Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The crackling of firewood accompanied the sounds of nature as birds and insects chirped and buzzed around. Seated around a campfire in a clearing by the side of a dirt road were two figures.

The first one wore a set of red and blue plate armor, brutal in its design and giving the motif of a veritable demon. The helmet was set aside, revealing a fairly young-looking man. His gunmetal gray eyes eyed the hunk of meat on the spit as it slowly rotated. He sported purposefully unkempt dark brown hair, which, combined with his light stubble, gave him an air of nonchalance…

If one didn’t take into consideration the greatsword resting on the log he was sitting on. It was a massive thing, more akin to a hunk of steel encased in the same brutal red and blue plate as his armor. Even lying there on the log, it gave off a faint heat, one that was mixed with the heat of the campfire.

The second wore white and pink armored robes, the design more ceremonial and regal than anything else. Rather than a helmet, a mask had been pulled to the side of man’s head, revealing a youthful visage, clean-shaven and well-groomed. The pink faux-hair attached to the fox-like mask masked his hair, but strands of raven locks were clear within all the pink. Verdant green eyes were locked on to the hunk of meat as he slowly spun it on the spit, waiting just for the right moment to-!

Sizzle..!

-raise the well-done meat from the spit, the scent of a perfectly cooked meal wafting across their makeshift camp.

“Finally.” The stubbled man chuckled as he leaned on his knees, a smirk on his lips. “That took almost forever.”

“It’s just because you’re hungry.” The robed man rolled his eyes before he tossed the hunk of meat, which he held by one end of a protruding bone, over at his compatriot. “Here, I’ll start up another one.”

“Nice!”

As he walked over to a nearby tree, where hanging on a rope tied around one of its branches was another hunk of raw meat, thankfully not having been swarmed by flies or any other annoyances. It was around the size of half of his torso and looked just as heavy, but he easily untied and carried it back to the campfire before he was stopped by a low growl coming from the tree line.

Looking over, and then slowly looking up, his green met with glowing blues, the red slit-like iris locked on to him.

“Sekken, no.” The robed man chided the owner of the pair of glowing eyes, his tone stern as he shook his head. “You already had your fill.”

Another low growl, almost a whine, came from the treeline, accompanied by a few bubbles that floated over to him.

“No means no, Sekken.” The man sighed as he continued his way back to the campfire, ignoring the low whine that followed after him.

The armored man ripped away the last strands of meat off of the bone of his meal with his teeth, cheeks bulging as he chewed and swallowed. With a content sigh, he tossed the bone into the fire as he patted his stomach, using a towel he pulled out from one of the pouches on his waist to wipe his lips.

“See, this is why I sent Gurion out to hunt for food on his own.”

The robed man set the fresh meat on the spit as he sat down on a rock they rolled over earlier. "We don’t even know where we are, and you sent him off on his own? Are you insane, Davion?”

“Relax, he’ll be fine.” The man called Davion waved off his companion’s insult. “He knows how to take care of himself, Ryo.”

“Yeah, ‘take care of himself’ by that you mean ‘eventually burn the whole forest down if something pisses him off’.”

“Eh, if it happens, Sekken can always put it out.”

Rumble…Rumble…

The two men stopped their conversation as the ground started to shake in a pattern, in steps that were gradually coming closer to them. The robed man slowly reached over to grab the handle of what seemed to be a massive ceremonial instrument composed of a collection of bells, tinkling harmoniously as he slowly lifted it from the ground before he placed his fox-like mask back on his face.

Davion put on his helmet and lifted his greatsword without any issue, strapping it on his back as the two of them looked towards the end of the road where all the sounds were coming from.

They didn’t wait long before what looked like a caravan began making its way down the road, escorted by what looked like soldiers wearing armor that was somewhat archaic to them. Spears and shields, they were familiar with, but they seemed so…small. Some of them were riding horses, and they seemed to be more decorated than the others.

Two columns of soldiers flanked the large, wooden carriages, protecting it from both sides. They were rowdy, grins on their faces and raucous in their tone as they marched along. The one at the lead, who had a helmet with a bright plume on top, spotted them and held up a hand to stop the convoy.

Both Ryo and Davion shared a glance before the former stepped forward, putting his oversized musical tool on a special holster on the back of his armor. Each step he made caused the bells to sound off, creating a harmonious droning as he approached them.

“Greetings!” Ryo raised a hand placatingly, keeping a fair distance between them when he saw a few react negatively to his presence. “My friend and I seem to be lost. Is it too much trouble to ask for a map?”

Silence.

The soldiers seemed to look at each other before speaking in an unknown tongue, one that seemed far too archaic for him to understand.

Behind his mask, his brows furrowed, unsure of how to resolve the dilemma of the language barrier. He began trying different dialects, from Yukumo to even Felyne of all things, hoping that one would eventually click, accompanied by a series of hand signs as well as gestures.

Eventually, the one at the lead of the caravan had enough of his theatrical attempts and began aggressively motioning him to stop after minutes of fruitless efforts, unsheathing his rather short sword and pointing it towards him, yelling a series of commands in their incomprehensible tongue.

Raising both of his hands, the robed man took a few steps back, obviously getting the message to back off. This seemed to ease the soldiers as they continued their way, though they kept a sharp eye on the two of them as they passed. Ironically, it was probably the only thing that they actually understood from each other.

“Tough crowd.” Davion drawled as he crossed his arms, returning the glares of the soldiers with one of his own.

“Their tongue, have you ever heard of it before?” Ryo asked him, veiled annoyance clear in his tone.

“No, and I’ve been to Nua Te and heard their lingo there–”

“It’s not, that too-“

“Tasuketekudasai!”

Hana Fujikawa didn’t know what was going on.

One moment she and her friends were shopping at Ginza during their school break, and then all of a sudden this Gate suddenly appeared and brought with it all these men and creatures. They had all been stunned at the sight, many believing that it was an elaborate show of technology, holograms, the sorts.

Then all hell broke loose.

Bang!

One of them barked something in a strange language as he hit the side of the wagon with his spear, and she saw a few of the armored soldiers jeering at them through the bars.

There were other people from Ginza in the wagon they were in, all in varying states. People from all walks of life were there, businessmen, store clerks, other students such as her, and even children.

She hugged a shivering child close to her. The poor thing was absolutely traumatized.

“It’s gonna be okay,” She soothed him despite her own shaky voice. “The army is going to rescue us soon…”

Seeing men and women alike being killed in front of her had made her freeze when it all came crashing down, her classmates having split up to avoid capture or just out of sheer panic. She wasn’t so lucky and was quickly manhandled and slapped on with a metal collar. She had felt their hands fondle her as she kicked and screamed, and the bruises on her body were a result of their attempts to curb her defiance.

The other occupants of the wagon remained quiet, their eyes fearfully darting towards the door that had been locked shut.

Hana kept on clinging to the faint hope of rescue, even as the hours had passed since her capture.

She kept on believing that she was going to get out of this alive. Her and everybody else here.

‘Please, God, help us!’

Then, as if answering her prayers, the wagon slowed to a stop. The slave train had stopped, and the soldiers were talking to each other in their strange tongue. She tried to peer out, but with the limited view given to her by the barred window, she could barely see what caused the entire convoy to stop.

“B-Big sis, what is it…?” The child, desperately hugging her side, whimpered out. He was a young boy, bruised and hurt, having clearly been separated from his mother. His blonde hair was matted and ragged, and his foreign blue eyes locked onto her warm darks. He had oriental features for sure, and she wondered if either his mother or his father was a foreigner.

“I…I don’t know…” Hana murmured as she heard the soldiers speaking in their foreign tongue. “I can’t see what made them stop…”

From further down the convoy, she heard what she could only describe as an archaic guttural speech coming from someone that she presumed was not part of the convoy. It continued on for a while, with the tones of their captors seemingly getting more and more agitated at what the newcomer was saying.

Then, she heard-

“-kigenyou!”

Japanese?

It was an odd, almost archaic, as well as colloquial diction, but comprehensible Japanese nonetheless. That was without a doubt, if only there was that slim chance that she could find someone that could help them.

Her heart soared at the prospect of a possible rescue. For who else would speak Japanese in this strange and foreign land? But before she could capitalize on the chance, there was more shouting in the foreign tongue again, and the wagon started to move once more.

No!

She heard the horses whinny and whine, but the crack of their reins forced them to move. “No..!” she cried, dismayed.

Not when they were so close!

“Help us, please!” She cried out desperately, practically slamming herself against the wall where the barred window was.

There, standing in seeming surprise as they passed by, were two armored figures. One had brutal-looking red and blue plate armor, almost looking like some sort of dark knight in the fantasy games one of her friends loved playing. He even had a massive sword on his back, and the blank eye slits of the helmet seemed to light up as glowing blue eyes seemed to flash at the sight of her.

The other looked more akin to a groom in a traditional wedding, kimono and all. He seemed to be wearing what looked like a fox mask adorned with pink hair. He carried a massive kagura suzu on his back, and he seemed to be visibly intrigued at the sight of her, having taken a step forward.

“Please!”

“Onegaidakara!”

Ryo’s eyes widened at the sight of the young woman, a young girl on the cusp of adulthood, more like. She looked disheveled, bruised, and a deep sense of desperation in her eyes as she begged him. She was speaking some variant of Yukumo, but he could understand her well enough. There were a variety of other voices coming from the carriage and from the other carriages too, causing some of the soldiers to bash their shields against the side in an effort to shut them up.

But the two had seen and heard more than enough.

“This isn’t a supply convoy…” Davion whispered to Ryo, a growing sense of recognition in his voice that was soon replaced with a smoldering rage.

!!!

Looking over to his right, he could already see his friend sprinting to the front of the convoy, the bells on his weapon sounding off with each bounding step.

“Hey, wait!”

The eyes of the mask glowed in defiance, almost leaving a visible trail at how fast he was sprinting. He could not wait nor stand idly any longer. Stopping before the lead of the caravan, he extended one arm in order to halt the convoy once more.

“Why do you have them with you?!” Ryo demanded as he spoke with a growing rage in his tone. He glared at the plumed officer, not caring whether or not his language would be understood, only that his message would get across. Said officer glared back at him before unsheathing his short blade again and pointing at him, yelling once more in that strange language of theirs.

‘Damn it, I just can’t understand what he’s saying!’

Fwhip!

He instinctively twisted his body just as a projectile whizzed by him, his eyes catching the tail end of an arrow as it flew past. Tracing its path, he saw one of the decorated soldiers behind the plumed one holding a bow that was aimed at him.

‘That wasn’t a warning shot...’

A glint in the light was all the warning he needed to dash to the side just as a volley of javelins landed where he was.

“Hey!” Ryo snarled out towards the soldiers off to the side, the ones on horseback that were preparing to charge at him. “We only want to talk-!”

Fyoosh!

A jet of water flew past him and impacted the ground at the feet of the horse-mounted soldiers, turning it muddy. Not that the mud would have stopped the horses in the first place, as the sudden jet of water had spooked the animals enough for them to rear up and dislodge their riders.

Then, with an ear-piercing roar, a Mizutsune came out from the tree line, eyes glowing in rage as it quickly slithered its way toward him.

“Sekken!” He cried out in dismay at the same time as the soldiers yelled out in fear and surprise, quickly raising his arms and attempting to placate the provoked wyvern. “Stop!”

The Leviathan snarled at the soldiers as it circled around him protectively, trailing suds and bubbles before it came to a stop beside him. Nearly three times the height of a man, the massive creature dwarfed even the carriages, and the mere sight of it almost drove the horses into a fear-induced frenzy, neighing and whinnying in a panic.

‘There goes the diplomatic talks!’

“Alright.” Ryo grit his teeth as he unholstered his Hunting Horn, the bells of the eponymously named Summoning Bell tinkling at the movement as he hefted it over his shoulder. He sent a glare, unseen but definitely felt behind his mask. “Now, can we all calm down and talk like-?”

Crash!

The sound of clattering metal met his ears as a handful of soldiers were sent flying over the carriages. Looking over to the source, he found Davion with his Greatsword, Glavenus Array, in hand. The armored man seemed to be surprised if his stunned body language was of any indication.

“Davion!” The Hunting Horn user chided his friend.

“I-I didn’t think I’d send them flying that easily!” The Greatsword user retorted as he swung his sword again when a few more soldiers charged at him. Struck with the flat of his blade, they, too, suffered the same fate as their compatriots, being sent flying over the carriages and into the bushes on the other side of the road.

“I didn’t want it to turn out this way!”

“Yeah?! Well, tell that to General Gobbledigook over there!”

The foreign men screamed as the dark knight-like man batted them aside with unnaturally shocking strength. He made sure to not use the edged side of his blade despite the fact that his opponents were trying to kill him. A few arrows flew towards him, but they simply pinged off of his armor, and the baleful blue glare from his helmet carried with it an intimidating pressure that settled on the field.

“W-What’s happening?”

“They’re fighting, they’re fighting! Maybe they’ll rescue us!”

The people in the carriage stirred and clamored, trying their best to peer through the barred window she was looking through. She could hear bestial roars and the sound of pressurized water alongside the scared whinnying of horses and the gentle tinkles of what she could only assume was the massive kagura suzu the other man carried. While she was glad that there wasn’t any bloodshed just yet, a part of her was angry and disappointed that the brutish and barbaric men that captured them weren’t suffering-!

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

The ground began shaking, so much so that the entire carriage rocked, further inciting panic within the occupants. It was in a pattern, almost like-!

Crash!

Another loud roar forced them all to cover their ears, the roar itself a bestial sound of something big entering the fray.

The armored man seemed to exclaim something as he looked over to his left, towards some unseen thing that was causing more of the foreign soldiers to panic. He removed a hand from his sword and gestured… something to whatever it was he was talking to. The language he spoke wasn’t one she was familiar with at all.

Something glowed on the back of the armored man’s left hand, pulsing with green light before he focused back on defending himself. With another swing of his sword, he launched a couple of soldiers into the side of the carriage, the impact almost causing the whole thing to topple over.

He seemed to exclaim an apology, judging from his sheepish tone.

A few horses passed by the window she was looking at, bare of their riders as they scattered into the woods. From behind the convoy, she could practically feel the thudding steps of something big alongside the panicked screams of the soldiers as they were sent flying by some sort of impact.

Crash!

Ting-a-ling~!

The soothing melody that accompanied the crash and the sounds of the bell was…odd. It made them feel rejuvenated, and there was a fragrant scent in the air that was neither too strong nor too weak. Just enough for them to feel…clean?

Smash!

The other man seemed to say something in an angered tone, one that was mixed with disappointment and restrained disgust. Hana could only assume that it was some sort of call for a challenge? Fantasy people say that all the time in manga and anime, right?

Silence.

The dark knight-like man seemed to look around warily before looking over to his right, towards where the college student could assume was the robed man that sprinted ahead earlier was. Then, they spoke in that odd tongue of theirs, and judging from the tones they were…in disbelief? She assumed that they were talking about something about the fight now that it was over?

Hana could hear the sounds of rustling, of metal shifting, and then a sharp hiss of an inhale.

More talking, more of the odd tongue…

The armored man looked around once more before he approached the carriage she was in, looking straight at her. He then seemed to call over his friend with a wave, talking about something that faintly sounded like a Japanese word.

“Yu-ku-mo? I can speak it!” Hana cried out as she gripped the metal bars. “Please, let us out!”

The swordsman seemed to recoil in surprise before turning back to his compatriot, this time speaking in a more urgent tone. She could pick out the word ‘Yukumo’ again amidst their talk before a loud growl took his attention, causing him to look to the right and gesture to something to..seemingly…cup something? Gather something? Sweep something, maybe?

A frustrated sigh came from the other one, and this time he spoke in understandable Japanese! 

“Understood… understood. Sekken, remain there if you will, understood? It would be bad for you to put fear into them.”

He spoke in his odd archaic Japanese to this ‘Sekken’, this… ’Soap’? What kind of name was ‘Soap’?

There was a low whine after he said that, coming from whatever this ‘Sekken’ was, which definitely wasn’t a human. The armored man sheathed his sword, saying something in their guttural language towards someone she couldn’t see from in her cage before walking away to the rear of the wagon.

Jingle…

Turning her head, everyone in the carriage looked over at the shut doors as the sounds of chains being messed with entered their ears.

Smash!

There was the sound of chains breaking, the broken steel falling to the ground before the shrill sound of metal being bent and physically pulled as the doors bulged outwardly.

“Hnnnng!”

A few more tense seconds passed before the door finally gave way, shattering into a thousand splinters as it burst open outwardly. Sunlight streamed into the interior of the carriage, causing the gaping occupants to wince at the sight of the steel-reinforced wooden doors being broken apart like they were nothing.

Beyond the broken doors was the robed man with the massive kagura suzu, who was already tossing away a large piece of metal.

Patting his white armored gauntlets clean of any wayward splinters, the man put his hands on his hips as he tilted his head, his gaze seemingly locked on to the manacles around their wrists and the fetters around their ankles, all linked together with what looked like a thick iron chain.

He shook his head before gesturing them forward in a slow, almost gentle manner. Once they were all out, he spoke to them in the old Japanese tongue that she had only read about in classical literature.

“You can understand me, yes? Come. I shall remove those chains. You’re free.”

You’re free.

Hana couldn’t help the tears from spilling out and she wrapped her arms around the taller man, causing him to freeze as she bawled against the, absolutely, soft purple fur collar of his robes.

Davion huffed as he closed the doors to the second carriage, shaking his head. Rather than slaves, what he had found were odd trinkets, jewels, clothing, and even some mannequins wearing finely made clothing for men and women. It was all in a chaotic pile, and he was somewhat surprised that it didn’t spill over when he opened the carriage doors.

His earlier feeling of disdain had slowly ebbed away at the sight of the unconscious soldiers, which Gurion had all pushed into a pile using the flat of his blade-like tail. He was glad that the Glavenus didn’t instinctively use the bladed edge of his tail to strike first earlier. It would have been… messy . 

There was a cry of surprise from the, now, freed prisoners, and he peered around the wagon’s corner to see them pointing in shock and fear towards both Sekken and Gurion.

‘Oh boy…’

“Huh? Oh, you mean Gurion? Don’t worry, he won’t hurt you!” He could hear Ryo trying to calm the panicking captives in Yukumoan. He could hear most of them speaking in a Yukumo dialect he’d never encountered before. While he couldn’t speak fluent Yukumoan, he knew enough to tell what the other party was speaking of. However, for these curious people, their version had expressions and words mixed in that he couldn’t translate well, but most of its structure was very much the same as the one he knew.

‘Also…’ He walked to the last two carriages, noting the lack of breathing, and broke the chains that shut their doors apart with slight effort. ‘Who in the world still wears armor this archaic? And not to mention the odd clothing in that other carriage. It looked more modern, almost like Bnahabra armor but out of cloth and fabric.’

Thud!

Shoving aside the metal bar that acted as the last barrier between him, the doors, and the contents of whatever were inside these last two carriages, he opened the first and was met with what looked like standard hunting supplies. Rations, Whetstones, glass bottles that had some sort of red liquid in them– perhaps Demondrug– the like.

He closed that one but made a mental note to try and find the runaway horses from earlier. Their own supplies were running low. A part of him did not want to partake in spoils of war, but considering their first encounter with these…people, as well as the ones they liberated, they needed all the supplies they could manage.

To the victor goes the spoils, as the saying goes, anyway.

Walking over to the last one, he opened it and was met with what looked like camp supplies. If the other carriage had the food and such necessities, this one had the tents and materials needed to make a makeshift resting area for a small group. Bundles and rolls of cloth, coils of rope, tools, and miscellaneous flags and banners. He made another mental note to look for two pairs of horses to hitch onto the carriages that he was going to appropriate.

He paused, a sudden thought going through his mind. Leaning slightly once more to peer around the carriage, he found the now-freed slaves silently weeping in both joy and grief. The people that captured them, whoever they were, clearly had done wrong to them, if a fair few of them were looking at the pile of unconscious soldiers with malice in their eyes.

Understandable, given the state of most of them, bruised and with clear signs of having been mishandled. Though that’s what he could see on the surface. If they were subjected to a more invasive sort of abuse… Then, it paints a clear picture of who these barbarians were.

As for moving forward, he’s still yet to speak formally to that woman who called out for help, giving her time to collect herself. Maybe it would be better to provide them with these supplies? Judging from how they appeared, he was sure they were not equipped with any survival skills to survive out in these wilds. In fact, they seemed to be alien to the environment.

Leaving them alone was also out of the question, considering their meeting with the other types of people in the locality. There is highly likely more of these disagreeable individuals around that could simply recapture them.

…

They were going to have no choice but to take care of them, weren’t they?

Flap..! Flap..!

The sound of distant wingbeats and the faint but distinct smell of blood entered his senses, causing him to look towards the Northeast and at the sky, squinting his eyes as he tried to peer past the canopy of the forests flanking the dirt road they were on. He could hear a familiar crackling, of growling and hissing, before–

Zzzzzap!

With a burst and surge of green lightning, an Astalos flew to a stop over their campsite, slowly landing amidst the panicked yells and screaming of the newly freed people.

It was understandable, really.

An Astalos was an absolute demon of a wyvern to deal with and to look at. Arrayed in dark green plates and scales that looked like they could cause horrific cuts just from a glancing blow, the volatile wyvern looked like the stuff of nightmares. It didn’t help that it stank of blood, and there seemed to be a fresh coating of it all over the creature’s snout and teeth, the sanguine liquid dripping down onto the grass below.

The horn vibrated, plate and sinew rubbing together and creating more green sparks as it looked around. The baleful red eyes locked on to the terrified civilians, and the beast growled before a lance made of similarly dark green plate whacked the side of its horn.

"None of that, Astaroth." The wielder of the lance, a figure on the back of the wyvern, chided. He wore armor similar to that of his mount, a dark green plate that looked like it was as capable in the offense as it was on defense with how sharp it looked. The helmet sported a singular horn that swept back, and the light green slit visor shifted from staring at the volatile wyvern to looking at the masked Hunting Horn user.

The Pink Hunting Horn user noticed the blood coating the end of the Gunlance, adding another layer of dread to the Dark Chariot.

"Ephraim, what happened?" Ryo asked the lancer as he got off the Astalos, approaching him with a hint of hurry in his steps. "Did both of you get hurt?"

"No, the idiots could barely leave a scratch on me or Astaroth." The Astalos' Rider shook his head as he jerked his Gunlance, activating the mechanism that folded it in half for better holstering on his back. "They didn't leave me any other choice other than to retaliate."

"Idiots? You got attacked? By who?"

"Yeah, by other Riders." That stopped Ryo as he looked at his green-armored comrade. "The strange thing was that they didn't have any Kinship Stones. And the Monsters they rode were…well, they had six limbs. Two wings and four legs, so they can't be Wyverns."

"Wait… they were riding Elders?" Davion piped up, walking away from the supply wagon and up to the two with his tone laced with a tinge of apprehension.

"Definitely not." 'Ephraim' drawled as he shook his head. "They were as pathetic as Remobras. Agile, sure, but unable to take even one of Astaroth's lightning bolts."

The aforementioned Astalos chirped in delight at his rider's acknowledgment of his strength.

The pink Rider cursed quietly as he checked his friend over. It never hurt to check. Bravado and Pride aside, any injury sustained on the field must be cared for instantly. Not to mention just what exactly attacked him. And the red liquid coating their forms was worrying.

"The survey was a bust…" Ryo muttered, crossing his arms and cupping his chin behind the mask. "Did you spot any more familiar landmarks nearby, at least? Or anything of note?"

"Nothing." Ephraim once more shook his head, his tone disappointed. "I did spot what looked like a village though, to the North. I was about to head back when I got rudely interrupted by these other riders." He tilted his head to peer at the wary civilians. "Other than that, further North of the village was what looked like a dry, rocky area, and to our West was some kind of hill that had a lot of movement happening at the base of it. There was a strange structure at the top. It looked like a temple of some sort."

He paused as if pondering his following words, gaze still locked at the civilians. "Now that I think about it, they also had a caravan, the same as this one. They were carrying people? What were they gonna do with them?"

"I don't know, but we'll get them out." Davion didn't hesitate to answer, stepping forward and banging a fist to his breastplate. "There's no way these people took them with good intentions."

"Even if it means facing more of them?" There was the ever faint hint of excitement bubbling up from beneath the lancer's calm facade. The Glavenus Rider knew that there was a reason the Astalos and his rider had bonded so quickly all those years ago. They shared an equal temperament when it came to being slighted.

Ryo sent a pondering look at Ephraim, whose glowing green slit visor was now steadfastly locked onto Davion's, and then moved his gaze toward him. "He has a point. What you did, even if we did good, was still reckless. We don't know our place here, we don't even know where we are, and now we have a bunch of refugees that we need to take care of and possibly a bunch of people who now want to hunt us down. We might have bitten off more than we can chew."

"I don't care who they were. I'm not going to put on the kiddie gloves when those idiots went straight for Astaroth's throat with their arrows." Ephraim turned to him with a hiss. "Those Wyvern Riders tried to joust me off of him, aimed straight for my chest without a second thought. These savages don't have a modicum of restraint. Why should I?"

Like Rider, like Partner, he could feel the enmity just wafting off his friend's form. He couldn't argue with what he said. These people truly did not have a sense of clemency. The first contact with the people they had seen ended in hostilities. But they had no right nor any authority to enact what they thought was correct.

Wherever they were, things weren't what they believed to be.

"I won't blame you for that. I'm asking to slow down for now." Ryo placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "We're running out of supplies, I can probably… claim the ones I found in the caravan. But I think they-" He motioned to the freed prisoners. "Need them more than we do. Not only that, but we also need to move; this forest isn't a suitable locale for us and them. If we can avoid painting a target on our backs, the better." The Mizutsune Rider tightened his hold on the Astalos Rider's shoulder.

"And where to, exactly?" Ephraim scoffed, a glare clear behind the visor. "To the village that I spotted? Who's to say that it isn't also filled with more of the scumbags and even more of the captives?"

"We take the chance, better than being out here. If there are, then we move to the next."

"How about we just knock those guys out and let nature sort them out?" Davion spoke up, stepping closer, just a step between the two just in case things got heated. "Like we did with these guys? Then we can get away with the captured people."

"And cause more problems? Our first encounter with people already ended in disaster."

Astaroth growled, taking a step closer towards the pile of unconscious soldiers, but was stopped when Gurion's blade tail dropped between the Astalos and the humans. The Glavenus snarled at the Astalos, and Sekken padded over between the two, narrowing his eyes onto both the Thunder and Bladed wyverns.

"It's better than doing nothing. You, of all people, should know." The Glavenus Rider put his foot down, both metaphorically and literally.

The green-armored Rider looked over at the scared civilians, maintaining his gaze for a long minute before he sighed, nodding in agreement. "Justice demands we do it, regardless of wherever we are. It just doesn't sit right with me, especially what they tried to do to us, and what they might've done to them especially."

"And we'll do that when it happens. But remember this, we're not judges or executioners. We're not Guild Knights. I guess I can excuse what we did just now as self-defense, but we're strangers here, outsiders. But if push comes to the shove, just don't go too overboard. It's better to be safe than sorry," Ryo removed his hand from his friend's shoulder, his expression softening in consideration behind the mask. "For now, avoid them, and let's start preparing these people for the long haul."

With a quiet sigh, Ephraim removed his helmet, revealing a young man with golden blonde hair and electric blue eyes. The conflict was still apparent in the lancer's eyes, as expressive as they were.

"...Fine."

The three of them together were an eclectic group, both in terms of arms, armor, and features, but they were a tight-knit party regardless.

"But before we take off, I want to scout again and make sure that the village I saw isn't chock-full of those savages. If it is, and they try to do something like earlier, nobody is holding me and Astaroth back… even if it means also hunting them."

"Well then, I'll just hope that they are not them, and they happily welcome you with some Dango." Ryo playfully tapped the armored chest of the lancer with a wry smile.

Davion released a sigh of relief. "Alright, I'm coming with. Ephraim, and I will look out ahead, we'll make sure it's safe both on the ground and in the air towards the village."

Ryo frowned. "Wait, you're ditching me with them?"

"I'm not the one who knows how to fluently speak Yukumo here. Besides, Gurion and I did our job, and we need you to gather info from these people."

Ryo grimaced to himself but nodded after a few seconds of contemplation. "Fine. Stay safe, you two."

As the Mizutsune Rider walked away to calm the liberated prisoners, both the lancer and the swordsman put on their helmets and raised their left hands, their Kinship Stones pulsing. Gurion and Astaroth stopped their tense staredown before they walked over to their respective Riders, passing by the scared and awed civilians without so much as a glance at them.

The Glavenus, which towered over everything present, even Sekken, laid on his stomach as Davion climbed to his back, years of experience making it look easy. Sitting down on the saddle, he turned to Ephraim, who had also mounted Astaroth.

"Where to?"

"Northwest." The green armored Rider answered, unholstering his Gunlance and loading in two new shells before flicking both halves together again. "It's far off in the forest, but I saw a bunch of dirt roads converge on a stone-paved one that looked bigger in the distance past the treeline. I'll fly ahead and check if there are any more of these caravans along the way to the village."

"Didn't Ryo say to avoid them? Weren't you going to scout the village?" Davion stared back dubiously.

"I can do that after I make sure that there isn't any other carriages carrying people. I'm not letting the possibility that there are people I could have saved but didn't to linger in my mind..." The slits of his visor seemed to glow with heavy emotion, and the green portions of his armor mirrored that, almost as if responding to his mood. With that, the Astalos leapt up into the air, wings, tail, and horn vibrating and causing more green sparks to arc out before they quickly flew Northwest.

Ryo returned back shortly after he took off, staring at the growing distant form of the green Rider and his Astalos. "He…didn't even get to resupply…"

"...I'll carry those for him, we won't be long." Davion reached out and stowed away the water skins onto his saddle. The Glavenus Rider waved at his friend before both the Brute Wyvern and its partner charged through the Forest, quickly disappearing amidst the shadows and greenery.

This left both the Mizutsune and its Rider to take care of the wary civilians, who were currently staring at him now that the other four attractions had gone off into the horizon. He sighed as Sekken also began nervously fidgeting in place, all attention directed solely towards both of them.

He cleared his throat. "Now. Can anyone else speak Yukumo?"

It was a little past noon when the two riders returned, unhurt and unbowed. Davion was on Gurion, leading a procession of carriages that were manned by unchained prisoners, wary in their gaze and rightfully paranoid. Ephraim stuck to the rearmost of the caravans, keeping watch for any potential retaliation atop Astaroth.

Ryo went over to greet them with a relieved smile, which then promptly turned to shock as he noticed the new company, then to utter discontent.

Soon, unchained prisoners disembarked from the carriages, the doors clearly having been damaged by either of the two to allow them to open and close them as they saw fit. People ran to and fro, hugging each other and crying in relief as what they presumed were lost family members and loved ones were reunited, friends torn apart now together, and a hefty weight off of their shoulders.

The Mizutsune Rider crossed his arms as he watched them with a strained smile, and Sekken nudged his shoulder with his snout with a low trill, with Ryo humming in agreement.

"Yep, we never should have left them alone, Sekken."

Davion almost seemed to look away in embarrassment as he saw the blank look of the fox mask drill holes into his being. "Uh, we passed by them along the way." He walked up beside Ryo, taking his helmet off as he sighed, resting it on his side as he laughed nervously. Gurion merely huffed as he walked a bit further into the treeline and began sharpening his tail.

"Mmmhmm… And the people who captured them?" Ryo indifferently responded.

"Knocked out with no casualties, apart from their fake elder dragons, don't worry, they didn't even know what hit them."

Zzzzap!

At the sound of crackling electricity, the Astalos rider rounded up the last of the caravans and dismounted after landing nearby, promptly joining the other two. On his way towards them, he stared defiantly at the foxed visage of his friend as he took off his helmet and hung it on a latch from his belt.

Ryo breathed out a tired sigh, to which the blonde smirked at. "I'm not even going to bother at this point, it's already too late for that. Did you scout out the village at least?"

"Oh, speaking of." The Glavenus Rider pulled out a rolled parchment from one of the pouches hanging from his belt. "We found a map of the area while we were uh… encountering the other caravans. We can use this to guide the caravan to the nearby village."

Ryo took the offered scroll and unfurled it.

It depicted a large continent that none were familiar with, with mountain ranges, various settlements, and what looked like the sea further to their East, over the mountain range closest to them. There were some scribbles and notes that were written in an unfamiliar text, most likely the language of the natives they 'liberated' it from.

Ephraim then also pulled out and unrolled another piece of parchment from his pouches. "I cross-referenced it with the one I made from previous scouting. It has some missing details, though. But, at least, I pinpointed where we exactly are."

"Do tell." Ryo looked to and fro between maps, trying to spot the differences.

Ephraim's gauntleted hand pointed a finger to a note he wrote on his drafted map and moved it to the closest point of where it should be on the map they had found.

"We're here, in the Forest between this Hill and this Mountain Range."

His sketched map consisted of the majority of the forest they were in, and the Hunting Horn user cross-referenced the landmarks, leading to both him and Davion to understand where they were.

"I spotted houses in the trees over here."

The Mizutsune rider raised a brow as he eyed the small circle just a bit to the Northeast of their little encampment, signified by a tent that the blonde had drawn. He had drawn a bunch of what looked like treehouses clumped up together.

"There's a possible Military Encampment here."

Further to the West of the forest they were in, Ephraim had drawn a big hill with a temple-like structure on top. At the base of the hill, he had drawn squiggly lines and little signs of commotion.

"There was a lot of activity at the base of the Hill. Plenty of movement. Could mean something big, and these caravans had to come from somewhere nearby."

"Well, that's something to avoid." Davion spoke up, also looking at the maps and committing it to memory.

Ryo hummed in agreement.

To the Northwest, almost at the corner of the blonde's sketched map, was a large question mark over what looked like a wall. There was a large road drawn leading towards it, and the road led past between the Hill and the Forest, going further south to a question mark.

"A Fortified area. A City? A Fortress maybe? Paved roads converge and lead towards it."

Cross-referencing it to the map, they found that it was indeed some sort of walled settlement, one that seemed to be in a flatlands, based on the topography of the liberated map.

Aside from the Mountain Range to the East and another Forest further South of the Hill, there wasn't anything else the blonde had drawn from his previous scouting flight. Still, it was precious information to give them a better idea of the lay of the land. All the meticulous details that Ephraim has also pointed out match the ones that they found on the official map, with notable landmarks such as Rivers, Grasslands, and even a dry stretch of land between the Walled Settlement and the Village, which he labeled Rocky Plains.

"Well, that's about it." Davion chuckled as he traced a path from their campsite to the village he had spotted. "Only issue now is how are we going to round up all the people we got. We had to uh… take some creative measures earlier to get them to follow us earlier."

"Leave the people to me. All of them seem to speak an odd Yukumo-variant dialect. They seem to call it 'Nihongo' or something." Ryo reassured them before almost slowly double-taking. "...I'm sorry, creative measures?"

