United (Magics AU - Part 1)

Chapter 3 - Shintaro

Shintaro took a long, deep breath and gazed around him at the four bodies littered carelessly at the foot of the kingdom's gates. Out of the four guards, one of them was a young female who he remembered was extremely enthusiastic about climbing up the ranks and proving herself. She was lying on her side with her breastplate shattered around her and neck split open in a wide, red smile. The other three were the newer recruits, young men who were always alert and cautious - which made Shintaro wonder how they had fallen so quickly. Whatever had killed them, they had done it swiftly and silently during the night - Shintaro had only found them twenty minutes ago. 

Though he was no detective, Shintaro had begrudgingly inspected the guards' lifeless bodies for any kill-pattern, but unfortunately he had found none. All four guards had been murdered differently: broken neck, slashed throat, ripped open stomach, and quick blood loss from a cut artery. Whoever had murdered them was quick and careful not to leave any clues - there weren't any footsteps or broken branches indicating where the killer had gone. 

Shintaro was beginning to get horribly frustrated with whoever was threatening Ariel by taking and now killing their people. For almost a month, people had been going missing - but the culprit had taken it up a notch by murdering the four sentries. From what he'd heard from the queen, her uncle had gone missing not four years ago - which, in Shintaro's opinion, was probably when it had started. But all the people being abducted, and now killed, was beginning to make Shintaro extremely angry, mostly because he had found that he was able to do nothing. 

He hated being unable to do help. 

"Guardian Shintaro?" a voice said to his left, and he snapped to attention, turning swiftly to whoever had called him. The guard that had accompanied him to the gates that morning was back, undoubtedly having already informed the king and queen. 

"I have told you this before, Grace," Shintaro said with a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose to push back an oncoming headache. "Guardian is just a title. Use my proper name when you're speaking to me." 

Grace hastily nodded her head in agreement, straightening her back and continuing her respectful demeanor. Guardian wasn't necessarily a rank, but everyone treated it as though he was second-in-line to the queen's royal adviser (of whom Shintaro was simply friends with, so there was no reason to call him anything but his name.).

"The king and queen told me to inform you that they will meet you here shortly," Grace said politely, keeping her eyes focused directly on Shintaro instead of the bodies around her. 

"Thank you," Shintaro said with a nod. "If you wish to return to your post, please do so. You don't have to remain here."

Grace gave him what looked like a smile, but because her face was so grim, it almost looked more like a grimace. She then nodded gratefully and turned around, walking through the already open gates to return to either the captain of the guard or her post. 

Shintaro sighed and leaned against the large, brick wall the surrounded Ariel, only connected by the gates of the kingdom. Everything that was going on in and out of the kingdom was beginning to give him a constant headache and sleepless nights, but he couldn't ignore his duty to protect the kingdom. 

Several minutes later, Shintaro was jostled back to alert attention when a pair of footsteps was heard nearing the open gates. At first, Shintaro was ready to draw one of the swords that was hanging on either side of his thighs, but when he realized that the footsteps were coming from inside the castle, he forced himself to stand straight and regain his bearings. 

King Marcus and Queen Ruby stepped through the wide doorway of the gates, their shoes making small clacking sounds against the tiles that eventually dissolved into the grass of the miles and miles of forest surrounding Ariel. Their eyes caught on Shintaro, who was already dipping the top half of his body in a slight bow - but he knew he didn't have to do much formalities, because they were also friends of his.