"Out! All of you!"

The princess yelled, and the panicked nobles exited the throne room in droves—rushing past each other like farm animals let loose. Him and Ellisar remained kneeling before the throne, though a look of confusion began to form on the Knight Lieutenant's face. After all, just moments prior, they were meant to receive a reward for their contributions during the battle… After glancing at the frantic expressions of the fleeing nobles, the elven warrior finally stood and turned to leave the throne room like the rest.

"But Your Highness… What is the meaning of this…" The announcer pleaded to no avail.

"Shut it, Ilrune. I know what I am doing."

Before fully leaving, Ellisar gripped Soren's shoulder and whispered, "What are you doing? Hurry up and stand…"

"Not him. Let the slave stay."

The words echoed in Ellisar's ears. Shocked, he stared at Soren for a few moments, as if pleading for an answer—though, he never received one in the end. Soren kept his silence.

Not daring to protest, he quickly turned and walked away with the rest.

After a few more breaths, the entire hall had once again returned to its regal silence. The only ones left were Soren, the princess, and the announcer himself. Soren remained kneeling, awaiting his command to speak when given.

Though, that was not really his concern at the moment. Although he made sure to hold on tightly to his poker face, it was getting harder and harder to maintain the facade by the second… Laughter was slowly bubbling its way to the surface.

Hold it in… Fuck. I need to hold it in… He began to think about all kinds of strange topics to distract himself.

"Ilrune. You should also leave."

"Y-your highness?" The announcer seemed concerned. Soren took note of his name—the fact that he was the only one who stayed behind after the rest of the nobles left must mean that his status within Bastion Thirel was relatively high.

Eventually, he heard a sigh. "Duke Alinar was like a father to me… I want to talk privately with his treasured pupil."

Hm… A valid excuse from our 'princess.' Soren thought.

Eventually, the man relented. Soren heard his footsteps echo nearby, as he walked toward the exit. But not before throwing an insult under his breath.

"Damned slave… If you even dare to do anything to harm Her Highness, by the blossoms, you will wish for a quick death…"

Walking away, Soren finally heard the door to the throne room slam shut. Now, only the two of them remained. Letting out a sigh of relief, he stood up and began to stretch.

"It seems you wanted to speak to me in private, Princess Myrella?"

"Go to hell."

Soren's lips twitched slightly. Damn… He's this pissed?

He wasn't sure what expression he was showing on his face, but it had to be bad. Myrin was staring daggers at him, as if picturing the most efficient way to strangle him in his sleep.

"That's not a very regal thing to say, Your Highness! You should watch your manners!~"

Myrin continued to stare in silence. Eventually, Soren relented.

"Alright, alright. No more jokes, I promise…" There was a slight pause before he continued, "Still, I never realized how pretty you are as a woman… Perhaps you should stay that way."

Suddenly, he felt the air shift around him. Myrin had expanded his Soul Realm, encompassing the entire throne room.

Glancing around, Soren nodded slowly.

"It seems you can still use your magecraft at least… That's good."

"Are those your last words?"

He shook his head. "No, I hope not."

"Then promise me this. If we get out of this alive, never. And I mean never… tell Tina and others about this."

At this point, holding it in became impossible. His legs almost gave out as his laughter echoed across the walls and pillars of the grand throne room.

"Y-you bastard!" Myrella's sharp ears turned red. It was as if 'she' was a kettle about to boil over.

Wiping away his tears, Soren decided to change the subject. "Dude, I get it… Don't worry, your secret will remain with me…"

I'll save it as future blackmail material… Soren noted to himself.

"Still, I am not sure if I can say the same about Cassia though…" He chuckled.

Hearing this, the Elven Songster Princess leaned back against the throne with a sigh, placing a palm over 'her' eyes. "She… She promised not to say anything either."

Soren's eyes widened.

"You met her?! Where is she?" He did not expect that answer at all. Though, he was still relieved. During the castle siege, Soren couldn't find either of his comrades.

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It was already bad enough that the Blossom Sword Flower had sent them to this god-forsaken bastion without explaining much of anything, but on top of that, She still found the need to separate them…

The more I think about it, the more this 'game' feels like a test instead… We are not even facing Her directly…

He still had no idea what Her goal was in the slightest.

Unaware of his thoughts, Myrin nodded. "Indeed. She is in the bastion's underground prison."

"Prison?!"

Myrin sighed. "Yes. Even though our bodies have been swapped, it seems the general attributes we hold are the same. Cassia is a Drakari prisoner that was captured in the last siege… I am still unsure of what her status is at the moment, but she should be alive."

General attributes… Soren remembered his own body's history in this era. Even though he was a slave, his status as the duke's apprentice was known to most. Perhaps the Blossom Sword Flower, after reading his mind, uncovered his talent for chess and decided to place him in the role that reflected the game's core mechanic the most: war tactics.

Still, the resemblance between a board game and real war was like comparing a drop of water to the ocean. Although his previous strategy worked, it was nothing more than an insane gamble that only a fool like him would ever entertain… If they were to siege the castle again, he doubted he could pull something off like that again.

