This is absurd.

I should be on the training grounds right now, drilling those incompetent recruits until their mana reserves run dry. Instead, I’m standing at the harbor like some glorified herald, the salt-laced wind doing nothing to improve my mood. The delegation from Yin arrives today—some self-important procession of politicians and scholars, no doubt—and I have been ordered to greet them.

Personally.

My father’s words still ring in my ears. "This is not a request, Nozel. The Yin Empire does not send envoys lightly. You will be there to receive their princess with the respect her station demands."

As if I have nothing better to do than play escort to some foreign royal who likely spends her days sipping tea and composing poetry or some other haughty thing.

The ship docks with a groan of wood and rope, its sails emblazoned with the Yin crest—a twisting serpent coiled around a crescent moon. The gangplank lowers, and the delegation begins to disembark, a flood of unfamiliar silks and ornate fabrics in colors far too bold for Clover’s taste.

And then—her.

The princess descends last, her robes a cascade of deep indigo and silver, the sleeves sweeping like ink spilled across parchment. Her hair is pinned with delicate jade ornaments. What I noticed first, however, was the metal mask that covered the lower half of her face with slits in the front—almost like a muzzle, but for her. Not to mention... I can’t sense a trace of mana from her—and not from the guards surrounding her, either. Not even a flicker. Everything about this situation was... off.

"Princess of Yin," I say, my voice carefully measured, though the irritation still bleeds through. "Welcome to the Clover Kingdom, Your Highness. I am Nozel, Captain of the Magic Knight Squad, The Silver Eagles. I am here as a personal escort, courtesy of the Wizard King."

It took everything in me not to roll my eyes and scoff as I introduced myself. I hated foreign nobility—so naturally Father would stick me with a job like this. To make me 'more sociable'. Being sociable doesn't win you battles.