Chapter Text
Aiko walked through the halls of the Trump Kingdom palace, heels clicking against the floor and books collected in her arms.
As she trailed through the palace, people moved out of her way, casting wary, sidelong glances at her.
Mayumi always did say she had a sharp look on her face when she was thinking, to think it was this bad….
No time to dwell on that. After the latest update the soldiers came back with, things were getting dire.
The Mercenaries army was moving faster than they anticipated. Striking a small town near the border while most of their army was away.
No doubt Mayumi was out purifying the psyche’s right now.
Hopefully those citizen will recover once their psyches are returned.
The doors to the archives burst open as Aiko trotted in; placing her books on the table as she began to scan through the shelves. Aiko was so engrossed in her work that she didn’t notice another presence in the room until they spoke.
”Aiko, dear? What are you doing here at such an hour?” Nearly falling off the ladder, Aiko had to steady herself before turning her head towards the entrance.
”Shizuko….” She let out a breath at seeing her friend at the door, climbing down the ladder. “I could say the same to you. Most of the other researchers have left by now. I’d imagine out of everyone in the palace the princess should get the most sleep.”
Shizuko let out a gentle sigh.
”Well, how could I possibly rest while the kingdom is at such unease?”
“My thoughts exactly.” Aiko agreed, turning back to the shelves. “Should I have asked permission to use the royal archives before storming in here?”
“You probably should have.”
”Well, Princess Shizuko. May I enter the archives?” Her voice was laced with a small amount of teasing.
“Perhaps after a nights rest first.” Shizuko matched her tone.
”Apologies, your highness. That request is declined. War doesn’t rest and neither shall I.” Aiko began climbing the ladder once again. “I doubt Mayumi is resting right now. The moment I told her about the situation, she rushed off before I could stop her…. I hope she’s careful.”
“Relax!” A small voice came from the top of Aiko’s head where a small fox fairy rested, her white fur blending in with Aiko’s equally white hair. “You’re the Precure after all! Maymui especially shouldn’t be one to underestimate! Melan will watch over her!”
Aiko put a hand over her fairy partners muzzle.
”Shhh! Reina, what if someone heard you?” She lowered her voice to the haughty fox.
“I doubt anyone heard her.” Shizuko defended the fairy. “Although I do recommend lowering your voice. To spare yourself a scolding from Mamoru.” Mamoru was Shizuko’s fairy partner; a bit of a stickler despite having the form of a red and orange peacock, an animal whose whole identity is to be in your face.
Reina bristled at the idea of another lecture before huffing and curling up back into the braid of Aiko’s hair.
As she scanned the shelves, Aiko sighed in annoyance at the lack of information on the Mercenares.
”Do we have nothing on them? Really?” Shizuko shrugged her shoulders. Due to the reclusive and hostile nature of the Mercenary species they had very little information on them, information they did have was mainly just about their powers and the little history they had.
The researcher side of Aiko desperately wanted to know more. There must be more to them and their society. What did they eat? What was their culture? Did they have holidays? Festivals? What jobs did they have? What did family structures look like? Did they even have any family?
It was like a puzzle that could only be solved if she had its designer right next to her. And part of Aiko wanted to question one in hopes of getting some answers; but taking a Mercenare into custody and interrogating them just to satiate her curiosity would be a waste of resources, not that she wasn’t partially tempted.
She had tried to ask one of the senior researchers when she was younger but she had just looked at Aiko weirdly and turned her nose up.
”What useless questions. We have no need to know such things. All we need to know is how to defeat them.”
That was how people often treated her when voiced whatever weird interest had caught her mind. Even her mother had warned her when Aiko was a child and was about to eat a random mushroom to test its effects.
“Aiko, dear. Your curiosity is going to get you or someone else killed one day.”
Ego sat on the edge of the cliff, amber eyes gazing down at the small town they had raided a day ago. It was quiet, save for the cry’s of disdains.
He sighed and leaned back against a stone, a weird red fruit in his hand. He’s seen the humans eat it, it was edible, and one could not be too picky in war.
Ego took a bite of it and nearly gagged. It was sickeningly sweet; he quickly spat out the remnants onto the ground. Surely this had no nutritional value.
His eyes stayed locked on the decimated town. Gouma had suggested the raid and despite the two being equals: generals of high regard, he had ignored Ego’s advice to not waste resources on such a small and harmless area.
Their soldiers had just gotten out of a rather brutal exchange but instead of using the time for rest, Gouma pushed the soldiers to attack. Even if it was a fight easily won it only furthered their soldiers exhaustion and they didn’t even get much out of it…besides….
What honor is there in attacking those who can’t even fight back?
Ego had been taught that humans were a less intelligent, inferior species. An idea he believed for quite some time. But…it didn’t make sense.
His eyes drifted to the palace in the distance.
How could an unintelligent species create such things? Their armies were strong, and their communities stable. And their structures…. A species with the same intelligence of an animal could not create structures so complex.
But what was a general to do other than serve his king?
His mind was so distracted that he brought the fruit to his mouth again and bit down, the disgustingly sweet taste snapping him out of his thoughts once again.
“*cough cough* guh!” He gagged, tossing it away. “Maybe they aren’t so intelligent if they carry baskets of that stuff around.” He muttered half heartedly.