Alissa and I talked to each other until noon, surprisingly, no one disturbed us. I think I should thank Cynthia later for giving us this opportunity

I wanted to talk more with Alissa but in the end, I had to leave her lab and attend the feast that was going to happen just this evening. I headed for Cynthia's throne room and saw here there

I kneeled and greeted her

"All of you leave us alone" She stated, all of the guards, the maids, and the nobles left

"I said all of you" She repeated herself and dark shadows left the room

"Are we clear?" Cynthia asked me

"Yup, no one's here except us" I stood up and walked closer, I hugged her tight as I spoke to her ear

"Thanks for everything"

She hugged me back as she replied

"You don't have to thank me"

"I know I don't but still, saying it out is much better than keeping quiet, isn't it?"

"Yes" She nodded her head

"How's the preparation of the feast going?" I asked

"Everything's doing fine, although I am troubled by a news that the spy I sent out reported to me just this lunch"

"What is it?"

"According to the spy, the Kingdom and Church both sent out a spy, to be more specific, the Kingdom sent 3 people while the church sent out 1"

"Really? have you tracked them?" I asked

"No, I must say they're quite skilled, all of the people I sent to follow them has stopped reporting"

"I see, where's the last location they've been seen?"

"The last place was when they left their border"

"I'll see what I can do" It's going to be hard to go from only that

"Thank you but for now, let's concentrate on the feast, let's go and prepare" Cynthia pulled me by the hand and we headed for her room

Inside her room, gowns and dresses were everywhere from sparkly white to gloomy black, she started picking, she took off her royal gown, although she was still wearing a corset and underwear, I still turned back

"You do know I'm here right?" I asked

"Yes, and as for my body, we're going to be married anyway so you're free to look" She mischievously laughed and continued picking a dress

I normally don't see this side of her so why not indulge it?

For the first time in a long while, I followed my manly desires and watched Cynthia change, every move she made was to seduce me. I enjoyed every moment of it, She finished changing from her white royal dress to a sunflower yellow. As for me, I refuse to remove my armor she only drapped a yellow cape around my neck. We were now ready and we moved out.

We walked down a floor where we can have a full view of the feast going on inside the castle, also, if move out to the veranda, it would provide us an unobstructed sight of the people enjoying the feast outside.

It was our job to announce to start off the feast outside since the nobles have already started mingling with each other and started eating the food.

Cynthia walked out, I followed behind her. All eyes were on Cynthia as she started to give a speech, Cynthia also told me to give a speech for our victory at the war at Alphon city.

"The fight could never have been won without the efforts of everyone, to everyone who works tirelessly for the sake of Arcadia Kingdom, I thank you" Is what I said in my speech

Everyone cheered as they chanted "Long live Arcadia!"

The feast started and they all went at it, no holds barred. A commotion occurred inside the castle, all the nobles seem to have been attracted to something but I can't really see what it is since I was standing beside Cynthia who was now sitting on a throne that was moved from the throne room to the second floor

Soon the person of interest showed herself, it was Astarotia. She seductively moved with her velvet red dress, each action catches the eyes of the male nobles while the ladies were murmuring to themselves, seemingly badmouthing Astarotia.

She made her way towards us and she bowed, "Hello there Queen Cynthia"

"Astarotia, I heard you've come with the Aegis Guild, I thank you for taking good care of them during their travels" Cynthia replied

"Oh, it's nothing really, hey, it seems that you guys wear matching outfits" Astarotia smiled, her eyes weren't

"Yes, so it would seem" Cynthia coldly answered

"I heard Zeno was engaged, don't tell me it was you" Astarotia knew that kicking around the bush would be a waste of energy so she cut to the point

"Let's go honey" Out of nowhere, a hand held mine, I looked and it was Alissa

She also wore a yellow dress, her hair that was usually messy was now fixed in a ponytail, the nape of her neck that I don't usually see was shown everytime her hair swayed, it was wonderful

"Is it alright if I walk around with Zeno?" Alissa looked at Cynthia

Cynthia could warmly smile and nod her head, Astarotia was thrown off course, she thought that I was engaged with Cynthia, which I really am, but now thinks that Alissa is the one I'm engaged with, which is also true

Alissa pulled me around and we both enjoyed eating the food

I heard a beep and Alissa quickly pulled out a sensor from her small pouch, she looked at it before pressing a button and relaying a message.

