In front of the mirror in a dark room stood a young man, running a hand through his jet black hair.
"Ha.. I should've just kept quiet about it"
His left shoulder didn't hurt that much, it just occasionally ached when he moved it.
'Still, to think they'd exclude me from training over something like this…'
Originally today, they were planning to train together in the morning and then look over the new mission details but…
They didn't wake him up!
Sure, he could give the benefit of the doubt to Saoirse and Serena…
But what about the other 2 bastards?
The 3 of them slept in a room together! The fact that he didn't manage to wake up means that they didn't even set an alarm! How did they even wake up?
Argh.. whatever
Throwing the used towel into a basket, Elijah quickly wore a black tank top, ignoring the star on his waist
He stared at the mirror one last time, his yellow starred irises glimmering in the dark
Just as Elijah sat down on his bed, putting the files on his lap, he heard the sound of the front door opening
'They're back?'
Looking at the time, Elijah saw that it was only 10:15am
'It's half an hour early though?
Elijah raised an eyebrow but didn't want to investigate further
After all, those bastards kept him from training!
As such, he decided to immerse himself in the one thing he "loved a lot".
Paperwork
Walking to the table, he grabbed both his phone and some files
*****
"You're awake?"
"Would I not be awake at 10:30am?"
Azreal, with a towel on his head, opened the door and looked at Elijah who was annoyed
With a towel on his head drying his pale, white hair, azreal's distinct sharp eyes,red eyes with a crossed iris, stared at Elijah amusingly
Seeing the bastard's expression, Elijah gritted his teeth
"Hahaha!"
Also throwing his towel into the basket, azreal sat next to Elijah
"Go find your own bed to sit on…"
"Cmon, we used to share clothes in the orphanage. Surely you can't be pouting because we excluded you from training?"
"You-"
"If you didn't get injured and have to drink so much healing potions to recover, you wouldn't be having this problem. In the end, it's all because of your recklessness."
"…"
Not wanting to hear azreal nag, Elijah covered his ears and threw one of the files at azreal's face, to which Azreal could only react by sighing
Why was this guy so intent on ignoring his own safety?
Frowning, Azreal cleared his throat
"Why don't you explain to me the next mission's details? All I know is that this mission is meant to be a lot easier and safer. According to Mr Farrell, it'll probably just be clearing up a few demonic creatures of Intermediate rank.
"It's close."
Leaning on Azreal's shoulder, Elijah continued, reading and explaining the complaint sent by one of the residents of the town
"About.. three hours away from here, one of the towns have been getting a lot more traction from mercenaries. This is because there's been a lot of demonic activity so appreantly the mercenaries are there to stay and clear them up. The issue is that they've been there for so long, about 7 months, yet it's still not done. Another worrying point is that there is less and less residents being seen around the town"
"So does Mr Farrell wants us to investigate the mercenarieso the demonic creature?"
"Both I presume, this time Mr Farrell will be coming with us. He'll be about a day or two later though. Anyway, as usual, this mission will be done undercover."
Though the fact that Elijah and Azreal belonged to an organization under the crown prince's jurisdiction wasn't a secret, it wasn't widely known either. At most, only a handful of awakened people knew about it. And since they were still considered "in training". Most didn't know they handled actual missions.
Of course, there were enemies that knew them but not their identities.
Listening to Elijah explain the mission, Azreal looked at the files.
"Considering the fact you had an illegal bounty on your "persona", should you really be included in this mission and not just do something like clean a village well?"
"I shouldn't! And…don't bring that up! it's embarrassing."
"A bounty is embarrassing?"
His expression crumbling, Azreal looked at Elijah
"My.. persona I meant."
He didn't like the name he came up with for his false identity
Who the hell decided to use a name named "twilight of the dark"?!
Just thinking of it made Elijah blush
"Anyway, I'm the strongest and the leader of this group. It'll be bad if I left~"
"You don't even like being a leader though?"
"Shut it"
"Alright~"
Azreal covered his mouth, yawning.
"Hm? Did you not sleep well?"
Leaning his head on azreal's shoulder, Elijah asked
"Just tired, that's all. The rest should be back soon, let's wait for them in the living room."
"Alright, race you there."
Standing up, Elijah immediately dashed through the door.
Azreal watched the dashing figure with a smile, why was a 183cm man acting like a small child?
Standing up, he glanced at the bed Elijah had been sleeping on, narrowing his eyes
'He's been waking up later and later lately'
The bed was untidy. Sure, that could be explained by them sitting and laying on it but Elijah didn't arrange the pillows or anything.
For someone who often had a tidy bed, did he just forget to clean it up?
Or
Did he just wake up, shower and read the files?
'…'
Azreal walked through the door
——
"So that's our mission?"
Tilting her head Saoirse asked as she moved the bangs that had gotten stuck onto her forehead.
Elijah quietly stared at the 3 sweaty buffoons sitting on the sofa.
Earlier, when they walked in, the three of them collapsed immediately on the sofa without saying hi
It felt like he was watching a human get infected by a zombie virus to be honest
"Mr Farrell really put you three through the wringer huh?"
Sitting up, the blue haired boy raised his voice
"What makes him think we can break through his sword! We're not even apostles! He's so unfair.."
"Uh-huh"
"Ah… sorry."
Feeling Serena glaring at him, Kevin immediately shut his mouth
Serena then glanced at the two boys standing next to a board
"I'm assuming the mission briefing is over?"
"Mhm, it is. We'll set off tomorrow morning."
Nodding his head, Azreal scratched his neck
"This mission will probably last a week or two, so if you have anything you wanted to do this week remember to cancel it or move it to another date."
Serena glanced at the two buffoons next to her, Saoirse who had now laid her head on where she was originally sitting and Kevin who was sat butt-first on the ground.
Sighing, she placed a towel over her shoulder
"Seeing as they have yet to recover, I'll go shower first" as Saoirse walked towards the bathroom door, she turned her head to look at Elijah
"Also, a message from Mr Farrell, don't keep overexerting yourself."
She then shut the door
The two boys stared at the door before looking at each other
"Do you think he was talking about m-"
"Yea he definitely was talking about you."
"…tch."
Elijah looked away, pouting
Why was he always the one getting singled out?
****
'It's time.'
In a dark room, a blond boy sat up, wiping his eyes before clutching his head.
He took a deep breath before standing up.
He unwrinkled his black jacket, pushing his pendant inside.
Fiddling with a pocket watch inside his pocket, he looked behind
The originally clean room without a speck of dust, the teacups on the table that were often used for teatime.
They were now all dusty.
A sanctuary, if you will, was what this boy considered this place to be.
Now, it's just a dusty, small room with no signs of life.
Still, to think this place is so close to where he needs to go
'I wonder how far she planned ahead'
Looking forward, the boy's navy blue eyes flashed white
'Time to find him'
"Shall time always go forward"