The knights were in full fan mode, shouting her name like she was a celebrity instead of a knight. Some were practically waving glowing sticks, yelling, "Leona Everheart, we love you!" Like today was a festival instead of a military appointment.
The media pushed in next. One reporter asked the obvious question, pointing out that Leona had entered and graduated as top of her class from the knighthood department of the Imperial Knighthood Academy, and was now officially the first woman ever assigned to the Central Branch Division. What did she think about making history?
Leona smiled brightly and thanked everyone for coming to support her. And she knew exactly why they were here. The Central Division didn't recruit just anyone. They only picked the absolute top of the academy. It was also famous for being painfully conservative. A female rookie getting in wasn't just rare. It had literally never happened before.
This wasn't luck or favoritism. It was proof that Leona's skill was simply impossible to ignore. She promised she wouldn't bring shame to her position, but the crowd exploded again before she could even finish her speech. A group of bald mages started flexing their muscles and cheering a name that instantly ruined her mood.
It was Rean Clanford, the magical genius himself.
Rean even shoved past Leona like he owned the place, telling her to move aside. That made her eye twitch in irritation. Of course, of all people, it had to be him. And worse, he was also assigned to the Central Branch, which meant three full years of seeing his face every single day.
The knights immediately turned on Rean's bald fan club of mages, yelling at them to get lost and warning them not to mess with Leona, because she'd flatten Rean with one punch. The bald mages fired back, claiming Rean could wipe out the entire area with a single wave of his hand if he wanted to.
Before things could spiral completely out of control, a photographer stepped in and asked for a simple photo of the two of them shaking hands. Rean scowled and started to complain, until Leona jabbed him sharply in the side. She plastered on a bright smile and agreed before he could finish protesting. In situations like this, it was better to get it over with and move on.
The photographer began counting down.
The moment their hands touched, both of them froze. Leona felt it immediately, a strange tingling sensation shooting through her hand. Then an unfamiliar voice echoed in their heads.
Finally. After three years, I finally succeeded.
Judging by how stiff Rean suddenly became, he had felt and heard it too. Before they could even ask each other what had just happened, someone informed them that the commander was waiting.
Later, they were formally welcomed by Miles, the commander of the Central Division. Miles casually mentioned that he'd heard the two of them were always together back at the academy. Rean immediately said that was news to him, while Leona called it completely false. The commander laughed it off, reminisced briefly about his own academy days, and then dropped the real news.
Despite it being their very first day, the two of them would be paired together on missions from now on.
Miles explained that the assignment came directly from the temple itself. It was a long-term investigation, and the first time the Central Division would be working hand in hand with the temple. The mission carried serious weight. The reputation of the special forces was on the line.
Leona felt her heart skip. The temple didn't randomly assign rookies, especially not on their first day.
Then the commander added the incentive. If they completed the mission successfully, their mandatory service would be reduced from three years to just one. Two whole years, gone. That alone could change her entire future.
Leona immediately raised her hand in agreement, but Rean refused on the spot. He flat out said he wouldn't partner with Leona under any circumstances, and pointed out that new recruits were usually paired with seniors. The commander admitted that was true, but reminded him it was tradition, not an actual rule.
Rean didn't care. He said he valued that tradition and intended to follow it.
Leona snapped back, asking if he was serious. Two years off their service wasn't something you casually threw away. Rean shot her a sharp look and fired back, asking if she was serious. After all their clashes at the academy, did she really want to work with him? He even muttered something about knighthood department graduates being painfully simple-minded.
The commander sighed, clearly unimpressed by the bickering. Then he slid a token across his desk. He explained that the temple was eager to meet the two of them as soon as possible. Together, they were to take the token and report to the Holy See by the end of the day. The commander smiled and wished them luck, making it clear that their team-up was no longer optional.
Soon enough, Leona and Rean found themselves stuffed into the same carriage, rolling toward the Holy See.
Leona sat there, already irritated. Rean had insisted he couldn't read while riding a horse, which in her opinion was just another excuse. If they had traveled on horseback, they would have arrived ages ago. Plus, splitting up on their very first day as partners would have looked strange.
Meanwhile, Rean was completely absorbed in a book, calm as ever. Leona squinted at the cover. Dimensional Dynamics.
Then, out of nowhere, a notification appeared, stating that a connection to dimensional streaming had been activated. Leona opened her mouth to comment, but Rean shut her down without even looking up. He said he was concentrating and asked her to stay quiet.
Suddenly, the carriage jolted violently, shaking hard enough to rattle their seats. In an instant, Rean was pinning Leona against her seat to stay steady. At the same time, he caught a faint, sweet, intoxicating scent lingering in the air. That didn't make sense.
Leona noticed his strange pause and frowned, asking what he was doing. Rean quickly scrambled back to his seat and muttered a stiff apology. Blushing, he tried to focus, but that sweet scent still lingered in his senses.
Leona, never one to hold back, told him he should have trained his legs more. Weakling was the word she chose to describe him. He immediately fired back, saying that being a mage didn't mean he skipped physical training.
Out of nowhere, a notification screen flashed, displaying a comment that Operation Love Fragrance was so close to succeeding.
Sensing nearby magical activity, Leona instantly reached for her sword while Rean cast detection and dispel invisibility spells. Instead of an enemy, however, they were both stunned to find a tiny being floating before them.
Leona guessed it was a new type of magical creature and casually suggested splitting the discovery reward fifty-fifty. Rean said she could take the money. He wanted the honor.
The little being suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs, demanding to know why these two only ever got along at moments like this. A few moments later, after plenty of dramatic crying, she introduced herself as the great spirit Sylvian. Both Leona and Rean stared at her blankly, silently agreeing that the so-called great spirit looked incredibly dopey.
She explained that five hundred years ago, during the war with the demon world, she had used all her power to seal the demon king. Her true body was currently asleep to recover, and this form was merely a spiritual projection.
Rean processed the information quickly and summed it up in simpler terms. She was basically Sylvian's avatar. She waved it off and told them to just call her an angel. Most of her power and memories were gone anyway, so the title worked fine. She added that she was only following the mission her true body had left behind.
When asked what that mission was, the angel hesitated before admitting it was to protect the hero who would one day save the world.
Leona's eyes sparkled. She immediately assumed the mission had something to do with her, and declared that she'd wanted to be a hero ever since she was a child.
The angel nervously corrected her. It wasn't Leona.
Leona panicked and instantly pointed at Rean, begging the angel not to say it was him. To her, Rean was exactly the type who would destroy the world out of spite if things annoyed him too much. Rean calmly corrected her, saying he wouldn't destroy the world just because he disliked something.
The angel fidgeted and admitted that it wasn't him either.
In truth, the hero was neither of them. It would be their future child.
The carriage fell into complete silence. The angel explained that the child born from Leona and Rean would be the one to save the world. Tearfully, she admitted that she'd been trying to push them together for three whole years, and had failed spectacularly.