Though Fiora had told her mother that, it didn't mean that she was going to go there immediately.

Noble children of their stature and, frankly, strength were only to be admitted at the age of 15, mostly so that the younger ones who are qualified for enrollment can be trained up adequately to be able to compete with the other children who have their advantages.

Though, even if Fiora and Daniel were to be enrolled alongside the other 15 year old Nobles, they would still far outclass them in practically everything. That was simply how important their family lineage was in determining their strength.

Right, they were currently 13 years old, they still had 2 years before they would actually go onto the Royal Academy. They weren't going to stop trying to improve their skills, but rather, they were going to take their time to relax and sightsee for now.

Which mostly meant that they were going to be attending a whole lot more social gatherings now.

'This is suffocating…' Daniel's voice filled her mind as he thought to himself,

'Yeah, tell me about it.' Fiora thought sarcastically, somehow managing to keep up her smile as she courteously greeted the numerous nobles that greeted her and her mother. 'I'm wondering if heading to the Academy would be a good thing if this is going to be what I'll be dealing with every few days…'

'I'm pretty sure it won't be like this.'

'We can only hope for that.'

'... yeah…'

"Ah, Lady Sylvia of the Magic Tower! It is good to see you." Fiora turned and saw a man with a rather large belly, Nolan Cornelius, a merchant who dealt with many different businesses pertaining to magic in the Verizio continent. "And Ms. Fiora as well. You've grown into a rather beautiful young lady as well, haha! Have you found a boy of your fancy yet?"

Fiora smiled easily, "I certainly have a few in mind."

'A few… I think that's an understatement, isn't it?' Daniel's thoughts interjected a bit,

'You mean an exaggeration? Indeed.'

'You flatter me, dear Fiora.' he chuckled, 'Still, I doubt it would be as simple as you'd think.'

'Hm… It's not bad to have some hope from time to time. I'll rather be ambitious than not. Your hand will be mine."

'The boy is supposedly the one to say that, you know? Whatever. I'll continue speaking with the nobles approaching me.' Like he'd said, he was currently speaking with a number of noble children around him. Mostly from those around his faction, the Northeastern Faction of Levaria, mainly being headed by the Eldegard family. She wasn't paying much attention to his side, but she did see a few noble girls seemingly hanging around him. 'No, Fiora, stop thinking about that.'

'You're mine, don't forget about that.' Fiora thought, 'I'm not going to lose to them.'

'... good luck convincing your parents.' Though he'd said that, it wasn't as if that was going to be a problem. The main problem was how she was going to make it believable that she actually liked him. Because, well, he was right that she mostly just wanted to get engaged to him for the convenience it gave with the connection they had, and it would have been really awkward having to deal with each other's love lives when they pretty much experienced everything together.

Well, it wasn't as if the romance of nobles were a normal one compared to how most commoners would have it, but it would have still been pretty awkward between the two of them.

This just made everything easier overall… and to be fair, they were interested to see just how well that kind of relationship between them would go when they practically know everything about each other already.

It was an experiment too, and Fiora did love experiments. So did Daniel, but he didn't really say much on that.

Focusing back on the world around her, she looked at Nolan who laughed jovially. "Wonderful! The joys of being young, how I wish I could relive those days. That isn't to say that I don't love my wife, but it was a different time then."

"Quite." Sylvia, her mother, said with a smile, "Mr. Nolan, how has your business been doing lately?"

"Quite well! Though the current situation in the Vordune Empire has been rather troublesome. My traders were supposed to have arrived there by now, but the monster outbreak happening in the Empire had put a stop to that, so they had to go elsewhere for now." Nolan said, with a slightly bitter face,

"A monster outbreak in the Empire? That's quite worrying." Sylvia murmured, "I have not heard of this from the Hunter's Guild, was this recent?"

"Yes. The Hunter's Guild is set to make an announcement for a large-scale Monster Subjugation quest tomorrow."

"That quickly?"

Nolan winced at that, "Yes, Lady Sylvia. It's rather urgent as well, considering the recent invasion that the Empire has had to deal with, their army isn't in the best of conditions to deal with it."

