"I'm bored, so play with me."
That single sentence sent cold sweat trickling down my spine.
A girl with blue hair and her bodyguard knight standing like her shadow.
For someone who knew their identities,
even words from a girl who looked so cute were no reason to let my guard down.
I knew all too well what her idea of "play" would lead to.
Ellis, captain of the Qingyuan Regiment, was one of the characters I knew inside out.
A hidden boss-level figure you could encounter in the game,
someone I'd challenged multiple times myself.
I'd beaten her easily with my five strongest characters,
but that didn't mean she was weak by any stretch.
Those five were just unreasonably powerful,
and without them, even approaching her would've been impossible.
No one else had ever managed to take her down but me.
Her supernatural ability, Protection of the Sea God, embodied the ocean's own will, rejecting any threat aimed at her.
If she could wield it consciously, she might've been slightly less dangerous,
but she was just a child—looking exactly her age, an innocent incarnation of pure evil.
She didn't even fully grasp what happened when her whims took hold.
If she harbored negative thoughts toward anyone, every drop of water around her became both shield and spear, dancing to her tune.
Even something as mild as thinking "Wow, he's ugly" about the person in front of her would make the water swallow their face whole.
Water was her other self, her proxy—and her bodyguard.
That's why she always carried four water bottles at her waist.
I had to think carefully.
The moment I showed any hostility to escape this situation,
if she cast even a hint of negativity my way, the water at her waist would awaken.
It might seem harmless at a glance,
but the instant it met her ability...
It became a watery catastrophe.
"Why aren't you saying anything? Don't you wanna play with Ellis?"
Her voice was adorably childish, like a sulking kid referring to herself in the third person.
She looked like the kind of cute girl who could melt anyone's heart just by existing—but glance at her waist, and you'd think twice.
The water sloshing threateningly there, all because she was slightly miffed, was downright chilling.
"Lady Ellis has asked you a question! Answer her at once!"
Her bodyguard knight beside her bellowed at me.
He must've seen my silence toward his lord as insolence.
I said nothing, just glared at Kain, the one who'd put me in this mess.
"Lord Astra, this is Ellis, captain of the Qingyuan Regiment in Haven. I thought meeting her before the Tian Yi Hui would benefit you, so I arranged it."
So that's how it was.
Kain must've figured that getting face time with her—someone who could sway the Tian Yi Hui—would help when I became captain.
In his mind, as a captain-level powerhouse, I could handle it just fine.
But... I'm just a powerless nobody.
Against any other captain, I wouldn't be agonizing like this.
They'd assume I had some strength and back off.
But with her, every word had me on edge.
A child's thoughts are unpredictable, no matter how well you know their personality.
"I am Astra, captain candidate. Ellis, captain of the Qingyuan Regiment. Pleased to meet you. I'm a bit tired today—can we play another time?"
I'd weighed every word carefully.
Rejecting her without seeming rude.
But her bodyguard didn't see it that way.
"How dare a mere candidate address Lady Ellis by name so casually!"
"Leon, this is someone I brought here myself. Mind your manners."
Kain shot him a displeased look but didn't move.
Even as the Lord's Castle steward, he couldn't touch a captain's bodyguard without just cause—especially not a regular knight.
With me not yet a captain, the blade of justification rested in the bodyguard's hand.
"He's not a captain yet. If he becomes one, I'll apologize for this rudeness."
Even so, acting like that right in front of me rubbed me the wrong way.
No, how politely did I just speak? If anything, I'm about to be a captain— is it normal for a bodyguard to act like this?
"You there."
My voice cut through, cold as ice, matching my irritation.
That one phrase made Kain, the fuming Leon, and even Ellis snap their gazes to me in surprise.
"Can you handle that attitude?"
Embarrassed by his momentary fluster, he shrugged exaggeratedly.
"Handle it...? Ha! If you fail to become captain, I should be asking if you can handle it."
I lowered my gaze to Ellis.
Against expectations, her face showed no displeasure.
No child, not even her, could be ignorant of a captain's position.
If I backed down here, she'd be disappointed—and might even oppose my appointment.
A captain had to be the sky above all but the lord.
How could someone who lost a staring contest to a mere bodyguard lead?
Even if it risked her ill will, this was the moment to show strength.
"Do you really think I won't make captain?"
With my words, the suppressed pressure I'd held back exploded.
Ellis, Kain, Leon... their presences merged, amplified further by my supernatural ability, and burst from my body.
