‘Sett, you must hide!’

The words of the Grandmaster of the crusader order, which had been spoken directly in his head, echoed wildly in his mind. He had to hide? He had only just arrived at the order the other day and no one but the Grandmaster himself and a couple of other people should know of the importance placed upon him. To everyone else, he should merely be regarded as a common squire. Essentially, he was someone that could be seen everywhere in the Seventh Eden.

Then, why would he have to hide?

“Squire Sett? Is something wrong?”

Seeing Sett’s confused look, which was becoming more and more on-brand for him, Adina questioned him.

“I just heard the Grandmaster’s voice in my head.” Sett approached Adina and whispered the words to her so that they would not arouse any suspicion from the many other people on the training field. “He said that I have to hide.”

Hearing Sett’s words, Adina's face twisted into many different emotions in only a few moments. Confusion, denial, and finally comprehension.

“For the Grandmaster to go this far, this cannot be a simple matter.”

Adina spoke with a grave voice, her tension clear for all to see. Sett knew from the few interactions that he had with her over the last day that she despised when things did not go according to the plan. She was great, exceptional even when carrying out orders and planning ahead, but she crumbled under pressure.

“The Grandmaster is not yet capable of transmitting his thoughts to the minds of others.” Seeing that Sett was still confused, Stella jumped in and explained the specifics. “It is said that only a handful of people on Gliese Prime is capable of such a feat. However, the order has an artifact in its possession that allows the user to transmit their voice in a large area. The only problem is the immense cost associated with using the artifact.”

Sett finally realised the severity of the situation. Having grown used to the presence of the old god Selt in his mind, Sett had not questioned it when another voice appeared alongside it. Only now did he realise how abnormal it was to hear someone else speak in your mind. For the Grandmaster to expend so many resources just to contact him instead of simply sending a subordinate, it had to be important.

“Vice-Captain!”

Before Sett could decide his course of action, another voice sounded out. This time it was not in his head, thankfully.

“Vice-captain Adina, Pilot Stella.” A man had come running and paused before them with a heaving breath. “It’s the aristocrats. A representative of the ducal Elio family has arrived at the Seventh Eden. They say they have come to inspect their future holdings.”

Sett recognized the person before them. It was one of the sergeants from 69th Crusader Company, his company. Sett seemed to remember that Adina had addressed him as Sergeant Selica. Considering that he was from the same company, Sett had to believe that he was trustworthy.

“Holy shi… gods!”

Stella almost let a curse word out. Considering where they were, this revealed that the situation was, in fact, much direr than the words had portrayed it to be.

The sergeant of their company was not the only one who had come to deliver a message. Many other figures also came running to the training field to inform their officers of the situation. That being said, neither the messengers nor the receivers appeared as flustered as the sisters. Some seemed annoyed while others seemed ecstatic.

“This… this is bad.” Adina had clearly taken a psychological hit, leaving her stammering. “You, Sett, have to run.”

“Where to?”

Sett could not say that he understood the situation, but he believed that he needed to take it seriously.

“I don’t know.”

Adina really was at the end of her ropes, the panic evident in her voice. Every moment that she spoke, she would get more and more incoherent. At this point, it was clear that her panic and crumbling mental fortitude were not only because of the stress of the situation.

“They are probably already at our barracks to comb through it and the Grandmaster has to receive them, so you can’t go there.” Stella once again took over for Adina. “Miles, how far away are they?”

“They arrived at the hangar some five minutes ago, but they were already asking about your whereabouts. If they hurry, they might be here within the minute.”

“Damnit.” This time Stella did not hold back her curse words. “Sett, do you see that island over there? Run and hide there. Whatever happens, do not back down.”

Sett looked in the direction that she was pointing. A single smaller island laid sandwiched between two of the bigger ones. If Sett’s theory about the essence concentration of the Seventh Eden rung true, this island was prime real estate.

Still, Sett could not help but wonder about this island. It was quite unlike the others. It was shrouded by a deep and dense fog that made it impossible to gaze into its depths. The island could hold the most beautiful fauna or the deadliest of monsters and Sett would be none the wiser.

Perhaps this thick fog was the exact reason that Stella had chosen the place.

Whatever the reason for her decision might be, Sett followed her suggestion without hesitation. Luckily, the trio had been sparing near the edges of the training field and was coincidentally rather close to the bridge to the island. His quick sprint there did not bring him much attention, since there were many other running figures on the training field currently.

Arriving just before the bridge, Sett took in the looming fog that was before him. It simply could not be compared to any fog he had ever seen before. It was so dense that he could not even see his hand should he hold it up before his face.

