"This suit feels tight..." I muttered, pulling at the collar. "Why am I wearing a suit, and not armor like the rest of your knights?"

"You're not a Royal Knight. You're my personal bodyguard." Irene stated. "And under that suit is some of the best under armor you can get. Small and thin but powerful enough to stop bullets."

"If you say so..." I replied.

Certainly doesn't feel like it.

"Here. Take this." Irene said, handing me an earpiece.

"An earpiece?" I asked.

"It's a small communication device. It will allow us to talk to each other without being next to each other." Irene explained.

"But aren't I to stay by your side 24/7?" I wondered.

"Yes." Irene nodded. "But we can't be too careful."

"Fair point." I nodded.

If we slip up, Iris might end up dying. And while that would get rid of a yandere, it wouldn't sit so well in my stomach.

"So, what now?" I asked.

"Now, we watch out for an assasssin." Irene decided.

"What?" I asked. "So soon?"

"Yes." Irene replied. "They want to finish what they started. A Royal Knight was found dead this morning by a maid, stuck inside the cleaning closet."

God, I'll have to be careful. A skilled assassin has already infiltrated the Aegis Mansion. No wonder Irene says I need to be by her side 24/7.

Wait...inside the closet...found by the maid...

Would they ever expect the person who found the body? With good acting they can make it seem as if they found the body, instead of being the one who did it.

"You think it's the maid?" I asked.

"The maid...?" Irene muttered. "Wait...that actually makes sense..."

Irene walked through the hallway of the mansion while I shortly followed behind her. I believe we are now making rounds around the mansion to see if anything else suspicious has happened.

As we walked through the hallway, someone else turned onto the hallway, walking towards our direction.

Fuck, it's Iris.

As we walked by I looked away, avoiding eye contact with her. Let's hope she doesn't notice-

"Wait...Kage?!" Gasped Iris.

"Hello...Aegis..." I sighed in defeat.

Irene turned towards her younger sister. "You know each other?" She asked.

"Yeah, he goes to my school. What's he doing here?" Iris asked.

Irene didn't respond for a moment, lost in her thoughts. "Oh, now I remember why I thought I've heard your name before." Irene thought aloud. "Iris talks about you a lot."

Excuse me, what?!

"What?! No I don't!" Yelled Iris. "You just confuse me. I don't understand you at all. I can only think that you have something against the Aegis Family for some reason, and that's why you act that way."

"W-" I was about to say an excuse before I was cut off by Irene.

"He doesn't. After all, he saved my life. He wouldn't have done that if he hated the Aegis Family." Irene bluntly stated.

"...what?" Iris asked, shocked.

Shit, this is backfiring.

"Could you...repeat that?" Iris asked.

"He saved my life." Irene repeated.

"That was you?!" Iris exclaimed, pointing at me.

"Yes, it was." I sighed.

"Why?" Iris asked, confused. "Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely grateful. Thank you. But why?"

"I...have my reasons." I replied. "Aegis, we should go."

Irene nodded. "Alright." She looked over to her sister. "I'll see you later."

"Wait...what?" Iris muttered in confusion as we left.

...

"You seem to have some beef with my sister." Irene stated.

"I don't exactly want to say..." I muttered.

"Will I have to shock you?" Irene politely asked.

"No, please don't." I replied. "I've just been a jerk to her..."

"..." Irene stayed silent. "Are you a tsundere?" She muttered in confusion.

"What?! No! There's no romantic feelings involved." I denied.

"If you say so..." Irene replied.

"Seriously, I'm not." I responded, sweatdropping.

As we continued walking down the hallway we passed a maid. Interesting thing was that she had a scar on her right eye. It may be nothing, but maids don't usually have scars...

"...do you have any maids with a scar on their right eye?" I whispered to Irene.

"No, we don't. None of our maids are combat maids." Irene whispered back.

I quickly whirled around, and just in time as I saw a dagger flying straight towards my exposed head. I quickly summoned Loki and knocked it out of the air.

The fake maid growled in frustration.

"Thank you." Irene nodded. "Now I'll handle this."

She sparked with electricity, bursting forwards at the assassin maid with incredible speed. It's the quickest I've ever seen anyone go...

