Except for the first greetings, there was no need for all of the agents and escorts to be around all of the time. That would be too cramped and would instead negatively affect their job. 

Plus, they also had to rest. They were humans so they couldn’t just stay guard all of the day. They couldn’t protect the prince and fight properly if they were tired, could they?

That said, they had two working shifts set for most of the days. Except for the times when the prince would move out of the city, which all of the agents had to be present to protect him like when he would visit the borders or some meetings that would take place in other cities, there was no need for all of the agents to be present because SMF obviously didn’t want to kill its own agents by overworking them. 

Each group of escorts would be working either at 3 PM to 3 AM shift or in the 3 AM to 3 PM shift. That was a really strange and difficult working schedule, but not for the trained agents of the most powerful military organization in the country. They were people who could work without taking a small nap for days, so escorting someone for 12 hours a day wasn’t such a hard task.

‘At this rate, I will die…’

Yet, for some people, this was still a hard thing to work for 12 hours a day. And not work, but stand still in one spot in the chilly weather of the fall the whole time and do nothing. They weren’t even allowed to move around and talk to each other much. It was really boring and exhausting.

‘I still need to stay here for 6 hours!’

After checking his watch and seeing the time, Kairen wanted to cry.

This was not fair! They shouldn’t make mages do such things! Mages weren’t like those monstrous aura wielders! It was a crime! He was being used as a slave! He was hungry! He wanted to lie down!

“Hey!”

Kairen turned around after hearing the low voice behind his back.

“You can go and sit inside the car if you are tired!”

It was deputy team leader Bray who was standing behind Kairen.

“They are having a meeting and it will last for one more hour, so there is no need for you to stay here all the time.”

“But-“

Deputy team leader Bray shook her head.

“You are a mage! Even if something happens, you won’t be fighting the enemies in close range so there is really no need to stick to the prince all the time. I also sent Elsie away, unit 6’s mages are each resting somewhere as well.”

Kairen glimpsed around. Now that he looked closer, there were indeed a few empty spots in the line they were standing in.

So it was fine for him to take a rest? 

Why didn’t anybody tell him this before? Did they enjoy seeing his miserable face or what?

“Thank you…”

Kairen thanked the deputy team leader and walked towards one of the cars they used. 

It was when Kairen was passing by Kain that he was suddenly grabbed by his arm and something was pushed inside his hand.

“What-“

Kairen flinched and looked at Kain with wide eyes.

“Chocolate!”

“….”

“Why did you stay there for so long? I thought you’d take a break sooner.”

Kain moved back and looked around as if he had done nothing. Kairen looked at the chocolate with a dumbfounded face before putting it inside his pocket.

“I didn’t know I could take a break…”

“…What did I really expect…”

Kairen moved closer to Kain for a moment.

“Did Alessia go home?”

“Yeah. I changed our schedules a little bit so that she and I wouldn’t need to be at work at the same time. One needs to be with Ariyan so…”

“Using your position as a deputy team leader to do whatever you like, huh?”

Kain gave an innocent smile at Kairen’s answer. Kairen brushed past him and hopped inside the car. 

‘When will this thing be over…’

It was only the first day and Kairen was already tired. He leaned back on the car chair, wishing that this whole thing would be over soon without any incidents as he munched the chocolate he was given by Kain. 

. . . . . 

It was the same room again. The same large and empty room that they always used. A new table was placed inside the room as the previous one was broken, and all of the people who always used this room were sitting around the table, looking at each other in silence. 

Well, not all of them actually. There was one missing person among them.

“Our dear comrade was captured by those bastards!”

The person everyone referred to as the master or the boss was sitting at the head of the table. He said those words with a sad face while looking at the people’s faces one by one.

“It was such a heartbreaking incident. I still can’t believe he was overpowered by those guys… He must’ve been greatly hurt.”

He sighed while putting his chin on the back of his hand.

“Tsk!”

The woman sitting on the third chair clicked her tongue as she clenched and unclenched her fists.

“Captured? Hah! Don’t make me laugh!”

She grabbed the table with both hands in an attempt to stop herself from jumping up from her seat and rushing towards a certain person.

“Do you really believe what that bastard says?”

There was no need for her to say the name of the person she was talking about. There was only one person she would talk about like that and everyone knew who that person was. All of the people in the room glanced at the man that was sitting right beside the master.

“How can The First be captured when that bastard came back safe and sound? Is this even logical?”

“….”

“….”

“….”

Everyone looked between the master and the said bastard.

“You are not even that strong! How is that possible? Master! Do you still want to turn a blind eye on this-“

SLAM

The white-haired master slammed to the table. 

“Quiet!”

The woman closed her mouth immediately, but that didn’t make her frown less. Instead, her face crinkled even more.

“We have discussed that matter already. I haven’t gathered you here for you to resume the same old talk again.”

The woman took a deep breath.

“This is not old talk. One of our men was captured and we don’t know how! And, the only person that was with him at that time doesn’t give a proper explanation! How am I supposed to sit still?”

She looked at the others’ faces as if urging them to state their own minds as well.

“I’ve explained it before.”

But instead, someone else started to talk. 

The said bastard who was sitting beside the master turned to her and talked in his usual cold and emotionless voice.

“I only managed to run away thanks to Claire Reid’s power. Those agents were injured after fighting The First so they couldn’t stop me from running away.”

The others in the room just silently stared at the talking man. 

“Would you mind telling us how those scums even managed to beat The First?”

The woman said through gritted teeth while sending daggers to the man by her gaze. Contrary to her, whose voice was filled with rage, the man answered her question with a relaxed tone.

“The deputy team leader of unit 6 who has the water attribute unique power managed to beat him up after finding that artifact.”

BAM

She slammed the table.

“The same shit again! There is no way he could use the power of that artifact as soon as he got his hands on it! Quit lying and tell the truth!”

“I’ve told the truth. I don’t know how, but he was the one who captured The First.”

“How did that agent even manage to find the artifact?”

The man shook his head.

“I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to that as I was in the woods when that happened.”

“This fucker-“

“Enough!”

The master slammed the table once again.

“We are gathered here to discuss our future plans. There is no time for such talks.”

The usual smile on his face was gone and he was instead glaring at the woman with a cold gaze.

“…”

The woman shuddered as she felt chills run down her back. She lowered her head and clenched her trembling fists.

“I’m sorry, master.”

The master glared at her a little bit more, making the woman sweat under his gaze and lower her head even more.

Clap

“Alright, everyone!”

The master took his eyes off of the woman and clapped his hands, the smile returned to his face.

“Our dear comrade was captured, but we can’t just sit still, can we?”

He placed a few papers on the table while still smiling brightly. 

“Listen carefully, okay? I will only explain once!”