Boreas POV

The past month had been nothing short of chaos. Stress was the norm now, not just for me, but for everyone. People were on edge...soldiers, civilians, the nobles, and every mage on the planet. The entire empire was gripped with fear and uncertainty after what happened to the Northern Empire. I could feel it everywhere. The tension. The constant worry. Even my job, which was already demanding, had become a race against time.

The senior royal guards who were supposed to be training me barely had time to teach anymore. Everything was rushed, so there was no time to properly show me the ropes as we were all scrambling to keep up with the new demands, Isabella now have constant meetings, and I was learning on the fly, trying not to make any fatal mistakes as an ambush could be set nearby.

And then there was the worst part, the goddess didn't see this coming either. The goddess herself, the one who oversees so much of this world, was caught off guard. That alone was terrifying. If a god couldn't see the attack, it meant that the Demon Lord had found a way to hide himself from their sight. That had never been done before. The implications of that...If he could hide from the goddess, what else was he capable of?

It could only mean one thing, the Demon Lord was stronger than ever. Stronger than anyone had anticipated. The fact that he pulled off such a massive attack, blindsiding the entire empire, made it clear that we were up against something far more dangerous than any of us realized. Every day felt like a ticking clock, counting down to... something. Something worse. And all I could do was keep my head down, learn fast, and hope we were ready when the next wave hit. Because it wasn't a question of "if", it was a question of "when".

When it happened, the goddess immediately sent out this sort of emergency broadcast to the 3 of us, we saw it all happened, but couldn't really do much, she even advise against going to help as it was suicide, the demons planted spies deep within the northern empire, and they took out those in power, making it quite easy for chaos to occur, slowing down orders, and it took a while before we all realized that it was too late.

Currently, the other royal guards and I are helping Isabella with paper work since all of us are former student council members. Seth, our former president, became Isabella's secretary and sort of had us all pitched in as well, since Isabella is in the same room, were still doing our jobs as royal guards, but this isn't what I've signed up for.

I rubbed my temples, staring at the pile of complaints stacked on my desk. It was getting ridiculous. Nobles, merchants, and even common folks were up in arms about the influx of refugees. The Northern Empire's fall had sent waves of displaced people flooding into our territory and we have no solution for it, any attempts of a solution are shot down.

'Why can't we house them somewhere else? Why are they taking up space in our cities? Why aren't we prioritizing our own people?' It was the same questions over and over. And the worst part? We didn't have an answer. There were a lot of other complaints, but I'm not going to get into this kind of politics.

I sighed, leaning against the wall outside Isabella's chambers, trying to stretch the stiffness out of my back. It had been weeks since I'd last seen my own bed, and the way things were going, I had no idea when I'd see it again. I wasn't supposed to be here all the time. I had been promised that I'd get to go home once or twice a week, at least. But with Isabella's new responsibilities as queen, that promise had become a joke. Every time I thought I'd get a break, some new crisis popped up, and we were off to another meeting or another kingdom.

And I had to be with her. Always. I didn't mind that part, since she's my girlfriend and the mother to my children, but I also want time with my parents. I love her, and I signed up to be her royal guard because I wanted to protect her. But I didn't think it meant never going home. I was supposed to have a life too, right? At least a few nights to myself, in my own space, with some peace and quiet. But nope. That wasn't happening anytime soon though, it doesn't help since her uncle added a few extra shifts.

I can't even sleep in the same room since we still had to hide our relationship, but his outrage a while back did cause some rumors about Isabella having a lover, most theorized that it was Theo, but I didn't mind that at all, he didn't either, it stopped the constant attention he receive from women, while also doing the same for Isabella, who now receive lesser love letters.

I'm currently in the security meeting, barely keeping my eyes open. The dimly lit room and the constant discussions about strategy, troop movements, and supply lines didn't exactly help. My eyelids felt like lead, and my head kept dipping forward before I jerked it back up, trying to focus.

it's been another month since my initial complaints. No sleep, constant travel, and endless complaints from nobles about everything under the sun. The refugee crisis was out of control, and now, to top it all off, we had found demon spies lurking around the empire, making everyone on edge. Every time someone mentioned "demon," it sent a chill through the room, and yet here I was, struggling to stay awake.

We scanned things out constantly and made sure that we had no demon spies, Kai helped out and is under constant scrutiny since he is also a demon, but his reputation as a "good demon" is on the rise at least. And this meeting is for the said demon spies. I yawned, trying to hide my sleepy face behind my hand. Laurel was saying something about capturing more spies, and George was nodding along, looking unusually serious. I blinked, my mind drifting again, barely catching the details.

"...and we need someone to sniff them out before they get any deeper into the empire...hey!" George said, his voice snapping me back to reality,.

I straightened up in my chair, blinking a few times to clear the fog in my head. I must've missed half the conversation, but when I looked around, I realized everyone was now staring at me. George had that familiar smirk on his face, the kind he got when he was about to assign me something unpleasant.

"Boreas, that means you," George said, folding his arms and leaning back in his chair.

"Wait... what?"

"You've got the best track record with detecting demon activity, so it's your job now to track down these spies and root them out."

"Can I get like a 2 days rest?"

"No, you'll be starting right away."