The grand hallway of the Capital Knights Bureau Association stretched out before us, an intimidating expanse of polished white marble and towering pillars draped in the scarlet banners of the order. Our footsteps echoed sharply against the high ceiling… Evelyn's disciplined, rhythmic boots, Elicia's staff tapping softly against the stone, and my own quiet stride. Every knight and passing official we bypassed looked at our trio, their eyes lingering on the contrast between my towering, heavily armored sisters and my petite frame in a simple linen dress and traveling cloak.
I kept my gaze fixed straight ahead, my mismatched jade-green and crimson eyes cold and focused. Beneath my clothes, my massive, compressed crimson blood wings remained perfectly still, though the proximity to the heart of the Bureau made the volatile mana in my spine thrum with a faint, defensive static.
"Sisters, Let's go straight to Chief Roman."
Elicia tightened her grip on her casting staff, a fierce, reassuring warmth flickering in her eyes, while Evelyn adjusted her white-and-scarlet uniform jacket with absolute resolve.
"Sure, Eirene," they responded in unison, their voices an unshakeable wall of support.
We navigated the sprawling upper levels, bypassing the administrative sectors until we reached the heavy, ornate double doors leading to the command offices. Sitting at the elegant front desk just outside the primary office was the renowned head secretary of the CKBA, codenamed White Flower. She looked up from her stacks of high-priority paperwork, her sharp, perceptive eyes taking in our small formation.
I stepped forward and knocked firmly on the dark wooden door.
"Enter," White Flower's crisp, melodic voice called out from behind the desk, giving us official clearance.
I reached out with my newly regenerated left hand, turning the polished brass handle, and pushed the heavy door open.
The spacious office was flooded with afternoon light, casting long shadows across the room. Sitting directly behind a massive mahogany desk littered with tactical maps, incident reports, and official bounties was Chief Roman himself. The formidable commander of the Capital Bureau looked up, his stern, weathered features hardening as his gaze locked onto the three of us walking into his inner sanctum.
Chief Roman looked up from a thick stack of operational logs, his calculating gaze moving over our trio before he leaned back in his leather chair. The heavy brass medals on his chest clinked softly against his dark uniform.
"Greetings Eirene, Elicia, Evelyn, May the three of you have a seat."
We moved toward the arrangement of leather chairs positioned directly in front of his massive mahogany desk. True to our formation, I was placed squarely in the middle, looking incredibly small and petite between the towering, heavily built figures of my sisters. Elicia rested her casting staff against her knee, her G-cup frame radiating a quiet, protective power, while Evelyn sat perfectly rigid on my left, her hand resting near her scabbard.
Chief Roman folded his hands over the polished wood, his eyes locking onto my bare face, entirely unaware of the continuous healing loop invisibly flickering across my skin to protect me from the light.
"Well, Eirene, How is the progress on the vampire who liquidated Branch 2?"
"Here," I replied, my voice completely flat and deadpan.
With a faint, rhythmic pulse of my mana, I activated the spatial matrix of my inventory ring. The air warped for a fraction of a second, and the heavy velvet bundle materialized directly above the desk, landing with a solid, wet *thud* right in the center of his high-priority paperwork.
The velvet cloth naturally unraveled, exposing the horrific, pale visage of the purebred threat. Instantly, thick, dark crimson blood began to leak from the neck, soaking directly into the official Bureau documents. Because the purebred's flesh was violently sensitive to the afternoon sun, the harsh rays streaming through Chief Roman's grand office windows immediately caught the exposed skin.
HISSSSS.
The head began to smoke and sizzle violently, the flesh blistering and burning right before our eyes, filling the office with the pungent, metallic stench of incinerating demonic marrow.
Chief Roman froze. His eyes widened in absolute, uncharacteristic shock, his hands slamming flat against the desk as he stood up from his chair, staring at the burning, melting trophy.
"Eirene… You... you just eliminated the Crimson Phantom. The blood-sucking winged demon who has been a thorn in the side of the Bureau for over three months. The one who tore through our outposts... you actually did it, Eirene." Roman breathed, his voice laced with profound awe and disbelief.
Hearing him label the purebred as the true "blood-sucking winged demon"... the exact phrase the newspapers had used to hunt me… sent a massive wave of relief through my core. The narrative had shifted. The ledger was balanced. The monster Elias saw in the desert was now officially dead on Roman's desk.
"Of course she did, My little sister is the highest-ranking hunter for a reason, Chief. She doesn't return from a hunt empty-handed." Elicia chimed in proudly, a brilliant, triumphant smile breaking across her face as she leaned forward.
"Yes, Chief Roman, Big sister Eirene fought bravely to secure the honors of Branch 2. Her tactical execution was flawless." Evelyn added smoothly, her voice carrying the absolute discipline of a Luminous Knight.
