A new day had arrived, and under the sapphire Moon of Aurelia, and a woman with fair skin walked through the streets of the Eastern Sector of Tunsa, with her face covered by a black hood with blue flowery patterns running across its edge.
And after walking through the streets that were now bustling with activity, she finally caught sight of a building which stood separated from the other buildings in the area. It seemed to have been built quite recently, perhaps within the past few years, judging by how new it looked relative to the other buildings she’d just passed by.
As she walked past the iron gates, she saw several children running around, indulging themselves in a game of ‘tag’.
And that was when a little girl who was running behind another boy her age suddenly caught sight of Lyla, who’d now taken down her hood.
“Big Sis! You’re back!”
Then, the surrounding children stopped, and a few children came out of hiding spots they’d been in, as all of them looked excited.
“It’s been almost a year since you’ve come back! Why didn’t you come to play with us?”
“…Sis, you look prettier than before?”
All of them ran towards Lyla, who now had a gentle smile as she looked upon the children gathering around her. She also noticed two familiar faces, a pair of children aged fourteen or so standing behind the crowd, looking nervous as they tried to avoid her gaze.
Lyla recognized a few new faces, and felt mixed emotions. Still, Lyla did her best to put on a happy grin, “…I assume you’ve all been well? And would you look at you, Gaz! Don’t tell me…you’ve already confessed to Meline?!”
Hearing this, an awkward silence reigned over the area as all of the children suddenly turned to look at the duo who’d been hiding behind.
Meline suddenly looked shocked as her face went red, and Gaz’s face suddenly paled as he stammered, “I…I haven’t. I mean, I wouldn’t confess in the first place!! We’ve been good friends till now, haven’t we?! I…Jana’s calling me, I need to go!”
Then, he ran off into the orphanage, as the crowd of children suddenly burst into chatters. Meline hesitated for a moment, before she ran after Gaz.
“I knew it! They’re always together!”
“What does…confess mean?”
“It’s when one person tells another that they like them.”
“But I like everyone!”'
Right as the children were making a ruckus, Lyla heard a gentle voice from the side, where the gardens were, “…Lyla, you've returned.”
* * *
Walking into Jana’s room, Lyla felt nostalgic as her eyes welled up slightly, and she immediately ran up to Jana and hugged her.
Jana hugged Lyla back, as she consoled her, “The past year has been hard for you, hasn’t it…”
The tears which Lyla had been in suddenly let loose, as she cried while being embraced by Jana. It was only after some time that Lyla had finally calmed down, as she released herself and wiped her eyes.
“…Sorry mother. I just…missed all of you, that’s all. I was supposed to visit you yesterday…but the King changed his mind and made me stay in the palace an extra day. It’s only today that I was allowed outside.”
Jana was filled with sympathy, as she pacified Lyla, “Don’t worry about it, I’ll always be here if you want to visit. It’s just that the Castle…”
A silence reigned, as Lyla observed Jana’s face, which now held slight traces of age due to lines appearing around her eyes and cheeks. Her black hair now seemed to hold a few strands of gray…but Lyla also noticed that Jana’s brown pupils now seemed to hold traces of wisdom compared to before.
“It’s still early but…I would take it that you’re going to have lunch here?”
Hearing this, Lyla nodded and put up a smile, with her eyes still somewhat red, “…Yeah.”
“Then help me prepare the dishes.”
…
Soon, the duo were in the kitchen, devoid of the rest of the chefs since they’d only start preparing lunch an hour later for the children.
As Lyla chopped the ingredients and Jana prepared the rice, Jana spoke, “…Have you been treated well? Physically, I mean.”
“…I have, but I still hate every moment that I stay there in the castle. I don’t understand why I even need to continue staying there anymore. I’ve…already signed up as a Pioneer. I’ll be entering…a certain place for a few years later tonight to train towards becoming a Pioneer.”
Hearing this, Jana stopped her movements, and turned to look at Lyla, “You what?!”
Eyes filled with panic, Jana immediately stormed over to Lyla, and grasped her hands tightly as she reprimanded, “You…why would you do such a foolish thing!?”
Jana’s voice sounded pained, and this pierced Lyla’s heart, as she replied, “I…I just hate staying there, and you know this! At least if I’m a Pioneer, I don’t need to play along as a puppet in one of the King’s political games.”
