The Knight arrived, not many were present. This was when it arrived after handling the Abio - situation.
The eyes were understandably on the new arrivals, Ujinski – hand frozen to his sister. It was also focused on the procession of citizens. The Knight had left the test subjects elsewhere; it would go on to handle them another time. Guilos had to be snuck in later, the Knight had wanted to avoid letting her get caught – she would be trailed as a criminal being the head researcher of that place – should the queen find her.
He Knight was not going to waste it's time on protocols for gathering information from a prisoner.
But the most catching sight was the princess. She might not be the strongest, or even the most eye catching of all her siblings, but she was the most popular. No-one came running when there was trouble faster than she did – she was just like her grandmother.
The reason they were all so fixated on her was because, her long and silky hair, gone. Her royal garments, nothing but tethered robes. The Knight had wanted to sneak in, but she had advised against it, saying that:
'A spectacle like this lets people find their own truths instead of demanding one through a public statement. This way – people can make rumours, but they will never truly seek the truth because we're not hiding anything for them to find.'
The Knight felt her logic sound – people seeking the truth tend to find out more than they search for, and the Knight would rather be called a hero, than what it truly was, for now that is. The Knight ended up becoming a celebrated hero but this time his adventures had been overshadowed by the return of their beloved princess.
They entered the palace, and then the Knight let the princess handle things with the queen. The knight had to go to Adriel or Poli and report. As soon as the Knight came in with this new woman, one who had been acting so familiar with the Knight – a kind of familiarity – 'even his wife' didn't show, it got everyone curious.
The Knight just told them it was its spy. They were sceptical – but everyone knew better than to dig, especially if one isn't looking for anything in particular. She was very energetic, even bothering the others. The Knight had told her that being more friendly with them was better than being reserved as it was suspicious – and the Knight was not going to leave her unsupervised.
Unsurprisingly though, she talked as easily with them as she did with the Knight.
The Knight used this chance to leave her with them. The Knight found Poli, but she told the Knight to go make the report with Adriel since she was here. The Knight then went looking for her. It didn't find her. It found commander Breona once more – she Knight to go report to the Banneret – Solace – Adriel was off training on her own.
The Knight then went to the paladin's room, but upon arriving, the Knight sensed a different presence inside, and it didn't speak or respond as the Knight tried to ascertain what was going on. The problem was that this soul was strong, ridiculously so, and thus the Knight had to act – It broke in.
There, standing still, about to put on the helmet was none other than the paladin, but there was something strange. The Knight knew that this was its armour, but the soul was wrong. The Knight then pulled a spear out of its inventory.
"It's not what you think."
Even worse the noise that answered was male, even though, the Knight was clearly looking at a female. The Knight tried to come closer, but it felt that any step closer and it would be crushed to pieces. The same barrier that had been used to carry it when they arrived in the woods of Elleria, was now a shield against it, a deadly one at that.
She turned her head and sighed. "Well, I am Solace – well, Solace is my sister." The barrier disappeared and the Knight approached. And as it did the whisper spoke.
You have encountered a level 390 human, Paladin Banneret Refuge. Type-Knight.
The Knight was sure Solace was, level 378 and not 390.
"Explain."
"I'd rather not."
… It was not like the Knight could force him/her.
"Listen –" then the Knight lost its sight for a second – the barrier had expanded, and dubbed 'sight' itself impure, thus seeing anything was not possible. Then it came back…
"Long story short – I share a body with my sister. But as you can see the body is hers. Sometimes I surface when she's tired, so I let her sleep."
'I guess this explains why she/he sometimes never speaks – the voice would certainly be disturbing – I just thought they were just reserved.'
"Actually, even though you're so surprised, I have met with you already. Even when she's in control – I am there reading notes for the speeches she gives – she's not good with words." – then he laughed.
"But as soon as I put this helmet on, it makes any and all forms of detection think I'm her. It used to be a problem – being mistake for a possessed monster. If you must know, there is a random schedule that decides which one of us is in control. The armour makes it appear as though it's always her.
But since we we're born in her body, I chose to let her be the person – even if she protested at first about it.
We had to train twice as hard though; each soul still had its own power level. Actually, I was in here because I had to do my regular repair of the armour system – I made it myself. Why are you here?"
"I came to make my report."
He then put on the helmet, pushing the hair into a bun using the barriers. Right then the Knight felt that the soul it was staring at was Solace's. But the voice remained the same.
"I advise you, tell no-one. My sister has tried very hard to make do with this – she even changed her sweet voice – all because of her selfish brother's request."
The Knight could barely feel his desires, but 'just barely' was enough. It not being his main body must mean there's some condition constantly favouring her, and instead of living an awkward double life, he must have given it all to his sister. If one looked at it simply – he was the intruder, but she didn't want to or even think about forcing him out – they must have made a deal.
This was of no interest to it. Now that it had confirmed that there was no threat – even if the threat was so unique, it could leave. It sent the spear back to inventory. But it was still fascinated by all of it, since it was similar to Kitrino – so it had to ask.
"I think I understand, and as such I have a question for you – don't your minds clash in thought."
"Not at all – we truly are separate beings."
This told the Knight Kitrino was different from them – their souls had become one, which meant, these two couldn't help it make more sense of her.
"Well, I'll make the report later, then."
"Oh, no report, I'd like to hear about what kind of exploits have you been on this time."
The Knight made the report and as it finished, he said. "Before I forget – my sister hates this armour because it makes it seem like she's the only inside – but during that meeting a while back, she thought your armour looked c…"
Then a set of arms covered the mouth, she was up. Then the androgenous voice once again returned. "Ignore my brother, he likes to play pranks on his older sister – and also he's the one who thinks your amour is cool."
She was the same strong voice the Knight remembered. Making it believe the story just a little better.
The Knight finished the report with her instead. They might not share minds, but it seems their minds were connected because their memories were one – probably from a skill to avoid problems regarding remembering what happened to the other.
The Knight then left. This was a strange experience, but it just meant when she's silent, it most likely was Refuge – trying not to make his sister sound strange. But that makes one wonder, if he writes the speeches, then when is she ever herself? And who else knew? Probably Poli and Adriel.
The knight then left, heading for the outside. It was going to sneak in the researcher.
The palace was immune to through-the-wall teleporting, but the Knight could still move fast and go invisible, and make illusions, what more did it need to sneak around.
It moved so fast that it had almost crashed into the wall. And the Knight knew that this was the kind of wall no-one moving at that speed, that fast, wanted to crash into. It had neglected to learn how to move this fast because it teleported almost everywhere, and that it had perfected.
Too bad the skill was stuck at level 250 since breaking its second seal didn't break that of the vessels, which told the Knight it might have to start hunting for more army soldier. It was just that the monsters outside dungeons were weak and even when strong, didn't possess skills that interested the vermin like Yellow's did.
But after trial and error, the Knight perfected the sneaking around technique, and snuck Guilos in – completely undetected. This room and the window view would go on be the only things she would see for the rest of their stay here.