Cardinal World.
Luminous Palace. Inside her throne room.
Next morning, which would coincidentally be the same day that Laurel became known as Frostveil.
"You're finally here, Mei~"
Luminous rose from her throne gracefully approaching Mei, seeing her pop in trhough a swriling portal.
Much to Luminous's approach, Mei instinctively took a step back, while, she raised her hands up slightly, almost in defence as she replied.
"Y-yes. I'm here."
Mei with a sweat trailing down her cheek instinctively stepped back.
But seeing this Luminous frowned as she flopped with a sigh.
"Well, that in itself is fine. I have called over for Hinata, she'll be in any anytime from—"
Speak of the devil and she will arrive.
Right on cue, a knock echoed from the palace doors.
"It's me, Lady Luminous."
A calm voice called from outside.
"Come in, Hinata."
Hinata, who knocked on the door, opened the door leading to her throne room.
Upon opening the door, she was met with a different sight.
A dark purple-haired girl holding the case of what seemed to be like a sword.
The girl was young, yet she looked oddly familiar. 'A Japanese person?' Hinata thought.
Her features were no doubt, pointing towards her being Japanese, which Hinata couldn't help but be a little surprised.
Mei on the other hand had a slight surprise expression marred on her face when she saw Hinata.
She had heard of the name Hinata Sakaguchi and knew they were Japanese, since Laurel had said so, but seeing her in person confirmed it.
"Hinata, over here is my friend, do your best to treat her cordially."
Luminous said that, motioning to Mei who was just beside her.
And Hinata who would come to hear of this nodded towards Mei.
"Nice to meet you."
"...Ah, it's nice to meet you too, Hinata-san. My name is Raiden Mei."
Mei replied with a polite bow.
Hinata paused for a moment, as if in deep thought.
It was only Mei's beauty and refinement that stunned her—no, what was she thinking.
Hinata shook off whatever thoughts that were forming, but nevermind her, Luminous had continued.
"A certain friend—as much as I don't want to name him one—of mine entrusted her to me. He suggested that she train with you if she wants to grow stronger. What do you say?"
Hinata caught the subtle emphasis on the word "he," and how she spoke so irritatedly of him.
It reminded Hinata of whenever Luminous spoke of that Evil and abominable dragon.
But then, who on earth would warrant such a—forget it. There was no use in thinking about it now.
And in due time, she'd know about it.
"Fine then."
She said before turning towards Mei.
Hinata's gaze then hardened slightly. She'd used her skill briefly to analyse Mei.
What she saw was subtle; however, she couldn't fully read Mei.
Unlike the analysis on Luminous, which would read «Blocked» or «Inaccessible».
Mei's read, «Analysis not applicable».
Now this is the first she'd ever see something like this.
Hence, Hinata couldn't help but stifle. Okay? Maybe she couldn't read Mei's skills.
That was fine. Not like she's inherently reliant on it in the first place.
Perhaps, pulling the ever excuse of "oh? I reckon she's a trained swordsman" might not be genuinely convincing.
HOWEVER—
Having used her skill and watching Mei's movement ever so closely, she'd come to the conclusion that Mei was a trained person.
While Mei didn't come to her as the fighter type, Hinata was sure that this current Mei could give most Templars a run for their money, not counting the likes of the Ten Great Sages.
"I see. You're worthy enough alright. But are you ready? My training isn't exactly light."
Hinata declared that, and even without releasing any form of pressure, Mei had swallowed nervously but clenched her fists in determination.
She had spent the whole night till some hours ago thinking about it.
There was no more hesitation.
Even at the very least, with all these, now that she had the power, at the very least, she should try to find out.
What exactly happened to her father, and if there's anyways to save him.
Of course, it wasn't as unreasonable as storming into ME or the station where he's holed up to demand for him.
Though, a certain person other than her had already considered this for her.
And no doubt, another would be quick to agree to the first person's consideration.
HOWEVER again—
"I'm ready."
Mei said with determination.
«Tsk. To think you'd rather rely on mortals than to rely on me, you're making a grave mistake, coward!»
Though, the Herrscher consciousness, or as Mei would now come to refer to her as 'EI.'
Since she couldn't keep on calling her, "her" or "you," she had locked the Herrscher consciousness with such a codename.
