Before the Agents arrived, Novem had been shooting down specters at the front.
"The Agents have been summoned, Novem". Sebastian came in through the window with a group of Agents following behind him.
The majority wore silver armor that covered up to 80 percent of their bodies, excluding their fingers and heads. Others, who weren't wearing armor, wore gas masks or clothing made of leather, while a few combined both armor and gas masks. Some also wore plain goggles.
"They look cool," Ethan said from the side as the light reflected off their armor and onto his face. "Why don't you guys wear armor" he asks Mathias
"Unlike them, we are more resistant to the poison radiated by the Specters. If you want to become a Vassal, you must be fully resistant to their emissions," Mathias shrugs.
"There are poisons in the Specters?" Ethan asks, dipping his fork in his salad
"They cause infections if you're in contact with them for too long. They're born from fear, remember? It's hard to believe something like that wouldn't emit poison. It infects the lungs and turns the skin purple."
Some Agents have skin resistant to the poison but not their lungs, so they wear only gas masks. Others have lungs resistant to the poison but not their skin, so they wear only armor. The rest are susceptible to the poison entering their skin, lungs, and eyes, so they wear full-body suits. There is also leather wear, which a few of them use.
"Oh, I think I remember learning about that back home," Ethan hummed. "Don't we have to help them?"
"Nope, we're tired." Mathias placed his hands behind his head, propped his legs up on the dining table, and relaxed. "Let them work, we don't have to do anything," he said with a grin.
"Well, would you look at that, the guy who says we aren't doing our job well," Damien said as he walked over, clearly annoyed.
"Like I said, we're tired. And we outrank you," Mathias smirked.
"We're not on the same level," Damien smirked back.
"As the 21st-century folks would say, you've been eating too much liver. It's about time I put you in your place, Damien." Mathias started to sit up, but before he could, Damien lazily picked up an apple from the table and tossed it at his head, causing him to tip over and fall.
"Idiot. I'm on the same level as Sebas, and you're nowhere near him." He glanced at Ethan. "Who are—"
"Damien!"
Novem waved at him.
"Novem, we're busy," Damien muttered, squinting his eyes as he walked toward him.
"Yeah, sure," Novem said, pointing out the window. "That's what you're dealing with today."
Still wearing a slight frown, Damien slowly trudged toward the window and glanced outside. The laziness in his eyes vanished, replaced by slight excitement. He whistled, "Well, this seems fun."
Without another word, he jumped out the window.
"Due to unfortunate circumstances, you Agents will be handling the Invasion today. Peace." Novem announced before heading to his room.
"Get back here, Novem! You interrupted our break time!" The Agents were clearly not having it today.
Novem paused for a moment, then kept walking.
"Novem!"
He suddenly stopped, realization dawned on him. "Wait a minute… isn't it too early to be on break?"
The Agents exchanged glances.
"You know what, just get down there," Novem sighed. "Is this everyone?"
One by one, they jumped out the opposite window, leading directly to the Barren land the Invasion comes from.
"No, Purple's still coming," an Agent with blonde hair responded.
"She's right behind us". Said another
"Alright? At least the more the better". Novem sank in thought, "Wait, who's purple?"
"I'm here! I just stopped somewhere to get something!" A bubbly Agent with long purple hair came in through the window. She had a very beautiful face and dashing purple eyes, her extra-long hair flowing past her waist. Her delicately styled armor, designed to complement her slim figure, featured a thigh-length skirt with a holster hooked on to an underlayer top beneath her upper body armor, enhancing her graceful appearance. Strapped to her waist was an elegant sword, glinting subtly as she moved. Her skirt, armor joint and sword were purple.
She sauntered toward a cheerful November.
"Mimi...!" Novem exclaimed, I can understand why they call her purple
"Novem!" Isla grinned
"Mimi"
"Novem"
"Mimi…"
"Novem..."
"Hehe" They both scratched their necks and laughed awkwardly
"If Nathan were here he would have called them both idiots" Mathias sighed at their stupidity
"Their relationship is embarrassing". Ethan stated with dull eyes
"You understand so well". Reo applauses him, his eyes not leaving his book
"Those two look alike," Ethan muttered, glancing between Isla and Reo. Are they from the same kingdom, perhaps? The resemblance is even more striking up close.
"What did you get?" Novem asked, trying to break the awkward silence.
"A plant, the one with vines," she replied, pulling out the spiky plant.
"Do you fight like this in the city too? That's kinda dangerous" Novem laughed,
"Ah, nuh-tah-tuh" She accented, "I am well aware my ability can be problematic especially when i clean up after it, so I use my sword most of the time"
"I leave the people in your hands, break a leg out there".
