Aria ate the food quickly while smiling widely. She looked like a glutton while devouring the pasta and the chicken.

Watching her eat, Rin nodded his head with a satisfied smile. Aria was such an easy-to-please person that getting this reaction from her felt so satisfying because he knew it came from her heart.

After dinner, Rin and Aria sat down to chat casually. They had a lot to catch on to in this one-week separation.

"Hey, Rin… Let's take a stroll around the city."

"Huh? Now?" Rin confusedly asked.

"Yes! I really missed this city so I want to have a small walk with you."

"What if we get caught?" Rin asked.

The curfew time for the students on working days is 10 PM. After that, guards will start their patrols. If one student was found sneaking out at night, they get punished harshly. The academy values discipline more than anything so breaking rules is a hard no for them.

Rin was sure that if they get caught, even Emilia won't be able to lessen the punishment. She's not above the rules after all.

However, instead of nodding her head, Aria just smiled mischievously. Rin felt a chill run down his spine as he knew that when Aria smiles like that, it was never going to be a good thing.

"Did you forget about your powers, dear brother?"

"My powers.. Oh! Wait, you don't mean…"

"Yes! We will sneak out! It's going to be fun!!" Pulling him up, she ran out of the room to wear some clothes.

'Hopefully, I won't regret doing this.' He sighed as he scratched his head.

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A guard was moving around the boys' dormitory with a bored look. His eyes were half closed and he would yawn at least once or twice every minute. The cold weather outside didn't help to make his shift any better.

"I fucking hate this job." He murmured to himself as he started questioning his life choices.

*Swish*

"Hmm?" Hearing something, he turned around and looked at a certain corner of the building that he passed by a few seconds ago.

"Is someone there?" He asked as he pulled out his weapon.

Normally, he would never resort to getting his sword out in cases such as this one. But, for some reason, the guard's supervisor had instructed them to be alerted and ready for fighting at any moment. No one knew why but they still obliged and followed the instructions. Their jobs were at risk after all.

When he took the turn, he found nothing. Sighing, he put the sword back in his sheath and then walked away while rubbing his head.

"I need to sleep." He murmured.

Meanwhile, at the same place where he stood before, two people appeared seemingly out of the ground.

"Sigh, we almost got caught," Rin whispered as he helped Aria out of the shadow.

"The rustle from the trees was the problem. But, hey, we didn't get caught." Aria whispered back happily.

After that, both of them walked out sneakily. No guard saw them so they dodged the hardest part of this thrilling adventure.

Now, the whole empty city is for them to explore. The night sky was clear and the beautiful stars were like beacons of light riddling the cosmic carpet above them. The moon looked so mesmerizing and beautiful as it shined faintly.

The silence of the city coupled with the cold breeze that came and went from time to time was so calming for some reason. Rin felt his heart and mind clearing up as he walked next to Aria.

'Wow, I never thought walking in an empty city at night will be this good.'

"Isn't it amazing?" Aria asked. Her beautiful red hair glistened softly under the moonlight.

"It is indeed."

"I used to go out like this from time to time to release some of the stress that I accumulated. It's very effective."

The two walked for a long time until they reached the main road of the city. It was basically desolate of any humans in contrast to the usual bustling state it's in most of the day.

The two weren't intending to stay out for long. It was just a quick walk and then they will quickly return before the guards get suspicious or do another check-up.

"Hmm?" Rin's eyes suddenly squinted.

"Rin, are you ok?" Aria asked.

"No, I just thought I saw something pass quickly there." He pointed at a cross road barely 60 meters away from them.

Looking there, Aria saw nothing suspicious at all.

"Maybe it's just the shadow of the tree?"

"..."

Rin didn't answer and instead decided to go there and see for himself. His gut feeling was telling him that it wasn't really just 'the shadow of a tree'.

*Step* *Step*

Walking closer and closer, Rin felt a weird chill run down his spine. It was as if his body was alerting him not to get any closer. The feeling only grew stronger and stronger as he got closer to the place where he saw the weird movement.

Then, at one particular step, he halted. Aria, who was walking behind him, looked confused at her brother.

"Wha-"

Before she could even say anything, Rin's shadow quickly moved and climbed her face before it closed its mouth shut.

Rin looked back at her and gestured for her to stay quiet and hide her aura as much as possible. Rin also camouflaged his mana and his presence before he started tiptoeing closer. His face was gravely serious.

When he was just about to take a turn, he put his back against the wall and peeked.

There, he saw two people standing wearing all black and hiding their faces. Because of their clothes, he couldn't notice any particularly noticeable features about them except for one thing drawn on their clothes.

'A black dagger?' He thought to himself as he squinted his eyes, trying to find anything else.

The dagger was not big and had this ominous black hue around it. However, for some reason, Rin felt that the dagger looked eerily similar to the Shadow Monarch Dagger. No, it wasn't just similarities, they were basically carbon copies of each other.

'Why is… the Shadow Monarch Dagger drawn on their clothes?'

But, he knew that he won't be able to find the answer to that. There was something extremely fishy about these people.

Aria had also been taking a peek from the side. It didn't take a genius to determine whether these people were to any good.

"Keep quiet," Rin whispered to her.

However, even though the two of them were not that far, Rin couldn't hear anything from their conversation.

*Tap* *Tap*

Then, he heard the sound of footsteps coming from the other side of the street. Quickly, Rin hid his body behind the wall and stopped his breathing.

He had felt it, the two people were now looking in this direction.

"Go check." He finally heard one of them speak.

'Fuck.' Rin cursed as he glanced at Aria.

She had already touched his hand and Rin quickly made them vanish.

The next second, the man appeared around the corner, and for the first time, Rin was able to look at him from a closer angle. He was tall, extremely tall with a huge body frame and bulging muscles. His face was covered under a black veil with only his eyes apparent. Both of his eyes were of a dark shade of violet in contrast to Rin's clear violet eyes.

He wore a huge black robe with the dagger symbol in the middle that basically covered every inch of his body from head to toe.

The man scanned the area with his cold, almost robot-like eyes. When his eyes glossed over Rin's shadow where he was hiding along with Aria, both of them felt a chill run down their spines.

'He's dangerous!!' Rin thought as he instinctively held his breath just to not make a single sound.

Luckily, the man didn't seem to notice any abnormalities as he quickly turned around and walked away.

"Nothing." He said one single word.

After that, the three people quickly walked away in a random direction. When they were sure the place was safe, Rin and Aria got out.

"What was that?" He murmured with a frown.

"I don't… Know. But, that man… He was definitely stronger than me." Aria replied while still in a slight daze.

Not many people can be stronger than Aria so that, in and out of itself, was a shock to them.

"We need to follow them," Rin said.

"Are you crazy? They can easily kill you."

However, instead of answering, Rin pulled out Shadow Monarch Dagger and showed to Aria. The latter had never seen the weapon before and this was the first time anyone other than Elise saw it.

"Wait… that's?"

"Yes. That's why I must know who they are and what they are doing here. It's a matter that concerns me." Rin said as he clenched his fists.

If they were merely a few shady people, he would've just reported it to Emilia and didn't try to do anything. But, seeing that symbol, he won't let this matter slip as if nothing happened.

'I have a bad feeling about all of this. What is really going on, sigh?'

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Thanks for reading. Any support you give me is always appreciated no matter how small it was. Let's all keep it up :)