"Focking tentacle monsters attacking the elves, undead rising from their graves like crazy, stupid dragons hunting dragonkin who have been jumping from some holes in the earth or what and now warlocks doing bloody rituals in the middle of the main street! Fuck me! Why do I have to be a knight in a time like this!"

"Because you have been damn stupid!" A different voice responded, followed by a sound of armor plates scratching against each other.

"What a shitehole, I am going to emigrate! Emigrate!" A series of loud shouts of two familiar voices on his right almost made Frei choke on his bread. He did not even have to look to know that the two knights from the other day were sitting at the table next to them.

"Yesterday was too late." He whispered and Valen who sat opposite him and heard his remark had to forcefully hold the water he had been drinking in his mouth.

"Whot boy? Do you have a problem with something? Here, stick this up your ass, so the focking warlocks can have a look at something interesting when they are doing their whisperings again." The bald knight from yesterday threw a glass orb at the table in front of Frei, who did not know what to think about it.

"Alright." Frei grabbed the glass orb and put it into his pants, an action that was followed by a roar of laughter from the bald knight's partner with brown hair.

"He got you! Hey, Valen will help you with that, he has not made many friends around here yet, the same as you!" The knight finished his breakfast and the two knights stood up and walked away, while making a few jokes about Valen.

"He will not be the only one who is going to emigrate soon." Valen finished his glass of water and looked around.

The other knights and soldiers in the barracks were still sleeping, leaving the test of the tables empty. One would expect better discipline in the local headquarters of the Knights of Dawn, but it was the consequence of multiple factors. The prominent knights and commanders of the order were mostly nobles that had failed to become heirs of their families or inherit any substantial assets, in addition the best of such people had been accepted into the Order of Soloniel. From this point of view, the commanders here were double failures and their ambitions had been already crushed two times, leaving most of them bitter or apathetic. In bigger cities, it was impossible to hide from the public eyes and the discipline was better, but no one cared for a small town at the border.

"What was he talking about? What is this orb?" Frei took out the orb and placed it on the table again and Valen stopped his chewing for a second.

"Early in the morning, the two merry clowns have been in the center of the town. A witch performed a ritual there and they even found a book of curses with a description of the curse. She surely was not trying to hide anything."

"Anything serious?"

"Hell yeah, all shit is gonna fly soon." Valen looked at him using language not characteristic for him, probably the two were starting to get under his skin a bit. "The curse is supposed to cancel the powers of control of all the vampires and from some preliminary reports, it works. During the day, it will probably become big news. The balance of power will go to hell even more, but . . " Valen put the last piece of his breakfast into his mouth and stood up continuing with his mouth full.

". . it is the vampires' problem."

"Wait, you mean for all vampires? That is impossible, the curse would have to be crazy powerful!" Frei's eyes widened when he realized the implications of such a curse for him. If it was true, then he had no time! He stood up as well and followed Valen out of the dining area.

"I do not know, but we will be probably very busy soon. All the lesser vampires will go mad due to their newly found freedom. More work." Valen sighed.

It did not take long and the first reports were starting to arrive at their local headquarters about disturbances caused by vampires who behaved out of the norm and Frei began to panic. Nitarja should be affected by the curse as well, meaning the second stage of his impossible plan that he had expected to begin in years to come was upon him. He had to locate and rescue her at once!

However, how was he gonna do that with his pitiful strength and resources?

"Wait! I think it is about time!" A faint smile appeared on Frei's troubled face.

* * * *

[I have heard that those of El always repay their debts.]

"Who?!" Gabri'El was surprised by the sudden voice in his head and nearly fell off his chair he traditionally used when he served as a flashy column in the central temple.

[What do you want Sama'El? Wait, you are that worm![

[I need your favor. It is simple for an angel like you. Join the Order of Soloniel and protect a vampire named Nitarja from any harm.]

[What? That is not so easy! I am not in that order!]

[It is easy, just join it and order a few humans around! I demand my favor to be repaid in that way, if you refuse to sincerely try that, you have broken your promise to me!]

[You little. . . !]

Gabri'El had to take many deep breaths in order to calm himself while placing his hands on his lap.

"What are you doing Gabri'El? Be careful, my patience is stretched very thin already." A superior angel standing on his right whispered in his direction, assuming that he would do something inappropriate as usual.

"I would never! I have just been enlightened." Gabri'El slowly stood up from the chair and returned it where it belonged with a loud screeching sound, positioning himself in line with the other angels who were all standing still like statues.

"Holy brother, do you happen to be a knight commander of The Order of Soloniel?" Gabri'El whispered in his direction and had a feeling that the angel made a small step in the direction away from him.

"Do you, Holy Brother!?" Gabri'El asked again and made his feet flow in the direction of the angel like he was practicing some kind of a moon walk.

"Do not call me Holy Brother! This discussion can wait after our duty in this holy place ends!" The angel answered giving up on any more movements.

