While she continued to stand at the balcony and overlook the city of Belmud, Arielle saw the figure of a bird in the distance. Looking closer, she saw that it was a small, green bunting bird quickly heading towards her. One glance was enough to tell her that this was no ordinary bunting.

“Ian. Guard the door. The Verdant Druid is here.”

“Yes my liege-lady.”

Arielle heard the sound of footsteps which was soon followed by the sound of a door opening then closing behind her as Ian complied with her orders. A few seconds later, she heard the sound of flapping wings as the bunting drew closer. Before long, the bunting flew past her shoulder and landed behind her.

With a repressed sigh, Arielle spoke as she turned around and faced the woman who suddenly appeared behind her.

“My lady, Velvina the Verdant. It is an honour to meet you again.”

While giving a slight bow, Velvina responded to Arielle’s greetings.

“Greetings my lady, Arielle Vyatch. Duke Nathanael Katsuragi sends his regards.”

As per usual Velvina had bright green shoulder-length hair which almost appeared as if it was connected to her dark green cloak. The tone of her voice being both impartial and formal. Of course, Arielle replied in a similarly polite manner.

“I thank Duke Katsuragi for his kind regards. That being said, I simply cannot express my gratitude for his generosity. There are a few people who are willing to risk their precious pegasus knights in combat. There are even less who would put them in the command of someone else.”

“The Duke is a vigilant man. He will take any measures necessary to ensure that the chances of failure are reduced to an absolute minimum.”

When Arielle heard Velvina’s response, a rather dangerous thought appeared in her mind. And when that thought revealed itself to her, it stuck to her mind and would not leave. But instead of trying to rid herself of this thought, she embraced it when she spoke.

“Reduce chances of a failure to a minimum you say? Is that also why he sent me, a person who had recently joined his retinue instead of one of his closest confidants here? So that he can protect his own reputation? Because if I were to succeed, then he would receive part of the credit for his contributions. But if I were to fail…”

Arielle paused for a single second before she resumed speaking, her eyes looking directly into Velvina’s lake-blue eyes when she did so.

“Then only the Vyatch family and the Chivalric Royal Knightage will be dishonoured. Especially since the pegasus knights have been placed in my command. If they too were to fail alongside me, then the blame could be shifted to my ‘incompetence.’ You call him ‘vigilant,’ I call him a coward.”

The Verdant Druid’s only reaction to Arielle’s words was complete and utter silence, prompting Arielle to speak up once again.

“Is what I said not true?”

“Because I respect you my lady, I will pretend that I didn’t hear any of that.”

The green-haired woman didn’t even seem to be bothered by the rude implications within Arielle’s statement. Her demeanour and disposition remained impartial. With a shrug, Arielle gave her reply.

“Then I’ll pretend that I never said it.”

She didn’t even know why she deliberately provoked Velvina and questioned her master. Perhaps this was the result of Arielle suppressing her frustrations with Duke Katsuragi for too long. No matter what it was, she was just glad that the situation didn’t take a turn for the worst. As ‘odd’ as Velvina may be, at least she wasn’t vindictive.

Although, Arielle did have to admit that she did indeed feel a little bit calmer than before. It would seem that her rant may have alleviated a portion of her stress. Regardless, she still kept a friendly and polite demeanour when she changed the subject.

“So I assume that there is a reason that the Duke sent you back to the Principality of Valha?”

“Yes. He wishes for you to be informed of a critical development in the area.”

Arielle was surprised by Velvina’s choice of words. When discussing events of concern such as rebellions or conspiracies, Velvina would often use the word ‘development.’ However, Arielle had never heard Velvina describe a development with the word ‘critical’ before. As if she had read Arielle’s thoughts, Velvina said something that left Arielle in a state of utter shock.

“There had been a disturbing change in the Winds of Magic.”

“What?! When?!”

Arielle couldn’t help but question what this ‘disturbing change’ was. As one of the few knights who practiced magic, she was well aware of the importance of the ‘Winds of Magic.’ In contrast to the dismayed Arielle, Velvina remained calm when she responded.

“Roughly a week ago. Both the Royal Magos and the Royal Seers detected a peculiarity within the winds of magic. The amount of daemonic corruption within the Principality of Valha has slowly but surely risen over the course of the past few weeks. The change was so subtle that not even I felt it. However, that is not the point of concern...”

“If the changes happened over the past few weeks then that must mean that the changes started happening a few weeks ago.”

Arielle quickly identified what the key point of concern was.

“That was roughly the time that I left Riliana…”

“That is correct.”

Velvina nodded to confirm Arielle’s suspicions before she began to bid her farewell.

“Now that my purpose here has been fulfilled, I will now take my leave. Farewell, my lady Arielle Vyatch. May the deities continue to watch over you.”

Arielle was not surprised at all by the bluntness of Velvina’s farewell. Thus, it wasn’t difficult for Arielle to say her goodbyes.

“Likewise. Farewell, my lady Velvina. And please, give the Duke my kind regards.”

“I will.”

