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yaseiThe western side of the continent Fortissia, the kingdom of Clarines. The main stage is set in the capital city Wistal, facing the sea.
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Obi's past is shrouded in mystery, and very little is known about him. He was born in Clarines, however, and has met Shirayuki sometimes in the past, though it's unknown when and she doesn't remember it. He has workd as an assassin for some period of time, until becoming badly wounded about two years prior to his first appearance, and he disappered without a trace and never met any of his underworld collegues again. The rumour was that he had died. He didn't return to taking assassination jobs during that time, but he did take other kind of jobs, sometimes shady.
Obi was hired by Lord Haruka for a little while, and was set to spy on Shirayuki, a commoner from neighbouring country Tanbarun, and a friend of Prince Zen. Haruka wanted Obi to make sure she couldn't enter the castle and wouldn't see Zen because Haruka thought her to be taking advantage of Zen. First he left an "official" message from Zen to the gatekeepers, to stop her from being let through but she was already back inside and overheard it. To stop her from going to see Zen and ask him about the message, Obi shot an arrow with a warning tied to it in front of her, but she continued on. When Obi was about to throw a knife, Zen appeared and Obi disappeared out of sight. He reappeared after Shirayuki and then Zen confronted Lord Haruka, and Obi declared hismelf Zen's servant (reason unknown). Zen told his aides Kiki and Mitsuhide to lock Obi up somewhere for the time being and Obi complied without trouble. The next time he'll meet Shirayuki, she'll be an apprentice pharmacist at the castle.
Zen decides to let Obi serve him on a trial period, with the condition to not go near Shirayuki. During one of the times when he sneaks around the castle, he overhears that a messanger that Zen sent to Raxd Fortress, which is under Zen's jurisdiction, didn't come back. Zen decide to go to Raxd, and since Shirayuki is going the same way to pick up some things for the Head Pharmacist Garrack and is coming along with him part of the way, he sends Obi ahead to scope out the situation. Obi finds all the guards at Raxd abead, except one young guard called Shuka. Shuka says that Zen can't go inside because the fortress is possessed by a frightening spirit. The soldiers started to, one by one, get sick and the doctor and messenger also fell sick. Zen and the others goes inside to look for clues, while Mitsuhide stands guard. They find the armory empty, that all the weapons have been stolen. Obi asks if they should switch their attention to getting rid of thieves, but he's told no for now. Zen sends Mitsuhide to get Shirayuki, and she figures out that what makes people ill is the firewood that was donated by a group of people that couldn't carry it with them. Obi is sent to locate that group, and he goes with Zen, Kiki and Mitsuhide to bring them to justice. Because Shirayuki, after that, has been overworking herself on too little sleep, she's wobbly and doesn't have strength in har arms. Obi who sees that catches her when she's about to fall. It's the first time after he threatened her that they have met. He hides when other people notice her though, because he's still not allowed to go near Shirayuki. Shirayuki definitely stuns him after he asks if she's not suspicious of him and she says that she isn't and gives her reasoning behind it. She asks him, as a favor, to not tell anyone that she's in bad shape and they part ways. Zen asks Obi, later, if Obi has seen Shirayuki and he tells him he has, and leaves so the two can talk. Zen gets her to sleep. Then they return to the capital and Wistal Castle.
The day after their return, someone that Obi didn't notice throws a small rock at Obi's face while he's in a tree. It cuts his cheek but he catches it easily. He was stopped from trying to see who it was because Zen called for him and he went to him right away. Zen was called away and before he left, told Obi to not hide his face for a while, which Obi had a tendency to do, and to not climb trees, then was told to wait for Zen until he got back in Zen's office. Turns out the one that threw the rock at Obi was Zen's older brother Izana, the first prince of Clarines. Izana took away Zen's control of Raxd as punishment, since Zen didn't punish the soldiers for their blunders at all. Izana also summoned Shirayuki, and talked to her in private which really rattled Zen.
Prince Raji from Tanbarun is invited over by Izana. Obi had originally asked to escort Zen during the tea party that was to be held to welcome Raji, but when he saw that Lord Haruka was there he changed his mind. Kiki takes his place instead, but when he notices Shirayuki sneaking around he escorts her to the other side of the hedge so they could listen in on the conversation. Obi gets to know that Raji had wanted to make Shirayuki his concubine and that she ran away from Tanbarun because of it. Because Izana says that maybe she might want to go back to Tanbarun with Raji, she leaves and Obi goes with her to escort her part of the way back to the pharmacy. She makes up with Raji before he leaves for Tanbarun.
Obi was allowed to leave the castle for a two days, and he stayed outside for longer than he was supposed to because he went to Raxd so see what it was like there, for Zen's sake.
Because a lot of people have been making a fuss since Raji made everyone misunderstand and think that Zen wanted to marry Shirayuki, which causes trouble for Shirayuki, Zen assigns Obi to be her guard. Zen thinks this would be the first time since their first meeting that she meets Obi again, and is not pleased to find out that they have become a little familiar with each other already behind his back. Kiki eventually brings Obi over to Shirayuki, and since Obi was told to not get in the way of work he stands around watching which is boring so when he learns that Shirayuki is going to the Loca garden to get Loca he goes with to help her and the other pharmacists to harvest. He then helps to carry bottles of pickled Loca to a basement warehouse. When saying that they're going to test the quality of a previous batch of Loca, Garrack gives them wine and Shirayuki collapses drunk. Obi was told to keep an eye on her until she's completely sober. Shirayuki gets up and leaves the pharmacy, and it turns out that she was trying to go to Raxd, so Obi gives her a report on it. He carries her back after she passes out, and meets Zen on the way. He carries her to the nap room, and tells Zen about what happened. As they have drinks, Zen gives Obi an identification badge and a title; Personal messenger of Clarines' Second Prince. Obi is going to be working as Shirayuki's bodyguard and report directly to Zen if anything happens.
Zen is being made to look over a dispute between a nobleman and people of the nobleman's island. After bringing Kiki and Mitsuhide to Zen and witnessing the meeting, which concerned the hunting of a type of bird the nobleman was doing, Obi goes to see Shirayuki. When Ryuu, who is working a bit further away, doesn't hear Shirayuki calling for him that it's time to go see Garrack, a colorful bird suddenly flies up at Ryuu and they can catch his attention. A woman used a flute to control the bird, and the woman was one of Zen's guests, the representative for the people on the island. She tells Shirayuki about their special birds, that they sail the seas and fish with, and that the nobleman and his friends are hunting their birds. Shirayuki comes up with an idea to have the birds act as message birds, and a test is arranged for, to see if the birds can be used as such. The bird is going to fly about 10 km to carry a letter to the lookout fortress Kokoku, and once there the letter would be signed by the person at the fortress, and a bell would be tied on. It had to be done within 25 minutes. Shirayuki was asked to go to the lookout fortress, and Obi went with her as her guard. The Nobleman also asked to go with. At the tower, the nobleman locks Shirayuki inside and throws the bell into the water. Obi sees Shirayuki jump from the tower and jumps in after, to help her look for the bell. The bird gets back to the castle just in time, and the nobleman was arrested. Thus, the birds of the island are to be protected and used as messenger birds for the kingdom.
Zen goes to the girl Kihal's island with Kiki and Mitsuhide, and when he's about to leave Obi notices that Shirayuki seems vbery embarrassed around Zen. She's acting weird when Obi asks about it, too. So when Zen returns, Obi blocks his path and tells her to run to the forest, since they were on the way to it. Zen then goes after her so they can talk about the kiss and what happened at the tower. Once he returns from the forest (after leaving Shirayuki to a guard she knwos) Zen tells Kiki, Mitsuhide and Obi that he told Shirayuki that he wants to walk a path where he he can be with Shirayuki, and that Shirayuki took his hand. After that he takes Kiki and Mitsuhide to write a report for Juris island, and sends Obit to report that they had returned.