Gabri'El knew very well that he had to act while the angel was cornered and continued his divine work.

"I believe that I have sinned and my service in the Order should ease that burden at least a bit. Can you help me with my penance brother?" Gabri'El used the gaze of a repenting believer on the angel and the angel's defenses broke.

How weak they were! This was why all recruitment should be left to a non-biased AI.

"I hope that you are sincere, or there will be consequences." He said in the end and returned his attention to the pilgrims that slowly flowed in front of them. In fact, there was a lot of them, much more than a few days ago.

"I am the most sincere, as my prayers brought more pilgrims to our halls, my unclean thoughts will be purified by the service for The Order." Gabri'El said seriously, in the end he was doing it for everything that was holy, thus himself. And maybe Mikha'El. For some reason, he remembered Sama'El's first lessons in acting thousands of years ago.

Rule number one, the perfect deceiver deceives even himself.

* * * *

Frei walked to a training area along with Valen after their breakfast. He had successfully managed to switch his regular sword for Crow, not looking like a cripple that was trying to become a squire anymore. At first he wondered why Valen had chosen him, despite looking physically unfit to do the job, but he began to realize that his original role should have been to keep him sane , the depravity of some knights being almost at the level of magical powers.

"So, let's se what you are made of." They did some very basic sparring with swords and Valen had a silly smile on his face. Frei was no sword master, but his training at the Waldorf Castle showed.

"I do not expect you to know any magic." Valen stated, while putting away some parts of his armor when they were no longer sparring. They were alone in the corner of the courtyard with only a few eager soldiers training opposite them and there was no need to keep up appearances.

"Only some basics." Frei waved his hand like it was not even worth mentioning. He thought it was the best to disclose his spells of other attributes at this point than be caught using them later. He still planned to keep his dark attribute spells a secret though.

"Where have you learned that? Have you studied under someone?" Valen's eyes were wide with disbelief and Frei guessed this was the point where he would begin to suspect something irregular if he continued revealing any more powers.

"No, no, I have just been lucky to be taught some tricks." Frei tried to play it down.

"Ah, so you have talent! That is perfect, show me what you have got!" Valen beamed and pointed at one of the wooden figurines near them that looked brand new and unused.

Frei had showed the four spells he had learned when he had started as an elf and decided to keep the rest secret. Valen kept running around him like a little boy who had received a new toy, oblivious to the frowns of the nearby soldiers who knew that they would have to replace the training dummies after their little showdown.

"Awesome! You really do have talent! I need to get you some more spells and teach you basic theory!" Valen was ecstatic, he had expected his new squire to be just a pack mule, a distraction from the dreary reality of the border garrison where he had been put off like a pair of uncomfortable shoes.

They had spent the day by training and Valen promised to teach him basic magic theory next time, as at the moment it was imperative to show him the basics of melee combat. Frei was unused to wear heavier armor and found out that with the increased strength of vampires, it was quite convenient, its weight not slowing him down as much as ordinary humans. The knight's style was less stealth oriented compared to his previous style, where he focused mainly on quick lethal surprise attacks.

The next day, they had to go out and Valen had a gloomy expression on his face.

"An energy spike had been detected in a wilderness along with many missing farmers. We have been tasked with the investigation. This might be dangerous, be prepared to run." Valen said with a frown, but they could not complain, because their fellow knights had been called to the east to suppress the undead there. Frei was surprised that they had not been called to do similar missions sooner, but Valen had explained that the villagers were used to the reality of the Order of Down, how they secretly called it, that had remarkably long response times. They tended to fight off the ordinary attacks themselves, because the knights would have not arrived in time anyway. The instances when the knights were called upon were usually situations the villagers considered hopeless.

[Done]

A single word resonated in Frei's head, filling him with expectation.

[You are great and truly competent, where is she now? Is she alright?]

Frei tensed, eager to reunite with Nitarja that had been at this point freed of all her chains.

[She is being protected from harm just as you have asked of me. And that's it.]

He felt like a bucket of cold water had been splashed onto him when he realized his mistake.

[Come on, do not be like that! Where is she?!]

Frei was beginning to freak out, knowing that he had made a mistake.

[Hahaha! Where is she? Where? The princess has been lost and our little prince cannot find her, what a pity! My side of the bargain is being fulfilled and your inability to find her is your problem, but that little problem will be overshadowed by other problems very soon, as being an angel in the Order of Soloniel is truly fun!]

Gabri'El's voice in his head turned into a sinister whisper, his last sentence containing pure hatred.

[My greatest pleasure is giving orders to humans, just as you have asked. My orders.]

"Is something the matter? You look terrible." Valen asked out of the blue and Frei quickly shook his head while they continued on foot towards the fields and forests where the disturbance had been detected.

"No, everything is alright." Frei lied, his mood visibly worsening.