--- [Shin’s perspective] In Lett’s room, right after Illian’s betrayal
“Had I found out, I would have told him to leave us alone, and never come back. Even at the bitter end, he never put his hands on Alex. He never intended on doing what Seth did. He would never hurt Alex… He really was our friend... And he could have still been alive had he left instead of confronting him.” – Shin
Tears start welling up in her eyes…
“What happened to us…? Just this morning, everything was perfect. We were all healthy. We were all happy…” – Lett
I get up, and grab the door handle.
“Where are you going…?” – Lett
“I’m sorry, but I have someone I need to talk to. I won’t be back for quite a while…” – Shin
“Please, don’t leave… Not you too…” – Lett
“I’m sorry.” – Shin
“I don’t want to be alone…” – Lett
“I’m sorry.” – Shin
With no hesitation, and without looking back, I close the door behind me as I leave.
If I looked back at her, I might not have been able to leave her…
But it has to be done; I need to go talk to Lily.
After the E-rank exam, she wanted to talk to me alone.
She told me she was part of an organization that fights against the injustices in the world, and that after seeing me defend those gladiators, she wanted me to join them.
On top of that, she thought they could offer protection in case they decided to send someone after me since I disrupted the colosseum games.
The name of that organization she talked about…
There’s no doubt in my mind…!
It’s the same one Illian was from; the same organization that was behind the murder of Alex’s brother…
What’s the connection between him and Lily?
Did Lily ask me to join just to get to Alex?
No…
I don’t think so.
She seemed to genuinely want me to join, while being completely uninterested in Alex.
There are so many questions…
Lett will be fine.
Her brother and Luna are still here; they’ll take care of her.
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I need answers.
I need to find Lily…
She even told me to contact her if I ever changed my mind about joining.
But…
Where is she?
She could be anywhere.
I guess the only way to find her is to go to her guild and wait for her there.
Wherever she is, she’ll be back there eventually.
She’s in White-Point Star, right?
That’s all the way over in Stella if I recall correctly…
Ugh…
--- A while later in Stella, at the HQ of White-Point Star
I’ve never seen their guild HQ in person before, only in books…
It’s a lot more beautiful than it looked in the pictures.
Outside the entrance are guards, just like with our guild.
I approach them, and they immediately shout out commands.
“Identify yourself!” – Guard
I hold up my hand, showing the tattoo all Red Knights members have.
“I’m Shin Magnum from The Red Knights guild. I have some business with Lily Sol, is she around?” – Shin
“Wait here. We’ll ask someone who might know.” – Guard
One of the guards disappear into the building…
After roughly 10 minutes of waiting, he finally returns.
“She’s currently out on a mission and is expected to return in two or three days. When she returns, we’ll let her know you asked for her. There’s a hotel down the road. If you stay there, she’ll know where to find you.” – Guard
“All right, thanks for the help.” – Shin
They were…
Surprisingly helpful.
No bullshit, they just did everything I needed them to, huh…
---
Loud knocking abruptly wakes me up from my sleep.
Is it Lily?
They thought she’d be back in two or three days, but it has already been four…
I really hope it’s her.
The knocking continues.
“I’m coming!” – Shin
I unlock the door, and before I even get to open it myself, the person on the other side does so instead.
Just as I had hoped, the one knocking is none other than Lily Sol.
“Finally! I’ve been standing here knocking like an idiot for almost five minutes!” – Lily
“Sorry… I was asleep.” – Shin
“Must’ve had a good dream if it took you that long to wake up then…” – Lily
“…” – Shin
Did she really knock for that long…?
“Anyways, I was told that you wanted to speak to me. Is it about… you know what?” – Lily
“Yes. Well… Kinda.” – Shin
“Okay… Let’s go somewhere private then.” – Lily
“Right, come on in.” – Shin
“No. I mean somewhere more private than a hotel room. You never know who might be listening in a place like this.” – Lily
“Right…” – Shin
--- A bit later, outside the city
“So did you change your mind then? Do you want to join The END?” – Lily
“I… I have some questions I need to ask you.” – Shin
“Of course. Go ahead. I’ll tell you anything.” – Lily
There are many things I want to ask her, but I guess the first thing I should ask is…
“Did you know about Alex from the start?” – Shin
“Alex? What do you mean? What about him?” – Lily
Does she really not know?
“Him and his late brother have both been the target of The END for a long time now… I need to know if you’re involved in that.” – Shin
“What?! Why? No!” – Lily
She shakes her head and looks genuinely confused.
“I haven’t done anything; I swear.” – Lily
As I assess her reaction to see if she’s lying or not, the cogs start turning in her head…
“Wait… Is he…?” – Lily
I know I shouldn’t really be telling anyone about this, but if it’s her, I guess it’s fine.
“Yes. Alex is the Emperor’s son, and so was his brother. Someone had pretended to be his brother’s friend for years, before eventually betraying him and taking his life. The same recently happened to us, except it ended up the other way around instead; Alex was the one who took his life.” – Shin
“I… I’m so sorry… I swear, I had no part of this! I’m a fairly low ranked member, so I don’t have the privilege to know about this sort of stuff. I knew the Emperor had children, but that’s it. I didn’t know Alex was one of them…” – Lily
My intuition tells me she’s telling the truth…
“Besides, my faction would never do anything like that! It has to be those damn Raguelites!” – Lily
Faction?
‘Raguelites’?
What’s that about?
“This is the first time I’ve heard anything about factions. Elaborate.” – Shin
“Oh, right… Makes sense. Well, to cut a long story short, the two founders of the organization, Uriel and Raguel, had a big disagreement a long time ago, which led to the organization splitting in two.” – Lily