One morning Obi goes to Shirayuki's dormitory and wakes her up after appearing through her window. He brings her to the others, and they're all going out together since all of them have a day off. Everyone but Obi ride in a carriage; Obi rides a horse instead because he prefers it. They go to a town called Eurekanna, a town that likes contests and theatre. Shirayuki hides her hair since it stands out (it's very red). They wander around the town and once noon comes they have breakfast (because brunch is an unknown concept). After their meal, Obi participates in a martial arts tournament (under the alias Nanaki) and wins it; he wins both money and a foreign hair bauble. He gives the hair bauble to Shirayuki.
One day Obi finds Ryuu under a tree. He has lost some papers to the wind and the last one is up in the tree, but Ryuu can't climb, so Obi picks him up and puts him on his shoulders so he can reach. Ryuu gives Obi seeds from a flower, and Obi later learns from Zen that Shirayuki is collecting all those seeds because they have different colors. Obi goes to give back the seeds to Ryuu, but Ryuu says that he's giving them to him after all. Shirayuki then shows up to bring Ryuu back. Obi decides to keep the seeds a secret from Shirayuki, to keep it between only him and Ryuu.
A mountain monkey shows up at the castle. Actually it's a person called Mihaya, but he shows up at the castle, having a message to Zen and Shirayuki. From learning that Mihaya kidnapped Shirayuki in the past and seeing how openly hostile Zen is regarding Mihaya, Obi decides that Mihaya is an enemy. Mihaya tells them that he met a "pretty boy" that's looking for Shirayuki, and that that boy is looking to take her "somewhere more appropriate." Since Mihaya is the only one that knows what this boy looks like, Obi is sent to look for him with Mihaya. The same period of time Shirayuki gets an invitation to a dinner party in Tanbarun, and Obi challanges Zen for the position of guarding Shirayuki during the near month long trip since Mitsuhide was supposed to go. Obi wins the battle and is allowed to go with her.
When they leave, Lord Haruka shows up. He's going to travel with them for 8 days, up to the border. Haruka forces Obi to ride in the carriage, though he had been intending to ride on a horse. Haruka proceeded to educate both Shirayuki and Obi on politics and the two countries' relationships and other important things during the trip.
Once they arrive at the castle and the formal instroduction of Shirayuki is made, Raji takes her to a tea room where they talk. After tea, Shirayuki and Obi are shown to their adjoining rooms and Obi goes to look around the castle. The next day Shirayuki is meeting with Raji again, though it's awkward considering their past. To lessen the suspense, Raji shows them around the castle. Obi notices, while Raji and Shirayuki are talking, that they're being spied at from the shadows. So to escape prying eyes Raji leads them to an underground passage that go all the way around the castle. However while there, they get lost. Obi notices that they're still being followed and goes to catch their stalkers, who turns out to be Raji's younger siblings, the twins Rona and Eugena. Eugena helps them find the way back out, and into the greenhouse where they spent the rest of the day. Some of the time is spent there, other times are spent in the library. One of the times in the library, Rona gets told that she can't push Raji and Shirayuki together by Obi. She gets an idea and pushes Shirayuki so Obi has to catch her. It makes Obi feel weird.
Come the day of the party, Shirayukiand Obi dresses up even more than they had had to do during the rest of the stay. As they get ready to go down to the party, a message from Zen arrives, saying that the pretty boy looking for Shirayuki has found out that she's gone to Tanbarun and the castle there. Just then, said pretty boy shows up as well, with a comrade. The comrade keeps up with Obi in hand-to-hand combat, but knocks him out when Rona and Eugena show up and startles Obi. When Obi wakes up he gets to know that Shirayuki is gone and they can't find her. He leaves a message for Zen and takes a gift for Shirayuki with him; Zen had sent along a bell and whistle that Kihal had meant to give to Shirayuki.
Obi follows the tracks and catches up with one of the kidnappers, the guy that knocked him out, and learns that both Shirayuki and the pretty boy - Kazuki - have been kidnapped by a band of thieves called the Sea's Talon. He won't let the guy left behind - Itoya - youf of his sight and follows him. He ends up meeting Itoya's gang, a group of mountain mercenaries called the Mountain's Lions. He follows Itoya and his boss, but before they get far the sound of wings and a bird's cry is heard, and he stops. Zen jumps down and Obi kneels in front of him on the ground. After a scolding and knock on the head from Zen, he learns that his method of carrying the bell that the bird could hear was useful since it led Zen to him, and Kihal helped them make Popo there. It's decided that the Mountain's Lions will help Zen and the rest to get Shirayuki and Kazuki back. Once reaching the port city they were headed for, Obi is sent to scout and he finds that Shirayuki has been taken aboard a ship that is still in port. Kiki suggests that they bring her to the ship as a captive, and Obi, Zen and Mitsuhide dress up as outlaws and brings Kiki to the Talons.
While Raji gathers people and ships to follow the Talons' ship, Zen and them are guided to the Talons' stronghold by Mihaya, who has been there due to family relations, and they strike and take their stronghold before the Talons arrive. Then they take the ship, and frees Shirayuki. They are temporarily invited to the Mountain Lions' hideout in the mountains, and learn that the Boss of the Lions is Shirayuki's dad. Obi avoided Shirayuki for a while but she confronted him about it. After that, Obi and Shirayuki return to Tanbarun Castle. There's going to be another dinner party too, tocelebrate Raji's first friend make up for Raji breaking his first promise with Shirayuki. Once the party is over, they return to Clarines.
Come the day of the Royal Castle Open House, a day where the citizens are allowed within the area of the castle, there are a lot of festivities. Obi comes to fine Shirayuki at a point in the day, and takes her to watch Zen and Izana greet the people from a balcony. After, Zen dresses up a a guard again since it's easier for him to move around like that. Ryuu shows up looking for Shirayuki, since an actress has gotten injured. Shirayuki is asked to stand in for her, and Obi watches from the sidelines. He overhears the director trying to make the person acting as prince in the play to remove the veil covering her hair, and Zen stands in as knight to protect Shirayuki, even though the knight was not supposed to make another appearance.
Since the Open House Day Zen has been spacing out, and he ended up getting a tapestry dropped on top of him which wrenched his neck. When Mitsuhide goes to get medicine for him, Mitsuhide breaks a bottle containing an experimental drug and hypnotized himself into being unbearably polite and absessed about Zen, and being overall weird. Obi keeps a record of everything he says and does because it's hilarious and eventually Shirayuki makes an antidote and when Mitsuhide doesn't remember a thing, Obi has very fun telling him all about what happened, with a few alterations here and there.
Obi is told by Shirayuki, while helping her out as per his daily routine, that she has been promoted from apprentice pharmacist to a proper court pharmacist. Obi thought she already was an official pharmacist since they first met. He excuses himself soon after, and attacks a person that had been following them. Turns out that it was Mihaya, who had gained a small piece of land and position from Raji, and that Mihaya was in Wistal Castle as a messenger for Raji. He has come to meet with Shirayuki. Raji's assistant Sakaki is also there and he presents her with an official title, of Friend of the Tanbarun Royal Family. When Sakaki and Mihaya leave, Zen and Shirayuki and the others go with them until Jeridan.