"Alright!". She grinned enthusiastically and ran out the window
Battle maniacs. Ethan thought to himself. "I've been wondering, during the Invasion yesterday too, why do you guys always go out the windows" he pushed his unfinished bowl of salad towards Mathias
Mathias chewed on another apple. "Do you see how big this castle is? Only an idiot would try to go out through the doors"
"You could say the windows are our main sources of entrance and exit". Novem said it like it was all normal..
"There are doors leading outside". Ethan pointed out
"And what kind of stress is that? Using doors when you could just jump out the window?". And incoming Felix butted into their conversation
"Where have you been?". Novem asked, "It's almost noon"
"In the city". He replied, "Where's Kelvin"
Reo looks up from his book, his eyes narrowing slightly at Felix. "Why are you asking about her".
"Chill, bro". Felix relaxed, "Don't get worked up. I'm also asking about Sebas and Nathan"
"They're in their rooms." Novem replied
"Why are you asking?" Mathias asked, stuffing his face with Ethan's unfinished salad, one that Novem had forced them to eat in the name of 'healthy eating.'
"It's an announcement. I met with the King of Oren and he said to remind you of the school you promised to teach. I'm guessing the issue with his daughter made him forget"
"Ah, even I forgot about that". Novem blinked
"You literally forced the rest of us to teach with you, that's not funny". Mathias threw a spoon at him
"I would have told you all to read your books or come up with a societal friendly project but you would probably spend that time sleeping". Novem caught the spoon and threw it back at him
"Ack" He got tipped off his chair
"Hello!" Kelvin greeted, entering the dining room with her usual lovely smile and energetic stride.
"Kelvin!" Novem smiled upon seeing her, "What have you been up to?"
"Nathan was helping me with books" She climbed on Novem and nestled her face on his shoulder.
"Great!" Novem exclaimed, "Are they-"
"No, they're not educational unfortunately" She grinned widely
Ethan was speechless, he looked at Mathias.
"Their relationship is like that of a father and his daughter, no worries. However, it's not okay if you like her. She's got possible suitors". Mathias yawned and warned
Ethan pouts. "She's just as short as Nathan, Is she fifteen?"
"Kelvin? No". He chuckled, We spent fifteen years in HQ. And well, this should be our tenth year as this empire's sentinel. So yeah, she's twenty-five. We're all twenty-five." Mathias confirmed, "We had our ages disregarded once we joined HQ"
If Ethan was having a drink, he would have spurt it out right now. "Twenty-what!? Explain-"
"Her short stature is a relatively common side effect of the mutagen that some of us experience. I don't know what Novem was thinking, bringing you here, eventually, you'll give in to old age. But if you take that serum, considering you're not a child anymore, you just might die."
Ethan's gaze lingered, his mind sinking into deep thoughts. "It doesn't work on adults?"
"Yeah, that's general knowledge known by all Royals. But you on the other hand don't seem to know what adults do, so you're technically a child" Mathias bites into another apple
"Sir Felix is teaching me lots of things though!". I'm not sure I should be hearing them but still,
"Are the Agents here?" Kelvin asked, checking outside the window. "They're working really hard, should we lend a hand?"
Nathan slammed the door open and took short strides Inside. "You can go if you want, but I'm definitely not joining you".
Kelvin's expression turned somber. "That's why you don't have friends, Nathan"
Nathan's steps halted. "Bitch" he spat his, hands flaring up in raging flames.
"Calm down Nathan" Novem said hopelessly. "Perhaps we should help the agents. There are only twelve of them"
"And eight of us". Reo flips a page from his book
"True that". Mathias frowns
"The rest of you, if you're not studying, go training" Novem said before leaving
"Alright" They replied. But they definitely weren't going to do either
Novem lands squarely on his feet and surveys the battlefield. "Isla's ability is as beautiful as it is deadly"
The little plant she had shown him earlier was now a long prickly vine that tore apart anything it wrapped around.
"Novem, did you feel sorry for having to overwork your Agents so you came down here to apologize". The agent closest to him spat
"This isn't overwork yet." Novem ignores him
'If I use a large-scale attack, my stamina will go down in the blink of an eye.' Novem processed his thoughts
"Oh well". He majestically walks into the battlefield and kill every Specter on his radar.
If one was too far, he launches an ice crystal at it or slices through it with a wind blade and If it's too close, he ignites it with burning flames. But most of the time, he uses the long range abilities he has to kill more Specters and save time.
He continued this process for a little while until he alone cleared all the Specters in a section of the battlefield.
The second invasion this time was in the hundreds, drastically smaller than what they normally faced.
"I say that, but this is also draining me" Novem sighs.
"It's not like I can just sit back and relax while my Agents work ". He yawns, Although that's what I would normally do. Wow, I'm being real nice today. "But it's.. really tiring" I haven't recovered my stamina from yesterday
As soon as those words dropped, Novem fell flat on the floor and passed out.
