One day ago, near the main gate of Tyria Kingdom, hundreds of knights bearing Runia Kingdom’s crest were resting outside its massive entrance, waiting for news of their victory.

“I’m such a hero!” A boy exclaimed as he leapt and threw his arms in the air.

A girl sitting nearby let out an exasperated sigh.

“You’re still going on about that, Gale? All you’re doing is passing rations.”

Gale and the girl, both greenhorn knights tasked with menial labor, were hiding under the shade of a tree.

“No, I’m saving lives!” The boy affirmed, confidently pointing his thumb toward his chest, and expecting praise for his optimism. He received daggers instead.

“I didn’t know heroes were so dispensable.”

“Erg…”

Gale, at a loss for words and slumping after being brought back to reality, needed to redeem himself somehow.

“I should remind you that I graduated near the top of my class,” he retorted with a wide grin. But the girl was having none of it.

“Didn’t you just come from a commoner school? You’d be super cool if you graduated from Valor Academy.” She tilted her head and poked her chin.

Gale snorted and said offhandedly, “That’s just a place filled with snobby noble kids.”

The girl slowly fell back against the tree.

“Mm, I guess you have a point. They say anyone can get in as long as they do well on the entrance exam, but only nobles can afford pre-schooling. Ah, sucks for us, I guess.”

Seeing her dejected expression, Gale tried to cheer her up.

“You should learn to be happier, Lana. Like, isn’t it just better to be happy?”

She scowled at Gale. “You’re an idiot, you know that?”

“Heh heh, I don’t.” He rubbed his nose while smirking.

“HEY, you two! Get over here!” A senior knight yelled at them.

“Yes, sir!” The two replied in unison.

The knights all gathered around their squadron leader, who was about to give a speech.

“My knights. It has been a tiring two months, but today marks the final day of the war. Although we are a backline squadron, we have fulfilled our duties as supporters. Absolutely none of your efforts have been useless. Tyria will fall today and rise tomorrow in the glory of its new king, His Majesty, the Light of Runia, Rigel Runias!”

The knights roared briskly with jubilation. After a few moments, their leader raised a flat hand, and the cheering stopped—she had more to say.

“Currently, our commander, Duke Leonel Cain, is making his way towards the royal castle. When I receive notice of our victory, all of you must prepare the rations at once. There will be no time to rest. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, leader!” The knights shouted in unison.

✦✧

The lonely sun was at the zenith of its daily trip.

Within the walls of Tyria, many were hiding in their houses. Those who secretly peeked outside shuddered when they saw the commander of Runia’s army. Even after evading their eyes, they couldn’t escape his dominating presence.

“Commander Cain, all squadrons are in position.”

“Then we head towards the main square.”

Leonel Cain, one of Runia’s three dukes. After many battles, he became renowned as one who could not be defeated.

—Loose jet-black hair spread across his brow, sharp sapphire eyes, a muscled body, and a serene yet dominant voice. Six feet and two inches tall—his name was well known in several kingdoms.

With an army of only five thousand, he vanquished Tyria’s army of twenty thousand, leaving only a tiny fraction.

The largest area in Tyria was its main square. Because it led directly to the royal castle, if there were any place that could act as a last resistance, it would be the main square. Expecting this to be the case, Cain ordered his squadrons to surround its perimeter.

But when he arrived there…

“…”

Cain had to make a tight fist to control his rage; his nails pressed deeply into the flesh of his palm.

“Wh-What is going on?” A bewildered knight next to Cain could not suppress his own thoughts.

 

“S-stop! Or e-else we will fight back!”

“Don’t come a-any closer!”

—stammered two Tyrian civilians out of many, with frail confidence.

 

Before Cain’s army were a small group of enemy knights and a large crowd of Tyrian citizens. The citizens had not donned a single shred of armor and were using shabby farming and household tools as weapons.

It was clear what had happened: Tyria’s king forced his citizens to join the war. In Cain’s eyes, this was an unforgivable order.

The citizens were made up of men and boys. Fear flowed deeply within their eyes as if today were their final day.

Aware of their weak resolve, Cain offered them a single chance to receive mercy and talked as if he were dealing with mere ants.

“Citizens of Tyria, today your king’s head will be in my hands. Leave here and survive. My patience is limited.”

From the pressure of his words and their desire to live, chaos ensued as the citizens scrambled to leave the square, dropping their weapons to lower their burden.

Even the Tyrian knights decided to value their lives—except for one, who had taken hostage of a man.

But like a barrel flowing towards the crest of a waterfall, only time would determine their fate.

Cain fiercely glared at the single knight and spoke coldly, “I will kill you both in ten seconds.”