After parting ways, they need to get moving since rain is coming, and they are caught in it so they find an inn to stay the night at. Obi and Zen take a bath (as does Kiki and Shirayuki) while Mitsuhide keeps watch. When they eat later, they meet a woman that hits on both Mitsuhide and Zen, but lets them know that she doesn't mind the girls either. Obi on the other hand looks too dangerous. Later that night when everyone else are asleep, Obi goes outside, and meets the woman from before. She is someone that Obi knew from before and has worked with on jobs back when he was an assassin, and she's called Torou; he's not seen her in three years. She enlists Obi to help her out with a job. Nothing criminal, just picking up a runaway that ditched his guards without paying them. He intended to go back by dawn but was delayed, and Zen and the rest came to find him thanks to Kiki.
Shirayuki gets a new uniform and of course Obi is the first one to see her wear it, not Zen. Shirayuki is going on an official trip to Lyrias in the north which is called "The Kingdom of Clarines' Northern Archive", to study. Izana is also leaving the castle for a while, to go to the northern castle Wilant where their mother the queen dowager lives. Shirayuki is leaving right after Obi brought her to see Zen. Zen is left to take care of the castle in Izana's absence.
A letter from Izana arrives, and they are leaving the castle as well. The letter says to finish up the work he (Zen) has and come meet him in the north in Wilant. They're going through the Lyrias checkpoing but they're not going to go see Shirayuki. They get a message from Izana while they're on the road, telling Zen not to come to Lyrias, but Zen heads to Lyrias with Obi in tow bespite that only to find that it's been quarantined and that Shirayuki, Ryuu and Izana are locked inside. Zen sends Obi inside to protect Shirayuki and help her, and he reports to Izana, though he tells the first prince that he only follows Zen's orders but that he'll try his hardest to solve their current problem. Obi then goes to find Shirayuki and Ryuu, and learns from them what kind of information they currently have. Obi goes to gather information on where the people that have fallen ill have been and after that starts looking into it further. Shirayuki and Ryuu, together with Suzu and Yuzuri from Lyrias, manage to make the text that had faded in the book they found out a bit about the illness to return, and a boy called Kirito knows where they need to go so Obi, shirayuki and Kirito goes there. They need to go there to gather seeds from the plants responsible to make a cure, too. Obi carries Kirito when he collapses from the illness, and they go further into the cave it originates from. They can't find any seeds right away so Obi climbs up to look from above, where he finds the seeds and they gather them, and return. They leave Kirito and the other patinets' cure to Ryuu and return to the cave, to see how so many people came in contact with them. Thanks to Obi's memory of the path they took in the cave, walking on top of the mountain leads them to inside the test plantations. They find a stream and they find blooming flowers that glow. They're called Olin Mars, a pharmacist called Shidan tells them. Turns out he was secretly researching them in an attempt to make the flowers glow without being poisonous so he can use it as an attraction for tourists to come to Lyrias, but he's been unsuccessful thus far. After they return once more it turns out that Garrack has come to Lyrias, because she was called to help with the situation. Ryuu has also managed to make a cure, it only needs to rest a night to be finished. Obi and Shirayuki are going back to everyone, but on the way Shirayuki collapses. Both she and Obi have gotten ill, but the tension kept her from collapsing this far; Obi is staying up out of pure stubbornness and determination. Obi couldn't carry her though, so he was going to go get someone to help her, but didn't have to because Izana showed up and carried her to the pharmacy for him, and both Shirayuki and Obi are made to go to bed. After they have been given the cure the next day, they learn that Zen is on the way there. Once they're cured they get a scolding from Garrack but then also get praised. They see Zen, Kiki and Mitsuhide have arrived after they leave. Obi gets into a snowball fight with the kids, too. After that, when Suzu asks if Obi or "Lowen" (Izana in disguise) are Shirayuki's lover, it's a fun experience to tell the Lyrias pharmacists they've become friends with that "Lowen" really is prince Izana. Though Obi thought it would have been more interesting if it had been left a secret. Obi is going back with Zen and them once Zen is done with his duties and a few days later Shirayuki and Ryuu are heading back to Wistal as well.
One of his days off, Obi goes to escort Shirayuki to a date with Zen, and then goes shopping with Ryuu. In the evening he gets a corc decoration from Zen. It's such a weird gift but Obi carries it with him and leaves it as a message for Shirayuki at times so he does use it even if it's not for its intended purpose.
One day Kiki tells Obi and Zen that she made Mitsuhide seriously angry and that he's probably angry at Zen as well. She told Mitsuhide about a promise she made with her father, that they kept from him. She brings Mitsuhide home with her, and asks her father to stay longer at the castle, since she was supposed to return hom in a year.
From Lyrias comes visitors; Kirito, Yuzuri and Suzu. Kiki also has cut her hair short. Obi gets to hear that Mitsuhide used to think that Kiki was a male swordsman, and when he's trying to pry he's sent over to the pharmacy by Zen. He's stopped on the way by Mitsuhide for a talk. Mitsuhide asks Obi if he knows if Kiki has any lover or anyone that she likes. Obi jokes and says its him but Mitsuhide knows that that's never going to happen. Obi then proceeds to the pharmacy to meet his visiting friends, and is dragged into making a tea; Obi and Suzu are made the test subjects of the most foul tasting herbal teas. Once they complete a great tea finally, Izana shows up. Unfortunately he can't stay for tea but he asks Shirayuki to bring him some later. Later they are told that Suzu is going to help Shidan with his research on the Olin Mars. Garrack suggests that Ryuu and Shirayuki go to help with the research at some point or other.
Zen is made to meet an elegible woman for a marriage date, and chooses to meet Kiki. It's just to make people stop pestering him, really, for a while, and Izana didn't remove her name from the candidates. At the end of that day, Izana appears and gives Zen the authority over a part of the castle's west wing, allowing him to prepare a room there for Shirayuki. Zen, Kiki, Mitsuhide and Obi are also moving in there.
The next day Obi walks with Shirayuki to the "big hosue" as Obi calls it, where a whole lot of people work, they have a bunch of different jobs but it's like a big area that they gather at. It's actually called the Reference Room and contains a ton of documents and such. Obi doesn't usually go there since he doesn't really like it. But Zen is there doing work and Obi is doing stuff for him. Haruka also asked Obi to deliver some documents to Zen. Zen goes to deliver Shirayuki half the way to the pharmacy and tells Obi to come too. In the night when Obi returns, he jumps up to encounter a man called Yuuha, who insulted Shirayuki earlier that day, and found Shirayuki asleep on a bench. She has a fever and he brings her to the pharmacy.
A letter from Her Highness the Queen Dowager arrives to Izana. In four months, Izana is going to be coronated as the King of Clarines.
King Haruto, as she's called, arrives a few days before the coronation, thoug Obi has not had a chance to see her yet since he's been busy. The two of them dressed up for an audience with Zen this time around, and he called them officially because Raji is coming as a representative for Tanbarun to the coronation, and Shirayuki is, since she holds a title in Tanbarun, going to be a host for Raji, while Obi is to escort the tow of them. They're going to Zaldio to meet him and escort him to the castle. So they go to pick him and his aide Sakaki up, and they get into the coronation hall to witness it. Obi goes to stand with Kiki and Mitsuhide. The coronation is a great success and so is the ball after it. Once it's over Zen gathers Obi, Shirayuki, Mitsuhide and Kiki for a little post-party party where they drink.
A while after the coronation, both Ryuu and Shirayuki are told that they will be transferred out of the castle, and that they will be going to Lyrias for two years as researchers. The day before Zen is going on an inspection Shirayuki has still not told Zen and the others can't tell him because it would be better if Shirayuki told him. Zen and the other three go to Wilant castle to meet Haruto, where she tells him to apprehend some bandits for her. They were supposed to meet Shirayuki on the way back but they're late but once they reach the meetup point it turns out she has not arrived. So they go to look for her and the carriage that she was supposed to come with, since it didn't arrive either. They find her at a merchant's carriage stuck in the road. The driver had been attacked with a numbing drug and his goods had been stolen. So they go bandit hunting again. However, it turns out it was two kids that wanted to steal a horse, but they used too much of the numbing drug and the horses were unable to move so they disguised it as bandits having stolen. After Zen return Shirayuki's things Shirayuki finally tells Zen about her transfer to Lyrias.
