Chapter 5: Exposed

The visit from the princess caused a surge of customers to visit the shop. Gentle Ocean Breeze also became the best seller of the inn, so Ryder had to teach other bartenders how to make it. Of course, this also meant that the inn expansion had to include a café section for those who wished for some non-alcoholic drinks because there was apparently a scuffle between the alcoholics and the non-alcoholics.

Ryder was not complaining though. With the surge in revenue, the expansion had not put as huge of a dent to their finances and Ryder’s twelve coins per week became permanent. The local newspaper had also picked up on it which only helped with the Sea Conch Inn’s popularity.

With so much money and not much to do with it, Ryder decided to donate half of his paycheck to the orphanage. Seeing the children smile and play with the new toys bought with that money brought a sense of satisfaction that Ryder could not find anywhere else. Instead of being sent into dens of wild beasts and spirits like he was, they could live safely and have a happy childhood, one that Ryder never had.

“Isn’t it rejuvenating? To see children happy,” a familiar soft voice spoke.

Ryder looked towards the voice: the beautiful figure of the Princess of the Empire curtsied before him. Behind her were two knights, both wielding halberds. They watched the princess’ surroundings, ensuring no one was watching them. Ryder quickly bowed to greet the Princess.

“Good day to you, Your Highness. And yes, it was indeed rejuvenating.”

The princess chuckled.

“What happened to ‘miss’, Mister Aries?”

“I surely could not call Your Highness just ‘miss’ now that I know your true identity, although I believe I should’ve recognized you the moment you walked in.”

The princess waved her hand.

“It was nothing. In fact, it was a nice change in pace. To be unrecognized and act as if you were just a normal citizen was a wonderful experience, even if it was short.”

Ryder nodded.

“Pardon my rudeness, but what do I owe the pleasure of being graced by your presence, Your Highness? Of course, one could believe that you were here just to see the orphaned children, but you would be walking inside instead of watching from the sidelines like I am.”

The princess smiled.

“I see that I am not as subtle as I had hoped. Forgive me for the suddenness of my approach, but I would like to have a walk with you if you don’t mind.”

Ryder watched the knights. He looked around him. No one was passing the street. The bystanders that were around were watching him in the periphery of their vision. All of them were knights. Ryder could break out of this position, but he’d rather not ruin the Sea Conch Inn’s reputation just because he was uncomfortable and started beating up the princess’ guards.

He bowed.

“I am honored, Your Highness. Shall we?”

The princess nodded to her guards and approached Ryder. Once she caught up beside him, they both began to walk. Ryder ensured to maintain his pace with hers as not to start leading her or fall behind. As they started to reach a crowded street, the princess pulled out a piece of paper with a magic circle drawn on it. Two rings with an eye glyph and runes in between them. In the middle was a sigil of two lines, connected to form a crescent. The ends and connection were dotted with an empty dot. The runes were the incantation of the spell, the glyph was the nature, the ring was the level of the spell, and the sigil was the spirit or deity related to this spell. In this case, the spell was a level one illusion spell blessed by the Moon.

The runes read the following:

Y misen hæth ni nich, anây fi yan.

Let me pass by, like a gentle breeze in the night.

The princess channeled mana into it, causing it to emit a white glow. When they reached the crowded street, the two walked down unbothered, watching families, couples, and friends pass them by without noticing them. They were not invisible, but to others, specifically those who had not achieved circulation, they were merely unimportant like a gentle breeze.

“Now that we have some privacy, shall we converse more openly?” the princess asked.

“What would Your Highness wish from a humble bartender like me?”

The princess laughed softly.

“I have nothing to ask for from Aries of the Sea Conch Inn.”

The princess smiled.

“But I do have something to ask from Ryder of Fate of the Twilight Squadron.”

Ryder grimaced.

“How did you know?”

Only a Paladin should be able to figure out that Aries had a stronger foundation than most, but even they would not suspect that he was a former Paladin due to the lack of Will, not to mention, Ryder of Fate.

The princess pointed towards her blue eyes that seemed to be piercing into Ryder. No, it was looking into Ryder’s spirit.

“You have quite the pesky element.”

The princess nodded.

“Let me introduce myself properly.”

She curtsied before Ryder.

“My name is Arulia Viviane von Gerechtigkeit of the Sight. It is a pleasure to meet one of the Twilight in person.”

Ryder clicked his tongue. That element was basically an element that allowed one to see through anything: lies, darkness, madness, futures, and even see the spirit structure of other people including their pathways and whether they have a core.

For any other person, that was all there was to it, but Ryder was a fatereader, one who could see the threads of fate. His spirit structure was vastly different from normal humans.

Usually, humans would be unable to internally generate mana. However, their spirit structures could be changed with effort to allow them to gather mana from the external environment. This was their foundation, the first level of ascension. Over time, they could turn their spirit structure into pathways to circulate mana, entering the second level of ascension, which were called Squires. There, they were able to access their element of affinity. Once they were able to control their circulation more efficiently, they would coalesce their mana into a single spot, forming a core, thus becoming Knights and becoming more attuned to their element. Eventually, they become Paladins and could manipulate their element of affinity with Will. The stages above it would bring them closer to divinity with each level: Chosens would be granted blessings by the deities of their element, Avatars would represent a portion of their deity, and then Godhood where the ascendant becomes the deity themselves.

Ryder’s, meanwhile, was structured in a way that he was able to internally generate mana while also gathering mana from the external environment. This meant he could easily fill up his mana pool as quickly as possible. By its lonesome, that would be it. However, that also meant that if Ryder achieved circulation, his pathways would be more numerous and larger than the average Squire, making him as powerful as a Knight. Continuing on and he would also be able to wield his Will much more efficiently than others due to his spirit structure being similar to the world’s and therefore could manipulate the laws with less resistance. Since his spirit structure was basically that of the world’s, his element of affinity was the world’s, which was Fate, allowing him to see the threads of fate without going insane, thus his bloodline being called fatereader.

Ryder sighed. With his spirit structure in plain sight to Arulia, she could inquire about it and figured that he was a fatereader and there was only one fatereader alive in the world.

“Usually it would be the opposite.”

“Ah, but we are not at war, are we? In fact, I think we will make good friends.”

Ryder glanced at Arulia.

“Sounds like you wanted a favor.”

“I’m glad you realized. That makes things quicker.”

Arulia walked past Ryder and turned towards him, facing him on top of the sloping street. Her hair glowed underneath the lamplights.

“I need your help to steer Breen away from a terrible fate.”