The 8th District felt less like a neighborhood and more like a fortress. Massive, forty-story stone apartments loomed over the streets, their windows reflecting the disciplined movements of the knights training in the sprawling fields below. The Capital Knight Bureau Association rose in the center, a sister building to the one in the 4th District, but stripped of the rowdy adventurers and grease-stained commoners. Here, the air was cold, clinical, and smelled of lemon-scented floor wax and sharpened steel.
As I approached the grand mahogany doors, the two Luminous Knights on guard duty didn't hesitate. They stepped forward in a synchronized clatter of plate armor, their spears crossing in a sharp X to block my path.
"State your business or turn back, traveler, this area is prohibited for commoners. This is a military administrative zone, not a marketplace."
They saw only the dusty hem of my dress and the tattered edges of my stolen cloak. To them, I was a stain on the perfection of the 8th District. I remembered Damien's warning, the danger of my name but these guards were too focused, too rigid. They wouldn't let a peasant through without a fight, and I couldn't afford to cause a scene that would draw the High Council's attention.
I sighed, the sound muffled by my hood. With my flesh hand, I reached up and pulled back the fabric, exposing my face to the harsh, bright light of the lobby, the sunlight didn't touch my skin, I was at the roof . I held out my Status Card, the lighting S-rank seal shimmering.
The guards leaned in, their spears lowering just an inch as they squinted at the card. They didn't even get to the Stats section. Their eyes locked onto the lineage line, my name Eirene Rynd.
The silence that followed was deafening. One of the knights actually stumbled back, his spear tip clattering against the marble floor. The other pulled his visor up, his face pale and eyes wide with a mixture of awe and absolute, primal fear.
"Rynd? The... the Shadow Walker's little sister? The one from Town Allure?"
They looked at my scarred face, my closed eye, and the cold intensity of my gaze. To them, it was like seeing a ghost crawl out of its grave. But more than that, they looked terrified, not of me, but of the implications. If the sister of the city's most dangerous, unstable knight was standing here, alive but mutilated, it meant the peace they had maintained was a lie.
"My lady... we... we had no idea, please... forgive our insolence. We… we will escort you to Master Nautilus immediately. Please, just... don't tell the Shadow Walker we barred your path."
They didn't just open the doors, they practically threw them aside, acting as if the very air I breathed was sacred and explosive. I stepped into the polished halls of the Spire, the weight of my name trailing behind me like a funeral shroud.
I had hoped for a silent, dignified entry. Instead, I was being escorted by two retards who were treating my arrival like a royal procession. I was a celebrity at that point.
As we moved toward the grand staircase, their panic transformed into a loud, bumbling theater of protection. Every time a group of knights or a stunned administrative clerk crossed our path, the guards would bellow out, clearing the way as if I were a ticking mana-bomb. These two idiots were serious about my arrival.
"Make way! Out of the way! Lady Eirene is here! Clear the path for the Shadow Walker's sister!"
The entire lobby went dead silent. Heads snapped in my direction. I felt a hundred pairs of eyes drilling into my cloak, trying to see the face of the girl who had risen from the ashes. My skin crawled. This was exactly what I didn't want, a district-wide broadcast that I was back and broken.
I felt a hint of annoyance by these two bitchless guards, my chest flare with a cold, sharp irritation. My hand, the flesh one, shot out from beneath my cloak with a speed that made the air whistle.
I grabbed the guard on the right by his thick, armored collar and jerked him toward me until his visor was inches from my hood. I didn't say a word, but the sheer S-rank pressure I released made the temperature in the hallway drop by ten degrees. I narrowed my one green eye, the pupil constricting into a needle-thin slit of pure emerald ice.
The guard's jaw shut so hard his teeth clicked. He turned pale, his breath hitching in his throat as he realized that the delicate little sister had the aura of a high-tier predator. The other guard froze mid-shout, his hand flying to his mouth to stifle his own noise.
