Gentle rays of sunlight tickled Rionara's face as she ever so slowly blinked awake. The soft mattress beneath her body and the warm blanket covering her small body felt straight out of a dream as she groggily pushed herself to sit upright.
"Mmm…" She rubbed her eyes before glancing on the other side of the bed which was empty. "Ah…"
'She must have gone to the guild already…'
There was a sense of calmness as she recalled Priscilla's words from last night.
"You don't need to prove yourself to me. I just want you to be prepared. Anything can happen out there, to you, to me."
She took a deep breath and clenched her fists close together. A new day was starting and that would be yet another opportunity for growth.
Without wasting any time, she hopped off bed and put on her leather boots. As she tied the shoelace a faint smile started to curl up on her face as she stared at the tip of her boot.
"Is this the meaning of being a knight…? Someone that helps the weak?" Her shoelaces were awkwardly tied as she couldn't remember the last time she wore proper shoes. "Maybe then… even I might have a chance of becoming one…"
She grabbed her white poncho and threw on top of herself. Once her head had slipped through the collar hole, she was pretty much ready to head outside.
Upon turning the doorknob, she noticed a certain resistance when she tried to pull it—it was locked.
"Huh…?" Her head tilted slightly to the side as she inspected the doorway. Her eyes naturally veered downwards as she noticed the key in between her feet. "Ah."
She picked it up and unlocked the door before stepping outside. Her first instinct was to glance to her left, once she made sure no one was in the hallway, she turned around and locked the door—pocketing the key shortly afterwards.
Heading downstairs—the main hall was practically empty. Aside from Karla and Gerolt cleaning the tables to start the day, there was no one else present.
"Oh." The innkeeper noticed her come down from the second floor which made her smile faintly. "Good morning."
Rionara stopped in the middle of the staircase and timidly raised her hand.
"G-good morning…"
Karla smiled calmly as she pointed to the doorway leading to the kitchen.
"If you're looking for Priscilla, she's in the back talking to some woman."
"Talking to a woman?"
"Yeah, she came looking for her. I got your breakfast ready so if you want to bring it to her as well it would help me out greatly."
Rionara's face became flustered as she wasn't sure what she should do which made her instinctively avert her gaze and speak softly.
"A-ah… mhm."
Karla on the other hand raised an eyebrow as she stopped cleaning for a brief moment.
"Hm? I didn't catch what you said. You've got to speak up, girl."
"I-I will do it!"
The innkeeper smiled as she continued cleaning.
"That's a good girl. The tray is on the kitchen table, don't touch the other food or I'll have your mother pay extra for your stay."
"Y-yes!"
She hurriedly descended the staircase and made her way through the hall to the kitchen. Gerolt looked at Karla and sighed with a faint smirk on his face.
"You've got to be more kind with the kid."
"Kindness isn't my thing, Gerolt."
"I figured as much."
She turned at him while flicking the wooden club back and forth.
"Want another beating?"
"I'll pass."
Once in the kitchen, Rionara noticed just how packed with things it truly was. Meats were hanging above a fire clay stove to dry, herbs were neatly arranged in different glass jars on the far wall and butchering equipment were stored in racks with a variety of blades of different lengths and sizes.
On the central wooden table there was a lone tray with a smoked meat platter, bread in a bowl and three tankards of water. Rionara gingerly grabbed the tray and looked around the kitchen. There were two other doors, one right across the doorway she came from and one directly behind her across the table. She was about to go out and ask Karla for directions but Gerolt popped on the doorway while carrying a bucket of water.
"Take the door behind you. Your… mom, is there."
"Ah, t-thank you."
"You're welcome, Lass."
Rionara felt a strange sensation growing inside her chest. Mom, it was a word that carried much meaning even in a world as corrupt and bleak as hers. She couldn't remember her own mother's face, but the fact that both Karla and Gerolt had the impression that Priscilla was her mother—it gave the young woman a much needed warmth in her heart.
She walked closer to the door and without knocking, grabbed on the knob. Upon turning it and opening the door, she was met with a blade the size of her arm looming just slightly above her head.
There wasn't even time to react or to be surprised as a cloaked figure towered above her with two thin rounded blades.
"Ah!"
Rionara tripped backwards but a hand quickly caught her back, preventing her from falling over. Priscilla was right beside her.
"Sorry, Rio." She spoke with a faint smile on her face. "You caught us a bit off-guard."
Seeing how Priscilla had her back to the individual wielding a dagger on each hand, Rionara figured she wasn't an enemy. Her eyes could only see the slender frame of the person's mouth as she spoke with the cloak covering most of her features.
The cloaked figure straightened her back before sheathing both weapons. Her voice was calm, yet there was a hint of hostility in it.
"Spellknight, is that the kid you spoke about?"
Priscilla chuckled nervously.
"Yes, Dame."
"I see…"
After making sure Rionara was okay, Priscilla closed the door behind her and put the tray of food on the small table in the room. It was a quiet place, much like the room in the guild. It had four wooden chairs, a small table on the far wall and a window that was currently closed.