The day before Shirayuki leaves for Lyrias, Obi witnesses Izana ask Shirayuki to come with Ryuu to see him once they're done with work. The next morning Obi and the rest get to know that she's going to be gone for two years. Everybody gives Shirayuki hugs and Shirayuki and Obi joke about Obi showing up in Lyrias suddenly.
Two days after Shirayuki left, Zen takes Obi away for an important conversation. He asks Obi if Obi wants to go to Lyrias, and tells him that if he goes it would be as his knight. Obi says that he would like to postpone giving an answer, though. He accompanies Zen on one of his inspections while avoiding the subject. He goes off to have a meal with Itoya and Kazuki when he meets them in a port, at one point, too. After talking with those two, he decide to finally talk with Zen again, and calls him out in the evening. Zen asks him if he likes him, and Obi says yes. Zen then asks him if he also likes Shirayuki, to which he also says yes. After a deep conversation, Obi asks if Zen is going to propose to Shirayuki, to which Zen says he's making her wait. The next day Obi wakes Zen up with some weird mask. Later in the day Zen gives Obi a short sword to carry on him, as well as a new I.D: Kingdom of Clarines, Zen Wistalia's Immediate Knight. In the evening Obi has drinks with Kiki and Mitsuhide. And early in the morning he leaves, only seeing Kiki and telling her to give Zen and Mitsuhide his regards.
Days later, Obi shows up in the evening and went to the pharmacy building, though Shirayuki and Ryuu had already left. He met them in the morning while he was wearing a fox mask, scaring Ryuu with it. Obi goes to see some people at the checkpoint. Obi then later learns that Ryuu is going to be sent to Wilant Castle after his time in Lyrias is over. Obi has been made Shirayuki's personal attendant by Zen, he tells her, and that he would be in Lyrias while she's in Lyrias, too. During his time in Lyrias he's also going to learn how to be a knight and attendant, so he has a lot of studying to do as well. Shirayuki also decides that she will aim for Wilant Castle, to be transfered there. And Obi is going to help her, of course.
Four months later they have been invited to a night banquet in Wistal castle, but they also have a request of Zen. To also send an invitation to Lata Forenzo, a nobleman doing research in Lyrias. Lata has been avoiding them and they really need to talk to him for the Olin Mars research. When they return to the castle after meeting Zen and the others, Shirayuki finally rides a horse with Zen for the first time. Once the night banquet start, they go looking for, and fings, Lata Forenzo. He fakes inviting Shirayuki to a dance to get the opportunity to flee but gets nowhere since Obi stops him. Lata finally agrees to teach Shirayuki (and Suzu) how to create Crystal Glitter Stones, which he reasearches about. During the banquet Obi and Shirayuki also meet a person that Mitsuhide doesn't get along with; the vice-captain of the Sreg Knights, Hisame. Thet're invited to a small after-party by the soldiers and also meet with Izana. Izana borrows Shirayuki and Zen for a while and later on Obi learns that she told Izana and Zen about her and Obi aiming for Wilant Castle with Ryuu, and that Izana told Shirayuki that if she succeeds in the research of Olin Mars, he would like her to take up the role of getting permission from every governer of the northern lands to allow the flower of light to spread in the northern base, and that she could as Obi to go with her.
It takes a while but they succeed in their Olin Mars project well within the time limit. They had to earn the money to buy the stones they were doing research with too, but with the tea they made in Wistal before, they managed to earn a fair bit, enough to cover their expenses. But they'll have to wait for the flowers to bloom now, to be sure that they've really succeeded completely.
The troops inspecting the perimeters have been changed, as well as the troops heading outside. This is because that morning four soldiers from the 2nd group was bedridden with fever. Other groups have a few too. They have a lot of people falling ill, so there is a risk of the medicine running out. It's the northern/winter flu. Obi who's on guard duty has to bring people to the pharmacy buildings too.
After flu season, the first poison free Olin Mars flowers bloom.
More than 10 months after that, Ryuu has grown like a weed and is taller than Shirayuki. Obi has been learning things about being a knight from Lata. Obi is preparing to head to the northern knight base with Shirayuki for their permissions. They get a visit from Mihaya and Kazuki, too.
A directive was sent from Wistal to the whole kingdom. Several young songs of viscount and earl houses have been attacked, and they are all regarded as strong contenders to marry Kiki. Zen, Mitsuhide and Kiki are at the Sreg knight base at the moment and Mitsuhide has become as a suspect.
One of the candidates for Kiki's hand, a knight at Sreg called Tsuruba Bergatt, is attacked but protected by his twin brother. Hisame, who had proposed to Kiki the night before to lure out the assailant, is also attacked.
Mitsuhide is disarmed and put in custody after an emergency message from Wistal's Imperial Guards arrive. He is suspected of having hired assassins. When Obi hears this he heads over to Sreg, leaving Shirayuki with a guard from Wistal castle, Shikito. On his way over he investigated a bit surrounding the Tohz house which testified against Mitsuhide. For the past few months, the same carriage has been seen heading towards the Tohz's residence numerous times, it was witnessed by the knights in a nearby guardhouse. The carriage did indeed enter the Tohz's residence. At the checking station along the way there were also records of a retainer of the Bergatts going through it several times, with dates matching the dates the carriage was seen. So he started to watch the Tohz house, and when he saw them make contact with someone he gave chase. However he was noticed and engaged in battle. He won the fight but the guy he captured refused to say anything so Obi left him in the hands of some knights. He then investigated the assassin, and did find out a little bit before he was discovered. He found a connection to the Bergatts within some groups of assassins; right now the Bergatt house has those people working for them, and everyone else can neither take part nor do they want to get involved with it. Obi was injured during one confrontation though he doesn't disclose when or how, since it apparently was a little horrible. Likely he was injured when the assassins he investigated discovered him.
A messenger bird arrives, with a message that the Bergatt's current head is heading towards Serg. Kiki and Zen goes to confront the Bergatt twins, and Obi goes to make more investigations.
Obi arrives in the evening, after Kiki and Zen witnessed one of the Bergatt twins sneak out of the fortress. He leaves his report but leaves out how exactly he got injured.
Tsuruba Bergatt heads out in secret again and is attacked; he's saved by Obi and Kiki. After defeating the attackers, Tsuruba asks when Zen will be sent to the castle. He tells them that the ones that framed Mitsuhide was the Bergatts. It was the twins' older brother Touka's plan to eliminate both Mitsuhide and Kiki so Tsuruba and Tariga will fill the empty spaces, to regain the former power of the Bergatts. Touka intends to have something happen to Zen while Mitsuhide is disgraced, so that Mitsuhide can't recover his reputation. Tsuruba says that the only choice that they have is to kill Touka, or else he won't stop. Obi and Kiki heads back to Zen, to protect him and Mitsuhide, and Tsuruba is following them. While they're on the way, a fire breaks out at the fortress.
Touka has gotten inside the fortress to execute his plan, and has taken out many knights with the help of his men and assassins. Obi and Kiki appear, and fight off assassins. When Mitsuhide appears, Obi tells Kiki to go with Mitsuhide to Zen, and Obi gets ready to take care of the enemies in front of him (together with some of the knights) despite his wounds being about to reopen. But eventually Touka is defeated, and brought to court. The incident is not made public for the sake of the twins, but Touka is removed as family head. Obi goes back to Shirayuki who treats him, and they go to Wistal together. After Touka's punishment is decided, Zen, Kiki, and Mitsuhide get a long vacation, and Zen lets Obi and Shirayuki know that he's coming to Lyrias with them for the duration of it, while Kiki and Mitsuhide go off on their own.
