Finally, I can Retire, Or so I Thought

Supported gently by Luna and Aria, Dion sat up slowly and looked around. They were completely surrounded by dense woods.

"Where are we?" Dion asked the group.

"We’re in the Sauriyan territory, near the city of Mageford," Cleo answered, wiping away her remaining tears.

"Oh... that’s pretty far from the capital," Dion noted.

"Yeah... Gina was flying aimlessly earlier because she was crying," Sheila said, gesturing toward Gina.

"Kyuuuu."

Hearing Gina’s sad squeak and seeing her lowered head, Dion offered a warm smile and reached out to rest his hand on her head.

"It’s alright. Thank you," Dion murmured softly.

"Kyuuu... kyuu," Gina squeaked back, a small smile breaking through her tear-filled eyes.

"You really scared us half to death... thank goodness Luna managed to heal you," Aria said, wrapping her arms around Dion.

"Sorry about that... I didn’t expect to run out of energy like that, especially with two hours still left on the clock, haha," Dion replied casually with a short chuckle.

"Can’t you ever take things seriously? Do you have any idea how terrified we were?" Mei asked, genuinely annoyed.

"My bad," Dion said, the smile fading from his face.

Dion turned his gaze toward Luna, who sat completely silent with her head bowed, kneeling with her hands tightly clenched in her lap.

"What’s wrong?" Dion asked her.

"You actually remembered," Luna said softly.

"Huh... remembered what?" Dion asked, puzzled.

"Our promise," Luna replied.

Dion paused, digging through his memories to figure out what Luna meant, and before long, the memory surfaced clearly.

***

When Dion and Luna were thirteen years old, inside a secret room located within Dion’s territory, the two of them were lying back on stone chairs, staring up at the glowing runes scattered across the ceiling like stars.

"Dion, if I ever get into trouble in the future, will you come to save me?" Luna asked.

"Um... depends," Dion answered.

"What do you mean, depends?" Luna asked, turning her head toward him.

"Well... if you’re in trouble because you didn’t do your chores and got scolded, or because you broke the rules, I’m not helping. But if your life is actually on the line and you’re in real danger... I’ll come, no questions asked, even if you don’t call for me," Dion said nonchalantly.

"Oh... so that’s what you mean by depends. So if I ever get captured, falsely accused of something I didn’t do, and sentenced to execution, you’ll come?" Luna asked.

"Of course," Dion answered.

"Alright... promise?" Luna held out her pinky finger.

"Promise," Dion replied, hooking his pinky around hers.

"And if you ever get hurt, I’ll do everything in my power to heal you and bring you back. I promise," Luna said with a smile.

"Deal... promise," Dion smiled back.

Holding hands, the two turned their eyes back to the stunning, colorful runes decorating the ceiling.

***

Back in the present, Dion recalled the vow, though truth be told, he hadn’t rescued them because of that old agreement, he had completely forgotten about it until now.

"Oh... that promise. Yeah, I remember," Dion said briefly.

"Thank goodness... I was worried you forgot all about it and just went back home without us," Luna said softly.

"Oh... as if I’d do that, hahaha," Dion said with a forced laugh. She really does know me inside and out. To be fair... I actually did think about just heading home and waiting for them there before I overheard those rumors, Dion thought to himself.

"So, are we heading back home now?" Sheila asked.

"Not yet. I still have the exact locations of where the slaves are being held. We’re going to set them free," Aria answered.

"Hmm... agreed. I won’t object this time," Cleo added.

"We’re going home with everyone we can manage to liberate," Mei agreed with a firm nod.

"Right. Since we’re already in the Minatheras Kingdom, we might as well get some work done," Luna added.

"Kyuuu!"

Gina raised her front paws cheerfully to show her agreement, though nobody really understood what she meant except Dion.

"Wait a second... what actually happened to you guys, and why were you arrested in the first place?" Dion asked, genuinely out of the loop.

The expressions on Luna, Aria, Cleo, Sheila, and Mei’s faces shifted instantly. Aria, Cleo, Sheila, and Mei all turned to look at Luna, leaving the story entirely to her. Their faces made it clear they felt it wasn’t their place to speak on something so deeply personal to Luna. Understanding their silence, Dion turned to Luna, waiting patiently for her to speak without pushing.

"We were captured because of me," Luna said, looking down.

"Because of you?" Dion asked, curious.

"Yeah... on our very first night in the palace, I snuck into the king’s study. While I was in there... I uncovered something about my parents and what really happened in Minatheras," Luna answered.

"I went with her," Mei interjected, raising her hand.

***

Rewinding to their first night, right after their audience with King Theobald, Luna and Mei slipped into the king’s study.

"Mei, keep watch at the door," Luna whispered.

"Got it. Hurry up and find whatever you’re looking for," Mei whispered back.

Luna moved behind the king’s desk, pulling open drawers and inspecting their contents. Aside from weapons and standard kingdom files, there were no real leads inside King Theobald’s drawers. Luna then turned to the bookshelf beside the desk, scanning titles that were mostly official records and documentation regarding the kingdom and the royal family. As she read through them, she discovered the truth of what had happened to her father and mother, even finding her true name recorded as Lunaria von Reinhold.