"Send it to Zeno"

"Send what?" I asked

"A report, it seems that Guardian 1 who is walking around in the shadows, has detected presences which he deemed hostile"

"I see"

I received the report that a group of five men and one woman was currently hidden amongst the crowd outside, I looked at the photo that Guardian 1 took and noticed that the men dressed arrogantly, most of them had a sword hanging on either their waist or on their back. The woman though was different, she wore a cape that covered her entire body, I can't seem to see any weapon on her thanks to the cape

'Keep surveying them and have Guardian 2 do your job' I ordered out

'Roger-' Guardian 1 replied but I heard a swish at the end of it, like a gust of air hit him

'Guardian 1, respond, respond Guardian 1' I continued to contact him, Alissa noticed something was wrong and stood closely

'I have met with some resistance, the men are no problem but the woman-' the transmission was cut off from there and I already knew something bad has happened

'Guardian 3 bring me Azazel and Silver edge, Guardian 4, escort Alissa back to her lab, Guardian 5 watch over Cynthia!' I ordered out as I ran towards Cynthia, I told her the situation and she also started moving, Cynthia and Alissa will be moving back to Alissa's lab where it is safe

'Lilith, display the map and mark the location where Guardian 1 is!' I requested

'Got it!'

The map was displayed, it showed where I was, where Alissa, Cynthia, and all the Guardians were, they were all moving quickly except for 1, it said G1. Guardian 1, I hope nothing bad has happened to him.

The location was just outside the city walls, it's good that it's outside where there was no one since everyone in the city went to the feast, I ran towards the gate, the guardsmen were baffled by my sudden arrival but nonetheless opened the gates for me.

I kept running and soon noticed Guardian 2 running on top of the rooftops, I stopped and he gave me the two swords

"Thanks, now go above the walls, scout the area for any more hostiles" I ordered

I continued running and soon saw Guardian 1 on the ground, the right arm was torn off, its eyes flickered red and with as oil dripped from his right shoulder

"Escape, go back to the others and get yourself patched up" I was maddened, the 5 men were playing around with his torn hand

"Hello there Royal Knight, I heard you were strong" One of the men smiled as he threw the torn robotic arm towards me, I caught it and laid it carefully on the ground before pulling out Azazel

"Nah, it's just rumors, I don't know what magic he used but basing from the thing that dripped off the other thing's arm, I'm guessing he isn't human" Another guy spoke out

"So you think he's a demon?"

They kept bantering on, I didn't even care, I watched them carefully. They tore Guardian 1's arm, something that only an elite class bug can do

"Enough of this, let's just kill the Royal Knight and recover the prince" One of the men stopped the banter before pulling out his sword and running towards me

But their movement was slow, he attacked but it was a random slash, it wasn't aimed at any part of my vital organ. Maybe a feint? a distraction? I took my eyes off him for a second and looked at the other four, they only seem to be standing there

I got fed up and punched him in the stomach before throwing him towards the other four, they caught him before they pulled out their swords and running towards me.

They kept attacking but... did they really defeat Guardian 1 with this level of combat power?

One man tried to stab me on my back but I moved to the side and grabbed his head before smashing his face on the ground, I pulled off his head along with his spine before crushing it.

The sight was horrendous, the other four was shocked which I used to my advantage. I charged, they responded with an angry roar which was drowned by the festive shouts from the feast.

They all attacked at once, I stabbed one of the men as the other three attacked me with their swords, their swords bounced off my armor and even cracked. I tore the man in half before grabbing the other two by the neck and shooting off a gamma ray which disintegrated their heads as their necks shoot off a spray of blood.

The last guy collapsed and started crawling back, he was the guy who played with Guardian 1's arm.

I picked up Guardian 1's arm and used it to slap the guy

"Who are you?" I asked

"I-I am a spy from the King!" He immediately replied

"A spy from the King? I thought there was three"

"T-The other two were spies that we met up with at the border!" He explained but I notice a grin on his mouth

'Zeno! energy blast heading your way! move away!' Lilith warned

I immediately jumped to the side, I saw a bluish energy blast hit the man and leave a large hole in his stomach, Lilith warned me of an another attack. I activated Azazel's energy coating and blocked the energy blast with Azazel

The sun has already set and my surroundings were starting to get dark, I was about to turn my night vision on when Lilith immediately turned maxed out my energy barrier. I heard a ping on my shoulder, I turned to the side

The cape on her back swayed with the wind

The bluish Valkyrie01 armor gave off a neon blue glow contrary to my DK's red

A familiar face, even if it was covered by her mask, even if her hair was cut short.

The glow of those eyes, I will never forget them

Vicereine?