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Obi's past is shrouded in mystery, and very little is known about him. He was born in Clarines, however, and has met Shirayuki sometimes in the past, though it's unknown when and she doesn't remember it. He has workd as an assassin for some period of time, until becoming badly wounded about two years prior to his first appearance, and he disappered without a trace and never met any of his underworld collegues again. The rumour was that he had died. He didn't return to taking assassination jobs during that time, but he did take other kind of jobs, sometimes shady.
Obi was hired by Lord Haruka for a little while, and was set to spy on Shirayuki, a commoner from neighbouring country Tanbarun, and a friend of Prince Zen. Haruka wanted Obi to make sure she couldn't enter the castle and wouldn't see Zen because Haruka thought her to be taking advantage of Zen. First he left an "official" message from Zen to the gatekeepers, to stop her from being let through but she was already back inside and overheard it. To stop her from going to see Zen and ask him about the message, Obi shot an arrow with a warning tied to it in front of her, but she continued on. When Obi was about to throw a knife, Zen appeared and Obi disappeared out of sight. He reappeared after Shirayuki and then Zen confronted Lord Haruka, and Obi declared hismelf Zen's servant (reason unknown). Zen told his aides Kiki and Mitsuhide to lock Obi up somewhere for the time being and Obi complied without trouble. The next time he'll meet Shirayuki, she'll be an apprentice pharmacist at the castle.
Zen decides to let Obi serve him on a trial period, with the condition to not go near Shirayuki. During one of the times when he sneaks around the castle, he overhears that a messanger that Zen sent to Raxd Fortress, which is under Zen's jurisdiction, didn't come back. Zen decide to go to Raxd, and since Shirayuki is going the same way to pick up some things for the Head Pharmacist Garrack and is coming along with him part of the way, he sends Obi ahead to scope out the situation. Obi finds all the guards at Raxd abead, except one young guard called Shuka. Shuka says that Zen can't go inside because the fortress is possessed by a frightening spirit. The soldiers started to, one by one, get sick and the doctor and messenger also fell sick. Zen and the others goes inside to look for clues, while Mitsuhide stands guard. They find the armory empty, that all the weapons have been stolen. Obi asks if they should switch their attention to getting rid of thieves, but he's told no for now. Zen sends Mitsuhide to get Shirayuki, and she figures out that what makes people ill is the firewood that was donated by a group of people that couldn't carry it with them. Obi is sent to locate that group, and he goes with Zen, Kiki and Mitsuhide to bring them to justice. Because Shirayuki, after that, has been overworking herself on too little sleep, she's wobbly and doesn't have strength in har arms. Obi who sees that catches her when she's about to fall. It's the first time after he threatened her that they have met. He hides when other people notice her though, because he's still not allowed to go near Shirayuki. Shirayuki definitely stuns him after he asks if she's not suspicious of him and she says that she isn't and gives her reasoning behind it. She asks him, as a favor, to not tell anyone that she's in bad shape and they part ways. Zen asks Obi, later, if Obi has seen Shirayuki and he tells him he has, and leaves so the two can talk. Zen gets her to sleep. Then they return to the capital and Wistal Castle.
The day after their return, someone that Obi didn't notice throws a small rock at Obi's face while he's in a tree. It cuts his cheek but he catches it easily. He was stopped from trying to see who it was because Zen called for him and he went to him right away. Zen was called away and before he left, told Obi to not hide his face for a while, which Obi had a tendency to do, and to not climb trees, then was told to wait for Zen until he got back in Zen's office. Turns out the one that threw the rock at Obi was Zen's older brother Izana, the first prince of Clarines. Izana took away Zen's control of Raxd as punishment, since Zen didn't punish the soldiers for their blunders at all. Izana also summoned Shirayuki, and talked to her in private which really rattled Zen.
Prince Raji from Tanbarun is invited over by Izana. Obi had originally asked to escort Zen during the tea party that was to be held to welcome Raji, but when he saw that Lord Haruka was there he changed his mind. Kiki takes his place instead, but when he notices Shirayuki sneaking around he escorts her to the other side of the hedge so they could listen in on the conversation. Obi gets to know that Raji had wanted to make Shirayuki his concubine and that she ran away from Tanbarun because of it. Because Izana says that maybe she might want to go back to Tanbarun with Raji, she leaves and Obi goes with her to escort her part of the way back to the pharmacy. She makes up with Raji before he leaves for Tanbarun.
Obi was allowed to leave the castle for a two days, and he stayed outside for longer than he was supposed to because he went to Raxd so see what it was like there, for Zen's sake.
Because a lot of people have been making a fuss since Raji made everyone misunderstand and think that Zen wanted to marry Shirayuki, which causes trouble for Shirayuki, Zen assigns Obi to be her guard. Zen thinks this would be the first time since their first meeting that she meets Obi again, and is not pleased to find out that they have become a little familiar with each other already behind his back. Kiki eventually brings Obi over to Shirayuki, and since Obi was told to not get in the way of work he stands around watching which is boring so when he learns that Shirayuki is going to the Loca garden to get Loca he goes with to help her and the other pharmacists to harvest. He then helps to carry bottles of pickled Loca to a basement warehouse. When saying that they're going to test the quality of a previous batch of Loca, Garrack gives them wine and Shirayuki collapses drunk. Obi was told to keep an eye on her until she's completely sober. Shirayuki gets up and leaves the pharmacy, and it turns out that she was trying to go to Raxd, so Obi gives her a report on it. He carries her back after she passes out, and meets Zen on the way. He carries her to the nap room, and tells Zen about what happened. As they have drinks, Zen gives Obi an identification badge and a title; Personal messenger of Clarines' Second Prince. Obi is going to be working as Shirayuki's bodyguard and report directly to Zen if anything happens.
Zen is being made to look over a dispute between a nobleman and people of the nobleman's island. After bringing Kiki and Mitsuhide to Zen and witnessing the meeting, which concerned the hunting of a type of bird the nobleman was doing, Obi goes to see Shirayuki. When Ryuu, who is working a bit further away, doesn't hear Shirayuki calling for him that it's time to go see Garrack, a colorful bird suddenly flies up at Ryuu and they can catch his attention. A woman used a flute to control the bird, and the woman was one of Zen's guests, the representative for the people on the island. She tells Shirayuki about their special birds, that they sail the seas and fish with, and that the nobleman and his friends are hunting their birds. Shirayuki comes up with an idea to have the birds act as message birds, and a test is arranged for, to see if the birds can be used as such. The bird is going to fly about 10 km to carry a letter to the lookout fortress Kokoku, and once there the letter would be signed by the person at the fortress, and a bell would be tied on. It had to be done within 25 minutes. Shirayuki was asked to go to the lookout fortress, and Obi went with her as her guard. The Nobleman also asked to go with. At the tower, the nobleman locks Shirayuki inside and throws the bell into the water. Obi sees Shirayuki jump from the tower and jumps in after, to help her look for the bell. The bird gets back to the castle just in time, and the nobleman was arrested. Thus, the birds of the island are to be protected and used as messenger birds for the kingdom.
Zen goes to the girl Kihal's island with Kiki and Mitsuhide, and when he's about to leave Obi notices that Shirayuki seems vbery embarrassed around Zen. She's acting weird when Obi asks about it, too. So when Zen returns, Obi blocks his path and tells her to run to the forest, since they were on the way to it. Zen then goes after her so they can talk about the kiss and what happened at the tower. Once he returns from the forest (after leaving Shirayuki to a guard she knwos) Zen tells Kiki, Mitsuhide and Obi that he told Shirayuki that he wants to walk a path where he he can be with Shirayuki, and that Shirayuki took his hand. After that he takes Kiki and Mitsuhide to write a report for Juris island, and sends Obit to report that they had returned.