Luna looked somewhat shaken after reading the reality of her origins and what had actually transpired, though she quickly pulled herself together. She then spotted a book detailing the kingdom’s history and legends on the shelf. But when she tried to take down the particularly thick volume, the book got stuck.

Luna pulled on it. Suddenly, the bookshelf slid aside, revealing a spiral staircase winding upward that seemed to lead into the palace tower. Spotting the passage, Luna and Mei were instantly consumed by curiosity.

"Should we check it out?" Mei whispered.

"Yeah... I need to know," Luna whispered back.

"We have to be extremely careful though. Quick peek, then we leave," Mei cautioned.

"Of course, I understand," Luna agreed.

They carefully climbed the winding spiral stairs, eventually encountering a single door on their left. Pulling the door open, they peered inside, their eyes widening at the sight of countless parchment scrolls cluttering a desk and overflowing from wall-to-wall shelves. Stepping inside, they unrolled a few of the documents, their faces draining of color at the contents.

"Mei... look at this," Luna said, shaken.

"Yeah... summoning circles for the undead... and demons... other parchments for... curses, mass plagues, mind control... it’s all dark magic," Mei said grimly.

"Why would they keep forbidden magic hidden in a place like this?" Luna asked.

"I have no idea. We need to leave right now, there’s nothing here except dark magic scrolls," Mei urged.

"Alright, let me just..." Luna started.

They stepped back out into the stairwell, only to find the spiral staircase continuing further upward, as they were only on a middle floor. The two girls exchanged a quick glance and ultimately decided to head to the top. Reaching the head of the stairs, they came across an ornate, tightly sealed door. Luna and Mei stood before it.

"Want to try opening it, Mei?" Luna whispered.

"Ugh... fine, we’ve already come this far," Mei replied, despite her hesitation.

They cracked the door open slowly and poked their heads inside. Suddenly,

"Hmm... hmmm... hmm..."

They heard the soft hum of a girl’s voice echoing from within the room. Their eyes searched the room for the source of the sound, but the humming stopped abruptly. Thud. The sound of a chair sliding back echoed out.

"Who’s there?" a girl’s voice called out from the darkness.

Without answering, the two slammed the door shut and sprinted back down the spiral stairs. But as they reached the bottom floor "shing!" Both girls froze dead in their tracks. Standing before them were roughly ten royal guards leveling their spears right at them, with Frederick standing right behind the soldiers, holding a handkerchief over his nose.

"Well, well, if it isn’t Princess Luna. It seems you simply couldn’t bring yourself to stay quietly in your room... arrest them," Frederick ordered coldly.

***

Back in the present, a heavy silence settled over the group as Luna finished her story. Dion appeared lost in deep thought.

"So you were arrested simply for trespassing into a tower accessed through the king’s study?" Dion asked.

"That’s right," Mei confirmed.

"Did you manage to see who that girl in the tower was?" Dion asked.

"No... the second we heard her voice, we ran without looking back... but to be totally honest... her voice was terrifying... right, Mei?" Luna answered, looking toward Mei for confirmation.

"Yeah... her voice felt heavy with darkness and... malice, even though she only asked who was there," Mei added.

"Didn’t you know about that girl, Cleo? Yesterday you said you noticed something, right?" Sheila asked.

"True, but I don’t know if the girl you saw is the exact same person or not. When you described it, it reminded me of my time at the academy. There really was a girl there with a terrifying, sinister voice like a demon... she was also an SSS-rank class holder... I remember because she and I were the same... holding SSS-rank classes, of which only seven are known to have ever appeared in history... and if I’m not mistaken, she came from Minatheras," Cleo explained.

"I see how it is," Dion replied, lost in thought.

"Hey... alright, let me stop you there. We can talk about this later. We need to get out of here right now before search parties come after us," Aria interjected.

"Aria’s right. Let’s move, everyone," Dion said, standing up.

"Kyuuu!" Gina immediately flew up and perched herself on Dion’s head.

The group moved quickly into the deeper parts of the forest, donning the cloaks Dion handed out to each of them from his dimensional hip pouch.

***

Meanwhile, on the shattered balcony of the Minatheras royal palace, René lay collapsed near the edge of the destroyed stone wall, right next to a gaping hole blasted into the building.

Tap... tap... tap...

Footsteps echoed near René’s prone body. A girl with a stunning face, pale skin, and long black hair covering half her face crouched down right above his head. She examined his face carefully before checking his vital signs.

"Hmm... he’s half-dead... alright then, I’ll restore his body and turn him into one of my experiments. And then he can be my husband, since I really do like his handsome face, hehe," the girl said in a horrifying, unnatural voice.

The girl stood up, grabbed René by the wrist, and effortlessly dragged him inside like a piece of lightweight luggage, humming a sweet tune as she vanished into the dark hallway.

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