*Starting Scene* 

Nash enters a doorless, cold, medieval-styled room with its only source of light at the moment is a fairly big, half oval-shaped window located to the Caucasian's right as a full moon glistens in the night sky. This can be depicted thanks to the window wielding no means to be closed, which explains the present temperature. 

Concurrently, the two dark-skinned men formerly held in the cell gradually follow Nash and are nearly covered in burns like their recently deceased companion while their clothing's scorched up from the confrontation with Ilya's magical ability. 

Not much after, Nash arrives at the left side of a king-sized bed while containing a pillar on each corner to hold up the cover that's above it, gets down to his left knee with his right arm resting upon the lap it corresponds and bows his head to who's lying atop the bed. "I brought ya' the two guys ya' wanted, boss." 

A male voice softly groans as only his body's outline visible, compliments of the moonlight, and asks in a tired tone, "Wasn't it supposed to be three?" 

Nash responds without lifting his head as the black-haired character can be seen very well due to where he's standing receiving the full ray of light from outside. "Yeah, but the third one was so 'fraid tha' ya' was gonna' gut him up no matter wha', so he gone killed himself before I got there." He peers behind himself via navigating his head to the left and menacingly grins at the pair stationed there. "Ain't that right, y'all?"

Both frail males hesitate answering until barely managing to nod without uttering a word.

Having seen that, Nash reverts his attention to the floor beneath him to resumes his conversation with the figure residing on the bed. "There ya' have it."

The man hoists his right arm to issue a brief gesture and says after yawning, "Whatever..." He puts his arm onto his stomach with a smacking sound heard from his mouth as if he was tasting something. "So... Explain, you two."

Nash promptly motions to the duo via his left arm for them to get closer. "Ya' heard 'im. Come here and tell the boss wha' ya wanna' say."

The Spellcasters momentarily glance at each other while uncertain if they should move from the front of the room's doorless entrance. Eventually, the pair decide to do as they're told and steadily reach Nash while separately stationed at opposite sectors of the black-eyed gentleman. Once that's done, they try to get down on one knee like Nash, but their wounds cause them immense difficulty in achieving that.

Apparently not wielding much patience, the individual gestures his right arm again. "Don't worry about doing that. Just spit out what you want to tell me before I fall back asleep."

With that, the dark-skinned man to Nash's left firmly nods with an upright posture as he strives not to sound nervous, staring at the darkness that covers the bed. "Yes, sir. As myself and the others were retrieving the Devil's Circuit from that warehouse in Peradia such as you ordered, a girl from Velkry was spying on us. She could use the Immobilization Spell and had this weird power that did this to our bodies." He motions towards his skin with his left hand to point out its current condition until dropping the appendage to proceed his speech. "We passed out after that and woke up here."

Following that explanation, the boss scratches the top of his head via his right hand. "Oh...! So that's what happened...!" He suddenly sits properly while facing towards the window prior to a couple of feminine groans emanate around the guy, surprising the two injured individuals due to them not expecting that. Afterwards, the male steers his head to both sides of his bed and speaks in a lackadaisical way. "You two chicks, get out. I'm done with you."

Upon that order's implementation, a pair of female silhouettes are notable while gradually getting out of the bed. Both waste little time in journeying pass the three men nearby while the moonlight temporarily showed their minimally busty, almost totally naked, bodies with a thin fabric vaguely blotting their private regions and quickly leave the room.

In the meantime, Nash peers at the man with a menacing smirk and thinks after raising his left eyebrow, "That's so like 'im. It woulda' been odd for the boss ta' have stayed in bed without a couple of skanks ta' fuck." He snickers a tad while mildly relaxing his expression.

Then, the dark-skinned fellow to Nash's left talks again to the boss once he finished witnessing the two women's departure as he portrays minor fear. "By the way, where's Gunta? Since we've regained consciousness, no one has told us why we were the only ones locked up."

The seated man commandeers his head to the trio next to him and inquires with an emotionless composition, "Who's Gunta?"

The wounded duo are instantly perplexed by the figure's response as their eyes greatly widen.

Nash abruptly joins the conversation with his eyes shut while his head is lowered quite a bit. "Gunta's the fourth of this group tha' were assigned ta' get the fake."

Hearing that last piece of information, the two Spellcasters hurriedly veer their focus to Nash with an awestruck demeanor and question in unison, "Fake?!"

Nash blurts out laughing with his head now cocked back. "Of course!" He sets his sights onto the dark-skinned man to his left. "Did ya' morons really believe y'all be put in such an important mission?!" The black-haired human snickers while dropping his head once more and momentarily shakes it with his eyes closed. "Nah, tha' machine was a faulty Devil's Circuit." Nash places his attention to the dark-skinned man that's to his right. "It was bound ta' explode after a couple of times using it. The only reason we sent y'all four was 'cause it was possible ta' use tha' messed up one for spares, but it's fine."

