The faint golden rays of the morning sun peeked through the blinders of a small room, bathing the person sleeping a top the bed at the center of the room in warmth and comfort.

Having been woken up by the light of the sun, the young man, who was about 15 to 16 years old, laid there staring at the ceiling.

"..shit.. I overslept" he quietly muttered before jumping to his feet and heading towards the sink, or so he calls it. In truth, it was more akin to a bucket filled with water from the well and piece of clean cloth.

"I remember Ryouma always over slept back when I was still in Japan.. never thought I'd experience that again, haha" Remarked the young man as he dipped his hands in the bucket and splashed his face with the cold water.

*Phuaah*

He then took the piece of cloth he had on the side and wiped the excess water from his face. Looking at the mirror, what met his eyes was the fairly attractive face of a young, black haired man with almond, slightly slanted eyes.

He was Larc, a man born from the merging memories of the boy from the slums and Ryouma Satorou from Japan.

"Haaah"

A sigh escaped his breath as he fixed his hair and walked towards the closet.

"My lady will surely be mad at me again." He added as he put on his uniform and tied up his laces.

At the center of the spacious lounge that was decorated in relative luxury stood a young girl with silver blonde hair and deep sapphire blue eyes. With her arms crossed and brows furrowed, she looked down on the bowing man in front of her.

"Apologies, my lady. I have no excuse."

"Say, you weren't playing around with the servants last night, were you?"

"Wha--- of course not, my lady!"

In response to Juliette's absurd accusations, Larc's body stiffened as he stepped back.

"Look at your reaction! You were hitting on other women, weren't you?!" Said Juliette with teary eyes as she furrowed her brows and pointed at Larc. "Cheater! Lecher!"

"My lady, please! I did no such thing!"

"Ahem!"

Having seen enough, Jorgé loudly coughed, breaking the atmosphere between the two. He leaned to the side and rested his head on the palm of his hand.

"This is unbecoming of you, Juliette. Please don't be too hard on Larc, he was probably exhausted from last night's fighting."

"Nghh!"

Against her brother's logic, Juliette could only grit her teeth.

"I know that, Jorgé-nii! It's just that I wanted to see him first thing in the morning."

"I understand that, but don't we have more pressing matters at the moment?"

"Myuuuuu.. you're right. I'll leave it for later, but we're not done yet, Larc."

Having somewhat calmed down, Juliette proceeded to head towards the adjacent sofa, but not before shooting a glare at Larc.

[How troublesome..]

There were currently six people in total inside the room. Sitting across Juliette was Jorgé and his Elven lover Danari while Lennox stood at the back, on the opposite side was Juliette, Larc and Milin.

"I guess I should start with the circumstances of the fief."

Jorgé started the conversation as he fixed his sitting position and showed a serious look.

"We have a suspicion that something sinister is brewing within the misty forest."

Hearing her brother's serious tone, Juliette as well fixed her slouched posture.

"What do you mean Jorgé-nii?" She inquired.

"About a week ago, a mercenary company tried to cross the border into Allesia, when they were stopped, they opted to tread through the misty forest." Answered Jorgé while unfolding the map Lennox just handed him.

"They succeeded in entering the forest through here, near a village under Baron Savoy's territory." He continued as he pointed to the map. "Our scouts says  that they never made it out."

Juliette raised her brow before tilting her head.

"And? what's that have to do with my convoy being attacked on the road?"

"That's the thing. Ever since then, the frequency of attacks on villages and roads near the misty forest by beasts.. increased." He answered as he looked towards the elf beside him. "I sent Danari into the forest in order to investigate, and she discovered something."

"The beasts are getting pushed out from the forest by something. There is also a thick amount of mana emanating from within. Unfortunately, I couldn't get close enough."

"Why's that?"

"Usually appearing at night, the mana condenses into a thick miasma. It's caused an incredible amount of annoyance." Lennox followed through Danari's observation.

"What do you mean?"

"It's causing an illusion of darkness. It's making it hard for anyone to trek the forest. As of now, there haven't been any severe casualties, but we've barred the people from going near the misty forest."

Jorgé leaned back the sofa and stared as the ceiling before continuing.

"That's our current predicament."

After hearing their circumstances, Juliette sat back to her seat and fell in a deep thought.

A few seconds passed before she looked up again.

"Then why not assemble a subjugation squad, Jorgé-nii?" She asked,

"With your and Danari's skill, traversing that forest would be possible, no?"

Hearing his sister's idea, Jorgé couldn't help but smile wryly.

"I'd give you points for originality, sister. If I hadn't thought about that already." He snickered as he looked towards a window.

"Tensions between us and the Horse lords are actually also rising, war could erupt at any moment. As such, I don't have the leeway to properly launch a subjugation expedition."

"Is that so.."

Silence descended into the room as the two siblings sipped tea.

"...Although"

"hm?"

Jorgé's sudden remark quickly drew the attention of everyone present. Looking at him, Juliette realized that her brother's eyes traced towards the man beside her.

Larc as well realized this as he thought [I don't like where this is going.]

"Hey--"

Realizing her brother's intention, she tried to speak up but was cut off.

"If Larc-kun were to come with us, I think we'll be able to manage."

[I knew it was gonna be something troublesome.]

"Absolutely not!"

In response to the young Lady's objections, Jorge merely grinned mischievously.