Starlight (I)

"... that was close," Cyril muttered. "This guy probably won't talk unless he's under some serious pressure." He paused, glancing around. "Oh, Aria, how's Angelica doing?"

[Answer: Based on the mana signatures in the vicinity, it appears she emerged victorious against both of her opponents almost twenty seconds earlier than you did.]

"So I'm still in second place, huh?" Cyril said with a chuckle, wiping the sweat from his forehead. He turned his attention toward the spiked stone barrier his unconscious foe had erected.

Now that Douglas had lost consciousness, the will required to maintain the odd-looking divide was starting to fade.

Right about now… Cyril thought, watching as the large stone spikes crumbled into dust. The debris rained down with a loud shroom sound, spawning a massive cloud of smoky white and grey that obstructed his view.

"Cyril! Are you alright?!"

"Yeah, I'm good. Just wrapping things up over here." He responded to the gentle lilt of Angelica's voice. Her voice carried easily across the park, but the infrequency of its pitch made him realize she wasn't used to shouting like that.

Cyril swiped his hand again, augmenting the air's velocity and conjuring a gentle breeze to blow away the smoky dust. "Eek!" Angelica let out a small squeal as she charged through the dust. After going to such great lengths to preserve her prim attire, the thought of all her efforts going to waste simply because of a casual swipe from Cyril's hand made her want to scream in protest, but the deed was already done.

Her complaints would have to wait until some other time.

"I'm sorry, defeating those two while holding back was trickier than I expected."

"It's fine. You just defeated two C-ranks by yourself. That's amazing, you know?"

"I know, but—" Angelica's words fell off as her gaze landed on the unconscious man, sunken into the dirt.

"My word…" She raised a hand to her mouth, almost instinctively.

Following her gaze, a sharp pang of guilt struck Cyril's chest.

"A-Angelica, he's fine. I promise." Cyril's voice trembled, the words sounding more like a plea than a reassurance.

"I'm aware. It's just... I didn't think you could be so... excessive."

He had no rebuttal for that. Compared to what he could've done if things had played out differently, this was fairly mild. The blaring of sirens in the distance split the air, snatching both of their attentions away from the sunken man.

"Looks like Longinus is finally ready to show up." Locking his fingers, Cyril stretched both hands overhead.

"The timing feels oddly perfect." Angelica quipped, her skirt flowing as she spun around to smile at him. "Who would've thought the day would end up being so eventful?"

"Well, there's always something shady going on in this city, but you're right, this was a little extreme. Although, one good thing did come out of it."

"Hm? What's that?" Angelica asked, her tone surprisingly soft, as if returning to its usual pitch.

"Our first team-up. Good work, Angelica." Smiling with the declaration, Cyril stepped closer and extended his hand toward her.

"Oh, are you, perhaps...?"

"Yeah, well, since this was our first time working together and all, I figured it would only be right."

Angelica's eyes lit up with sparkles at the sight of his outstretched hand, her cheeks blooming as she nodded vigorously.

"Ahem! Very well, then, I'll oblige." She took a step back to gauge the distance, then synchronized her movements with Cyril. Their palms came into contact with perfect timing, echoing the sound of victory across the moonlit battlefield.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"That was probably my best high-five yet," Cyril joked, turning to face the blaring lights of the sirens.

"Heh-heh, it was my pleasure, Cyril. I'm sure there's more to come…"

"I must say Cyril, I'm a bit surprised. I didn't think you could still outdo yourself like this. Bringing down a group of terrorists and destroying an entire park in the process warrants a bit more caution, wouldn't you say?" worded the man in uniform. He had a quaint face, marked by strict, discerning features that somehow managed to appear hopelessly mundane, lending him an air of undeniable sagacity.

"Like I said, Lieutenant Conrad, we were attacked. They chased us across the district and used earth magic to separate us after taking that drug." Cyril muttered the words on a dry note, sounding exhausted by his own recap. He had grown tired of the whole thing after recounting the details three times in a row, but the sagacious lieutenant had a habit of probing for more details.

The lieutenant nodded and raised a hand to signal his understanding. He pulled out a mobile device three-inches thick from underneath his dark trench coat and began meticulously typing away at something.

