“And there.” Yna said as she finished braiding my now waist long hair.

It had been agreed by everyone in Coh that I shouldn’t cut it. I didn’t know why, but I went along with their schemes regardless.

I stood up before leaving the cabin to find that Coh's streets were rather busy, considering that it was still quite early.

The Rendaro who noticed me waved at me in greeting and I waved back at them before making my way to the southern gate.

On my way there, I passed several Rendaro who were on their way to the many places of work in Coh.

We decided to adopt the system of food delivery used in Eimval, except ours had a twist.

You see, people in Eimval get weekly food rations and depending on your standing in society, you may get more food than others.

In Coh, everyone had a choice, either you got weekly supplies or you joined everyone in the dining hall during certain times of the day to eat.

This meant that lazy people, like me, didn’t have to cook if they didn’t want to. The catch was that you’d get less food overall.

I eventually exited Coh to find myself on the foot of the plateau where countless buildings sat.

One of those buildings was my destination and it was the research facility where we tested various things.

I entered the building via a guarded door to find myself in a space which was about the size of an gymnasium.

The air was filled the sounds of metal striking metal and it smelled like the inside of a garage.

Littered within it, were various testing bays, one of which I was interested in.

I walked towards a spot where two Rendaro inspected a dark meter long bolt. The bolt had four fins that ran along the bottom half of its length.

“How’s it lookin’?” I asked.

“Ah. Good morning, lord Katsíki. The bolt is near perfect and look…”

The young Rendaro lifted a canister which was as thick and round as the bolt. The canister was about thirty centimetres long.

“This batch hasn’t popped yet.” He said with a grin.

I smiled as well before looking at his dirty grey uniform and dirty hands.

It was so early in the morning yet these guys were working so tirelessly.

Amazing!

“Alright. Let’s run some tests.” I said prompting the two Rendaro to grab several bolts and several canisters.

We then made our way towards a wide and unoccupied area in the facility where a certain weapon awaited.

A dark ballista.

It was made from pure reinforced darkness and was bolted into the ground.

Standing on the far end of the facility a dark wall which had several bolts sticking into it.

One of the young Rendaro slipped one of the canisters into the ballista’s barrel before slipping a bolt in as well.

He then positioned the weapon to properly face the wall and grabbed a nearby hammer that sat on the floor.

“Caution!” He yelled. Notifying everyone in the facility that we were doing a live test.

The way the ballista worked was that I would created a canister and a space magician would force as much air as possible into the can. I would then seal the can while keeping one end weak enough for the firing process.

One simply had to place the can into the ballista, place the bolt in front of it and strike the hard end of the can.

This would break the soft end, releasing all the compressed air.

The Rendaro raised his hand and struck the exposed end of the canister and immediately after, a loud explosion shook the air and at a speed my eyes struggled keeping up with, the bolt pierced the dark wall in the distance.

The Rendaro and I then inspected the used canister.

It had performed within the realm of expectation, but doing OK, wasn’t going to cut it against silver or golden knights.

Yna had told me that as it stood, the bolts could severely harm a golden knight, but I wanted to have the upper hand entirely and so we needed to find a way to make the ballista more efficient.

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I inspected the weapon, which was made of countless parts.

We needed an a system which automatically ejected the used canister so that the Rendaro using the ballista could quickly load another-

“Katsíki!”

I heard a voice call, prompting my eyes to widen.

“Document your findings on the canister and tell me what adjustments need to be made.” I whispered and the two Rendaro chuckled before nodding.

I then snuck my way out of the testing bay before eventually spotting an excited Erna.

I cautiously made my way towards the western entrance, but just as I approached the dark door, someone grabbed one of my horns.

“Hey!” I cried before turning to find an angry Erna, who had grown taller than me.

“Mom is looking for you.” She said.

“OK, and?” I asked.

“Just come.” She said before dragging me by the horn out of the facility.

We then made our way back into Coh while people gave us strange stares.

Hey. I didn’t know what was going on either.

We eventually reached Erna’s home and after opening the door she led me to the living room where I saw Shiru standing next to a man I didn’t quite recognize.

The two noticed me as Erna unhanded my horn.

“Erna said you were looking for me.” I said as I approached the two Rendaro.

“Err… yes. This man has something to say.” Shiru said with an expression I couldn’t quite recognize.

The man turned to face me before deeply bowing.

“Good morning, lord Katsíki. My name is Ndlo and I’d like to ask for Shiru’s hand.”

“What does that have to do with me?” I asked with widened eyes.

“Well… she said she’d need to see what you said.” Ndlo said while scratching his head.

“Shiru?” I asked only for her to lower her head.

“First off, do you even know this guy?”

“No.”

“Do you want to be with him?”

“N-no.”