{Well, look who's back. Little Novem}. The glitching voice in his head laughs in mockery
"Not you again" Novem was unconscious, but he could still feel his surroundings. 'What do you know, falling unconscious on a battlefield'.
And once again, he was conversing with the deranged voice in his head.
{I see you've missed me} the voice in his head laughed
"Just tell me who you are" The glitching sound was irritating to his ears and Novem couldn't help but feel the need to throw up.
{And risk that information getting to M-} The voice paused
"Who?" Novem caught on
{Nevermind.}
This was the first time the voice was sounding like this. It seemed to be excited, but scared.
"How did you get inside of me" His head wasn't ringing like it used to, it's the perfect time to gather information.
The voice let out a low, chuckle before bursting into a fit of laughter.
"..." Novem wasn't sure whether to be cautious in fear or be frowning in annoyance.
{Ahahaha} it continued to laugh
"Ugh" And now his head was starting to ring
{I've been with you since forever, Novem!} It screamed
{Have you ever thought why I haven't tried manipulating you all these years? It's because of a certain someone who-}
"Wait, stop". Novem held his head tightly. He couldn't take the reverberations and high pitch glitch. It was sending shockwaves of different wavelength inside his brain
{I should have known better than to choose your father as a target, because of him I am but a fraction of how I used to be}
"Enough. You never tell me who you are, you never tell me where you're from! Every time I ask a question, you just evade it–, always speaking in those damn riddles I can never figure out! How am I supposed to understand what you're talking about? Huh? And just who exactly is my father?!" Novem snapped, his head throbbing so intensely that it brought tears to his eyes.
{You're an idiot if you don't know who that it}. The voice sounded exhausted, {I should have found a way to go for Joyce instead}
Novem had a shock in his brain. "That name is familiar" he had tears flowing down his cheek, "Who is Joyce?"
{Haha} The voice laughed merrily, "You seriously don't even know your own-}
Glitch! The voice came to an abrupt stop, and Novem's eyes flew open as he jolted awake. "Gasp!"
Tears kept on rolling down his cheek.
"Novem!!" The voices surrounding him almost screamed when he woke up.
His vision was a little blurry but a few seconds later, he finally managed to discern clearly, the familiar faces of his Vassals and Agents all staring at him.
He blinked twice, a warm hand was on his face and so were a few strands of purple hair. Novem looked up to find a beautiful lady with purple eyes staring back at him worriedly.
"November" Isla called out
Novem turns his head and only then did he know he was laying on a pillow on Isla's lap. "Heh" he cackled
"Geez, Novem" an agent slapped his forehead
"See, I knew we shouldn't have worried about him in the first place"
"We should have buried you in water"
"You've been unconscious for hours and because you see a pretty sweetheart, that's the first thing you say?"
"Why did I even wait here"
The more they talked, the more vile the comments became.
"I just ran out of stamina, that's all". Novem slowly carried himself up
"What about the Invasion?". He asks
"It's been taken care of". Damien responded
"It's because everyone was worried about you we haven't gone back to the city yet". Isla was relieved
"Oh, yeah?" Novem had an ugly smile on his face as he looks at them
"We didn't care"
"Yeah, why would we"
Novem's face turned stern. "Shut up, you all love me" he said pridefully
"I'll kill you!" The Agent tried to knock Novem back to where he's been but Damien held them back.
"Now that you're okay, we'll be heading back" Damien nods
"No problem". Novem held his throbbing head
"If you're running low on stamina, don't go into battle. We don't want you croaking too soon" Damien turns and leaves
"See you next time, Lord Novem" The female Agents said coyly before leaving
"I'll be going now too" Isla beamed
"Hm. Take care of yourself". Novem gave her a thumbs up
"Yes, you too!" She followed after the others
When they had all left, he fell back down on the pillow. The only ones who remained were his Vassals gathered around him.
"Do you know who Joyce is?" he asks them
"Joyce? I feel like I've heard the name before" Kelvin wasn't too sure
"No" the rest shook their heads
"I see" He said nothing more
"Novem, you're crying" Kelvin cupped his cheek
"No, my eyeballs are leaking" He denies
"Your ears are also bleeding. Now your nose is" Nathan pointed out
"Usual headache?" Reo asks
"Usual headache". Novem confirmed
It was another one of his usual headaches. Once it started, it lingered for far too long. The mild cases felt like a dull hammer pounding his head, while the severe ones brought the agony of his brain and skull being split apart. These episodes were often accompanied by nosebleeds, ear bleeds, and even bleeding from his eyes.
"Have you got your medication" Sebastian asked
Novem didn't reply,
"Should we move you to your room?" Kelvin asks
They asked more questions and in the end all he said was,
"I see". Before passing out again