The oppressive heat of the Sisiphon desert hit us like a physical blow the moment we neared the outer perimeter. A week of grueling travel had passed since I stood in Chief Anton's bureau office in Caria City, and now, the cool mountain air was a distant memory. Up here on the saddle of my Shadow Horse, the wind carried nothing but stinging sand and the dry, suffocating aura of a lawless wasteland.
I pulled slightly on the ethereal reins, keeping the spectral beast at a steady walk. Behind me, Catherine and Patricia sat quietly on the horse's broad, dark back. Catherine was already aggressively fanning herself with the brim of her witch's hat, her dark mage robes absorbing the brutal sunlight, while Patricia sat rigidly, her armored paladin plates radiating the desert heat like a furnace.
As we finally reached the towering, sun-bleached walls of Sisiphon City, the gatekeeper on duty perked up. His eyes locked onto the black smoke dissipating around my horse's hooves, and his face instantly paled. He recognized the cold, suffocating presence of the Shadow Walker.
"Toll and status card," the guard, a weathered man named Nikolai, said, his voice tightening as he stepped forward with an arcane scanner.
I didn't say a word. I reached into my trench coat, pulled out my official identification piece along with the required coin, and handed it over. Nikolai slid the card through the scanner, and the magical blue runes projected my metrics into the air:
Name: Elias Rynd
Rank: Knight
Magic: S-rank
Magic Mastery: S-rank
Swordsmanship: D-rank
Marksmanship: S-rank
Battle IQ: A-rank
Job: Luminous Knight (S rank)
Affiliation: Luminous Knight Bureau Association: LKBA (Branch 2)
Nikolai swallowed hard, handed my card back with a stiff nod, and turned his gaze to the girls behind me.
Catherine let out a weary sigh, sliding her gold-plated card across the counter to pay her share. The runes flared bright:
Name: Catherine Rogue
Rank: Gold
Magic: A-rank
Magic Mastery: S-rank
Swordsmanship: D-rank
Marksmanship: D-rank
Battle IQ: B-rank
Job: Mage (B rank)
Affiliation: LKBA (Branch 2)
Finally, Patricia stepped up, her heavy armor clanking as she efficiently presented her high-tier diamond clearance. Her martial metrics flashed cleanly beneath Catherine's:
Name: Patricia Barbon
Rank: Diamond
Magic: C-rank
Magic Mastery: D-rank
Swordsmanship: A-rank
Marksmanship: C-rank
Battle IQ: B-rank
Job: Paladin (B rank)
Affiliation: LKBA (Branch 2)
Nikolai cleared his throat, stamping the final entry permit and quickly moving the heavy iron latch to open the city gates. The massive wooden doors groaned inward, revealing the bustling, sun-baked streets of the desert metropolis ahead.
"The paperwork is in order, good luck out there, sir. The city streets are safe today, but keep your wits about you." Nikolai said, tipping his leather cap to us.
I snatched our cards back, pocketing them with a sharp, fluid flick of my wrist. I didn't care about the safety of the streets. My hand instinctively drifted down to my hip, brushing the cold, etched steel of my specialized revolver. According to the Bureau's tracking slip, my sister Elicia was in Sisiphon Magic Academy, whom my cheeky little sister is actually a principal.
"Let's move," I muttered raspy, pressing my heels into the shadow horse as we rode into the blazing light of Sisiphon.
I pulled back on the ethereal reins, letting my dark magic coil back into my core. With a faint, sizzling hiss, the Shadow Horse dissolved into wisps of black smoke and sank into the sun-baked cobblestones. The oppressive, dry desert heat of Sisiphon was actively draining my reserves, my mana was running lower than I liked, and maintaining a high-tier spectral summon in this blazing furnace was a waste of energy.
"From here, we walk," I muttered, my raspy voice scraping against the dry air.
Patricia and Catherine dropped down to the pavement beside me, both of them adjusting their gear to cope with the sweltering climate. We began navigating the crowded avenues on foot, our boots clicking rhythmically against the stone.