"So, I guess we're packing up now?" Ephraim rolled up his drafted map. As he scanned the people they had liberated, some stole glances towards them apprehensively, the others talking amongst themselves in earnest before cupping his chin, lost in thought.

"As soon as we can." The pink-armored rider nodded, letting it slide that neither of the two answered his question. "The faster we can get these people, more people than I initially prepared for, mind you, to safety, the better it is for all of us. I'll tell them to get on the carriages again. It's time we get them somewhere more secure than in the middle of this forest."

Davion huffed, attaching his helmet to his belt. "The village we saw is some distance away. With how many we are, It would take a few more hours to reach it."

"Then I guess we better get going. Most of everyone is thankfully not too beaten up in their time in captivity. But for the ones who can't, we can prioritize them riding the carriages along with the children. I gave them as much aid as I could, but we're on a strict timetable." The pink rider began walking away to start rounding the people.

"Hold on." Ephraim called out, pausing Ryo in his tracks and catching Davion's attention. "I'll do a quick scouting run on the village, to make sure that it's not filled with barbarian soldiers that'll be waiting to ambush us. I didn't get to do so earlier because we got...side-tracked."

Ryo stared at him with exasperation, which led to the blonde to roll his eyes.

"I'll be quick, and high up in the air. I'll even use clouds as cover while I survey the area. I could also spot any patrols that may cross paths with us coming from the Hill." The green armored Rider explained.

"Is it really a good move though? Who knows when those soldiers we knocked out could wake up again." The Mizutsune Rider replied, his fox mask expressing uncertainty.

"Then just knock 'em out again." The blonde growled, his expression twisting into distaste before he wiped it away with a huff. "Knock them out, strip them of any weapons and armors, and then tie them up or toss 'em into a Pitfall Trap."

"A Pitfall Trap's going to make a lot of noise, what with the controlled explosion making said pit, after all." Davion warned.

"Just do whatever is necessary to keep the people safe." The Astalos Rider put on his helmet and raised his left hand. His Kinship stone pulsed and Astaroth walked over, allowing his Rider to mount the saddle once more. "I'll be back sharpish."

With a powerful flap of his wings, the Astalos flew through the canopy again and high into the air, quickly being lost in sight as the two remaining Riders and their partners seemingly stared at the retreating duo flatly.

Chapter Text

"Astaroth, hold."

With a growl, the Thunder Wyvern stopped its forward flight. The iridescent wings flapped as they hovered in place, and Ephraim pulled out a pair of binoculars. Placing them against his green visor, his eyes narrowed as he spied the distant village.

From his position high up in the sky, he got a better look at it compared to his scouting run earlier, where he had only passed by. He could see a better layout of the place, and he could identify which buildings were more important than the rest due to their size.

…Probably.

He could even see the figures of the villagers moving about in the midday sun, going in and out of some of the buildings, sometimes coming out carrying items that he couldn't really identify from this distance. He was sure that some of them were food though. Maybe they had bread and meat…

Wait, he was here for danger assessment, not food recon-

Grrmml…

Ah, that explained it.

He hadn't eaten anything since he and the others arrived here, save for an Energy Drink or two. Considering what they had to consume to keep their vigor up for a single expedition, going for extended days without a proper meal fitting their physique was taxing, and even special Rations could only satiate them so far.

He really should've held off the flight until after he ate something decent.

The Rider shook his head.

No, not yet. There were plenty of people counting on him and his judgment on the status of the village. He can eat once he's sure the former prisoners and his friends can stop by here without getting harassed by any more of the barbarians.

Sitting back down on the saddle, he pocketed his binoculars and held on to the handles.

"Come, Astaroth. Let's get a bit closer."

With a delighted roar, the Astalos flew forward, and the duo resumed their mission.

Hefting an empty amphora in one arm and her staff in the other, Lelei La Lalena let out a quiet sigh as she walked down the footpath. Her master had gone to the village to procure more reagents for his alchemical experiments, leaving her alone to clean up the place after his most recent disaster. So now she had to replace all the water she had used to wipe down all the gunk from the walls.

Briefly looking up at the sky as she walked, she squinted and estimated that it was perhaps an hour past midday. If she were to take her pace of going to the stream to refill the amphora and then walking back, it would most likely take her another hour.

Maybe just enough time for her to do some advanced readings before her master came back from the village.

Woosh…

The sound of the flowing water entered her ears and she picked up her pace. The faster she finishes this task, the sooner she can rest her feet back home. Parting some bushes with her staff, she made her way to the idyllic stream. Kneeling by the bank, she unsealed the amphora and dipped the mouth carefully into the water.

As she waited for the container to fill, she listened as some birds in the distance flew off in a hurry. Most likely having been disturbed by something. Maybe one of those Imperial Caravans that typically passed by every now and again on the main road just a bit away. They were always so noisy and boisterous.

Rustle..!

She looked across the stream at the shaking bushes and tightened her grip on her staff. There were a fair few predators in the forests, wolves the chief amongst them, and while she was a capable mage in her own right, she wasn't quite willing to obliterate forest creatures that were merely following their instincts.

Rustle..! Rustle..!

The blue-haired sorceress narrowed her eyes as the bushes' shaking intensified. She pointed her staff towards them, a spell on her lips as–!

Squeak!

–a brown rabbit hopped out. Its dark eyes stared at her in seeming confusion before sniffing the air. Slowly, it hopped over to the bank of its side of the stream and began to drink.

"..."

Now she just felt silly.

With a quiet sigh, she lifted the filled amphora from the stream and set it aside. Placing the seal back on and casting a spell to keep it airtight, the blue-haired sorceress sat down on the grass to rest her feet. Today had been warmer than usual, and she could feel her tunic sticking to her back a bit more due to some sweat.

"Hm…"

Taking off her shoes and removing her socks, she slowly dipped her feet into the stream. A contented sigh escaped her lips as the cool sensation from the water crawled up from her legs.

Thud…Thud…Thud..!

In an instant, the rabbit jerked up straight, ears twitching in the air, before it quickly vacated the area afterward. Lelei stared at the retreating rabbit in surprise before she removed herself from the stream. Not having time to put on her shoes again, she quickly retreated back into the treeline but stopped when she realized that she left the amphora behind.

Somewhat torn between returning to grab it and running, her deliberation cost her as the trees on the opposite treeline shuddered and shook as something big stepped past them. Hiding behind a tree, she made herself scarce as she crouched down behind a bush.

Thud…Thud…Thud..!

Ephraim sighed as he hopped off of Astaroth.

The village was not safe. It was too close to a main road, and he didn't doubt that it would be one of the first places those barbarians would look for their missing slaves at. Even if they somehow managed to get the goodwill of the people there, it wasn't a guaranteed safe zone for the almost 40 people they liberated. An influx of that many would be noticeable to any natives who know the place, and then they'll start asking uncomfortable questions.

That didn't even factor in the issue of those soldiers that they knocked out.

His fists clenched.

"Should have just finished them all…" Ephraim muttered darkly as he guided Astaroth to the stream he had seen once he was finished with his scouting. The stench of dried blood was getting tiresome now, and he didn't want both him and his Astalos to keep on scaring the poor people because of it. "Could've saved everyone a headache, but…"

The armored blonde shook his head as he patted his Monstie's neck, letting the Thunder Wyvern aggressively drink and wash the blood from his snout. He walked a little bit further upstream and crouched down as he refilled his empty canteen.

He took a deep breath and exhaled loosely, blowing out any frustrations that may have been let out.

'Our role is not to destroy, but to keep balance…'

Feeling that his canteen was sufficiently full, he removed his helmet with his other hand and brought the lip of the container to his own.

The water was cool and refreshing, a welcome sensation to his body, especially after the brief stint of combat with the barbarians' own wyvern riders. Putting the cap back on, he strapped the canteen back to his belt before he reached down and splashed his face to clear it from any dried sweat and grime.

In his mind flashed the faces of desperation and subdued terror, the bruises… the hopelessness…

Deep hatred towards his fellow man is a feeling he never expected to experience once before. He's had disagreements with Guild Hunters before but hate? That's far from it. At the end of the day, they're simply doing their jobs.

But what he saw…

"Disgusting…" The blonde snarled as he stood up. Reaching behind him, he unholstered his Gunlance and flicked, bringing the two halves together. He dipped the tip into the water, lightly sloshing it side to side to wash away the dried blood of the wyvern riders he had personally felled.

Growl…

He turned his head to see Astaroth looking at something further downriver. Putting his helmet back on, he walked over to his partner and looked over to where the Thunder Wyvern was quietly growling at.

It was an amphora.

An amphora and a pair of shoes.

'..!'

He needed to leave. He needed to leave fast.

Patting the side of Astaroth's neck, his partner bowed low to the floor, and he clambered back on top of him.

"Let's go!"

With a snarl, the Astalos spread its iridescent wings and flapped once, leaping at the same time. Soon enough, the pair were heading South, leaving an astonished eavesdropper in their wake.

Handling thirty-six people was more or less manageable as long as people understood each other.

Handling thirty-six people who were scared out of their wits and unable to speak anything other than the odd variant of Yukumo was pure hell.

Ryo hummed as he finished bandaging the last of the liberated prisoners who had open wounds. Most injuries were mainly surface level. Thankfully, they were easily treated by disinfection, bandaging, and simple splints. As for the more internal damage, judging from the brightened faces they now wore compared to the ones they had earlier, I guess he could say they were healing, but that's just him being positive.

Ushering away the young woman back to the rest of the former prisoners, the green-eyed teen opened the rucksack on the fallen log beside him to assess the number of his items.

He used a lot of his Herbs and Herbal Medicines to treat the sick and wounded, and if he didn't find an alternative to it soon, they needed to stay far away from high-risk injury operations. Melodies from his Hunting Horn were an option, but they still required proper treatment. He also didn't want to attract any more attention than they already had, and a giant ceremonial shrine bell was a detriment to that.

As for the other things in his inventory that may be of use, tossing magical healing powder into the air might not be healthy for their mental processes, so that's also out of the question.

In the corner of his eyes, he could see Davion jury-rigging some of the wagons while a couple of the younger rescuees gathered around him.

"Um… Ryo-san?"

Turning his head to look over his shoulder, he was met with the young woman who had braved calling out to them earlier. She certainly looked better now compared to how she was faring before.

"Mhm?" He asked in return, fiddling with his mask. "Is there something wrong, miss?"

The girl fidgeted, her fingers bunching up the sleeves of her jacket-like coat. She looked to be around his age, maybe a year or two younger. "What do we do now?"

Ryo blinked. Their odd Yukumo-variant was still something in the works for him to decipher truly. They used different words and had different dictions, sometimes with a mixed sentence structure that took him a moment to understand. At the very least, they could communicate. That was all that mattered at the moment.

"Oh…" He stared at her, tilting his head slightly. That was the issue, wasn't it? Both- All of them were lost in a place not their own, and they had no way of knowing where it was safe. Even after days of recon and surveying the world around them, they still couldn't make heads or tails about where they were. Even with a bird's eye view from their only flying wyvern, the forest stretched for kilometers in every direction with no reliable landmarks, aside from the hill with the weird gate-looking structure.

Flap..! Flap..!

Speaking of–

Everyone seemed to pause what they were doing to look towards where the sound of wing beats was coming from. There was a tense silence amongst them as a glowing green trail flew through the canopy and towards them.

A harmonious chime followed, accompanied by the appearance of multiple glowing lights seemingly trailing toward a particular direction.

Scoutflies.

Rustle..!

Not even a second after he said it, Astaroth broke past the thin canopy and landed in an empty spot beside the line of wagons. The sight of the Astalos once more brought nervous murmuring from the crowd and from the girl. Ryo gently patted her shoulder and gave her a reassuring tap before he walked over.

"Verdict?" He asked the lancer, who had not dismounted yet. Davion fast-walked over and stopped beside him, curious about what their blonde friend would say.

"No good." Ephraim sighed as he removed his helmet. "The village is close to one of the main roads; it might be a prime destination for those who might investigate the attack, and there also might be regular patrols that go through there."

Ryo let out a sharp hiss, and behind the fox visage, Ephraim could see his face contemplating his words. "That's not even accounting for whether or not they'll welcome us. It's clear these people aren't natives. If they couldn't understand the local language here, how could we?"

This was bad.

They didn't have the luxury of lasting supplies and time to set up a sustainable camp for a large group, even if they had the tents to do so. Just thinking about the sheer logistical nightmare it would be to maintain was already giving him a headache. They were Riders, not village administrators.

"Wait, then what about that other place that you spotted?" Davion spoke up, uncrossing his arms as he frowned. "That group of treehouses to our Northeast. What about there? They're too far into the forest, right? That could be a good place to settle in. It wasn't on the map we took, right?"

"No, it wasn't." The blonde reminded him with a frown of his own, a hand patting Astaroth, who had been fidgeting. The Astalos wasn't too keen on staying still for long.

"Then a bunch of houses might mean something, right? Them not being on the map might mean they're not aligned with those savages."

"You didn't scout there?"

Ephraim shook his head. "Canopy was too thick for me to get a proper view. I don't even know if there are trails there that the wagons can go through."

"Well, we can't just stay here…" The brunette swordsman sighed. He looked over at the civilians who were watching them and gave them a small nod in reassurance before looking back at his friend. "Better than nothing…"

"Are you really willing to bet on that?" Ephraim almost wheezed in disbelief. "These people–"

"These people need proper shelter," Ryo interjected, his hands opening and closing. Weighing their choices, a proper village or an isolated colony. There's no way to confirm their affiliations. For all they knew, they were both military outposts.

Either way was a gamble, both with unknown risks.

The other two Riders looked at him expectantly. Regardless, it would be up to him to decide which gamble would be better to bet on.

…

Ryo took a deep breath.

"Davion, you and Gurion take point. Try not to smash any trees aside. We don't want to leave a trail of destruction in case these soldiers pursue us."

The brunette seemed surprised before his expression became determined. He whistled before putting on his helmet, meeting the approaching Gurion halfway, and clambering up to the Glavenus' back.

"As for both of you." The Mizutsune Rider glanced at the intimidating Thunder Wyvern, who seemed restless. "We stay grounded, can't attract any attention. Stay somewhere in the middle of our caravan, not too close to spook the people."

The blonde huffed as he shook his head. "Astaroth doesn't like being grounded for too long, but it can't be helped. Alright. Let's go, Astaroth."

The armored lancer put on his helmet and grasped the handles of his saddle. His Kinship stone pulsed before the Astalos shuffled over to the treeline.

A low trill behind him caused the green-eyed Rider to pat Sekken's jaw, the Mizutsune having lowered his head to receive pets.

"You and I are going to take the rear. We're going to be sweeping and cleaning the tracks up, buddy."

Sekken let out a quiet whine.

"I know, I know." Ryo chuckled as he turned and used both hands to give the pink Leviathan scratches underneath his jaw and pets along the jawline. "I'll give you some fish afterward…"

The Mizutsune's tail wagged lazily behind him as he swept up a small bubble towards his partner.

Pop!

"Okay, if we see a lake or a river, you're free to hunt in it."

Sekken let out a pleased purr.

Hana Fujikawa didn't really know where they were going now.

In fact, she didn't know anything about everything.

The pink-robed man, who had introduced himself as Ryo, had told them that they were waiting for his friend to return from a scouting run.

His Japanese was very archaic, and some words didn't translate for her well enough, so she had to fill in the blanks with context clues in the sentence he was saying and in hand gestures. He spoke like some sort of old-timey samurai during the Warring States, or so she assumed based on what modern media depicted their diction.

Really, she was just assuming a lot and hoping that she got, at least, most of it correct.

Anyway, when his blonde friend returned on that scary lightning dragon of his, the three of them seemed to have been discussing something serious. Eavesdrop as she could, they were using another language that she couldn't understand, a guttural and weird tongue that seemed tribal, Japanese, and somewhat Western at the same time.

Then, the robed man had told her to relay his instructions to the others.

"We shall be leaving for a safe area shortly. I implore thee to tell the children and those who are wounded to walk to board the carriages."

And so here she was, riding on the back of one of the wagons near the rear of the train, her arm wrapped around the blonde boy from earlier. She wasn't walking alongside the wagons due to one of her heels finally snapping off after all of the chaos, not that she would have liked walking in heels for god knows how long. Her mom would kill her if she found out that she broke her heels and had blisters because of it.

Hana paused as her heart lurched.

'Mom…'

Very worried would have been the understatement of the century. Her mother would most likely be hysterical once the media released a list of missing or abducted persons following the attack on Ginza. Her old man would be too, if the bastard ever stopped looking at profit sales or whatever he did in that stupid media company he worked at. Hell, maybe seeing her face in the news would finally wizen him up.

She sighed, ignoring how her eyes were stinging.

Oh, who was she kidding? She missed them dearly and wanted nothing more than to huddle up back in her bed and sleep all of this away like it was a dream, as it should be. She didn't even know if she was able to return home–

Hana shook her head, pushing the thought away.

No.

She…she was going to go home.

She was going to go home with the rest of the people here.

It involved something about that weird gate that appeared out of nowhere, it must have. She could still recall being shoved into a wagon near that gate in Ginza. It wasn't one way, was it? It must be two-way.

It must be.

"Big sis…" The boy by her side muttered, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Are we going to be safe?"

Hana froze for a moment before she tightened her hold on him comfortingly. She can worry about herself later. The kids were the priority here…

"We are." She reassured, smiling down at him before she turned her sights to the rearmost of their convoy, where the pink fox-like beast was following along. Its partner, the fox-masked Ryo, was walking alongside it. "With them around, we'll be safe."

She really didn't know where the three and their partners came from– maybe they were natives– but all she cared about was that they saved them from a dark fate. Sure, their mounts may have been terrifying, especially since they were huge and looked like they could chomp on a person whole with one bite, but they were good people.

The boy mumbled to himself as he closed his eyes, the day's events finally taking its toll on his body. With a quiet sigh, she shifted his position so that his head was on her lap.

Her own body was tired. She wanted nothing more than to close her eyes and sleep all of this away, but she knew that it wasn't the time yet. Not until she knew that they were genuinely secure.

Looking up at the canopy, she could see the orange sky from between the thick branches. How long have they spent on the other side of the gate? Did time move differently here? Maybe when they got back home, it would only have been a day or two since they were taken…

Rustle…

…

Were those…eyes? In the trees?

No, she must be that tired if she's starting to see things. Maybe a little nap could help after all..?

Rustle…

Davion paused, a hand raised into a fist to signal the convoy behind him and Gurion to stop. The Glavenus huffed, intelligent eyes looking around before turning his head to his partner.

"...You hear that too, right Gurion?"

Gurion growled, nodding his head in agreement.

"We're not alone out here..." The armored swordsman sighed as he used his other hand to stroke the tough scales of his partner. "Let's try to not appear too unfriendly, okay? There's only six of us and a lot more civilians…"

The Cutting Wyvern growled again, this time louder, and it alerted the other two Riders, to which Ephraim's hand quickly went to his holstered Gunlance while Davion slowly went to grip the handle of his greatsword. Astaroth looked around excitedly, eager for a fight, while Gurion began laying low in preparation for an ambush.

Sparing a look over his shoulder, the red Rider saw the confused expressions of the people, wondering why they stopped and why the two of them seemed to be preparing for combat. As for Ryo and Sekken, their reactions confirmed that there really was a high likelihood that they were being watched. The Mizutsune sniffed the air inquisitively and turned its ear to its surroundings, which its Rider mirrored as he walked beside him.

Silence.

Tense silence for what seemed like an eternity.

Rustle..!

Three figures emerged from the bushes ahead of them, bows in their hands with arrows nocked and ready to be loose at the slightest sign of sudden movements.

They were all blonde and wore white tunics underneath a dark green leaf cloak. They each had a belt wrapped just above their hips, and on it hung their quivers just below the small of their backs. Each of them also had a sheathed shortsword hanging on the left-hand side of their belts, and two of the three wore a green face mask to hide most of their features alongside having the hoods up.

The one that had their hood down seemed to be the leader of sorts, as he wore a blue vest over his tunic underneath the cloak. His face was stern as he glared at their group, and he opened his mouth to say…something.

He spoke the same language as the soldiers they had incapacitated earlier.

Not good…

If Davion was paying attention, that is.

No, the red Rider was focused on something else that stole his attention.

It was the man's long, pointed ears.

'A Wyverian..? Here…?'

He couldn't believe it. A familiar sight, finally.

An uncertain breath escaped his lips before he composed himself, adjusting his position. The man had stopped talking at his movement, tensing for any sudden action from him and Ryo, who was still standing between him and the unknown figures.

All it takes now is the push that comes to the shove, and he really wanted the push not to happen.

No, this wasn't good. This wasn't a respectful first contact.

Ryo slowly raised his hands above his head, which the figures recognized as a sign of no harm, their stances slightly relaxing. Responding in Yukumo, he was replied to in silence and with a look of confusion.

Davion's hand eased away from his sword. At least they weren't overly hostile. Now if only they didn't jump the gun. Which was difficult considering the giant sharp-tailed, fire-breathing, jagged-scaled, red wyvern beneath him.

Clearing his throat, the Glavenus Rider took a gamble. He got off Gurion and landed beside him, just a bit aways from the apparent leader of the party. He then raised his hands in a show of non-aggression.

"We mean no harm."

The three figures before them seemed to react in surprise, their voices mixing together as they spoke in hushed, bewildered tones. Slowly and surely, they closed in, arrows still nocked but not drawn.

And thus, he spoke, leaning to the side and staring at Davion with an intrigued expression. "Who are you to be able to speak our ancient tongue?"

Davion choked back his disbelief. It worked! They really were Wyverians!

"Your accent is…unfamiliar, yet you speak it fluently as if you were one of us. Who are you people?"

A quick glance at Ryo earned him a blank stare back. From what Davion could interpret, he was likely as shocked as he was to find someone who finally spoke one of their languages.

"Forgive our intrusion," The Red rider responded. "We truly mean no harm. All we ask is for a chance to explain ourselves."

Their leader spoke again. "Are you from another commune, and why do you have humans with you?"

"Forgive me, sir." Davion apologized with a slight bow. "We are merely seeking a safe refuge for the people we are escorting."

"Curious…" The Wyverian muttered, eyeing them probingly, his gaze lingering seconds longer as it passed each of their mounts. "Quite bold to willingly tread these forests and intrude upon our territory."

Davion swallowed his unease, making sure that Gurion did not sense his growing nervousness.

"And seeking safe refuge, you say? Judging from the state of the people you have and the way you are dressed, I take it you are not from the Empire?"

"We are not. We are more of an independent group."

"Then do you know whose carriages and wagons you have attacked and reappropriated?" The leader's tone strained.

Davion winced, thankful for his helmet hiding his expression. "I- we do not. We encountered a convoy as we attempted to inquire for information about the land. One thing led to another, and we liberated these prisoners in the aftermath."

The leader looked behind him at the carriages and at all the people staring in awe and fear at the sight of them before looking back at the red Rider.

"Prisoners… huh." His brows furrowed curiously, pausing as his gaze stared at each of the three monsters they rode. "And what of the creatures that you ride on?" His stare lingered a moment longer on Astaroth, who growled at his gesture.

"Harmless until provoked." Davion quickly answered with a firm shake of his head. "We are their Riders, and we have full trust that they will not attack unless given reason. We have coexisted with them since their births and think of them as kin." They were more than just mounts. They were family. "I realize that they may seem alien to the ecosystem here, but they are our partners."

"...I believe we are getting sidetracked." The Wyverian Leader shook his head. Stepping back, he once more looked at the convoy and its escorts over. "You come seeking safe refuge, you say? This deep in the woods?"

"We had hoped that your village could house us." The Glavenus rider responded, in a slightly pleading tone. "At least temporarily."

"Not many know of our village here. Even the Empire does not know the accurate location of any of our settlements."

"We initially planned to proceed to a village found North of here. However, we had presumed a risk of encountering patrols that might come across the area, and we had scouted buildings in trees in the direction we were going."

"And so the other choice was our village since it is isolated and deep enough in the woods that it would discourage the Imperials from investigating. Am I correct?"

Davion nodded.

"Correct. If not for our own safety then for those that we liberated."

Their leader pondered for a moment before he momentarily broke off and approached his entourage, forgoing their common tongue in favor of the language the natives spoke.

A quick glance at the others told him plenty. Ryo's Mizutsune mask hid his face and made it somewhat difficult to read his expression. But Davion could tell from the nervous tapping and the subtle shifting. He was hoping that this would pay off.

This was a gamble, and he dreaded the possibility that they would be turned away.

He honestly didn't know what he'd do if they were. None of them did.

It wasn't long until they finally finished deliberating, and the Wyverian leader approached them once more, hesitating for a moment at the sight of the Glavenus' eyes following him with burning intensity but eventually closed the distance to where they stood and greeted them with an impassive face.

"I will have to consult with our village's leader before we make a final decision. For now, take your caravan and head Southeast for an hour. There, you will discover a spring. You can stay there for the night, and tomorrow, we will discuss at length what your intentions are and what our response will be."

It was probably the best agreement they could have settled on, considering their previous experience with parley with the natives.

"Thank you." Davion bowed with a hand over his heart.

"Withhold those thoughts for now." The leader huffed as he whistled a tune.

There was faint rustling in the trees, and more of the green-cloaked Wyverians revealed themselves from the foliage and tree tops. All of them held bows and were very keenly staring at each of the three riders as well as their mounts. "Even we aren't clueless about what the Saderan Empire does to their prisoners, and we share your sympathies. However, that still does not excuse you from trespassing into our territory, and we still do not have the full picture of your story. Nonetheless, take this time to give your people a chance to rest and recuperate."

With that, the group of Wyverians left, disappearing into the darkness of the forest as if they were never there to begin with. The Red Rider exhaled a long sigh as they finally left, turning slightly when Ryo and Ephraim met up with him at the front.

"You okay? What happened? I only caught the tail-end of your conversation." The blonde lancer asked, having dismounted Astaroth the moment the hooded figures left. "I'm not that read up in Ancient Wyverian, but I'm pretty sure I heard 'stay for the night'."

"It's…better to explain once we set up camp." Davion sighed as he shook his head, already feeling the exhaustion of the long day bearing down on his shoulders. "Come on, before it gets truly dark."

The ethereal blue eyes of his helmet stared at the creeping sky above, the setting sun's orange hue now slowly getting dim through the leaves.

Establishing a camp shouldn't have been too hard for the three. Having prior experience in previous expeditions together. However, what was different was setting it up for more than three people.

Significantly more than three people.

The spring, while having some open ground, was still congested with foliage and trees, and it made it somewhat tricky to set the perimeter as well as the placement of the shelters for the people to rest in. Thankfully, the able-bodied refugees were more than willing to help set things up.

Then, they had to establish some sort of perimeter in order to encompass their camp securely, creating a half-crescent area that opened towards the creek, with their respective positions on the external side of the crescent.

Making the civilians' accommodations was simple enough, and the looted tents from the wagons were large enough to house at least five or six people each. A good note is that they came with bedrolls, furs, and floor mats, keeping them away from the forest floor and on more comfortable surfaces as they rest.

Now came the next issue. Feeding them all.

"I'll handle it." Ephraim, now helmetless alongside Davion, announced as he began walking to the wagons that held the 'liberated' rations. "Set up some tables in the meantime. If we even brought those along…"

Davion went off, fetching barrels and wooden panels to create makeshift counters where food could be served.

"I might wander around the camp in the meantime, see if everyone is okay." Ryo inserted, having yet to take off his own headgear. He ran a hand through his dark hair, most of which were tied up in a low ponytail. "I'll have Sekken wash them up for a bit. I can't have them eat with all the grime on them. I'll help you once they're done."

"Get me some firewood as well."

It didn't take too long for a washing area to form at the edge of the creek, taking care not to transform too much of it into a bubbly river. It incited a lot of looks of curiosity and wonder as the Leviathan threaded into the shallow waters and let its natural fluids create a floral and soapy bubble bath. It incited a lot of skepticism when he invited the people to wash themselves, still having some doubts about the friendliness of the Fox-like water wyvern and the substance of which the bubbles were formed.

It took until the few people Ryo had personally conversed with and assisted to start perusing their new washing area for the others to follow suit. Dirtied clothes were washed when they could, and those who desired new clothing had been given spare tunics from the caravan supplies, which were mostly either a size too big or a size too small for the others. Some had to make do with belts to properly wear them. Still, the change of new and clean clothes was appreciated, given the circumstances.

They had given the others simple tasks, mainly to gather firewood and generally assist Davion with whatever he was doing.

Some time passed, and a simple hustle and bustle ambiance was formed around the camp. While Davion still had trouble communicating with the people, with the presence of the language barrier, body language, hand signs, and a short game of charades made up for it, making him somewhat popular with the younger folk.

When they returned to their tents, the scent of cooked meat soon accompanied the fading floral fragrance of the bath. A bell was rung, and a good many of them followed it to the center of the encampment.

There, Ephraim was stirring a significantly large pot, more akin to a large cauldron, of what looked like soup over a large fire. There was another fire pit beside him, one that had two large hunks of Mosswine meat cooking, which Ryo to his side, was rotating every now and again. There was a stack of wooden bowls nearby on a makeshift table, one that Davion had made using a rear door of one of the wagons, and on it were plates of dried meat, dried fruits, bread, and even cubes of cheese that they had collected from all the supply wagons.

Upon noticing that they had an audience, Davion began ushering the younger ones towards the feast, offering a bowl of stew straight from the boiling hot pot to one of them. Vegetables and some mildly seasoned meat that they had bought as part of their supplies made up the ingredients of the dish. Not the best that they could've offered, Ephraim certainly seemed personally miffed at what he saw as his own culinary failing, but it was probably better than anything the three had made since the time they arrived in the new world.

Not that it mattered.

The combination of physical fatigue, mental exhaustion, hunger, and the stress of what had happened since their capture made the people too tired to question the banquet before them. It was possibly the first time they had seen them with such content expressions, a stark contrast to the faces they wore when they first liberated them.

When everything was said and done, and people had filled their stomachs, Ryo shepherded the people to their sleeping quarters, telling them to hunker down for the night and wait for tomorrow to come for news.

As things finally winded down, this left the three Riders around the dying fire of the central firepit, crackling embers into the air as the others slumbered around them. Their partners were at their respective tents, acting as perimeter guards if they weren't sleeping themselves at least.

…

"I don't think any of us expected that weird storm to take us to a different land." Ephraim's quiet mutter broke the silence as he poked at the flickering embers. "Different people, different languages, and with a different… social culture."

"No." Ryo sighed as he leaned on his knees, his green eyes staring into the ashes. "Definitely not."

"We gotta find a way back home. Find another weird looking storm or-or something…" Davion uttered as he stared up at the night sky. None of the star formations were familiar to him, much to the mounting dread in the pit of his stomach. "The village is going to take the loss of three Riders and their partners hard. The Old Man's going to be livid…"

"What do you think I feel when I think of Grandma? She's probably worried sick." Ephraim almost deflated as he spoke, poking the fire. "Anything's worth a try at this point."

"One step at a time. We have other problems at the moment," Ryo inserted with a quiet sigh. "And by other, I mean them. Finding a way back home is out of the question until we take care of these people."

Ephraim chuckled, his lips set in a dry smirk. "Finally warmed up to them?"

"You could only be the only person to talk to them for too long, you know? Besides, from what they were saying, they're as lost as we are."

"Lost? Where do they come from then?"

"Some place called Japan, which is somewhere I've never been and heard of, and we've been in a lot of places. Peculiar name."

Davion exhaled a long sigh. "Things just keep getting more and more confusing."

Silence ensued, the air getting filled with the sounds of crickets, the croaking of frogs, and the embers flying into the sky.

…

"Those we knocked out are probably awake now…" The Glavenus Rider clenched his fists. "...Should we have-?"

"No." Ryo tensed, focusing on the fire. "No. Don't even bother thinking about it."

"I still think that just knocking those fools out was a mistake." Ephraim huffed as he crossed his arms. His electric blue eyes were stormy with volatile emotions. "They saw us on a clear day, they're probably already scouring the area looking for us, especially after what we did."

"That…" The dark-haired Rider shook his head. "It was something out of our control. But better this way and taking even more drastic measures. Are you really ready to set Gurion and Astaroth against another person? What about you? Is your Greatsword and Gunlance ready as well?"

Davion was silent, but Ephraim seemed like he wanted to retort but held his tongue with a bitter expression.

Ryo sighed, looking more tired than he had been the whole day. "Regardless of what happened either way, we would eventually still encounter trouble with them. The bright side is that this might've been the best outcome. We even found even more additions to our new group despite warning someone not to do something of the like."

"Whatever could you mean?" Ephraim snickered, the dry smirk back on his lips. "We just happened to come across them along the way."

"Yeah, well, we aren't the epitome of discreteness now, are we?" Ryo snarked, just as equally dry.

The other two let out a hearty laugh.

"No, definitely not." Davion chuckled. "But we did good in the end, didn't we?"

The green-eyed Rider huffed as his lips curved slightly upwards. "I guess we did."

"You know, I think it's best to not linger on this topic some more." Davion added before he stood up. "I'm going ahead and hunker down for the night."

"Right." Ryo nodded. "I'll take the first watch. You two get some sleep. Both of you've been off-field for most of the entire day."

"I'll take that offer." Ephraim stood up and cracked his neck, following suit with Davion afterwards. "Can't wait to take off this armor and take a bath. I still got some Energy Drinks if you'd like to stave off some drowsiness."

"I'll be fine. I'm used to the late hours with Sekken. I'll wake you up for the next watch sometime at midnight."

With that, the three separated.

Ryo was left at the fire, a quiet whistle escaping his lips that caused Sekken to plod over and curl around him. The dark-haired Rider was a bit of a night owl, so the two trusted him with the first watch.

"...Are you sure those guys earlier were Wyverians?"

Davion blinked and turned to Ephraim, who was staring forward with a neutral expression as they walked.

"Yeah..?"

"Did you count the number of fingers that they had?"

"What..? Well…"

The Glavenus Rider thought back to the encounter, at how the Wyverians held their bows and…

"Oh."

"Yeah," The blonde chuckled grimly as he turned his head to him with a small smirk. "'Oh'. Either those guys were some weird five-fingered Wyverian species, or they weren't Wyverians at all. I thought you'd notice it first, since you were The Old Man's apprentice."

"A lot of things were happening, okay?" The brunette grumbled as he shook his head. "I was just glad to be able to talk to someone that at least knew a language that we did."

"Hm." Ephraim grunted as he turned away, waving a hand over his shoulder before he began to walk in the direction of his tent. He still had a bath to look forward to. "Ah well. You'll deal with it tomorrow."

"Don't you mean 'we'?"

"You're the one fluent in Ancient Wyverian here."

"...Damn it."

