"What's happening here?"
Everyone froze.
The voice came from the forest to the right—where the trees were dense enough that the road always looked a little darker along that edge. Leaves rustled. Tall grass hissed as something moved through it, not rushing, not stumbling… just approaching calmly.
Milleia's head snapped that way.
And the second she caught sight of him, her eyes widened.
Uniform.
The same blue-and-white Royal Eden Academy uniform she was wearing—same blazer, same crest, the golden wings embroidered over the chest.
And that red tie.
First-year.
A wave of relief hit her so hard her knees almost went soft. Not because she thought he'd magically fix everything, she wasn't that naïve but because it meant he probably wasn't another bandit. Probably not another knife at her throat.
At least it was… someone on her side.
The young man stepped out from the trees with careful footing, as if he didn't want to slip on the loose dirt. Black hair, neatly kept, face handsome in a clean, almost storybook way. His blue eyes looked innocent, but his shoulders were slightly set, and the way his gaze kept flicking between the bandits' hands and their weapons screamed alertness.
"Um, excuse me," he said, polite like he'd wandered into the wrong street and felt bad about it. "Could someone tell me the way to the Royal Eden Academy?"
For half a heartbeat, nobody moved.
Then one of the bandits snorted, like he'd heard the funniest joke of his life.
"Another one from that academy?" the guy said, grinning at his leader. "Lady luck is with us, Boss."
Milleia didn't waste time. The moment she realized the bandits were processing him as loot, she shouted panicked.
"Help me! They're bandits!"
The newcomer blinked, then turned his head toward the group like he was finally taking inventory.
"Bandits?" He repeated, sounding almost disappointed. Then he nodded once, like he'd accepted an annoying chore.
His gaze slid back to Milleia.
"You're from the academy, right?"
"Yes!" Milleia said quickly, too fast, words tangling because adrenaline was chewing through her throat. "I'm Milleia Sophren! I was traveling with these people to the central station but they ambushed us."
"I see." His expression softened just a little, and he stepped forward, putting himself between her and the bandits without even asking. "I'm Jayden. Pleased to meet you, Milleia."
Then, like he couldn't help himself he gave the bandits a nod too.
"And… pleased to meet you as well, guys."
Milleia almost choked.
What kind of greeting was that?
The bandit leader's grin stretched wider, his sword tilting lazily, cocky as ever.
"Playing the hero?" He said. "It'll cost your life, brat."
Jayden sighed, like he was the one being inconvenienced.
"I'm pretty late for the entrance ceremony," he said, lifting one hand and curling his fingers at them. "So hurry up."
The beckoning gesture was so casual it bordered on rude.
The leader's face tightened, irritation snapping into place.
"You'll regret this, brat. Guys, kill him. Bring me the girl."
Four bandits surged forward at once.
Milleia's stomach dropped. Four was too many for him. Too many for both of them if they got swarmed.
Jayden didn't even step back.
He glanced over his shoulder at her, calm in a way that made her want to believe she could breathe.
"You can take two?" He asked.
"Yes!" Milleia answered, gripping her dull sword with both hands.
She pivoted toward the two closest bandits. Jayden intercepted the other pair with nothing but his bare hands, no blade, no shield, just a stance that looked simple until you noticed how balanced he was.
The first few seconds were messy and loud.
Steel clashed against Milleia's blade, hers dull, theirs sharp. Her arms shuddered from each impact, the shock traveling straight into her elbows. She kept her feet moving, kept her breath steady, did everything her training told her to do.
Jayden, on the other hand—
He moved like he'd done this a hundred times.
A sidestep. A twist of his shoulder. A punch that landed with a crack.
One bandit staggered. Another got shoved hard enough to stumble into his friend. Jayden didn't smile, didn't boast, he just kept going, efficiently.
For a moment, just a moment, Milleia thought.
'We can win. We can actually win this.'
And that's when she realized what she'd forgotten.
Bandits didn't fight fair.
"Hyaaa!"
A scream from behind made her whip her head around—and her expression froze.