As we walked deeper into the heart of the metropolis, my sharp, analytical gaze scanned every alleyway, rooftop, and merchant stall. I had been deployed to Sisiphon City once before, years ago, and my memories of this place were thoroughly grim. Back then, the entire territory was a suffocating cesspool ruled by the Emerald Spire cartel. The air used to reek of hyper-refined lotus dust, the alleyways were choked with hollowed-out drug addicts rotting away in the heat, and violence was the only real currency.
But today? The contrast was staggering.
The sandstone streets were immaculate, entirely cleared of the usual slum debris. The air was crisp and carried the faint scent of parchment, incense, and fresh ink. Most surprising of all, groups of young students were walking alongside the civilian traders, laughing and chatting while wearing pristine, elegant ivory-and-gold uniforms. There wasn't a single addict shivering in the shadows. There were no shady lookouts or dealers lurking on the corners. The entire place felt less like a lawless desert cartel hub and more like a peaceful, thriving scholar city.
"Elias… are we sure this is the right city? It's... it's actually beautiful here." Catherine whispered, her eyes wide beneath her witch's hat as she looked around the bustling market plaza.
"The reports didn't do it justice, the peace here feels absolute."
I stared at the ivory-and-gold clad students, a sudden memory flashing in my mind. I envisioned that silent, heavily cloaked bounty hunter back in Chief Anton's office, the one who stubbornly refused to show me her status card and carried a deep, rich desert tan.
"She didn't lie," I realized, my jaw clenching slightly.
When Anton told me an anonymous S-rank hunter had collapsed the entire drug empire and severed Oksana's head all by herself in less than a week, I had been skeptical. I assumed it was just bureaucratic exaggeration to cover up a messy gang war. But looking at the living reality of Sisiphon today, the proof was undeniable. By cutting off the head of the snake and allowing the local factions to burn the lotus dust supply, that mute, scarred mercenary had single-handedly rewritten the fate of an entire nation in a matter of days. She had cured a disease that the Bureau had been failing to contain for a decade.
My hand drifted away from my revolver, the tension in my shoulders relaxing just a fraction. I had treated her with nothing but cold, tight suspicion back at the capital, demanding her clearance and looking for a fight. But out here, standing in the clean air of a salvaged city, a rare spark of professional respect flickered in my chest.
"If our paths ever cross again in the Bureau lobby… I won't demand her name. I should be thanking her instead." I thought to myself, turning my gaze back toward the grand spires of the central academy ahead.
We finally arrived at the towering gates of the central academy. The majestic sandstone arches and pristine marble courtyards were completely open, but the guard posts stood entirely empty. I glanced up at the sun beating down on the central clock tower… it was midday. The gatekeepers were likely away on their lunch break.
Taking advantage of the lack of security, I signaled to Patricia and Catherine, and the three of us stepped directly into the massive educational facility. The moment we crossed the threshold, the sheer scale of the place became a glaring problem. The academy grounds stretched out like a localized labyrinth, a massive network of multi-story buildings containing hundreds of lecture halls, laboratories, and private offices. Chief Anton's tracking slip had placed Elicia here, but finding her among these endless corridors without a guide would take hours.
"This place is huge, where do we even start looking for a principal?" Catherine muttered, squinting at the sprawling map engraved on a nearby stone pillar.
"We ask the locals," I replied, my raspy voice dropping low as my sharp gaze scanned the immediate courtyard.
A few paces away, sitting around a shaded stone bench beneath an ornamental palm tree, a small group of female students were huddled closely together, completely absorbed in a flurry of intense, hushed gossip.
As we approached them, I noticed a distinct change in the school's regulations. Unlike my previous deployment to this territory, every ivory-and-gold uniform now featured a crisp, neatly stitched name tag pinned across the left lapel. A practical, organized feature that didn't exist back when the cartel ruled the streets. The three girls on the bench were clearly labeled: Cindy, Amelia, and Aisha.