Chapter Text

Waking up at the crack of dawn was always a pain in the ass. Having your body clock wake you up exactly just before the sun goes up was never not a headache to deal with. Taking shifts to watch at night and having an inconsistent sleep cycle didn't help alleviate the hassle in the slightest. But still, somehow, through the magic of conditioning his master has ingrained into him as his apprentice, he would always wake at this time of any day.

Davion grumbled under his breath as he exited his tent, strapping his Kinship stone to his left hand and rubbing the stone slightly to make it shine. Looking to his right, he saw Gurion fast asleep, the red behemoth still almost twice his size, even when he was lying down on his side.

With a quiet huff, he went back into his tent, retrieving some toiletries and a change of clothes. They were definitely going to run out soon, as he was sure none of them packed for being away from the village this long. Sure, they could borrow Sekken, but the look Ryo gave them on the idea of turning him into a convenient portable bubble bath at their leisure made them reconsider a lot of things.

As he silently made his way through camp, he occasionally peered into the civilians' tents to check on their well-being. Their sleeping faces were peaceful, though some children were curled up faintly quaking in their bedrolls. His jaw tensed before he shook his head and continued his way.

Getting separated from their comfort zones to a place that is anything but comfortable, he could only imagine just how bad the trauma had been piling up since they were captured and taken away from their families.

Passing by the central fire pit, he paused when he saw his fellow Rider already fanning a flame underneath a grill. On the makeshift table beside him were plates of ingredients for breakfast; potatoes, cheese, cured bacon, a large bowl of flour, and a pot of leftover stew from the night before.

Since Ephraim had been the last watch, the blonde was still partly in armor, his upper torso freed from any protective gear for comfort as he cooked. His Dark Chariot was leaning against a nearby rock that he had rolled up from somewhere. The brunette could see the telltale focus on his helmetless face whenever he was cooking.

Not wanting to disturb him, he merely slipped past towards the spring.

He spared one last glance towards the camp and quickly stripped behind a makeshift privacy screen before stepping into the cold morning waters. Aside from a brief shiver, he quickly acclimated to the temperature and began rinsing himself of sweat and grime.

It wasn't exactly like the hot baths back in the village– so he didn't take that much time washing up and drying himself off. Slipping into the dark blue Glavenus hide gambeson and trousers, he put on his boots before packing up his toiletries. When he got back to his tent, he looked at his partner before he came in close and gently patted Gurion's jaw with a smile.

Then, he reeled his arm back and knocked a closed fist against the hardened shell.

Thwack!

The Glavenus rumbled as he blearily opened an eye at him.

"Up and at 'em, boy." The brunette grinned at his partner as he stepped back, allowing the Cutting Wyvern to roll to his feet and lazily rise. "There we go."

Gurion gave a low growl as he puffed at the swordsman, who jolted as he tried to wave away the smoky exhale.

"Hey, c'mon! I just cleaned up!" He pushed the snout away from him with a sneer. The Glavenus gave another growl before he turned towards the forest and began walking towards it. Davion shook his head with a quiet exhale before he went back inside his tent to start the process of tending to and putting on his armor.

Using a spare rag, he wiped away the dirt and grime from the day prior off its plates. Fighting all of those soldiers to liberate the civilians that they had captured wasn't a clean affair. Despite his best not to maim or inflict open wounds, there were spots of dried blood on the torso and helmet from when they tried to grab him or remove his armor, only for their hands to be cut open due to its jagged and serrated spikes and scales.

A saving grace was that the tint of spilled blood blended with its crimson sheen, making the signs of the confrontation less perceptible when they inevitably met with the Wyverians.

It wouldn't make do to peacefully encounter them while he was visibly covered in the sanguine liquid.

Wiping away the last of what he could see, he started the process. Strapping on his gauntlets first, protecting his hands as he began grasping the other armor pieces, which were all considerably sharp. Then came the breastplate, his chausses around the legs, followed up by the hanging faulds, and layered his boots with the greaves.

After making sure that the straps were firmly secured, especially those that held his Kinship Stone in place, he then put on his helmet. Grabbing his Glavenus Array, he strapped it on his back and exited his tent.

"Ah, you are awake."

And he almost drew it in surprise when he was face to face with the Wyverian Leader from the night prior.

"Wh–" He coughed and cleared his throat as he took his hand off of his greatsword. Switching back to Ancient Wyverian, he shook his head as he crossed his arms. "A bit of a warning would've been appreciated. I had not assumed it would be this early."

The weirdly five-fingered Wyverian Leader of the band of similarly five-fingered Wyverians…

He glanced at his feet.

He wasn't standing on his tiptoes.

The Wyverian(?) bowed his head, his neutral lips curling up ever so slightly at the edges. He was wearing the same outfit from last night, though he replaced the leaf cloak with a plain dark gray traveling cloak.

"Apologies, but our leader has made her decision. She wishes to meet with you so you can make your case to her personally."

"Wait, what?" Davion was taken aback. This soon?! Then again, they had the whole night to deliberate. "Personally?"

The man nodded.

"Yes. She is curious to meet another who speaks our ancient tongue, especially those outside of our own community. Come."

"At least let me get breakfast first…"

Tuka Luna Marceau wondered when her father was going to come home. He had left in a slight hurry earlier, and all the noise had woken her up. She hadn't even begun to make breakfast when he had left. She could only hope that whatever it was, he at least could have something to fill his stomach.

The blonde elf girl sighed as she placed the lid on the pot of mushroom stew on the table. Walking over to the window, she leaned on its frame and gazed out into the village.

The opening of the mysterious gateway in Alnus Hill to the West had been felt by all of the Elves of Kowan, as each of them had an innate sense of magic. This meant that the Saderan Empire was on another one of its expeditions, and that typically meant that the forest patrols needed to be increased just in case the humans decided a foray into their woods was a good idea. Their settlement had been hidden from the expansive eyes of the Empire for more than half a millennia; they would not risk it getting found now of all times.

Still, despite the presence of the Saderan military nearby, the village was active with vendors and bards in the square, entertaining the youth with food and tales from the past or from what they've seen in their travels outside Koan Forest. While there was a present risk of some inquisitive scouts somehow following the noises of merrymaking, they still had to go through leagues of forest with unknown creatures within as well as uncharted territory. On top of that, they had a magical barrier that kept their settlement camouflaged.

"...Hm?" She narrowed her eyes before looking down from her window, leaning out somewhat to call down on a familiar face as a passing patrol caught her eye. "Lilianna, is that you?"

The ranger looked up in slight surprise at hearing her name called before smiling. Gesturing for the rest of her party to go on ahead, she called back at her.

"Ah, Tuka! You must be wondering where Hodor is, yes?"

Tuka nodded.

"Well, he's currently outside the walls at the moment– No, he's not out on a spontaneous patrol or anything!" The ash-blonde Elf quickly corrected, having read the dubiousness of Tuka's narrowed eyes. "There's just…something urgent that he was tasked to do."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I can't say much about it, sorry." Lilianna sighed as she rubbed the back of her neck.

"I-I see."

"Anyway, is there anything else you want to ask me? I'm about to head out on a patrol."

Tuka drew back, somewhat embarrassed at what she was going to ask next. "By the way, when are you going to come back? I've learned this new song from Kaia, but I'm not that confident in-"

"Hey, Lilianna, get your butt in gear!"

"Oh, crud, sorry! Ah, sorry Tuka," The ranger shook her head after calling out to her waiting patrol members. "I gotta go before I get yelled at by my captain for lollygagging."

Ears drooping slightly, the younger Elf sighed, feeling a bit disappointed.

"Oh… Okay. Sorry for that..."

Lilianna waved at her with a somewhat guilty smile before she ran to catch up to her squad, leaving the blonde to slump on the windowsill.

Tuka wallowed in her own embarrassment for a while before he recomposed herself. With a quiet sigh, she smacked her cheeks to bring herself out of the funk. Standing straight once more, she reached for the windows to close them when she spotted a familiar shade of blonde in the village square.

And alongside him was some sort of…armored warrior?

"Father..?"

When Davion followed the not-so-Wyverian to their leader, he expected their settlement to be a small hidden village in the trees. Maybe with some houses well-camouflaged against being spotted through the air.

What he didn't expect was a walled town that looked far more elaborate than his own village. If it was even still considered as a village anyway.

There were still treehouses, of course, but they were all located on two large trees situated on what he could guess were the Western and Easternmost parts of the settlement. The trees themselves were enormous, far more extensive than what he had imagined. They were most likely almost 10 storeys high from root to the canopy, and with buildings built on the trunks with stairs, ladders, and bridges that could be used to traverse from building to building. They even built on the thicker branches, and he could see people walking on them with little difficulty.

The part of the town that wasn't on the trees followed a more conventional method of planning, almost akin to that of his village. The buildings were made out of some white stone bricks and were tiled with blue roofing, with some golden detailing here and there. There were large paved roads that were flanked by buildings, residential and commercial, and the impromptu tour by the not-Wyverian allowed him to see all sorts of occupations. Various stores were in the process of being opened– it was still dawn, after all– and he even spotted what looked like a smithy that piqued his interest.

The Wyverians that were opening what he presumed were storefronts were all garbed in clothes that were simplistic but conveyed a sense of refinement that he hadn't seen before, with elaborate but subtle embroidery of vines and leaves woven into the hems.

Their outfits were familiar enough that he could identify the occupations denoted by what they wore; aprons for the bakers he saw earlier, an apron and heat-resistant mitts for the blacksmith he just passed by, and other such things. Most of them wore blue and white, and the colors that did stand out belonged to those who weren't civilians.

The green leaf cloaks of those archers he had seen before were easily identifiable, and they moved in groups that seemed to be heading out towards the walls. Some wielded spears paired with kite shields, armored in a resplendent silver cuirass with an equally silver scale mail skirt that reached to their mid-shins and matched with gauntlets and greaves of the same metal. They were fewer than the archers, but they moved with unparalleled discipline in squads marching in cadence through a patrol route.

Those armed and armored 'Wyverians' stared at him with scrutiny as they passed, sometimes exchanging words in hushed tones that he could only barely listen in on. Eavesdrop as he tried, they spoke in the language of those human soldiers they had fought yesterday and understood nothing.

Davion kept quiet as the Wyverian, this Hodor, as he introduced himself earlier, led him to a large square that had a marble fountain in the center depicting a fiery bird whose wings stretched up gloriously. In the middle of the space between the wings was an amber jewel that was floating in place. Behind it was a large tower, taller than the trees, that he realized was somehow hidden in plain sight from outside the boundaries of the territory. If not, then all of its splendor should've been seen from kilometers away.

It was constructed of the same marble-like material that all of the other buildings were made of, with dashes of blue and gold mixed in that gave it an elegant air. There were more of the armored Wyverians around, with two of them acting as door guards flanking either side, sporting conical tower helms.

In the periphery of his vision, something seemed to sparkle just as the shadows on the ground seemed to lengthen. The brunette craned his head up when he saw what looked like a shining jewel on the peak of its spire, and it pulsed in a pattern that sent out a wave of light blue energy up and towards the odd bubble-like canopy that surrounded the whole settlement.

One moment, he and the Wyverian were stepping through some bushes in the forest, and in the next, he found himself in a clearing facing white-blue walls several meters away that looked just as sturdy as some of the castle walls he'd seen whenever he accompanied his master to one of the Guild's cities.

Just what the hell was going on here?!

"Our leader is within the tower." His escort, Hodor, told him as they approached the main doors, the guards looking at them closely. "We permit you to keep your weapon, but we implore that you do not draw it. Our sacred halls have measures that will ensure the safety of Her Grace."

"A-Ah…Understood." Davion nodded. Not that he was going to do something as stupid in the middle of all of these Wyverians. He looked up at the tower again, feeling a sense of foreboding at the sight of the tall structure.

"...Do we have to climb all the way up?"

Hodor looked at him oddly before he shook his head.

"Oh, no. The Court Hall is on the ground floor. The upper levels are for different purposes."

The brunette's shoulders slackened slightly in relief.

"I would ask you to not disturb Her Grace too much, Hodor, especially with this sudden audience." One of the guardsmen, or guardswoman, in this case, drawled dryly in Ancient Wyverian. "She is in the middle of the Dawn Ritual. Even if she asked for you to bring this one before her, she does not need to be distracted."

With that warning in mind, the two guards opened the doors and ushered them in.

It wasn't too big of a surprise to Davion that the interior of the tower was just as opulent as he imagined it would be. Still, he couldn't help but stare in wonder. The walls were decorated with large paintings of various things. From vast landscapes of nature to those that depicted a prominent city of the same design as the settlement he was in. There were also paintings of not-Wyverians– people of importance, he assumed– wearing opulent robes or brilliant armor of the same make as the guards that lined the walkway to the Court Hall.

'I guess they are the measures that Hodor was talking about…'

The guards wore white and red with splashes of orange. They had a bit more armor than the shielded spearmen that he saw outside, and they were embossed with gold in the shape of flames. Each of them had a white cloak with flame-like designs at the end, and their conical helms had winged designs that made him think back to the fiery bird on the fountain. They each had halberds that looked to be expertly made, and he found himself staring at the weapons more absorbed than he should because Hodor had to clear his throat to get him to snap out of it.

His mind was awash with questions regarding the metals that they used. Did they use Machalite? Carbalite? Maybe Dragonite? What about those gems that they had inlaid in their armor? Did they serve a practical purpose, or were they just there for decoration?

As they stepped closer to the Court Hall itself, the brunette could hear music. It primarily consisted of a flute and harps, and there was an ethereal voice singing along to the harmonic tune in Ancient Wyverian.

"Dance oh light across the sky

Sent to us from heaven

With flames you burn a crimson hue…"

Davion glanced at Hodor by his side, who was closing his eyes as he bowed his head low ever so slightly. The two halberdiers flanking the door grabbed the handles before silently pulling it open, letting the two see the ceremony taking place inside.

"Burn through all our Destinies…

Before the red sky

Is painted blue…"

The Court Hall was a spacious room with polished stone flooring that had some sort of design he couldn't quite make out from his position at the doorway. Large windows were up high around the circular hall, situated in positions reminiscent of those on the points of a compass.

Or maybe more akin to a sundial.

"Oh sacred star…

Bring us hope and show us the way~"

And there, in the center of the dark hall itself, was a figure in the middle of an elegant dance. It was worshipful, flowing, and almost akin to some sort of…flame. Davion didn't know why it made him think of fire, but it did. The instrument players were off to the side, in the shadows, and they bowed their heads as the song slowly came to an end.

Bathed in the dawn rays streaming in through the windows, the figure raised her cupped hands slowly. Then, after a moment of silence, waves of golden energy pulsed from her and throughout the hall. Several amber gems embedded in the walls began to glow before gradually banishing the shadows and lightening the room.

Now that the darkness was gone, Davion could see that the hall's walls were made of white marble, completely smooth but somehow not reflective. The floor, now that he could see with the light, had a large sun mural on it, with the same fiery bird he had seen at the fountain in the middle acting as some sort of core. And in the center of said sun was another not-Wyverian.

She had golden blonde hair that reached past the small of her back, almost akin to a river of sunlight. A green laurel was in said hair and was paired with a golden tiara with an emerald inlaid in the centerpiece in the middle of her forehead. She wore loose, long white robes that exposed her shoulders and navel, with a side cut that showcased her left leg up to her mid-thigh. Golden bracelets decorated her wrists, and an equally golden anklet was on her visible leg. Around her neck was a silver locket, and the locket itself dipped in-between– in- in… in a-

…

'HOLY MOTHER OF GARGWA EGGS!?'

"Lady Celestine." Hodor intoned beside him in deference to the woman, having bowed respectfully. "I have brought the one who speaks our ancient tongue fluently."

Shaky steel gray locked onto mesmerizing emeralds when they opened, and 'Lady Celestine' gave a beatific smile to the two before beckoning them forward.

"Wonderful, Ranger Captain Hodor. Please, step forward."

Davion stayed put for a moment before glancing at Hodor, who opened his left eye ever so slightly to peer at him.

"She means you." The not-Wyverian whispered to him, still bowed low.

'Oh.'

Swallowing to wet his dry throat, the Red Rider stepped forward and entered the sun mural. He stopped a few feet before the…physically blessed not-Wyverian, inwardly trying not to lose his cool. She wasn't taller than him, far from it; she only reached his shoulders, but it somehow felt like she was towering over him.

Facing a Brute Tigrex made him feel less nervous than this!

"No need to be so tense." Lady Celestine smiled up at him, her hands gently pressed together just below her navel. She looked the part of a demure priestess rather than the apparent leader of an entire town. "I am not here to invite harm upon you or those under your protection."

Davion's shoulders slackened ever so slightly.

"Ah." She seemed to have noticed if the slight twinkle in her eyes and the way her smile grew just ever so slightly said anything. "No need to worry about that. While we do not look upon the Saderan Empire fondly, that does not mean that we are hostile against the humans that you protect. Especially if they themselves were harmed by the Saderans. If anything, we sympathize."

"I see…" The brunette answered lowly, not trusting in raising his voice for fear that it might crack. "I thank you for that. But concerning their further safety, are we to discuss the terms of their stay?"

A few of the halberdiers that had been hidden by the shadows stepped forward in plain view and shifted as they looked at him sternly. Was he being disrespectful? If he was, he would apologize, but not right now!

"Not yet… For now at least." Lady Celestine tilted her head innocently. "Because I have questions of my own that I wish to be answered first. For curiosity's sake."

Davion pursed his lips but said nothing, nodding ever so slightly in acquiescence.

"First-"

He jolted when he felt her hand caress his left one, gray eyes quickly darting over to see her lift it to her face. She seemed to be very careful around handling his armor, most likely being aware that she might get cut. "Is this stone on your gauntlet."

"The Kinship Stone..?"

"'Kinship Stone'. Is that what it is called..?" She hummed as she stared at the emerald inlaid in the shield-shaped metal casing. It was the finest gift he had ever received from his mentor, forged from Pure Crystal and Mellanje Ore and decorated with Wyverian etchings of mountains and other symbols of durability. "Forgive my prying. It is not every day you would meet a person casually carrying a stone filled with so much… unfamiliar energy."

Lady Celestine continued to stare at it as if entranced before she closed her own emerald eyes. Letting go of his hand, she let it rest at his side once more.

"Second question." She stated, opening her eyes once more and locking on to the ethereal blue lenses within the darkness of his helm's eye slits. "Those three monsters that you and your allies were with. We have never seen their species before. What enclave are you from to have tamed such beasts?"

Davion stared at her before he slowly shook his head.

"That…is a difficult question to answer, one I cannot answer in length with the current circumstances, nor am I an expert on the matter."

The not-Wyverian leader– Elder?– tilted her head, silent. Then, she closed her eyes once again and nodded.

"Very well. I can tell that you are honest in that admission. My last question then, before I deliver my answer."

The Red Rider inwardly tensed.

Lady Celestine sent him a gentle smile.

"May I see your face?"

Davion blinked, his mind briefly stunned at the question he didn't really expect to be asked. Still, if doing what she asked was going to get him his answer…

He reached up and loosened the straps that held his helmet firmly in place on his head. Then, he slowly lifted it up and off before holding it by his side.

There were gasps from all around, but Lady Celestine's only reaction was to tilt her head in part confusion and intrigue.

"...You are human." She noted, her tone calm despite her ever so slightly wide eyes. "And yet you speak our ancient tongue so fluently. We mistook you for one of ours. Kin."

"Is…that going to be an issue?" Davion tried to keep his worry away from his face, but he wasn't as good at masking his expressions as the other two Riders.

"It only furthers my curiosity." Lady Celestine answered as she cupped her chin. "After all, you speak without issues in the Ancient Elven tongue when such a language is all but forgotten by humanity."

'Elven..? Ah…'

All points led to things not being what they seemed. Wyverians in this land was a distant dream he had hoped. Well, at least he now had a proper term to call them. Still, he couldn't help but feel disappointed and feeling a bit more lost than before.

"And even then, our tongue is so complex that a human would need to dedicate their whole lives just to be of passing skill. You are clearly young, and yet you speak as if you have spoken it your entire life. How so?"

"That's because I am not speaking Ancient Elvish… At least, not exactly." He answered slowly, unsure if they were going to take him at face value. "Instead, the language I know would be called Ancient Wyverian."

Lady Celestine raised a dainty brow.

"'Wyverian'?"

"Forgive me. I am confused just as well as you may be. But before you had labeled this language as… Elven, I had assumed you were a race we know as Wyverians, whose features were similar to your people, Elves." He tested the word on his tongue, finding it oddly smooth to speak. "As such similar to you, they have long, sharp ears and are mostly Human-like if not for some other polarizing features."

The Elven audience stared intently as they pondered on his description, listening along.

"I assume you Elves also possess long lives, which would be a trait similar to Wyverians."

Their leader nodded.

"It is these similarities that I had mistaken your people for familiar faces. It was my mentor who had taught me his language. He took me in when I was young as a blacksmith's apprentice and have been speaking it since, due to his tendency to write schematics in his tongue, which required me to understand the language."

Lady Celestine hummed in interest. "More questions seem to be arising the more we delve into this, but the wording, Wyverian, presumes that it mayhaps be related to Wyverns, correct?"

Davion rubbed the back of his neck. "That I'm not completely sure about, but I suppose so. From what my Master had taught me, Wyverians are called as such due to the belief that they shared a common ancestry with Wyverns. This is reflected in their physical traits, as well. The structure of their legs is, well, more similar to what you would see in animals that can fly than those of a human's, making them seem as if they're standing on their tiptoes. Another distinction would be that they only have four fingers in each hand." He paused briefly as he suddenly got reminded of a rumor he had heard while he was in one of the Guild Cities.

"They also lay eggs in reproduction, though, that may just be gossip…" He added hesitantly.

There was a faint concern and confusion as well as peculiar curiosity that stirred in the audience. The court keenly attended to each word he spoke, projecting their own mental depiction of a wyverian's appearance, some accurate and others being entirely off the mark.

The priestess's expression piqued up slightly but was still overall collected. "I see. The difference between Elves and Wyverians is that wide... Though, it appears we still share a common tongue it seems. Rather peculiar that we somehow never heard of their existence."

"It is mutual, as we have also never heard of your existence as well." Davion bit the inside of his cheek. "We could only assume that we come from a distant land that is unheard of in these regions."

"Then how is it that you came to be on this continent?" She asked quizzically.

"We have reason to believe that some sort of unexplainable incident had unexpectedly sent us far from our home to here. A few days ago, we had followed a familiar trail that we had traversed many times before until we got caught up in a storm and found ourselves in an unfamiliar locale when it passed."

"Oh?" Lady Celestine's expression suddenly gained a hint of seriousness, her passive expression scrunching slightly into a focused gaze.

"The landscape we have known and familiarized with our entire lives has disappeared, and in place of it is a foreign arrangement of flora and fauna that we are unaccustomed to." He looked around, squirming uncomfortably against the full attention of the elven audience. "When we had tried scouting the area, all landmarks were absent, and we were entirely lost on where we were. Days pass, and we finally encounter the local civilization, the 'Saderans' as you call them, wherein due to the language barrier, the situation escalated and led us to liberate the people we are accommodating in our camp now."

Silence reigned in the Court Hall. No one spoke, and the pressure felt like a physical weight was bearing down on the Rider's shoulders. Davion hoped that they believed him. While it was the truth in his eyes, they could see it as an elaborate lie in theirs. But what would he gain by lying to them like this? People's lives were at stake, and he'd rather not risk them all on a paper-thin lie.

Then, Celestine's lips curled into a reassuring smile.

"We will welcome your people and allow them to move into Kowan within its walls. Having a human encampment nearby is going to only draw more attention from the Empire, especially considering that they have forces on nearby Alnus Hill. Should there be Dragon Riders flying overhead, and they spot you? That will only invite further trouble, no?"

The brunette's eyes widened at her in shock, almost recoiling in surprise. But what was the catch?

"However… We will require something from your people as well."

'Here it comes.'

Davion slowly nodded before bracing himself.

"And what may that be?"

Lady Celestine tittered behind a hand.

"Why, labor and services, of course. It is only fair, yes? While we are not in need of warriors or mercenaries at the moment, surely there are other skills that can be provided."

Davion swallowed, withholding a sigh of relief.

"Well, as I mentioned, I am a trained blacksmith who apprenticed under someone who was considered a master of my time. My fellow Riders have their own specialties as well. And as Riders, our working philosophy is led by preserving the balance of nature, no matter where it may be."

Her smile didn't abate. "All in due time, we will tell you how you would assist us. For now, that is our proposal."

Davion frowned. Was this too good to be true? Judging from how they had treated them so far, they seemed to be more reasonable and pragmatic from what he could see, with no hint of malicious intent.

Surely, it would be no question but to accept, right?

But he had to make sure…

"Before… Before I would accept, would it be uncouth of me to demand something as well?"

The court murmured amongst themselves, quite surprised that some random passerby dared to ask something despite being at the mercy of their behest and to their great leader no less.

"Hm, It would depend on the request." The elven priestess's voice carried a trace of curious interest.

"I would only ask that no harm and mistreatment would befall anyone in our group, including our partners, our mounts."

"You dare insinuate that we are savages like the Empi-!" One member of the court erupted and was quickly silenced by Celestine holding up her hand and giving him a cool side-eye.

"I never had any intention to do so. However, I can understand why you would need reassurance that we will not take advantage of your people. You have my word that we will treat you with the utmost hospitality as long as it can be returned in kind."

His gray eyes bore into her emerald greens, looking for any signs of duplicity.

…

The tension in Davion's shoulders slowly laxed.

"...Then that is enough for me, I accept."

"Most excellent." Her smile regained its radiance, her hands giving a small, quiet clap. "I shall instruct our craftsmen to refurbish some buildings for shared bunkhouses for now. While it is underway, there is an empty plaza where you would be able to settle in. May this be the start of a harmonious cooperation between our people…" Celestine trailed off, blinking in confusion for a moment before she tilted her head.

"Oh dear, I haven't caught your name."

"Davion." The Red Rider provided after a moment's hesitation, nodding at her respectfully after. "Just…Davion."

Hodor's mind was in a whirl at the recent turn of events.

There had been records of occurrences that had sent people from distant lands through great distances in the blink of an eye. Most of them were due to spells casted by great mages onto their foes, or due to a magical incident that caused an uncontrolled teleport spell to occur. That didn't exactly speak much of good tidings if that were the case for the red dragon knight and his friends.

But Lady Celestine seemed to trust Davion's words, and her judgment was always precise. However, he still had a healthy amount of doubt towards them.

'This whole business just became a bit more complicated. Especially with the humans being allowed access into Kowan.'

While there was little risk of their settlement being leaked outside to the Saderan Empire, the fact that humans were going to be let in was something that was going to ruffle a lot of feathers. The majority of the elves were well aware of the heavy-handed nature and barbarism that the Imperials were capable of and assumed that any humans they saw were of the same mindset save for certain settlements.

At the very least, he knew where Lady Celestine was going to house them. The old residential district had been empty for a while. The previous occupants had migrated further down South to the mountain enclave within Elbe, Yvressa. It had been almost half a century since they left, and he wondered how they were doing…

"Hey, Hodor..?"

He snapped out of his reminiscing to turn to the human, who was once more wearing his helmet. Clad once more in his full panoply, Davion struck an intimidating figure, but the Elf gave him the benefit of understanding what it means to look out for their own.

Now, if only he could find a semblance of credibility of a magical storm that whisks people away to new lands…

"Yes?"

"The language that those other humans were using, those Imperials you called them… Is it possible to learn it, or at least have someone teach it?" The Red Rider asked him as they walked down one of the main roads, once more attracting many eyes due to the striking look of his armor. "Considering that we are going to be staying here for an unknown amount of time, I think we should learn the local language rather than fumble around with gestures and play charades. It would also allow us to better integrate into your society."

The Ranger Captain hummed as he tapped his chin, mulling it over. "We do have teachers, but they generally do not teach Saderan nor do they speak it. Our academies are more focused on utilizing the Elven tongue, you see, and our traditional method of teaching is to let the youth mimic what the elders do. However, I believe I can find the bards and bookkeepers to be more of assistance as they would be more exposed to the language than those who stay behind our walls. They often travel outside and mingle with the Saderans, so they might have notes and such that can aid you."

"I see…" The armored human cupped his helm's chin as he crossed his arms. "Then, do you know any-

"Father!"

Hodor stopped in his tracks and turned around, a smile instinctively growing on his lips.

"Tuka!"

His darling daughter ran up to them, somewhat panting as she stopped.

"Where…" She breathed out before composing herself once more. "Where have you been? Did you even have breakfast yet? You left so early!" she says in Saderan.

"Ah…" Now that she mentioned it, his stomach had been rather hollow in the past hour. "No, I have not. Sorry, dear, I was doing something for Her Grace."

"Eh?" Tuka recoiled, eyes wide. "Her Grace?! What did she- No," She turned her head towards Davion, who had been silently watching their interaction, withdrawing slightly at the sight of his jagged armor.

"Do not worry, this is Davion. He is the reason why I have been busy of late." Hodor turned to the man in question with an apologetic smile as he switched from Saderan back to Ancient Elvish. "Forgive me. This girl is my daughter, Tuka, and she was wondering where I had been."

The armored human nodded, then paused. Looking at the pulsing on the stone in his left hand, he seemed to stare at it before the pulsing slowly stopped being active. "I apologize. It appears that I may need to take my leave for now. Is there anything else I need to know before we begin moving our camp to the city?"

His daughter seemed to gaze at the Red Rider in slight wonder, almost the same expression he wore at the discovery that he, too, could speak their ancient tongue with more fluency than any other native elf.

Hodor made to speak before he looked between the human and his daughter.

Saderan, Elven language, teaching… Tuka.

…

"Ahem, Davion," He turned to the human, who looked back at him. "My daughter here is a bard-in-training, and she has an interest in learning Ancient Elvish, as some of our older songs are sung using said language."

"I see… Well… Good for her?"

"You misunderstand, you see, I think there is a good learning opportunity here. While I would still need to find suitable people to teach the local language to the rest of your group, I believe Tuka here would be more than enough to be your personal tutor."

Off to the side, as expected, the daughter in question reacted appropriately.

"Eh…. Eh!?"

"...You want me to be taught by her?" Davion re-inquired dubiously.

"While she may not be entirely at the level to speak and understand Ancient Elvish smoothly just yet-"

"Not- speak- yet- Father!"

"Our younger generation is more attuned to speaking Saderan than we older folk, so I think she also might have something to learn from your way of speaking our language." Hodor's expression suddenly turned stony as he fixed a glare at the Rider. " Or what? Is my daughter not enough for you? I'll have you know that she has quite the singing voice."

"Wha– No!" The armored Rider shook his head firmly. "I would appreciate the fact that she would teach me, but that's not the issue here!"

"What issue is there to have? You said that you would appreciate it if she taught you. Then, there we go!"

"I- You-! Urgh…"

"Daughter," He turned to Tuka, switching back to Saderan. "This is Davion. He and his group will be living in Kowan for the foreseeable future, I will give you the details later. All that you need to know for now is that I'm asking you to tutor him in Saderan."

"What? Why does he not know it?" His daughter jolted at his question, looking at him as if he was mad. "And why me?! I…I'm not confident enough about that. I know how to sing and play, but-"

Hodor reached out and gave a reassuring pat on her head. "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't believe you could do it. Perhaps this will be a learning experience for the both of you."

Along with his gesture towards her daughter, Hodor also mentally patted himself on the back for his brilliant idea. Tuka and Davion briefly glanced at each other in confusion, exasperation, as well as utter disbelief. The blank visage of his helm somehow able to express his sentiments, the language barrier briefly having been overcome via mutual emotions.

The moment he had returned to camp, he was immediately beset by a large red mass of sharpness and muscle.

"Whoa, boy, I'm fine!" The Red Rider cried out as the Glavenus nuzzled his snout into him, digging in his heels to prevent being knocked over. Sighing, he rubbed his partner's scales in reassurance. "I'm fine, buddy. Sorry, I took so long."

Leaning over to peer at the other two Riders who were fast approaching, sporting worried and expectant faces. A few other civilians were watching from behind them, curious about where he had been the last two hours.

Davion sighed as he pushed Gurion away, facing both of them as he removed his helmet to show them his complex expression.

"Later." He held a hand up to stop the barrage of questions that would have come at him. "Later after I get breakfast. I'm really hungry right about now. After that? We have so much to discuss."

Chapter Text

Tuka had never expected to become a mentor. At least… this soon.

No, really, this was too sudden. She hadn't even completed her own training as a bard yet, and now she was going to teach Saderan to some–

And it was a human! Her father didn't even mention that he was human when he introduced him to her! And how was a human able to speak Ancient Elvish so much more fluently than her?!

It wasn't fair!

"Ugh…" She pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried to calm herself down.

She shouldn't think of this– Davion– as a human from the Saderan Empire. He did say that he was from a far-off land… and it showed with his lack of knowledge of the Saderan language.

Though that doesn't explain how he knows Ancient Elvish. Perhaps he was from a distant colony of Elves that have learned to co-exist with humans?

…

It still didn't lessen her envy of his fluency.

"Are you alright, Tuka?" A soft voice called out to her, and she raised her head to look at who spoke.

A familiar worshiper of Lunaryur, the God of Music, greeted her eyes. Clad in a comfortable blue tunic with red and gold designs, a cloak of a darker shade of blue, and tan pants with shin-high leather boots, she carried with her an intricately carved violin strapped to her back.

"Eilonwy..!" Tuka smiled up at her as she took the songbooks and tomes off of the spot next to her to make space on the bench she sat on.

"Did you forget a line again and set the headmaster off? You know that mistakes are normal…" Her fellow music-lover raised a dainty brow as she sat next to her, setting her violin on her lap.

"No, no, I'm not upset because I got scolded. It's just…N-Nothing in particular."

"You know you can talk to me about anything." Eilonwy assured her with a gentle pat of her shoulder, giving a calm smile at the younger elf.

Tuka's smile grew ever so slightly at her friend's words. Eilonwy was, in many ways, her senior when it came to being a bard. She was the one that helped her get started in learning to use a lute and lyre all those decades ago.

"Seriously, it's…it's nothing." The bard-in-training reassured her with a small shake of her head. It was just her being jealous of her…student? Nothing worthy of great attention. "Anyway, I didn't expect you to return so soon! How was your caravan's trip to the Elbe?"

"Oh, it was quite uneventful, save for some interruptions by a Manticore–"

"Miss Marceau!"

Both elves paused and turned their heads to see Davion jogging his way over. The Red Rider was bereft of his titular crimson armor and was instead wearing a simple cream tunic with a brown vest on top, dark trousers, and leather boots. Without the armor, he looked quite the humble figure, if a bit rugged with the light 5 o'clock shadow and his firm build. And as ever, on his left hand was that jewel that he and his other two friends were almost never seen without.