The guy situated toward Nash's right has a baffled look as he confronts him. "It blew up?!"

Nash nods without much change to his personality. "Yeah. Gunta probably used it ta' try ta' take out tha' girl y'all were talkin' 'bout. Tho' from wha' the guys who found y'all told me, the Devil's Circuit was in pieces and Gunta was burnt worse than y'all are right now. Meaning he lost ta' her too and Devil's Circuit must've went out with a bang."

Surprise immediately plagues the two dark-skinned men while unable to fathom what they were recently informed.

Nash continues on, not seeming to care whatsoever. "As I said, it's fine. We've got the good one already AND the Trailblaze Org. promised us tha' it'll last a LONG while." He grins in a somewhat sinister manner.

The boss adds in after listening to Nash's words, "Yeah, however, it actually isn't..." The room randomly commences to darken as the window slowly becomes covered from bottom to top.

That causes both injured characters to be overrun by nervousness and frantically look at the shrouded man while noting two brilliant lights shining from the bed. 

Nash returns his gaze to the boss with an ecstatic smile as he asks while quite amused, "Didn't I say tha' he ain't merciful?" 

Meanwhile, the guy on the bed steers himself towards the others while at the edge of the bed's right side and talks with his voice growing cold. "You see, I don't necessarily trust Trailblaze or the Einsburns. There aren't many people I have much confidence in. I learned that when you trust someone, they tend to betray you or let you down... Prime example: I trusted the four of you, something I normally don't do... And you all failed me."

The dark-skinned gentleman to Nash's left hastily strives to retort in a defensive tone, however, is interrupted by the unexpected scream of his comrade that compels him in urgently checking what happened. Unfortunately, the wounded male can't depict anything due to the room having mostly been engulfed by darkness as the only sources of light are the two that continue to profoundly shine from the boss. A sudden gasp is then heard from the dark-skinned person exactly when the window and the two peculiar luminescence abruptly cease. 

A few seconds of silence pass until the seated individual casually comments as the darkness covering the window gradually goes down to let the moonlight re-enter the room "Hey, Nash. Turn on the light. I'm fully awake, so it won't bother me." 

Nash replies during his rise to his feet. "Will do." He deviates away from the man, walks towards the entrance as the chains wrapped around his arms reverberate a slight rattling sound, flips the light switch that's poised onto the left wall to completely illuminate the quarters and resets his attention to the boss with a halfhearted grin. "How ya' feelin', Lord Enshin?" 

Enshin nonchalantly stretches both of his scarred up arms above his head, releasing a tiny yawn with his eyes shut while his fairly tanned, semi-muscular, naked body can now be seen. This allows Nash to have a clear view of the many scars throughout the male's body beside the ones on his arms as Nash eventually opens his dark blue eyes to look at the Caucasian before lowering his left hand. After that, Enshin scratches his medium-sized, brown hair via his right limb as his hair's sides have been buzzed off while the rest is spiked back. "Not too shabby, aside from being woken up to hear a few of my men disappointing me." 

Nash advances toward Enshin, folding his arms together during that, and utters in an optimistic tone, "Come on, boss! So wha' if we didn't get tha' cheap-ass machine?! We still got the good one!" His tone changes to a cynical one while contorting towards Enshin and tilts his head to the left. "Anyway, did ya' really expect those four ta' succeed? Most of our guys may be Class D Spellcasters, but they were the worst outta' 'em all." He snickers again.

Enshin nods as he's significantly displeased. "You're right." The brown-haired man steadily stands and journeys around his bed to reach a small dresser that's at the right region of the furniture. Once he's there, Enshin begins rummaging through the object's confines for something to wear while ignoring the fact that some of his clothing is on the floor in addition to the two women's attire they had carelessly left behind. 

Simultaneously, Nash stares at the markings plaguing Enshin's back with a serious demeanor while thinking, "All those scars... I can neva' get tired of knowin' wha' they represent. Right in front of me is a man who survived all the shit this world puts us humans through, and yet, takes it without eva' gettin' healed by magic." The adult delightfully smirks as he shifts his gaze to his left arm while unveiling a tattoo underneath his sleeve with the words "Enshin's Disciples" and thinks, "It's 'cause of tha' I will follow this man until my last breath."

Enshin confronts Nash after bestowing a yellow t-shirt upon his constitution that shows off his muscles and brown cargo pants. "By the way, something's been troubling me."