Sett lightly shook his head. Even the ascendant fog was at a higher level than the mortal fogs in the world down below.

Sett pushed his hand forward and watched as it deformed the fog around it. It was almost as if he could feel the fog clinging to his skin. It made for quite an interesting experience. Interesting, but also frightening. A frightening monster could be hiding only a few centimetres from his face and he would have no idea.

Still, he took the final plunge and entered the fog. Sett felt strange seeing nothing but the pale white fog from all sides.

He continued walking for a few seconds until he could no longer hear the sound of his footsteps against wood anymore. He had arrived at the island proper and did not intend to take it a single step further. He did not intend to get lost in this place. He felt quite certain that even if the Grandmaster arrived and used his essence enhanced sense, he would not be able to find him.

The only question was about how long he should wait in this white world. He felt quite stupid for not asking Stella how long those people from the ducal house would stay here. In the end, he decided that he would begin to peek his head out after roughly half a day. That should give them enough time to inspect their holding, or whatever it was that they wanted to do here.

Sett did not mind the alone time all that much. It gave him a lot of time to reflect on what had happened on the last day. Thinking about the events in isolation, they were still immense but manageable, but altogether they could only be considered to be insane.

In addition, the air in this place felt great. It was even a level above that which could be found in the centre of the Seventh Eden.

“An interloper has invaded the master’s sanctum.”

Suddenly, a voice sounded out from within the fog. It felt as if it came from all directions, leaving Sett unable to pinpoint the direction the speaker spoke from. The voice itself was strange as well. It was low and rough to an incredible degree, making one imagine the speaker as some kind of caveman.

“Grr… Leave now or face death!”

The owner of the voice literally growled like an animal before it spoke. Its words left nothing to the imagination. He was not accepted here, and It wanted him out or it would kill him.

Sett felt horrible. He had only arrived here because he had wanted to hide away from some potential enemies. But the moment he arrived he had been threatened with violence and death. It was well and truly a lose-lose situation.

Having weighed the options, it was clear that the former was much less of a threat. Even if the so-called ducal house was to discover that he had allied with the order, it would surely not lead to his death, right? The enemy that lurked in the fog, on the other, seemed ready to kill him should he not leave immediately.

Sett paused after only taking a step. The words that Stella had spoken echoed in his head.

‘Whatever happens, do not back down.’

Truthfully, Sett could not speak as to whether or not those words had been meant for this specific situation, but Stella seemed knowledgeable enough about the oddities of the order not to lead him astray.

Gulping once and straightening his back, Sett tried his best to calm his nerves. It was not an easy task, but he had seen much worse in the Selt’s realm.

“Mister. Would you please allow me to stay in this place for a couple of hours? I mean no harm to either you or your master.”

Trying his best to be courteous to the unknown enemy, Sett did his best to appear as innocent as possible. It was not as if he could actually do anything to harm the unknown person in the first place.

“Interloper, who has invaded the master’s sanctum, I do not know whether you are merely an unfortunate fool who has wandered here without knowing what grave sins you have committed or if you are an assassin sent by my master’s peers to remove him prematurely from the world, but you will not find any sympathy or mercy at my hands.”

As whoever spoke finished their words, it growled once again. Following the growl, the fog around Sett seemed to change greatly. It became turbulent as if something had blown on it, yet Sett could not feel the wind at all.

“I will give you one last chance to remove yourself from the master’s sanctuary.”

Sett felt less and less certain of his decision to stay inside the fog. He had stood his ground but had only been labelled as a fool or an assassin, neither of which he wanted to be. Furthermore, the speaker in the fog only seemed to be getting more and more annoyed at his presence the more time went on.

The fog became more and more turbulent as time went on, hinting that the mood of the speaker was worsening. Soon, the fog was as if a torrent of whips that would assault from all sides continuously. It had gone from uncomfortable to hurting.

“Very well.” Seeing that Sett had not moved, the voice from the fog spoke once again. “You have made your choice. This one is feeling courteous today and has not fought anyone for a long time, thus I will give you the honour of seeing my face when I tear your body open.”

Chills ran down Sett’s spine.

Suddenly, the flurrying fog calmed down without any prompt. Yet, it would not return to how it was earlier. Instead, a large circle that was completely devoid of fog had appeared on the island, revealing everything that was within it.

On one side of the circle stood Sett, his gaze flying to and fro trying to figure out what was going on. On the other side stood an oversized snow-white fox with three tails.

“I hope you do not regret your choice in the afterlife, interloper.”

The snow-white fox spoke gravely with the same voice that Sett had heard earlier.

Then, it charged.