The eminence of a true king

In the dark and damp underground.

Alexia and Shino were walking side by side, but the latter had an impatient expression on her face, as the silver-haired princess wouldn't stop bombarding her with questions.

"Can you tell me who you are?"

"Do you know anything about what's happening outside?"

"Who was the man in white just now?"

"Aren't you going to tell me anything?"

"You're too noisy."

Sinon gritted her teeth, irritated.

She liked quiet and clean places, but now she found herself in a filthy underground waterway, right next to the silver-haired princess who wouldn't stop talking.

And she didn't like Alexia either.

You could say a lot of irritating elements were gathered around her at that moment.

So the Cat-Woman, a little annoyed, decided to give the princess a warning.

"Be quiet for a moment."

Sinon pushed Alexia against the wall with a movement too fast for her to follow, then pressed her magical submachine gun, the P90, against the princess's head.

"How rude! Aren't you here to save me?"

"Shut up and stop trying to extract information from me, or I'll put a hole in your head."

"Huh? You seem really fired up. It's like you hate me or something. Did I provoke you somehow before?"

Alexia pretended to stay calm, but she was genuinely surprised. Though she often made fun of herself, she was actually much stronger than the average person.

But in the end, she hadn't even seen the Cat-Woman move and was subdued instantly.

Alexia was shocked by Sinon's skill.

In terms of agility, she might even be inferior to her own sister, but for some reason, she was feeling a strong hostility coming from Shino.

"Your intuition's sharp. Yeah, I hate you. Actually, I should say all of us hate you."

"What do you mean?"

"Alexia Midgar, even though Master likes you a lot, please don't push me. You're not even worthy of one of my Master's fingers."

Shino stared coldly at Alexia. None of the girls in the courtyard had a good impression of this shameless princess who kept approaching Leon.

She was just a mere princess.

Not to mention the marriage proposal from the other day.

"Have some self-awareness, Alexia Midgar."

"You're so angry, but I have no idea what you're talking about! Still, I have my own pride too!"

Alexia was angry as well.

Where did this annoying wild cat come from? It felt like she'd scratch her face if she even touched her. Would anyone even want this girl in the future acting like that?

However, just as she was thinking about pulling Shino's tail in revenge—

"I didn't expect you to escape, oh~ That outfit... you're a member of that annoying organization, Night Raid. No wonder."

"Why are you here, Zenon?"

Alexia and Sinon instantly stopped fighting and looked cautiously at the man who appeared before them — Zenon, the swordsmanship instructor from the Magic Swordsman Academy.

"Why do you ask? Obviously because this is my facility. I invested heavily in the man in white. Also, I was the one who kidnapped you."

Alexia's eyes widened, and the wariness in her gaze turned into hostility a second later.

"That's great. I always knew there was something wrong with you, something wrong with your brain. So it wasn't just my imagination!"

"Say what you want. I'm in a good mood now. I never expected to use a defective princess to catch a member of Night Raid."

Zenon looked at Shino greedily, as if he wanted to devour her.

In recent years, the Cult of Diablos had been constantly attacked by Night Raid. Again and again, they suffered heavy losses. The toll was too great to count, and they hadn't managed to defeat a single enemy.

And now, standing in front of him, was one of them.

"Such a repulsive gaze. I'll have to rip your eyes out later."

Sinon's eyes were cold, and she said this while pointing her gun at Zenon, ready to pull the trigger at any moment.

"What a cruel kitty. But I won't let you understand how terrifying the cult is just yet."

"Hmph, in front of Midnight-sama, the Cult of Diablos is just trash. Their fortress in the royal capital has already been completely destroyed."

Sinon's words made Zenon's eyes twitch.

She was right.

All the fortresses had been destroyed at the same time.

All the members were attacked simultaneously.

The Cult of Diablos had invested countless human, material, and financial resources to build those fortresses in the royal capital, and yet they were almost completely wiped out by Night Raid in a single night.

"Yeah, looking at what you guys did, I can only say that you deserve to be the number one enemies of the cult. But precisely because of that, if I capture you and turn you in, I'll be greatly rewarded."

Zenon's expression twisted more and more, and his eyes staring at Shino burned with desire, as if he were looking at a treasure trove.

[What the hell are these two talking about...]

Alexia listened without understanding a word, feeling left out.

Cult of Diablos? Night Raid? Midnight-sama?

She didn't understand. She had no idea what they were talking about. There were a lot of keywords, but it all sounded like the ramblings of a lunatic. Nothing made sense.

What's happening in this world? Two unimaginably powerful organizations are confronting each other. Just thinking about it made her head go numb!

Zenon, who once lusted after the silver-haired princess's blood—

Now didn't even look at Alexia.

His eyes were locked on Shino.

"A descendant of the awakened hero, a member of Night Raid. Haha! It doesn't matter who you really are — capturing you will be a great achievement! As long as I get you, I'll be famous! Compared to your worth, that useless princess over there is... well, let's just call her a bonus."

"I'm gonna kill you!!" ×2

Shino and Alexia shouted at the same time.

The man had completely pissed both of them off.

The silver-haired princess raised her sword and charged.

The blue-haired Cat-Woman raised her weapons.

"Hey! Why are you falling back? Come help me kill this guy!" Alexia frowned and yelled.

"You're a princess, but so vulgar. Clearly unworthy of the Master. And I'm a long-range combat specialist." Shino frowned slightly and flicked the safety off her P90.

"Long-range specialist? What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you can act as my human shield and take damage up front, while I'll safely handle the enemy from behind."

"You annoying cat!"

Alexia shouted, eyes trembling.

---

(End of chapter)

Do you guys realize that after all this time writing this fanfic, I just now realized I could've used 'Zero' as Leon's alias instead of 'Midnight'…

Hmph. If you really want to be useful, then entertain me, try to throw those pathetic power stones at me. Let's see if even your insolence can amuse a king.