“There you have it. Sorry, bub. Shiru’s not interested-“

“Wait!” Ndlo cried.

“What?” I asked with crossed arms.

“What if I healed your dark marks?”

Shiru gasped.

“You’re a healer?”

“Yes!” Ndlo said excitedly.

“That would be nice, but it still wouldn’t mean Shiru would marry you. Also, Shiru, learn to speak for yourself. I won’t always be around and…” I noticed that Shiru’s face grew more pained as I spoke, but it had to be said.

“You will have to make your own decisions.” I said before facing Ndlo once more.

“Anyway, are you going to heal Shiru, even though she isn’t interested in you?”

“Yes! And I haven’t given up! I will not stop until your hand is Mine!”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met!”

“That’s it?” I asked with widened eyes.

“Yes.” Ndlo proudly said, but I’d had enough.

“Yep. I’m out. Shiru, deal with him yourself and tell me if he keeps bothering you.” I said before storming out of the house.

I deeply sighed before turning south to return to the testing facility, but someone picked me up, much to my dismay.

“Hey!” I cried before looking at the hold, weak hands that were taking me somewhere.

“What do you want?”

“There is a detail I need about the collision.” Farin said as he opened his door.

“A single detail?” I whined.

“Yes.” He said as he walked into his living room with me in hand.

He then plopped me onto an old chair before grabbing one of his books.

“You describe your journey into our world as one where your… soul was transferred from one world to another. Although we may need to discuss this soul thing at length later, what I want to know is what it’s original destination was.” Farin said. He was dressed in some comfortable looking grey clothes and his hair was all messy.

He was really embracing the lifestyle of a bookworm.

“Mmm… I can’t say for sure. Are you familiar with the concept of heaven and hell?”

“No.”

I nodded before detailing what little I remembered about the religions of earth.

“Incredible!” Farin said as he furiously wrote down what I said.

I let out a light chuckle before turning to face the window which allowed the morning sun light to brightly illuminate Farin’s messy living room.

“Under normal circumstances, I guess I was supposed to end up in some heavenly or hellish place, but I think the collision stopped all that from happening.” I said with a sigh.

I wondered what happened to the soul of the goat who’s body I took.

This lead me to wondering if every living thing had a soul.

I suppose so, since my soul was able to make this body it’s home.

This made me wonder how kenos and I fused.

Did he connect his soul to mine?

If so…

I shook my head before hopping off of the chair and running out of the living room.

“Wait! I want to know more!” Farin cried.

“You always do!” I yelled before leaving the house and turning to had south.

“Katsíki!”

I rolled my eyes and turned around to find Han running towards me.

“What now?” I asked.

“Our scouts spotted ten human soldiers heading this way.” He said after stopping just in front of me.

“Crap and Yna isn’t here. Gather your men and meet me at the northern wall.”

Han nodded before dashing past me.

I then telepathically rung a bell in the heart of Coh twice, prompting everyone to pack their things and head inside, just as we had rehearsed countless times before.

One ring from the bell had positive connotations. Two meant something was wrong and that people should take cover. Three meant that something was really wrong and evacuation should begin. Four meant that Yna or I were dead and leadership would be passed to any of Yna’s students, Farin, Anda or Calëb.

The last two were particularly grim, but I had to consider everything.

I ran to Yna’s cabin where I grabbed my under armour which I slipped into after removing my gown.

I then wore my gown again before dashing out of the cabin and heading towards the northern wall where Han and his men awaited.

They were all dressed in their armour and had their dark swords in hand.

I climbed the wall and looked out into the forest north of Coh.

Han stood by my side as I keenly inspected the wall and the land beyond it. We still hadn’t set up the ballista’s because we didn’t think the vanguard would arrive for another six months at the least.

I bit my teeth before turning to face a focused Han.

“You said ten soldiers and didn’t specify if they were golden or silver knights… we can’t assume that they’re just simple soldiers. This may be a tactic to get us to lower our guard.”

Han didn’t respond as we both eyed the treeline.

We eventually spotted the reported ten men.

They wore simple looking leather armour and wielded an assortment of weapons.

We watched as they approached Coh casually.

They weren’t even marching in line and only one of them seemed to be taking his job seriously. He was also fittingly, the only one wearing metallic armour.

They eventually stopped about twenty meters of the gate and one of them stepped up before eyeing the wall.

He then looked up at Han.

“Hear this well, my name is Timí and I hereby claim this land in the name of the Sun and Moon.” Timí declared, but all we did was stare at him. His was the only head that wasn’t covered in a helmet and he looked rather… scrawny.

All of his friends did.

“An army of five hundred men strong is headed this way. I suggest that you open your gates and offer your arms without resistance.”

“What happens if we refuse?” I asked only for Timí to shift his glowing white eyes towards me.

“Then you will all die.”