Nash emits a faintly curious expression as he concentrates on Enshin. "Wha'?"

Enshin veers his vision away from Nash to grab a hold of two unknown items lying atop his bed with both hands while inserting each in opposing pants' pockets. "Gunta... He supposedly utilized Devil's Circuit..." His eyes meet with Nash's. "Don't you think it's odd he was defeated?"

Nash waves off the question with his left hand. "Not really." He lowers his limb to place it onto his waist and instills his attention to the moon with a minor smile. "Those two ya' just murked said the girl they fought was from Velkry. Tha' city's Spellcasters are pretty strong from the get-go. At best, Devil's Circuit would increase a Class D of Gunta's level ta' Class B based on wha' Loki was told by the Trailblaze Org., even if it's a faulty." He redirects his gaze back to Enshin. "Tha' ain't much considerin' ya's top five guys, like me, are pass tha'." The black-eyed man snickers yet again.

Enshin replies amidst heading back to the left sector of his bed. "True." The blue-eyed guy then sits down again, having a contemplative conduct, as he observes the floor with the palm of his right hand planted under his chin. "I merely have this weird feeling that something isn't right. It's similar to the one I had at the beginning of the war... An occurence that will determine my fate, such as that day did."

Nash momentarily stays quiet prior to remarking with an assuring smirk. "Ya don't have ta' worry 'bout anythin' like tha', boss. We got Devil's Circuit ta' boost a few of our weaker, though more promisin', members. Soon, we'll have ourselves a new base."

Enshin's eyes widen somewhat out of realization. "Oh, that's right. Who did we send for that?"

Nash briefly pauses, trying to recall the answer to Enshin's inquiry with his focus aim to the left. "I think it was..." He abruptly remembers with a grin hurriedly forming and establishes his attention to Enshin again. "Quinton, Clock, and Bel with his Burn Troop."

Enshin nods in acknowledgement. "Good, then. All three of them are Class D Plus, but they took in some power from Devil's Circuit before leaving, right?"

Nash confidently smiles. "Yeah. Those three's ability should be at Class B Plus for an entire day, and now tha' the Einsburns left Icela out ta' dry, it outghta' be a piece of cake ta' take ova'."

Enshin smirks in sinister way. "Wonderful." The brown-haired fellow peers to the left to intently stare at the moon. "I do hope it has a good view of the moon like this place though."

*Scene Change*

It has been a couple of hours since Dante and Ilya commenced their advancement to the castle, having managed to make it through the city part of Icela, as they gradually march up the mountain without a specific trail to follow while containing numerous, leafless trees. This is due to the practically never-ending, cold climate as the fierce snowfall from before starts decreasing during the duo's arrival at the halfway point with the wind settling quite a bit. Despite that, Ilya's exhausted state goes unchanged thanks to both the intense temperature and the whole process of ascending the mountain.

In Dante's case, the green-eyed gentlemen walks a few meters ahead of his companion with a carefree attitude.

At the sight of Dante's demeanor, an aggravated personality envelopes Ilya as she tightly embraces herself with both arms and thinks, "He can't be human..." She then unexpectedly trips over a tree's root that was hidden beneath the two meter snow while letting out a small cry prior to falling flat on her face, each arm extended out in the unsuccessful attempt of breaking her fall. After that, Ilya pulls her head from the snow, rapidly shakes any of it that may be attached to her while atop her knees with both hands submerged in the snow for leverage and views the terrain as she releases an annoyed groan.

Dante ceases his traveling, turning to his left to stand sideways so he can place his vision upon Ilya and jokingly asks, "Do you really think now's the time to be playing in the snow?"

Ilya hastily glares at Dante. "Not! Funny!"

Dante chuckles while trudging to Ilya. "Sorry. Do you think you can walk?" He crouches a taf and gives Ilya a taunting smile. "Or do I have to carry you?"

Ilya faintly becomes red with her eyes widening for a instance, however, quickly regains her composure as she rises to her feet and checks to see the conditioning of her legs after that fall. Doing that, the white-haired chick brings her concentration to Dante while striving not to appear flustered by his previous provocation and nods with a hint of annoyance maintaining itself. "That won't be necessary, I'm fine... But how much more until we reach the castle, anyway? I'm pretty tired and it's really cold."

Dante takes his eyes off Ilya and peers at the mountain as he vaguely depicts the top of the mountain, although not the castle. "Maybe an hour or two. It depends if we don't get sidetracked."

Ilya lets out a depressed sigh while hanging her head a little. "We've walked so much already though!"

Dante reverts his focus to Ilya with an optimistic behavior as he grins after shutting his eyes. "Well, look at the bright side... If the weather was constant, we'd be in even more trouble." The young individual switches his attention to continue up the mountain. 

