The Sword and The Shadow

Wendy

The one who spoke was Eirinn. Leguna was relieved to hear her voice. He smiled and looked at the teary-eyed Innilis before turning to check the scene out.

He gave her a glance and knew why Innilis seemed so surprised. The scene was hard to believe.

Eirinn was kneeling on the ground as she treated the agent of the bureau. While the young girl's face was pale, the wound in her abdomen was already being treated, much to his relief. He knew what Eirinn was capable of. While she wasn't at the level where she could bring people back from the dead, as long as her patient was still breathing, she was confident she could heal them.

Healing was something she did day in and out, so there wasn't anything surprising about that. As for the others…

Apart from Eirinn and his subordinate, eight guards lay flat on the ground, groaning and seeming like they lost the ability to fight. Oddly, however, he couldn't see the wounds they were suffering.

He knew what his subordinate was capable of. She was a talented young field agent and powerful in her own right. But he also knew that no matter how amazing she was, there was no way she could take on eight guards who were about as strong as she was alone. She also seemed rather heavily injured and would die without Eirinn's healing, so there was no way she could've been the one to take them out herself.

Therein lay the problem. The only one who would help Eirinn was the agent he sent and the eight guards were all members of the city guard. Most of them were incapacitated now and the only one who was still capable of moving about and could still be bothered to snap back at Leguna was Eirinn.

Who in the world had defeated the guards? Could it have been another subordinate of his? Eirinn didn't know how to fight at all. Leguna was willing to bet that she wasn't the one and risk having to challenge Marolyt in a duel if he lost the bet!

Both Innilis and Leguna looked completely perplexed. They simply couldn't figure out what was going on.

"Phew, she's finally out of danger!" Eirinn rubbed her sweat off and only just noticed that Innilis was floating in mid-air thanks to her power. However, she didn't really seem to mind the fact that Innilis was hovering five meters above the ground.

"Ah, sorry, Innie!" She poked her tongue out and waved her hand.

Innilis floated into the building and landed as Leguna stared wide-eyed with his mouth agape.

Eirinn did all that like it was the most natural thing in the world and smiled at them, as if that was a greeting enough. She then mumbled with her index finger on her lips, "Then… Who's the most injured of them all? I'm really sorry, everyone. It's my first time using this power, so I wasn't really good at controlling it. But don't worry, I'll heal you back up."

"First time using?" Leguna muttered with glassy eyes.

"This power…" Innilis mumbled.

Eirinn didn't notice the odd gazes the other two had been shooting her the whole time and only focused on healing their injuries. After ten minutes of work, she finally looked up at the two.

"Big Brother Leguna?" She waved her hands in front of the two frozen statues. "What happened to you two?"

"Eirinn…" He gulped and looked at the guards on the ground. "Were you the one who took them down?"

"Ummm…" She hesitated for a moment before nodding. Regretfully, she said, "I… I panicked when I saw the girl get hurt… So I prayed to Pyro for the power to fight. And then…"

The other two's eyes were almost popping out of their eyes. Eight mid-order warriors lay on the ground. Even Leguna would have a hard time dealing with them. Yet, she seemed like she was feeling a little guilty over hitting too hard! She didn't even seem to understand the true implications of defeating eight mid-order warriors in such short a time!

Damn it! Having one Annie around is enough! Pyro, are you going to make Eirinn a sacred paladin warrior after all? What kind of sun god are you? You're a warmonger, aren't you? My harem is already teetering on the edge, and now you've come wanting to tear it down altogether! Of my three wives, two of them are stronger than me! How humiliating! I lost all my male pride! Pyro, well played! Well played! His mind ran on when he accepted the fact that Eirinn had done that all alone.

"Waaaah! Now even Sis Eirinn can defeat Big Bro! Only I can't! It's not fair! No, I have to try even harder! I'm a magus like Sis Annie, so I can manhandle Big Bro in the future! You can do it, Innie!" Innilis declared.

"Hey! You're trying hard in the wrong department!" Leguna cried, "Did you go to study in the academy so you can learn to manhandle me?"

"Not… really…" she mumbled sheepishly.

"That's better."

"Why else would I go there?" she continued.

Leguna was speechless. He waved his hand with a bleak outlook on his future. "Alright… This matter could get big. We better leave as fast as we can."

"Oh, alright…" Eirinn looked at the groaning guards and decided to use a group healing miracle on them.

He stepped forward to check on his subordinate's wounds before stretching his hand out. "Come, I'll carry you on my back. I recall you're called Wendy, right?"

"Thank you, Sir, for remembering my name. But don't worry. I can walk on my own…" Wendy struggled to stand, but the pain in her abdomen shot up the moment she exerted force. She slumped downward weakly and was just about to fall to the ground once more.

However, a pair of warm hands held and supported her from the back.

She opened her eyes in shock and saw Leguna smiling at her.

"Don't act tough. You need to care for yourself better. You're a member of the bureau, you know, and if you die on me, I'll have to write a long report about your death!"

"Thank… thank you, Sir."

She blushed. No matter how strict the training she had to go through in the bureau was, she was still a teenage girl. Suddenly being hugged by a youth near her age made her shy and awkward.

This girl's light! She's lighter than Innie even though she's taller! Why? Is she malnourished? he thought as he carried her.

The girl in his arms blushed completely. She recalled the first time she had met him.

Two years earlier, she had been but an orphan the bureau had taken in. They fed her, and she had to join their strict training as a result. Eventually, she became a qualified agent thanks to her efforts.

One could tell from her figure that she wasn't one with good physique. Initially, she had a rather hard time keeping up with the harsh training routine.

She recalled that she was on the brink of being disqualified from the bureau. It was at that time when Leguna showed up.

He didn't have any special intentions. He was merely a rookie bureau head back then, so he decided to check on the organization to familiarize himself with its various departments per Arikos's advice. It was when he checked on the training department that he met the slim and weak girl, Wendy.

The reason he paid her attention wasn't because of her beauty. In fact, she had no right to doll herself up at all back then. Her face was covered in some mud and she looked no different from a scrawny boy.

He only took note of her because she seemed far too petite. It reminded him of his childhood. He used to be just as much of a beansprout as her.

So, he decided to do something for her. When he dined with the trainees, he handed her his fragrant chicken drumstick.

"You're too thin. You need to eat more to grow."

Naturally, he wouldn't mention that he offered it because he had gotten a little sick of eating too much meat.

The small gesture of kindness had changed Wendy's life for good. The girl, who hadn't been acknowledged by anyone in the bureau before, had teared up. Training was full of competition and scheming. Help and concern were non-existent. The care Leguna showed her then was enough to make her thankful enough to cry.

She'd gobbled the chicken down, almost not even leaving bone behind, then started training even harder. She eventually graduated with the best grades and became a qualified bureau agent.

The smallest things often made the biggest differences.

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