The road to knighthood hadn't been easy for Matt.

Having lost his eyesight and his family at an early age to a monster attack, he'd spent much of his childhood in an orphanage. With no relatives and having to relearn how to navigate a world that seemed to have no place for him, his future had looked grim.

He'd been sitting outside the orphanage, begging, and a knight had stopped by and tossed him a coin. Impressed by Matt's ability to pluck it out of the air perfectly, the man had returned the next day to adopt the boy. Matt had turned out to have the ability to sense the mana around him, and by honing that ability and his other senses, he'd become able to do things that ordinary people couldn't.

Some things were still a struggle for him. Reading and writing, subtle facial cues, navigating large crowds. But, with guidance and patience, he'd found his place in the world. His skill in combat was legendary, and after graduating the Knights' Academy with honors and performing admirably as a squire, he'd been knighted.

His ability to locate people based on their mana signatures, heartbeat, breathing, and such had made him the perfect man for a special assignment: personal knight to the eldest of the royal children, who had a penchant for hiding in unusual places and being quiet as a mouse.

"Your Highness," Matt called out softly as he approached the royal on the roof of the castle's highest tower. The cool night air caressed his skin, and his senses honed in on the the distant chirping of crickets, the scent of the royal's hair, the subtle shifting of the stone roof beneath his feet, the serene mana emanating from his magically gifted charge. It all came together in his mind, painting the picture his eyes could not. "You know you can't be here."

There was no response, but Matt heard the familiar quiet thumping of the royal's heartbeat. He stepped closer and sat down next to his charge. "You should be inside, enjoying the festivities, not up here," he said, his tone cheerful. "But...you already know that."