"The person who's supposed to go with me... turns out to be you?"

"Yeah, I was wondering who I'd be accompanying, but here we are."

An awkward smile followed. The person joining me on the gate subjugation mission was none other than Karna. We exchanged somewhat uneasy greetings; it had been a while since we'd last met like this, adding to the awkwardness.

“How’s the Royal Guard? Still busy?”

“Pretty much the same—busy and tough. It wasn’t always this relentless, but recently, with the emergence of the gates, we’ve been constantly on the move, closing them.”

The Royal Guard, being …