The knight held his stance, not because of courage, but because he was frozen in fear.

At this point, the only functioning part of his body was his voice. Realizing his fruitless actions, he attempted to negotiate, peeking his head out so that his feeble words could be heard.

“H-Hey, let’s talk about thi—“

 

Ksh.

But in an instant, Cain’s longsword had pierced the knight’s head.

Immediately after, he briskly pulled his longsword out of the dead knight’s head and sliced the air beside him to flick the blood off. The unharmed hostage fell to his knees with blood on his face.

He then gave a command. “The army will remain here.”

“Yes, Commander Cain!” Voices of squadron leaders echoed throughout the square.

This was a normal occurrence. Cain disliked entering buildings with large numbers of people. Instead, he preferred a specialized team.

As he left the main square and continued his path towards the royal castle, three knights had closely followed him.

One by one, he addressed them by order of their experience.  

“Evan.”

“I’m good to go.” A calm, calculating voice. A man with Prussian blue hair, prim golden eyes, and a toned body. Six feet tall.

“Neil.”

“Yeah.” A playful, cunning voice. A man with disheveled flame-red hair, mischievous vermillion eyes, and a muscled body. Six feet tall.

“Adele.”

“Yes, my dear Cain.” An enchanting, vicious voice. A woman with frilly rose gold hair, sharp amber eyes, and a lusciously toned body. Five feet and eleven inches tall.

Cain’s team was composed of three esteemed warriors. They all held the rank of Royal Knight and were personally accepted by Cain after graduating from Valor Academy, the most prestigious school for training knights.

Evan, Neil, and Adele were all one year apart, respectively aged 22, 21, and 20.

Like Evan, Cain was also aged 22. Both had graduated from Valor Academy in the same year and Evan wanted to follow under Cain.

Cain was not one who judged by personality. Rather, he valued loyalty, bravery, independence, intelligence, and combat prowess.

Graduating from Valor Academy was proof that one had all of these qualities. Of course, he had also made sure that each additional member he accepted would retain team synergy.

Thus, Cain had complete confidence in his team. There was no need to watch over them as each possessed the ability to command their own army. It was essentially a team of four commanders.

And so, the team of four made their way into the royal castle.

“No guards at the entrance? Too simpleminded.” Neil spoke tepidly.

“Obviously an ambush inside just for us.” Adele’s eyes glinted.

 

Inside the castle, there were countless conspicuous statues of Tyria’s royal family sitting within alcoves. The floor was made of smooth marble so flawless that one could use it as a mirror. Giant stone pillars acted as a hallway that led directly to a left hall, right hall, and throne room straight ahead.

“Three ahead hiding behind pillars.” Evan spoke calmly.

“Stay here,” Cain said as he walked forward.

After a few more steps, three enemy knights leapt from their position and rushed towards Cain, firmly gripping onto their swords. The three charged abreast at Cain with battle cries.

When they entered the range of his longsword, Cain lunged a single step and slashed a large crescent shape, cleanly slicing through their armors and bodies.

Due to a difference in their heights, two of them were sliced in half while the third was beheaded. Their bodies fell immediately, staining the previously pristine marble floor with blood.

“Cain is so heartless, making one of them headless.” Adele grinned while glaring at the three corpses before her as if she were looking at fodder.

“Adele… your face.” Neil scowled at Adele’s pleasured expression.

“What? They were so cute, running all together like that.” Adele tilted her head cheekily.

“Let us continue.” Evan spoke sternly.

“Always so serious, eh Evan? Well, it’s better than this lady here.” Neil sighed with exasperation from their disparate personalities, which included himself.

Just then, Neil had a thought.

“Wait. We know there’s an ambush, so why are we walking into it?”

“Hm? You mean the throne room?” Adele questioned.

“Yeah. I mean, what if the king isn’t even in there?”

“That’s a valid point, but I believe he is.” Evan replied with aplomb.  

“Why do you seem so sure?” Neil looked askance at Evan, who then started pondering on his initial gut feeling.

A moment later, Evan shared his line of thinking.

“The throne is the largest room in this castle. Their king can gather all of his remaining knights in there to protect him. Although it’s possible that they expected us to check the smaller rooms within the castle first, since it’s extremely difficult to hold a strong defense within small rooms, there is no advantage in doing so. Also, assuming we wipe out the throne room, their king would be found eventually anyway. At that point, he would have nowhere to run.”

“Mmhm. Right, right!” Adele exclaimed her agreement.  

Neil ruminated on Evan’s scenario and then extrapolated on it. “I see. Then can we assume that the entire royal family is in there too?”

“Yes, precisely,” Evan affirmed. He continued, “Let’s go. Our commander is bored.”