A fifth bandit stood near the carriage door.
In his grip was a child, one of the little girls from inside. Tiny hands clawing at his forearm, face crumpled with terror, hair yanked painfully back so her neck was exposed.
Milleia gasped seeing that.
While they'd been fighting, the leader had sent someone to grab a hostage.
And it worked.
"Aaahaha!" The leader cackled, eyes gleaming. "You're just brats in the end!"
The hostage-taker jerked the girl's hair to make her cry louder, like he wanted the sound to travel into Milleia's bones.
"B-Big sis!" The little girl sobbed, looking right at Milleia.
"Leave her!" Milleia shouted, stepping forward without thinking.
"Don't move," the bandit snapped. He pressed a knife against the girl's throat—not deep, just enough to promise what could happen. "Unless you want to see her little head separated from her neck."
Milleia stopped immediately.
A thin red line appeared where the blade kissed skin.
The girl gasped. A wet, terrified sound.
"M-Mommy!"
Her mother stumbled out of the carriage on shaking legs, arms half-raised in a pleading gesture.
"Please! Leave my daughter out of this!" She begged. "I'll do anything—anything you want!"
"Shut up!" The bandit shouted. "Stay back or I'll do it!"
Milleia could barely hear the rest. Her vision tunneled. All she saw was that knife. That tiny throat. That blood.
This wasn't a fight anymore.
It was a slaughter waiting to happen.
"We have to save her," Milleia whispered.
She tried to move again, just one step—
The knife grazed the girl's neck a second time, and another bead of blood welled up.
Milleia stopped, trembling.
"Don't move."
Jayden's voice cut in, suddenly different, serious, all warmth gone from his face.
"But...the girl…" Milleia couldn't pull her gaze away.
Jayden didn't look at her. He kept staring at the bandit, like he was measuring distance with his eyes.
"You are with me, Zeus?" Jayden asked quietly.
Milleia blinked.
"Zeus…?"
Jayden kept talking like he was having a normal conversation in the middle of hell.
"Don't worry. Same as usual," he said. "I won't overdo it. It's an important day."
Milleia didn't understand.
Then—
-Crackle!
The air shifted.
A streak of blue light tore across the space between Jayden and the hostage-taker.
-Thud!
The bandit screamed.
"ARRGHHH!"
His shoulder smoked, charred black, skin burned through in an instant like lightning had bitten straight into him. His grip loosened reflexively from the pain.
The little girl dropped, tumbling onto the dirt and scrambling away like her legs had turned into pure instinct.
"Mommy!"
She ran into her mother's arms. The woman sobbed into her hair, clutching her like she was trying to weld her back together.
"Now!" Jayden shouted.
Milleia moved.
Her body snapped out of paralysis like a chain had been cut. She rushed toward the screaming hostage-taker to finish him off before he could grab another child.
Two men lunged into her path.
"You aren't going anywhere!" One snarled.
Milleia raised her sword but Jayden was already there.
"Not on my watch."
He slammed into them, and suddenly he was fighting four men at once—because the pair he'd been handling before had recovered, and now they were all swarming him together.
Jayden grinned, and that grin was weirdly bright considering the situation.
"Come."
Lightning crackled around his fist again.
Milleia swallowed hard.
"Thanks!" She said, then swung at the hostage-taker.
He parried with his sword, one-handed, face twisted with rage.
"Bit—!"
-BOOOOM!
Heat punched the air suddenly.
"...!"
Milleia's head whipped toward the carriage.
Fire.
The carriage was on fire.
Not a small flame, an ugly, hungry blaze crawling over wood, licking up the sides, swallowing the windows. Smoke poured out in thick black streams.
Her heart stopped for a moment.
"The carriage—!" Milleia choked.
The bandit leader stood near it, palm still glowing faintly, skin reddened like he'd cast something with raw heat.
"Don't underestimate us, brats," he said, satisfied.
Milleia ran toward the carriage.
"Get off!" She screamed at the passengers. "Get out of the carriage!"
