Tonk…tonk…

  Several hours after the talk between Aurora, Belisari and the Voyages, Belisari has returned to his palace after a chariot arrived and brought him back, but he can’t bring Aurora along. Under Lily’s pressure and Belisari's personal request of giving the little guest a place for tonight's sleep, the Voyagers were forced to prepare a room for her. So, a room close to the rooftop which previously was a storage was hastily cleaned up by the maids. It will be Aurora’s room for tonight, period.

  Meanwhile, after stripping off her tonnage of belongings in Lily’s room, Aurora was exhausted. But there is one more thing she has to do: taking a bath, before the cold from the rain hits and turns her sick. A medieval palace should have a bath, even if it was a small one. Wandering around the hall of Voyage palace, Aurora searches from room to room looking if there is any bathroom here.

  As she walked aimlessly around the building, her hair color dragged the attention of many people, some nobles from the Voyage family that she was introduced to by Belisari and Lily, a few maids as well, and they were quite helpful as they actively approached Aurora and asked if she needed any help. They gave her directions to the bathroom, which is on the first floor of the building. Lovely.

  Thump!

  “Huh?”

  On her path down to their first floor, Aurora went by a hall where she encountered several men wearing chainmail armor and black fabric, with white cross armbands could be seen trekking from one place to another. Their eyes were hidden behind their metal helmet, so Aurora can’t tell if they were staring at her or not. However, what can be said for sure is that for Aurora, they were the most uncomfortable ones for her to encounter.

  Luckily, her journey doesn’t take long. Right below the first floor of the palace, walking to the extended part into the front field, Aurora saw a cloud of steam coming from a vent right by the wall. She followed it, and found the bathroom soon after:

  “Whoa!”

  Contrary to her previous expectation, it turned out that there is not just an ordinary bathroom, but a massive size one, dwarfing any bathroom she has ever seen in her life. Equipped with a hot water system and wool towels to clean the body after a long tiring day, it was the ideal bathroom that Aurora expected when visiting a modern palace.

  However, in opposition to the massive size of it, there was only one person in this room aside from her. Lily, who is having her body washed in the large hot bathtub, glared at Aurora the moment the girl arrived at the door of the room:

  “Ah, sorry”-Aurora panicky said, while trying to close the door-”No means to disturb your time here, I could wait outside.”

  “Just be my guest”-spoken the Archduchess, trying to not scare the girl who is happening to fear her look-”This bathroom is big enough to serve a dozen people at the same time, but usually it's just me here all alone, and you must been cold from the rain, I suppose"

  “Can I?”

  “Sure.”

  Receiving a nod from Lily, she entered the room. A cloud of steam leaked out of the room as Aurora opened the door. She then closed it firmly, locking the door up following Lily’s guidance-”I forgot to lock it.”-the Voyage said, before she rested her body to the side of the bath.

  Aurora, who can't resist the desire of having a soak, takes off her clothes and puts them aside into a basket. She grabs a tower from the pile next to the entrance, wraps it around, then joins into the bath with Lily.

  “Haizz”-a voice came out from the little girl as she slowly soaked into the bath. The warm water surrounding her body, washing out the remaining dirt and rainwater. Heat began to rise,the steam emerging from the surface of the water blended into the air obscured Aurora’s vision from seeing Lily, despite they were just five meters away from each other. So satisfying, Aurora rested her back on a wall of the bath and looked over the glass ceiling, where she could see as the raindrops collided and flowed down along the rooftop.

  “It has been a long time since I bathed with another person.”

  The one who said that is Lily, she has moved from her place toward Aurora, and lies down next to her:

  “Usually I would have waited until nighttime”-she said-”It is much better seeing stars while having a bath as well. But I want to sleep early tonight.”

  “I see.”

  “Those Knights Cathedraller who designed this are truly amazing. Who would have thought that those muscular tall weird-looking guys love bathing as we do? As it turned out the cathedrals banned people from going in without having themselves cleaned.”