Did Mei inadvertently name her?
No. The naming process didn't kickstart, as in the first place, it was like placing a placeholder and besides, the Herrscher who now had some knowledge of this world inadvertently thanks to Laurel knew the implications of naming.
With her pride, she couldn't possibly accept a name from Mei.
But all that aside. Hinata nodded approvingly.
"Good. If you're ready, we'll begin now."
With that, Hinata turned and exited the throne room, Mei following closely behind leaving Luminous alone.
"Haah. What bore."
"Perhaps, you should have let those gentlemen stay…?"
Gunther asked with a professional bow, but Luminous rather clicked her tongue.
"Pipe it."
Luminous said, making Gunther professional now again as if to apologise for his insolence.
However, Gunther did have a point. For Gunther, Laurel just happened to be one of the few individuals he'd see in a very long time.
Not that this world wasn't crawling with them.
To make his lady annoyed whenever their name is brought up was a talent only that Dragon had accomplished.
Not to mention, he was there.
They were speaking about world travelling as though it were a mundane thing.
Yes. Otherworlders are common. However, crossing space-time even for people of their calibre is still something that isn't really common.
But he digresses. If his lady wouldn't make do with the male, then it shall be so.
As for Mei on the other hand.
After existing Luminous Throne Room.
Mei followed closely behind Hinata as they walked down the corridor of the church.
Hinata's destination was a special training area—one where the likes of the Ten Great Saints trained.
Since Mei was here as a guest of Luminous, it was out of the question for her to train with the likes of ordinary Paladins or Templars.
She was also curious. About who recommended her to Mei. And even about Mei herself.
To make someone like Luminous who was a demon lord, acknowledge Mei as a friend…
She'd be lying if she said she wasn't curious. However, it wasn't time for that.
They soon left the palace behind and arrived at the training field beside the Holy Knight building.
Instead of the dusty or barren space Mei had imagined, the grounds were pristine and well-kept.
Smoothly paved tiles formed the foundation of the open area.
Arch-like structures stood at each of the four corners of the training field, giving the place an almost sacred atmosphere.
Weapon racks were neatly positioned across the grounds, filled with an assortment of weapons—everything from swords and spears to bows and axes to even their wooden archetypes.
"Miss Mei. Over here."
Hinata motioned toward a section of the training ground.
Although Hinata was technically busy with her duties, it was clear that she had set her tasks aside at Luminous's request.
Most likely, those responsibilities had been delegated to her subordinates. To Nicholas to be specific.
Hinata, leading her over to the weapon rack, gave Mei a calculating look. "What type of weapon do you prefer to use?"
Mei, hearing that fell into a not-so-deep thought.
"Hm. I prefer a katana."
It was best using something she was familiar with. So she had asked for that instead.
But hearing this would make the lips of the Holy Knight commander form a thin line, as she acknowledged with a nod.
"Katana? As expected, you're Japanese."
Perhaps sensing this was the perfect opportunity, Hinata decided to steer the conversation for a little.
"Yes. Miss. Hinata is one too, isn't she?"
Hinata gave a cool nod. "Yes, I am. It's strange, really. I never expected to meet anyone else from Japan here."
There was a brief pause before Mei then added—
"Though, I doubt we are necessarily from the same world."
Mei smiled slightly at that. After everything she had learned recently.
From Laurel's bizarre terms to the strange discussions about other worlds.
This idea no longer seemed far-fetched.
In fact, she had done some research of her own back home, and she got the same answer from the theories she looked up.
It was confusing at first really, but with EI's constant nagging at her in attempts to give a simpler explanation—
She'd more or less had an idea of everything going on.
"You think so?" Hinata asked, raising a curious brow.
".... I don't know, honestly, but it sounds like something "he'd" say. No, I don't doubt he would know."
If they had come from the same world, Laurel wouldn't have stayed silent about it.
Afterall, they all chatted together in the morning, some minutes before she'd came over.
The fact that he hadn't mentioned it meant that it probably wasn't the case.
It must be so.
'He, huh? Sounds like someone rather important.'
She'd come to the conclusion. But having already gotten enough information for now—
Deciding it wouldn't be alright to continue pushing further, she'd decided to focus back on what she'd be told to do.
"Well then, we've chatted enough. How about we get to what we're here for?"
"Yes."