Cyril heaved a sigh and straightened himself on a bench a small distance away from the large fissure in the ground— a spot that miraculously managed to avoid the lasting effects of the fearsome battle. Angelica was beside him, shifting nervously as she exchanged glances between Cyril, the stone-faced lieutenant and the flashing lights of the muted sirens blinking across from them.

The collection of rapid response vehicles and armored personnel scattered about the park seemed oddly out of place after having arrived on the scene too late. Angelica tried to crane her neck up again, as though she were searching for something in the distance, but her height wouldn't allow it, forcing the girl to rescind her efforts.

There was a soft tug on Cyril's clothes.

He turned around, flinching at the sight of splendorous starlight glinting off Angelica's upturned eyes. "C-Cyril!" Before he could say anything, she hastily hushed his name and drew closer, her voice barely straying above a whisper.

"What is it? You look like you're about to cry."

"No, no, it's not that." Angelica denied it, she formed a small 'X' shape with her fingers and shook her head. "Are they going to call Yelena? If she finds out about this...." Her words had trailed off, but Cyril didn't need to hear the rest. He could already imagine what she was going to say, and better yet, his imagination could picture the stern reprimand he was in for if the retainer ever caught wind of their escapades.

All of the sudden, a certain sentence came back to him, and made his shoulders droop under their verbal weight. His head sunk like an anchor, and with it, Cyril unloaded a sigh even more exasperated than the last.

Angelica tugged at his sleeve again.

"Don't worry, I'll explain everything to Yelena. The worst that could happen is that she might start following me everywhere, but I can live with that," Angelica said calmly, offering him a trembling thumbs up.

Her poor attempt at portraying Cyril's usual brand of mild sarcasm was off by a very wide margin, but he didn't mind. Chuckling to himself, Cyril banished his skepticism and flashed a smile. "I'll talk to her too. I can manage whatever your retainer throws at me." he said

The dull flap of Conrad's trench coat interrupted them and signaled the completion of his brief transcription. "Well, for the most part, you two did us a huge favor by putting these guys down. After the mess Cocytus caused during the incursion a year ago, we've been going all out trying to track down their leader. It seems they still hold a grudge against you, Cyril. With your guardian gone, you're an easy target. Are you sure you don't want us to assign someone to protect you?"

"No, that won't be necessary. I'm a provisional hunter now, Lieutenant, and I've been re-evaluated recently. It's given me a lot more confidence in my own strength." Conrad raised an eyebrow, his expression one of hesitation, as if debating whether to argue against the young man's reasoning. The right to refuse protection was entirely his to give, and after having witnessed Cyril's skills firsthand, he wasn't sure if it was worth pressing the issue any further.

"That's a very peculiar way of looking at the situation, but I can't deny it. The two of you did just take down six of Cocytus' members, after all. Oh, by the way..." Conrad caught himself, then turned to Angelica, offering an awkward smile.

"Sorry about this, little lady. It's a bit embarrassing for one of our country's nobles to go through something like this so soon after moving to our city."

"No, it's quite fine," she replied, returning a cheerful smile of her own. "I was just helping out my teammate, that's all."

"Oh? I'm glad to hear that. It's nice to see that you've found a capable ally already. Cyril's a good kid, but he's a bit of a troublemaker and he gets in way too many incidents for a highschooler. If you can look past those misgivings, then you've got yourself one hell of a comrade."

"Oi, I'm sitting right here you know." Cyril sharply rebuked the lieutenant's quirky assessment.

"What? It's all true." countered Konrad, smirking through his beard at the sight of Cyril's acquiescence.

"Hehe~" The sound of Angelica's soft laughter rang out as she shifted on the bench, giggling beside Cyril.

"Just so you know, Angelica, his rundown was totally inaccurate. I'm not a troublemaker, it's just, well, coincidences and things like that happen sometimes, and well, you know..." Cyril muttered out the words, his face burning bright red amidst the poor explanation.

"Sure." Angelica replied, patting his shoulder. "I've seen enough to know the truth." Since she was chuckling all the way through that response, it made Cyril wonder if she really had seen through his phony excuse.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.