It didn't take long for the brunette and his friends to seek out occupations to keep themselves busy in their stay in Kowan. Her father had translated the Red Rider's words to her and she understood that they didn't wish to be akin to leeches, being nothing more than freeloaders whilst living off from their people's generosity. So, the three, with the help of her and her father as translators as well as endorsers, had found themselves occupations to pass the time while they were in the settlement.

As he neared, the two women could smell the faint but distinct scent of smoke on him.

"Davion…" Tuka greeted him with a strained smile, barely hiding her surprise at his sudden appearance while she had been conversing with a friend. "Done with helping out at the forge already..?"

"Yes!" The brunette nodded with a happy smile. "Sir Vaul was quite pleasured at the pacing of my smithing-"

Eilonwy looked at her from the corner of her eyes and the younger elf's ears twitched.

"Ahem, it's 'pleased', not 'pleasured'." Tuka corrected her student's Saderan, trying her best to ignore the amused look her senior was now giving her. "And it's 'pace' not 'pacing'."

"Ah, forgive me." Davion rubbed the back of his head with an apologetic chuckle, cheeks warming in embarrassment. "I am still learning…"

"Learning, he says…" Eilonwy spoke up with a small smile, turning her head to look at Tuka, who looked away. "Tuka, why didn't you tell me that you became a mentor to one of the humans? I didn't even believe the rumors about the humans were real."

"...My father put me up to this." Tuka pouted, turning her head back to look at the older elf with a weak glare. "Don't laugh. He thought that teaching him Saderan would be good in exchange for him teaching me Ancient Elvish."

The bard's brows rose as she turned to look at the gray-eyed human who was watching them talk. It was somewhat obvious that he was trying to not listen in but couldn't help himself.

"You can speak Ancient Elvish?" Eilonwy switched to her people's old tongue experimentally.

"Yes. Though, it goes under a different name from where I come from." Davion answered in the same tongue almost instantly, his fluency causing the older elf to recoil a bit in surprise. He was even better than her in his diction, and she was supposed to be the bard! "As of the moment, Miss Marceau is helping me learn how to speak and read Saderan so that it would lessen the language barrier between ourselves and your people."

"...I can see why your father asked him such a thing." The older elf turned back to Tuka, whose cheeks were flushed red. "He's even better than Kerillian."

"I know…" Tuka sighed as she shook her head. "A-Anyway, Davion," She addressed the human in Saderan, who perked up. "Are the others learning as well as you?"

It was a bit tough to find teachers for the other two 'Riders', as Davion had called themselves as. Whereas the brunette had the advantage of knowing Ancient Elvish to better communicate with her should he have questions– or at least, she knew enough Ancient Elvish to understand his questions– the other two had no foundation to stand on. She had to find other bards who were willing to teach Saderan to what was basically someone that was uneducated.

It cost her some gold and a few favors, but all to help someone help others, she supposed.

"They are both learning quickly." Davion nodded with a wide smile. His cheer was almost infectious. The way his eyes seemed to glimmer with comradely affection towards the other two Riders was something that was almost permanent. "Ephraim working at the eating place helps him identify words for ingredients fast, and Ryo helping out at the herb house and meeting other bards makes him know more words!"

Well, that was good, she supposed. A bit surprising how fast they seemed to be picking up the language, but Tuka could attribute it to a dedication born from necessity. They were in a foreign land that spoke in foreign tongues, after all. Needs must be done to adapt.

"If you wish, we can check in on them." Davion offered, Tuka quietly noting that his ability to speak full sentences was slowly but surely improving. "I was looking forward to eating an early lunch after a morning's work at the smithy."

"Well," Eilonwy turned to look at the younger elf with a wry smile. "I suppose it won't be much of an issue. I've been missing some home cooked Kowan meals after being away for quite a bit."

"I…suppose we can…"

Entering the tavern, Eilonwy was met with the sounds deeply familiar to her as a bard. The idle chatter of people, the music played by her fellow bards that were either hired or decided to spice the day or evening up, and the scent of cooked meals filling the air alongside that of whatever drink was preferred served. Even better was that the scent of Kowan, of home, filled her so utterly after having been away on a caravan for months.

Faces, both familiar and unfamiliar, met her eyes as the three walked in, and she noted that half of the patrons in the tavern were humans. Most of them were black haired, with a smattering of blonde and brunette here and there. Their features were foreign, even for a far-traveled Elf like herself.

The elf behind the counter greeted them with a smile and offered the empty seats at the counter. A fair few of the black-haired humans seemed to notice the brunette and greeted him amicably in a foreign tongue, to which he returned with a jaunty wave and a warm grin.

Seems like he was rather well-liked among the humans. Then again, from what Eilonwy had heard from all the rumors and hearsays in the short time she had returned home, he was essentially the lynchpin between the humans and her people in Kowan.

In a sense, it would be logical for them to treat him as some sort of community figure.

As they sat at the counter, the aroma of cooked meats, freshly cut vegetables, and spices entered the bard's nose, and they mixed together in a harmoniously delectable scent. Turning her head slightly towards the side, her eyes locked on to the saloon doors that lead to, obviously, the kitchen.

"Welcome to Midsummer's Rest." The tavern keeper greeted them with a smile. "What will you have this fine noon?"

"I'll have a Rider Spread." Davion said to the elf, testing his Saderan, much to the elf's calm amusement. It quickly turned into an exasperated expression, one that was shared with Tuka, at his request.

"I'll have some bread and onion soup, please." Tuka requested, shaking her head at her pupil's choice. Eilonwy couldn't help but wonder why that was so.

"And I'll have some vegetable and meat stew with a mug of ale, if you have them, please." The bard ordered after some seconds of deliberating. She was relying on month's old information regarding this tavern's menu. Who knows what changed during her absence?

"Coming right up." The barkeep smiled as he wrote down their orders on a piece of parchment. He then walked over to the kitchen and entered it, leaving the three to converse with each other.

"So," Eilonwy turned to her friend and her pupil, who looked back at her in curiosity. "I hadn't caught up about the humans that entered Kowan. What's the story behind that? When did they arrive?"

"Just a little over a month ago." Tuka provided, sharing a glance with Davion before nodding towards him. "It was a shock to everyone, honestly."

"But how? And… why?"

"It was our only viable option, if I may be honest." Davion spoke up with a sigh and a slight shake of his head, switching to Ancient Elvish. "The people we had bought would poorly blend in at any other human village. And my friends and I simply could not make a village of our own at such a short time. So we decided to head this way after spotting something that we believed to be a place of interest."

"And that's when Father found them." The younger elf spoke up, picking up bits and pieces of what her pupil was saying. "It wasn't exactly hard to spot the carriages entering our forests considering how much our rangers patrol the area, according to him."

"It was tense..." The brunette shrugged, turning his head to look at the dark-haired humans that were glancing at him every now and again, smiling or waving whenever their eyes met. "We were surrounded and outnumbered, only six of us and a lot more civilians that we could not effectively guard. We were only saved by a stroke of luck that Hodor spoke Ancient Wyverian– I mean, Elvish– and I understood him that we were able to negotiate."

"After that, Davion here was asked to meet with Lady Celestine to further negotiate their stay, which she agreed and, some time later, here we are."

Eilonwy furrowed her brows slightly at the tale. So these other humans were most likely slaves that they had liberated. A vindictive part of her was glad that the Saderans would not get their newest batch, but another part of her was worried. The Saderans would not take the forced release of their slaves lying down, and she was sure that the area outside Koan Forest was more dangerous for her kind.

"And the influx of people…" The elf muttered before looking around the tavern. The humans were, obviously, congregated around themselves, but there were a few that interacted with the elves, though they communicated through gestures. Honestly, she expected worse. Kowan hadn't had any humans enter its walls, or even approach its walls in centuries. So to see that the two races were amicable with each other was a relief.

"One Rider Spread, Bread and Onion Soup, and a Vegetable and Meat Stew with a mug of ale!"

Turning her head, she was met with a large serving tray that was absolutely filled with food. She could see her order, impressively held stable, alongside Tuka's and–

'Wait, is that supposed to be the Rider Spread?!'

Her eyes widened at the whole roasted pheasant, platter of sausages, ham, and bacon, the skewers of meat and vegetables, a slice of cheese, some baked potatoes, and a stew of what looked like fish.

He was going to eat all of that?!

The blonde human carrying the assortment of food set it on the counter, seemingly without strain. He wore a cream tunic underneath a tan apron, leather trousers, and a pair of leather boots. He had a similar build to the brunette, so she surmised that this was perhaps one of Davion's friends.

The sight of the sapphire-like stone on his left hand only cemented that fact. It was held in a metal casing similar to Davion's, shield-shaped, but whereas the blacksmith apprentice had an emerald cut to his gem, the blonde's followed the shape of the casing, his stone having been cut in what some gem carvers called a 'Trillion'. There were engravings and embossings of clouds and lightning on his casing, which she compared to the brunette's carvings of mountains.

"Here you go." He said in accented Saderan.

Davion said…something to the blonde, in a language that Eilonwy wasn't familiar with. There were some words that almost sounded like Elvish in there, but it was lost amidst the unknown diction. The blonde's expression was set in slight intrigue as whatever they talked about made him stay, leaning against the counter as they conversed.

"Yeah, their own language is a bit unique." Tuka chuckled as she took her order from the tray. "You get used to them talking like this with each other."

Eilonwy said nothing, nodding instead as she took her own order and her mug of ale. At the sight of the other dishes on the tray, the blonde reached over and pulled the Rider's Spread in front of the brunette.

She watched as the blacksmith's apprentice ripped a leg from the roasted pheasant before tearing into it. She watched as he cleaned the skewers of their meat and vegetables, she watched as he supped on the stew, before munching down on the potatoes and sausages. She observed, in mounting horror, as he devoured the roasted pheasant, and everything else.

All in the span of five minutes.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and slowly turned her head to its owner.

Tuka smiled at her, a resigned expression clear on her face.

"You get used to it."

"Hey," Eilonwy turned her head to the blonde, who looked back at her before glancing down at her stew with his electric blue eyes. "Eat. I cooked that. Don't want it wasted."

Heat flushed into her cheeks as she ducked her head, picking up the spoon on the side of the bowl. Taking a small scoop of the stew, she blew on it to cool it before sipping. Almost immediately, a burst of flavors erupted in her mouth and she had to control herself from scarfing down the rest on the spoon.

"Another person caught captive by your cooking, Ephraim." Tuka's voice quipped beside her, but she was too busy trying to hold captive the blend of savory and sour in the stew. She could taste spices that she hadn't expected to be in Kowan, the last time she tasted something similar was during her caravan's trip to Alguna nearly a decade ago.

"Hmph." There was a hint of pride in the blonde's huff, one that Eilonwy was somewhat familiar with. It was the huff of a person who was proud of his craft, one who had practiced it to reach a set standard, to reach perfection.

This man must be some sort of professional chef!

Or, at least, on the path to becoming one.

And before she knew it, she had finished her stew, washing it down with her mug of cold ale. She felt…full. Not in the physical sense of the word, but…She felt content. The warmth of the meal spread throughout her in a comfortable blanket as she let out a pleased sigh.

"My compliments to the chef." She smiled up at the blonde, who smirked. He made to respond when his sights flicked up from hers to the tavern entrance, his smirk turning into a neutral frown. A series of words escaped his lips, in the language that he and Davion shared, and she looked over her shoulder to see who he was talking to.

It was another of the humans, He wore an off-white tunic with a green vest over it, dark trousers, and a pair of leather boots. The green vest made her raise a brow, as it was essentially the symbol of the healers in Kowan.

A human being a healer?

But what got her attention the most was the jewel on his left hand, much like what Ephraim and Davion had. It was another blue gem– Turquoise, if she was correct– cut in a kite shape. Upon coming closer, she could see more details of the metal casing, the carvings on it reminiscent of swirling waves.

Well that, and the fact that he was wearing a white and pink mask with the visage of what seemed to be a fox on the side of his head.

She watched as the three Riders conversed, their expressions turning from casual to serious. The black-haired one pulled out a map, one that he rolled out on the counter, pointing to something on it…

'...Wait, is he…that's Coda Village..?'

Eilonwy spied how the green-eyed Rider seemed to point towards the village in seeming urgency. The blonde then pointed at Alnus Hill and made some hand gestures, to which the black-haired Rider shook his head. They each shared a look at each other before nodding, with the other two leaving Davion, who turned to them with a serious expression.

"I have to go." Was all he said as he stood up.

"W-Wait, where are you going?" Tuka asked him, which made him stop. He turned to her, his steel-gray eyes glinting with determination and focus, as he answered.

"A Hunt."

Living close to the Koan Forest meant that there was an abundance of resources readily available for Coda Village. From lumber to wild game, there was more than enough for the village to sustain itself that it didn't rely all that much on imports of goods.

However, living this close to a wild and untamed forest also brought about its own dangers.

Said wild game could be dangerous, as they could be common prey to predators such as packs of wolves that roam the forest, or the bigger and meaner beasts deeper within. There were also rumors of bandit camps, or even talks of forest people, those who made a living in the darkness of the woods away from civilization.

Lelei La Lalena wished that it was a simple bandit party instead of whatever it was she and her master were going to face.

"Will we be enough?" She asked him as they stood before the entrance of Coda Village that led to the forest, on the opposite side of the village opposite of the path that led to one of the main roads that connected the vast Saderan Empire.

"The wards had detected something big heading this way," Cato El Altestan muttered as he narrowed his eyes, his sharp gaze fixed on the forest's edge several meters away from them. There was no sign of the weariness of age or of an encroaching senility in his eyes, only a steely resolve. "Something big enough that might damage the village severely. If we don't do it, who will? The town's guards had been conscripted into that ruckus over in Alnus Hill."

The blue-haired mage hummed as she thought back to all those overly-excited guardsmen running up to join the army that passed by, leaving the village dangerously undefended. It was only by luck that there hadn't been any risk of bandits or similar threats befalling the village.

"Perhaps this might even be a chance for you to practice your more offensive spells, my pupil." Her master chuckled at how her eyes seemed to twinkle. "Just make sure to not have them be aimed at the village."

"Of course, master."

Crash!

She snapped her head towards the forest as she tightened her grip on her staff. The ground shook as distant trees rustled and rattled, with a few falling as something heavy bore its way towards them.

Roaaaar!

Cato's expression turned steely as he held his staff before him, his frown nearly hidden by his beard.

"That's a Manticore's roar, and it's very very angry. Why one is this close to the edge of the forest is a mystery to me, but my student, this is going to be a dangerous fight."

Lelei had heard rumors and hearsay from the locals of Coda Village that Koan Forest hid all sorts of mysteries, but never had she expected to be facing off against a Manticore, at least this soon. The vile beasts were rare to come by, but there were records of it being an absolute menace that slew countless men before they were driven off.

Driven off.

Not explicitly slain.

So for one to be here, she was understandably nervous, even if her outward expression didn't show it.

"Get ready." Cato intoned as he began to cast a spell, the runic arrays appearing beneath his feet and around his staff. "Let this beast not take one step past us."

The tree up ahead rattled and shook, and after a few tense seconds of silence, something big flew out from the canopy. Lelei's eyes locked on to the blur, immediately recognizing the large stinger and bat-like wings of the manticore. Her brows furrowed further at the sight of wounds on the beast.

Was it fighting something beforehand?

The manticore was flying back, in the midst of a backwards leap, and landed before the two mages. It turned its head, the primal intelligence in its eyes glinting at the sight of their glowing staves as it growled. It turned to them, its stinger raised in the air as the spikes on the carapace began to quiver–

Slam!

–and were knocked loose as an electrified wing smashed into its side, the draconic owner roaring its own cry of rage as the beast was beaten away.

Cato gaped at the demonic visage of the black and green dragon as verdant lightning coated its form. Baleful red eyes glanced at them with bestial intellect before they focused back on the recovering Manticore. With an angry snarl, the dragon leapt towards the beast, another wing coated in lightning ready to smash into its hide once more.

This time, the Manticore dodged the blow, leaping to the side before retaliating with a tackle.

BOOM!

Only for it to be countered by an explosion that sent it reeling, roaring in pain as its tough hide was decorated with new holes.

Lelei's eyes were locked on to the figure rising atop the dragon; she had been staring at him ever since he and his partner arrived. She remembered him, even after more than a month. She hadn't forgotten the intimidating sight of both him and his mount. Clad in the same black and green plate and scale, the rider of the dragon held his great lance high, smoke wafting from the end of it.

She didn't hear any incantations, so how was he able to fire off a fireball so fast?

Whump!

With a strong flap of its insectoid wings, the dragon leapt into the air and on to the manticore, biting and tearing into the writhing beast. Blood flew into the air alongside chunks of meat as the brutal dragon used the spikes on its wings to beat the manticore into submission, each pounding hit bringing about a resounding sound of burning flesh and bruised muscle. The rider on top of the dragon contributed his own attacks, the great lance of his stabbing and slashing into its mount's prey.

But despite it all, the manticore still lived, and its stinger shuddered as its quills began to stick up.

Recognizing that it was about to strike, Lelei pointed her staff and quickly chanted off a spell, a runic circle appearing before her just moments before the stinger darted forward towards the rider.

As if having intuited the attack beforehand, the rider leapt off of his mount just as the venomous stinger passed by where he would have been. Quills tipped with the same venom darted from the tail, but they merely harmlessly bounced off the thick plate and hide of the dragon.

Slam!

It was then where Lelei's wind spell smashed into the stinger, causing it to sharply twist and break off pieces of its carapace.

Landing on his feet, she watched as the rider did a sidestep, covering a couple of feet in a single leap before stabbing his great lance forward into the base of the tail.

Crack!

The great lance's blade dug into the space between the carapace plates, piercing into the soft flesh beneath, and causing dark blood to spill forth from the wound. With a roar of pain, the manticore thrashed, throwing off the dragon and causing the rider to take a short skip back, raising his shield to block the errant quills swung his way from the stinger-tipped tail.

Lelei watched as the quills, which were said to penetrate Saderan armor, bounce off of the shield.

With a snarl, the dragon repositioned itself to be beside its rider, just as the manticore got back on its feet.

Thud Thud!

Cato slammed his staff twice on the ground, the runic array beneath his enlarging to encompass the area. In the blink of an eye, several spikes of ice erupted from the ground underneath the manticore, the frozen constructs either breaking apart upon impact or finding middling purchase. With a roar of pain, the beast recoiled at the successive hits, rearing back and using its front paws to break the few spikes that did penetrate its thick hide.

Crackle–Zzzzap!

That brief moment of distraction was more than enough for the dragon to be coated in its green lightning, its wings, pincer-like tail, and crest all moving and vibrating at an erratic pace. Where once the baleful red eyes were, only a green glow remained as the creature seemed to barely restrain itself from flying into a maelstrom of violence. There was a glow on the rider's left hand that caught her attention, but she focused back on the fight, even as more and more questions began to pile up in her mind.

The rider then shouted something, and the dragon exploded into action.

With a mighty flap of its wings, it zoomed towards the reeling manticore before executing a flip, smashing its pincer-like tail into the beast's chin. The hit snapped the chimeric monster's head back, stunning it, and the rider ran forward, far faster than what she expected a man bedecked in heavy armor could.

An orb of green sparking energy then formed on the talons of the dragon, much to the increasing surprise of both mages.

This new dragon was able to harness magic?!

With a roar, the dragon stopped its flapping and dove down towards the staggering manticore, foot extended as the orb of energy clutched by the talons grew in ever increasing size. At the same time, the rider slid underneath the beast, the great lance pointed up high. As he passed, another fireball erupted from the tip of the weapon, straight into the underbelly of the beast.

Boom!

The explosion, that close, was enough to lift the manticore's rear half into the air. It hung there for a moment, almost stunned, as the human slid underneath and behind it.

CRASH!

And barely a split-second later, the orb of green lightning impacted its head, bringing the poor beast back down into the earth as the unknown weight of the dragon slammed itself into the manticore. A large wave of electricity arced from the orb in an explosion, and Cato and Lelei hastily conjured up makeshift earth barriers to protect them and the palisades of the village behind them from being fried.

Dust was kicked up by the resulting shockwave, and the blue-haired mage was forced to close her eyes from the flash. She could hear her master saying something amidst the roar of the wind, but she was too busy trying to not get dirt into her mouth. When she opened it again, and the earth walls sunk back into the ground, she saw no sign of the dragon and its rider, only the corpse of the manticore, its head having burst open with the flesh blackened by the sheer heat of the last attack.

Cato released a huff as he lowered his staff, shaking his head slightly.

"...That was too close." Her master muttered, walking over to the corpse, prompting her to follow. Now that they were closer, the size of the beast became more prevalent.

It was easily twice their height, almost three times, and was as long as a house. Its hide was littered with claw marks and gashes, both fresh and old. Blackened patches decorated the dark brown fur, clear signs of the dragon's electric strikes.

…What was that on the ground?

"To think they would have a powerful pair…" She heard her master mutter as she walked over to the rear of the beast, crouching down to pull something from underneath the downed tail. Wrapping her hand around it, she blinked as a warm sensation spread through her palm. Lifting it up into the air, she showed the metal cylinder bigger than the palm of her hand to him.

"Master."

"Hm?"

The two mages looked over the cylinder, the open end blackened with some sort of powder residue. Cato knew the telltale signs of combustion as he turned the item over in his hand. His mind worked with all sorts of thoughts as he hummed.

"Curious…"

"Where's the other one?"

Ephraim grumbled as he and Astaroth walked besides his other Riders and their partners. In Gurion's maw was a massive serpent, the decapitated head being carried by his Rider over his back. The Glavenus was dragging it along, leaving a light furrow in the ground, with Ryo and Sekken following behind.

The Mizutsune glared at the head of the snake, his head frills still somewhat glowing. There were black scorch marks on the scales of the Leviathan, and his Rider was doing his best to brush the soot off.

"It got too close to the village." The blonde explained with a clear frown in his voice. "Two of the locals spotted me. Both were magic users; they had staves, and one of them helped me out by hitting the stinger with a spell."

The three had been introduced to the concept of Magic by Lady Celestine's court mage. It was…enlightening, to say the least. They weren't exactly new to the idea of the more esoteric energies being present in the world– they had their Kinship Stones, after all– but witnessing the mage conjure flames from the very air without any catalyst was eye-opening.

"So you left the body there?" Davion spoke up, turning his head to him. "Didn't even carve or anything?"

"Like I said," Ephraim gritted out, the reminder that he didn't even get the chance to get anything from the Manticore stinging his pride. That stinger looked useful too! "It died too close to the village, and I wasn't staying around potentially waiting to be surrounded as I carved."

"It's a bit of a shame, but at least we stopped these two. That's all that matters." Ryo sighed, his voice rising slightly to stop the two from bickering. With each step of his, the Summoning Bell on his back jingled harmoniously. "Besides, we still have this giant snake."

The Astalos Rider looked at the headless body of the serpent, its length trailing behind Gurion a testament to how big it was.

"Well, at least we have a chicken alternative. I've been feeling bad about the dwindling food stock of Kowan ever since our arrival. Now though? Well, it would last us a month or two, if properly stored and preserved."

"As long as Gurion and Astaroth don't devour most of it, yep."

"So, do we agree that this was a successful Hunt?"

"Could've been better."

Chapter Text

Living in Kowan had been…an experience, to say the least. After almost three months, she still couldn’t believe that she was living amongst Elves in their settlement, underneath a magical dome hiding them all from the prying eyes of the outside world.

 It was like she was in one of those isekai light novels that some of the boys from her college were into. For all their talk of ‘gaining OP Powers’ or ‘getting a harem’– ‘Gross.’ – her own experience was far from it. She had no OP powers, no cheat skills, and absolutely did not have a harem of men willing to do whatever she wanted.

She was still just plain ol’ Hana Fujikawa, an extra-dimensionally displaced college student.

 Well… not entirely just that.

You see, for some reason, out of everyone from the liberated Japanese she was given a position. She had the task of being the liaison between them and the Riders. She had been one of the first to communicate with them, to talk to them, so they saw her as somehow being qualified for it.   

Obviously, she wasn’t totally prepared for such an endeavor, nevermind the fact that she could only communicate effectively, to an extent, with Ryo, as the other two didn’t seem to know Japanese. And even then, Ryo’s diction was both familiar and foreign, archaic mostly. It took her the better part of a week of sticking around him to get a grip of how his Japanese worked, or in his words, ‘Yukumoan’.

As for the other two?

She had to ask around if anyone was able to teach them Japanese, even basic, to better communicate with them. Charades and gestures could only do so much, after all.

With the help of Ryo, teaching the other two Riders didn’t take that long, surprisingly enough. This was on top of them learning the language those fantasy Roman wannabes were speaking from the Elven Bards. A part of her envied just how fast they seemed to get a grasp of things, especially when Ryo had confessed that they themselves weren’t of this land.

They adapted much faster than she did, her and most of the Japanese.

She wondered what kind of men they were to be able to adapt that fast. In a foreign land of foreign tongues, with nothing familiar to ground them. She knew that some of her fellow Japanese were still reeling, even after weeks of settling down. They were all too used to the modern amenities of city life, and the adjustment period was a bit rough. On top of that, there was the lingering trauma of being abducted amidst a slaughter.

She took in a shuddering breath.

She didn’t want to linger on those memories any longer than she had to.

She had to focus on the now.

“Fujikawa-san, hand me the shears, please.”

“A-Ah, yes, Ryo-san.”

Handing over the tool to the Rider, Hana took the chance to observe what exactly he was doing.

They were both in a garden, the public garden of their little corner of Kowan. There were all sorts of herbs and weird plants she had never seen before, all sown by the man she was aiding. It was a surreal wonder to see them grow so fast, most of them having grown in as little of a span as a week, while others were a bit slower, taking almost twice or thrice the time plants usually grow. It was how the others knew that these weren’t any kind of plants they were familiar with.

She could spy the odd colored berries and nuts here and there, most of them weren’t edible, as he informed her. They had odd names, ranging from ‘Fire Herbs’ to ‘Might and Adamant Seeds’, but said names were all that was required to know what they exactly could do, she supposed. She had to tell the others to warn the children to not wantonly eat any of the berries here, for fear of them getting sick.

“There we go, enough Herbs to last us a bit longer if our Potion stocks aren’t used up so quickly.” The black-haired Rider muttered as he closed up the pouch he had put the herbs into before standing back up from his crouch. Turning to her, he bowed slightly, much to her slight embarrassment.

“Thank you for your help, Fujikawa-san.”

But she didn’t really do much other than hold the toolbox?

“It’s no problem, Ryo-san.” She shook her head as she followed him out of the garden and down the path to the Riders’ shared house. Along the way, she nodded and waved to her fellow Japanese that were out and about. “I know that you three are very busy with helping everyone out, so I thought that I could help you every now and again to compensate.”

“I appreciate that, truly.” The Rider looked at her over his shoulder, a smile beneath his fox mask, “But you must have your own things that are more important that need doing?”

“No, not really.” Hana looked away, her gaze locking on to a passing bird. “Today’s been quiet, like so many others. Honestly, some of us are going a bit stir crazy…”

Ryo hummed as they stopped before his house. It shared the same design as many of the structures in Kowan; composed mainly of white stone with splashes of blue and gold mixed here and there, there was an air of sophistication in it that fit the general air of the Elves around them. It was two stories high, was vaguely European in her eyes, and had an attached building that looked like a garage, at least, when it came to space.

“Maybe I can ask some of the Bards to entertain you guys every now and again. Though…” He sighed, turning to her with a dry smile as he crossed his arms. His dirt-stained gloves were now in the pocket of his apron. “There’s always that language barrier.”

“True…”

There were some of them that did venture and try to learn the language commonly spoken by the Elves, this ‘Saderan’ as it was called. It sounded like Latin to her, if a bit stranger, sort of like an offshoot, like how Ryo had his own offshoot and archaic Japanese. Other than those few, the rest kept to themselves in their little community here in Kowan.

“I could always try myself, but, well…” Ryo chuckled slightly, rubbing the back of his neck. “The performances I’m used to aren’t really fit for your crowd I suppose.”

“Performances..?” She tilted her head before remembering something. “With that massive kagura suzu ?”

“With the Summoning Bell, yes.” He nodded as he opened the door and stepped inside, putting his apron on a rack by the side. He then took the toolbox from her hands. “I’ll put the herbs in the clinic. If you wish, you can wait in the living room.”

Ah, right. Part of their house was converted into a clinic by the Rider, which really was more like a fantasy alchemy lab than anything.

Well, ‘fantasy’.

It was practically reality where they were right now.

“Then, please excuse me.”

Hana entered their abode, following after the green-eyed Rider before stopping at the living room while he went ahead. It wasn’t her first time being inside, she had to help some kids that were hurt into the clinic within in the past few months. But this was definitely the first time she went inside as a guest and not as a patient.

The interior of their home was a bit different to that of the house she shared with her housemates.

There were animal pelts, trophies from whatever they hunted, some carved wooden figurines of dragons and beasts, and some tools like whetstones and even a fishing rod sequestered away in a corner. It had a very-lived in atmosphere, and once again she couldn’t help but feel envious at how fast the three could adapt.

Speaking of the other two occupants of the house, they were, unsurprisingly, nowhere to be found. They were most likely still at their workplace, at the Midsummer’s Rest or at the smithy further into Kowan. Hana had been in the tavern before, but the propensity of Ephraim to pay for the Japanese’s meals out of his own pocket and paycheck made her too self-conscious to come by regularly unlike some of the others.

Rather than sit down, she walked around, noting the new wooden carvings on a shelf. Like her earlier observation, they depicted different kinds of dragons and beasts. They were hand carved and had a meticulous make, the details of their snarling maws being impressively made. She recognized a few of them as having been in the hands of some of the younger refugees. Did one of the Riders give some to them?

Hana continued to walk around, curious about the new curios added in the time between her last visit and now. There was a large gray scale the size of a dinner plate atop the fireplace, some large spikes that had reddish tips behind a glass cabinet, what looked like rooster feathers but much larger hanging above a drawer, and some other items that she didn’t know the origins of.

She knew enough that the three were some forms of hunters– she’d seen the gigantic snake the three had brought in a month ago. Tasted it too, despite her trepidation.

Snake did taste like chicken.

…She was digressing.

She knew that the three were sort of hunters of a type. Hana definitely didn’t know any kind of hunter that would wield a gigantic kagura suzu , a greatsword, if it was still a sword, or even a lance. Then again, the three weren’t from Earth, so there was that.

Oh, there was that homesickness again.

Hana clenched her fist over her heart, her lips set in a frown as she stared at the ground.

‘How long? How long are we going to stay here? How long must we wait for rescue so that we can finally go back home?’

It was a lingering, festering, thought to all of the Japanese. As nice as staying in Kowan was, none weren’t looking forward to an extended stay. They still had their lives back in Japan, lives that they had been uprooted from with the sudden appearance of the barbarians in Ginza. They wanted little more than to return to it and forget all that had happened as some sort of mass hysteria.

But a part of her mind wouldn’t allow that to happen. Every day, every time she woke up, she would have fleeting memories of dreams and nightmares, of that fateful day, of being grabbed and seeing people she both knew and did not be slain before her very eyes. As much as she didn’t want to, she knew that there was a permanent mark on her after this. 

Before her mind could spiral into a depressive mood again, a hand settled on her shoulder, startling her, and causing her to leap and yelp.

Whirling around, she stared at the sheepish Ryo as he gestured to the small coffee table between a couch and a loveseat. On the table was a tray that held…

Was that green tea and dango ?

“I would be a poor host if I didn’t offer my guest refreshments.” The black-haired Rider smiled as he sat down on the loveseat. “Come. Sit, so we may converse. I hadn’t the time to do this since I’ve been busy as of late. I’d invite the others, but I haven’t found the opportunity to do so.”

Unsure, Hana instead sat down on the couch. She didn’t want to be rude as to deny her host’s generosity…

As Ryo poured hot green tea into the two cups, showing an impeccable technique that she was surprised to see. Then again, she shouldn’t be that surprised. He had a kagura suzu and wore the traditional attire of a groom in a traditional wedding, and he spoke an archaic Japanese.

He was pretty much this world’s Japanese, she supposed.

A very, rural, very traditional and historical Japanese man that is.

“How have you been, Fujikawa-san?”

The question shouldn’t have caught her off-guard so much, but it did. The festering feeling within her worsened, barely restrained emotions bubbling to the surface. Emotions that she had long suppressed to not affect morale, or to discourage the younger refugees that she looked after. Her hands clenched on her lap as she slowly looked up at his understanding smile with a shaky one of her own.

“...I’m…hanging in there.”

Barely.

Just barely.

But enough to not break.

Hana Fujikawa would not break.

Not anymore.

 “Thank you for your work, Ephraim.”

The blonde Rider waved at the owner and barkeep of the Midsummers Rest, his other hand pocketing the pouch of gold coins he earned.

“Like I said, cooking is a hobby of mine.” He deflected the thanks with a wry smile. His Saderan had been smoothly progressing, and he could now hold a decent enough conversation with some of the Elves. “If anything, I should be thanking you for giving me work. It allowed me to ply my craft once more.”

“Just get going.” The barkeep rolled his eyes in good humor, shooing him away. The blonde was surprisingly humble, stubbornly so, when it came to compliments and he’d rather not have a back and forth once more. “You’re not doing yourself any favors working past your assigned timetable.”

Ephraim chuckled quietly as he gave a small salute. “Aye-aye, sir.” With one last wave, the blonde walked away from the tavern and towards the tiny corner of Kowan that housed the rest of the human refugees.

Kowan at night was surprisingly quiet for its large population, not that that bothered him. Most of the nights back at the Village were quiet, as the people were either huddled in their homes or were closing up shop. It wouldn’t do to be too noisy up in the mountains in the dark.

It allowed him to gaze up at the aurora back then, something that he missed nowadays. There was no comforting cold, or the whisper of the wind across the mountain blowing past him as he gazed out at the snowy valley below. No hotsprings to warm him up and loosen his tense muscles, or the meals that Grandma would cook that were guaranteed to give him the boost he needed to get through the day.

A sense of melancholy settled in him again, and he couldn’t help but curse himself for it.

It’s been three months since they’ve arrived in this strange land, and there had been no familiar signs of anything related to their home. He had perused through the Elves’ library once he had enough of a grasp of their language, and when he was still lacking, he asked Davion to help him out.

And yet, they found nothing, nothing at all, related to anything that they knew.

Nothing about Wyverns, Elder Dragons, about Kinship Stones, the Hunter’s Guild, or even about the damned Plesioths around their continent’s shores.

There was one thing that caught Davion’s and his attention, however, and those were the records of a ‘Flame Dragon’ that has burned down villages and settlements over the decades. It certainly sounded like an Elder Dragon-like threat, but the fact that it could only breathe fire and display nothing more lowered its danger.

Perhaps more akin to an oversized Rathalos, than something like a Teostra or a Lunastra.

He had a sinking feeling that–

‘No.’ Ephraim shook his head as he clenched his fists. ‘I’m simply not looking hard enough. Or… The library here is lacking.’ 

