After the tumultuous Friday at Madison Square, where the knight exams concluded despite the shocking incident involving the student Gronk, whose fate remains unknown…

  Saturday Morning, 10:00 AM

  Princess Nora Ophillis knelt on a deep blue prayer rug, her skin bathed in sunlight, reciting a hymn of praise before the sacred symbol of CIS. Facing west through the window, her hands were raised, palms inward.

  “You are the truly mighty one. I offer my holiest praise to you at dawn and dusk. I turn my face to you, creator of the heavens and earth. My life and my death belong to you… I thank you for bringing Mr.Fury into my life as a guiding light. I shall remain mindful and faithful to you until my last breath.”

  Nora bowed, her forehead touching the cloth, completing the ritual.

  She didn’t usually pray in the morning, but today she felt compelled to do so alone.

  The door to her top-floor dormitory chamber opened, birdsong drifting in on the breeze.

  Nora, with her small notebook in hand, passed the royal guards and maids on her way to the exit.

  But before she could step beyond the gate…

  She saw someone sitting in the dormitory garden, reviewing lessons from a book.

  Rafinya Saint-Pauli.

  When Rafinya noticed Nora’s presence, their eyes locked, brimming with tension, before Rafinya approached.

  “Nora, what the hell happened yesterday?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Don’t play dumb! I know it wasn’t a coincidence… Someone like Gronk just collapses for no reason on the day it’s his turn?”

  “I was sitting right next to you, Rafinya.”

  “Yesterday, all of you disappeared at the same time. And you expect me to believe that’s a coincidence?”

  “Making baseless accusations like this, Rafinya? Is that fair?”

  Nora’s eyes hardened, her voice sharp.

  “If you have evidence, show it.”

  Of course, there was none.

  Rafinya had nothing but a gut feeling.

  She shook her head.

  “Nora… do you know what they diagnosed Gronk with?”

  “Tell me, Rafinya.”

  “Brain damage from lack of oxygen for too long… No one knows if he’ll ever recover. I don’t know if this was your doing or someone else’s… but if you know this wasn’t a coincidence—and I believe you do—this is serious.”

  “I have nothing to fear, and I have nothing to say about something I wasn’t involved in.”

  Nora brushed past. But then…

  “Nora.”

  “…”

  Nora stopped.

  Turned back.

  Rafinya glared at her.

  “Where’s Dan?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Nora’s curt reply landed.

  And with that, she walked away.

  Anfield.

  (Rustling grass)

  Nora parted the tall grass, emerging from the forest into a clearing with a wooden cabin. The first thing she saw was the cabin’s owner, sitting with his back to her, sketching on a blueprint with a pencil.

  He sensed her arrival.

  “Look who’s here.”

  “Mr.Fury.”

  “You’ve been coming around a lot lately.”

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “Four out of seven days is a lot?”

  “That’s more than half.”

  “Fair point…”

  Nora approached, stopping beside him, leaning in to see.

  “What are you doing, Mr.Fury?”

  “Thinking about upgrading the house.”

  “Upgrading?”

  “The old setup’s too cramped for three people.”

  Dan scribbled on the blueprint.

  “I’m planning to knock down a wall and expand. Maybe replace the roof too, so the place feels bigger. Otherwise, my wife won’t sleep comfortably.”

  “…”

  “What’s with that annoyed look, Nora?”

  “Nothing.”

  “I’m doing this for my own survival too, you know.”

  “Will it be done before winter? I mean, the snow’s already starting.”

  “With human strength? No way.”

  Dan set down his pencil.

  “But with my demon form? Piece of cake.”

  “Seriously, Mr.Fury?”

  “This time’s different. I’ve got Casca.”

  Right then, Casca emerged from the woods, a sharp axe in hand.

  “Oh? Hello, Princess.”

  The idea that the most powerful beings in the human and demon worlds were chopping wood for a cabin just a few kilometers behind the academy… No one would believe it. It was all… right under their noses.

  “Hello… Casca.”

  Casca gave a slight nod before moving on to her task.

  Nora watched her go, then crouched beside Dan.

  “With Freya and me in our true forms, we’ll finish in three days. Gotta start fast.”

  “How will you use your true form without your killing aura tipping people off?”

  “That’s where she comes in.” Points with thumb.

  He glanced at Casca… She was the answer?

  With her spell [Light Fortress], a military-grade magic only high-ranking Luminus commanders could wield, Casca could erase their traces. It was the same spell that had let her track them down in the first place.

  “So I’m about to witness Luminus’s elite magic up close?”

  “You’re already seeing it.”

  “Casca’s cast it already?”

  “Yup.”

  “But I don’t see… anything.”

  “That’s why it's called [Light Fortress], Princess.”

  Casca answered as she passed behind Nora, showing she was tuned into the conversation.

  To everyone else, it was just empty air… but through Casca Saint-Maximin’s eyes, the entire forest was bathed in a golden glow.