But the door...
The door was blocked. Packed with earth and debris, like someone had sealed it from the outside.
She could see faces in the smoke. Hands slamming on the inside of the window. Children crying. Adults coughing, screaming.
"HELP!"
"I'm burning—!"
Milleia tried to rush in, tried to reach the handle immediately.
But two bandits stepped into her way again, grinning like they enjoyed the moment.
"J-Jayden!" She shouted, desperation tearing the word out of her.
Jayden was still locked with the four men, moving fast, sparks snapping off his fists, but even he couldn't teleport. Even he couldn't be in two places at once.
The screams climbed higher.
Then—
They started dropping off.
One voice at a time. A child's wail cut short. An adult's shout fading into a wet cough.
Until there was only the crackling roar of fire eating wood.
Milleia's knees hit the dirt.
Her sword slipped in her hands.
Tears blurred her vision.
She'd talked with those people for hours. She'd made those kids laugh. She'd promised she'd come back and tell more stories.
How did it end like this?
The bandits were smiling. Some of them were laughing under their breath, like they'd just watched a fun show.
Jayden stared at the burning carriage with wide eyes, chest heaving.
His face looked… stunned. Not just angry but shocked, like he couldn't accept that this was real.
Again.
Like this wasn't his first time failing to save someone.
The coachman collapsed beside the road, sobbing like his bones had been removed.
The mother clutched her daughter so tightly the girl whimpered, but she didn't let go.
And then—
Glass broke.
A clean, sharp sound, totally out of place against the fire.
Everyone turned.
Across the road, a new figure stood there.
Another academy uniform, blue pants, white shirt.
No blazer.
His face wasn't fully visible. A black hat shadowed his hair. A golden-black mask covered his eyes down to his nose, leaving only his mouth and chin exposed.
What was visible, what Milleia couldn't stop staring at, were his eyes.
Dark red.
Not bright like a ruby.
Dark like dried blood.
Behind him, space warped.
A mirror formed out of nothing, perfectly smooth, perfectly transparent, and wrong in the most unsettling way, because it didn't reflect his back at all. It looked like a doorway pretending to be glass.
And then the impossible happened.
People began to step out of the mirror.
One by one, adults coughing, children crying, clothes singed, faces smeared with soot but alive.
Alive.
They spilled onto the road in a stumbling cluster, blinking like they'd been pulled out of a nightmare. Some of them looked around wildly, then noticed the masked man, and instinctively stepped back… before their expressions twisted into a confused gratitude.
They remembered something, a mirror appearing inside the burning carriage, hands pulling them, the sensation of falling through glass.
Milleia stared, mouth open.
Her heart unclenched so fast she felt dizzy.
They hadn't died.
They were hurt, burned arms, scorched pant legs, coughing fits but nothing fatal. The children were shaken and filthy, but whole.
The little girl who'd been taken hostage pointed with both hands, eyes shining through tears.
"Woooow! It's the masked prince!"
"Yeah!" Another child cried. "It's him! The masked prince is here to save us!"
The masked man didn't react outwardly.
But Milleia saw his shoulders twitch, just slightly like he was fighting to stay standing. Like those innocent words had stabbed him somewhere deep.
The bandit leader's grin finally cracked, anger boiling up to replace it.
"Who are you?" He asked, as his eyes flicked between three academy students now standing against him.
One student disappearing might not trigger a kingdom, wide manhunt—especially if it was a commoner.
Two? That's a problem.
Three, on entrance day?
That was dangerous play.
He swallowed, face hardening as he tried one last time to force control with intimidation.
"Did you hear me, brat?" He yelled. "I asked your name! Answer if you don't want to die!"
The masked man said nothing.
Not a single word.
"It's the masked Prince!"
"The masked Prince came to save us!!!"
"Ughh..."
The masked man in question finally did have a reaction as if he had swallowed a bitter pill.
He pressed a hand to his chest and winced, teeth tightening, like he'd just taken a punch from the inside.
Milleia's breath caught.
Is he… out of mana?