I released his collar with a disdainful shove, my glasgow smile twitching under the shadow of my hood. I didn't need them to be heralds, I needed them to be doors.
I gestured sharply toward the stairs, a silent, furious command to move and be quiet. They didn't utter another word. They practically scurried up the stairs to the third floor, their boots clicking nervously against the stone. I followed, my cloak billowing behind me.
"Shut… up." I said with a rasped tone, my non existent tounge probably needs a air.
The damage was done, half the Bureau probably knew my name by now. My annoyance was a physical weight, pulsing in time with the blood in my mutilated arm.
We reached the heavy oaken doors of Nautilus's office. The guards stepped aside, bowing their heads in terrified silence, not daring to look me in the eye. I didn't thank them. I pushed the doors open myself, ready to give Nautilus Cotton a piece of my mind and find out exactly what kind of hell my brother had been living in.
The heavy doors clicked shut behind me, finally cutting off the panicked waving of the two guards who looked like they were celebrating a narrow escape from execution. The office was quiet, smelling of expensive tobacco and old vellum.
Nautilus Cotton didn't turn around immediately. He stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, framed by the late morning sun, staring out at the training grounds with the practiced brooding of a man who enjoyed his own mystery. He looks like a anime protagonist of the story, it is the most edgiest act I have ever seen in my life.
"Eirene, please, sit down."
I pulled out the chair across from his desk, the wood creaking under my weight. He turned, his movements stiff and formal, and took his seat. He didn't offer a smile—not even a fake one.
"My name is Nautilus Cotton, Secretary of the Capital Knights Bureau Association, it is a pleasure to meet you, Eirene. Truly."
Nautilus said, his tone as tasteless as unseasoned broth, like an edgy character from the novel. He began to pour a cup of dark tea, the steam rising in a thin, elegant coil. I leaned forward, my chest tightening with a dozen questions, but when I opened my mouth to speak, nothing came out but a soft, frustrated puff of air. My tongue had taken many things, my voice was one of them.
Nautilus didn't look surprised. He pushed the teacup toward me with a steady hand.
"You're here to know your brother's whereabouts, I assume?"
I nodded sharply, my single green eye fixed on him.
"A few days ago, Elias and his party were sent on a mission to the Caria Mountains. They were dispatched by Anton Kif, the Chief of the Luminous Knight Bureau Association. The report says they will be out for a few weeks. When he returns, I will personally see to it that he is informed his sister is alive and well."
My blood ran cold. The image of Elias, the broken, unstable Shadow Walker Damien had described, seeing me in this state flashed through my mind. I saw the guilt in his eyes, the violent fallout that would follow, and the way the city would burn if he went on a rampage for my sake.
I slammed my hand onto his desk, not hard enough to break it because of my godlike stats, but enough to make the tea splash. I shook my head violently, my expression turning cold and defiant.
Nautilus blinked, his edgy composure flickering for a split second as he read the raw intensity in my gaze. He studied my face, the scars, the closed eye, the silent desperation.
"Huh? You want me to make it a secret? You... don't want him to know you're here?"
I stared him down, my silence more demanding than any shout.
"Very well, Eirene, If that is your wish. I will keep it a secret. I will not tell your brother that you are alive. For now, you remain a ghost in our records."
I leaned back, the tension in my shoulders easing just a fraction. But the relief was short-lived. If Elias was in the mountains, the same mountains where I had just slaughtered a pair of Cyclopes and encountered the Katt siblings, our paths were bound to cross eventually.
I looked at the tea, then back at Nautilus. I needed to know why the Katt siblings were looking for Elias, and why Cameron Gal was involved. But for now, the secret was safe. I was still the bounty hunter and the Shadow Walker would continue to walk alone.
I paused with my hand on the heavy brass handle of the door. The hunter in my chest gave a sharp, cold prick. I slowly turned back, my cloak swirling around my boots, and met Nautilus's gaze. He wasn't looking out the window anymore, he was looking directly at me, his eyes sharp with a hidden agenda.