Kowan was a hidden enclave of Elves, unknown to the humans of the Saderan Empire. There was no telling if they had up-to-date texts of the goings-on of the outside world.

Perhaps he should take a look at that one city, Rondel as he had overheard some of the Bards talk about. They did say that it was where the ‘Magic Academy’ was. Maybe they had more knowledge that held the key to where and how the three of them could go back home. Hopefully they’d have some records of distant lands or something.

He’d really rather not think of the alternative.

Shaking his head, he peeled off from the road that would take him to his and the other Riders’ home. His mind was too clouded for him to sleep comfortably, his tendency to overthink rearing its ugly head.

Ephraim wandered aimlessly throughout Kowan, passing by curious guards and Rangers, whom he nodded at. His mind was still muddled, various thoughts, plans, and contingencies all coalescing into a chaotic maelstrom in his head. Steps became complicated, as more and more factors played in, theoreticals mixing amidst one another, and lofty goals being tossed away in favor of more practical and realistic ones.

They couldn’t just sit here in Kowan all the time. They had to be proactive in their efforts to try and find a way home.

Even if that meant dealing with the barbarians.

They still had the Village to return to. Three months of them being missing, he didn’t want to think of what could have happened while they were gone.

He knew that there were other Riders to help defend it, but the fact that the three were missing from the roster still didn’t sit well with him.

‘That’s not to mention…’

The blonde shook his head with a grimace. Damn it, he refused to spiral into a depression again. He’d only barely held it back because he busied himself with his hobby and with ingredient hunts. Pressing a hand to his temple, he frowned to himself as he sat down on the fountain of the plaza he found himself in.

He wasn’t going to fall into despair this soon. Not when he hadn’t even tried yet.

This restless feeling inside of him…

“Copper for your thoughts?”

Brought out of his muddled thoughts, he turned towards the voice only to almost recoil in shock at the sight of Lady Celestine.

“Hello, Ephraim.” She greeted with a kind smile as she sat down next to him on the fountain’s edge. Her Saderan was flawless, and it carried with it an elegant accent that was reminiscent of some of the Wyverians he’d encountered outside the Village. “It’s quite unexpected for you to wear such a troubled expression.”

She was able to note such a thing because out of the three, he was the one that she interacted with the most. Mainly due to her visits to the Midsummer’s Rest to taste some of his meals, which, of course, brought in more customers whenever she did, much to the owner’s delight and fear. He didn’t want to presume, but the relationship between him and the head of Kowan was amicable, but he dare not break any sort of courtesy by addressing her so casually.

The Elven leader wore a pale cream negligee that almost seemed transparent under the moonlight with a silken shawl just shy of hanging off of her shoulders and what looked like gladiator sandals that had a heart-shaped emerald where the shin would meet the foot. Compared to her rather…provocative outfit during the day…

‘This one is just as, if not more provocative..!’

“Ah…” Ignoring the warmth rushing to his cheeks, he looked away as his mind screamed at him to answer her question. “I…Forgive me, Lady Celestine, but what are you doing out this late?”

A titter escaped her lips and he turned his head forward, just so he could see her from the corner of his eyes. Her expression was calm, almost understanding, and– he was going to not look down below her neckline .

“I had to check on the crystal holding up the dome that keeps Kowan hidden from outside eyes.” She explained, looking up at the top of the spire, and he followed her gaze. “It’s not an indefinite effect, so it falls to me to keep it ‘topped up’ so to speak.”

“With your magic, I assume?” He turned his head to her, facing her fully with a curious expression. “Why not have someone else do the task for you? I hold no doubts that they would be honored.”

Celestine turned to him with a calm smile. “It’s because it is one of my most sacred duties as both the leader of Kowan and the head of those who worship Flare, the God of the Sun.”

“Ah, I see. Davion did mention that you were performing some sort of dance when he first met you.”

“One in tribute to Flare.” She nodded. “It is he who favors us Elves greatly amongst the pantheon.” 

“‘Favors’? As in…actively?”

Celestine tilted her head.

“Why, yes. Has nobody…told you of our divines?”

“I’m afraid not.” Ephraim shook his head. He hadn’t really sought to ask or try to learn, having been too busy with his own issues. “Personally, I’ve never really… No, nevermind, it’s rude of me to say that. I’d would like to learn from you, however.” He smiled at her. “So that I wouldn’t accidentally offend someone somehow.”

“Understandable.” The eyes of the Elven leader twinkled in amusement, and she raised a hand, palm up. “Then, perhaps we should begin now.”

“Eh?”

An image began to form above her palm, that of a roaring flame that flowed with gold within.

“Let us begin with the first god the Elves worshiped at the beginning of our civilization…”

Faced with an impromptu lesson, Ephraim could really do nothing but to listen and take in the knowledge offered. It served a good distraction from his own worries, however, and he soaked in her words of her people’s religious history as the time flew by.

To think that gods were indeed real in this continent and had their own blessed champions…

Where were they back home? Were they driven away by the Elder Dragons, perhaps? By the whispered tales of horror of the Black Dragons? Or what if the gods themselves were the Elder Dragons?

Perhaps that could be it, considering the Village’s–

‘..!’

Ephraim’s smile faded as he sat up straight, a faint, distant noise carried by the wind entering his ears. Beside him, Celestine’s own smile had disappeared, replaced with a confused frown as she looked up at the sky towards the West.

“What was…” He muttered, straining his ears as a few armored Elves, Celestine’s previously hidden escorts, marched out from the shadows towards her. The Elven leader stood up as her brows furrowed.

“I sense a great magic shift in the West.” She announced gravely. “Something has passed through the Gate on Alnus Hill. A great many things.”

“A ‘Gate’?” The human turned to her with a raised brow as he too stood up. “Is Kowan in danger?”

“I’m unsure, as only time will tell.” Celestine shook her head as she turned towards her spire. “But I shall convene with the rest of those who worship Flare. Dawn is coming, and we may yet ask of him a vision or guidance.”

“I…Yes, that-that would be good.” Ephraim nodded, an unsure expression on his lips as he glanced at the Kinship stone on his left hand. He pursed his lips, thinking to himself for a few seconds before looking back up at the Elven leader’s back. “Lady Celestine!”

The woman turned to him with a raised brow.

“I shall scout ahead with Astaroth.” The blonde human announced as he crossed his left arm across his chest, displaying the Sapphire kinship stone that glowed in the darkness before dawn.

Celestine’s expression briefly was one of surprise before she shook her head with furrowed brows.

“It’s dangerous. There’s no telling what you might encounter. You might come across more of the Saderan’s Dragon Riders.”

“Astaroth and I can handle a few weakling dragon riders.” Ephraim’s lips curled in distaste before he bowed his head. “Please. I’d rather not risk whatever it is to be an immediate danger to those of Kowan.”

The Elven leader knew that he was mainly referring to the humans under he and his friends’ protection, but she appreciated that he also thought of her Elves. The ritual to grant foresight amongst themselves was going to be lengthy, that she knew, even with the coming dawn boosting the magic. If what was indeed coming through the Gate was something that required urgency…

Celestine clenched her fists briefly before she gave a quiet exhale. With a small nod, she stepped forward to him, cupping his cheek and causing him to stiffen. Perhaps at another time, in another situation where there wasn’t an unseen or an uncertain sword hanging above their heads, she would have been amused at his flinching. But right now, she would put those feelings aside.

“Do not be reckless.” She ordered him sternly. She knew that he was a font of fiery youth, tempered, yet still a blaze of energy and emotion. It wouldn’t do if he became carried away by it. “And don’t risk yourself more than you should. It would not do for you to be hurt because of this. My people and yours look at you fondly, do not hurt them because of this.”

A steely certainty manifested in his electric blue eyes, akin to a coming stormfront as he nodded.

“I won’t.”

Boom..! 

Both of them faced West once more before the Elven leader took a step back.

“Now go.”

Without another word, the blonde turned and ran towards his and his friends’ home. Already, as he neared the house, he could see the lights being on. Opening the door none too gently, he marched inside and made his way to the door leading to their little ‘armory’.

“Oi, Ephraim.” The blonde turned his head to see Davion going down the stairs in hurried steps, skipping one or two stair steps at a time. “What the hell’s going on? What was that noise?”

“I’ve been tasked by Lady Celestine to check out the explosion and whatever’s going on in Alnus Hill.” Ephraim explained as he opened the door and stepped into where they’ve been keeping and maintaining their gear. Reaching over to the lantern just beside the doorway, he turned it on and hung it on a hook on the ceiling to better light up the room.

“Tasked?” Davion asked, his expression one of worry as the blonde began to suit up. “Have you even slept? You’re going to be fatigued out there!”

“I’ll take an Energy Drink, don’t worry.”

“Pack is ready, potions, rations, everything you might need are already outside to be holstered on Astaroth at a second’s notice.” Ryo’s voice drawled as he stepped out of the shadows of the stairwell, obviously having come out of his room connected to the clinic. Ryo frowned at him as he leaned against the doorframe. “The Nitroshrooms don’t grow fast enough to compensate, you know. We still need those for Gunpowder.”

“I honestly expected you to stop me.” The blonde responded dubiously as he strapped Dark Chariot’s shield on his right arm.

“As if there’s any room to convince anyone of us to not go as soon as possible. I’d go ahead myself, but Sekken has to traverse through a dense forest.” The dark-haired Rider called out, obviously displeased that the blonde was being hasty. “Come on, Davion. Let’s suit up.”

Ephraim now fully clad in the Astaroth Armor, the green glowing parts pulsing in seeming sync with his heart rate. “I’ll try to not use gunpowder too much.” Holstering the gunlance to his back, Ephraim put on his helmet and grabbed his item pack, his Kinship Stone pulsed as he exited the house, and not a moment later, Astaroth landed out on the street with a trill. Quickly riding the saddle, he grasped the handles after he tied his pack on the hook on the side.

“Let’s go, Astaroth!”

With a snarl, the Astalos launched himself into the air, wings beating rapidly as faint green lightning streaked across his form. Higher and higher they went, clearing past the two massive trees that were in Kowan, surpassing even the spire’s point. There was a brief sensation of something washing across him, and he looked over his shoulder to see nothing more than densely packed trees and some faint hints of houses in the branches.

He had exited Kowan’s protective dome that kept it hidden from the outside.

It was wild country from here on out.

And immediately, he could see flashes of more explosions on the distant Hill.

“What the…” Ephraim murmured as Astaroth drew nearer, the speed of the Thunder Wyvern being a boon as he crossed a great distance in just a few minutes. Reaching into his pack, he pulled out his binoculars and pressed them against his green visor, just as his partner maneuvered around a low cloud.

His vision in the dark had been tried and tested through numerous night-time patrols, as well as all of the times he’s stargazed when he was younger. Not that that was required, a shining flare was shot into a sky acting like a light source for the entire battlefield, flashes of the explosions and how frequent they were were enough for him to see the absolute slaughter that was happening on Alnus Hill.

He could see the ordered formations of the Saderan soldiers marching, charging up the hill, only to be cut down by what looked like trailing projectiles both small and big. At first, hope bloomed in his heart at the sight of the rounds. The sounds were familiar, that of cannons and bowguns.

Did their people find their way here?

No, his mind answered as he continued to observe. Unless his people somehow made iron machines that were mounted with cannons on rotating turrets, these weren’t his people. They didn’t even wear armor, at least those that were familiar to him. Amidst the flash of cannons and bowguns, he could see what looked like blocky carriages that didn’t have any monster pulling them, and he could faintly see figures hiding amidst cover, firing their weapons down at the Saderan soldiers.

His eyes moved from the defensive emplacements of those with the mounted cannons to that of the structure behind them. The temple was big, definitely around half the height of Celestine’s Spire. He could comfortably fly Astaroth in, if he wanted to. There was nothing but utter darkness beyond the entryway, however, even with the flashes of gunfire.

Did they come from there? Was that what Lady Celestine meant by ‘Gate’?

‘A gate means a point of entry…or for exit.’

Suddenly, Astaroth snarled, almost jostling him as the Thunder Wyvern flew up higher. Looking over to where his partner was glaring at, he could see a formation of Saderan Riders attempting to flank the forces on the hill. However, one of the metal carriages quickly swiveled the turret towards them and let loose a stream of rounds with a rumbling roar, quickly cutting them down from the air.

Well, there went the idea of coming closer, he supposed.

He lingered around, high in the air, for almost an hour, watching the unmitigated slaughter of the Saderan forces with a grim frown on his lips. No matter what the Saderan leader would do, from attempting to do a cavalry charge using horses, a combined assault with formations of men under cover of archer fire and ballista fire, all of them suffered the same fate; being cut down without mercy.

His stomach churned at the sight of all the bodies piling up, at the hundreds of men being killed in mere seconds, and he put down his binoculars as he turned his head away from the carnage.

This wasn’t a battle.

This was a massacre.

Even Astaroth, temperamental and aggressive that he was, knew better than to try and join the chaos down below.

“Let’s get out of here, Astaroth.” He muttered, sitting back down and grasping the handles of the saddle. “We’ve seen enough.”

With a warbling chirp, the Thunder Wyvern banked around and flew back to Kowan. By now, the sun was rising past the mountains, the dawn bringing with it the staccato of explosions. Flying over Koan Forest, he and Astaroth passed through the magical barrier that kept the settlement hidden, and immediately he could see that the entire place was mobilizing.

Squads of Rangers were moving to and fro, in and out of the walls. The shielded guards were marching through the streets, and a lot of the Japanese were gathered outside their homes in their little quarter of Kowan. He could see Ryo talking to them, with Sekken sitting nearby, most likely telling them that things were going to be fine. Davion and Gurion were closing in on them, the Burning Wyvern all too used to walking through the streets to not let the swaying of its tail hit the houses that flanked it.

He guided Astaroth to land nearby on an open plaza, his arrival caught the attention of the crowd and of his friends.

“What did you see?” The Mizutsune Rider asked as he jogged up to the Gunlance user. The Glavenus Rider and his mount strode over to him, the helmetless Davion looking at him in worry.

Pulling his helmet off, Ephraim latched it to his side as he turned to them.

“A battle is happening on Alnus Hill. Unknowns are engaging the Saderan Army stationed there.” He announced to the two with a frown on his lips. “They have advanced cannons that are mounted on iron carriages, on top of turrets that allow them to swivel around. They have fast-firing bowguns as well, it-” His breath hitched at the memory of a rank of armored men being cut down like they were chaff against a scythe. “It was a wholesale slaughter.”

The two other Riders’ expressions turned grim.

“Do you think we should evacuate?” Davion proposed.

“We have the dome to hide us.” Ephraim pointed up with a troubled frown on his lips. “And we’re deep enough in Koan Forest that there’s no reason for them to range this far.”

“Did they see you?”

The blonde shook his head. “I was using cloud cover and I left just before dawn. They were too busy fighting the Saderans. If they did, they would have shot me down like how they did the Saderan Riders.”

“There’s no need to treat them as hostile for now.” Ryo spoke up, having been silent for a bit as he thought it over. “No jumping to conclusions just yet.”

“But there’s no need to treat them as friendly too.” Ephraim countered carefully. “They’re unknowns from beyond the Gate.”

“Beyond the what?” Davion wondered, looking at him with a raised brow.

“Lady Celestine told me before I suited up earlier that ‘something has passed through the Gate on Alnus Hill. A great many things.’ ”

The brunette looked at him with wide eyes.

“Are you telling me that that temple on the hill…”

“Is some sort of portal?” The blonde nodded with a frown. “Most likely.”

Davion crossed his arms. “So what then? We hunker down? Treat them as hostile? Because I’m still of mind that they’re not enemies. ‘The Enemy of our Enemy is our Friend’. ”

“We have to make sure of it.” Ryo sighed as he shook his head.

“Already was planning on it.” Ephraim quickly responded.

“After,” Ryo cut in with a growl. “You get some rest.”

Ephraim huffed, annoyance clear on his face. “I’ll rest a bit after I report to Lady Celestine on what I saw.”

“A LONG rest, or else I’m hiding the Energy Drinks and using the rest of our Nitroshroom stockpile for Gunpowder.”

“Fine. Whatever.” Putting on his helmet, the green and black armored Rider grasped the handles of his saddle as Astaroth took off, flying towards the Spire in the center of the settlement.

“...What’s going to happen now?” Davion sighed as he and Ryo watched their friend fly away.

Boom..! Boom..!! 

Ignoring the distant sounds of cannon fire and of gunfire, Ryo looked over his shoulder at the Japanese, who looked partly hopeful as they looked West.

“We wait. And…hope.”

Chapter Text

The air of tension over Kowan didn't dissipate even after the explosions had died down, plenty of the Elves in Kowan were waiting, anticipating for something else to happen. The other shoe to drop, the resumption of the sounds, practically anything that would verify their paranoia. This was how Tuka felt as she paced in her home, her anxiety spiking as her father was outside the walls on a patrol with his squad.

The bard-in-training wrung her hands nervously, frequently eyeing the open window. An unnerving quiet spread across the settlement, people speaking in hushed whispers, as if whatever had made those explosions was able to hear them all the way, deep into Koan. People were wary, she could understand that, but gods, if it wasn't absolutely stifling!

She couldn't sing, she couldn't practice, she could barely play her harp within her own home!

Gritting her teeth, she paced a few more steps before stomping the floor in frustration. She needed something to do, something to distract her from this anxiety. Grabbing a pouch of gold, she went downstairs to the front door. She might as well do some shopping to get her mind off of things.

Hopefully the merchants hadn't closed shop with the current debacle…

The short trip to the main street had thankfully yielded her some measure of comfort. Some shops were still open, though there was still the tense air present. There were few, if any, that hemmed and hawed, hollering about their wares. There was an increased presence of the guards too, as spearmen clad in glistening silver and scale armor kept watch over the people.

Tuka strolled down the street, eyeing the stores for anything that caught her fancy. Buying a candied apple from one of the stalls right before a stray thought passed through her mind.

'Wait, didn't Davion work with one of the blacksmiths here? What was it again… Oh, right! Old Man Vaul!'

The only other elf that was older than Lady Celestine, and the only one that still had the knowledge of mixing magic with the art of blacksmithing to a degree that it was practically legendary. Her father often mentioned where it was whenever he mumbled loudly about getting a better bow or arrows.

Hoping that the Rider was there, she walked over to where she last recalled his smithy to be at.

The sound of metal being hammered into shape echoed in the air as she drew closer, and the ambient temperature began to rise. She stopped before an open forge, eyes flitting around at the number of weapons and armor mounted on the walls and on stands before resting on the elf hammering away on a heated rod of metal.

White-hared and wrinkled, the aged blacksmith still retained a powerful build, no doubt due to his livelihood of shaping metals and other materials into works of art. Clad in a light green tunic with a black smith's apron on top, the elder elf continued to hammer the rod into the rough shape of a slender sword.

"Um, Sir Vaul?" Tuka spoke up, somewhat hesitant to interrupt him during his work.

"Yes, child? What is it?" The elder continued hammering.

"Have you seen Davion around? Or did he come by, maybe?"

"Ah, him? I'm afraid he's still on duty, riding that Wyrm of his." The white-haired elf put the hot rod back into the forge to reheat it. The bellows magically pumped air into the flames in response. "But he'll come by soon. He still has his little project to complete, after all."

With a wave of his hand, he pointed to a worktable on the other end of the smithy.

She couldn't believe her eyes as she stepped closer to the worktable.

"What–" Tuka could identify the makings of a bow amidst the components laid out, but…

THAT thing was anything but a bow that she knows and uses.

IT was almost as big as her! Is it made entirely of metal? Even the string was multitudes thicker than what a typical bow uses, the draw weight must be immense! Made of interlocking-

What even is this?!

As if recognizing her mental turmoil trying to process this 'bow' the Smith laughed. "Ha! Girl, you should've been here when we argued that that thing was an abomination! But, considering what he made so far, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. He's more ingenious than he looks."

Tuka pursed her lips at that. There were a lot of inconsistencies concerning the Riders, that was for sure. She had never seen a human being able to lift something as big as the three's weapons without strain, all on top of wearing armor that was heavier than they looked, now they're making contraptions beyond their imagination.

Then again, she'd never really seen a human before until they arrived with the others three months ago. But even then, the black-haired humans seemed boggled at their feats of strength.

It was almost as if they were… more. Like–

Tuka's ears twitched.

"Oh." Vaul let out as he chuckled quietly. "Here he comes."

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Turning back towards the street, she could see the large form of Gurion stomping down the stone pathway, miraculously leaving no craters or visible damage. The beast was clearly two-stories tall, maybe even more with the two prominent spikes on its back. The bladed tail was controlled in its swinging, and even then, she could tell that its edge was as sharp as any weapon.

A Wyrm with a bladed tail, which was more than half as its body was long.

A terrifying yet awesome creature.

Thump!

Its Rider hopped down to street level with little strain and a very audible thud as his boots met stone. The single bale eye that glowed in the darkness of the helmet's eye slits locked on to Tuka in seeming surprise.

"Miss Tuka?" Davion asked as he approached the forge. "What are you doing here?"

Before she could even say her reason, the old elf had beat her to it.

"She's looking for you, boy. Sounded quite eager to find you, too!"

Tuka's cheeks heated up as she glared at the back of the elder.

"N-No I wasn't! I was just-!" She cleared her throat as she turned to Davion with a calm smile, ignoring how her cheeks still burned with embarrassment. "I was just looking for you so I could ask how things are going currently. Father's out on patrol so I couldn't ask him about what those explosions were two days ago."

"Ah, those." Davion removed his helmet and attached it to his belt. "Well, something happened over at Alnus Hill–"

Clang!

Both flinched and looked over at the elder elf as he hit the metal with his hammer with a harder force than usual.

"Those greedy Saderans…" Vaul turned to them, and even through the blindfold hiding away his eyes, they were rooted in place at the piercing stare. "Tell me, boy, did they step on the dragon's tail with that latest blunder of theirs?"

"I, uh," The brunette winced. "I-I guess so? Ephraim reported directly to Lady Celestine about it, but so far she hasn't–"

"No need." Vaul chuckled as he shook his head, staring off to the side with a sense of dark amusement. "I've lived long enough to know what exactly is going on. All those explosions and that noise, definitely were not Saderan-made."

"Uh," Tuka looked between the two for a few seconds before looking back at Davion with a strained smile. "S-So, what's that bow you're making?" She asked, if only to try and diffuse the tense atmosphere. She went here to try and get away from all of that, damn it!

"Oh, that?" Davion walked over to the worktable that held the impossibly impractical bow. "Just something my friends and I could use in place of our usual weapons. You must have seen that we're lacking in ranged options."

He reached over the side of the table and pulled out…

A ballista bolt?

"So I decided to amend that error and make a Steel Bow and some arrows."

Arrows!?

It couldn't be anything else but a ballista bolt, right? She refused to think that as an arrow, because that would be absurd!

"Those better be worth it, boy, the number of ingots you used for one damn limb of that bow…" Vaul grumbled as he shook his head, turning his blind eyes to the brunette.

"It will, Master Vaul. I assure you." Davion chuckled as he set the arrow aside and began assembling the bow. "With this, those two finally have a ranged option; from above, and from afar."

"Not you?"

He chuckled light heartedly "Haha~ No, I'm not keen enough with using one of these. I'm more comfortable swinging a sword." He pulled the chains, stringing them to the limbs of the monstrosity of a 'bow', a testament to his deceptive strength that he didn't strain in doing so.

"Hmph." Vaul grunted as he resumed his forging. "You need to be versatile. That sword of yours is a detriment in an enclosed space."

"I'm not a fool sir." The brunette lifted the assembled weapon, with it practically two-thirds of his height. "I know how to use other weapons, particularly Sword and Shield, but I also particularly remember you stopped me from making one."

"The shield you planned to cast was bigger and heavier than the biggest shield we had!"

"It was well within the estimations!"

"Boy, you already burned through almost half our metal reserves with that abomination of a bow alone!"

Tuka watched the back and forth with a curious glint in her eyes. To have the elder elf talk this frankly was…something. Every other elf in Kowan talked to him as a venerated elder, but Davion…

He stood up, his bow held proudly in his hands as he judged his own handiwork.

Ch-chink!

With a flick of his wrist, the bow folded in half, much to her shock and surprise. It can do that?! Why would it do that?!

"Looks like it's holding up nicely. Sir, I'll be heading out!" Davion called out as he grabbed a massive quiver full of what he called arrows. With both in hand, the Rider walked out of the smithy. He paused before her, a curious look on his face. "You want to come with, Miss Tuka?"

"Oh, um…" The bard-in-training looked at him and then at the massive beast he called his partner. Gurion stared at her with unnervingly intelligent eyes before huffing a small smoke cloud out of his nostrils. "To where, exactly?"

"The Archery field obviously, for tests!" Davion smiled at her before he put on his helmet.

"I thought you said you didn't know how to use one."

"I said that I didn't prefer using them, never said I didn't know how to use it."

"Ah."

Ryo observed as he helped coordinate the Japanese in their progress of packing up. Just one phrase, one little observation Ephraim had made after his latest scouting run, and the whole place had almost erupted as he translated his words to the people to let them know what happened.

"They were raising a banner, a flag. A sheet of white with a perfect circle."

And the small crowd of people that were still out that night seemed to jump for joy, surprising the two Riders and their Partners. News had then quickly spread in the following hours following dawn, mentions of a 'JSDF' being the most prevalent. And from what they told him, it apparently meant 'Japanese Self-Defense Force'.

Their army. This 'JSDF' definitely wasn't pleased with the Saderans given how they massacred them over at Alnus Hill.

So yeah, he was right to be worried, even if they were going to return their people to them.

'I also have to account for the travel time between Kowan and Alnus Hill.' The green-eyed Rider thought as he watched a few Elves help the Japanese in stow away their items to the covered wagons using magic. 'It might take more than a day given that they're horse-drawn carriages. I think we still have those Saderan tents from all those months stashed away safely.'

"Ryo-san."

Snapping out of his musings, he turned his head to see Hana approaching him.

"Ah, Fujikawa-san–"

"Hana." She corrected him with a slight blush on her cheeks. "Please, just call me Hana."

His lips curled into a small smile.

"Alright then, Hana. Did you need something?"

She shook her head.

"No, not really. It's just…" She looked off to the side, at a group of Japanese children practically vibrating around their caretakers. "Everyone's so excited to go back home."

…

"...We're planning on a farewell party."

"Oh?" Ryo's brows rose as he turned his head to her. He knew that something like this was going to be precious for the Japanese, so it wouldn't do him good if they ignored it. "May I ask the venue and what time?"

"At the…um…the Midsummer's Rest, tonight." Hana spoke quietly as she watched a few teenagers take pictures of the houses they would soon be leaving. A lot of them had used their phones sparingly, knowing that there was little to no chance of charging them in this land, but now that they were heading home, they had been turned back on to record some lasting memories. "So, that when we leave tomorrow…"

"Of course we'll be there." The Rider's lips curled into a gentle smile. "I'll see to it that we'll attend, all of us." Ryo chuckled quietly as he adjusted the chord to his Mizutsune mask. "I'll perform a bell dance to bless your departure as well."

Hana's eyes twinkled at his offer, turning her head to him with an expression of gratitude he has yet to fully comprehend.

"We'll take you up on that offer."

The subtle floral and soapy scent indicative of that of the Mizutsune was more than enough to clue him in that his friend had entered the tavern. It was distinct over the scent of herbs, spices, and cooked meat. His keen scenes were more than honed to pick up the subtleties amidst the chaos during a hunt. Putting the lid back down to let the stew continue to cook, he walked out of the kitchen to see Ryo sitting at the counter.

"Been resting well?" The black-haired Rider greeted him with an amicable smile.

Ephraim huffed as he leaned on the counter. "Yes, I am. So stop hiding the damned Energy Drinks."

"No." Ryo answered easily in the wake of the blonde's irritation. "It was already bad enough that we used it as a substitute for sleep for weeks on end. It's a miracle none of us began having the shakes after that whole debacle."

"I'm not addicted." The Astalos Rider protested with a mutter. "Maybe to duty, perhaps."

"Then do your duty with a sensible schedule and stop depriving yourself of proper sleep. Kowan is more than capable of defending itself without us. Take care of yourself first and foremost, I'm more worried that you'd chase after that rush of energy at every opportune moment."

He and Astaroth really were two peas in a pod in terms of synergy and compatibility. And that included some…bad habits, at times.

"Besides, I don't think Lady Celestine would appreciate letting you indulge yourself running ragged for her requests."

There was a hint of something in the Hunting Horn user's words that caused the blonde to glare at him dryly.

"I can hear the implication in those words."

"Then hear the other implication and take a proper rest already, you tend to do much and go far for… attractions that caught your eye." Ryo drawled as he stared dispassionately back, leaning on the counter

"The hell are you talking abou-"

"Remember Avinia?"

"...Oi, don't bring up ancient history." Ephraim's cheeks reddened as he played it off with a scoff, but could not stop the blush from gracing his cheeks as he glowered.

Of course he couldn't forget his attempts at wooing the female Rider, especially the attempted luxury cake he made back when he was still a beginner under Grandma's teachings. Looking back at it now, it was a miracle that she still hung around him before she left back to her home after their little inter-village Rider cooperation ended.

…Great, he felt a bit sad now.

Mentally shaking himself out of his reminiscing, Ephraim stopped leaning on the counter and crossed his arms as he stood up straight.

"Anyway, I do NOT have any intent towards Lady Celestine. It's improper." The blonde sighed as he shifted his weight to his other foot. "She's the leader of Kowan and I'm just a Rider."

Ryo stayed quiet, his green eyes scanning Ephraim top to bottom before his mouth curved into a small mischievous grin. "Oh, she got you hook line and sinker didn't she?"

"You shut your mouth. So, are you gonna order something or are you going to keep prodding?"

"Could go for some skewers actually, but that's not why I'm here." Ryo shrugged as he sat up straight. He looked around the tavern first, and Ephraim followed his gaze towards the Japanese lingering around talking with the Elves they made friends with.

His fellow Rider raised a brow.

"Going to miss them?"

"Yeah, well, it's not everyday you get to suddenly take care of a group of refugees while lost in a different continent." Ryo laid it out plainly with a small smile. "This farewell party is going to be one of those we're not going to forget."

"...We?" Ephraim's other brow joined the first as his expression turned surprised. There was a rapid change of emotions on his face before the blonde sighed and shook his head. "I'm flattered, but–"

"You're not worming yourself out of this." The black-haired Rider frowned at him in disapproval. "You are just as responsible for them as I am."

"It's not that it's-"

"What happened on the hill?"

Ephraim looked away guiltily, which all but confirmed what his worries were. "If those people they call kin are capable of that much destruction, then of course I'm worried. Also, it's just…" The blonde rolled his eyes before he rubbed the back of his neck in slight embarrassment. "You know I'm not that good at receiving thanks."

"Hm. You play the part of the humble knight, saying that it's just 'his duty'." Ryo sniped with a dry smirk. "But in private, you preen about like a damn Qurupeco upon receiving praise."

"Get bit by a Jaggi." Ephraim hissed, cheeks flushing. He simply didn't want to embarrass himself or insult others by being so smug at receiving thanks!

"You're attending." The Mizutsune Rider huffed. "Even if I'm going to have to drag you into the party."

"Whatever, I'm gonna be cooking for the party anyway." The blonde scoffed, annoyed at having that little negative trait of his being exposed by his friend. He could do without the needling today, thank you very much. "Not like I'm gonna skip the chance of people tasting my works to see if I could still improve it…"

'You already cook more than well enough.' Ryo sent him a dry look at his roundabout excuses and shook his head.

Well, as long as he was still attending, it was fine. But there was one thing he needed to point out right before he left to help the others prep the venue.

"If you actually had followed my advice back then, they might not even be here."

"Then I guess it was a good thing I'm bad at following your instructions, eh?"

"Just give me the snake skewers already."

Later that night…

Chosen for a reason, the Midsummer's Rest was definitely large enough to accommodate the thirty-six Japanese and the Elves that learned some modicum of Japanese that they decided to bring with them to this farewell party. It was a smattering of Elves and Humans that mingled around, enjoying the atmosphere and most especially the food. In the center of the room, there was a long table that held a veritable smorgasbord of meals and drinks.

Wine, mead, ale, all flowed aplenty, much to the embarrassment of the humbler Japanese. The Elves, who have lived a once prosperous and utopian life, were ready to enjoy what their forebears had, even if it was just for this one night. The children were of course given fruit juices rather than the alcoholic imbibement that many of those older than them indulged in.

Nobody ate nor drank yet, but the air was thick with excitement and anticipation as the de facto representative of the Japanese lightly tapped a spoon against her modest glass of wine

Ting~!

Conversations were wrapped up as all eyes turned to the young Japanese woman at the banquet table. Clad in a modest white dress that was of elven make, Hana smiled as all attention was on her.

"Before all else, I must thank those who decided to attend this humble party of ours." The young woman began, nodding her thanks at the Elves who returned her thanks with nods of their own. "It means a lot to us to have friends despite our limited time in this world, much less be those of the Elves. It was quite a shock to all of us Japanese, for sure."

There was a round of good-natured chuckles shared amongst the crowd as Hana took the brief reprieve to rally her confidence. An encouraging nod from Lady Celestine– who she was still rather rattled by– helped soothe her nerves, somewhat.

Public speaking wasn't her thing, and even after all this time, she still had qualms at being elected the representative of all the Japanese. But this was to be the last time she was going to do this, so she might as well give a good showing!

"We have lived well in our time in Kowan, in relative comfort despite our less than stellar introduction to this world. But we had wallowed in despair long enough-" Hana's breath hitched slightly at the mention of how they were brought here, and she could tell that many of her fellow Japanese also had their own reactions to it, be it flinches or the slight paling of their faces. "But now is the time to be merry. And it's no doubt in thanks to our guests of honor, who risked their lives and of their partners' to rescue us in our most dire time of need that we are here today, celebrating and moving on."

She turned at the trio of Riders who now bore the full attention of the entire tavern, a smile on her lips as she beheld them.

Given that this was a party, the three of them had dressed up well for the occasion. While they weren't wearing the three piece suits she was more used to when it came to formal events, what they were was the equivalent of those in this medieval era.

Davion wore a dark red doublet with golden piping and dark buttons that had intricate yet subtle details and designs of flames, a pair of dark trousers, and leather boots. His Kinship Stone was, as ever, on his left hand, the only one with a glove on. He was clean-shaven for this occasion, and it always surprised her to see him look younger than what she thought he was. The stubble added a few more years, it seemed.

The brunette Rider sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck at the attention given to him, a nervous laugh escaping his lips.

Next to him, Ephraim wore a dark blue doublet with similarly golden piping with designs of clouds, birds of prey, and other sky-related imagery, alongside what looked like a pair of pants that looked a bit more custom-made compared to his friend's, and riding boots. He had golden buttons on his top, and the golden belt buckle paired up with it nicely. The Kinship Stone was on his gloved left hand, which he was looking at as the sapphire briefly glowed.