When she said those two words, Velvina’s cloak suddenly flew upwards and her figure disappeared, leaving behind a few green feathers in her wake. When Arielle turned her gaze back towards the western sky, she saw the silhouette of a green bunting bird which shrunk in size as it flew farther into the distance.

Arielle let out a long sigh before she left the balcony and entered inside the castle.

After she closed the balcony’s doors, she sat down on her bed as she contemplated to herself. If daemonic corruption had risen within a province then ‘they’ must have become more active in the area. And if they became active in the area at around the same time that Arielle departed Riliana, then that must mean that their goals are the same.

Glancing to the image of her reflection within the mirror to her right, she found that her expression had become undeniably grim. Although she still maintained an elegant appearance with her bright orange hair being tied into a braid bun, the anxious look in her eyes betrayed her elegant outlook.

Yet she could not allow herself to show any such signs of weakness. She was Arielle Vyatch. Not only did she represent herself and her family, but she represented His Majesty as well. After giving herself some time to adjust her appearance, Arielle called out to the door with a solemn voice.

“Sir Ian!”

“Yes my liege-lady?”

Ian quickly entered the door upon hearing her call, his right hand grasping onto the hilt of his sword.

“The situation has changed, meet with Leistro and Jarren now, inquire about anything of note that happened in the past two months. Whether it is related to our case or not I do not care.”

Arielle stood back up to match Ian’s height as she gave her orders, her manner and disposition being far less playful than it was before.

“After that, order them to double the patrols, double the guards, double everything!”

She paused for a moment to take a deep breath before she said a single solemn sentence.

“The Crimson Cult is here.”

…

Meanwhile, within another room of Belmud’s castle. Thyvin thoughts clouded his mind as he paced back and forth within his room. His skeleton knights remained guard at all possible points of entry, including the windows and the balcony’s doors. On top of their ‘magic vision,’ skeleton knights also had ‘magic hearing,’ meaning that they were excellent sentries.

Right now, he was revising and reviewing the recent turn of events that had just occurred within Belmud. In particular, the host of elite foreign knights who now took residence within the castle.

Although he knew that a host of Chivalric Royal Knights from the Franko Kingdom had arrived in the Principality of Valha a few weeks ago, he didn’t know that the leader of the military expedition was none other than Arielle Vyatch. As with most things, his family neglected to inform him of this important piece of information.

Arielle’s reputation was impressive to say the least. Even Thyvin was aware of her fervent devotion and loyalty towards the King of the Franko Kingdom. Apparently she neither questioned her King’s orders nor did she fail to complete any of them. So much so that she has earned herself the moniker of the ‘Blazing Dog’ with some more vulgar people calling her the ‘Blazing Bitch.’

Although he would have preferred to avoid it, he still had to introduce himself to Arielle when he came across her by chance while Leistro was still taking her through a tour of the castle. As a member of the nobility and especially the Eikthyrnir family, Thyvin had to adhere to noble etiquette.

In his short but brief meeting with Arielle, he told her that he was retainer for the Belmud branch of the Eikthyrnir family. His parents claimed that becoming a vassal retainer under one of his cousins was an ‘esteemed position befitting of him.’ Anyone with half a brain knew that this ‘esteemed position’ was actually exile.

It was not long after that, that he had to tell her what magic art he practiced. But to his surprise, Arielle didn’t seem to be concerned by the fact that he was a necromancer. She just casually shrugged it off before she continued on her tour with Leistro.

Nevertheless, Thyvin still felt that her presence in Belmud was too ‘coincidental.’ Just a few weeks after he met and struck a deal with Walter, an esteemed champion from the Franko Kingdom appeared in Belmud. His suspicions only grew during the evening banquet hosted to celebrate the arrival of the Frankonian knights.

During the banquet, Arielle engaged herself in a lengthy conversation with Earl Giolstro Eikthyrnir, Leistro Eikthyrnir and Jarren Claude. Naturally, Thyvin listened into their conversation and managed to learn what Arielle’s mission was.

After a short while, he decided on his next course of action. Soon, one of the skeleton knights opened the door to allow one of his zombie ravens into his room. Perching on his table, the raven waited patiently as Thyvin wrote a secret letter. After he wrote it, he rolled it up and tied it to the raven’s leg.

With a single mental order, the raven then flew out of the window with the message still attached to its leg.

A few seconds later, Thyvin walked to the window and personally watched the raven fly downwards towards a tavern in between the Commerce District and the Docklands.

…

Soaring through the sky, Velvina felt her heart fill with glee. She would have smiled if she had the ability to but alas, as a bird, she had no mouth to smile with. It was truly ironic. Whenever she actually felt joy, she was also physically incapable of expressing joy. For all she knew, maybe that was the cost of the ability to literally traverse the sky as a bird.

There were few places where one could experience the same wonderful view that Velvina was currently experiencing. The sight from atop a city wall or the high tower of a castle couldn’t even compare with the view from high within the sky. However, something peculiar caught her attention.

With her enhanced vision, Velvina spotted a malnourished raven which was flying towards the Valhan Mountain Range. She didn’t know why, but she felt that there was something… off about that particular raven. But she then mentally shook her head to rid herself of these thoughts. Because in her mind,–

It was probably nothing.