in the basement beneath his mansion. It wasn't exactly empty as something was swirling in the emptiness in the shapes of humans. There were a lot of them.

The swirling shadows replied a low, eerie voice,

<Yes… It is… like heaven here. However… food is bad.>

"Wasn't it you that was tired of Harijan meat? Haha, but there is no food better than that anywhere else."

<I see… not everything is perfect…>

"Anyway, thank you for coming so quickly. It has only been a short while since I called for you. It's always amazing to see. I reckon you all heard about what's going on?"

<Yes… We have heard that there is an obstacle to our goal. So you want… the Grand Bander killed?>

"Yes. Someone is hindering our plans. I don't know who he is, but it must be easy for you to find out, I assume?"

<Yes. This should be easy… we have some who were getting tired of staying hidden.>

"I see. I guess you didn't need to bring all of you here for such a thing."

The Marquis answered, but he felt bitter within. He said that killing a Grand Bander was nothing when he himself was a Grand Bander. He did not consider himself to be most powerful in the world, but it felt bitter to feel powerless.

<Then… we will start now. It's better… to solve things quickly. We assume this man will be similar… to your power?>

"Yes, here's the report for basic information. Make sure you do not kill the two men in the report, that will ruin the plan. We just need to remove the Grand Bander who is standing in our way."

The Marquis handed over the report and the drawings of Count Roman and Swordmeister Kiraine.

These two were from opposite factions, but they were also pillars of the kingdom. They were important figures of the kingdom. If they were harmed, it would result in problems.

<Understood… We will take care… of our work… Kirat… go out and find… We will stay at the place… the Marquis provided… We will move… once Kirat finds out.>

At that moment, a small swirl disappeared, and the others followed. Soon, the Marquis was left alone in the basement.

'I'm not sure if this is the best choice.'

These were his last resort to bring in to fight against other countries. He feared them when he faced them for the first time, but he was also filled with joy. They were dangerous but worthy as a powerful weapon. After hiding them within his estate, he began to form a new plan for the best-case scenario. They were to be feared, but it could not be Tian who feared them.

They were too dangerous to bring into the kingdom's affairs like this, but there was no other choice.

He left the basement and headed to the strategy room, where his advisors were waiting.

Sian was sure that the War God had been watching over him in the recent days. There were no blue signals for the past few days, and El-Lua was peaceful. The other districts outside of his area still had problems, but he did not care. Because of this, Celine also had to go help the other districts, which gave Sian complete freedom.

As he patrolled the quiet road, he found something strange.

'What is that?'

It was a transparent, smoky, or watery-like thing moving about on the streets. It seemed that people could not see it as they were not bothered, even when it moved right next to them.

'Is it smelling something?'

It was moving all about the street, especially the damaged areas. To Sian, it seemed like it was sniffing at the damaged area. Sian began to rationalize the situation:

1. That being is very bizarre, so I should go check it out as a Guarran-Tia.

2. Others cannot see it so I can claim I did not see it also if it becomes a problem. Besides, it seems that it will cause headaches if I get involved.

Then he realized he did not need to think about the situation.

'Let's just move away.'

There was no reason to interfere with it. He just needed to move away without doing anything. He turned to the alleyway leading out of the main road. At that moment, the thing seemed to notice him and began heading directly at him at a fast pace.

'Please go away, please go away! War God! Please!'

He kept on walking, pretending that he didn't notice, but his plea to the War God failed.

The thing came up to his face and began sending a strange flow of energy at him. It was just like that feeling from Lady Shuville at Lady Elon's home, and he instinctively reflected the flow without realizing it. At that moment, the thing began shaking severely as if it had met an earthquake.

After a loud thud, the swirl dissipated and a small girl dropped out of it. She looked at Sian blankly and then fell unconscious.

'Oh no…'

Sian felt people gathering, mumbling amongst themselves at the sight, and sighed.

Kal-Rasha thought of her younger sister, who went on a quest to search for the individual at the Marquis' request. She was sure her sister would finish the job perfectly. After all, she was the successor of the name 'Kal.'

Even among the Exers, she was the most powerful, as well as exquisite.

Kal-Kirat, her beloved sister.

The place where she had come from was a living hell. There was nothing she could think of other than survive. She and her people needed to fight day to day to survive, killing Harijans and eating them. They kept moving south as the Harijans in the south were weaker, but it took them a long time. Under the order of the Seven Elders, they moved south, passing by the fallen Empire. After a few hundred years, they arrived and were blocked by the great wall, protected by humans.

The leader of those humans offered to aid them. They helped them move over the wall, and gave them a place to stay.

They finally succeeded in surviving, over thousands of their people's dead bodies in the cursed Empire's land.

This place, however, was too peaceful.

They did not see many humans, but Marquis Narasha seemed like he was one of the strongest among them. She remembered talking among his people, realizing how peaceful their place was.

Eleven of them followed the Elders to help the Marquis who asked for their aid. It seemed like too many to kill just one person, but they were bored, so the Elders approved.

Once Kirat returned with the information on the target, they would move out. They did not know how Kirat was so good at finding people or information, and she did not explain in detail.

All of them did not know much about the others within as it was taboo for them to ask in-depth questions about each other. All they needed was to believe and show results.

They just needed to wait for Kirat to show the way, as she always did.

Kal-Rasha then turned to the food that was served in front of her; it was called dessert. The food wasn't better than Harijan meat, but this dessert was amazing. She needed to eat a lot of it once she had the chance.