Laced with my killing intent, the overwhelming pressure buckled Leon's legs right there—he collapsed.
Even Kain's face betrayed shock as he stared at me.
"Hah... so that power back then wasn't everything."
Of course not. Back then, I only reflected Kain's pressure. Now, I've woven in Ellis's captain-level presence too.
In that amplified fusion of three presences, Leon was a raindrop in the ocean—insignificant.
I approached the fallen man slowly.
"D-don't come closer!"
Terror-stricken, he scrambled backward, unable to even stand.
I seized his shoulder and asked again.
"I asked if you think I won't become captain."
Instead of answering, he cast a pitiful glance at his lord, Ellis.
"Lady Ellis, save—"
Splat—
A simple blob of water from her waist had coalesced and flown at him.
But his head burst like a balloon upon impact—no resistance.
A pitifully pathetic end for a captain's bodyguard.
"What~? I didn't mean to kill him—the water was too strong! Now it'll be so boring on the way back, hing~"
Whining at her water bottles like a sulky child, she seemed far too cheerful for having just killed her longtime guard.
"Oppa is really strong! Stronger than the other oppas and unnis?"
"Was killing him necessary?"
The water had moved on her subconscious will,
but her demeanor showed no grief over her bodyguard's death.
Even if his actions weren't her direct command, he'd acted for her sake.
"Huh? What're you talking about~? I could tell right away oppa's definitely gonna be captain. So he had to be punished! A non-captain trying to scold a captain~"
I'd forgotten for a moment.
Age, race aside—captains treated everyone below them and the lord like insects not worth the effort to swat.
Even their own bodyguards.
"I see."
"Yeah! Oppa will be captain soon, so you gotta know this~ Or the other oppas and unnis might think bad of you~"
"Noted."
"Ellis is smart, so ask me lots~ I'll tell you everything! I'm the senior, ahem~"
Hands on hips, puffing out her chest with an "ahem"—pure innocent girl.
But the blood pooling at her feet laid bare her true nature.
Now, she'd probably even accept a "let's play later."
She seems convinced I'll become captain.
"Then, Ellis."
"Yeah? What do you wanna know? I'll tell you everything! Or wanna play now~?"
"I'm tired today, so if you come to my territory later, I'll play lots then."
"Hmm... Okay! Oppa will definitely be captain. So you gotta play lots with me later~"
"Sure."
As she left, Kain shadow-dissolved Leon's corpse, then bowed to me.
"See you tomorrow."
The door shut, and I collapsed onto the bed.
Can I really survive this?
I pondered briefly, but consciousness faded before any answer.
Today's events were too unreal for any ordinary citizen to endure.
* * *
Ellis tugged Kain's sleeve as she left Astra's room.
"Mister, that was awesome! Where'd you find such a cool oppa?"
Her voice brimmed with excitement and curiosity.
"I don't know why, but he was imprisoned in Imperial Prison 3."
"Imprisoned?"
She tilted her head, baffled.
To her common sense, a captain-level powerhouse locked up anywhere made no sense.
"Yes. Astra was definitely a prisoner then. To me, it seemed like he'd mastered everything and lost interest in life."
"Really? But he was crazy strong—like stronger than me."
"Indeed. I was shocked too. I'd suspected he was hiding his power, but not to that degree."
Kain recalled his first meeting with Astra.
The pressure he'd shown in the prison was only slightly stronger than his own.
But what truly amazed him was the control.
He could suppress his presence perfectly, like a total normie—something even experts struggled with.
So he'd guessed there was more, but top-tier captain level? Shocking.
And he'd focused it solely on Leon without affecting the surroundings at all.
Chillingly precise control.
Until bringing him here, Kain had felt a twinge of guilt.
Worried his pick might harm Haven—or disappoint the lord by falling short of captain level.
But having witnessed a glimpse of that power firsthand, he could now vouch confidently.
"In my view, he'll rank among the top captains in raw strength. Lucky for me—the one I brought is that strong."
"Yeah, I think so too. Wonder what we'll play later~"
"Ah, but Lady Ellis, you'd known Leon for years, right? Are you okay?"
"Leon? Who's that? I don't know anyone like that. You must be mistaken, mister."
"Yes... seems so. My mistake."
"Yeah, Ellis is smart and doesn't forget. No one named Leon in my circle."
Her clear eyes held no attachment, no trace of memory.
Leon, who'd shadowed her for years, was already erased—like a kid discarding an old toy for a new one.
To her, his death was worth exactly that much.
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