One morning Obi goes to Shirayuki's dormitory and wakes her up after appearing through her window. He brings her to the others, and they're all going out together since all of them have a day off. Everyone but Obi ride in a carriage; Obi rides a horse instead because he prefers it. They go to a town called Eurekanna, a town that likes contests and theatre. Shirayuki hides her hair since it stands out (it's very red). They wander around the town and once noon comes they have breakfast (because brunch is an unknown concept). After their meal, Obi participates in a martial arts tournament (under the alias Nanaki) and wins it; he wins both money and a foreign hair bauble. He gives the hair bauble to Shirayuki.
One day Obi finds Ryuu under a tree. He has lost some papers to the wind and the last one is up in the tree, but Ryuu can't climb, so Obi picks him up and puts him on his shoulders so he can reach. Ryuu gives Obi seeds from a flower, and Obi later learns from Zen that Shirayuki is collecting all those seeds because they have different colors. Obi goes to give back the seeds to Ryuu, but Ryuu says that he's giving them to him after all. Shirayuki then shows up to bring Ryuu back. Obi decides to keep the seeds a secret from Shirayuki, to keep it between only him and Ryuu.
A mountain monkey shows up at the castle. Actually it's a person called Mihaya, but he shows up at the castle, having a message to Zen and Shirayuki. From learning that Mihaya kidnapped Shirayuki in the past and seeing how openly hostile Zen is regarding Mihaya, Obi decides that Mihaya is an enemy. Mihaya tells them that he met a "pretty boy" that's looking for Shirayuki, and that that boy is looking to take her "somewhere more appropriate." Since Mihaya is the only one that knows what this boy looks like, Obi is sent to look for him with Mihaya. The same period of time Shirayuki gets an invitation to a dinner party in Tanbarun, and Obi challanges Zen for the position of guarding Shirayuki during the near month long trip since Mitsuhide was supposed to go. Obi wins the battle and is allowed to go with her.
When they leave, Lord Haruka shows up. He's going to travel with them for 8 days, up to the border. Haruka forces Obi to ride in the carriage, though he had been intending to ride on a horse. Haruka proceeded to educate both Shirayuki and Obi on politics and the two countries' relationships and other important things during the trip.
Once they arrive at the castle and the formal instroduction of Shirayuki is made, Raji takes her to a tea room where they talk. After tea, Shirayuki and Obi are shown to their adjoining rooms and Obi goes to look around the castle. The next day Shirayuki is meeting with Raji again, though it's awkward considering their past. To lessen the suspense, Raji shows them around the castle. Obi notices, while Raji and Shirayuki are talking, that they're being spied at from the shadows. So to escape prying eyes Raji leads them to an underground passage that go all the way around the castle. However while there, they get lost. Obi notices that they're still being followed and goes to catch their stalkers, who turns out to be Raji's younger siblings, the twins Rona and Eugena. Eugena helps them find the way back out, and into the greenhouse where they spent the rest of the day. Some of the time is spent there, other times are spent in the library. One of the times in the library, Rona gets told that she can't push Raji and Shirayuki together by Obi. She gets an idea and pushes Shirayuki so Obi has to catch her. It makes Obi feel weird.
Come the day of the party, Shirayukiand Obi dresses up even more than they had had to do during the rest of the stay. As they get ready to go down to the party, a message from Zen arrives, saying that the pretty boy looking for Shirayuki has found out that she's gone to Tanbarun and the castle there. Just then, said pretty boy shows up as well, with a comrade. The comrade keeps up with Obi in hand-to-hand combat, but knocks him out when Rona and Eugena show up and startles Obi. When Obi wakes up he gets to know that Shirayuki is gone and they can't find her. He leaves a message for Zen and takes a gift for Shirayuki with him; Zen had sent along a bell and whistle that Kihal had meant to give to Shirayuki.
Obi follows the tracks and catches up with one of the kidnappers, the guy that knocked him out, and learns that both Shirayuki and the pretty boy - Kazuki - have been kidnapped by a band of thieves called the Sea's Talon. He won't let the guy left behind - Itoya - youf of his sight and follows him. He ends up meeting Itoya's gang, a group of mountain mercenaries called the Mountain's Lions. He follows Itoya and his boss, but before they get far the sound of wings and a bird's cry is heard, and he stops. Zen jumps down and Obi kneels in front of him on the ground. After a scolding and knock on the head from Zen, he learns that his method of carrying the bell that the bird could hear was useful since it led Zen to him, and Kihal helped them make Popo there. It's decided that the Mountain's Lions will help Zen and the rest to get Shirayuki and Kazuki back. Once reaching the port city they were headed for, Obi is sent to scout and he finds that Shirayuki has been taken aboard a ship that is still in port. Kiki suggests that they bring her to the ship as a captive, and Obi, Zen and Mitsuhide dress up as outlaws and brings Kiki to the Talons.
While Raji gathers people and ships to follow the Talons' ship, Zen and them are guided to the Talons' stronghold by Mihaya, who has been there due to family relations, and they strike and take their stronghold before the Talons arrive. Then they take the ship, and frees Shirayuki. They are temporarily invited to the Mountain Lions' hideout in the mountains, and learn that the Boss of the Lions is Shirayuki's dad. Obi avoided Shirayuki for a while but she confronted him about it. After that, Obi and Shirayuki return to Tanbarun Castle. There's going to be another dinner party too, to
Come the day of the Royal Castle Open House, a day where the citizens are allowed within the area of the castle, there are a lot of festivities. Obi comes to fine Shirayuki at a point in the day, and takes her to watch Zen and Izana greet the people from a balcony. After, Zen dresses up a a guard again since it's easier for him to move around like that. Ryuu shows up looking for Shirayuki, since an actress has gotten injured. Shirayuki is asked to stand in for her, and Obi watches from the sidelines. He overhears the director trying to make the person acting as prince in the play to remove the veil covering her hair, and Zen stands in as knight to protect Shirayuki, even though the knight was not supposed to make another appearance.
Since the Open House Day Zen has been spacing out, and he ended up getting a tapestry dropped on top of him which wrenched his neck. When Mitsuhide goes to get medicine for him, Mitsuhide breaks a bottle containing an experimental drug and hypnotized himself into being unbearably polite and absessed about Zen, and being overall weird. Obi keeps a record of everything he says and does because it's hilarious and eventually Shirayuki makes an antidote and when Mitsuhide doesn't remember a thing, Obi has very fun telling him all about what happened, with a few alterations here and there.
Obi is told by Shirayuki, while helping her out as per his daily routine, that she has been promoted from apprentice pharmacist to a proper court pharmacist. Obi thought she already was an official pharmacist since they first met. He excuses himself soon after, and attacks a person that had been following them. Turns out that it was Mihaya, who had gained a small piece of land and position from Raji, and that Mihaya was in Wistal Castle as a messenger for Raji. He has come to meet with Shirayuki. Raji's assistant Sakaki is also there and he presents her with an official title, of Friend of the Tanbarun Royal Family. When Sakaki and Mihaya leave, Zen and Shirayuki and the others go with them until Jeridan.
After parting ways, they need to get moving since rain is coming, and they are caught in it so they find an inn to stay the night at. Obi and Zen take a bath (as does Kiki and Shirayuki) while Mitsuhide keeps watch. When they eat later, they meet a woman that hits on both Mitsuhide and Zen, but lets them know that she doesn't mind the girls either. Obi on the other hand looks too dangerous. Later that night when everyone else are asleep, Obi goes outside, and meets the woman from before. She is someone that Obi knew from before and has worked with on jobs back when he was an assassin, and she's called Torou; he's not seen her in three years. She enlists Obi to help her out with a job. Nothing criminal, just picking up a runaway that ditched his guards without paying them. He intended to go back by dawn but was delayed, and Zen and the rest came to find him thanks to Kiki.