  No wonder it was military-grade magic. The best spells never draw attention.

  “Worthy of a hero…”

  “My wife’s the best.”

  “…”

  “There’s that annoyed look again.”

  “No, there isn’t.”

  Casca joined Dan, poking at the blueprint.

  “If we’re expanding, we should make it L-shaped, facing west. I’ll get some glass for windows. And you need to build a bathroom, got it? Hygiene matters. We’re humans, not animals shitting wherever, Fury.”

  “Yes, yes, my lady.”

  “Sarcasm, huh?”

  Thwack.

  Casca’s fist slammed into Dan’s back, making him cough blood.

  Nora glanced left, right.

  “Where’s Freya?”

  “Gathering supplies in the water. Probably somewhere… around here.”

  Dan answered.

  “Around here, meaning…?”

  Casca: “In hell.”

  “Anywhere the river reaches.”

  “She can survive in freshwater? I thought jellyfish needed saltwater?”

  “Is that related?”

  “Most sea creatures can’t live in freshwater.”

  “Huh? Really? News to me.”

  Casca: “Fresh or salt doesn’t matter. It’s about whether the water’s foul.”

  Dan smacked his wife’s backside.

  “Got it, Casca. I get it… Go chop wood.”

  “Don’t do anything funny while I’m gone for two days, or else.”

  Casca dragged her thumb across her throat, glaring at him before walking off.

  “Yes, yes, understood, ma’am.”

  Dan rolled his eyes, turning to Nora.

  “…Life.”

  “More colorful than I expected.”

  “You’ll get it when you’re in my shoes.”

  “What’s this about two days?”

  “Ask her.”

  Before she knew it, both of Dan’s arms had transformed into demonic limbs.

  He was starting to tear down the house.

  “Take it as a chance to bond with my wife.”

  “True… If I can get close to you, Mr.Fury, Casca should be a breeze.”

  “Say that again, and you’ll get a splinter in your face, Princess.”

  “I’d better go.”

  Dan chuckled in his throat.

  .

  Chop! (Sound of splitting wood)

  Casca Saint-Maximin swung her axe with precision, splitting logs. Back in her army days, she’d done this often during overnight forest camps.

  Nora approached, keeping a respectful distance.

  Knowing Casca was a legendary hero and had briefly been her swordsmanship teacher as a child made Nora feel comfortable approaching her, second only to The Raven.

  “…Casca.”

  Nora’s call made her turn, the hero greeting the princess with a friendly tone.

  “Princess.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “Oh, that.”

  Chop.

  “I need to head home and move some important stuff here.”

  Chop.

  “…It’ll take about two days.”

  As a hero, Casca’s wealth was immense. She had safe houses everywhere, including one in Snowhaven.

  Two days suggested her home was far off.

  “You’re moving your whole house here?”

  “Just the essentials, Princess. Toothbrush, makeup, four or five outfits. I’m not here as often as Fury… I travel here and there.”

  “Must be lonely… He really can’t live without you.”

  Casca gave a soft smile, splitting the last log.

  “Not lonely. He’s found a new purpose for being here.”

  “A new purpose?”

  Chop!

  The axe lodged into the stump. Casca turned to Nora.

  “Fury doesn’t just answer your questions. He’s searching for his own answers too.”

  “Answers to what?”

  “The question of where we come from.”

  “Where we come from?”

  “He’s been obsessed with that question for a long time.”

  Casca explained, stacking the firewood against the cabin wall.

  “I don’t know if his brain’s wired wrong or what… At first, I thought he was just joking. But over time, I felt something in him change. He kept dwelling on it. At his worst, he’d isolate himself, not eating, until I had to drag him back home.”

  “That serious?”

  “I threw scriptures at him to read, but after finishing, he’d say—” mimics his voice “—‘This answer’s too easy, Casca. I need something tangible.’ That’s how he is.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I let him search. In the end, he’ll come back to the scriptures anyway~”

  Casca spoke from the perspective of pure faith in God… but Nora wasn’t so sure about her final claim, that Fury would return to the scriptures.

  “But he’s shy, you know. Like you were as a kid, Princess.”

  Boom!

  The princess and hero turned toward the sound of a wall being obliterated by a red-aura demonic fist.

  Wood and dust scattered… Emerging from the debris was Dan, his demonic arms and legs shaking off sawdust. What took a holy builder half a day, the prince did in ten seconds.

  The princess and hero resumed their talk.

  “He’s quite on that spectrum. Commanders are always like that.”

  Casca covered the firewood pile with a tarp, tying it to a stake in the ground.

  “He’s got sides he doesn’t share with many… Just know you’re not alone.”

  Nora nodded slowly.

  As Casca walked away, the princess turned to the young man diligently clearing the wreckage.

  Mr.Fury…

  You’re searching for answers to something too, aren’t you?