Ilya snaps her concentration to Dante with confusion showing. "Constant?" She then hurries to catch up to Dante and questions while walking side by side. "What do you mean?"

Dante calmly replies without diverting his sight from the direction they're traversing. "Didn't you notice at all? The weather randomly changes." He glances at Ilya out of the corner of his right eye.

Ilya's confusion increases and contemplates Dante's words as she turns her head away until resetting her vision onto the young man. "No. It's been snowing the entire time." 

Dante shakes his head in disagreement while once again watching where he's going. "I'm not talking about it stopping... It's the amount of snow falling I'm referring to. With the wind's intensity, it has been going up and down at random intervals. A little too much to be deemed normal, if you ask me." 

Curiosity includes itself upon Ilya's expression as she observes Dante for a few seconds prior to establishing her attention forth. Then, an hour transgresses with the pair passing through the forest of leafless trees and eventually discover a pathway that's roughly a quarter-mile long, leading directly to the now visible mountain top. Thanks to that, the pendant endowed girl abruptly starts running up the path that's in the form of a zig-zag after yelling from relief, "Finally!" 

In the meantime, Dante simplistically walks behind Ilya, not containing a shred of urgency, with  both hands in his pockets and thinks, "She must be REALLY cold." He chuckles. 

Ilya soon registers that Dante's trailing while teasingly shouting as she continues her ascension, "Come on, slow poke! Or you'll be the one to freez-" Just as she was finishing her statement while arriving at the destination, the beauty unexpectedly collides into an invisible wall as that causes her to stagger backwards and places her left hand upon the left side of her forehead since that's the part that got hit. "What the...?!"

Dante suddenly appears to Ilya's left via his Accelerator, displaying a fairly perplexed demeanor with his head cocked to the left. "That's interesting."

Ilya immediately confronts Dante with astonishment brimming as she doesn't remove her hand from the afflicted region. "What is?!"

Dante lackadaisically journeys to the spot Ilya clashed with to flick the invisible wall through the use of his right middle finger as a soft thud briefly sounded. At the same time, the blonde analyzes the small fluctuation that was created as it mildly resonates across every angle. "It's a barrier." Dante instills his concentration toward the castle that's roughly twenty meters away as he takes into account its large, dark-stoned structure with a big, artillery tower at four different corners that holds together a square wall.

In addition, the castle is located to the back of the vicinity without much snow enveloping the landscape. Afterwards, Ilya and Dante notice that the reason for the lack of snow inside is because of the barrier that's completely covering the structure like a cube-shaped dome, however, what falls upon the top of the barrier isn't too visible due to the foggy sky presented as the white-haired teen comments while quite dumbfounded. "You're right. It must be to keep intruders out." Ilya hurriedly grovels with irritation arising. "I bet it's nice and warm..." 

Ignoring Ilya's complaint, Dante navigates his sight to the castle's walls, keys onto a certain detail and steps back enough to point his left hand at it. "Someone's coming."

With that said, a man clamored in silver chainmail travels toward the duo while carrying a wooden crossbow via his right hand and has a container of several arrows strapped onto his posterior. Once the character reaches the other side of the barrier, he sternly stares down Dante and Ilya before speaking. "Identify yourselves."

Ilya stations herself in front of Dante, who had already dropped his hoisted limb, and retorts with a formal composition. "Yes. I am Ilya Henseka and this is my friend..." She hesitates while motioning her right hand at Dante with her eyes locked on him and thinks, "I probably shouldn't reveal that he's an Einsburn, considering what happened." Ilya refocuses her vision to the chainmail-wearing male as she firmly utters while lowering her hand, "Dante... We have been sent by Velkry to help protect Icela's king and princess from any possible threats."

The man begins to examine the two representatives of Velkry, striving to determine if they can be trusted. After doing that, the guy sharply nods prior to turning towards the castle as he gives a thumbs up via his right hand. Concurrently, the barrier separating the pair from the individual in chainmail disappears as snow gradually descends upon him. An instance later, the man glimpses at Dante and Ilya through commandeering his head left. "Follow me. I will take you to meet King Trost." He promptly alters his gaze to commence going towards the sole doorway that the stone wall has with Ilya swiftly behind him. 

Dante, on the other hand, takes his time with both hands poised to his backside as the barrier is forged again and watches a vertically rectangular, closed window at the highest point of the castle, above where the chainmailed fellow issued a thumbs up to. During the Caucasian's action, somebody at that very same window sees Dante enter through the stone wall until departing from the window without being revealed, even though the room the person resides is well-lite as the mysterious character exits through a large door that's to the left. 