Shirayuki gets a new uniform and of course Obi is the first one to see her wear it, not Zen. Shirayuki is going on an official trip to Lyrias in the north which is called "The Kingdom of Clarines' Northern Archive", to study. Izana is also leaving the castle for a while, to go to the northern castle Wilant where their mother the queen dowager lives. Shirayuki is leaving right after Obi brought her to see Zen. Zen is left to take care of the castle in Izana's absence.
A letter from Izana arrives, and they are leaving the castle as well. The letter says to finish up the work he (Zen) has and come meet him in the north in Wilant. They're going through the Lyrias checkpoing but they're not going to go see Shirayuki. They get a message from Izana while they're on the road, telling Zen not to come to Lyrias, but Zen heads to Lyrias with Obi in tow bespite that only to find that it's been quarantined and that Shirayuki, Ryuu and Izana are locked inside. Zen sends Obi inside to protect Shirayuki and help her, and he reports to Izana, though he tells the first prince that he only follows Zen's orders but that he'll try his hardest to solve their current problem. Obi then goes to find Shirayuki and Ryuu, and learns from them what kind of information they currently have. Obi goes to gather information on where the people that have fallen ill have been and after that starts looking into it further. Shirayuki and Ryuu, together with Suzu and Yuzuri from Lyrias, manage to make the text that had faded in the book they found out a bit about the illness to return, and a boy called Kirito knows where they need to go so Obi, shirayuki and Kirito goes there. They need to go there to gather seeds from the plants responsible to make a cure, too. Obi carries Kirito when he collapses from the illness, and they go further into the cave it originates from. They can't find any seeds right away so Obi climbs up to look from above, where he finds the seeds and they gather them, and return. They leave Kirito and the other patinets' cure to Ryuu and return to the cave, to see how so many people came in contact with them. Thanks to Obi's memory of the path they took in the cave, walking on top of the mountain leads them to inside the test plantations. They find a stream and they find blooming flowers that glow. They're called Olin Mars, a pharmacist called Shidan tells them. Turns out he was secretly researching them in an attempt to make the flowers glow without being poisonous so he can use it as an attraction for tourists to come to Lyrias, but he's been unsuccessful thus far. After they return once more it turns out that Garrack has come to Lyrias, because she was called to help with the situation. Ryuu has also managed to make a cure, it only needs to rest a night to be finished. Obi and Shirayuki are going back to everyone, but on the way Shirayuki collapses. Both she and Obi have gotten ill, but the tension kept her from collapsing this far; Obi is staying up out of pure stubbornness and determination. Obi couldn't carry her though, so he was going to go get someone to help her, but didn't have to because Izana showed up and carried her to the pharmacy for him, and both Shirayuki and Obi are made to go to bed. After they have been given the cure the next day, they learn that Zen is on the way there. Once they're cured they get a scolding from Garrack but then also get praised. They see Zen, Kiki and Mitsuhide have arrived after they leave. Obi gets into a snowball fight with the kids, too. After that, when Suzu asks if Obi or "Lowen" (Izana in disguise) are Shirayuki's lover, it's a fun experience to tell the Lyrias pharmacists they've become friends with that "Lowen" really is prince Izana. Though Obi thought it would have been more interesting if it had been left a secret. Obi is going back with Zen and them once Zen is done with his duties and a few days later Shirayuki and Ryuu are heading back to Wistal as well.
One of his days off, Obi goes to escort Shirayuki to a date with Zen, and then goes shopping with Ryuu. In the evening he gets a corc decoration from Zen. It's such a weird gift but Obi carries it with him and leaves it as a message for Shirayuki at times so he does use it even if it's not for its intended purpose.
One day Kiki tells Obi and Zen that she made Mitsuhide seriously angry and that he's probably angry at Zen as well. She told Mitsuhide about a promise she made with her father, that they kept from him. She brings Mitsuhide home with her, and asks her father to stay longer at the castle, since she was supposed to return hom in a year.
From Lyrias comes visitors; Kirito, Yuzuri and Suzu. Kiki also has cut her hair short. Obi gets to hear that Mitsuhide used to think that Kiki was a male swordsman, and when he's trying to pry he's sent over to the pharmacy by Zen. He's stopped on the way by Mitsuhide for a talk. Mitsuhide asks Obi if he knows if Kiki has any lover or anyone that she likes. Obi jokes and says its him but Mitsuhide knows that that's never going to happen. Obi then proceeds to the pharmacy to meet his visiting friends, and is dragged into making a tea; Obi and Suzu are made the test subjects of the most foul tasting herbal teas. Once they complete a great tea finally, Izana shows up. Unfortunately he can't stay for tea but he asks Shirayuki to bring him some later. Later they are told that Suzu is going to help Shidan with his research on the Olin Mars. Garrack suggests that Ryuu and Shirayuki go to help with the research at some point or other.
Zen is made to meet an elegible woman for a marriage date, and chooses to meet Kiki. It's just to make people stop pestering him, really, for a while, and Izana didn't remove her name from the candidates. At the end of that day, Izana appears and gives Zen the authority over a part of the castle's west wing, allowing him to prepare a room there for Shirayuki. Zen, Kiki, Mitsuhide and Obi are also moving in there.
The next day Obi walks with Shirayuki to the "big hosue" as Obi calls it, where a whole lot of people work, they have a bunch of different jobs but it's like a big area that they gather at. It's actually called the Reference Room and contains a ton of documents and such. Obi doesn't usually go there since he doesn't really like it. But Zen is there doing work and Obi is doing stuff for him. Haruka also asked Obi to deliver some documents to Zen. Zen goes to deliver Shirayuki half the way to the pharmacy and tells Obi to come too. In the night when Obi returns, he jumps up to encounter a man called Yuuha, who insulted Shirayuki earlier that day, and found Shirayuki asleep on a bench. She has a fever and he brings her to the pharmacy.
A letter from Her Highness the Queen Dowager arrives to Izana. In four months, Izana is going to be coronated as the King of Clarines.
King Haruto, as she's called, arrives a few days before the coronation, thoug Obi has not had a chance to see her yet since he's been busy. The two of them dressed up for an audience with Zen this time around, and he called them officially because Raji is coming as a representative for Tanbarun to the coronation, and Shirayuki is, since she holds a title in Tanbarun, going to be a host for Raji, while Obi is to escort the tow of them. They're going to Zaldio to meet him and escort him to the castle. So they go to pick him and his aide Sakaki up, and they get into the coronation hall to witness it. Obi goes to stand with Kiki and Mitsuhide. The coronation is a great success and so is the ball after it. Once it's over Zen gathers Obi, Shirayuki, Mitsuhide and Kiki for a little post-party party where they drink.
A while after the coronation, both Ryuu and Shirayuki are told that they will be transferred out of the castle, and that they will be going to Lyrias for two years as researchers. The day before Zen is going on an inspection Shirayuki has still not told Zen and the others can't tell him because it would be better if Shirayuki told him. Zen and the other three go to Wilant castle to meet Haruto, where she tells him to apprehend some bandits for her. They were supposed to meet Shirayuki on the way back but they're late but once they reach the meetup point it turns out she has not arrived. So they go to look for her and the carriage that she was supposed to come with, since it didn't arrive either. They find her at a merchant's carriage stuck in the road. The driver had been attacked with a numbing drug and his goods had been stolen. So they go bandit hunting again. However, it turns out it was two kids that wanted to steal a horse, but they used too much of the numbing drug and the horses were unable to move so they disguised it as bandits having stolen. After Zen return Shirayuki's things Shirayuki finally tells Zen about her transfer to Lyrias.