"Not to mention the shortage of hunters in the empire… Odd, the Magic Tower hasn't heard of any of this." Sylvia muttered the last part, furrowing her brows. Fiora noticed this and frowned, something that the Magic Tower didn't catch news of? That's certainly suspicious…

'Poison… there's poison somewhere here.' Daniel's thoughts reached her and she got tense, meeting her eyes with Daniel who was on the other side. 'Watch out.'

"Really? Oh dear, the situation might be worse than I'd thought…" Nolan said to himself before taking a sip of his wine, making a sour face as he did so, "This tastes a lot more bitter than I remember." he said, looking at his glass with narrowed eyes. Fiora watched him, he looks a little more pale than she thought, why was—

'He'd just drank poison, quickly use Intermediate Detoxification on him! I'm going to look for the assassin, you try to lure them out!'

Fiora's eyes widened before moving quickly, "Mr. Nolan!" she shouted, grabbing his glass of wine she threw it to the ground, causing it to shatter, the wine spreading all over the floor. As people all around her started to turn to the commotion, she burned the wine on the floor with magic, causing people to shout in surprise as the fire took on a dark green color.

"P-Poison?!" Nolan shouted before he suddenly started to choke, his skin turning pale really quickly.

"Intermediate Detoxification!" Fiora exclaimed pointing her palms towards Nolan, a white aura starting to cover him as she applied healing magic onto him.

She felt a knife heading towards her before it suddenly disappeared, her mother casting spatial magic upon it.

'Found them.' Daniel's voice manifested in her mind, he was already on the move.

---

Daniel had a suspicious feeling about the whole event, if he were to be honest. Noticing the poison had been tricky, but he had been able to make it out due to the trail it left in the air. It was small but not impossible to detect.

Of course, he'd have been better able to detect it if Fiora were using his abilities where she was at, but he hadn't really thought of that—moreover, he didn't even know that Nolan was the target, he only knew that there was poison in the air.

'Sorry, I should have used your ability.'

'It's fine, we didn't even know that it would have happened so quickly. Still, this is worrying, I'm not sure how many assassins are here right now, and my father isn't here at the moment.'

He was currently pursuing the assassin who'd thrown the knife at Fiora lately. At the moment he could only pinpoint three different people from what he'd been able to see.

Quickly jumping over to the outside of the ballroom, he kept an eye on his targets who were already running away. Though, at the very least, wherever the other possible assassins may have been, he didn't have to worry about them.

'Sandro's rather good at his work, isn't he?'

'There's a reason why, if it weren't for me, he'd be the successor to my father's assassin network.'

'Indeed… I'll check back on you in a bit, I have a few things to take care of.'

'Same here.'

Then, both of them thought together, 'Good luck.'

Just like she'd said, on her side she seemed to be on the receiving end of a few interesting gazes by a number of other nobles and was currently beside her mother speaking about something.

He could focus on that later, right now, he was in pursuit of people who'd just attempted an assassination.

And any assassination not done under the jurisdiction of their network was simply unforgivable and had to be shut down.

That was what it meant to be a part of the Shadow Moon.

"Fuck!" his ears twitched as he heard a masculine voice suddenly exclaim, it was one of the people he was pursuing. "Why the fuck is the Dark Moon here?!"

Daniel smirked at that, looks like they recognized him. Well then… they have to die now.

Remember Daniel, killing isn't always necessary in our line of work.

"It's just a kid, what's he gonna do?" another, gruffer voice, said, "There's three of us and only one of him."

But if they disrespect or disregard the laws of the Dark Moon… then you must carry out their deaths.

Daniel let out a small sigh, he wanted to use these guys for a while too, they could have been rather useful. Still, it wasn't as though he was simply going to kill them now. He didn't have to do it immediately after all, rather…

Flicking his hands, eight knives appeared between his fingers, he kicked himself off the ground before using shadow step to quickly get closer to them.

Right now, they were still within the boundaries of the Venture Castle, House Indentia's castle, in other words, that of Fiora's family. The assassins he was currently pursuing were all running towards the dark corners of the castle away from prying eyes but sadly…

That was exactly where he wanted them to go.