*Scene Change*

The man, Ilya and Dante had made their way through the confines of the enormous wall with several small buildings inside that store all the provisions the inhabitants require while detecting a few guys dressed like the one leading in each artillery tower as they intently stare at them, carrying crossbows too. Once the trio enter the castle, it can be seen that the interior wields a medieval ambiance to it because of the multiple, stone pillars with torches perched onto them while not having much else to the room, except a door that connects into the kitchen where the castle's servants are working at the moment. After that, the chainmailed gentleman takes Dante and Ilya through a narrow stairway located towards the left side, which is the lone method of advancing to the upper levels that are comprised of four floors with the one they're in right now being the first as the last is established in the tower Dante was looking at earlier.

The three of them soon arrive at the third floor where King Trost, a vaguely tanned man in his late 30s with an average body build, pinkish/red, short hair and light blue eyes, is situated. He's currently standing towards the left while viewing an immense, rectangular, double-door window that allows him visibility of the sector Dante and Ilya walked from as the rest of the big room is beautifully decorated like a King's Chamber.

Not long after that, Trost contentedly faces the trio while containing his arms lightly raised to opposing sides of his constitution as he's wearing a typical outfit that royalty would use, with a handful of golden trinkets, a blue cape that matches his entire clothing and a gold crown atop his head. "Welcome! I'm glad you were able to arrive so hastily!"

Ilya stiffens her posture prior to politely bowing at the king with a kind smile. "It's nice to meet you, sir." She repairs her stance amidst mounting her right hand over the middle of her chest to introduce herself. "I'm Ilya Henseka."

Dante cheerfully joins in after waving at King Trost as he's toward Ilya's left without moving away from the room's entrance. "And I'm Dante. Thank you for having us."

Trost happily nods until intrigue consumes him. "So, where are the remaining Spellcasters of Velkry?" He diverts his attention from the duo to the outside vicinity the window permits access. "I believe the Royal Council mentioned they would send a good amount."

Nervousness rapidly overruns Ilya and replies with her eyes shut while tilting her head a bit to the left. "Oh... Actually... We're the only ones they could really spare for this mission." She resets her focus upon the king with a hint of sadness portrayed. "I'm sorry to disappoint. We really should've notified you before our arrival."

King Trost's somewhat surprised, but ultimately brushes it off while directing an assuring grin toward Ilya and Dante. "Then we'll merely make do with what we got. Can't complain. Velkry could've denied our plea for help after all."

Ilya's eyes widen from becoming baffled. "The Royal Council would never do that though!" She smirks with sincerity emitting. "We will always assist an ally in need!"

Dante mildly leans backwards to peer towards Trost's throne that is to his right from around Ilya's posterior, muttering so his friend is capable of hearing him without demonstrating a lot of emotions, "Not exactly." He then unexpectedly depicts a young-looking, pink-haired girl observing him from behind the throne via her light blue eyes until realizing that she's been discovered and frantically hides herself. This causes Dante's jaw to lower a tad with confusion presented, however, it doesn't last as he softly laughs out of amusement.

Following that, Trost decides to head towards his throne as he gestures to Dante and Ilya with his right hand. "Come, you two. We must go over a few specifics while we can. Who knows when we'll be under attack?" The adult veers his concentration towards the chainmailed male once he sits down. "Please bring a couple of chairs for our guest to sit and verify if the food is ready."

Prior to the apparent guard could release a retort, Dante waves his left hand at him with a relaxed smile. "Don't worry about me. I'll sit on the floor." He then does exactly that, positioning himself onto the long red carpet that stretches out from the king's throne to the entrance, with his legs crossed while substantially nearby Trost.

King Trost restrains himself from laughing and nods at the guy in chainmail. "Make that one chair, then."

The weapon-wielding character firmly accepts the order with a composed attitude before hurriedly leaving the chamber.

Ilya promptly administers her vision upon the king after briefly gawking at Dante, who's towards her left, thanks to finding his recent action sort of odd as she patiently awaits for the chair that will be brought. "What are the specifics you wish to speak to us about, sir?"

A somber look plagues Trost while commencing to explain. "I want to clarify my relationship with the Einsburns. Mainly, Erika Einsburn. It's something I believe you two ought to fully know as you both are risking your lives to protect us."

Ilya urgently recalls a piece of information and thinks, "Dante's aunt, correct?" She glances towards Dante, discovering that there is no reaction from him unlike the first time the subject was discussed, perhaps because the blonde doesn't desire the king to notice.

At the same time, the female hiding behind King Trost gingerly bites her bottom lip from frustration, possessing her rear pressed against the throne.

Afterwards, Ilya reverts her concentration to Trost as she carefully says while trying not to seem impatient, "Please, continue."