  Lily took a soap and began cleaning herself, then tossed it to Aurora:

  “Here. This thing called soap, you said you came from a northern continent nation, so probably you’ve never seen it, right?”

  “I’ve seen several in Milishila.”-Aurora said while catching the soap Lily threw to her-”They are a bit expensive tho. By the way, what are the “Knights Cathedraller” you were talking about? They weren’t really well-known in my country.”

  “How old are you?”

  “Fifteen.”

  “That explains. Things just happened ten years ago. Anyway, they are just our allies, who sought asylum in Latila after their holy land fell into Elestovakian hands. Unofficially said, they are part of the larger Latilian Land Army.”

  Lily uses her finger to draw something midair-”Their insignia is a two-stripes cross, you can see several in the eastern part of the city, on their public churches. Actually you don’t have to go far, one third of Voyage palace is their headquarters. You must have met a few of their members on your way here.”

  Digging back her memory, Aurora realized that those black armored men she met earlier had a white cross on their armband:

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  “So they were knights.”-she nodded-”Yes, I met them back on my trek. They seem scary though, I would say. Must be a crusade enthusiast to realize that they were knights in the first place.”

  “What is a crusade?"

  “Nothing. May you tell me more about them?”

  Asked Aurora, her face manifests a curiosity. The question is nothing personal, so it is hard to decline answering:

  “Well, they were an international knight order formed in a cathedral in the city of Montgilsard, also where they got their name from. The clan was founded with the sole purpose of escorting pilgrims to the Cathedral safely as by the time they were founded bandits were a major problem for the pilgrims.”

  “So they are good people?”

  “Of course they are. They did their duty well, and were officially recognized by the churches. That is until the Elestovakian declared that the Cathedral was theirs and drove the knights out of their operating territory by forces. Their leader, was then a middle-aged man- now an old man, went to Vlenna and sought help, but the previous king of Vlenna declined their access to the city.”

  While talking about the Knights Cathedraller, the Archduchess displays serious enthusiasm for them.

  “How did they come to Latila then?”

  “They once had a naval fleet. After being denied into Vlenna, the knights had no choice but to sail their fleet to Latila, where we fought together and halted the Elestovakian while they were assaulting the city.”

  “That’s quite a wild adventure.”

  “Sure. Ah, also, if you have time, you should go to visit their other temples and churches in the city. I usually pray in the Northwest cathedral on Sunday. My mother got this from their commander, and now it is mine”

  Lily held out the necklace around her neck, between the silver chain is a cross, the symbol of the Knights Cathedraller. On the cross carved a sentence:

  "Laudate nomen Domini"(Praise the name of the Lord)

  Aurora reads it out quietly.

  On the outside, the rain has stopped falling, the cloud being gusted away by the wind and replaced by twilight reflecting down below.

  The two stopped for a few minutes to witness as the moon appeared behind the layers of clouds. A sound of wind whistled into the few cracks on the wall, followed by a cold breeze.

  It’s evening, the rain finally ended.

  “Alright, time to leave, I am here long enough.”

  Lily stands up from the bath. She takes another tower, drying off the steam remaining on her body, then the Archduchess reaches out for the eyepatch, then her clothes and puts them on:

  “Ah, when you come out, please lock the door.”

  She said, carefully guiding Aurora how to utilize the lock of this bathroom. After all was done, the Archduchess was about to leave, however:

  “Lily"-Aurora blankly asks-"May I ask you a bit of a personal question, why is your left eye gone? And why are there so many scars on your body?”

  “...”

  “...”

  A moment of soundlessness, as if the question will not be answered, but then Lily lets out a sigh.

  “War”-she said, sighed with an expression of agony, before closing the door-”I will tell you sometime in the future, but not today.”

  In the meantime, on the other side of the palace

  “Klein? Why are you here?””

  “Am I not supposed to return home, Arlin?”

  When Klein was on his way to his room in the palace, he bumped into a person.