The blonde looked back up once he felt their gazes and he gave them a suave smile as he raised his glass of wine in cheer.

And next to him was Ryo, who gave a small bow of his head in response to the smiles sent his way.

He was wearing a green doublet that had designs of flowers and vines, not too dissimilar to those she had seen in the attire of the Elves. The earthy brown trousers he wore made his ensemble have a comfortable feeling that reminded one of a forest, which was helped by the gentle greens of his eyes, and the elegant boots that he wore had subtle decorative patterns of roots. The Kinship Stone on his left hand, which was ungloved which meant that the stone itself was on its harness, pulsed in a steady rhythm.

"So it is with great joy in my heart to commemorate this party for the three heroes before us!" She stood back up with a wide smile, raising her glass of wine.

"Long may they live!"

""Long may they live!""

Hana calmed her racing heart as everyone began to partake in the food and drinks, beginning the party in earnest. Plenty of them immediately went to the three Riders to give them their thanks or to chat with them and make lasting memories of their saviors. There was a brief pang in her heart at the last thought, her eyes lingering on the scene of the Japanese and the Elves mingling together, possibly for the last time.

With a sip of her wine, the thought momentarily vanished, hoping to spend these last few hours of merriment together with their hosts and saviors before their eventual parting in the coming dawn.

Davion took a swig of his tankard of ale after he had talked with another group of Japanese that had approached him to give them their thanks. They were part of the second convoy they had liberated, the ones near the main road that he and Ephraim had raided. That had been a blitz, taking out three convoys in a row as he and Gurion took out those barbaric Saderans on the ground while Ephraim and Astaroth cleared the air with gratuitous amounts of lightning.

Playing charades had never been so stressful before at that time…

The brunette watched as a Japanese woman and a male Elf shared a drink, bright smiles on their faces as they enjoyed the party.

'But it was certainly worth it.'

"Hail, Davion!"

Turning his head, the smile on his lips grew as Hodor and Tuka stepped through the crowd of partygoers and towards him.

The Ranger Captain was dressed in a rich white and blue robe with gold trims, with a dark blue cape that had details of subtle stars and flames on it. He had a brooch that was clasped on the part of the cape on his left shoulder, which was made of white gold and a beautifully cut emerald in the shape of a heart.

The Ranger's daughter was dressed in a similarly colored robe, though it was more fitted to her feminine frame. She was holding a harp that was of fantastic craftsmanship, clearly well-worn and well-loved in his eyes. She wore a silver diadem that held a brilliant sapphire, bringing attention to the similar shade of her eyes.

"Sir Hodor, Miss Tuka," Davion smiled and gave them a nod, switching to their shared tongue unconsciously. "Glad to see you here."

The older Elf chuckled as he nursed a bottle of mead in his hand. "It wouldn't do for us to miss it. This party is, partly, also in honor of us, after all. As thanks for letting you humans into our community."

"Oh, right!" The brunette palmed his forehead in realization, a good-natured laugh escaping his lips. "You deserve as much recognition for your decision that afternoon."

"The food and drinks are more than enough thanks." As he said that, the Ranger Captain snatched a kebab stick that held grilled vegetables and meat from the table. "After all, that cook of yours certainly does not lack talent when it comes to the meals he makes."

"It's going to be missed once you and the others leave…" Tuka muttered sadly, her ears drooping slightly. That brought the two men's moods down, somewhat, as Davion gave her a comforting smile.

"Hey, we aren't leaving just yet. We'll be only escorting the Japanese to their people. We won't be leaving with them for good. Their home isn't ours, and-

They'll eventually have to find a way back home.

"Speaking of," Hodor spoke up after having eaten half of his kebab. "How goes it?"

Davion's brows furrowed slightly as he sighed.

"Ephraim and I had looked for any hints regarding our homeland in the Archives with Lady Celestine's permission a month ago. Sadly, we found nothing that was familiar to us. We're thinking of going to other cities to see if they have anything but…" His gaze went over to the Kinship stone on his hand, wincing. "We're rather…obvious, and I have no doubt that word would have spread about what we've done before; liberating the Japanese from the Saderans."

The older elf's merriment fell at his words and he hummed in thought.

"Perhaps I could put in a word with Eilonwy and the other Bards who venture out of Kowan in their caravans to keep ear and eye out for anything related to your objective?" Tuka offered, fidgeting slightly at the hopeful gaze sent to her by Davion. "I-It would take time, of course, but I believe that her caravan was due to go to Rondel this quarter."

"That's…the best we can have." The brunette Rider smiled at the Bard-in-training. "And it's not like we're going anywhere soon, anyway. Thank you, Tuka."

Her cheeks-tinged pink at the praise and at his earnest smile, causing her to shake her head at the gratitude. "It's just something to pay you back for the lessons in Ancient Elvish, think nothing of it."

Davion chuckled.

"Still, thanks all the same."

Tuka rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Well, if you really want to thank me–"

Hodor glanced at her–

"–perhaps you can get me some of that roast chicken before it's all out?"

"Oh, sure! No problem."

–and the older Elf looked up at the ceiling in slight disappointment, unnoticed by the brunette and the bard-in-training.

Parties weren't really his thing.

No, it wasn't because of all the noise, or the people, or the socializing, those he could deal with happily. He wasn't some shut-in introvert that would shy away from any form of social bonds.

If he was, then he most likely wouldn't have been a Rider in the first place.

No, it was because he really didn't want to make a fool of himself with all the praises sent at him. What was that saying Grandma used to say again?

"Don't get yourself a big head, or people would mistake that shiny forehead of yours for a Gypceros'!"

…

Yeah, just the image of having a big shiny forehead was more than enough to get his flaring ego to cool down.

Astaroth already had a big head with that crest of his…

His Kinship Stone pulsed.

'Ah. Sorry, partner.'

Taking a sip from his glass of wine, Ephraim leaned back against the bar counter as he observed the rest of the party. He had surreptitiously moved away from the center of the party, away from all the attention so that he could have some time for himself.

This party certainly wasn't like the ones he had been to before. It was similar enough, sure, but it was also different.

This wasn't like the party he had celebrated with the rest of the Village's Royal Guards after he had passed their grueling candidacy trials. This was no bravado-filled celebration full of drinks and hijinks. Part of him was hoping that this wouldn't end up like that one. Cleaning up the mess of a drunken Rathalos was more than enough of a warning for him to not let Astaroth anywhere near alcohol.

Foreign peoples meeting together to celebrate a farewell party? He's had a fair few of those too, especially when it involved other Rider Villages coming up with something to make the end of a joint-quest against a bigger threat memorable. He still remembered that night with Avinia all those years ago, messing up, and getting her to laugh at his mistakes.

But this?

This was more than a farewell party.

He couldn't quite put it to words, but he knew the Japanese were truly thankful, truly eager, to have the chance to finally return home.

The little community that they had created in those troubled times was now going to dissolve, to go their separate ways come the morn.

And honestly? It sort of hurt.

Three months, he may have just known them, but it was in those three months that they managed to endear themselves to him. Perhaps it was out of a sense of responsibility that he felt torn at the thought of them going home. Maybe he still felt like they were still in need of his protection even beyond the Gate that they were about to head to the next day.

Was it because he would most likely never see them again after tomorrow? There were no guarantees, after all, as they were of different… Well, the Japanese were of a different world, and he and his friends were of a different land.

This may be the last time he'd get to enjoy their time together.

He stood in silence as he watched the party, at the smiles and the laughter echoing in the tavern.

He watched as one the Japanese was being held up by the others, trying their best to not get spilled by the glass of wine on her hands as they laughed along merrily, with Ryo off to the side, doubled over in chuckles.

He watched as Davion talked with his linguistic mentor, the bard-in-training, Tuka. Her father, Hodor, was there next to them, but he seemed…dispirited, if the way he drank his mead was of any indication. Did something happen between the two?

…

With a wry chuckle, Ephraim drank the last of his wine and set the empty glass on the counter.

He might as well enjoy himself too, or at least distract himself in some way. Something to make this night all the more memorable…

"What are you doing all the way here in your lonesome?" A voice cooed out to his right, and he looked over to see an Elven maiden smiling at him as she sat on one of the stools at the counter.

Her golden blonde hair was tied into a half-up crown braid, which drew attention to the golden ear cuff earrings that framed her sleek elven ears. She wore a humble ensemble of a white and blue robe with the typical elven designs to it of flames and flora, and a silver locket that dipped in the gap of the robe between her–

Ephraim's eyes darted up to somewhere– anywhere– above her neckline as he smiled at her.

"Lady Celestine." He greeted her with a nod. "I hope you're finding the party enjoyable."

"No doubt about that." The leader of Kowan tittered as she lightly swirled the amber-colored liquid in her glass. "You've outdone yourself with the food this time, Ephraim. I'm certain that everyone here will not forget it for a fortnight."

He pushed down the feeling of pride at her praise. No sense making a fool of himself now of all times.

With a shake of his head, he waved away the praise. "Please, you're overestimating me. If I had more time, then maybe I would be worthy of such a thing. I'd have made something grander, more fitting for a party like this than the spread that I made tonight."

He looked at the table that held all sorts of dishes, somewhat disappointed in himself that he couldn't bring out the best that he could. Whole roasted chicken was a decent choice, but if had his way, then maybe he could have hunted some other large avian in the forest, perhaps one of those Cockatrice's he read about in the Archives. That certainly would have been something surely to remember.

"Ultimately, it matters not in the now." Celestine tutted at him as she took a sip of her drink. That's odd. Now that he looked at it longer, he didn't recall preparing a drink like that. "The Japanese have their party, with great food, and even greater company. That will remain with them nonetheless."

Ephraim hummed non-committedly, frowning to himself before shaking his head.

"You're right. I shouldn't get too hung up." The blonde Rider then stared at the drink in the priestess' hand. "If I may ask, what is that exactly? I don't exactly recall having a beverage of that color and consistency as part of the drinks on the tables."

"Miruvor. A cordial." Celestine answered as she held out the glass towards him. "Want to try?"

Ephraim stared at the glass before glancing up at her lips before he cleared his throat and looked away, taking it into his own hand nonetheless.

"Thank you, it is much appreciated." Before he brought it to his lips, he took a few whiffs of the scent of the drink. It certainly smelled sweet, with some floral tones mixed in with the telltale smell of honey. There was also another scent, different from the drink. It was a different kind of sweet, more fruity than floral.

Hm.

Shelving away any stray thoughts, he tipped the glass and let the amber drink in.

'!'

His eyes dilated before he drew the glass away from his lips as fast as he brought it in. Every sense he had was now sharper, and he was seeing the world with a razor-like clarity. Gulping down what little was left, and ignoring the deluge of sweetness in his mouth, he set the glass between them as he cleared his throat, now more awake than ever.

"That drink…"

"It's quite reinvigorating, isn't it?" Celestine giggled as she took her glass back. "This is personally a favorite of mine, it helps me through the long nights of paperwork."

Reinvigorating was definitely a word for it. It was like he just drank some mixture of Energy Drink and Dash Juice!

"Now," The leader of Kowan took one last sip, emptying the glass, just as the bards began to play their music. Her lips were set in a mischievous smile. "Let us continue where we left off last time, shall we? Dancing is also part of the Elves' religious history, as we do ceremonial dances in praise of Flare every dawn. As such, most Elven dances have the characteristic of that of flames; flowing, ever in motion, and passionate."

Celestine stood up from her stool and offered her hand, just as a space was made in the middle of the tavern for those who wished to dance.

"Care for a firsthand demonstration?"

Ephraim stared at the hand for a good few seconds before throwing whatever worries he had away and taking it, a carefree smirk on his lips.

"My lady, I would be honored to."

Strange people had come to the village.

All clad in green, they bore strange armor and spoke in accented Saderan and rode strange metal beasts that stopped outside the village walls. Some of them had black short staves on their backs, while others seemed unarmed.

Lelei stayed back as her master conversed with the one that the other people in green seemed to defer to as their leader. With them was the Village Head, the three discussing something regarding the map the man in green held in his hand.

The villagers were wary of them, some of them were even hostile until cooler heads stopped them from doing anything hasty. A week ago, the young men that had joined up with the passing Saderan Legion had returned in hysterics, yelling about 'enacting the gods' wrath' and the like. This was after they had heard the nonstop noise at Alnus Hill, the place where the people in green admitted to be coming from.

Honestly, Lelei cared little about that, she wasn't a Saderan patriot or anything. If what she got was right, then the Legionnaires stepped on the tail of the griffon and paid for it dearly.

When her master walked back to her, she saw the contemplative look on his face and furrowed her brows slightly.

"Sir?"

"Strange times we are in, Lelei." Cato hummed as he looked around the village. The village head was in talk with some of the families of those young men that returned almost insane, most likely to alleviate their worries or to explain the situation. "And I feel like stranger still will happen soon. Come, we are needed."

Lelei frowned to herself but followed her teacher as they walked towards the people in green.

"Sir Itami, I am ready." The older mage spoke out, attracting the attention of the dark-haired man with the map.

"Understood. I see you brought someone with you?" The taller man's Saderan was passable, but, like she had stated before, there was an accent there. Definitely not native speakers.

"This is my apprentice, Lelei la Lalena. Lelei, this is 'Itami' of the Jay-Es-Dee-Eff." The bluenette noted the brief wince in the man in green's expression. "She will come with me on our journey to the Elven Enclave deeper into Koan Forest."

Lelei's head whipped towards the Elder mage in a rare moment of shock.

"Master?!"

The People in Green nearby also looked towards Cato in shock. Then, some of them began muttering in an unknown language, odd, giddy smiles on their faces.

The leader, this 'Itami', also seemed flabbergasted before a brief flash of that similar giddiness was on his face that he wiped away with a serious one.

"Elves, you say? Are they friendly?"

"They are no friends to the Saderans, that is for sure." Cato's tone was hushed, but serious. He himself held no love towards the Empire, but it was more of a matter of indifference than anything malicious. "And I am familiar with some of their leaders. With me present, they will be more willing to engage in talks."

Itami rubbed his chin as he mulled it over. Then, after a few seconds of thinking, he nodded.

"Very well. You will ride with me in our ." That was a word that Lelei wasn't familiar with, yet he gestured over to one of the green metal beasts that they had ridden in earlier.

Cato seemed skeptical himself before walking over, gesturing for Lelei to follow.

The girl sighed as she walked after her teacher. She eyed the dark green beasts, brows rising as one of the people in green opened a door in its side to reveal the metal innards. It was…hollow? And it had seats in it?

Was this some sort of carriage?

Then what was making all that noise then?

Cato took a hesitant step inside, then another, more confident one, once Itami and another man stepped into the front behind where the glass windows were. Stepping inside after her teacher, he could see some of the other people in green waving at the children of Coda Village before they went to their own beasts.

More and more of the green-clad warriors stepped into the vehicle she was in, with the last to step in closing the door behind her. The surly look on the woman's face made her tighten her grip on her staff, especially when those fiery blue eyes of hers looked at her with thinly-veiled animosity.

Honestly, she could only hope that they'd find the Elven Enclave soon, being in a closed space this small with so many unfamiliar people with unsure capabilities made her wary.

"Man, the sky's so blue and the air's so clear." First Lieutenant Itami Yoji remarked with a wistful smile, gazing out at the rolling hills that they passed by. The clean air was certainly doing wonders for him, he felt like he could actually do a proper marathon now! "It sure is a different world…"

"There are places like this in Hokkaido, but I feel you." His Driver, Sergeant Takeo Kurata, mused as he drove down the dirt road leading up towards a wooden bridge. "Though, I imagined there'd be more dragons and fairies flying around. Everyone we've met so far has been human…"

"Hey, we're gonna go meet some Elves!" Itami grinned at the younger soldier. "If there are Elves here, then maybe we can meet some beastfolk like those catgirls you keep on talking about, yeah?"

Takeo rolled his eyes good-naturedly.

"Not just catgirls. I'd like to see a voluptuous sorceress too, or a priestess with a sinful body. What about you, Commander?"

Itami looked up at the roof of the vehicle for a few moments before laughing.

"Magical girls, I guess!"

The Driver glanced up at the rear view mirror, at the bluenette that was staring at the floor of the Mitsubishi Type 73 Light Truck Shin. She had been quiet the whole hours-long ride, though looking at how their other Close Combat Specialist was staring at her from the corner of her eyes, he couldn't really blame her for being nervous.

"Wait, Kurata." Itami suddenly spoke up, his tone serious as he leaned forward slightly in his seat, eyes narrowed. "I see movement in the skies up ahead. Slow down. Pops, repeat the order to the other vehicles."

Sergeant Major Sōichirō Kuwahara, Second-in-Command of Third Recon, reached over to the radios but paused when he noticed something. "Huh? It's already… Has it been transmitting this whole time?"

As the small convoy of three vehicles slowed down, the gunner of the Komatsu LAV climbed up to man the gun. From up where he was, Leading Private Wataru Katsumoto could see what their Commander was talking about; a black form flying in the air, slowly but surely closing in on them.

"Think that's one of those Dragon Riders that managed to survive the last battle?" Sergeant First Class Akira Tomita asked as he and the other members of Third Recon readied themselves for a possible battle.

"Doubt it. I watched as the AA shredded them, there were no survivors."

"But didn't one of the Type 87 crew members talk about seeing something on the radar every night since that battle?"

"Cut the chatter." Sōichirō grunted into the radio as he and the rest of the lead vehicle dismounted after having stopped. Cato and Lelei remained inside, watching as the soldiers in green exited the vehicle with bated breath. "Commander, what do you see?"

"Uh…"

Itami could feel a cold sweat form up his spine as he beheld what the black form was through his binoculars.

Clad in dark green plate was what looked like a dragon straight from hell. It had piercing red eyes, and some parts of it even glowed green! It had clear, insect-like wing membranes in its wings, and it had a pincer like tail. Honestly, it looked like an unholy mix of a dragonfly and a dragon!

However, on top of the dragon, sitting on a saddle on its back was a humanoid clad in armor similar to that to their mount. A large shield was on their right arm, while in their left hand…

Was a pair of binoculars aimed towards them.

"Well, we're already spotted." He noted conversationally as he continued the staredown with the mysterious dragon rider. He definitely wasn't wearing the same armor as the Saderans that they had fought a few nights prior. "That's a dragon rider, and they have their own pair of binos aimed straight at us…"

The rest of the convoy tensed at that.

"They've got something huge on their back too. Can't make it out from here but– Aaand they're flying down to…somewhere." Itami lowered his binoculars once the black dragon rider flew away. "Three guesses to what it could be."

"Another army?"

"I hope not! If it is, we're hightailing it out of here!"

"Maybe another troop of dragon riders?"

"Tch, I've got more than enough ammo for them."

"Wait… Commander, 12 o'clock, on the Hill." Takeo noticed as he narrowed his eyes, his grip on the wheel tightening somewhat.

Itami pulled up his binoculars again to see…

Pink?

'Is that a… a groom? With a fox mask?'

Cresting over the hill was what looked like a man in traditional Shinto groom attire, with a fox mask that had dark pink hair attached to it. Everything that he wore was of a shade of white and pink, and the massive kagura suzu on his back made a distant jingle with every step.

The groom stopped at the top of the hill, looking down at them before looking behind him and gesturing for someone, or something, to keep moving forward. Walking down the hill, the pink-dressed groom waved at them, which almost caused Itami to wave back where it not for the next thing that crested the hill.

"What is that?" Wataru asked in disbelief as a massive pink fox-like creature followed after the similarly colored man. It looked like if a kitsune and sakura blossoms were fused into one creature!

"Safeties on, people." Itami commanded them with a small wave of his hand. "He's not doing anything threatening. Let's try to return the courtesy, yeah? And can one of you guys get our guests from the car? Kozuki, if you'd please."

"Tch."

As the second Close Combat Specialist went to the back of the truck to help their passengers dismount, the First Lieutenant watched as the man and monster drew closer, before stopping several meters away. Further back behind him, he could see the black dragon rider in the skies again, this time with a massive lance in their left hand. Well, it looked less like a lance and more…in the shape of a vague firearm with a bayonet.

"Salutations!"

Everyone in Third Recon froze.

The pink groom spoke not in the language of the Special Region.

But in Japanese.

"Might you be the 'JSDF'?"

"Uh," Itami blinked away the bewilderment and cleared his throat, waving at the man and his beast, who looked at them critically. "Yeah! Yeah, we are! You uh… Are you Japanese? You're speaking our language, so…"

The masked man shook his head.

"No, I'm not Japanese." This brought forth a wave of veiled disappointment across the squad. "However, my friends and I do know who are."

Looking up at the black armored dragon rider, the pink groom waved at him. The black dragon rider looked at Third Recon for a few more seconds before raising his lance.

Then, the trotting of horseshoes against dirt entered their ears.

Soon after, cresting over the hill was a group of humans atop majestic white horses. They wore silver armor different in design of those that came through the Gate and of those they took out to secure Alnus Hill. They had conical helms with large feathers attached, a spear in their left hand, and a bow and quiver on their back. Their horses had silver scale armor on them, and head armor that mimicked their riders', one that had a plume of feathers attached as well.

Serious faces looked at them, all fair-skinned and enchanting, before they parted to reveal what looked like a caravan of three carriages with canvas tops.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

And coming up right behind them was an armored warrior riding a massive, red T-Rex!

"Calm yourselves, we are not your enemies." The pink groom raised his hands to placate them. Itami felt a bit of embarrassment for almost panicking, but how could he not when there's a massive T-Rex that looked like it could chomp them all up in one bite!

The dinosaur snorted smoke as it exited the treeline, tail swinging–

'IT HAS A BLADE TAIL?!'

"Commander, take a closer look at the people in the carriages." Sōichirō advised, eyes wide as Itami looked through his binoculars, after he tore his eyes away from the biggest threat in the–

"Those are-!"

"Men and women of the JSDF." The pink groom began as the carriages came closer, the people riding them getting more and more roused the nearer they got. "We return to you your people, safe and soun-"

Roaaaaaaar!

Everyone froze.

The horses began to neigh loudly, panic clearly gripping their forms.

The mounted lancers had expressions of fear as they tried to keep their steeds from running away with them.

The fox-like monster and the T-Rex both raised their heads, looking behind them with growls escaping their lips, revealing sharpened teeth ready to rip and tear.

Then, the black dragon rider shouted something down at the group, turning his mount around and flying fast back towards where Itami could assume they had come from.

The warrior riding the T-Rex shouted something in another language at the mounted lancers, who followed his lead and also turned back to gallop back into the forest. The earth shook with each bounding step that the beast took, and it left a trail of fading embers as flames began to flare from its mouth.

"What's going on?" Itami asked the pink groom, who was climbing on top of the pink fox-like beast. "What was that noise?"

"No time, The forest is under attack. "He answered gravely, a stone glowing with blue energy pulsing on his left hand. "We must return to defend it. May I trust you with the safety of your people?"

The Commander of Third Recon was in a dilemma.

He could extract the Japanese out of here with the rest of Third Recon, giving them an armed convoy in case of enemy attack. But at the same time, he didn't want to leave these potential allies fighting whatever would have threatened people like them, not to mention what kind of monster would have made such a noise.

They were, what, a handful of mounted archers, and three monster riders?

He didn't think they'd be able to handle that, especially after what they already seen from the people of this world.

Looking at the Japanese, he found them looking at him imploringly.

"Help them, please!" A young woman called out, clad in a dress that was clearly not of modern make. "They've taken good care of us, it's our turn to return the favor!"

"Hana-san, don't." The groom countered, seemingly familiar with the woman if his tone was of any indication. "If it really was what we think it is, everyone should evacuate immediately! Get out of here as fast and as far away as you can!"

"The JSDF can help you! They have guns! All sorts of weapons that could help fend off whatever this 'Elder Dragon' is!"

'D-Dragon?!'

"Unless they've got a Dragonator– then they can't!"

"We'll help." Itami interjected, stopping the argument between the two. Whatever trepidation had bubbled up at the mention of what they could be facing was washed away. He knew what he needed to do. "We'll do whatever we can to help. We'll leave one of our vehicles and its complement of soldiers to keep the civilians safe, the rest of us will go with you to this settlement of yours to pitch in with the defense effort. If you believe that we will be unable to help offensively, the very least we could do is help distract it."

"I know the source of that roar." Cato walked up to them, staff held tight in his hands. Behind him, Lelei followed close, her own expression stern. "And I know what it can do based on the records I've read. My apprentice and I can help. With our magic, we can mitigate the amount of flames it can breathe out."

'Wait… Flames?'

"Mages?" Once more, the pink groom surprised Itami with his knowledge of the language of the Special Region. "Okay… Okay, two more mages can help with the defense immensely."

With that, the pink monster rider turned the fox-beast around and bid it to slither into the forest. "And… If you're adamant on helping us out with the Elder Dragon, JSDF, then follow close behind. We can't waste any more time."

"Let's go!" Itami barked out, already running to his vehicle. This caused the rest to follow suit, their faces set in grim expressions. "Tomita, you and the rest of your car stay behind to watch over the civies. We'll borrow Kurokawa from you because there's gonna be casualties. The rest of you, follow close!"

As Third Recon quickly set about their tasks, Lelei looked at her master as the vehicle they were in began to rumble and roar.

"Master, the source of the roar…"

"I know, Lelei." Cato gravely nodded. "This will be an uphill battle unlike any other. But if I know the Elves of Kowan, they will hold firm and retaliate just as hard as they were hit."

Elsewhere, near Alnus Hill…

"My Lords! Reporting massive amounts of smoke to the South!"

"...So that roar wasn't something we all imagined."

"It seems so…"

"King Duran, what shall we do?"

"We hold off any attempt to attack Alnus Hill. We might attract the attention of the Flame Dragon with the amount of men we are moving. The Saderans will understand if we were to delay the attack. This might give them enough time to send in reinforcements."

Chapter Text

Tuka awoke amidst ash and darkness.

Smoke choked her lungs as she attempted taking greedy breaths, coughing roughly as her throat stung from the heat, and as the ringing sound in her ears deafened her. She was in utter darkness, but she could feel that she was in an enclosed space. Opening a hand, she weakly chanted a spell, and a soft light bloomed in the space above her open palm.

With the illumination, she could see that she was trapped within rubble. It was only through luck that some wood supports, broken as they were, held up enough pieces of rubble on top of her that she didn't get crushed. Broken pieces of white bricks and marble, blue tiles scattered on the floor, and plenty of debris that…

…looked familiar…

"Tuka, to the shelter, now!"

"But-! Father, I can help! My archery has gotten better-!"

"I will not risk losing you like I did your mother to this beast. Go!"

"Father!"

CRACK!

ROAAAAAAAR!

Her eyes slowly widened at the sight of a shattered lyre a few feet away from her, the strings snapped and the wood broken. A rush of emotions went through her as her eyes watered, and she instinctively reached out to it.

"Mother… Father..!"

Rumble..! Crash!

The earth shook as she reached out towards the lyre, freezing her in place. Dust and dirt fell from the rubble above her, and beyond the lyre, the rubble shifted just enough for fresh, smoke-heavy air to come in. A faint breeze meant that whatever was beyond that rubble was open space.

"Got to…escape… Have to…live..!"

Flipping to her stomach, and ignoring the multitude of stabbing sensations and searing pain across her body, Tuka crawled towards the breeze. With tear-filled vision and pain wracking her body, she pressed a hand against the piece of what she now knew was her home before pushing against it.

…

Nothing.

"No… No no no no…"

She pressed again, this time using both of her hands. Her arms shook as she tried to shift the rubble, to push it, to move it to the side– anything!

Shift..!

..!

Slowly, little by little, the chunk of debris moved. Inching forwards as she pressed harder, the piece of wall tilted back further, its weight causing it to fall over. A space barely large enough for her to crawl through was available now, and she didn't waste a second going through it.

Rumble..!

Crash!

She was fortunate to have done so, as the broken supports holding up the small space she had been in seconds before finally shattered. Tuka's heartbeat pounded in her ears as she looked back at what could have been her tomb.

What had once been the comely two-story home she had grown up in was little more than a pile of rubble now. The white bricks were scorched, the blue roofing had been shattered, and whatever cloth or textiles that had been around and inside had long since turned to ash.

The neighboring houses were in similar states of destruction, reduced to rubble and ash. The paved streets were blackened with soot, and the sky was darkened with black smoke from the inferno blazing across Kowan.

Now that the ringing in her ears was dying down, she could hear the distant noise; of screams, of yelling, of all manners of chaos.

"Loose!"

Projectiles soared through the air over her, cutting through the smoke as arrows and spells pierced through the veil towards their target.

ROAAAAAR!

A massive wingbeat cleared the skies of smoke…

And Tuka turned to see pure terror.

Crash!

Celestine Lucross tensed her jaw as the Red Dragon attempted to breach the Spire's magical shields once more, the building itself shaking as the transparent dome of energy rippled at each impact of scale and claw.

Why here?

Why now?!

The beast was not meant to wake until another two months! That was what Lord Flare had predicted in the flames last month! They would have had enough time to apply the illusion ritual so that the dragon would fly over Kowan!

"My lady!" One of her advisors, clad in a panoply of that of a Swordsmaster, entered the War Room and then knelt before the dais her throne was on. "The Silverin Guard have reported that almost half of Kowan's populations are within the shelters, excluding those that have joined in the defence. The other half are still unaccounted for, and efforts to find them are waylaid by the damnable drake assaulting our spire!"

Bash!

The Priestess glared out one of the wide windows of the Spire, at the dragon lashing out against their magical defenses. Beyond it, Kowan was set ablaze, a large portion of the settlement bathed in crimson flames, and the forest surrounding them fared little better. The once clear skies were blanketed by gray smoke, and the air was thick with heat, littered by the trailing projectiles of spells, arrows, and ballistae bolts being shot at the beast.

To little effect.

Arrows bounced off the hardened scales, and only those enhanced by magic were able to put scratches into the surface. Spells splashed against the hide, fireballs doing little effect, lightning bolts leaving scorch marks, and ice spikes harmlessly shattering against scale, muscle, and flesh. The ballistae bolts did some damage, spilling blood as they pierced through what scale and armor did not protect.

And yet the beast remained focused on the Spire.

"Are the Silver Helms ready to sally forth?" Celestine looked to another one of her advisors, who was clad in resplendent silver plate mail and who carried a decorated silver conical helm that had silk ribbons attached to it amongst brilliant hawk feathers that mimicked wings on the sides. The Captain of Kowan's Silver Helms gave a resolute nod at her question, the eternally youthful face bellying eyes of a hardened warrior.

With a flick of her wrist, Celestine dismissed him.

"Then go, save our home."

The Captain put on his helm and turned in about-face, quickly vacating the War Room in a rapid march, the Vice-Captain following her superior as the Phoenix Guard closed the doors behind them.

Crash!

The Spire shook once more as its shields were assaulted by the dragon, and the Priestess tensed her jaw as she felt the reserves of the ancient spirit focus that powered the magical shield drain even more. While she had no doubts that the shield would hold, the problem was if there was even a Kowan left for them to rebuild afterwards.

The dragon seemed far too determined in the attack to leave any time soon.

A bright flash caused her and most of those in the War Room to briefly shield their eyes, and they turned to see the Red Dragon let loose an immense stream of flames that washed across the shields. It merely added to the hellish state of their settlement, and heated the air even more to beyond uncomfortable levels. The smoke already choked the air, but the scent of sulfur, dragonbreath, and that of roasted flesh made it unbearable.

'May Flare guide those who have passed into his embrace.'

Already, the two Guardian Trees– Tel Culdran and Tel Eith Ayre– had been set ablaze, much to the dismay of many of those in the Spire. But even still, there was resistance on the burning boughs, as projectiles rained from on high down at the Dragon. They were among the strongest bastions of Kowan, and it would take more than a single drake to destroy a single one of the Guardian Trees.

Fwooooosh!

A new wave of heat washed over them, surging through the window, and Celestine tensed her jaw, uncaring if a bead of sweat evaporated on the side of her face. She must not falter. Any hesitation, any break of concentration, and the Spire's shields would fall without her-

BASH!

The surge of heat was abruptly cut off, the sound of the drake's deluge of fire replaced with a pained snarl. Turning her head to look out the window, she saw a blur flit through the smoke, the dragon's head roaring at whatever it was, before said head snapped to the side as a heavy blow– strong enough to leave a visible shockwave that blew away the smoke– struck it, leaving green lightning–

'Green lightning? That must mean-!'

A brief lapse of her focus and the shield around the Spire flickered, and the Silver Helm contingent gathered at the base of the structure charged forth with their shining lances into the thick legs and arms of the beast with great, valorous roars.

Crack!

The ancient weapons, forged at the height of their once-great civilization, shattered, their points embedding into the flesh, through toughened hide and scale. Enhancements, spells laden into the tips, activated as the riders rushed past underneath the shadow of the drake, into the main thoroughfare to go for another charge as they lifted the second lance from their mounts on the side of their horses.

Elemental effects of all sorts, curses, hexes, they all activated in the limbs of the beast; erupting, freezing, shocking, or simply blasting apart chunks of its vile meat, scattering shards of scale amidst scorched stone. The beast roared in pain, rearing back on its hind legs, backing away from the spire before a black blur landed on its head, claws and talons that glowed a baleful green scratching, digging, and ripping into the face of the drake.

Celestine's ears twitched at the chirping roar, and her heart soared with hope as the crackling of lightning became dominant over the sound of flames.

BOOM!

An explosion came after, a loud, telling sound, followed by a wordless roar steeped in rage and affront she could hear distinctly despite all the chaos.

"YOU'VE COME TO DIE, DRAGON!"

Tuka flinched as the air became charged with fire and lightning, ducking her head down and shielding the two children from the debris that flew over them when the Drake's tail lashed out, demolishing the top half of what was once a general store.

Crash!

Their screams were drowned out by the pained roar of the drake, before another explosion overcame both. The bard-in-training ignored the shards of debris that bounced off of her back, focused on making sure that the younger elves in her hold were protected from danger. She had encountered them, separated from their parents or guardians to the shelter by the havoc, and as dazed as she was from all the goings-on, she wasn't going to leave children all by their lonesome in their burning home.

"Miss Tuka!"

"It's alright." She gritted out as the earth shook from the dragon's footfalls, especially when one landed a street away from them. "Just keep moving!"

They needed to get to the Spire, they must! It was the closest shelter she could recall, as the paths to the others were blocked by debris or fire.

"For Kowan!"

"Vile beast!"

"Charge!"

The thundering of hooves and the splintering of wood came over the din of flames and roars. Even from where she was, she could feel the ancient magics unleashed by the broken lances. Tuka knew them, of course, as the Silver Helms, the finest mounted warriors of Kowan, each a storied member of the little nobility there was in their home.

But she couldn't stay around and wait for the knights in shining armor to help save them.

"Go!"

Tuka urged the two children to run, picking up one of them by the hip as they hopped and skirted around the ruins of houses strewn before them. She ignored the stab of pain in her side, and how part of her tunic was wet with blood, all too focused on getting to the Spire as soon as they could.

