Way of the Knights

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Raven was dumbstruck by this sudden confession from Luna, nonetheless he managed to nod to confirm her guesses.

That's right, Luna Moonsong-no, Lunafreya Lightshield is the runaway princess of the Final Haven Kingdom.

"I'm starting to think that nothing escapes your eyes. You're more terrifying than your dad you know." Luna pouted as she was a bit bummed about the lackluster reaction of Raven.

"Perks of knowing a lot I guess?" Raven smiled wryly and said. "Come to think of it, it's quite a shocker to know that we are sharing classes with the youngest of the Royal Family. Add the fact that our very own instructor is none other than the Kingdom's deadliest Blade, Nightstalker Lee."

The beloved princess of the kingdom being guarded by the deadliest blade. Their identities were truly terrifying to behold.

"It's rather rude not to show you my true appearance after revealing my identity. I can't do that since they will think I'm in danger." Luna lowered her gaze, feeling quite guilty about this.

"It's fine." Raven waved his hand, "I've already seen it anyway."

Luna was shocked by his words, she couldn't help but to ask: "How?"

"Look closer to my eyes." Raven leaned closer to her. Luna was a bit wary but she knew that Raven didn't have anything bad in mind, as she followed her instructions, she saw the weird golden circle around Raven's pupils which made her frown.

"Eye Technique?" She asked.

"Yep." Raven said, "Allows my vision to be enhanced and disregard some minor illusions. This is how I knew."

Luna nodded and they became silent for quite sometime. Raven saw her gazing at the stars that covers the entire kingdom with it's gentle light. As the wind blew across her face, it made her hair shuffle with it which greatly accentuates her beauty in his eyes.

"You're a weird one you know?" After moments of silence, Luna spoke with a faint voice. "With your intelligence and strength, you could've applied for early graduation and be promoted to the core location of the institute. But you've stayed, not only for your brother's but for us as well. People who does that are very few and far in between."

Raven smiled and sat beside her, he then looked onto her face and said: "It's true that I'm smart, intelligent, handsome and strong. Practically, anything that a person could ask for, I already have it." He grinned and slightly puffed his chest out.

Luna was dumbfounded and reacted: "Yep, including shamelessness as well."

"True!" Raven nodded which made Luna chuckle, "But even so, I'm only one person."

There was a slight pause before he continued with his words. "I can't do it all. Do you think that if I suddenly shown a brilliance that can't be seen for centuries, the hidden enemies will let me grow up? Hell no! They won't hesitate to kill me before I even start causing problems for them. Humans could be very sick sometimes and won't hesitate to go all out just to get what they want."

These words resonated deep into Luna's heart. As the darling of the Royal Family, she grew up being surrounded by love, admiration and awe from people around her. But at the same time, she was also surrounded by hounds who loved to scheme and do everything in their power to get onto her 'good-side' in attempts of reeling her in and using her.

She was naive and nearly fell for their machinations on multiple occasions. If it weren't for her guardians, she might have met a really bad end by now.

Luna was forced to wear a mask of someone who wasn't her in the first place, all in attempts to dissuade or deter many forces who were targeting her. She also forced herself to make some extreme decisions in order to protect herself and the people she loved.

"That's why I stayed. My plan is to really bid my time and sweep them clean in one full stroke. Once I have enough strength, I will truly start all of my grand plans."

"Plus, I really did what you say, then what will happen to you guys?" Raven gave her a deep look, "Like I said earlier, I'm only one person. I need allies, and I chose you guys to be those people. I will help you achieve the heights that you never even imagined before. There will be a time when we will never have to be weary about the dangers outside and we could turn this whole place into a true paradise where humans can live peacefully."

Raven's words shook Luna to the core. Briefly, an image a completely different Final Haven Kingdom flashed before her very eyes. A true paradise where peace exists and a place where humans could truly call home.

Unknowingly, a burning desire was born in her heart as she committed this image to very depths of her memory. She swore silently that she will truly work hard to help Raven achieve this grand plan of his.

"Looks like you want to replace the Royal Family huh..." Luna teased. Raven was dumbfounded but laughed afterwards.

"Replacing is not in my plans but marrying you is..." Raven whispered in a low voice.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing!" Raven panicked a bit, "Well, it's very late now so I'm off to sleep. Don't stay up too late." He didn't even wait for her to say anything more as he nimbly climbed back to his room and disappeared.

Luna gaped at how fast he escaped, she shook her head and looked up to the sky one last time. She was thanking the gods above that no one aside from her was present right now because if there was, then they would see a deep crimson blush on her cheeks.

***

Somewhere in the core region of the Kingdom.

Inside a room filled with darkness, there were several people who are standing in front of a tall glass window, overseeing what's happening beyond it.

They wore majestic clothing and were surrounded by people who acted as guards for them. None of them showed any joy at their faces, they were only showing deep anger.

"Would you kindly provide us with a brief report of what happened?" A tall and fair man asked in a authoritative voice that none had any qualms about.

"Affirmative." Raven and his crew would definitely be familiar with this voice, this is none other than Jackson.

"As the class that we supervised were scheduled to tour the Beast Domestication Center, we managed to uncover a trap that was laid around the place. It turns out that some people from the Black Curtain Guild managed to penetrate our forces and place a total of 18 seeds of Flesh Eating Vines all over the center in order to cause chaos."

"Their goal was to create malicious rumors to weaken the citizen's belief towards our forces. With the quick action of Chief Director Maddock, we immediately dealt with the whole situation without leaking the news to the crowd. But it turns out that this is just the other half of their plan. As we head back to the Inn where our students are resting, we managed to spot a team of 9 criminals concealed on top of the Inn's roof. They were planning to abduct the kids and use them as a token of exchange to further cause our citizens to feel unconfident about out management. In the end, we managed to apprehend the force without causing too much commotion."

As Jackson finished his report, none reacted. But it didn't mean that the people present didn't care about his reports at all. It's quite the opposite really, this is shown by how much darker and colder their gazes transformed.

"You said 9 criminals right? Who are the rest inside?"

"Those who wore black clothes are the criminals that I'm talking about, as for the others, they are previously working under Chief Maddock's but gotten apprehended as he made a purge as soon as we solved the problem on the center."

"Now that I thought about it, they seem to have specifically targeted this class. You see, in that class we have Sir Leon's daughter, Sir Bradley's daughter, Sir Hawk's son, Sir Clyde's son, Sir Raphael's son and finally my sister. I don't think that such a coincidence exists..."

"To follow up with that claim Your Highness, please take a look at that person." Jackson pointed out Snake behind the glass wall. "He is a disciple of the 5th Emissary of the Black Curtain Guild, previously he was working with at the outer institute and was even the one who caused a merchant clan to conspire with the enemies. Sir Lee could confirm this fact."

Before the man could say anything, a wizened old man stepped forward and bowed in front of him.

"I am truly disheartened and embarrassed about this event Your Highness. It is my lack of supervision and foresight that caused this whole event to unfold. I am willing to shoulder any punishment that you think is appropriate."

The old man felt a solid palm on his shoulders, he looked up and saw the man smiling at him and said: "My punishment is for you to tighten up the defences of the institutes. We have to make sure that the only place where our youth can grow and learn is completely safe. Are you able to do this Sir Bradley?"

The old man felt even more guilty but manage to say: "I will do everything in my power to make your wishes happen Crown Prince."

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