I sat, twirling a pencil in my hand with a long table in front of me. On the table lay a basic sketch of Baubau Arena’s layout, all annotated and ridden with notes in my native tongue. I looked left to a window displaying the city’s sunset, as the local neighborhood began to illuminate with their lanterns and candles. Arbitrator D’Émori’s home ambience gave a serene solitary atmosphere that I appreciated, no rowdy nightlife at the day’s end nor the sound of cars rumbling across the street. Just a lone abode in the Koronese suburbs.

Right before I parted ways with Kahokayo today, I managed to piece together a bit of the Biyu siblings’ motivation. It was also the reason why I needed an explanation from D’Émori, along with her training me. My hands rolled up the map of the arena and stuffed it into my rucksack.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.” D’Émori came down the flight of stairs. “There’s no time to waste. Out in the yard.”

The backyard was dimly illuminated by the bright moon, the bushes and perimeter being lit with a lunar glow. The stark scent of dirt filled my nose again. As we walked outside, I prepared by shoulders and arms with brief stretching. D’Émori then unsheathed her sword and instructed me to take a few practice swings with it.

[System Message]

Weapon Equipped

[Espadon Ohzorain d'Arbitrage]

Activation Cost: 55 EP; Upon activation, gain 1 stack of Droiture, and can stack up to 2 times; Droiture: Increase effect resistance by 60%, and increase DEF by 1.5% of Lingual Cognizance; When attacking while having at least 1 stack of Droiture, deal 50% of base damage more to monsters.

My hands still struggled under the sword’s weight, albeit easier than before. Now that I read its ability in detail, I never noticed that weapons in this world could have in-time buff stacks. To use a blade like this compared to Zhongji Ruidao…I wouldn’t wish a fight with D’Émori. After priming myself to the weapon I decided to say the first thing on my mind.

“Miss D’Émori.”

“Hm?”

I let her sword down to my side and faced her. “Do you mind if I ask you something? This can be a part of the ‘three things’ we agreed upon.”

“Okay?...” She was a bit put off by it, but reaffirmed her openness. “We did do that. Try me.”

I took a deep breath, wording it as politely as possible. “Kahokayo seems to have known you for a while.”

“Oh…what about her?”

“I’m just curious about how you two know each other, that’s all,” I asked pertaining to their interaction from when we first arrived at Yubiyubi's gates. It might’ve sounded like I wanted to hear more about Kahokayo and D’Émori’s relationship which was true, however I was more focused on gathering intel on Dantë.

D’Émori lifted a brow. “What’s this, an interrogation?”

“Sorry if it sounded like one…” I rubbed the back of my head, feeling guilty. She folded her arms and sighed.

“Relax. I’ll tell you after I teach you a few things about how shields work.”

D’Émori stepped back and opened her chart. Soon after a brief burst of light lit up the yard, and a hexagonal barrier manifested in front of her. She stepped around the shield as it remained in place midair. I could barely see its dim glow.

“Even if the gods abandoned us, they left behind their only trace of their divinity—the System that makes magic possible,” she explained, knocking on the shield, “If you look closely, this simple barrier consists of tens of hundreds of hexagonal structures bundled together.”

Knowing she pushed my question away for later, I neared the construct and leaned closer. If I squinted my eyes, sure enough, I could see the shapes D’Émori talked about.

“Woah. Is this thing really a tangible object you can manipulate?”

“Sure can. Hang my sword on its crossguard.”

I did as she said, and the Espadon was supported by a floating shield, obeying the rules of gravity except for the shield itself. Then an idea popped into my head. I knelt down and grabbed a ball of dirt in my fist. I flung it at the construct, only for the brown clump to explode into dust and slide down the sloped plane.

“Woah…”

“Pretty neat, right?” D’Émori took the sword off. “But there’s a fatal flaw to this design of a shield. Between each tiny hexagon are cracks, meaning it’s not entirely airtight.”

I lifted my hand. “Does that mean that gasses can slip through?”

“Gasses? Well, maybe. The point is, those gaps can be exploited in certain shield types. An experienced caster can indefinitely close those holes, although most of the time they fall short.”

I summarized that the properties of the shield differed by their geometric shape. When I saw Dantë’s usage of them, they were almost transparent without any semblance of a shape. I supposed he wasn’t the Fifth Officer of Brevity for nothing.

“So, how do we pierce shields?” I cleaned and wiped my hands of the dirt.

She held out two fingers. “Why, when there’s an immovable barrier in a blade’s way, the swordsman has two options—slide past it, or thrust your way through. We’re going with the latter, since casters are aware of their blind spots. That’s the reason why…”

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D’Émori brandished her sword and aimed its tip at the floating shield. She stepped into a great stance and threw the blade point forward. The piece of the magic shield fell and faded into the air as D’Émori chipped the side of it.

“I let you use my sword because it is heavier than your Zhounese yedoZhongji Ruidao. It should be easier to brute-force the impurities of the barrier.”

I was taken aback, inspecting the part of the shield she shaved off. “Do you mean…you aim for the cracks in it? That’s almost microscopic levels of precision…”

“I don’t know what ‘microscopic’ means, but you can do it,” she reaffirmed as she stuck her sword in the ground. “Take my blade up. Focus on the elements that you observed in this shield. Analyze its intricacies, layers, and its flaws.”

I hesitantly picked up the Espadon and aimed it towards the shield. I was thoroughly confused—how did she even pierce through this thing? My brain tried to envision the hexagonal shapes, but the thought that Dantë’s shields had no flaws pervaded. From my understanding, there was a sweet spot located along the ridges between each hexagon, depending on the casters’ skill. Hitting that area with precision would shatter the spell.