Shaking his head, he glanced up at Myrin and crossed his arms. "If you knew all this time, why did you keep her there?"

Myrin massaged his temples, "Because of that bastard…"

"Bastard?" Soren tilted his head.

"Ilrune Olatoris."

Ah… Him. He quickly recalled the man who cursed at him prior to exiting the throne room. The announcer.

"Ilrune is a 5th Class Sentinel. A man of great ambitions… And he is technically my personal guard."

5th Class?! His eyes widened. From what he had seen on the battlefield, aside from Ellisar and Ayen, there were no other Knight Lieutenants in this bastion. Ellisar especially was handy during the defense of the wall. His wind affinity was able to allow him to close the gap between his enemies and finish them off rather quickly. Even though his noble house was lesser than the others, he still possessed a rather formidable Soul Manual.

And yet still, both of these warriors were only Knight Lieutenants—6th Class Sentinels… If he had a few more of them on his side, the siege would have been far easier to defend against—especially so if a Knight Captain was protecting the wall!

To think there was someone here at the level of Rodrick's strength as a Sentinel, just huddling away in the castle…

"Why in the six divines is someone like that hiding inside the castle and not helping?" Soren's brows furrowed.

There was a moment of silence before Myrin finally answered. "Because he belongs to a greater house. The Olatoris family has a tradition of raising warriors solely to serve as kingsguard to the Royal Zinrie family. His duty is to protect me alone."

Soren covered his face with his palm. "Is he stupid? How would he protect you if the castle is captured?"

As he said this, Myrin couldn't help but sigh. "I told him numerous times to go help, but he refused—claiming that if the castle ever fell, he would take me and escape alone. What's more, he forbade me from using my magecraft, fearing that the enemy could use my anima to track my location through divination…"

Crossing his arms, Soren chuckled. "Let me guess. You used it anyway?"

Myrin nodded. "Obviously. There's no way I was going to sit around while the world crumbled around me. Besides, how else would I have been able to find Cassia? I secretly summoned a low-level spirit and tasked it with searching the castle… Finding her was rather obvious. It was you that was a bit more difficult to find…"

"Me?" Soren furrowed his brows. "Why?"

"Because you're generic."

"....." Soren clicked his tongue. "That's not very nice, you know?"

"I never claimed to be nice."

"Fair point, princess. So I guess me mentioning your name at the award ceremony surprised you?"

Myrin sighed. "Somewhat. Though, I did have a hunch… That's why I proposed the award ceremony to begin with. So that I can have an excuse to probe you. But who would have thought you would immediately confirm my suspicions like that. Was it really that obvious it was me?"

"Very obvious." Looking back on her features, Soren couldn't help but take note of every similarity… From the hair, to the face, everything was roughly the same. Though, a few things were clearly different, like her chest and hips…

"I will gouge your eyes out if you continue to stare."

Soren glanced away, "Oops, sorry." He itched his head awkwardly. "By the way, do you still possess your Soul Weapon?"

Myrn shook his head. "Nay. I assume yours is gone too?"

"Yes…" He rubbed his chin. "Strange though… Did She take them away from us on purpose? Perhaps as a test to see if we can beat her 'challenge' without them?"

"Perhaps. But I still find it suspicious… Shouldn't a trial that's meant for obtaining an Abstract Rune fragment have conditions associated with it?"

Soren shook his head. "No, I think our very roles in this 'story' are the conditions. Think about it—somoene like me was made a tactician. You—a fallen prince—are now a princess of the old elven empire. Cassia, a heretical worshipper of the Old Gods, is now a prisoner… All of it seems deliberate"

Myrin leaned back and stared at the ceiling. "When I was first summoned here, all I could think about were the words in that strange floating window that suddenly appeared before me… It told me to await the reinforcements arriving in five days, and to avoid dying or being captured until then."

Hearing this, Soren took a moment to connect the dots. But once he did, a sudden realization settled in his chest. Glancing around, he finally gulped down his hesitation and asked the dreaded question:

"Did… did that floating window say anything about the Hollowed Star?"

Myrin glanced at him briefly, then nodded. "Yes. It said I was the Hollowed Star Fragment. And that I must not allow myself to die."

Soren couldn't believe his own ears. He almost wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

"So this game went from castle defense to protecting the princess? Blossom Sword Flower… You really need to take some game design lessons… This is garbage…"

Myrin tilted his head slightly. "What do you mean?"

"The floating window… It appeared for me too." Soren sighed. "At first, it told me to protect the castle. But after defending us from the siege, it appeared again and told me to protect the Hollowed Star fragment instead."

"Which means…"

"It means that the enemies outside the walls will now put all their focus on you!" He shook his head. "Doing a full siege like before will prove to be impossible for them, so they'll probably take their tactics underground…"

Just as that was said, the door to the throne room was blasted open.

"Urgent report, Your Highness! The Spirit Wolves are launching a night raid! The sirens on the walls have been sounded!"

Soren looked at Myrin and gave a dejected smile. "Just as expected…"

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