The towering structure was just before them, the shimmering shield flashing dimly amidst the smoke as debris bounced against it from the Red Dragon's thrashing. The white marble-like stone that made up the Spire was untouched by the flames and the smoke, ever pristine amidst the chaos, like a beacon amidst the darkness.

Her heart pounded in her chest as they neared, pushing through the pain as they finally were within reach of safety!

Crash!

Then, as if some malevolent spirit had heard her cheer, she was struck by a flying piece of what once was a piece of the rafters, a yelp escaping her lips as she angled her body when she hit the ground, holding the child that she carried into her bosom.

Thud!

"Miss Tuka!" The children cried out for her, the one in the lead stopping to turn to her in concern.

"Go!" Tuka urged them as she let go of the child in her hold, pushing her forwards towards her brother, towards safety. She looked behind her, at the blackened piece of wood that pinned her legs down before snapping back towards the siblings. "Into the Spire!"

The little girl looked at her in dismay before her brother ran back to them, his soot-covered face set in fear as he grabbed her hand. "We're not leaving you!"

"You foolish child!" She screamed as the sister took her other hand, their combined strength unable to drag her out from underneath the debris.

Hiss!

The three of them turned further down the thoroughfare, at the Red Dragon whose head was rearing back, flames licking between teeth as green lightning assaulted it across its back. Its baleful eyes were back towards the Spire again, and the Silver Helms at its feet hacked and slashed at the toughened hide and scale, inflicting numerous wounds with their sorcelled blades to no avail.

FWOOOOSH!

Time slowed down for Tuka as she beheld the wall of fire heading their way, consuming everything in its path. She could feel the heat, see the licks of white flame within the orange, the roaring noise of angry flames rushing towards her.

"I will not risk losing you like I did your mother to this beast. Go!"

How cruel, fate is, to end up the same as her mother many, many moons ago.

And to the same beast…

She held the children close to her again, in one last act, a desperate desire to keep them safe, to shield them, even if her own flesh was scorched.

She closed her eyes, and her lips parted one last time.

"I'm so sorry…"

CRASH!

She felt the flash of heat across her flesh…

But…there was no pain..?

"What're you saying sorry for..?"

Tuka's eyes snapped open at the familiar voice, and she turned her head to look over her shoulder at the owner.

There, clad in his resplendent crimson armor…

"Davion…" She whispered amidst the roaring fire, the same fire that was not touching them.

The Red Rider held Glavenus Array before him like a shield, presenting the massive flat of the blade towards the flood of flames. The fire parted before them, washing off the scales and plate that made up the Greatsword, the massive weapon becoming the Elves' shield at this dire hour of need.

"No need to fear anymore." The grin in Davion's voice was clear, as was the undercurrent of righteous anger. He turned his head, the glowing eye in the abyssal eye slits flaring as he gazed back at them.

"Because I am here."

He looked back forward, into the flames, and laughed– a defiant, bold laugh.

Step…

Davion took a step forward, over the small crater around his feet.

Step…

Then another.

And another.

And another.

His pace quickened.

What were troubled steps became more confident, and the shaking hold on his blade solidified, no longer being affected by the constant stream of flames.

Tuka and the children watched in numbed shock and awe as the Red Rider walked forth, pushing the flames back with each step.

Step..! Step! Step!

What was once a walk became a march, then a stride, and then-!

"C'mere, you pathetic faker of an Elder Dragon!"

-a charge.

CRASH!

And charge he did, straight into the snout of the dragon, stopping its foul dragon breath by force and impact.

Bouncing back from the recoil of the strike, Davion used the leftover momentum to execute a spinning slash, and the edge of his glowing blade dug into the snout of the beast. Sparks, shards of scale, and blood flew as the Red Dragon reared back in pain, roaring in agony as it reared back–

Bash!

Only for its head to snap to the side as the bladed tail of Gurion smashed it aside, the Slashing Wyvern roared in defiance as he stood atop the rubble of destroyed homes. Despite his own height, the Glavenus was still dwarfed by the Red Dragon. And yet, courage was something a-plenty in both Rider and Partner, as they both stood against the drake.

Davion rested his greatsword on his right shoulder, the superheated edge glowing and bathing him in a valiant light. Raising his left hand, the Emerald Kinship Stone shone brightly as his partner leapt from the rubble, landing beside him with an acknowledging growl.

Skkkkrrnnnt!

With an ear-piercing noise, Gurion brought its bladed tail between its jaws and ran it across, sparks flying as the edge shone with a deadly sharpness. Flames flew from the mouth of the crimson Slashing Wyvern, and Davion mounted his partner with a great leap, settling into the saddle with a bold laugh.

"ATTACK!"

With a roar from both Rider and Monster, they charged towards the Red Drake, who had backed up and was now facing towards them. Near the walls, the beast flapped its large wings, returning a roar of rage and defiance of its own. The fires died from the gusts, and the ground shook as it counter-charged the crimson duo.

Ting-a-ling~!

CLANG!

Only for its charge to devolve into a stumble, as a pink blur danced between its legs with the tinkling of bells amidst shards of scale. One of its leg joints was turned into an ugly conglomeration of torn muscle and bone, a massive crater within the flesh visible to all.

Ting-a-ling~!

CRUNCH!

And another leg joint was smashed, one leg each for the front and back crippled as the pink blur slid to a stop before the fallen beast. A pink fox-serpent-like creature snarled at the dragon, and the dragon returned his snarl with a gout of flame.

Fwoooosh!

Fwshhhh!

A jet of water piercing through the burst of fire, impacting the back of the throat of the beast dousing the raging flames within. A horrid choking noise came from its mouth, as well as a gushing stream of water and blood.

"Davion!"

The crimson duo sped past the pink partners, Gurion's tail having dug into the ground and leaving a deep furrow in the stone as he charged. The tail had heated up, now glowing with a white-hot edge similar to that of his partner's.

"Leave this to me!"

SLASH!

The Red Rider swung his greatsword against the side of the beast, carving a similar furrow into flesh like his partner did to stone. Scales and hide parted for the superheated edge, and whatever blood spewed out from the wound was quick to hiss and boil as flesh was quickly cauterized by the sheer heat of the blade.

"Now, Gurion!"

Stomp!

The Glavenus turned its body, its forward momentum continuing even as it reared its entire form into a swing. Stone and debris flew as its feet carved a trench into the road. With a roar, he raised his tail and swung, leaving a white line of sheer pressurized force as both Rider and Monster rose into the air from the rising slash.

Splurt!

With a wicked burst of blood, the left arm of the Red Dragon was cut off at the shoulder, causing it to roar in agony as it lost its sole remaining frontal limb that was uncrippled. It reared back on its hind legs, uncaring if one of them was broken, attempting to breathe flames but unable to.

In the air, Davion raised his Kinship Stone, emerald light bursting forth–

"MINE!"

–but he stopped when a green blur sped past him and his partner.

Coated in green lightning, Ephraim and Astaroth impacted the back of the beast, right where the wings were. The Red Dragon lurched forward at the force of impact, its roar interrupted. With his own roar, the Green Rider thrusted Dark Chariot into the scales of the dragon, piercing through before pulling the trigger of his Gunlance.

BOOM!

Twin blasts tore apart muscle and flesh, revealing the layers beneath the scales, and Ephraim twisted a ring on the grip of his gunlance, where a mechanism in his lance rammed a drill– a Wyrmstake Cannon– into the muscle fibers. As the Wyrmstake began to spin, Astaroth's iridescent wings began to flap as his Rider aimed down, blue flame fuming out from the barrel of Dark Chariot. At the same time, Astaroth's mouth sparked with green electricity, and as one, both Rider and Monster fired their respective attacks into the exposed flesh of the drake.

"WYVERN'S FIRE!"

Zzzzzzzap!

BOOM!

With a tandem blast, combined with the Wyrmstake Cannon's own explosion, both Astaroth and Ephraim were sent flying away from the Red Dragon. The Green Rider flicked his wrist and Dark Chariot folded in half briefly as new shells were loaded. He flew past above Davion and Gurion, yelling.

"The tail! Now!"

"Didn't have to tell me twice!" Davion roared back as he stood up on Gurion's saddle, the two plummeting towards the tail of the beast. With a leap, he spun around and adjusted himself in the air, his greatsword raised above his head as it began to glow red. His partner spun, aiming his tail edge-first towards their target.

"TAIL CUTTER!"

Slash!

With a great force, the two blades sliced through the tail– scale, muscle, bone, and all.

There was a brief moment where time seemed to slow to a crawl. A thin line appeared across the base of the tail of the dragon, before it separated from the main body in a bloody spew.

Then, something seemed to snap.

The Dragon screamed as its wings flapped, sending the still-airborne Davion away and into the side of a still whole two-story home, the wall breaking as he was sent through. Gurion landed with a snarl as the Dragon began to lift off with heavy wing beats.

Davion stumbled into view from the destroyed wall, placing his foot on a heightened piece of rubble and resting his arm on the raised knee, Glavenus Array resting on his shoulder, as he surveyed the destruction around him with a tense silence. Gurion stomped to the house, his blue eyes locked on to the state of his partner.

With a chirping screech, Astaroth returned with his Rider back on his saddle. Ephraim stood up, flicking his wrist and folding Dark Chariot before placing it on his back holster. He looked around for a moment, surveying from his position in the air before he began to relay something towards the pink partner, just as more horsemen and some manner of green beast entered through the battered main gate.

Ryo and Sekken watched as the Red Dragon flew far to the Southwest, trailing blood in its uneven flight. His lips settled into a slight grimace before he looked around at the scorched buildings, the flames having died from all the wing beats of the Dragon. Raising Summoning Bell, with its sound somewhat muffled by the soaking red liquid of dragon blood, he began to play a soft tune that managed to carry over the sounds of dying flames.

Whatever they spoke of, Tuka did not know, nor did she understand. She felt a pair of hands on her shoulders, words in Elvish, as her vision grew dark. Her eyelids grey heavy, as the debris pinning her down was lifted by someone in the distinct armor of the Phoenix Guards.

She lifted a hand towards the direction of Davion, her hazy gaze locked on to the distant crimson-clad man.

"Hero…"

And Tuka knew no more as fatigue and exhaustion finally caught up to her.

Despite the lingering heat, Itami felt a cold sweat drip down his back as he dismounted the Type 73.

Tonight… was certainly something he did not expect to see.

Oh, sure, he had preconceived notions that he'd meet all sorts of fantastical creatures beyond the gate, given what he'd seen in Ginza and in the first battle since they crossed the Gate. He was well assured that the JSDF's strength of arms would have been more than enough to handle whatever the Special Region could throw at them.

But seeing a massive red dragon nearly the height of a high rise building, as wide as a few trucks put together, and about as long as probably two or three full-length trains…

It certainly put those notions and assurances a bit further down from their lofty perch. Watching what it could do from a distance as well was rather enlightening, if not a bit too enlightening.

In short, it was terrifying.

He had expected to see some sort of Elven Village in the trees, as was typical of their depiction in generic fantasy. What he hadn't expected to see was a nearly razed settlement probably around the size of one of the smaller Prefectures! There even was a central spire in the middle of the whole thing with some sort of shield around it, and two massive trees near the back of the place!

Trees that were still burning, mind you.

If a Dragon that big could take out a place this big in a single night, he dreaded imagining what it could do to their base in Alnus Hill.

Still, he was confident that missiles could damage the beast.

After all, three people and their mounts were able to drive it off!

Granted, those mounts were…

'Pretty god damn wild…' He eyed the terrifying mix of a T-Rex and a thousand-degree knife with wariness as its intelligent blue eyes stared back.

Tearing his gaze away, he looked around the destruction with a heavy heart, a frown on his face as he watched armored Elves roam around, either removing rubble from the main thoroughfare or running to and from the ruined buildings, most likely searching for survivors.

"Fuck." Takeo muttered, standing beside him, equally helpless as they watched and listened. The scent of burning flesh was mixed with smog filled the air, and the younger soldier had barely held his lunch back from coming back up his throat.

Sōichirō removed his helm and lowered his head at the losses of the town, silent as he paid his respects.

"Commander." Kurokawa marched up to him, her expression grim as she carried with her a large first-aid kit. She needn't say more, her desire to help already clear in her eyes.

Itami pursed his lips as he looked towards the three beast riders. He didn't want to step on anyone's toes, so he needed some sort of intermediary.

Walking over to the pink groom-like rider, he paused when he felt…better, somewhat. Like some of the fatigue from the day was lifted, and the aches and bruises from riding the truck at full speed through the forest disappeared.

Was it…magic?

Ting-a-ling~!

His eyes glanced at the massive kagura suzu he seemed to be playing.

'...Bardic magic?'

Squashing the brief juvenile excitement sparking within him, he continued his stride.

"Mr. Groom" He called out, causing the pink-armored man to finish playing, and the fox mask to turn to him inquisitively. "Is there anything we can do to help?" Itami queried.

The groom stared at him for a few moments before looking up at the black and green dragon flying above them, its Rider standing on his saddle with the binoculars pressed against the green visor.

"If you can provide aid, rescue, emergency medical services, anything that would be of help, please do as much as you can. For anything else, call out to him." He gestured to the sky, indicating towards the other Rider. "He's got better surveillance on the places that might need more help. If you have any other concerns about this village, or whatever the Jay-es-dee-ef needs or wants to offer, he will relay it to the Priestess."

A wave of red light briefly illuminated their vision, off to the side a short distance away, a building had collapsed from the flames and threatened to spread without further intervention. "Forgive me, I'm going to be busy for the next few hours, I need to help put out the fires with Sekken."

"With soap..?" He uttered involuntarily.

He paused and then chuckled tiredly and sardonically, as the odd cherry blossom-fox-dragon thing he was riding trilled as it turned around, spraying a line of water from its mouth before it. Then, with a push of its claws, both Rider and mount slithered away into the darkness, leaving the stupefied soldier with the fleeting sounds of bells going further in the distance.

"Shit." Itami muttered as he looked up at the intimidating mix of a dragonfly and a dragon. Glancing to his waiting troops, he nodded at the medic. "Kurokawa, you have the go ahead. Kozuki, Nishina, help her out, the rest of you stand by. Actually, pops, can you radio Tomita and tell him to get the civies back to the base? I think we'll be staying here a bit longer than expected. They'll probably arrive at Alnus…maybe by 2100?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Roger!"

"Understood!"

And off his unit went, doing their duties as he asked them to. With a quiet sigh, he loosened his grip on the sling of his rifle across his back.

Yeah, they were definitely going to linger here a lot longer. First contact and all that.

Before he could do anything else, the black and green dragon landed a few meters in front of him, near the massive tail that had been cut, its rider dismounting. Green electricity arced from both before dispersing into the air with a crackle. Taking a moment to collect himself, the rider then turned to its red armored compatriot, speaking in a language unknown to the Squad Leader.

"Sir."

Turning around, he saw both Cato and Lelei looking at him with complicated expressions. Well, moreso the former, as the latter was staring at the green dragon rider and his mount with open recognition.

"Ah…Yeah?"

"The dragon that attacked Kowan, this Enclave, is no mere dragon." Cato started gravely, turning his head to look where it had retreated. "The Flame Dragon has existed for centuries, burning countless towns and villages over the decades. Whoever attempted to challenge it, whether it be entire Knight Orders, an Imperial Legion, a cloister of Mages, none of them prevailed. It is more a force of nature than anything else, more than a beast. Its scales and hide, tougher than anything created by human hands, and its breath, a deadly weapon none can compare. "

The wizard's gaze turned from the darkened skies towards the two armored dragon riders conversing and their mounts, his brows furrowed.

"Until now…"

Itami considered the implications of the man's words. A legendary beast, brought low by three dragon riders, when countless others had failed before? That certainly would make waves across the whole Special Region once news came out. That could also mean that those three could be worthwhile allies, given their skill and future fame.

Not only had they been taking care of Japanese civilians, but that also implied that they had freed them from capture, and spent time and effort in making sure they were well-fed and healthy.

"Well, since they helped out the Elves, they must be allies, right?"

"I would pray so, yes." Cato nodded, still watching as the crimson armored knight patted the side of his mount and walked towards the tail, which was blocking the majority of the thoroughfare. A few of the mounted archers from earlier came with him, pausing briefly to greet more mounted horsemen, this time clad in silver plate with decorated coned helms. "I had hoped that we would meet the Elves of Kowan under more…auspicious circumstances. Not like this."

"Master," Lelei spoke up, breaking the tense silence between the two. Cato looked at her with a raised brow before he followed where she was pointing.

Both men turned their heads to see the black dragon rider walking towards them, and Itami was struck by the oddity of his armor. It certainly didn't look like anything they had encountered so far, nothing Roman-esque, or even fantasy-like. It veered towards sci-fi, of a sort, if he thought about it more.

The green highlights of the armor seemed to pulse with a glow, and it certainly made for an image that was intimidating. More so when one considered the folded-lance on his back, one that the Japanese was certain was a firearm.

'A folding cannon lance… Gun lance? Like a shotgun, kinda, if what I heard earlier was right with those twin booms.'

Behind the rider, his mount also approached, easily towering over them by at least a meter and a half. If Itami reckoned, the dragon from hell's dimensions reminded him of a fighter jet, to be honest. Tall, wide, and faster than it should be.

'That thing could create lightning. Lightning.'

"Hail, dragon knight." Cato bowed his head at the man, who turned his helm ever so slightly towards the mage. The knight was tall, taller than any of them, at a height that Itami could estimate was at around six feet. "We hurried as best we could to Kowan, but the forest proved treacherous."

'Certainly more than treacherous, my ass still hurts from all the roots we drove over…'

Except, it somehow doesn't anymore after hearing the bells.

"Understandable." Came the reply in accented Saderan, somewhat muffled by the helmet. It was an even tone, though Itami could tell of the lingering anger in it. Anger from having their home be attacked and wrecked like this, he hoped and not their presence. "I dislike it, but understandable, nonetheless."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" The older mage asked, looking around the devastation with a tired gaze. "The Elves of the Kowan Enclave have been good to me over the decades, it would be remiss if I didn't do my utmost to return that kindness."

"If you have any magic that deals with water or the earth, then…" The dragon rider paused before he shook his head. "No, I… that can wait, all I can ask for is to help this place in whatever way you can." He hesitated for a second, fidgeting, as if unsure what to do, but slowly and surely, his upper body tilted forward, he was bowing like how a Japanese citizen would have done. "This place has been kind to us, I implore your help in repaying it."

Itami's eyes widened, as if this world couldn't get more surprising than it already had been. Now a medieval dragon knight rider was doing this. How can they refuse?

"My apprentice and I will do whatever we can." Cato nodded resolutely, Lelei nodding in turn beside him. The blue-haired girl then reached into her satchel before pulling out a metal cylinder, and Itami almost did a double-take to realize that it looked more like a cannon shell casing than anything else.

"Yours?" She offered, and the knight paused before straightening his posture and taking the shell, putting it into his own pouch somewhere behind him.

"Yes, thank you."

"Ah," Cato started, brows rising as he seemed to realize something. "That's right. We haven't thanked you for helping with that Manticore a month ago."

Itami raised a brow. A Manticore? Well, that was another fantastical beast to watch out for…

The knight paused again before shaking his head.

"No thanks is needed. It was simply my duty and the Forest safe from more dangerous beasts." He then turned his helmet towards Itami, who stiffened slightly at the piercing gaze through the visor. After a second or two of staring, the knight then raised his hands to lift the helmet from his head, revealing the face of a young man with blonde hair and electric blue eyes.

'He looks like your typical fantasy or otome prince.' Itami thought glumly, before said thoughts were pushed away when the man who looked like a decade younger than him, gave a hand.

"Forgive me, I forget my manners." He spoke in passable Japanese, albeit with a really rough pronunciation, retaining a distinct accent that he would hear from foreigners. "I am Ephraim, Rider of Astaroth. You must be the leader of this Jay-Es-Dee-Ef?"

"Ah," Itami shook the gauntleted hand with a small smile, glad that he could converse in Japanese as weird as it was. "A pleasure. I am First Lieutenant Itami Yōji, Commander of the Third Recon Team, of the Japanese Self-Defense Force, or the 'JSDF' as you know them. We come from beyond the Gate on Alnus Hill."

He didn't want to explain that he was technically here as part of an invading army–

In their eyes at least it might be.

"You came through because the Empire wronged you, yes?" The blonde's lips quirked into a grim smirk, shooting down whatever hope Itami had for obfuscating his people's reasons for being here. "I've heard plenty about the 'JSDF' from your people we liberated from the Saderan slavers," He spat the word out like it was a curse with such venom that both he and Cato almost flinched, and Lelei merely raised a brow at. Neither of the inhabitants of Coda Village understood Japanese, but they definitely understood the hatred in his voice. "And I've seen what you can do in a single night."

Itami glanced at the dragon behind him and nodded carefully.

"So you've seen what happened on Alnus Hill?" He reverted to Saderan, so that the other two could understand.

"I have." Ephraim nodded, also switching back to Saderan. "But perhaps we can talk about that at a later time." He looked around, his expression darkening. "In a much better setting than…this. I'd have offered our house but…unfortunately, it too was burned down." A gauntleted hand raised and pointed over the houses that lined the thoroughfare, towards where fires still illuminated the night, where smoke stacks rose still fresh.

The Japanese winced.

"You are welcome to stay in the Spire." Ephraim straightened as all turned to the new voice, and Itami's eyes bulged at the sight of the voluptuous elf being flanked by two heavily armored warriors wielding halberds as they came around the tail. Said tail already had ropes tied around it, and the red, blade-tailed T-Rex was already in the process of dragging it away to a side road. "Ephraim. You and the rest of your rather eccentric company."

He could hear the rest of his squad behind him having their own reactions, Takeo especially choking on his own spit.

"Priestess Celestine." Cato bowed, with Lelei following a moment after her master. "It has been nearly a decade since we last met. It is unfortunate that our next meeting was like this."

"It is." Celestine smiled wanly, gazing at the assembled party before her, her eyes lingering on the blonde knight for a second longer than the rest. The Priestess was wearing white and red robes with decorations and jewelry that held depictions of flames, the diadem on her head certainly held a fiery red ruby that almost glowed in the night. "Please, the journey must have been long and hard to get here, the least I can do is to accommodate a place of rest within the Spire."

"We appreciate that, Your…Grace." Itami bowed his head, using up all of his self-control to keep his gaze above her neckline. While her outfit was modest, it still hugged her curves, revealing the rather sinful body shape of hers. "But if we can help with anything your settlement needs, we will be happy to do so. We simply cannot ignore what has happened here, when we could still help."

"I can hardly ask guests to do that." Celestine shook her head, before glancing at Cato and Lelei. "But I would be foolish to refuse your assistance, if you so desire, then I will not stop you. The Spire will be open for all of you regardless, should you need a place to rest. I expect that Those Beyond the Gate have matters to attend to with us?" She directed the last sentence to Itami, who froze briefly before carefully nodding.

"Yes… But we can speak of such matters after…" Itami's gaze turned to the burning environment.

She nodded before she turned to the blonde knight, who was petting the neck of his mount.

"Ephraim."

In an instant, his attention was fully on her, and he raised a fist to his chest, over his heart.

"Yes, Lady Celestine?"

"Please, rest for tonight." She smiled softly at him, her enchanting green eyes twinkling in amusement as he flinched. She might have been shorter than the blonde, but her presence made her tower over all of them. "A certain someone had… shared about your tendency of forgoing rest for duty. What you three have done here, has earned a well-deserved rest and more."

"That little- I…rested the night before, My Lady." Ephraim's eyes were drawn to the ground, and Itami likened his expression to that of a chastised kid. Or a guy who was being spoken to by his crush.

"Lucky bastard." He could just faintly hear Takeo curse under his breath behind him.

Celestine drew nearer to the knight, her steps almost gliding over the ash and soot-strewn street. Her hands cupped his cheeks as she tilted his head so their eyes were level.

'Lucky bastard.' The Squad Leader couldn't help but comment in his mind bitterly, childishly, enviously. Having the attention of a priestess with a sinful body like that?

He wasn't an otome game character at all!

"A single night's rest is not enough to make up for what fatigue you hide." Her voice gained a bit of steel to it. Her thumbs glided over his cheeks gently, over the eyebags that Itami just now noticed. Truth be told, the blonde looked like he was about to collapse. "Please. Rest, in the Spire. We have a guest room to accommodate you, for all of you."

Ephraim closed his eyes as he took a deep breath, briefly melting into her touch before he stood up straight, her hands leaving his face. Electric blues opened again, and the knight nodded.

"Of course, My Lady. I'll…gather what I can recover from our home first before I settle down."

"For you to be hale and hearty is all I ask." Celestine commented as the knight mounted his dragon.

"Commander," Sōichirō came up behind him, and Itami almost jumped. He had gotten caught up in his own…musings that he almost slipped up his awareness. "Urgent call from HQ."

Whatever feelings the Squad Leader had was replaced with a dead calm as he turned to his SiC.

"What did they say, pops?"

"Spotters have reported an army camping several kilometers North from Alnus Hill. They're flying banners not of the Saderan Empire, but intel from our source matches that of the Vassal States. Current numbers range from 90 thousand to upwards to 100 thousand."

"Shit." Itami muttered as he furrowed his brows. "What's that got to do with us?"

"First and Second Recon Teams are still ranging South and West, respectively. We're the closest mobile unit. Command plans to enter negotiations, they believe that the assets we captured in Ginza can convince them that to fight us is folly."

His shoulders suddenly felt heavier, and the fatigue from before came crashing back. Seriously? They were going to be a VIP escort of some sort?

Sōichirō nodded at the blank stare of his Commander, sympathizing with the new load to bear.

Itami's shoulders slouched as he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Great. Just great. More work, more chances to risk his life. Wonderful.

'The assets we captured back in Ginza… Would they be enough?' He looked up at the night sky in thought. He wasn't quite sure if they were, only a couple wished to cooperate while the rest were stubborn as mules.

A chirping trill made him look over as the black dragon, Astaroth, as Ephraim had called it, began to step away, the knight sitting on the saddle on its back. Itami's gaze lingered on them as they took off, iridescent wings flapping in the darkness as they flew off to another part of the settlement.

…If a few captured nobles wouldn't be enough.

Then perhaps those who hurt the 'Flame Dragon' would be.

ROAAAAR!

"Gods above!"

"The Flame Dragon..!"

"Is it wounded?! Where is its tail?!"

King Duran nearly dropped the quill he was holding as he and his council watched as the legendary drake flew far to the West, lacking a tail and sporting wounds visible even from where they were.

"Impossible…"

Crimson eyes watched as the red drake flew over, the owner extending a hand as a thick glob of draconic blood dropped over the dainty fingers.

"Oh..?"

Taking a deep whiff of the blood, her lips curled into a maddened grin before she composed herself.

"Well now…"

Hefting her halberd over her shoulder, a renewed energy surged through her as she once more resumed her journey to the East, towards where a deluge of blood and death had been shed, both of man, beast, and dragon.

Rory Mercury licked her lips as her cheeks flared in a blush.

"What interesting times we live in…"

Chapter Text

White stone walls were blackened with soot, and the once vibrant blue-tiled roofs were slagged from the heat and blackened. Windows were cracked and shattered, and the doors were charred or downright missing. Those houses that had any of either opened had burned down from the inside, becoming husks only propped up by the stone walls.

More than half of the district had been burned. They weren’t even the main target, merely a collateral, caused by the stray streams of flames deflected from the main deluge against the Spire’s shield.

Fortunately, no one was around the district by the time the disaster arrived, with the Japanese having departed earlier that late morning, and the three of them having gone with them to act as escorts.

They were truly lucky.

As lucky as they could be given what happened.

“Come along, Sekken.”

Ryo and his partner walked on the path that led to their home, and found a half-collapsed, half-burned ruin. It was still somewhat damp, as this had been the first place he and Sekken rushed to put out.

But the damage was already done as he went to assess what was once his workplace. He knelt inaudibly; a hand reaching out to mounds of grey dust, letting the ashes seep and slip through his fingers.

And with it, the hope of a steady supply to replenish or top up their inventory any time soon.

Frowning behind his mask, Ryo stood up from his crouch and stared silently at the once-flourishing garden, now reduced naught to ash and cinders. Even the mushroom shed hadn’t been spared, if the pile of burnt debris were any indication. With a despondent sigh, he dusted off whatever ashes were left on his gloves and further assessed the damage.

He had left it as it was before he checked the garden, though there was a new addition now.

Ephraim was there, and so was Astaroth a bit further away. The blonde had his helmet off, attached to his belt by a hook, and was sifting and searching through the rubble with the light of a lantern. Behind him was a pile of items that were mostly whole, if slightly burnt or broken.

Trophies from previous hunts when they had arrived in Falmart– Ryo could recognize the Basilisk’s gray scale, the Feathered Serpent’s colorful namesake now matted dull in ash, and a piece of the giant spider’s carapace that still had its barbs on it. They were a matter of pride for all of them. They were vestiges, reminders of their original duties to their Village; driving away too-aggressive animals away from where people lived.

“You’re supposed to be resting.” The Mizutsune Rider spoke up as he stopped beside his friend, kneeling and moving aside the bigger pieces of rubble with him. The light of the lantern cast shadows across the blonde’s face, revealing dark eyebags, a pale complexion, slightly bloodshot eyes, and the subtle tremors and sluggishness of his arms and hands as he grasped the remnants of their home.

“I will.” Ephraim grunted as they tossed away a chunk of debris more than double their sizes off to the side. Reaching into the darkness of the hole they had just uncovered, he pulled out shards of what was once a decorated plate. With a quiet curse, he set it aside and stood up, frustration clear in his stance. “Blast it all…”

Astaroth watched as his rider stayed still, shoulders shaking as the green highlights of his armor flashed rapidly. A low warble escaped his throat, and Ephraim took a deep breath as the green pulsing died down to a calmer pace.

Ryo stayed silent, letting the blonde work out his frustrations. Then, after a few moments of silence, he spoke.

“This isn’t your fault.” The pink Rider stated as he pushed aside a charred wooden beam, where it broke in half once it hit the ground.

“Is it?” The blonde hissed, glaring into the darkness of the night. With the flickering light of the lantern, his face was casted in a shadow that made him look older than he was. “I was in the air, I could see for miles, I should have–”

“Engaging in an aerial fight against a monster several leagues larger than Astaroth? Please, I’m confident in your skills, but I’m not THAT confident.” Ryo continued to move aside rubble, gaze fixed on his task.

“But I still could’ve done something…” the blonde replied with an almost unnoticeable crack in his voice.

“Should have, would have, could have, you know better than to linger on those kinds of thoughts. But then again, you always were that kind of person, and even worse, you’re self-aware of that fact. But there’s things you could’ve done at that time, and things you couldn’t do. You had a different duty at that time, didn’t you? To keep on overwatch for threats towards the Japanese civilians.”

“That blasted dragon is a threat!”

“Not an immediate one. For all we saw, it wasn’t targeting the Japanese refugees.” Another piece of rubble, a piece of their home, was set aside. The wall crumbling into a pile of scorched bricks. A glint of something caught his eye as he reached into the dust, his fingers wrapping around something solid and cold. “You can’t expect yourself to be aware of both places at once, or be in two places at the same time. Even Sekken couldn’t detect or maybe recognize its scent, what makes you think you could’ve been aware of its approach?”

Ephraim remained silent, save for the faint sound of his teeth grinding ever so slightly from his tense jaw.

‘As stubborn as ever.’

“I’m not one to judge how many responsibilities you are carrying. But… don’t act like it’s the end of the world. I’d rather see you get crushed by a Tetranadon than see you collapse under that amount of stress you’re taking in for yourself.”

Ryo sighed as he rose, taking the item in his grasp with him. Dust and ash fell to the ground, revealing the form of the Steel Bow in his hand.

Turning the weapon in his hands, he inspected it for any damage before nodding to himself when he found none. Of course. Typical Davion smithing. Folding the bow in half with a flick of his wrist, he felt around where he had picked up the bow and grasped what felt like leather. Pulling it up, he was unsurprised to see the massive quiver of arrows still whole and ready to be used.

He had been somewhat surprised that Davion had made such a thing, but only slightly. Of course the apprentice smith would make something on his own time, he had to not let his skill rust, after all.

“We’re not responsible for any deaths tonight, especially you, not one bit.” Ryo spoke softly, his grip on the bow tightening briefly. “Whatever tonight was, call it a horrible chance of fate, or a freak act of some higher power. We did what we were able to, we’re human.”

Flashes of a village destroyed amidst a raging thunderstorm flashed through his head, the images muddled by age. What was the only thing he could remember clearly were the golden eyes of a serpent in the clouds, and the long-buried dread that came with it.

“Endure and keep moving forward. Lingering in the past won’t help anyone, especially not yourself.”

The pink Rider was brought out from his thoughts when the bow and quiver of arrows were taken from his hands. His friend stood before him, his expression fierce, but Ryo could clearly see the sorrow mixed with righteous fury in those electric blues of his.

‘Ever like a storm, ever like your partner…’

“The next time we see that crippled lizard, he’s mine, understand?” Ephraim snarled then stomped away, quickly mounting Astaroth before the duo flew away, leaving Ryo to watch them fly towards the Spire with a quiet sigh. Turning away from the Spire and towards Sekken, who had been watching a distance away. All the ash in the air hadn’t been merciful on his water-loving partner, and the dryness of the air was showing on how frazzled some of Sekken’s fur was looking.

“Come on, Sekken. Our work’s not over yet.” He nodded to the Mizutsune, who let out a low trill as he stared at him in worry. Ryo smiled behind his mask as he shook his head. “I’ll be fine. One night’s work isn’t going to be enough to bring me down.”

With another low trill, Sekken lowered his body to let his partner climb on to the saddle. With a brief spew of water, the pink duo slithered off deeper into Kowan.

“Kozuki-san, more burn ointment, please.”

“...We’ve run out.”

Mari Kurokawa briefly paused in her bandaging the third-degree burn of the elf she was treating, her jaw tensing for a moment before she finished what she was doing. Of course it wouldn’t be enough. There were definitely a lot more burn victims than there were medication in that medkit, but she wanted to try and believe otherwise nonetheless.

Standing up and stepping away from the elf, she turned to another, clad in robes of gentle greens, whose expression was one of gratefulness tinged with grief.

“I’m sorry that I’m unable to do more.” She apologized in the Special Region’s language, as was taught to her and the rest of the expeditionary force beforehand.

“No, the fact that you helped nonetheless is more than enough.” The elf healer, she presumed, reassured her. Around them, she could see the other green robed Elves tending to the numerous victims, their hands glowing as third-degree burns visibly healed, slowly, but surely.

But even then, there were plenty more that needed immediate help, and Mari hated that she could do nothing else about it. If only she had more supplies– No, at this point, she was just going around in a cycle of ifs and thens.

