“Shaden! Have you heard?” said Rother excitedly.

“What?” said Shaden.

“The princess is coming to this city!”

Princess?

Melern was a country with a constitutional monarchy. The royalty shared power with a governmental body that was partially elected by the people who lived in the cities. Only people who lived in the cities could vote.

That wasn’t to say that the laws of the country were twisted. Power was balanced between the royalty, the nobility, and the elected commoners. Leaving all the politics aside, the reason why the princess of the country was coming to Danark was for her to complete her 5th birthday ceremony. All family members of the main royal bloodline were required to do a tour around all the major cities of the country on their 5th birthday.

“I heard it from my friends,” said Rother as he turned towards his father. “Is the princess really coming?”

“She is. This will probably be a first time for both of you,” stated Garthan as he cleaned the dining table. “And Rother, it’s the second princess. Didn’t you learn in school?”

“Oh, yeah…But isn’t she coming tomorrow? There’s going to be a big parade with lots of music and food and events and magic, right?”

“It’s nothing big as that. She’s just going to enter the gates and exit through the back within the day. Our city isn’t important enough for too many ceremonies to occur. There will be music, but nothing else.”

“Oh.”

“You can still go see it,” said Garthan, patting his son on the head. “There will be dragons.”

“Dragons?” Rother’s face lit up again. “Cool!”

“Dragons?!” Shaden exclaimed.

“Yes,” said Garthan with a smile. “The royalty can control dragons, which is why they are royalty. The princess will probably parade the country with one.”

Holy crap! This was news to Shaden. He still hadn’t gotten the chance to see any live monsters, but if the princess really came with a dragon…he had to see it. No matter what it took, he had to see it.

“Dad! I want to go see the parade too!” begged Shaden while tugging on Garthan’s pants.

“Hmm…that might be tricky. Dad has guard duty tomorrow.”

Garthan looked at Rother who was slowly sneaking away from the room.

“Rother, could you take Shaden with you?”

“Arg, fine,” replied Rother as he turned around. “Shaden, just don’t be annoying, okay?”

“I won’t be annoying!” said Shaden while doing a cute smile. Or he thought it would be cute. “I’ll just watch the parade.”

“Then it’s settled. I can trust you with Shaden, right Rother?”

“Yeah. Leave it to me.”

So, the plan for the parade was set up in an instant.

〄 〄 〄

It was a fine day for a parade. The sun was shining brightly in the sky that was empty of clouds; colorful birds of various feathers flew over the city, making small noises in the distance. There were 3 airships located in the sky bearing the crest of the Crown—a silver dragon with four wings. The sides of the widest road in the city were crowded with people. The city guard stood between the people and the highway, positioned perfectly still and on guard for any signs of danger.

“Come on, Shaden. Follow me,” said Rother as he quickly climbed up the walls. His superior agility and strength made it possible for him to do so. He was planning to carry Shaden if necessary, but…

Shaden quickly tailed his brother and ascended the architecture. His physical strength was lacking, but he managed to fill the gap with his mana-hands. Of course, his brother couldn’t see them. For Rother, Shaden was doing surprisingly well, but he didn’t think much about it. It was just convenient that his brother wasn’t being annoying.

The two siblings continued to jump across the city buildings to reach a higher place. While hanging out with his friends, Rother had found the perfect place to enjoy the parade. There was a tall building he had found that had slabs they could climb. By navigating through the buildings, the place could be reached in less than an hour.

Rother paused and looked back to see how his brother was doing. Shaden was just right behind him, jumping across a gap twice his size.

Hmm, maybe it’s too dangerous for Shaden? The thought went through Rother’s mind, but he dismissed it. Shaden was doing fine. He wasn’t begging for help after all. He had heard from his friends that they occasionally hit their siblings because they were annoying, but Rother rarely felt such emotions. He had been jealous of Shaden since Shidey always followed him, but he had grown over it.

Speaking of the cat, she was right behind Shaden.

Rother scratched his imaginary head. When had she appeared? Eh. It didn’t really matter. The cat was something though. It was literally Shaden’s shadow.

After making sure Shaden safely reached him, Rother continued to increase his altitude.

They finally reached the tall building. The white slabs of stone stood out like ladders.

“Shaden, you think you’ll need any help?” asked Rother. “This might be a little hard for you.”

“I’m okay,” said Shaden. “I learned how to climb when you were at school.”

Interesting. His brother was very cool, thought Rother.

Shaden followed his brother up the slabs, using his mana-hands to assist him. Rother arrived at the top and make sure Shaden wasn’t going to fall. It wasn’t that high of a cliff, but still, it would hurt a lot. He reached out his hand to Shaden and hoisted him up.

