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“Icarus?” Cain was surprised to find the tactician sitting outside his room after a long day of training, staring vacantly at the candlesticks. Cain glanced around quickly, but, yes, this was his room.
“No way
” A lovely visitor in the late hours
 Icarus’s eyes sparkling in the candlelight

“I’m sorry, Sir Cain! I thought you’d finish up your training and be back soon, so I thought I’d wait here.”
“I mean
” Cain trailed off. The only words he heard were “wait here” and “be back soon.” “I
 I’m not ready yet.” He fiddled with his outfit.
“The Emperor’s orders just arrived at Peril Castle.”
Cain’s fantasies were smashed.
“An imperial decree for the Pontiers?”
“No
 I can’t open it, so I don’t know what it says.” Icarus brandished an envelope stamped with the Imperial seal. “It’s for Baron Sanders, our master.”
“So
”
“Right. It seems everything is going as we expected.”
There was a long, long silence. Icarus was busy planning for the future, and Cain was trying to figure out what to do now. But no matter how much they worried over it, there was really only one thing to do:
“Let’s open it—”
“—Shall we see what’s inside?”
They blinked at each other and then laughed.
“Aren’t we a little too casual about saying things that could ruin the family?”
“That’s just you, Sir Cain.”
“As you know, I’m single and childless.”
“I’m also single.”
“How about me, then?”
Icarus smiled softly. “Very funny.”
“Huh? What— I mean, basically everyone knows that you’re a woman.1”
“But Sir Cain is not my type.”
Cain held his tongue.
“And the truth is
 You’re better off flying solo. You’ll probably always be alone.2”
“How could you say that?!” Tears dripped down Cain’s face.
“That aside, I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to open it.” Icarus nervously reached for the letter.
“Hold it!” Cain grabbed her wrist. “Let me do it.” He winked and whisked the letter away3.
“Sir Cain?”
“I can see your hands shaking. Were you always a pathological liar?”
Imperial law held few things as sacrosanct as an Imperial decree. Since they were both born in the Empire, violating that law made them feel like common thugs. This would, in fact, be the first time that Icarus had broken the law.
“I will shoulder this burden.”
“But what about your family?!”
“It’s all the same. You’re the one getting all worked up over it, not me.”
“Sir Cain
”
“Did I make you fall for me?” Cain smiled bitterly. “Alright, let’s open it up.”
Cain unceremoniously broke the seal. He skimmed through the contents of the letter and grimaced.
“What does it say?” Icarus asked anxiously. Cain silently handed her the letter.
“
Should we give it to him?”
“Tripia is a long way from Arcadia
” Icarus’s expression crumpled as well. “We won’t be able to stop anywhere. I don’t know what to do.”
“Damn it,” Cain growled, “We have to handle this immediately.”
“It seems I’ll need to accelerate my plans—we have to leave for Arcadia tomorrow morning.”
“But the Pontiers—”
“I’ve already taken care of it.”
Cain gave Icarus a puzzled look.
“I’ve hired someone we can trust—someone with certain skills. I used the Tower’s communication system, so we’ll get a reply by tomorrow at the latest.”
Cain could put two and two together: Icarus had contacted a very special organization.
“
But even so, it would be rather pointless if they didn’t agree.”
“Don’t worry—you two know each other.”
Cain cocked his head. “Someone I know?”
“Even without the money, this is a chance for them to regain their honor, now that the fires have died out.”
“Ah!” Cain came to a realization. “No problem, then! Let’s go make preparations.” And then he walked right out the door.
Icarus was left alone, holding the letter. In the dimly flickering candlelight, a few short lines could just barely be made out on the luxurious parchment:
“Baron Joshua Sanders, subject of the Sun of the Empire, Marcus von Britten, and commander of the Imperial Auxiliary Battalion, will present himself at the Imperial Palace on the 25th of February, Year 457 of the Imperial calendar. Duke Aden von Agnus will also be present.”
It was currently February 20th. They only had five days.
“There.” Ash shot a hooded glance to the side. His fidgeting hands stilled long enough to offer up a fern-like vial of golden liquid. “Well, I’ve finished the elixir.”
“Good job.”
Joshua and Ash stood up.
“I wanted to ask you something, though
 Why are you doing this to me? The medicine’s done, so can I go back now?”
“No.” Joshua smothered Ash’s confidence immediately. “You’re practically singing about dying. I can’t be bothered—”
“Hey, that’s not what I meant.” The elf’s ears drooped. Ash was too cute to resist. The little dimples on his perfect skin—every cherubic feature was tailor-made to trigger maternal instincts.
This time, though, he chose the wrong target.
“I was lonely because I didn’t have a servant. I mean, I do, but he’s a knight, so it doesn’t count.”
“S-Servant?”
“I’ll keep you around for the next ten years. After all, elves can live for over a thousand years, so it’s not that long, right?”
“But a servant
” Ash had been trapped in this place his entire life, but he was hardly ignorant. The lair was filled with books, many of which discussed history and culture.
“I
” Ash clenched his fists. “I am the direct descendant of the high elves! To think you’d offer me a position as lowly as a servant—”
“So, no?”
“No, I mean
 I didn’t mean it like that
 sir
” The elf cowered. He had no choice; as long as Ash wasn’t in control of his life, the only thing he could do was go along with Joshua, no matter how awful it felt.
He shook his head.
“Let’s make a deal as well.”
“A deal?” Joshua casually crossed his arms.
“I know where another primordial stone can be found! You have to trade me something of equal value!”
The sheer suddenness caught Joshua by surprise.
“When you’re looking for something with more destructive capacity than even magic, it has to be the primordial stones, no?”
“You
”
“You can already use two primordial stones. I can’t believe it, but there’s clearly something different about you. Maybe ‘different’ isn’t the right term
”
Joshua peered silently into Ash’s eyes.
The elf urgently pressed him. “I don’t want much! You did free me, but I don’t want to spend my new life working for someone else! Ten years is too long. Three years—No, five years! Take it or leave it!” He watched Joshua’s reaction anxiously.
Joshua had to suppress a laugh. Ash had surprised him in spite of how well he knew the elf. The little boy was rather soft-hearted behind all that bluster—in other words, he was a pushover.
“Alright
”
Ash’s eyes sparkled like the sun.
“So
 What is this primordial stone you speak of?”
“Tempest!” Ash eagerly blurted, as if anxious that Joshua would change his mind. “The fragment of the god of wind, Tempest!”
When they were done with the medicine, Joshua and Ash went down the cliff where the blooming Sanders grew. A handsome man with waist-length black hair was waiting for them.
“Are you all done?” His obsidian eyes blinked at them.
The pair nodded at him.
“You can go directly to the Imperial Palace; if you can, you should circle around the Palace once,” Joshua advised.
“Don’t forget your promises,” the man answered drily. “A promise to a dragon is not like a normal promise.”
The man disappeared into a ball of light, and a black dragon soared into the sky with a furious roar. Curiously, the notoriously cruel dragon carried an elf who used to work for him and a human.
ED/N: This means I don’t have to play funny games with pronouns, right? Right? ↩
ED/N: Icarus, you a biiiiiiiiiiiitch. ↩
ED/N: Cain, you a siiiiiiiiiiiimp. ↩