  That person, indistinguishable from Klein, if not thanks to the fact that he does not wear glasses as Klein does, and is a little bit taller than him, is his twin brother Arlin Alexander Voyage. He was walking toward the living room upon hearing that Belisari and another guest visited his home.

  “Not that. Long time no see, but aren’t you supposed to work at Latila palace?”

  Alexander Voyage is the captain of the Latilian Companion Husaria, an elite melee cavalry legion which along with the Elf Archer Husaria served as ranged cavalry units of the Latilian army. Just like the young brother of his, Arlin is also a competent officer, hence he is one of the two brothers who Lily pays respect to:

  “Yes, but…you know, I have some jobs at home...”

  Arlin wasn’t bought by the reasoning, but playing along-“It’s because of him again, huh? Speaking of Belisari, have you met the guest who came along with him? I heard from the maid that she was a vampire or something?”

  “Yes she i-”

  "She is not.”

  Suddenly behind them, a voice came, along with the footsteps of a massive megaton metallic figure appearing from a nearby corner. That body, covering in full chainmail armor, hovering its hidden eyes at Arlin and Klein, one by one, he says:

  “She’s not a vampire, as far as I could tell, she has dark brown eyes, not red. I feel like your observation ability has gone down quite a bit, Klein.”

  The knight walks toward them, hands placed on the helmet and opens it, revealing an old man in his late 60s with a few scars all over his aged face skin. His name is Gerald de Payens, a noble knight from the country of Milishila, and the head of the Order of Soldiers of Crossroad Pilgrims and of Montgilsard Cathedral, famously known as the Knights Cathedraller:

  “I do say my friends and I know vampires very well. I can recognize one from afar.”

  As a cathedral knight, Gerald has many encounters with vampires.

  To talk about the relation between the Knight Cathedraller and the Nosfeturan community, the knights were religious allies of the vampire. In fact, Montgilsard was a vital territory of the Nosfeturan Empire, yet before the Elestovakian expansion, the former Nosfeturan Empire upon hearing the suggestion of the first order leader about setting up an escort team for the pilgrims, had allowed the clan to be established and operate on their very soil, without having to pay any tax, and even allowed to build garrisons onto it. The Knights Cathedraller, upon receiving such grace, in exchange aided the Empire with militarism activities and exploration. Mutual allies, they are. Hence, any knight can easily identify their vampiric friends, even from a distance:

  “We have two simple characteristics to identify a vampire.”-Gerald sits down on the wall-”Silver hair and-”

  “Red eyes”-Arlin continues his words-”Lack of one then it’s not a vampire. So, say old man, our guest is just a regular human?”

  “The former is correct, but the latter one, if she’s just a “regular” human she won’t be invited by his Highness here. That said, I have to question myself when I first saw that girl too, she’s so young, younger than my granddaughter, even. By the way”-The knight looks at Klein-”You know her name,right?”

  “She told me to refer to her as Aurora, even his Highness doesn’t know her real name.”

  It’s true, Klein asked Belisari about Aurora’s actual name, but all he received was a head shake and the reply:”She and her colleagues have already referred to her as Aurora since I first met her.”-“Now thinking back, every fact I know about Aurora came from my conversation between his Highness and I.”-Klein concludes.

  “A silver-haired human, weird. Honestly, I’ve never seen one like this before, and I remember every single pilgrim who came to the Cathedral. An extraordinary mixed-race case? Not likely.”

  “I supposed, that gir-”

  Loud voice”Laudate nomen Domini”

  Out of the sudden, a knight from behind them shouted out the motto of the order, the specialized communication method of the Knights Cathedraller to announce an emergency meeting between the high ranking knights. Upon hearing that, Gerald quickly stood up, but before he went away:

  “In whatever case it is, I believe we must put our faith in God and his Highness.”-He pats on Arlin and Klein’s shoulders-”Their encounter must have some meaning, and I believe it shall lead to our victory. Anyway, I have several more jobs to do, sorry for not being here any longer with you kids”

  Gerald waves his hand, before disappearing after the door leading to the knight's headquarters.