King Trost keeps talking while dropping his head to focus onto the floor. "The thing is... At first, the agreement of marriage was for the benefit of my country. As its ruler, I was supposed to ignore any emotional attachments that lingered for my deceased wife and two eldest daughters. Despite how difficult it may have been on myself... And especially Yuki."

Dante momentarily peers behind the throne, an action neither Ilya nor Trost saw. Having done that, the human smirks before returning his vision to the king.

Ilya politely asks with minor curiosity after being a bit shocked by King Trost's statement, "How did they die, if you don't mind me intruding?" 

Trost loses any trace of emotion, taking a brief period to recall the death of his first wife and other daughters. "Simply put, they had fallen ill to an ailment that not even Healing Magic could cure." He brings his sight to Ilya and Dante. "It was something no one ever dealt with. Their death was an unavoidable outcome... Yuki was so young when it happened too."

Dante narrows his eyes with a blank expression as he administers his attention at the backside of the king's throne once more.

Concurrently, sadness engulfs Ilya while mournfully uttering, "I'm sorry to hear that. It must have been a heavy ordeal to go through." She then thinks with no alteration to her attitude, "I know that far too well from my own experience..."

King Trost nods. "Indeed, however, that wasn't the lone thing we've suffered." 

Ilya and Dante immediately show interest at the king's declaration

Trost promptly follows up his words as he leans onto his throne to stare at the decorative ceiling above him. "This leads to another detail I wish converse with you. The story of what occurred to Tundra almost 17 years ago that forced the change of both its name and this city's to better fit it." 

Just when the king mentioned that last part, the pink-haired chick reveals herself from King Trost's right with her decently long hair that's braided together on the lower end briefly flutters thanks to the abrupt movement while her forehead is mostly covered by her straight bangs. Simultaneously, she's wearing a lengthy, semi-broad, navy blue dress with matching heels in accordance to the somewhat usual apparel of royalty and is about to blurt something out in anger to interrupt Trost. 

Not allowing that, Dante unexpectedly falls backwards upon the red carpet with his body sprawled and comments in an indifferent manner while watching the ceiling, "That's enough." 

That action completely leaves all three individuals bewildered with the king and Ilya having yet to register the female's appearance.

Capitalizing on the silence, Dante persists his speech. "We're here to protect you and the princess. That's all. You don't have to strain yourself, talking about unimportant stuff that someone doesn't like hearing." He lightly lifts his head to rest his gaze onto the braided dame with a grin after stationing both hands behind his head for leverage. "Isn't that right, Yuki?"

Ilya and Trost are quickly overtaken by surprise prior to snapping their head to where Dante's focused on. They soon witness the girl that stands at 5'3" with a small bust that suits her body size, fair skin and an intricate, gold tiara containing a couple of tiny, rounded, pink gems implanted. 

Then, the blue-eyed character puffs up her cheeks in a childish way while diverting her attention from all three with her petite arms folded together as she closes her eyes and doesn't properly answer Dante's question. "Hmph!"

King Trost hastily inquires with a decent sum of fear established, "How long have you been listening?"

Yuki replies, giving her father an irritated look. "The entire time." She then navigates her attention towards Dante and Ilya with a snobbish demeanor. "So... These are the guys Velkry sent, huh?" Yuki scoffs in disapproval. "They don't seem like much."

Annoyance instantly consumes Ilya with her left eye twitched a bit and mutters, "Why you little..."

Dante chuckles until sitting upright again with his legs uncrossed as he utilizes his hands to be contorted back, gazes at Ilya out of the corner of his eyes and thinks, "That kind of sounds familiar." The young man draws his sight to Yuki again and cheerfully smiles with his eyes shut while suddenly waving his right hand at her. "It's very nice to meet you, Yuki." 

Yuki's eyes widen as she's caught off guard by Dante's conduct, however, manages to regain her composure and turns her head away via the same method she did before. "Hmph!"

Trost observes his daughter with awe displayed while thinking, "Yuki... The way you're acting..." 

Without the conclusion of the king's train of thought, Ilya places both hands onto her hips and remarks in a stern voice, "A girl your age shouldn't do that. You need to present yourself more properly." 

A scowl abruptly takes shape on Yuki's person as she opens her eyes prior to locking her focus upon Ilya. "Oh, really?! And how old do you think I am, Miss Know-It-All?!"

Ilya shrugs her shoulders with a bland expression. "I don't know... Like 13." 

Yuki coldly retorts while narrowing her eyes. "I'll be 17 in a few months, you idiot!"

Ilya promptly releases a gasp of disbelief, removing both hands from her hips to point at Yuki with her left limb. "Hold up! That means you're about my age?!"