"Argh! W-What the—" one of the guys grunted before choking on his blood as four knives pierced into his body, "H-How…?"

Daniel didn't care about that all too much and instead threw the remaining knives towards the other one who spoke lately, it was a dark haired man who suddenly pulled the other assassin beside him to block the knives. Daniel frowned at that, but it didn't matter much… raising his hand, the blades disappeared before reappearing behind the man.

"Kugh!"

And so they were dead.

He sighed, waving his hand for a moment, making the knives disappear from their bodies before he went close to them and inspected them.

After turning them around he saw that they had a distinct red star tattooed to their back where the heart would be.

"The red star…" he muttered to himself, pausing as he looked up to the last guy left.

Or rather, girl.

Daniel's deep purple irises stared into black ones, frowning as he saw a distinct red string swirling beneath those eyes.

"Such a shame they haven't been able to control you no?" Daniel said before sighing and standing up to walk towards the kid.

Those empty eyes, it ruined the perfectly beautiful face this girl had. From what he could remember lately, this girl was Minerva Sigurd, a daughter of Sonus Sigurd, a Baron of the Kingdom of Levaria.

"Hmm, there must certainly be an interesting story with you here…" he muttered, "How exactly did you get indoctrinated into the red star—"

Then, his eyes widened, moving behind her, he checked her back and saw no sign of the red star anywhere.

But she still didn't move. In fact, it seemed as though she was unable to move at all… like a puppet whose strings got cut off.

Before he could focus much on that, he felt a familiar presence making itself known to him nearby. Turning to the side, he saw Sandro appear out of the shadows, pulling at his seemingly bloodied black gloves with a slightly displeased look.

"Young master." Sandro kneeled in front of him, "It seems that there has been a commotion in the castle. I had been worried, but it seems you've already taken care of the ones who'd attacked. Forgive me for being unable to assist."

"No, it's fine, rather… you did apprehend those who've attempted to escape, right?" Daniel asked, letting Sandro rise.

"Yes, young master. I have left them under young mistress Olivia's care."

Ah, they're with Olivia. Those poor souls.

"I see." he then turned back to Minerva, "This girl, she's been puppeted, hasn't she?"

Sandro narrowed his eyes and turned to the girl, red eyes turning green for a moment. "... Yes, young master. Although it seems that her master's connection had been severed completely he said while glancing at one of the dead bodies on the ground.

Daniel glanced as well, the first guy he'd killed, the blonde guy, he must have been the puppeteer huh?

Letting out a slow breath, he closed his eyes for a moment, searching through Fiora's memories… there.

'Hey, I have a situation here, mind if I borrow your magic?' he sent his thoughts over to Fiora, although that was completely unnecessary, but it did make sure that she'd notice his call at least.

'Hm? Daniel? Oh, I see. Minerva Sigurd huh… that's troubling.'

He was about to ask before he suddenly saw what she meant. He saw a boy through her eyes, one whose eyes were also black and empty. It didn't take him long to realize that that was Azeroth Sigurd, Minerva's twin brother.

'Oh dear.' that was all Daniel could say in reaction to what he'd just seen from her end.

'Yeah. We'll have to see each other for real now.' Fiora said, completely serious this time.

'This is going to be one hell of a reunion.'

Daniel sighed as he opened his eyes, back in his body, he walked around to stand in front of Minerva, her violet-colored hair… what a shame for it to be paired with such empty black eyes.

Placing his right hand atop her head, he whispered closely to her, "This will all be over soon, please hold on…"

"Young master, I don't think you should—"

"Sandro. I'm sorry but… can you please keep this a secret from my father? No, rather—I already know that you've been watching me for all those times I've been training alone in the forest. At the very least… please don't divulge this information to anyone we can't trust." Daniel said, not really looking to see how Sandro had reacted to that. "The soul of light… please, heed my call."

Then, he glowed a bright white, after a moment it extended towards the girl in front of him as well. As that happened…

Memories flashed into his mind, making him struggle for a moment as he closed his eyes to handle everything properly.