In her hands a weapon formed; a giant war hammer. So that's her Arcana. She quickly smashed the war hammer into the maid, sending her backwards. The maid crashed into the ground, defeated.

...what's the point of having a personal bodyguard when you're that strong? I bet you only used two of the eight powers you have available...

I walked over to her. "Well, I don't get why I'm here when you can just do that."

"I didn't recognize the maid was replaced by the assassin. I pay too much attention to my Royal Knights...I should pay more attention to the other staff..." She sighed.

"So...your Arcana, what is it?" I asked.

It's the first time I've ever seen it in action, since the only scene she has in the anime is of being assassinated. I'm curious.

"Thor. A Rank." Irene stated.

What?

"What?!" Loki yelled in my mind. "I knew I that presence was familiar!"

You know Thor?

"Of course I know him, he's one of the most important Norse Gods, just like me." Loki replied. I could hear the smugness in his voice. "We often clashed in views. He's all brawn. He doesn't understand the power of trickery and the mind."

For some reason I feel that matches Irene despite her incredible smarts.

Irene typed something into her phone. In a second a knight ran up to us.

"Take her to the dungeon." Irene ordered.

"You have a dungeon...?" I asked as the knight dragged the assassin away. "Is that legal...?"

"We're allowed to put people who attempt to assassinate us into dungeons for interrogation. We aren't allowed to do anything that violates certain laws pertaining to the interrogation however." Irene explained.

"..." Not scary at all...

"Now that the assassin is out of the way, let's start your training." Irene stated.

"My training?" I wondered.

"Yes. You have almost mastered the Dragon Fist style, but I want to have you train with some of our men to help you improve." Irene explained.

"Alright then..." I replied.

"First, let's get you an Artifact." Irene stated.

"What?! But Artifacts are incredibly rare and expensive!" I gasped.

Artifacts are enchanted items that can benefit an Adventurer. They can range from armor to rings, and they can give all kind of boosts to an Adventurer. They're incredibly rare, as they are rarely dropped by monsters and not many can create them.

This also makes them cost a lot.

"I told you. My personal bodyguard only deserves the best. Now let's head to the vault." Irene stated.

She started to walk away. This is insane...

She's doing so much for me...

I followed her as she navigated through the mansion. Eventually she reached an elevator. Clicking the button, the elevator shortly opened.

She entered the elevator as I shortly followed. She pressed the lowest button which had the letter "V" on it. She then placed her finger on the pad.

A ding rang throughout the elevator, accepting her finger. The elevator closed, and started to descend.

We went lower and lower before the elevator finally stopped. As it opened, it revealed a stone hallway lit by a few lights hanging from the ceiling.

Despite it's look Irene headed forwards without a care. We walked to the end of the hallway where a giant bank vault door stood.

Irene used her finger on another scanner, before opening her right eye and letting it be scanned. The scanner dinged as it accepted Irene.

The vault door started to open, revealing a large open room behind it, filled with different stands which each had a different Artifact.

"My god..." I gasped in amazement.

The amount of money all of this could be sold for...

"Welcome to the Vault." Irene revealed.

"I can't believe you're showing me this." I muttered.

"...It's fine." Irene stated. "Now choose one."

"Alright then." I grinned. I get one of these!

I looked through them, having Irene explain the functions of each one. There were so many unique ones, from a quiver with infinite arrows to a coin that can either boost speed or strength depending on the flip.

"What is this?" I asked Irene, pointing to a rocky black ring with a red gem stuck in it.

"Oh, this one." Irene said. "It's a good one. It gives complete mastery over fire abilities and increases their power. The only downside is you have to have a fire ability to use it."

"...Can I have it?" I hesitantly asked.

"You have a fire ability?" She asked.

"My Arcana's element is fire." I stated.

It's also the only offensive ability I have, so having complete mastery and increased power will greatly help.

"Here." Irene said.

She took the ring off of the stand, placing it onto my right ring finger.

I looked at the ring. It didn't look bad on me. Looking back to Irene, she was slightly blushing and looked shocked. A sudden change from her usually stoic business look.

"Uh...are you alright?" I asked her.

Why the hell are you blushing? Literally nothing happened. No common anime cliches, nothing.

Irene shook out of it. "I-It's nothing. Come on, let's start training."