Prologue (Volume 2)

A beautiful white room decorated with luxurious ornaments was the place where a meeting was held.

The location was in the palace of the Arklight Empire, located in the center of the Ixion continent.

The empire is one of the largest countries in the world, it is a power among powers, thus gaining many enemies.

A group of more than thirty men were gathered, they were urgently called to meet.

"As you can see from the documents, the mysterious criminal named Licht, has been murdering different people for the past few months. His latest victim was the eldest son of Iscariot Household."

the men were going through the documents on a large circular table.

"I have a question."

"What is it?"

"The magic knights have not been able to track him down?"

"I'm afraid not. I questioned them several times and none of them knew what to answer. This individual hides his trail perfectly. We can't easily follow him."

"I see."

"Please check page twelve, there are more details about the incidents there."nove(l)bi(n.)com

As they turned the pages, a man shouted.

"Hold on!"

"Yes?"

"It says here that one of the ten holy wizards was killed! And that his murderer may have been that Licht fellow!"

Everyone's expressions were grim and only one raised his hand.

"Is there a possibility that he's a spy or a stripped soldier on behalf of the Ideal Empire?"

"... We can't deny that. But we can't confirm it either."

"We only have what we have found out from the corpses whose brains were not smashed and the information those young men gave."

"I understand."

"I'm sorry I can't say more than this."

"That's all right. Gentlemen, it was a pleasure to see you so quickly and in this manner. My apologies, you may go."

"Yes. Your Highness."

The men left the room one by one after saying their goodbyes, after no one was left, the last person inside came out.

He felt bad, his head hurt, that's why he ended this meeting quickly.

As he walked a few yards, he noticed a certain acquaintance coming from the direction he was going.

"Nice to see you, Blake."

"Same here, Sirius nii-sama."

Both were well dressed, in white suits with the finest and most expensive fabric you could buy.

On the right shoulder, both had a black colored cloak, the emblem was of the empire. Only those belonging to the imperial family could wear it.

The short man was 21 years old and the taller one was 24 years old.

The one who had a bad expression on his handsome face was the second prince in the line of succession.

A young man with blond hair and blue eyes, slim with muscles, his haircut was short and combed to the left, he had a small braid at the end of his hair.

He was Blake. Blake Greg von Bryes.

While the man with the pleasant smile and angelic aura was none other than the rightful crown prince.

Slim with no muscles, long blond hair; tied back resting over his right shoulder. His eyes were blood red, but his gaze and facial features made him look very harmless.

Sirius Emile von Bryes.

They were both very attractive, the reason for that is because they were both extra targets for capture.

This world is not a simple fantasy world. It's an otome-themed world.

And they, they were characters in that game.

"I heard from someone in my faction that last week the Iscariot family was arrested for various secret crimes. The boss was instantly executed and his influence destroyed at the same time. I am very sorry indeed."

"That doesn't sound like a condolence, you know."

The second prince was saying to the crown prince.

"I'm sorry, mother always taught us to speak the truth. And I want to honor her memory with it."

"As always, you are someone who should know how to choose his words better, my dear older brother."

"Next time I'll be careful."

"Hoh? Are you implying this will happen again?"

Prince Blake is walking around upset, that's because he has received several reports where members of his faction have been involved in cases of corruption, arms sales, among even worse things.

And, for some reason, the one to blame for leaving that evidence is always a mysterious being by the name of Licht.

"I'm not trying to insinuate anything. I'm just saying that for the next time we talk, I'll talk things over better."

"Ha, yeah."

Blake was walking towards his older brother, heading to his private mansion to rest.

Back to Cid.

"Don't you want to let me rest for a moment?"

"Rest from 'what' exactly?"

"Yesterday we challenged Regulux and his friends to a duel, we came today to the academy's warehouse because the janitor with the keys was returning in the morning."

"We came to get a Pegasus for you."

It's just as you say, I don't have one. So, the academy will lend me one.

Obviously it will be an old and used one since, if it's stored in the cellar it's because nobody uses it or wants it.

Very nice these teachers.

We've been looking for a Pegasus for me for two hours.

This place is as huge as a pier.

There are many, but they are damaged or the magic stone was removed long ago.

I don't have the money to buy a new one, nor does Cid.

The worst thing is that the price is over 5000 thousand gold coins.

It will really give me a heart attack.

"There must be one around here somewhere."

As I was removing rubble from junk stored here.

I found something.

"Hey Cid, come take a look at this."

In the middle of all that trash, I found my Pegasus... but it's not what I expected.

Cid came running over and then like me, he was surprised to see this.

"Are you serious?"

He was amazed as we found a Pegasus.

Like all Pegasus, its upper body without the legs was the mount.

It had wings on the sides, it was either decoration or they served the same purpose as airplanes, I have no idea as in the game it was never over probed.

Dust off, it looks like a perfect flying horse.

The only weird thing is.

"Why is it black?"

His color was black. It wasn't just one part, it was everything.

From the tip of his nose to his tail he was black.

The only thing that wasn't black was the eyes, but those were blood red.

It was very frightening.

"Let me check if it's any good."

Cid went over to check it out, fiddling back and forth.

"It seems to be in excellent condition. The magic stone is intact and was not removed. If it were removed, it would be useless as each Pegasus runs on the magic stone it was built with."

Cid put his hand to his chin as he looked at this boy.

"I heard a rumor once."

"Rumor?"

"Yes. It was about a fairy tale, that, if you took great care of an object, it would come to life through fairies living in it."

Funny.

In Japanese mythology, there is a terminology for those beings. They were called tsukumogami.

It was something like the story of the doll that wanted to be a real boy.

"Why do you say that?"

I would ask him.

He would answer me.

"Look. There's a name written here. It's not common to see this."

Cid would point out to me on one part of his neck a name written.

"Schwarz?"

"What a weird name."

Apparently it belonged to someone. Never mind, you are mine now and we must leave as soon as possible for the Duchy Rosenberg to report the duel to the Duchess, the mother of the villainess.

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Nii-sama: Older brother in a very respectful way.

Tsukumogami: According to legend, when objects such as umbrellas, sandals and musical instruments turn 100 years old, they come to life. It is popularly believed that they receive a soul. Their forms change and they gain certain anthropomorphic features. They can be benign or malignant depending on the use the owner gave them.

Schwarz: Black color in German.