Those whose burns were now less dire were carried out, either by the armored elves, or by what she assumed were civilians whole enough to help. However, more were pouring in, with various wounds like lacerations, welts, and the more severe broken bones that sometimes protruded from the skin, to even crushed limbs that needed to be amputated.

“Just from one attack…” Her squad’s other Close Combat Specialist muttered in Japanese, her brilliant blue eyes gazing at a young– she assumed young– elf woman who had two children sitting by her cot, asleep. She was almost bandaged head to toe, and Mari’s frown deepened at the sight.

This was a tragedy…

Ting-a-ling~!

The two soldiers turned their heads at the sound, their eyes locking on to the pink-clad figure stepping into the makeshift field hospital tent. His massive kagura suzu made tinkling noises with each step, which gave an audible cadence to his stride. There was also a pleasant scent in the air that reminded them of spring; of cherry blossoms and rain.

He was a queer figure to them, clad in an attire that leaned towards the traditional Shinto wedding garments of a groom, save for the fox mask on his face. His whole image evoked a sense of mysticism to him that made them think of Kitsune and their mischievous, whimsical ways.

It was a bit of a whiplash to see something so familiar to them be in this fantastical world beyond the Gate.

Then again…odd mishmash of Roman-esque soldiers alongside fantasy knight armor-wearing heavy cavalry…

“Ah, Ryo!”

“Head Healer.” This Ryo had acknowledged, his accented Saderan almost like that of the Japanese, save for being a bit smoother. Likely from having been exposed to and used far more than they had. The fox mask looked around, briefly pausing at the sight of the two JSDF soldiers– Nishina was helping out with bringing new wounded in– before giving them a nod.

“May I ask the status of the garden..?” The Head Healer asked, apprehension in his tone. To which, the masked bell-bearing man shook his head slowly.

“All burned, sadly.”

“Flare preserve us.” The Elf sighed out, approaching despondency as he massaged  his forehead. “We’re burning through our potion stock faster than we thought, the severity of the wounded’s burns requires them to drink a bottle’s worth.”

Upon hearing that, Ryo reached behind him– likely a pouch from what the two soldiers could guess. He pulled out a glass jar that held some sort of green liquid, and the Head Healer’s expression brightened ever so slightly.

“Is that..?”

“I still have enough in my backpack to make a few more of the Potions. I think, with these, there won’t be anyone else dying tonight.”

“Thank the Bright Lord for small mercies. Thank you, Rider.”

“Remember, just a sip each for them, nothing more.”

Mari then watched as the ‘Rider’ gave the Head Healer one of the Potions before walking to the other end of the tent. He pulled out another Potion and unlatched its stopper with a flick of his thumb. Going down to a knee, he began to administer the drink to a young Elf– or what she assumed was young, he was baby-faced enough to look like he was a twelve year old.

“Why did it feel like he said ‘potion’ with a capital ‘P’?” Came the confused mumble from the Corporal next to her. Honestly, the medic heard that capitalization too. She didn’t know why or how, but she somehow just knew that it was capitalized.

There was a pained gasp from the young Elf and Mari watched as a faint green mist steamed from his flesh and, much to her and her fellow soldier’s surprise, the burn wounds visibly healed as healthy pink skin grew from underneath the dead layer, pushing it out and away; the scabs and chunks of dead flesh falling to the ground in a manner that would have caused the medic’s nose to wrinkle if she wasn’t utterly gobsmacked.

That… That was no normal potion, was it?

They’ve tried and tested the ‘healing potions’ left over by those that invaded through the Gate in Ginza months ago, and while there was some visible acceleration of the body’s natural healing, it definitely wasn’t this fast.

‘Looks like this is also going in the report once we head back to base…’

Still, regardless of her feelings at the moment, she still wanted to do something more than just stand and gawk.

Approaching the man, she opened her mouth to ask if she could help, but before she could, another figure stepped into the tent with hurried steps.

It was the crimson armored warrior, the one that rode that T-Rex with a sword for a tail.

From a distance, earlier, he struck an intimidating figure; red armor that looked like it came from hell, a massive sword that looked more decorative than functional, the otherworldly glowing eye in the dark eyeslits, and the always present wariness of unknown abilities. But now, this close and with his helmet attached to his belt on the side, he looked…surprisingly humble.

The first thing that Mari noted about him was that he was around her age range, maybe a year younger or so. The light stubble on his jaw gave the illusion of added years, but her keen eyes were able to discern the youthful features of the man. His unique gunmetal grey eyes were scrunched in worry as he looked around before jogging over to the young elf woman she had observed earlier, with the two children.

“Tuka…” He whispered breathlessly, kneeling beside her cot. He reached out to her hesitantly before pulling away and clenching his fist, his expression twisting into one of anguish and regret. 

“Davion.” Ryo called out quietly as he walked over to the man, putting a hand on his pauldron. He then spoke in a language that wasn’t Saderan, and Mari frowned minutely at the fact.

Another thing to report, she supposed.

Even though Saderan was the common language of the Special Region, according to their prisoners, the presence of other languages might complicate attempts to peacefully interact with the natives. Especially with what she heard the Elves speak, another language that wasn’t Saderan. ‘Elvish’, she could label it for now.

A few more words were exchanged in that unknown language of theirs before Davion stood up, his expression still pained. He took a deep breath before he detached his helmet from his belt and put it back on his head, the baleful blue eye flashing in the darkness of its eyeslit. More words, Mari could surmise were said in a reassuring tone, were said by the Pink Rider before his crimson compatriot walked away and then out of the tent.

The remaining Rider heaved a quiet exhale before he turned to them, his fox mask’s eyes also glowing a faint blue.

“Forgive me for not properly acknowledging you two before.” He apologized in Japanese, bowing his torso in a similar way to how they would apologize. It caught them off guard, in a way, to see something so familiar be from someone so unfamiliar.

“No, no, it’s understandable.” She reassured him with a calm smile. “You had more urgent matters to prioritize.”

“Still, it is an error of mine.” Ryo straightened and held a hand out for her to shake, to which she did. “I am Ryo, a Rider and a resident Healer in Kowan. I thank you for your aid.”

‘No surname? Or simply didn’t say?’

“Kurokawa Mari, Medic, also a healer.” She returned the courtesy with a nod. “And it’s no problem. It’s my duty to help when there are wounded. This is my compatriot–”

“I can introduce myself.” Her fellow soldier groused as she took the Rider’s hand and gave it a firm shake. Fiery blues stared into the mask’s own, as if piercing through it. “Kallen Kozuki, Close Combat Specialist. Glad to meet you.”

“It is nice to meet you two.” Ryo retrieved his hand with a nod before his tone turned somber. “I’d love to stay and chat, but given the circumstances…”

“If you’ll let me,” Mari ventured, her fists tight as she took a step forward. “May I help?”

The Rider, who was in the middle of turning away, stopped and looked at her. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking because of that vulpine mask, and worse yet, she felt like she was smaller, like she was under some form of microscope despite being physically taller than the pink-clad man by a few inches.

Then, the tense silence that seemed to stretch on for minutes, broke when he procured one of those ‘Potions’ and offered it to her.

“Just a sip for those able to. Any more and I fear that there would be complications.” Ryo nodded at her as she took it, the medic’s eyes lingering on the green liquid inside. “We have a long night ahead of us, so let’s make every second of it worth our while, for their sakes.”

“Right.” Mari nodded in return as she held the bottle– which was more the size of a jar, really– close to her chest. Questions about this thing later, helping people first. “C’mon, Kozuki-san.”

“Aye-aye.” The redhead sighed.

And so, they worked through the night, the eerie silence outside the tent creeping in as both they and the healers saved lives.

Come morning, the men and women of the JSDF found themselves in an opulent dining room, having been ushered there to eat breakfast prepared by their hosts. All of them were in varying states of exhaustion– as each and every single one of them had provided aid to the Elves late into the night. With bags under their bloodshot eyes, they still persevered regardless.

Yawning, Itami decided to let his helmet dangle off his rifle barrel as he arched his back to get rid of all the kinks and cricks from a night spent sleeping in his gear. He didn’t really have the time to take it all off, instead having gone to sleep the moment he had hit the unfathomably soft mattress. He had been exhausted after spending most of the night helping move rubble around with his squad.

What he’d give to take a hot shower… Maybe he’d have time to take one back at base. Provided that command doesn’t send them immediately to escort duty once they arrive.

“Hey, Commander, when are we going to head back to report…all of this?”

Itami turned his head to Akira Tomita, who was rubbing his face. Akira had been one of those that did a lot of heavy lifting last night, and one of the more affected by the bodies he had found underneath the rubble. He remembered letting him rest earlier than the others because of this, but he had been adamant in wanting to keep helping.

“After breakfast.” The Lieutenant answered with an easygoing smile. Group morale needed to be maintained, and staying for breakfast and experiencing another’s culture helped in that regard. “It’d be rude to simply leave and brush off our host’s generosity.”

It would likely also put a foot in the door when it comes to future relations and negotiations with the Elves. As much as he wanted to stay and build rapport, they had a more urgent task to attend to, one involving the army camped out a distance away from base. The Type 75’s hadn’t crossed the Gate just yet, but given what he’d seen that the Flame Dragon was capable of, he’d have to relay to Commander Hazama that heavier weaponry might be needed sooner than they thought.

No doubt they would have also seen the dragon fly past them, no way they would have missed that massive flying object even if only moonlight illuminated it.

“I must ask, Sir Ryo, as to how you exactly managed to hurt the Flame Dragon so much by yourselves when so many others have failed before you.”

Itami looked over to his right and saw Cato talk with the man wearing the pink groom-like armor the night prior, his apprentice, Lelei, too busy reading a scroll beside him. He wasn’t wearing the armor now, surprisingly enough, instead wearing a humble cream shirt with a green vest with golden embroidery, dark brown trousers, and a pair of leather loafers. With the mask now worn off to the side like a festival mask, he could see that the man was younger than him by a decade or so. His dark hair paired with his green eyes, Ryo looked surprisingly like a Japanese national despite being from the Special Region.

‘No wonder the civilians trusted him. A familiar face does wonders…’

“-where we’re from, monsters like this ‘Flame Dragon’ are… I wouldn’t exactly say they are common, but they are certainly more plentiful.” The green-eyed Rider spoke, Itami having missed some of the conversation as he was looking the younger man over. “In fact, it’s more like they’re a part of life from where we’re from. And as Riders, we try our best to adhere to the cycle of nature and its order.”

“Ah, like hunters then?” Cato raised a brow, the hungry glint of a scholar hungry for knowledge clear in his eyes.

“Oh no, Hunters are a different thing altogether.” Davion spoke up from beside Ryo. The brunette’s hair looked like he gave up halfway from fixing its bedhair state, and his gunmetal gray eyes were half-lid to the point that he looked like he was half-asleep. He was wearing a cream shirt and dark trousers, and he looked healthier than expected from a man who was blasted through a wall the night prior. “They’ve got this bigger support structure and stuff, while we Riders–”

“I think he’s referring to the other hunter profession, not the Guild ones.” Ryo sighed with a small shake of his head.

“Ah.”

‘Other hunting profession? So there’s a different kind of hunting?’ 

Maybe something was lost in translation, or that his Saderan wasn’t that good at understanding more complex nuances. Either way, he was going to add building rapport with the Riders on his list of things to-do.

He was brought out of his thoughts when the succulent smell of cooked meat wafted into the room, and across the table, his fellow Japanese perked up in attention. Cato and Lelei, who had aided them in their humanitarian efforts in helping the Elves with their magic, stopped what they were doing and looked towards the set of doors that would lead to what he assumed were the kitchens.

It didn’t take long for them to open, and the last member of the trio of Riders arrived alongside a half dozen elves carrying carafes of what was likely liquid refreshments. Balanced on both of the blonde Rider’s hands were large silver trays that had covers on them. The sheer size of each caused Itami’s eyes to widen, and the fact that Ephraim was carrying one on each hand without any visible strain was a testament to how strong he and his friends were.

How else could they carry their ludicrously sized weapons?

“Apologies for the delay, recent events have caused some issues.” The blonde spoke as he put the two silver trays on the table, the elves putting the carafes down beside each, while another elf placed down a basket of various freshly baked bread. In place of his armor, he was wearing a white tunic underneath a brown apron, dark trousers, and a pair of loafers. His bangs were held back by a red bandana, and there was a faint sheen of sweat at the edges of the cloth.

“Did you even sleep at all last night?”

Ryo’s pointed tone made Itami hone in on the bloodshot eyes of the blonde. While he looked better than he was last night, it was still clear that he was lacking in sleep, if the way his eyelids drooped were of any indication.

“I did. For a few hours. It’s enough for now.” Ephraim grunted as he removed the two covers, filling the room with more of the succulent smell of cooked meat.

Removing the covers revealed a massive hunk of roasted meat that was still steaming hot on a large leafy green with herbs and spices scattered on it, and what Itami could hope was a shiitake mushroom surrounding the roast itself alongside hunks of what he also hoped was potatoes. The other silver tray revealed a more humble spread of sausages, cured meats, and cheese.

Several stomachs audibly growled, and many of his squad’s faces turned red in embarrassment, including his own. This caused the blonde to smirk as he pulled out a carving fork and a cleaver from the front pocket of his apron, before quickly stabbing the former into the massive hunk of meat and using the latter to cut a steak-sized piece from it, revealing the beautiful marbling and the medium-rare doneness.

“Please, enjoy yourselves.” Ephraim stepped away from the table with a short bow before removing his apron and bandana and handing it to a nearby elf, thanking him quietly. Itami didn’t really pay much attention after that, as he and his squad were already helping themselves to the food.

Politely, of course.

As he bit into his slice of roasted meat, his tongue felt absolutely blessed by the flavors that seemed to burst out. Unconsciously, a moan of delight escaped his lips as he ate, and similar sentiments were shared by the rest of his squad. By far, this was the best meal he’s ever had! The meat was almost like an A5 Wagyu, and the spices and juices just blended so well together! It wasn’t too salty, there was an earthy tone to it, as well as some spiciness that wasn’t too overpowering.

“This is pretty good.” Shino crowed out with a happy smile as she made a sandwich with some slices of fresh bread, cheese and roast meat. “I haven’t had beef this good in a while.”

“Oh, it’s not beef.” Ephraim stated as he sat down next to Davion, picking up his own knife and fork. “It’s dragon meat.”

Everyone at the table froze, utensils stopping where they were as the words registered in their heads.

Except for the Riders of course, Davion was already reaching for a second helping and Ryo eyed the piece of meat on his fork for a moment before letting it enter his mouth, savoring it within.

“You woke up early just so you could try out the best ways to eat this didn’t you?”

“Of course I did. The moment I found out it wasn’t poisonous, I knew it was going to be edible.” The blonde scoffed, obviously insulted as he chewed on a piece of the roasted dragon he put on his plate. “I’m no rank amateur when it comes to using monster meat as ingredients. You know that. Besides, what else was I supposed to do, leave the dragon meat to rot? No thank you, I’d rather not waste potentially good food.”

“It’s unfortunate we couldn’t find any traces of Dash Extract, eh?”

“It is pretty good.” Davion hummed happily as he ate more than his fill of meat. He had a pretty thick slab of dragon meat on his plate alongside a tall mug of some amber liquid. “And with the size of the tail and arm left behind, if we manage to preserve the meat, the Elves won't have a shortage of food for quite a while.”

“Yes, I’ve already informed Lady Celestine of such an opportunity.” The blonde nodded as he began to eat a similarly large amount to his brunette friend. “Suffice to say, she took a generous helping to offer to Flare, and will later inform the rest of her mages to begin preservation rituals for the meat once they are done with their morning rituals.”

‘Morning rituals? Flare? I knew that she was a priestess, but…’

“To think I would be eating the Flame Dragon’s meat…” Cato looked at his plate with a mix of emotions, awe and befuddlement clear amongst them. He used a fork to spear a piece of dragon meat, holding it up to eye level for him to inspect closely. After a few seconds of staring, he closed his eyes, the elder mage then heaved a sigh. “I…honestly do not know what to make of this. Ancient texts described the beast as practically invincible, unbeatable. More of a force of nature than something sentient. To think it’d be served to us like any other meal just hours after that illusion of strength had been broken….”

“Delicious.” Lelei cooed out as she chomped on another piece of meat, a blissful smile on her lips.

Itami could see Akira look at his own fork for a moment before shrugging and bringing the piece of meat on it into his mouth. Whatever shock value the reveal had on them gradually receded as they returned to eating their breakfast, all of them trying to separate the beef and pork-like taste to the fact that it came from a dragon.

‘Well, at least we’ll be the first to eat dragon meat here! That’s certainly something to brag about to the guys back at base!’

“Once we’re back at base, I want us all to go through a health assessment.” Mari sighed, switching to Japanese. “I don’t want any of us to go down with something bad because we ate something utterly foreign to our bodies.”

“...Oh, yeah, that makes sense.” Itami chuckled weakly as he slowly put down the last piece of meat he was going to eat from his plate. “I just hope that Command won’t be too on our asses about that and our escort mission.”

“Right, the escort mission.” Kallen muttered with a frown as she stabbed a piece of meat more forcefully than normal. Itami winced, knowing the redhead’s personal grievances towards the Saderans, and while he could sympathize, he would not condone any overt hostility from any members of his squad. “Do we really have to?”

“We’re the nearest, and honestly I’m not really looking forward to another fight for the hill.” The Lieutenant sighed. The amount of bodies that they had to bury… And the stench of it all… “Plus, it’ll help smooth things over with the locals even more, I hope. Speaking of…”

Itami looked across the table, where the Riders and the mages were conversing. Well, it was more Ephraim conversing with Cato about a manticore. Davion was busy eating his fourth hunk of dragon meat, and Ryo was calmly sipping on hot tea.

“Cato,” He called out, switching back to Saderan. The older mage turned his head towards him curiously. “Will you be staying here or would you wish to return to Coda Village? My people will be leaving soon to another task given to us, and we can likely drop you and your apprentice off back at Coda Village along the way.”

”Oh, that would be much appreciated, Sir Itami.” The mage nodded in gratitude. “I’ll have to tell the villagers what happened here to assuage their paranoia. With some embellishments, of course. I doubt the Elves would want their hidden enclave to be known, right, Sir Ephraim?”

The blonde wiped his lips with a napkin before he huffed, surprising the Japanese at how fast he seemed to devour his meal without much attention. “They wouldn’t. But given that the barrier that doubled as a cloak that kept Kowan hidden from view is down, there’s always a chance that some intrepid explorer or scout would be able to spot the Spire or the Guardian Trees, even this deep in Koan Forest.”

‘Right. The massive spire and the two giant burnt trees. Certainly not something one would overlook, especially in an enormous forest like this.’

“Oh yeah, related to that… Do you think your Lady Celestine wouldn’t be too opposed to the idea of establishing friendly relations with the JSDF?” Itami put out the offer of diplomacy, watching the blonde’s expression briefly flash in suspicion before settling back into the cool calm he wore previously. The two other Riders shared a quick and subtle glance, almost missable if he had been focusing only on the blonde.

“I…am not the best to ask such questions. I’m not one of her advisers.” Ephraim answered slowly, sitting straight in his seat. “But she holds no love against Saderans, that is for certain. The Elves and the Saderans have a long history, and if you’re against the latter, I believe she would be amicable for some form of diplomacy.”

Ryo chuckled and said something in a strange language, one that was neither the pseudo-Latin that was Saderan nor was it the song-like tongue of the Elves. It sounded almost, kinda, sorta like Japanese? If one was drunk or high or something and added a bunch more vowels or useless words that made it all the more confusing. So, in the end, nothing like Japanese.

But whatever he said, it certainly drew the blonde’s ire, who shot back something in the same language.

There was a familiar air of comradely sniping between the two of them, one that Itami could easily identify. There were plenty of it in the JSDF, in the service, amongst friends and siblings forged through hardship. Though, he had a feeling that the two, and by proxy the three, knew each longer than just being comrades.

“Oh, by the way, er, Commander?”

Itami looked at the brunette between the two Riders, who had stopped their bickering to let him speak.

“Er, yes, Sir…Davion?”

Oh, great, they sounded just as awkward as the other.

“Is it possible if I can come with you? I’ve been meaning to look at your bowless bowguns…guns–  let’s go with guns–”

Itami and some of the Third Recon flinched at his words in shock. Bowguns? That meant that these three had firearms? Itami thought that the massive gunlance that Ephraim had was something advanced for them, but for them to have firearms?

That brought about more questions. How many did they have? Were they matchlocks? Bowguns implied the presence of a…bow… Was it some sort of portable gunpowder-ballista or something? Actually, how did that even work?

“–and Ephraim here told tales of your metal carriages with turrets on top of them, and it got me highly curious.”

“What about Tuka?” The blonde asked his friend, his tone careful.

“She’ll be fine.” Davion answered, glancing at his friend before shaking his head. “Ryo healed her up last night, and when I checked earlier, she was still asleep. Besides, I’ll be back later, it’s not like I’ll be away for a long while.”

“Um… I might need to ask my superiors if we’re allowed to bring back…a guest.” Itami glanced at Sōichirō, who nodded in the wordless request. He’ll get right on the radio after breakfast to ask such a question. “Are you going to bring your…mount?”

“Gurion? Yeah, of course, he’s my partner. I don’t know how fast your metal carriage is, but I think Gurion can keep up if we have breaks in between long stretches of distance.”

‘Great, one more thing to mention back to Hazama-san. Giant mounts from friendlies that can do all sorts of crazy stuff.’

“I’ll go with you.” Ephraim huffed, crossing his arms as he narrowed his eyes at his friend, who looked at him in surprise. “I’ll need to inform Lady Celestine of this first, but someone needs to mark the route between Kowan and Alnus Hill, and a bird’s eye view is most effective.”

“I-I see…” Itami cleared his throat as he thought of the addition of the blonde Rider and his intimidating dragon was going to add more complications.

“You’re…not staying?” Davion asked the blonde, who frowned lightly. “I mean, I’d have thought–”

“Ryo can protect Kowan in my stead.”

The green-eyed Rider stopped mid sip to fix the blonde an impassive look. “If you’re going, then I’m going too. Someone needs to keep an eye on you two.”

“Well, we can’t all go. Someone needs to watch over Kowan!”

FWOOM! 

Everyone at the table froze at the sound, though Cato and the Riders relaxed faster than the rest. One of the elves stepped forward and cleared her throat, raising her hands to placate them.

“Please, do not be alarmed. That was merely the shield protecting Kowan activating again. It seems Lady Celestine’s offering has reached the Bright Lord and he has deigned to bless us once more.”

Itami turned his head to look out the nearest window and noted the pale blue shimmering shield that extended beyond the walls of the settlement.

“...Huh. So they have an even bigger energy shield.” Takeo muttered in Japanese, disbelief clear in his tone.

“Guess that answers the question of who’ll stay behind, eh?” Davion smirked at Ephraim, who looked like he swallowed something sour before he scoffed.

“Do what you will.” Standing up, the blonde stepped away from the table and towards the doors. “I’ll inform Lady Celestine of our decision and then suit up. I’ll meet you all at the Southern Gate.”

With the exit of the blonde, the rest of the JSDF looked at each other uneasily. It was clear that he was displeased with the decision, but Ryo waved his head to catch their attention.

“You’ll get used to him.” Ryo gave them an easy smile as Davion chuckled. “Or maybe hate him, I don’t think he’ll care much.”

“Ah, no, no, I understand. We all have those kinds of friends.” Itami waved away the apology with an easygoing smile. “Oh, and tell him our gratitude for the meal, by the way. It was the best we’ve had yet.”

The green-eyed Rider’s smile widened to something more genuine as he and his brunette friend stood up from their chairs.

“I’ll be sure to pass it on.”

Ephraim stared at the bottle of amber fluid in his hands before shaking his head and putting it back in his pouch. Five hours of sleep was more than enough to keep him up for a bit longer, he didn’t need an Energy Drink to compensate. Plus, he didn’t want to deal with Ryo’s nagging once the shakes manifest.

Again.

So instead, he twisted the cap of his canteen and took in a long draught of spring water. A low warble made him look up, and right into the bored crimson eyes of Astaroth as he perched on top of the mostly whole Southern Gatehouse.

His brow twitched.

“We’re not going into a fight.” He grumbled as he put the cap back on his canteen.

Another low warble.

“Well, guess we’ll have to burn all that extra bulk you have some other way, yeah? Serves you right for pigging out on the dragon tail.”

Astaroth growled but did not do anything else aside from turning away to try and find something else to relieve his boredom. With a leap into the air, the Astalos flew off somewhere out of sight.

Sighing, Ephraim closed his eyes and leaned back against the piece of rubble he had been sitting on, letting his thoughts wander to the events earlier.

Celestine had, surprisingly, given him her blessing to leave with the JSDF to Alnus Hill. The shield would hold against anything other than another damned dragon, but… Still, he was worried. The whole settlement was in mourning with the quiet atmosphere, and the priests and priestesses were busy with funerary rites in the Spire, whose floors below the surface acted as catacombs.

Despite projecting a strong front, he could tell that Celestine was grieving at the loss of life. She had told him of her people’s history, of their numbers and how they would never match that of the Saderans. They were a dwindling race, and each loss of life was always a worrying step closer to non-existence, so a mass loss of life like a dragon attack such as this was less of a step and more like a massive leap.

The mere thought of that damned dragon stoked the fires of anger within him.

How dare that beast destroy the little peace he and his friends had. How dare that prey enter his territory-!

Ephraim severed that line of thought, the roiling maelstrom within him begrudgingly calming. He shouldn’t fall back to old habits. He’s had time to overcome that temper of his. If he backslides now, it’ll only snowball into something worse later on. And through the bond he had with Astaroth, any lapse in control would mean that both he and his partner would get a bit too… excited when it came to combat.

He was a Rider, not a beast.

Opening his eyes after sufficiently centering himself, he watched as the green-clad men and women of the JSDF prepared their self-propelled metal carriage for travel. Lady Celestine had given them some gifts, out of gratitude for their help in the aftermath of the Flame Dragon’s attack and out of diplomacy, a friendly gesture of sorts to start off the relations between the Japanese and the Elves as more than lukewarm.

And he had expected that it would be, given that the Elves had sheltered their people for months, and the three of them– he and his fellow Riders– had rescued them from the barbarity of the damned Saderans.

The gifts were substantial, if anything else. Bolts of elven silk, jewelry, some food meant more for travel– called lembas– and three mastercrafted weapons, which they can’t see themselves use considering what they usually carry. A beautifully crafted sword to showcase the Elven mastery of smithing, a longbow showcasing the arts and crafts through its intricate decals, and a hunting knife carved with its culture, which was somehow as sharp as what they used.

Their Commander had certainly looked boggled at all the items, and as Ephraim watched him trying to properly secure the gifts while also making enough space for the rest of his team to board their carriage. As a result, their gifts were strewn about with no sense of modicum, a far-fetch to how ceremoniously they were handed to them by the elves.

The blonde couldn’t help but huff in amusement.

After watching them struggle for a few more seconds, he sighed and stood up from his seat, picking up the Gunlance by the side and walking over to them. He might as well also apologize for the poor showing earlier during breakfast. He didn’t necessarily trust them totally, but that didn’t give him free reign to act as if they were already enemies, no matter how dangerous they were with their…guns, as Davion called their weapons. 

“Hail.” He greeted them in Saderan as he approached, the majority of the group stopping whatever they were doing to look at him in slight surprise. “Having trouble with the gifts?”

“Oh no, not exactly.” Itami chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck as he held the sheathed blade in one hand, lifting it up so both men could look at it better. It was certainly eye-catching, an elegant blade that had a subtle curve to it rather than the typical straight swords he was more familiar with when it came to sidearms. “We’re simply…messaging our superiors about proper procedures on things like being given gifts.”

That caused the blonde’s brows to rise slightly.

“You sent out a messenger earlier then? A carrier owl?” 

Back in the Village, they always used carrier owls for long distance messaging, as the tough birds of prey were more than capable of flying through the cold winds of the mountain settlement, down to wherever they were sent to. Maybe the JSDF did the same, or maybe they used a different means, a different bird of prey that he must have missed.

“Er…” Itami looked at his compatriots, who also had conflicted expressions– or simply looked away– on their faces. “It’s, uh, pretty complicated to explain, really.”

“How so?” Ephraim questioned further, curious on their methods of messaging. He could likely gauge their technological level as similar to his and the Riders. They had gunpowder weaponry, after all, though the JSDF’s were certainly more advanced.

“Maaaaybe some other time!” The older man snapped his fingers, laughing uneasily. “Maybe when we’re back at base, I can go grab someone else who knows a lot more about radios than I do.”

‘...What was that word? Ra-dyo?’

“I’ll hold you on to that.” The blonde drawled flatly, knowing that he wasn’t going to linger long in their base camp at Alnus Hill. 

“Right, right.” Itami rubbed the back of his neck as he changed the topic, trying to dispel the somewhat awkward air between the two of them. “Um, I don’t know if Sir Ryo passed it on, but thank you for the meal.”

“Oh, he did earlier.” Ephraim’s lips curved into a smile, and Itami inwardly cursed at how much of an Otome Prince he looked like right now– not that the blonde could understand what any of that meant if he vocalized it. “You are welcome. Cooking is a passion of mine, and it brings me joy to know that my work is appreciated. And… I apologize for my cold disposition earlier. All the stress has been getting to me these past few weeks…”

“Oh no, we understand completely.” The Commander shook his head with a calm smile. “No harm done. If anything, the meal made up for it a lot.”

The blonde’s shoulders relaxed ever so slightly, and he let out a quiet sigh and then a nod.

“I thank you for the assurance then.”

The Kinship Stone in his left hand suddenly pulsed, preluding the faint and familiar beats of his partner. Banking wide from the East and around the Southern Gatehouse, Astaroth landed once more on the structure, a large bright red scale in his mouth. WIth a low warble, it dropped the item, and it crashed onto the white street with a loud impact.

“Astaroth! What was that for?!” Ephraim scolded his partner as he fast-walked to the scale, crouching down to check on the street’s condition before lifting the item up. It was a big scale, almost twice the size of his hand, actually. It was lighter than what he’d thought it’d be given its owner’s size, almost around the weight of a Barroth’s shell.

Odd.

Maybe that was why their weapons could easily pierce through. The scales and the shell of the Flame Dragon must have been less tough than its size would have others believe. Which was a bit concerning, given its size.

Something that big with this level of weakness? Even a juvenile Rathalos’s scales were much tougher than this.

“Yo, Ephraim!”

The blonde was brought out of his musings when he heard his fellow Rider, and the thudding footsteps of his partner. Turning his head, he saw Davion and Gurion heading his way, and Ryo and Sekken just a little bit behind him. Both Riders had their armor on, though the brunette had his helmet off just like him, and as ever, Ryo wore the mask and the wig that hid away most of his distinguishing features.

What caught his attention the most of the two were the similarly flaming red scales that they too had on their persons. The befuddled look on his face was clear to the brunette as he chuckled when they met up.

“Astaroth gave you one too, eh? Gurion handed me one last night and I thought it neat to carry.” Davion grinned as he latched the scale to his faults, having drilled a hole into it the night prior to make it easier for him to put away. His grin turned feral, and the gunmetal gray eyes glinted. “Seems just right to parade around something we grabbed from that big lizard.”

“Like a trophy.” Ryo hummed as he pulled out his scale from within his robes before putting it back in. “Davion here also thinks he can forge something of note with all the pieces we’ve got.”

“Nothing too noteworthy, really.” The brunette shook his head. “All we’ve got is a tail and an arm to work with; claws, plenty of scale, and large bones. If I really wanted to make the good stuff, I’d need the whole thing.”

“It flew to the West, right?” Ephraim looked over to the cardinal direction, his electric blue eyes almost sparking in a predatory light. “The scent must still be fresh, and certainly there would be tracks like blood on the ground from the amount it bled…”

“Some other time, perhaps.” Ryo cleared his throat, causing the blonde to grumble, before he gestured to the gathered JSDF and the approaching Itami. “We still have something more important to do.”

“Are you guys ready to leave?” The older man asked, unsure of what the three had been talking about. They spoke in that unknown language of theirs that was neither Saderan or Elvish, and it made him a bit uneasy being unable to know what they were talking about. “Cato and Lelei are on board already, so all we’re waiting for are you.”

The three Riders exchanged looks before nodding at each other. Ephraim and Davion put on their helmets, and the Astaroth Rider’s visor turned to Itami with a dull glow to it.

“We’re ready.”

“Princess, are you sure you wish to lead the scouting element yourself? I could do it in your stead and lessen the chance of you getting hurt.”

“Listening to the rumors yet again, Alicia? Are you calling the Princess a craven? Or do you wish to obtain the glory of meeting with the enemy’s steel first for yourself?”

“Once is a mistake, twice a coincidence, and three times’ a pattern, Bozes. I’ve been keeping my ear open to the commoners during my patrols around Italica, and there’s a worrying amount of them whispering of metal monsters on Alnus Hill controlling the earth and burying our men with their vile magicks.”

Piña Co Lada finished securing the barding to her steed and turned to the two arguing blondes, a faint smile on her lips. Bozes Co Palesti and Alicia Ku Arcturus, her childhood friends that have been her since the founding of the Order of the Rose Knights. Brave, proud, and true, there were no others she could entrust some of her duties to.

“It’s fine, Alicia.” She called out, the gravitas in her voice quelling the bickering of the two as they turned to her in attention. Piña could see the protectiveness warring with duty and decorum in the fiery blues of the straight-haired blonde. “We are not heading into the crucible of war just yet. This is merely a scouting mission. I’m not so hot-headed as to charge straight into the enemy’s encampment without knowing what to expect.”

“I… Of course, Princess.” Alicia bit her lip and nodded, reluctantly, but Piña knew that this was out of worry rather than dissatisfaction. “I’ll keep Italica safe with the rest of the knights.”

“Under your command, I don’t doubt it. Take care of the little Countess.” Piña smiled as she mounted her horse, the contingent of Rose Knights following suit behind her, with some notable individuals too: Bozes Co Palesti, Grey Co Aldo, Hamilton Uno Ror, Shady Graff Marea, and Suissesse Co Mein. Her Right Hand, the Veteran and Instructor, her Page, and two unit captains that brought their squads; bringing their scouting party number to sixteen able-bodied men and women out of the Order of the Rose Knight’s fifty-four.

Unsheathing her sword, the youngest Imperial Princess raised it high above her head. For a moment, she pondered if she should give a speech. Then, a moment later, she disregarded the thought, instead lowering her sword to point forwards towards the open gate as she urged her horse to ride forth.

Speeches were more suited to big, daring events. This was just a scouting mission, the prelude to the hammer falling on the anvil to the enemies that occupied Alnus Hill. When battle was met, then she would make a speech, one that would hopefully stir the hearts of those in the Allied Army as well.

No matter what, she’ll prove to her father that her Order was more than equal to the others in the Empire.