Memories aren't always stored within the body, rather, it's somewhat different, especially in the case where magic interferes with it. For the case of Daniel and Fiora, neither of them were sure how it worked for each other, but for Minerva's case, he—or rather, they—were sure how it worked. Possession magic, that is, dark magic, it dealt with the manipulation of the body itself, and in times like those, it would be useless if the body and soul were opposing each other in some way. Especially if it tried to tamper with the memories within.

The soul is more powerful than one would think, and with the case of dark magic, though one can overwrite the memories of the body, one can't overwrite that of the soul. So usually, possession-type magic just had to sever the connection between the body and the soul somewhat, enough to the point where whatever emotions/memories were within it wouldn't be able to interfere with what the person who was trying to possess the body wanted.

So what if one wanted to fix the connection between the soul and the body again?

The simple answer would be to use light magic.

The more accurate answer however… is to reforge the soul itself.

This… this is something completely out of their expertise. As Daniel struggled with reforming Minerva's soul on his side, so was she, on the soul she was reforming on her side…

As they both felt each other's struggle, they found themselves able to push through it easier, knowing that they weren't alone.

'Fiora… I know I've said this many times…'

'I know, Danel. I appreciate you too. I know that I wouldn't be able to do much of what I'm able to do now without you.'

'Haha, took the words right out of my mouth.'

'That won't be the only thing I'll be taking out of your mouth tonight.'

'What?'

'What? Ignore that. Let's finish this.'

Daniel found himself smiling, in spite of everything. No words needed to be said after that. After all, they knew what they felt already.

And with that, he resolved himself.

"Minerva Sigurd… that is your name. Don't forget that." he muttered, opening his eyes as he finished the reforging of her soul. He watched as the bright white light surrounded her, her eyes closing as she fell back, before being caught by his arms.

For a moment, she'd awoken, he saw her looking straight into his eyes, tears silently falling to the side, "My prince… I was saved…" she'd all but whispered, before falling unconscious again.

At that, Daniel found himself frozen.

'Wait, no… what have I done?'

'What—why now?! Daniel, you better get here quick, I don't want to be married to a lowly Baron's son!'

Though she'd phrased it that way, he was pretty sure that she didn't mean it like that.

Actually… no, he didn't want to think about it. Right now he definitely needed to go back to the ballroom and meet with Fiora as soon as possible.

But before that…

"Sandro." he turned to his loyal butler, "Please contact father. He needs to come to the Venture Castle immediately. I need his help."

Sandro's eyes widened at that before he nodded, "Of course young master."

Daniel then turned towards the main part of the castle where the ballroom was, "I'll head back to the ballroom now. Please contact my father quickly."

He didn't wait for a reply before he jumped into the shadows, quickly making his way back to the ballroom.

What a gathering.

---

Xavier Eldegard was the Duke of the Northeastern territories of the Kingdom of Levaria. It was quite a surprise to have found himself invited to a party held by the Indentia family. Mostly considering the relationship that he had with the Duchess Sylvia Indentia, but then again, it wasn't necessarily him who was invited, and neither was it Sylvia who invited him in the first place.

It had been her daughter, Fiora Indentia. Now, he didn't quite know much about her, but from what he'd been able to gather, she was a skilled magician who'd inherited her mother's abilities rather well. It was interesting for her to have come to seek out Daniel, considering her position and, more than that, her specialty.

It was no secret to anyone that his family was full of assassins and skilled warriors, and more than that, to any magician… assassins are their one weakness. Although, he can't quite consider her a part of that considering how she'd inherited the blood of a Sage, which would obviously surpass most assassins, but it was still an interesting thing to take note of.

Now, however… Xavier was faced with a dilemma.

He glanced at the projector while arranging his papers. "Daniel asked for me?" he asked, wracking his brain for what he'd contact him for. His son wasn't an idiot, nor was he rash, and as far as he knew his son, much of the actions he's taken for the most part had been calculated and had a reason.

This one wouldn't be an exception… so what was it that his son couldn't deal with on his own alongside his sister Olivia? He'd intended to not go to the gathering as his relationship with Sylvia was rather… ambiguous at best, what with her being the head of the Magic Tower and him being the head of the Assassin Guild of The Dark Moon.