Chief Roman let out a long, breathless laugh, shaking his head in sheer amazement as he looked at the three of us. He began showering me with praise, completely convinced that the phantom terror of the city had just been reduced to ash by my hands. Sitting between my supportive sisters, the lingering psychological horror of the morning finally began to dissolve. I had walked into the lion's den as a suspected anomaly, but because of my family and my trophy, I was walking out as a savior.
Chief Roman picked up the charred, heavily stained documents from his mahogany desk, pushing the smoking remains of the purebred vampire to the side to clear a space. He looked at me with a profound, newfound level of respect.
"Impressive, Eirene, Give me your status card. I am promoting you effective immediately." Roman declared, reaching into his desk drawer to pull out a heavy, runic steel stamp and a bottle of glowing, official Bureau ink.
I reached into my pocket and handed over the metallic card. The interface on the magical parchment currently displayed my official, combat-oriented registration data:
STATUS CARD
Name: Bounty Hunter
Rank: Gold
Magic Power: S-rank
Magic Mastery: S-rank Swordsmanship: A-rank
Marksmanship: A-rank
Battle IQ: D-rank
Job Occupation: Bounty Hunter (S-rank) / Luminous Knight (S-rank: 7th place)
Affiliation: LKBA (Branch 1)
As Roman laid the card flat, I stared at the generic placeholder name I had used to hide my identity during my darker field missions.
"Change my name to Eirene, I don't want 'Bounty Hunter' on my official name anymore." I added, my voice cutting through the room in a flat, deadpan octave.
Chief Roman paused, looking up at me through his spectacles, before nodding with quiet understanding.
"A savior shouldn't have to hide behind a cold title. Granted."
With a firm, authoritative thud, he slammed the runic stamp onto the metal card. A brilliant flash of diamond-blue light erupted from the crest, rewriting the magical typography. The 'Gold' rank dissolved, hardening into a crystalline, glowing 'Diamond' crest… the highest operational echelon within the entire Association. The name field seamlessly shifted, officially registering me under my true name.
"Oh my goodness, Eirene! Diamond rank!" Evelyn gasped, her F-cup breastplate shifting as she clapped her small hands together in pure, childlike excitement, completely breaking her rigid knight persona for a fraction of a second.
Elicia beamed on my right, her fingers tightening around her casting staff with immense pride.
"The youngest Diamond rank in the history of the Branch. Magnificent, little Ren."
I remained entirely stoic, my mismatched jade-green and crimson eyes fixed on the commander. My priorities were purely mathematical.
"Well... where is the 18 gold prize?"
Chief Roman let out a hearty laugh, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Oh, yeah! Of course, the bounty. White Flower, please come in and prepare the prize distribution for Eirene." He leaned over and pressed the magical intercom on his desk, calling out to the front office.
The door clicked open, and the elegant secretary stepped inside. She took one look at the burning purebred head, offered a flawless, professional bow of acknowledgment, and immediately left the office to process the massive financial transaction from the high-security vault.
While we waited, Roman leaned forward on his desk, his eyes locked onto my 5'5" frame in the simple linen dress. He was trying to gauge the depth of the power hidden beneath my calm exterior.
"This is truly magnificent, Eirene, You terminated a purebred vampire in less than two days. Vampires are officially classified as the second strongest demon race across the entire Triangulum Continent. The sheer physical and magical output required to bypass their blood armor is immense. Tell me... what kind of strength do you possess to pull off such a miracle?"
I didn't blink. I didn't boast. If he knew the "strength" I possessed was a volatile demonic infection that grew blood wings out of my spine, he would have execution squads flooding this room.
"I'm just doing my job, Chief," I muttered flatly.
Roman chuckled, accepting the cold, detached answer as the typical humility of an elite operative. But then, his expression softened, a sudden thought crossing his mind as he looked at the official mission logs.
"Well, what about your older brother, Elias? Did the Shadow Walker assist you in the dunes? The reports show he was deployed to the same sector. He desperately needs that money to give his family a better life. Should I split the ledger and divide the 18 million gold between the two of you?" Roman asked, tapping his pen against the mahogany.
My heart gave a sudden, heavy thud against my ribs. My mind flashed back to the desert… to Elias staring at my monstrous, crimson wings, his revolver trembling in his grip, his entire world shattering as he realized his little sister was the anomaly he was sworn to kill. He had kept my secret. He hadn't filed the report. He had chosen family over the Bureau, and it had broken him.
"No,"
I said instantly, my voice carrying an uncharacteristic, fierce finality that made both Elicia and Evelyn look at me.
"Give Elias the whole 18 gold reward. He completely deserves it."