First Arc (King of Euphorion) – 12. Enter The Castle

Angel stopped his steps and breathed heavily as he hid at an alley in Luminus City.
'That was close ...'

He took a deep breath to calm himself and looked at his hands.
'I have to cover up this power...' He closed his eyes and focused his dark aura to envelop his entire body, preventing others from detecting the flow of magic power within him. Although he had never learned about magic before, when he discovered his dark power, he knew he should learn how to control it and cover it up since his power wasn't normal. Shortly he opened his eyes.
'That should be enough...'

He came out of his hiding place and walked down the Luminus City's street to the city gate. But before he reached the gate, he saw many people gathered by the side of the road and knelt. The Euphorion troops were also seen standing guard around them.
"Hey, you! Why are you still standing there? Quickly help us! The king will arrive soon," said one of the troops to him.

Pausing for a moment, he realized he still wore Euphorion's uniform, of course, they considered him as one of them. Quickly, he approached them.
"Forgive me."

He looked around, trying to understand what he had to do. Some troops were pulling people from the shops and forcing them to kneel on the side of the street.
'Do they forced the civilians to kneel to welcome the king?' he tried to guess. In Asteria, there weren't any strange rules like this so he was quite confused by it.

A soldier who was forcing a crying boy to kneel seemed to have lost his temper. His leg was raised almost kicking the boy. Angel immediately approached him and caught the soldier's leg with his hand. The soldier looked at him angrily.
"What are you doing?!" he snapped.

He returned the soldier's gaze with a relaxed expression.
"Let me handle it, sir," he said in a calm tone.

The soldier pulled his leg from him.
"Shut his mouth before the king comes or I behead him!"

He nodded slightly.
"I understand."

The soldier turned around and went to check on other civilians.

Angel knelt on one leg and looked at the boy.
"Tell me why are you crying?"

"My mother... I am separated from my mother..." said the boy in a sobbing voice.

"Get on your knees. After that I promise I'll help you find your mother," he said with a reassuring smile.

"Really?" said the boy.

"Yes. Now get on your knees, the king is almost here. You don't want to make him angry, do you?"

The boy nodded and dropped to his knees.

He stood up as the first cavalry marched past him. The troops bowed to greet them. Angel followed them to bow. Soon, three men and a woman passed him, they were all in their twenties. He could feel a powerful magic power from them.
'Four elemental spirits...' He glanced at them, from their hair colour, everyone could guess their names. Frost, a man with messy white hair, grey eyes and there were two short swords behind his belt. Flare, a short black-haired woman, black eyes and on her belt there were two chakrams on her belt. Gale was a small man with green hair, green eyes and a large bow on his back. Gaia was a muscular man with brown hair, brown eyes with a large axe on his back.

Shortly, a royal carriage passed in front of him, a man at the end of his twenties with grey hair and a friendly face in it. His hand waved to the crowd around him with a smile on his lips.
'Is that King Xenos? He doesn't look like a cruel person to me.'

He kept his head down to avoid their suspicion, when he raised it, he could only see the back of the king’s last cavalry following it. He helped the boy to get up.
"Let's find your mother," he said.

The boy nodded his head. They just walked a few steps when a woman ran toward them.
"George!" she shouted.

The boy turned towards her.
"Mother!" he said as he ran toward her and hugged her.

Angel sighed in relief after seeing the boy manage to meet his mother.

"Mother, he helped me find you," the boy said as he pointed at Angel.

His mother glanced at him with a displeased expression and quickly pulled his son away.
"Let's go, don't deal with the royal troops."

He watched them walk away.
'Looks like the relationship between the Euphorion's military and the civilians is quite bad.' He just turned around and walked towards the gate but a soldier called him.
"Where are you going? We have to go back to the castle and the meeting will start soon."

He stiffened and went silent.
'If I enter the castle now, it can't get out again. Besides, I have to make some preparations before attacking the king.'

"Answer me." That soldier looked at him suspiciously.
"It's strange I've never seen you before. Tell me what your squad name and your division."

He remained silent, thinking hard. Suddenly one of Duke Nicolin's documents crossed his head.

The soldier pulled out his sword and prepared to attack him.
"Turn around! And say who you are!"

Angel turned to face him and placed his right fist on his chest in the customary military greeting.
"I'm Zel, from the secret agent division. I just returned from spying the Kingdom of Asteria."
That soldier looked relieved with his reply, he sheathed his sword and placed his right fist on his chest in response to his greeting.
"No wonder, I've never seen you."

"Yes, I must go now to report my investigation results."

"If you want to meet General Guillotine, you don't need to go to his residence. Everyone is gathering at the castle now, he will be there too."

"Is that so..." he replied calmly. While he deep in thought, trying to find an excuse to avoid it.

"Yes, we must go to the castle now," said the soldier as he gestured to follow him.

"Alright." Then Angel followed him to join with other troops and walk towards the castle.

He secretly sighed a heavy breath as his plan to enter the capital backfired giving him trouble and taking him to the castle. Entering the castle at a time like this was the worst thing he had ever hoped for, every castle was protected by Magic Shield including Euphorion's White Moon Castle. Only the king and several trusted officials could use their magic power inside the castle. In other words, if he got caught, he only could depend on his fighting abilities as a swordsman.
'This is bad... Fighting the whole Euphorion army by only relying on my sword is the worst plan I could expect for.'

He looked towards the castle that was glowing in silver in front of him from a distance and thought for a moment.
'No... This is indeed the worst plan but also the best plan. Xenos wouldn't have thought if he was attacked in his own house, besides I could look for some information more easily from inside the castle.'

A smirk started to develop on his lips as his feet continued to walk towards the castle with other Euphorion troops.

Note: Characters pics are in Glossary