"...I'm telling you, there's no way he just walked away! The rumors from the lower districts say the Eastern District Clan caught him in the crossfire! Zenni would have come back to class by now if he was still alive!" Cindy was whispering frantically, slamming her notebook onto her lap.
"Oh, stop it, Cindy, don't say that! He survived Oksana's private academy assignments, didn't he? Maybe he's just lying low or went on a secret training journey. He promised he'd help me with my alchemy formulas next term!" Amelia whined, clutching her hands to her chest with a look of dramatic, heartbroken despair.
Aisha rolled her eyes, leaning back against the bench.
"Please, you two are delusional. The boy was an apprentice to a monster. Whether he's missing or dead, he's gone. You need to let your little Zenni harem fantasy go."
I listened to their overlapping chatter with a flicker of cold indifference. This Zenni guy they were mourning and obsessing over was completely foreign to me. Whoever the boy was… whether he was a casualty of the cartel's collapse or some smooth-talking student who managed to charm half the campus… it didn't matter to a Luminous Knight. I didn't have time to decode the romantic dramas of academy teenagers.
I stepped directly into their line of sight, my looming, shadow-draped figure instantly cutting off the sunlight and casting a long, cold pall over their bench. My lone, piercing gaze locked onto the three of them.
The girls abruptly stopped talking, flinching violently as they looked up at my ragged trench coat, the etched steel revolver resting heavily at my hip, and the intimidating, heavily armed presence of Patricia and Catherine flanking me. The gossiping atmosphere evaporated in an instant, replaced by a tense, nervous silence.
"We're looking for the Academy Principal, Elicia, tell me exactly which building her office is located in." I spoke, my raspy voice slicing through the desert heat with absolute, uncompromising finality.
The three girls froze, their eyes darting from my scarred face to the distinct crest of the Luminous Knights on my uniform. Cindy's jaw dropped, and she gripped Aisha's sleeve so hard the fabric strained.
"Y-You're the Shadow Walker… the Principal's brother... the one from the capital." Amelia stammered, her voice dropping an octave as her romantic gossip completely evaporated into pure terror.
Without another word of complaint, the three girls scrambled off the bench and immediately led the way, their boots clicking nervously against the polished marble floors as they guided us through the labyrinthine corridors of the central building. They didn't dare look back at me, terrified of the dark, pulsing aura radiating from my trench coat. Finally, we stopped before a pair of grand, double-layered ivory doors at the top of the highest pavilion.
I didn't bother knocking. I pushed the heavy doors open with a solid, effortless shove of my gloved hand and stepped into the spacious, sunlit office.
Sitting behind a massive mahogany desk littered with administrative scrolls and magical seals was my sister, Elicia. The moment the door clicked, she looked up, her piercing crimson eyes widening in absolute, paralyzing disbelief as she locked onto my lone eye.
"B-Brother...?" Elicia whispered, her voice cracking.
She stood up so fast her leather chair scraped violently against the floorboards.
"Elias... you... you haven't set foot back in Town Allure in eight years! Where have you been?! Do you have any idea how much we've… "
Before she could even finish her sentence, the emotional weight of nearly a decade of absence broke her professional composure. She rushed around the desk, her long, flowing silver hair trailing behind her, and threw her arms tightly around my neck, burying her face into the rough fabric of my heavy trench coat.
Patricia and Catherine stepped back, offering a quiet, respectful space for the family reunion, while the three academy girls watched from the doorway with teary, sentimental eyes.
But I maintained my cold, rigid stance. My arms remained hanging straight down at my sides, my gloved fingers resting mere inches away from the etched steel of my revolver. I didn't wrap my arms around her. I didn't soften my gaze. The underworld had long since burned the warmth out of my chest, and a Luminous Knight had no room for messy displays of affection.
"Easy there, grandma, get a hold of yourself. You're wrinkling the uniform."
I used her old childhood nickname, "grandma"...a teasing jab at the fact that her striking silver hair and intense crimson eyes always gave her the ethereal, unnerving aura of an ancient, middle-aged matriarch, despite her flawless, youthful features.