"Yes, the young master said he needed your help. It may be because of the attempted assassination that had just taken place." Sandro said, a slightly regretful look on his face. He was hiding something, he was sure, but it didn't matter too much right now. He would have a reason for it. "From what we've been able to see, it seems to have been carried out by the Red Star Guild."

"Red Star… have you interrogated them yet?"

"The young mistress Olivia has chosen to take care of it, my lord."

At that, Xavier couldn't help but frown. He knew the skill of his daughter, but the way she interrogated them may not yield the best results. Sighing, he supposed he'd have to see for now. "The Red Star… do you have a guess as to why they could target the Indentia?"

"It wasn't the Indentia specifically, my lord. They had targeted the merchant Nolan Cornelius."

"Cornelius… haven't his traders just been recalled from their route to the Empire?"

"Yes. It seemed that he was speaking of this to the Indentia."

"I see…" Xavier muttered, narrowing his eyes, "Is there anything else you'd like to inform me?" he asked, looking straight towards Sandro's eyes in the projection.

Sandro hesitated, averting his gaze for a moment, "Yes… it seems that the Sigurd twins have been manipulated through dark magic."

Xavier's eyes widened at that. His mind started to work quickly, and he pieced everything together, the sudden disappearance of the Sigurd family's children, the rise of monsters in the Empire… and the Red Star making their move.

He didn't have all the pieces yet, but it was enough.

This was something important that he had to interfere in before it was too late.

"Daniel… you…" he muttered to himself, before looking Sandro in the eyes again, "Tell me, Sandro, has Daniel used light magic again?"

Sandro looked down with a grimace, that was all that he needed to know.

Xavier sighed, just what was his son…?

No. Perhaps it was too early for that.

"Prepare the gate on the other side, Sandro. I'll be there soon."

"Yes, my lord." with that, the connection was cut and the projector turned off.

Looking at all the documents he had piled up on his desk, he sighed and moved them to one of the drawers. He'll have to deal with this later, right now, there were more pressing matters for him to deal with.

Pouring a certain frequency of mana, he found himself calling a certain friend he hadn't called in a long time.

The projector flared to life and the sitting form of a certain pink-haired master sage appeared across his desk. Sylvia Indentia, she had a smile on her face.

"Nice of you to finally contact me after such a long time." she said, a slightly playful tone in her voice, and he couldn't help but smile as well.

"Yeah, well, the situation hasn't really been all that accommodating for a meeting between us, no?"

Sylvia frowned at that, humming, "True, though it did make me wonder if you'd started to hate me at some point."

"That'd never happen, as large as the boundary between us may be." Xavier said honestly, "No matter how you look at it, neither of us would be here had we not met each other."

"Perhaps…" Sylvia muttered, a ghost of a smile on her face, before her face turned serious, "So, there has been an assassination attempt that had just happened here."

"Yes, and I'm being called by my son to appear there immediately." Xavier said, narrowing his eyes, "I'm not quite sure what he'd thought of you but…"

"No, I believe him calling for you was the right decision." Sylvia shook her head, something that surprised him, "Xavier, did you know about the situation with the Sigurd family?"

"The Sigurd family… yes, apparently the twins have been manipulated by dark magic there. But as for the situation within the barony itself, no, I haven't been looking into it."

"At least you know that much, well, there's been a rather troubling news that's been reported to me just recently." Sylvia grimaced slightly, "Baron Sonus Sigurd… is dead."

Xavier's eyes widened, "What? When did this happen?"

"My agent's reports have found that he'd been long dead for the past three years already." Sylvia said, "Xavier… I'm going to contact the other Dukedoms of Levaria, I need you here as well. For the first time in a long time… Levaria may be in danger."

At that, he was silent. After a second, however, he nodded, "I'll use the gateway to get there, in the meantime, please take care of my children."

"Of course." Sylvia nodded, and after a short pause, they both stared at each other's eyes, before suddenly she asked a question, "That event ten years ago… Do you remember it?"