The day before Shirayuki leaves for Lyrias, Obi witnesses Izana ask Shirayuki to come with Ryuu to see him once they're done with work. The next morning Obi and the rest get to know that she's going to be gone for two years. Everybody gives Shirayuki hugs and Shirayuki and Obi joke about Obi showing up in Lyrias suddenly.
Two days after Shirayuki left, Zen takes Obi away for an important conversation. He asks Obi if Obi wants to go to Lyrias, and tells him that if he goes it would be as his knight. Obi says that he would like to postpone giving an answer, though. He accompanies Zen on one of his inspections while avoiding the subject. He goes off to have a meal with Itoya and Kazuki when he meets them in a port, at one point, too. After talking with those two, he decide to finally talk with Zen again, and calls him out in the evening. Zen asks him if he likes him, and Obi says yes. Zen then asks him if he also likes Shirayuki, to which he also says yes. After a deep conversation, Obi asks if Zen is going to propose to Shirayuki, to which Zen says he's making her wait. The next day Obi wakes Zen up with some weird mask. Later in the day Zen gives Obi a short sword to carry on him, as well as a new I.D: Kingdom of Clarines, Zen Wistalia's Immediate Knight. In the evening Obi has drinks with Kiki and Mitsuhide. And early in the morning he leaves, only seeing Kiki and telling her to give Zen and Mitsuhide his regards.
Days later, Obi shows up in the evening and went to the pharmacy building, though Shirayuki and Ryuu had already left. He met them in the morning while he was wearing a fox mask, scaring Ryuu with it. Obi goes to see some people at the checkpoint. Obi then later learns that Ryuu is going to be sent to Wilant Castle after his time in Lyrias is over. Obi has been made Shirayuki's personal attendant by Zen, he tells her, and that he would be in Lyrias while she's in Lyrias, too. During his time in Lyrias he's also going to learn how to be a knight and attendant, so he has a lot of studying to do as well. Shirayuki also decides that she will aim for Wilant Castle, to be transfered there. And Obi is going to help her, of course.
Four months later they have been invited to a night banquet in Wistal castle, but they also have a request of Zen. To also send an invitation to Lata Forenzo, a nobleman doing research in Lyrias. Lata has been avoiding them and they really need to talk to him for the Olin Mars research. When they return to the castle after meeting Zen and the others, Shirayuki finally rides a horse with Zen for the first time. Once the night banquet start, they go looking for, and fings, Lata Forenzo. He fakes inviting Shirayuki to a dance to get the opportunity to flee but gets nowhere since Obi stops him. Lata finally agrees to teach Shirayuki (and Suzu) how to create Crystal Glitter Stones, which he reasearches about. During the banquet Obi and Shirayuki also meet a person that Mitsuhide doesn't get along with; the vice-captain of the Sreg Knights, Hisame. Thet're invited to a small after-party by the soldiers and also meet with Izana. Izana borrows Shirayuki and Zen for a while and later on Obi learns that she told Izana and Zen about her and Obi aiming for Wilant Castle with Ryuu, and that Izana told Shirayuki that if she succeeds in the research of Olin Mars, he would like her to take up the role of getting permission from every governer of the northern lands to allow the flower of light to spread in the northern base, and that she could as Obi to go with her.
It takes a while but they succeed in their Olin Mars project well within the time limit. They had to earn the money to buy the stones they were doing research with too, but with the tea they made in Wistal before, they managed to earn a fair bit, enough to cover their expenses. But they'll have to wait for the flowers to bloom now, to be sure that they've really succeeded completely.
The troops inspecting the perimeters have been changed, as well as the troops heading outside. This is because that morning four soldiers from the 2nd group was bedridden with fever. Other groups have a few too. They have a lot of people falling ill, so there is a risk of the medicine running out. It's the northern/winter flu. Obi who's on guard duty has to bring people to the pharmacy buildings too.
After flu season, the first poison free Olin Mars flowers bloom.
More than 10 months after that, Ryuu has grown like a weed and is taller than Shirayuki. Obi has been learning things about being a knight from Lata. Obi is preparing to head to the northern knight base with Shirayuki for their permissions. They get a visit from Mihaya and Kazuki, too.
A directive was sent from Wistal to the whole kingdom. Several young songs of viscount and earl houses have been attacked, and they are all regarded as strong contenders to marry Kiki. Zen, Mitsuhide and Kiki are at the Sreg knight base at the moment and Mitsuhide has become as a suspect.
One of the candidates for Kiki's hand, a knight at Sreg called Tsuruba Bergatt, is attacked but protected by his twin brother. Hisame, who had proposed to Kiki the night before to lure out the assailant, is also attacked.
Mitsuhide is disarmed and put in custody after an emergency message from Wistal's Imperial Guards arrive. He is suspected of having hired assassins. When Obi hears this he heads over to Sreg, leaving Shirayuki with a guard from Wistal castle, Shikito. On his way over he investigated a bit surrounding the Tohz house which testified against Mitsuhide. For the past few months, the same carriage has been seen heading towards the Tohz's residence numerous times, it was witnessed by the knights in a nearby guardhouse. The carriage did indeed enter the Tohz's residence. At the checking station along the way there were also records of a retainer of the Bergatts going through it several times, with dates matching the dates the carriage was seen. So he started to watch the Tohz house, and when he saw them make contact with someone he gave chase. However he was noticed and engaged in battle. He won the fight but the guy he captured refused to say anything so Obi left him in the hands of some knights. He then investigated the assassin, and did find out a little bit before he was discovered. He found a connection to the Bergatts within some groups of assassins; right now the Bergatt house has those people working for them, and everyone else can neither take part nor do they want to get involved with it. Obi was injured during one confrontation though he doesn't disclose when or how, since it apparently was a little horrible. Likely he was injured when the assassins he investigated discovered him.
A messenger bird arrives, with a message that the Bergatt's current head is heading towards Serg. Kiki and Zen goes to confront the Bergatt twins, and Obi goes to make more investigations.
Obi arrives in the evening, after Kiki and Zen witnessed one of the Bergatt twins sneak out of the fortress. He leaves his report but leaves out how exactly he got injured.
Tsuruba Bergatt heads out in secret again and is attacked; he's saved by Obi and Kiki. After defeating the attackers, Tsuruba asks when Zen will be sent to the castle. He tells them that the ones that framed Mitsuhide was the Bergatts. It was the twins' older brother Touka's plan to eliminate both Mitsuhide and Kiki so Tsuruba and Tariga will fill the empty spaces, to regain the former power of the Bergatts. Touka intends to have something happen to Zen while Mitsuhide is disgraced, so that Mitsuhide can't recover his reputation. Tsuruba says that the only choice that they have is to kill Touka, or else he won't stop. Obi and Kiki heads back to Zen, to protect him and Mitsuhide, and Tsuruba is following them. While they're on the way, a fire breaks out at the fortress.
Touka has gotten inside the fortress to execute his plan, and has taken out many knights with the help of his men and assassins. Obi and Kiki appear, and fight off assassins. When Mitsuhide appears, Obi tells Kiki to go with Mitsuhide to Zen, and Obi gets ready to take care of the enemies in front of him (together with some of the knights) despite his wounds being about to reopen. But eventually Touka is defeated, and brought to court. The incident is not made public for the sake of the twins, but Touka is removed as family head. Obi goes back to Shirayuki who treats him, and they go to Wistal together. After Touka's punishment is decided, Zen, Kiki, and Mitsuhide get a long vacation, and Zen lets Obi and Shirayuki know that he's coming to Lyrias with them for the duration of it, while Kiki and Mitsuhide go off on their own.