(Western shore of the middle island between Sar and Anore.)
After the Anore forces took over relatively fast, due to the low amount of defenses placed in that area (strange enough), they set camp fast and established a base.
Oscar rocked against his chair, his eyes shut closed. A mellow, soft expression graced his face.
He sat on the front porch of the base, outside.
The moonlight was especially pleasant today. Oscar's usual paleness was amplified in a positive manner.
"Haa."
He let out a heavy, breath of air. As if he was trying to remove all the impurities from his body.
There were many casualties in the battles that occurred on the shore.
"I'm a soldier- no, I'm a general. I should be used for these kinds of things already."
"Used to what kind of things?"
The high-pitched, familiar voice caused Oscar to spring up in his chair.
It was Merlyn. Merlyn Detsk. She has this constant, resting happy face, the type of face that would subconsciously make you lighten you lighten up a little bit, as well.
Her white-tipped tail wagged.
— Why is this… woman always so happy?
"It's… it's nothing." Oscar shook his head slowly, his eyes now open.
Merlyn frowned.
"You should be more open with your colleagues."
Her arm wrapped around his neck, in a tight, restraining grasp. Oscar choked silently. Despite her petite build, she was strong.
"Come on, Oscar! Open up! Open up!"
"I was just… thinking about the battle we had."
Her grip loosened, slowly. She sat on another chair beside him.
"How old are you, Oscar?"
"I'm 15."
"Wow. You're pretty young. You would be affected by what you saw during the battle. The horror. But you're a soldier, Oscar. It's our role to be the tough ones, the ones that can handle seeing all of that. We must not falter."
Merlyn was definitely passionate about war. She didn't question the morality of enlisting a young child.
"You say I'm so young… but how old are you, Merlyn?"
Her eyebrows furrowed "Kid, you know you aren't supposed to ask a girl about their age, right?"
"Ah… sorry. You look as young as me, so I thought you would be okay with it."
"Heh…. Don't start trying to flatter me. It won't work. I'm 19. Do I really look that young?"
She twiddled her hair, grinning.
— You're calling me kid, but you're only 3 years older than me. You aren't even that old.
Oscar chose to remain quiet.
He did feel a little bit of comfort, though.
His colleagues were capable of feeling the feelings that he felt. They all stayed strong, in spite of that.
. . .
. .
.
"I think we should form an alliance."
Lyrei's calm voice echoed and reverberated in the hallways of the marble-floored hallway. The building's walls were made out of stone bricks.
Large pillars made of polished stones, with vines cracking and encompassing them, held up the ceiling.
The building was a relic. Sun peeked through holes and cracks that were gifts of time passage.
On the other end of the hallway, Keon stood quietly. Mathias crouched down, an amused smile plastered across his pale face.
He wore a black garb, the collar high, extending to just barely cover his mouth.
"I think I've heard about this girl. She's the new saint of a Gonteno, ain't she? A little girl like her…"
Keon clutched his scabbard.
"Like hell, I would do something so stupid. It's you that took her. You looked at me so slyly. You knew exactly what you were doing."
Mathias averted his gaze, staring up at Keon. "Woah. Seems like you've got some kind of history with this chick."
"She's the one who took Arlene."
"You've got it all wrong."
Keon's expression didn't change one bit. He was ready to slice her into a thousand bits.
"I don't. I remember that day exactly-"
"You don't, do you? From the looks of that nasty scar you've got on your head, your memory must be wrong."
"… What?"
"I remember it. You were asking people about this missing girl… what was her name, Arlene. Something like that. And I said I didn't know. And you got really mad and tried to kill me."
She placed her hands against her throat, grabbing slowly.
"Like this."
"No way…"
"Is that true, boss?"
"No… it couldn't have been. Did I really do that?"
Lyrei nodded.
"You did."
"… I apologize."
A silence filled the courtroom.
"How did you find me?"
"Word around. They were calling you all sorts of names. Like 'The King of Barbarians' and 'The Demonic Brute', things like that. I thought you were the most respected individual in this area. So, I wanted to form an alliance with you."
"Alliance… huh."
Keon still rubbed his wound. Thinking about his memories. Trying to recollect.
"What's the whole point of this alliance?" Mathias asked.
"I want you to round up all the barbarians and unite them. Make them more civil. Control them. In return, I'll help you find that Arlene girl you were looking for."
Mathias looked at Keon, who was staring dead at Lyrei.
"You know where she is?"
"No."
— Locked in a basement somewhere, getting poked and prodded.
"But now that I'm the Saint, essentially the queen of Gonteno, I can help you."
"…"
"…"
Mathias and Keon looked at each other for some time.
"Alright. It's an alliance then."
Crsh!
The already damaged destroyed walls had a hole punched into them.
"Nym Ateope…"
He panted. He must've been looking for quite a long time because he was drenched in sweat and his breathing was heavy.
He pulled his daggers out.
"I'll kill you…"
[Cast: Magna Spike]
A spike of magma stuck out of the ground. He kicked it up, sending it toward Lyrei's direction.
Fyeom!
"Well, it was good talking to you, miss Lyrei. We'll be on our way."
The two men disappeared, in an instant.
— Spatial Magic!?
Lyrei could not be focused on that. She quickly ducked, avoiding the attack.
— I don't have enough mana or focus to activate the [Apostle of Hell]..!
[Cast: Demonic Saint Art, Hundred Dragons]
She folded her hands together.
Sprouting from her back, black dragons with red glowing eyes shot out, zipping toward Nym.
They weren't as strong as they could've been. But they set a smokescreen.
The dust that had collected for thousands of years shot up into the air, obscuring Nym's vision. It gave her time to escape.
— Damn it… that was close. How did he even find me? I have to be more careful and gain more strength to prevent things like that from happening.