Elicia stiffened, pulling back just enough to glare at me with a mixture of profound irritation and lingering affection, wiping a stray tear from her cheek.
But before she could scold me, a collective shout of pure, furious outrage erupted from the doorway.
"Hug her back, you dimwit!" Cindy yelled, her face turning bright red as she slammed her fist against the doorframe.
"Yeah! What is wrong with you?! That is our prestigious Principal, and she's your blood sister! Show some damn respect and hug her back!" Aisha chimed in, glaring at me as if I were the lowest scum in the desert.
Amelia crossed her arms, nodding fiercely in agreement.
"Unbelievable! Eight years and you act like a block of ice! Wrap your arms around her right now!"
I slowly tilted my head toward the doorway, my single, icy green eye narrowing beneath my messy dark hair as a flicker of shadow magic rippled across the floorboards. The three girls instantly choked on their words, taking a synchronized step backward under my predatory glare, but their furious, protective expressions didn't fade.
Elicia sighed, a look of fond exasperation crossing her face as she turned toward the door.
"Don't worry, girls, he always does this. He hasn't changed a bit. Mind leaving the room for a moment? We need to have a private talk." she said softly, waving her hand to calm the outraged trio.
Cindy, Amelia, and Aisha gave me one last collective, burning glare before reluctantly pulling the grand ivory doors shut, leaving the office finally quiet.
I walked over to the leather seating area and took a seat, crossing one leg over the other as Patricia and Catherine sat down flanking me. Elicia walked over, smoothing her robes, and sat directly across from us. She leaned forward, her crimson eyes scanning my scarred face.
"Brother, why did you come all the way here? Do you have a specific reason for showing up after eight long years? Little Ren is worried sick about you back home." Elicia asked, her voice turning serious.
I adjusted my collar, my raspy voice slicing through the heavy air.
"Easy, grandma. I'm very busy these days. And as for Weird Eyes... well, I haven't seen her at all, but I assume she is perfectly safe at the Rynd household."
A faint, internally amused smirk touched my lips as I uttered the childhood nickname "Weird Eyes." It was the teasing title I had given my youngest sister, Eirene, back when we were kids, because her bizarre heterochromic eyes… one deep red and one vibrant green is always used to make me laugh.
Elicia narrowed her eyes at me, crossing her arms.
"Brother, why did you come to this academy? And better yet, stop calling me grandma. We are not kids anymore."
"Well, there have been a lot of things going on in this world, last week saw the total collapse of the Sisiphon cartel. A high-tier bounty hunter slaughtered Oksana in less than a week."
Elicia froze completely, her breath hitching in her throat. The color subtly drained from her face as she stared at me.
"Oksana... dead? That bounty hunter must possess terrifying strength. Who was it?"
"I don't know her name,she was heavily cloaked, missing an arm, and had multiple violent scars across her face. But the real reason I came here today isn't for a typical family reunion, grandma. I came because of Weird Eyes. Because of Eirene." I admitted, my eye narrowing as I recalled the silent mercenary in Anton's office.
Elicia stiffened even further, her posture turning incredibly rigid.
"Eirene? She is safe at Town Allure, running the family meat shop. Why are you suddenly bothering her?"
"The Bureau keeps mentioning her name, Chief Anton has her file flagged under executive lock, and I need to know more about what's going on. But I am extremely busy. Right now, my party is actively hunting the Crimson Phantom... a dangerous, blood-sucking winged demon that was spotted roaming around the Caria City borders. I don't have the time to travel all the way back to our house myself." I said, my voice dropping into a dark, calculating register.
I leaned forward, locking my single green eye onto my sister's crimson ones.
"So, I am asking you a favor, Elicia. Take a break from this academy. Go to Town Allure yourself, check on the Rynd Household , and see how Weird Eyes is doing. Make sure she's actually safe, because something in the Bureau's shadows isn't adding up."