"Eirene, don't leave yet, I know why you're really here. It's not just for a family reunion. You're hunting the Immoral Knight Commander, aren't you?"
Nautilus said, his voice dropping the tasteless facade. I returned to my seat, the movement fluid and silent. I didn't need to nod, the intensity in my single green eye was answer enough. Nautilus leaned forward, resting his elbows on the mahogany desk, his fingers interlaced.
"You think your priority is Elias, but you're mistaken, as an S-rank bounty hunter, your destiny is currently intertwined with Cameron Gal. I have Intel that hasn't even reached the High Council yet."
I picked up the teacup, taking a slow, steady sip. The warmth of the tea grounded me as he dropped the bombshell.
"The Luminous Knight Bureau only has two pages of fluff on Cameron, propaganda and basic combat stats, But our Bureau... we dig deeper. We managed to track down his family records. It wasn't easy. Several knights lost their lives just trying to retrieve these documents from the restricted archives in the borderlands. It seems someone or something doesn't want Cameron's past brought into the light."
He sipped a lukewarm tea up whole then continued.
"Consider this my support for your mission. The LKBA might be sending your brother into the mountains as a distraction, but I am giving you the blade you need to actually cut the Commander down. If you want to find him, you need to understand where he came from."
Then I raised an eyebrow, knowing that Nautilus had the information for Cameron, I gave my fleshy hand to Nautilus, its a gesture for handing the Intel, but he stopped and said.
"If you want that Intel, you need to work through me."
The tea I had just sipped sprayed from my mouth in a sudden, unladylike burst of shock. I coughed, wiping my chin with the back of my hand, and turned to glare at him. The man actually had the nerve to laugh, a dry, rattling sound that lacked any real warmth.
"Don't worry, Eirene, you'll only be working for the Bureau temporarily. Prolonged employment here would eventually lead to your brother catching your scent. We've assigned you a single mission."
He leaned forward, his face falling back into that edgy serious mask.
"There have been strange rumors coming from the Caria Mines located in the mountains. For six years, miners have been found frayed, torn apart, and decapitated. It's a slaughterhouse that never closes."
He paused, his eyes scanning my cloak where my wings were hidden.
"With your blood manipulation, I'm sure you can handle this easily. I'm launching an official investigation under your name. The rewards are... substantial."
I felt a surge of cold fury. I stood up abruptly, the chair screeching against the marble floor. My goal was the Immoral Knights, the ones who had burned my life to the ground, not playing exterminator for a mining company. I turned my back on him, ready to walk out and find my own way to Cameron.
Suddenly, Nautilus's voice hit me like a physical strike to the spine.
"Also, Eirene, this is where your mother died. Linera Rynd."
I froze. The pain in my chest seemed to expand, swallowing the air in my lungs. He continued softly
"Her body was found there six years ago, I thought you might be concerned by that."
The world around me blurred. Suddenly, I wasn't in a polished office in the 8th District, I was twelve years old again, standing in the doorway of our meat shop in Town Allure. I remembered the smell of sawdust and raw beef, and the way the sun looked the day Elias left for Caria. And I remembered the soldiers, the heavy clank of their boots as they approached our house to tell us that the woman who ran our home, who smelled of flour and lavender, was never coming back.
The timing was too perfect. Six years of slaughter in the mines. Six years since the soldiers stood on our porch with their heads bowed.
I turned back to Nautilus, my legs feeling like lead. My mother hadn't died because she had been at those mines. And if the Immoral Knights were connected to the secrets Nautilus was holding, then her death wasn't just a tragedy, it was a piece of the puzzle.
I didn't sit back down, but I didn't leave either. I looked at the folder on his desk, then back at his tasteless, calculating face. He was using me as a weapon… but he was pointing me exactly where I needed to go.
I gave a single, slow nod. My mouth was still silent, but my one green eye burned with a new, vengeful light. I would go to the mines. I would find whatever took my mother. And then, I would use Nautilus's Intel to make sure Cameron Gal joined her in the dirt.