The plaza was unraveling into chaos. Renholt's voice still carried above the crowd, but his words were now drowned by the rising tension—citizens whispering, enforcers scrambling, and the looming presence of the kingdom's strongest knight standing at the edge of it all.
Sir Aldric Vaelmont didn't move like a man caught off guard.
He wasn't confused. He wasn't uncertain. He wasn't even angry.
He was calculating.
His steel-gray eyes were locked onto Hikaru, as if he had already seen the entire game board laid out before him.
Hikaru flicked a card between his fingers, keeping his movements slow, deliberate. "Well. That's unfortunate."
Budi exhaled sharply. "I'm going to assume he knows what we did."
Selene adjusted her hood, her injured wrist still hidden beneath her cloak. "More importantly—he knows exactly where we are."
The Magisterium's enforcers were still struggling to regain control of the situation. Renholt, unaware that the most dangerous man in the kingdom had just arrived, was still preaching his discovery like a mad prophet.
Hikaru had successfully turned the city's eyes onto the Magisterium.
But he had also turned Aldric's eyes onto him.
Budi kept his voice low. "We should leave. Now."
Hikaru exhaled. "Leaving is easy. The problem is staying gone."
Aldric took another step forward. His greatsword, still strapped across his back, barely shifted as he moved—as if he didn't need it.
He didn't need to swing a weapon to win.
He just needed to choose when to strike.
Hikaru glanced at Budi. "If this turns into a fight, how confident are you?"
Budi's mask didn't shift, but Hikaru could feel his frustration. "Against the strongest knight in the kingdom? Not great."
Hikaru turned to Selene. "And you?"
Selene's silver eyes remained locked on Aldric. "If he fights seriously, we won't last a minute."
Hikaru grinned. "Well, then. Guess we better make sure he doesn't fight seriously."
Aldric took a final step forward—then stopped.
He wasn't rushing them.
He was waiting.
Hikaru recognized it instantly.
A challenge.
Not an order to surrender.
Not an immediate attack.
A test.
Hikaru exhaled. "Alright. Let's see what he wants."
Before Budi or Selene could argue, he stepped forward, meeting Aldric's gaze.
The crowd parted around them, as if they could feel the tension in the air.
Aldric tilted his head slightly. "You caused quite the mess."
Hikaru smiled. "I like to think of it as creative problem-solving."
Aldric's expression remained unreadable. "You think this is a game."
Hikaru flicked a card between his fingers. "Everything is, if you play it right."
Aldric's steel-gray eyes didn't waver. "Then tell me, trickster—do you think you've won?"
Hikaru's grin never faded. "Not yet. But I'm ahead."
Aldric was silent for a moment. Then—he smirked.
Not a big one. Not mocking.
Just slight. Measured.
"You are different from the others," Aldric mused. "The summoned heroes who follow the kingdom's orders."
Hikaru adjusted his glasses. "That's because I don't follow orders."
Aldric exhaled slowly, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword—but he didn't draw it.
"You think this fight is about knowledge. About revealing what was hidden."
Hikaru tilted his head. "Am I wrong?"
Aldric's gaze sharpened. "No."
The air between them stilled.
Then Aldric stepped forward—only slightly. Just enough that Hikaru could feel the sheer weight of his presence.
"Then let me make something clear," Aldric said, voice even. "The Magisterium will fall one day. That much is inevitable."
Hikaru's fingers stopped moving.
Budi stiffened. "What?"
Selene's silver eyes flickered with something unreadable.
Aldric's voice was calm. Absolute.
"I am not here to protect them."
Hikaru narrowed his eyes. "Then why are you here?"
Aldric exhaled. "Because what you unleashed today is not the war you should be fighting."
For the first time, Hikaru saw it.
Not anger. Not loyalty.
But calculated restraint.
Aldric wasn't just a knight of the kingdom.
He was playing his own game.
Hikaru's grin returned, slower this time. "So tell me, Sir Aldric. What is the war I should be fighting?"
Aldric didn't answer immediately.
Then—
He turned.
The tension snapped.
Without another word, Aldric walked away, vanishing into the crowd, leaving Hikaru standing there.
Budi let out a long breath. "That was… not what I expected."
Selene frowned. "He didn't attack."
Hikaru adjusted his glasses, smirking. "Because he doesn't need to."
Budi crossed his arms. "So what do we do now?"
Hikaru's grin widened.
"We find out what game he's playing."