My hands lifted the longsword as I made a thrust at the shield. A thud sounded only for the weapon to stop cold at first contact. The reverberation and force shot up into my hands, the impact numbing my fingertips.

“Ouch…”

D’Émori crossed her arms. “Stab was a bit weak and inaccurate. Try again.”

She soon made me do ten more repetitions, each ending in failure. The more thrusts I did, the more the bones in my hands felt like they wanted to break. After the tenth attempt, I took a knee, panting with the longsword supporting myself like a cane.

“There’s got to be more to it, right?” I wheezed, “At this rate I’m just stabbing an immovable object for no reason.”

“Hmph. No reason? Are you saying you’re giving up now, even if you asked me to train you?” D’Émori handed me a water canteen as I shook my head. “I must give to you…this is a pretty hard trick to do.”

“Don’t go putting words in my mouth…” I stood back up after chugging down the seemingly delicious water, wiping my lips. My hand gripped the sword in my other hand. “I never said anything about giving up.”

She gave a slight smile and gestured to me to go again. Then came a couple dozen more repetitions of trying to break that barrier. But no matter how much I hacked at it, or rather, jab at it, the sword merely stopped in its tracks or slid off.

¨…¨ I scratched my chin as I glared at that damn shield, still floating and glowing nonchalantly in the night. My body tensed up and I brought the longsword to my side. I rushed towards it with a yell before the blade bounced. Before I knew it, I could see D’Émori’s hands catch the sword, its tip centimeters away from my nose. Her silver hair swayed in the moonlight while she twirled the Espadon into her sheath.

“Enough, Kawari. That’s enough for today,” she affirmed softly, tracing her fingers along the sword’s hilt.

“But—” I huffed before I toppled to the dirt. My arms couldn’t move and my fingers were tingling, the blisters on my hand redder than the ones Zhongji Ruidao gave me.

If I had to be honest…she wasn’t that good of a teacher compared to Maîtresse. My master in Great Zhou explained the basics behind using the yedo blade and had the knowledge as proof. While the mandarin arbitrator proved herself capable of shield-piercing techniques, she couldn’t teach it effectively.

D’Émori walked towards me and squatted down, looking at my head.

“It’s about time I finally answer your question. Do you mind?”

“...Go ahead.” I turned my head, knowing I’d forgotten that I even asked her. She sat down next to me with our eyes towards the starry sky.

“Uh—so about Kahokayo and I…we knew each other growing up in old Émori, the City of the West.”

“Émori? Isn’t that in your last name, D’Émori?”

“It means ‘from Émori’, you know.” She laid down gently on her back, hands behind her. “After th—I lived under the same roof with Kahokayo for a few years, so I’m grateful to her for housing me. However as we grew older, we didn't interact with each other the same. That’s why I felt so awkward seeing her again after all this time.”

Arbitrator D’Émori and Kahokayo turned out to be childhood friends? Still processing the information, I recalled the Koronese map I’d bought shortly after we arrived in this country. There was no doubt that in western Koroné, there existed a place named ‘Émori’...although its modern name, since she talked of the past, had a slight change: the ‘Émori Ruins’. I didn’t know what to think of this, and how she never mentioned Dantë if he’d been glued to his sister growing up. What happened in ‘old’ Émori? Before I was able to ask her directly, she interrupted my train of thought with a clap of her hands.

“And that’s the end of my ‘three things’.” She kept her hands together. “Your turn.”

I bit my tongue. “Tch, no time to even comment? Ask away.”

“Two questions. Why did you guys come here to Koroné?” D’Émori ignored me and started an interrogation. Now I understood how she felt when I did it. The reason why we came here…I guessed that I should be honest but vague. I still didn’t know whether or not she knew our heads were wanted by the Royal Marshal, even though she knew my name.

“We were searching for someone, and we heard word they were in Koroné. We had Tursun, that Kucharen demihuman you met, guide us down the Steppe until you encountered us in the woods, hood’n’sword and all.”

She brought herself upwards and hugged her legs. “Hm. So that’s how you got in this duel, huh.”

“Yeah, basically…” I scratched my head, surprised she picked up so easily. Did that count as the second question? It was true we came here in look for Totshigui Asya and Itchiro, only to find out Dantë had taken Asya as a hostage, challenging me to a fight. I couldn’t think of anything but how petty it was.

“I was pretty much prepared to deport you hooligans at the Veil of Fealty, but to think you all were in this predicament…” She tightened her fists. Her voice sharpened. “As an arbitrator of the Court, I won’t let that slide.”

I couldn’t tell whether she truly understood the context behind the duel or if she took the vague information at face value. I struggled whether or not to reveal our true identities, out of cautious nature, because of the deceptive face Dantë had pulled off. I was convinced that the ‘three things’ was simply personal and genuine, not the inquisitive game that I’d initiated myself. Once again, I hated myself for that.

“Also, there’s one last thing I’m curious about.” D’Émori set down her longsword. I couldn’t see her eyes in the darkness, which were blocked by the shadows of her silver hair. “From which nation did you come from?”

I gulped. “Waqwaq.”

“...You bear the face of a Wawaqi and are fluent in the language, however even a learner like me knows you have an accent. An accent that isn’t Zhounese, nor Aquitani. After dealing with all sorts of people at the Koronese border, I’m curious about it since I’ve never heard of it before.”

“Mister Kaizenji Kawari, where are you from?”

“You clearly speak Wawaqi, but you have a noticeable accent. Besides Wawaqi, what other language can you speak?”

My eyes widened as my face began to tense up. The words from Doctor Yang resurfaced in my mind once more. Yuanyuan wasn’t here to block this question, yet I had to be honest. The glare of Officer Guiral drilled a hole into me, but this time he wouldn’t leave.

Arbitrator D’Émori was all ears.