We lapped into a comfortable silence as the bus took off. I watched the towering redwoods as we drove past, peering into the forest. Tyche was a very beautiful place if you were into the whole nature scene. It was a better view than my home, that was for sure. I wished I could have grown up in a place like this.As we came down the hill, I spotted a girl. She was hidden within the treeline, barely visible for a second as we passed. The girl was Asian, but almost forty percent of Tyche was Asian, so that didn't mean much. Her dark hair was tied in a single ponytail and she was wearing out school uniform, but I was sure I had never seen her before.That wasn't the weird part. The girl was carrying a sword. A freaking katana, straight out of some anime. Her uniform was bloody and clawed through like an animal had gotten a hold of her. Her eyes were glowing a molten gold.The bus drove by but she vanished beyond the treeline. I got up to try to catch another look, but the girl was gone."

For those of you wondering, my name on Webnovel is the same here and the story is called Strix. Not Strixes, that's an earlier version that is no longer canon.Julius - Zane - The StudentPrincess Euphemia left the palace with Rachel Edgecombe, the dangerous OSI officer. It was my first night on the job, and instead of guarding, and protecting her or the palace, I was charged with cleaning up her room.Most of the movies were Oyashimese Samurai dramas. I didn't peg her as the kind of person who would like samurai dramas, but I hadn't even had the chance to see her face to face yet. I had only heard her voice on the radio and seen reals of her in the theaters back home when I was studying her. She didn't come across as the kind of person who loves samurai dramas.Of course, I had only seen her in the propaganda"What would the public think if they knew their princess loved foreign movies?" I asked, putting the last real back in place."It doesn't matter what the public thinks. It matte

Calixte ArcThe commissar took a step back... and a bullet ran out. It didn't hit him, but it shattered the test tube on the table. "That was the only warning shot you'll get," Rolo said. He sounded so calm.But the commissar didn't hear him. The man turned around and stared at the broken test tube, his face losing all color. From the shattered glass, a pink vapor was raising."What did you do?" the commissar hissed. "The experiment! You tainted it!""What experiment?" I demanded to know, but the commissar seemed beyond word right now."I don't know. It was incomplete. Whatever this mixture was, it can't-" the commissar broke off. The pink mist wafted over him and he fell to the ground, eyes rolling in the back of his head.I didn't even have time to shout "Run" before I inhaled the sweetest scent of whatever had escaped from the vial. The world around me began to spin. Tanya, Rolo, and the commissar spun until they were shapeless black spots and the room around me vanished with them

Calixte"Why would I tell you anything, imperial scum?"That was a good question. Why would he tell me anything? I hated his ideology, but that might be personal now because of Tanya and what they have done to her. They butchered her family in front of her and send her fleeing to a foreign country. I had a personal stake in it.If I truly believed in expansionism, if I bought into everything my father tried to sell me, and this man was attacking my beliefs, would I help him? No, of course not. I would do everything in my power to stop him and now h was doing that to me.I could try and trick it out of him, but I knew nothing about this commissar, so there was no point in weeding it out of him. I would have to know him on a personal level... Wouldn't I?I would just have to hand him over to the Office of Secret Intelligence. Mireille and Agent Caron would have to deal with him.I turned the next page in his notes, hoping to find something easier to read. Nope, if anything the Roslachni

Calixte ArcThe transport was taking us back to Acadia, and as a prince, I was given my own private chambers. I was prepared to share with Tanya and try to investigate the notes in secret, but she chose to ride in a compartment where she could lie down. When I asked what was wrong, she didn't answer. She only said she wanted to be alone.Rolo felt the same way. He didn't want to talk to me or anyone else. He answered the soldier's question curtly, then he disappeared into a private room.I told Tanya, Rolo, and the soldiers that the commissar woke up and got free. He destroyed his notes and the pink substance and was going to kill me so I had to put a bullet in his head. I had to get my story straight before we reached Acadia because the OSI was going to want to debrief me.On the other hand... I quickly felt around, spreading my mana through the room. There were no active spells around me, so I was confident that no one was watching me. This world wasn't advanced enough for security