Priscilla pulled the chair near the wall out from underneath the table and offered it to Rionara, who quietly sat without looking at the cloaked figure across the table.
The knight sat beside her and grabbed one slice of smoked meat and a loaf of bread. The other presumably royal knight also grabbed a portion for herself as well as the tankard with water. Although none of the two directly addressed her, Rionara could almost feel tension in the air.
"Ah… um… s-should I really be here?"
At that moment Priscilla placed her warm hand on her left shoulder and squeezed lightly.
"Don't worry. This is one of my fellow royal knights, Dame Phoebe Hawkeye."
The young woman's eyes widened as she looked straight underneath the cloak. Beneath the cloth she noticed two striking deep blue eyes staring back at her with a sharp gaze.
Unlike Priscilla, she didn't even wear chainmail under her clothes, she was more of an assassin than a knight in her eyes.
Without moving her head, Phoebe glanced at Priscilla and started to question the fellow knight.
"So? Am I to believe that you are taking care of this child while also taking charge of her majesty's orders alone?"
There was an ever so slight frown on Priscilla's brows, not enough for Rionara to notice, but just enough that Phoebe would catch on it.
"Yes. Do you doubt my capabilities?"
"Considering you are the youngest of us, yes. Quite so." She bit a piece of the smoked meat without averting her eyes from Priscilla's. "It boggles my mind as to why she left you in charge of this mission."
"He is my father." The spellfencer took a bite out of the loaf of bread without averting her gaze from the assassin's. "If something happened to him or if he turned sides, then it is my responsibility to take care of it."
Rionara swallowed dry. The tension was palpable at that point, two legendary knights were practically facing off against each other right before her eyes. In the stillness of the room, she could almost 'see' the two knights pulling out their weapons from the pressure they exuded. But what followed it seemed just as surreal as the conversation before.
Phoebe's sharp glare softened as she leaned back against the chair and took a chug out of the tankard of water before slapping it on the table.
"Well… if you are confident enough then it should be fine." She smiled quietly. "The Queen chose you to be part of the royal knights, after all."
The way the assassin pivoted from murderous intent to casual conversation made Rionara blink a few times in shock. Priscilla also smiled warmly as she let go of Rio's shoulder.
"Haha, Dame Phoebe, you should really stop doing that in front of others."
"Huh? Wha…"
Rionara looked at them both, quite lost in the conversation.
"Sorry if I scared you." Phoebe said, apologetically as she grabbed on the side of her hood and pulled it back. "That was, sort of the point of the act."
Aside from the striking blue eyes, she also had short jet black hair tied in a modest high bun with her long, thin ears sticking out of her side bangs. Her face was slender and her fair complexion made her figure look straight out of a fairy tale.
For a moment Rionara didn't know what to say until she noticed Priscilla's confused gaze directed at her which prompted her to stammer her words as she tried to get them out.
"U-umm… D-Dame Phoebe, so… you aren't here to p-punish Pris, right?"
The woman raised an eyebrow at her.
"Huh? Punish? Goddess, no. If I could punish her directly that would make me queen instead." She chuckled as she took a sip of the water and another bite of the meat. "I'm just another knight of the trio. I'm here simply because I was passing through the town."
Priscilla glanced at her with a genuine look of worry on her face.
"Are you going to Astera?"
Phoebe shook her head.
"Nara. I need to meet up with my sister."
"Ah, Dame… Kaeli, correct?"
"Mhm." She took another sip of water. "That fool decided to stay there for another decade instead of coming to help Arcadia rebuild."
"What about Londria?"
"Already taken care of, I'm sure you must have heard the news."
"Ah… the open borders then…"
All the back and forth didn't make much sense to Rionara, but she couldn't help but keep looking at Phoebe. Something about her mesmerized the young woman's senses, she couldn't quite understand why. It was like she was in a trance, a fuzzy unfocused dream grappling her mind in an unescaping daze.
"Hey. Kid. Oiii."
After hearing her voice and noticing Phoebe frantically waving her hand in front of her face, Rionara finally snapped out of it.
"Huh? Wha…?"
The assassin raised an eyebrow as she stood up from her seat and walked around the table, standing beside the spellfencer.
"Excuse me, Pris."
"What are you going to do?"
"I think the kid you adopted is a high elf." Priscilla stood up and got out of her way. As she stood beside Rionara, she arched forward and gently held her face in place. "Hmm…"
There was a faint glint of mana under Phoebe's irises and in the moment she focused her senses there was a recoil as the assassin flinched back and blinked a few times. Priscilla looked at Phoebe and asked with a tinge of worry in her voice.
"What did you find out?"
"She's a high elf, no doubt about it. Her ears aren't developed yet which doesn't make sense given her age…" She blinked a few more times to shake off the unpleasant sensation she had just felt before focusing on Rionara's eyes as she continued. "Where were you from?"
"L-Londria…"