"How could I not? I'd almost lost my son there." Xavier muttered, closing his eyes for a moment, "And you'd nearly lost your daughter as well…"

"Yes… Xavier, I—I'm not sure how else I could say this, but… what if there was a consequence to saving them like that? I know that the cost doesn't matter to either of us—but what did it cost them?"

He didn't know.

Honestly, he didn't know how he was supposed to answer that.

Still, Sylvia continued for him, "I'm just worried, because now that I've seen Daniel again, I could clearly notice just how much more the separation between their souls blur. I… I'm not sure if it's a good thing or not…"

Xavier finally sighed, "I don't know either Sylvia… all I know was that I definitely didn't regret saving them. They deserve to live, and now, the best we can do is guide them, really." he then smiled at her, "Sylvia, I know just how much you love your daughter, and believe me, I understand… but at this point, we can't really choose for them anymore. They have the knowledge and the strength now. We can only hope that they make the right choice for themselves. After all, my son had already become quite a skilled assassin." he chuckled, feeling proud of Daniel.

Sylvia smiled after a while, "I suppose you're right. Ah, speaking of which, my daughter has become quite the skilled sage!"

"Oh my, so it seems that it's not only my son who's been making such ridiculous achievements, haha!" Xavier laughed, before pausing as he felt someone heading towards his office. "Ah, but I'm afraid we'll have to talk later, Sylvia."

"Yes, I shall prepare the gateway here for your arrival."

"Thank you, I'll be there as soon as I can." Xavier nodded and with that, the projector turned off once more. He stood up from his seat and looked around his office one last time.

Nodding to himself, he went out of the office, blinking at the rather unexpected scene of his wife hurriedly making her way towards him.

"Marisa? What are you doing here?" Xavier asked, making sure that the entire area around them was secure… it was. Why was she in a hurry?

"Xavier! I—It's horrible!" Marisa said hurriedly, grabbing onto him tightly as she buried her head on his shoulder, "T-The Empire… I saw it, I saw it all… the monsters, the…"

"Marisa?" he asked worriedly, hugging her with his arms, "It's okay, you can tell me about it…"

"Xavier… that man. The man obsessed with blood… he was there. He was leading the monsters and—" she couldn't take it anymore as she suddenly burst into tears, Xavier doing his best to comfort her.

This wasn't good.

He knew about the powerful ability which was passed down through her family for generations, the ability to see the future. Though it was mostly vague, there were times where it was vivid, like a clear image—almost like a recollection of some memory that doesn't exist yet.

When that happened… it was a bad omen.

As he did his best to comfort his slowly tiring wife, he started to think about the words she'd said.

The man obsessed with blood… there were a few that came to mind but only one really made sense.

The leader of the Red Star.

Nobody knew who he was, especially not him, but he did know a few things about the man.

"Marisa… are you sure?" Xavier softly whispered to her as she whimpered,

"Yes, dear, i-it should never be wrong… I—I'm sorry Xavier, but I don't think I can let go of you…" she mumbled as she buried her head deeper into his chest. "Xavier…"

"Marisa…" Xavier whispered, "It's okay… I'm here…" he said to her comfortingly, continuing to rub her back and comfort her until she finally calmed down. "Are you okay now?"

"Y-Yes… I'm sorry. It was just that the last premonition was… it was different."

"Different?"

For a moment, she was silent, just breathing in his arms slowly, "Yes. It felt real. Too real. I—it was too much for me."

"I see." Xavier mumbled, continuing to calm her down, "Let's go, we're going to go have dinner with the Indentia." he decided with a smile, surprising her.

"E-Eh? Oh! Did I interrupt you? I'm so sorry honey I—"

"It's fine, it's fine. Rather, come with me, I'm sure Daniel and Olivia will be happy to see you join them."

"Ah… but will it be fine with uh… Sylvia or Venn? I haven't talked to them in such a long time…" Marisa muttered to herself, looking worried.

Xavier just smiled, "It's fine. It'll be just like our team's reunion." he reassured her, and though she looked at him suspiciously, she sighed.

"Fine…" Marisa reluctantly agreed, though he could see a small smile on her face as she held onto him tightly. "It's better if I'm with you after all."

Indeed so. There was a reason why they had once been called The Dark Cyclone after all.

---