The persistent cat was clawed onto Shaden’s shoulder. Rother raised an eyebrow but ignored it. Shidey was a just a weird cat.

“Isn’t this place cool?” asked Rother. “Look how high up we are. We can see everyone from here.”

Rother was right. When Shaden went to the ledge to view the streets, he literally could see everything from one end to the other. Well, not everything. But still a significant amount. From this height, there would be no problem when viewing the parade.

Then Shaden spotted—no, sensed something on a roof nearby. He focused his eyes on the presence. The figure was camouflaged perfectly, making it almost impossible to spot. Shaden had to squint his eyes to see it.

An assassin?

“Don’t move.”

Suddenly, Shaden felt something cold on his throat. He quickly looked over at Rother and saw a person in some kind of white camouflage clothing restraining him, also with a knife to the throat.

Oh no, he thought. Are we screwed? Shaden instantly readied his mana hands and spread them across the floor. If there were enemies, he’d have to take their weapons first. He didn’t know if he would be able to, but he still prepared.

“Answer our questions. Why are you boys up here?” It was a male’s voice.

Rother spoke up. “Erm…we wanted to view the parade from a good place.”

“Are they armed?”

“No. Both are unarmed,” answered a female voice.

“Good. Now then, how did you get up here?”

“Um…we climbed?” squeaked Rother.

“This boy here too?”

“Yes…?”

“He climbed up here by himself?”

“Well, I did help him a little bit?”

Shaden looked around for Shidey. To the right, another figure in a white-camouflage coat and mask was holding Shidey up. Shidey thankfully wasn’t showing signs of hostility. She was shaking a little though.

“Does the cat belong to you?”

Shaden spoke up. “Her name is Shidey, and could you please remove the knives from our throats? We’re only harmless children.”

The woman muttered under her breath. “I’ve never heard a child your age speak so fluently before.”

Shaden froze. Ah, shoot. He had forgotten he was less than five years old.

“Shaden’s right! We’re harmless!” argued Rother. “If you don’t let us go, our Dad’s gonna get you! He’s part of the city guard.”

“The city guard? Say, boy, what’s your father’s name?”

“Garthan. Garthan Limen,” replied Rother.

“Garthan Limen…I recognize that name. Who was it?”

“A few years back, I believe he won the annual tournament for swordsmanship,” said the female figure.

“Hmm…maybe so. Boy, is there a way you can prove this relationship with your father?”

“Well…” Rother thought furiously. A way to prove their connection? How?

“I go to the Swordsmanship Training Academy because my dad sent me there,” he blurted out. “The people there know me.”

“Scythe, Hood just called,” the woman’s voice said as she put her hands over the side of her mask. “We are to get in position.”

“Hmm…that’s a pity.”

The man let his grip go on Shaden. Rother too was released along with Shidey. The figures that were holding them suddenly vanished into thin air. Shaden could feel their presences darting away with his mana.

“We’ve got eyes on you, kids. Just stay here and don’t do anything funny. You can watch the parade, but make sure not to move, or else…do you understand?”

Rother nodded furiously. Shaden too nodded.

The man turned around and sheathed his knife. Now that Shaden had gotten a better view of him, he noticed that none of his body parts were exposed. Everything was covered in some kind of white clothing that seemed to shimmer.

“Who are you people?” Shaden asked.

“Us? Hmm…I don’t know. Bodyguards maybe? No, that’s not quite right…”

The man’s figure started to fade away like mist.

“Some call us the Reapers. But now, we’re just protecting the royalty.”

And he vanished.

Rother collapsed on the ground.

“What in the world?” he exclaimed. “Shaden, I think we need to stay here.”

Yeah, I know, thought Shaden. I heard them clearly. The initial presence he had felt on the other building across from them was still there. He/she was probably in charge of this area while also keeping an eye on them. Man, these people. Who exactly were they? At least they didn’t seem to be assassins. Shaden retracted all the mana hands he had created.

Shidey came and rubbed her head against Shaden while meowing. She looked slightly unsettled—her black fur was sticking up.

“I hope we aren’t in trouble?” said Shaden.

“I don’t know,” said Rother while crossing his arms. He sighed and turned his head towards the street. “Come sit here, Shaden. Let’s just enjoy the parade for now.” His voice had a slight nervous tremor to it. It was only natural. Rother was eleven.

Shaden nodded and sat next to his brother. The sun was shining as brightly as ever, and the crowds were bustling even more.

Then from the distance, the deafening sound of a horn boomed throughout the city. It repeated two more times before finally stopping. The people were already cheering and the soldiers became alert, even more so than before. They banged their spears in unison on the ground, signaling the beginning of the procession.

“They’re here,” Rother breathed.

The Second Princess of Melern had entered the city.