Dante randomly chimes in amidst glancing away from Ilya and Yuki, "That makes me the oldest out of the three of us. I reached 20 a couple of weeks ago."

Ilya's current behavior overflows as she hurriedly keys onto Dante. "Really?! You're three years younger than my brother then!"

King Trost unprecedentedly starts laughing, forcing the others to set their concentration toward him, and says in a delighted tone, "Such a spectacle over one's age. It surely is good to be young."

Dante smirks before nodding while the man clamored in chainmail returns, but without the chair he was meant to search for and politely speaks with his head down. "Excuse me, sir. I did not bring the chair because the food is ready. It would be best to eat in the dinning hall."

King Trost sharply nods at the guy. "Indeed." He redirects his attention to Dante, Ilya and Yuki. "Let's go eat, everyone."

Yuki puffs up her cheeks again with her eyes shut as she's the first one to head out of the room. "Hmph!"

Ilya follows suit, still not liking Yuki's personality, with Dante leisurely getting to his feet and walks next to his companion.

Simultaneously, Trost casually rises prior to exiting his chamber with the chainmailed gentleman calmly pursuing the king.

*Scene Change*

King Trost, Yuki, Ilya and Dante eventually enjoy the meal that was prepared by numerous servants as it's comparable to a feast due to the large quantity of food that have been set-up on a vast, rectangular table. Not only that, there are many fantastic accessories, like chandeliers and decorative food appliances, that tends to befit royalty while minimal communication was made. This was thanks to Dante's somewhat inhuman, high-paced way of eating where he would practically scarf down all that he could reach, grabbing everyone's focus. Even Yuki reacted through a faint grin being displayed since she found Dante's eating habit funny, however, tried to not let anyone see it so they wouldn't attain the wrong impression.

Shortly after, Dante and Ilya were advised to get some rest considering it's already pass 9 PM in Icela, unlike Velkry as it continues to be day-time over there. This leads to the pair going to a circular-shaped room poised within the castle's second floor, where the guest/staff quarters reside.

Meanwhile, Ilya briefly questioned why she would be sharing a room with Dante, although dropped it to not seem fickle as she's an invited guest.

To make Ilya regret that decision less, Dante proposed the queen-sized bed in the elegant bedroom to her, compliments of him not minding having to sleep on the floor whatsoever.

Once the two are settled, Ilya takes off her gold accessories, places them atop a night-stand that's besides the bed, sits at the foot of the furniture and rests her gaze to the right sector since Dante's nonchalantly sitting onto the ledge of the sole, medium-sized window in there, permitting a left angular view of where the duo had entered from, as she utters with mild concern. "Are you sure you're fine with the sleeping arrangements? There might be another room available."

Dante replies with his sight glued to the outside region. "Yup, I'm okay. Anyway, I don't intend on sleeping. I just said that to put your mind at ease about us staying in the same room." He peers at her out of the corner of his eyes with a slight smile.

Ilya lowers her head while not removing her vision from Dante as a bit of skepticism is brimming. "Is that so?" The hazel-eyed chick deviates her focus to analyze her surroundings. "It's pretty amazing, don't you think? Tundra isn't that big of a country, and yet, it does really well." Ilya establishes her attention back to Dante. "The city itself would've contained an aura resembling this castle if it wasn't for all of the snow outside."

Dante navigates his concentration away from Ilya as he stares at his reflection on the window. "That's something the city and its people can't avoid... Despite how unnatural the snow is."

Ilya cocks her left eyebrow with confusion portrayed. "What are you talking about?"

Dante answers amidst raising his gaze to the upper part of the castle. "It's the thing the king was gonna' tell us earlier, but I prevented him 'cause of Yuki. She really doesn't like it when people discuss what happened that day."

Ilya's attitude maintains itself. "What day?"

Dante gives Ilya a depressed look. "The day she was born. The same one this country became Tundra." He departs from the window, gradually travels toward Ilya and sits upon the bed while to her right with his eyes fixed onto the floor. "The unstable winter climate we went through has been this way since Yuki's birth." Dante glances at Ilya. "In actuality, based on the positioning of this country on the planet, it shouldn't ever snow here... And it didn't until that instance."

Ilya quickly shakes her head and waves both hands in front of herself. "Whoa, whoa, whoa." The teenager views Dante once she puts both hands on top of her lap while gingerly leaning towards the blonde. "How?"

Dante pulls himself further onto the bed as he retains his feet over the furniture's edge for his shoes not to dirty it. "Yuki, of course. You probably didn't notice since it's kept under control. Her magical power is the reason for this weather."

