Twin Glass Blades - The Knight's Academy

Chapter 2 - A Cheap Wooden Trinket

Elissa stood on her tiptoes and whispered something to Zephos, propping herself up by holding his shoulder. "Hey, Zephos, are you sure you want this guy to become a Knight? He looks pretty weak, and judging from what happened earlier, he isn't even good enough to study scoutcraft. I mean, just look at him. It doesn't even look like he wants to be a Knight in the first place."

"I can't hear you, but I know you're slagging me off," the thief said.

She whispered again, louder this time. "See? He can't even hear me with my indoor voice. I'm not even really whispering."

"Cut him some slack, sister," Zephos said. "He's lost in thought."

"It looks more like that beating he had earlier did something bad to his brain."

Zephos laughed. "By the way, lad, you haven't given us your name yet."

"Neither have you two."

The Knight Captain was quick to remedy this. "I am Zephos Astarte, Captain of the Imperial Military belonging to the Colonial Forces. I have been personally knighted by the Prince Michael Sefrayle, and thus I serve him as his sworn protector." He said it matter-of-factly, like he was telling it to another officer and not a young lad. It was a lot of words that a common thief wouldn't really know or care about, but the thief understood him well enough.

"Oh, yeah, I've heard of you." The thief pretended not to be impressed, but it was clear he was surprised to learn his savior is nothing short of a legend. "You're the guy who beat that traitor in the palace six years ago, when you were still a student at that posh military academy."

"You're well informed, but I didn't capture Lord Verney on my own. In fact, most of the work was done by the rest of Wolf Squad, Prince Michael especially."

Wolf Squad, Elissa thought to herself. They were an exceptional group of cadets from the General Cadwyn Military Academy, led by Zephos and Prince Michael. It is said that their talents in all fields of warfare were rivaled only by several other officers from foreign kingdoms, and even fewer still within the Empire itself. Zephos himself was known as the Biting Gale of the Wolf Squad, due to his mastery of the Seven Winds Style, a school of swordsmanship that originally hailed from the far northern continent.

Elissa had been living in the shadow of her brother's fame for a long time, and it made her both proud and envious of him. Her admiration for him and his achievements is what made her want to carve her own path and become a Knight.

It was Elissa's turn to introduce herself. "And I'm Elissa Astarte, heir of the Twin Glass Sansibar."

She unsheathed her twin swords, revealing two clear, crystalline blades. Each sansibar had a different shape: the one on her left hand had a blade that curved from its point of percussion to its tip, while the one on her right hand had a straighter blade, and had protrusions near its forte. Both swords had a strange, curved hilt made of ironwood, with the Moon Eater Wolves of Eprana exquisitely carved on the pommels. "Impressive, right? These are Dagami and Daza, and with them helping me, I'll become a Knight that can rival the great Zephos himself!"

"I'm right here, you know. And sheathe your swords, sister. You're frightening the other parkgoers."

"Oh. My bad." Elissa sheathed her swords, smiling and waving at the parkgoers as if to reassure them that she wasn't going to do anything bad.

"Well, I guess it's time for my introduction spiel," the thief said, turning to face the siblings. He took off his hood; it seemed like the polite thing to do. "I'm Ezekiel."

Elissa gestured for him to continue, but Ezekiel remained silent. "...That's it?"

"What did you expect? I'm not a noble or a soldier or anything special. I'm just your regular, upstanding citizen."