Ilya's temporarily left speechless prior to commenting with an argumentative voice, "There's no way!" The light-skinned Spellcaster thinks back to their meeting with Yuki. "I only sensed about a Class C magic from her! It'd take a level much beyond that to drastically influence a whole country's climate!"

Dante nods at Ilya. "That's why I said the controlled part. I don't know the exact details though. Trost simply thought of the main explanation during our short conversation." He chuckles. "It's possible I would've known less than that if it wasn't for the tiny info I got from Yuki when she was hiding behind the throne." 

Ilya's eyes narrow as she diverts her gaze from Dante and thinks, "That answers that question too. I was wondering how he knew so much. I forgot for a moment about him being able to read people's minds." The white-haired teen sighs with her eyes closed while thinking, "I guess it's because I don't ever have to worry that he's reading mine after he placed that seal on me. " Ilya glances at her forehead, recalling the etching's precise location. 

Dante swiftly hops off the bed while heading towards the window again. "Either way, whatever lies deep within her won't provoke a single alteration." He sits at the ledge, confronting Ilya with a sincere grin after planting both hands to where he's positioned for stability. "I've already made up my mind about what I'm gonna' do."

Curiosity overcomes Ilya, tilting her head to the right in the process. "And that would be?" 

Dante displays determination without hesitating. "You'll find out eventually."

*Scene Change* 

As Ilya and Dante had their conversation, Yuki went to her room that makes up the entire fourth floor, the same place she was in when watching the duo's arrival. Not much after, the blue-eyed girl switches on the lights while revealing the full majestic appearance of a princess' bedroom that happens to be mainly the same color as her hair, with the exception of her bed thanks to it being blue like Yuki's dress. Then, Yuki throws herself onto her queen-sized bed and lies atop her stomach, folds her arms in front of her mouth with seriousness emitted while facing away from the quarters' decently sized, dual-doors as she quietly contemplates, "That guy... Dante's his name, wasn't it?" The pink-haired dame rapidly remembers how Dante behaved the entire time. 

Afterwards, Yuki looks towards the side where the window's situated while lightly blushing as she utters in a shy manner, "H-He seems v-very nice..." She then recollects something that causes a somber demeanor to surface. "At least he doesn't appear to be like everyone here who mistreat me for something I have no control over." Yuki exhales out of depression and shuts her eyes. "Of course, if he knew... He'd probably treat me the same way." 

A few knocks suddenly echo from the bedroom's doors before they open up. 

Following that, King Trost cautiously peeks his head through a small gap he crafted, inquiring with his focus on Yuki's backside, "May I come in?"

Yuki partially steers herself toward the left so she can view her father, remaining upon the bed, and then simply nods prior to reverting to her previous stance.

Trost opens the door enough to enter, closes it behind himself with his attention sustained onto his daughter while going toward a decorative coat hanger that's at his right. The adult then effortlessly removes his blue cape, not wanting to wear it anymore, as he gently perches it on the hanger while also mounting his gold crown and travels to Yuki's bed with a content smile. "So, what do you REALLY think of Ilya and Dante?"

Yuki faintly scoffs as she closes her eyes with her chin resting atop both arms. "I already said it. Basically, they aren't much." Agitation radiates from the petite character amidst her depiction of the sector ahead of her. "Especially that girl."

King Trost softly laughs, arriving at Yuki's bed, and slants to the left to view her face. "Funny that you say such a thing... After all, Dante isn't even a Spellcaster. He's an ordinary guy." 

Astonishment plagues Yuki until hurriedly turning to King Trost while sitting on her legs, which she barely succeeds in doing because of her dress' structure making that very difficult to accomplish. "Really?!" 

Trost delivers a nervous expression toward Yuki, having straightened his posture, as he scratches the back of his head via his right appendage. "Oh, that's right. You usually aren't too good at sensing magic." 

Yuki puffs up her cheeks while glaring at the king due to her not enjoying his comment. "Hmph! Anyhow... What's the meaning of Velkry sending us someone who can't possibly do any better than the handful of guards we already have?" 

King Trost crosses his arms with confidence portrayed. "I don't know about that." He commandeers his head to the left so he could observe the region behind him. "Although... Dante makes me feel oddly secure. It's almost as if, no matter what may transpire, everything will be alright with him here." Trost immediately remembers the considerate words from Dante involving Yuki. "He's different." The pinkish-haired man resets his focus to Yuki. "You certainly can feel it too, don't you? "

Yuki shallowly releases a second scoff, drops her head and vaguely remarks, "Everyone's the same. All they care about is themselves. Just like the people of this country, cursing my birth. Even that woman I once called my mother." 

*Scene Cuts To Black* 

To Be Continued...