Hearing this, Jana felt despondent, and she closed her eyes, “…You…you really think you’re making things harder for the King this way? Aren’t you worried about your own life?! Do you want to keep me worried?”
Hearing this, Lyla was confused. She had a somewhat ominous feeling, as she asked her, “…Mom? What do you mean by this…what do you know?”
Jana hesitated for a moment, then exhaled to calm herself. She finally loosened her hands that were grasping Jana’s, then spoke, “…Do you really think the only reason they rarely let you meet me is because you’ll affect the Consort’s image? Doesn’t that seem too simple to you?”
Jana then stopped her cooking, and walked over to the kitchen’s entrance and closed the doors. Then, she returned to Lyla, and continued, “…I’ve only heard about this from Yahaz. He’s…one of your seniors who was recruited by Antessa during the orphanage’s annual Awakening Ceremonies for those who’ve come of age.”
“…He’s a Lieutenant in the Antessian Army, and he personally visited home after taking a few off days. He told me…”
Then Jana seemed to steel her determination, and told Lyla, “They’re expecting to break through the Lightseal in the Ancient Forest within ten years. After that…they will be splitting up the territories in the Lands Beyond The Seal between the three kingdoms of the Forsaken Continent.”
“And how do you think they’re going to decide the criteria for how much territory each kingdom gets?”
Hearing this, Lyla’s mind suddenly connected the dots, and her mind reeled in realization, “…It would be through the contributions of each kingdom to the Antessian Empire…”
Jana nodded, as she spoke gravely, “The other Kingdoms only have their exceptional candidates sign up as Pioneers to explore the Outer Lands. And as for what you’ve done…what do you think it would mean for a Kingdom’s very own princess to volunteer herself as a Pioneer, and expose herself to danger?”
Lyla’s hands trembled, as she finally realized. She realized that there was no way the King wouldn’t have known she was signing up as a Pioneer. And she also realized why he hadn’t stopped her. What better way would there be to prove loyalty to the Antessian Empire, compared to offering up their own Princess for service?
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She also realized that if it were known that she was raised by Jana rather than in the castle, the other kingdoms could use that as an angle of attack to undermine Kiross Castle’s actual contribution.
In the somber atmosphere, Jana’s voice filled with pain echoed, “…Now, even if you don’t want to become a Pioneer…”
“You have no choice.”
* * *
“…Kayleen, why are you suddenly trying to feed me? This didn’t happen yesterday?...”
Seated in his room, Kayleen was currently standing in front of him with a serious expression on her face, “…Master Bidan has instructed me to properly take care of you. Who’s going to be responsible if our dear guest isn’t happy and the reputation of Kiroshi is tarnished?”
As she was saying this, she held a spoonful of stew to Kazen’s mouth, who was looking at her with lazy eyes. He’d suddenly been woken up by the knocks on the door by Kayleen, who’d brought him his breakfast. He just wanted to continue sleeping, but it wouldn’t be right to keep Kayleen waiting.
He hesitated for a moment, and thought she was being a little dramatic by saying the reputation of the entire kingdom would be tarnished, but after a moment he decided to eat the spoon she was serving him anyway. After all, he wasn’t sure of how things worked here, and so he simply complied.
This brought a smile to Kayleen’s face, who nodded with satisfaction and continued feeding him. Right in the middle of his breakfast, the door knocked, and Kazen said, “Come in.”
The Head Butler, Bidan, entered the room. He stopped for a moment, looking at Kayleen with a raised eyebrow, before he glanced at Kazen and bowed, “Master Kazen, your entry into Alethea has been prepared.”
Hearing this, Kazen simply grabbed the remaining pot of stew by hand and gulped it all down from the rim of the bowl, causing Kayleen’s eyes to widen at the sight.
“…That hit the spot! Okay, let’s go!”
Kazen was excited at the prospect of returning to Alethea, as he got up from his seat. Then, he felt as if cold water had dampened his excitement by Bidan’s next words, “…You’ll first have to attend a briefing by Major Aileen before entering…she’s currently waiting in her office.”
“…Alright.”
* * *
Entering Aileen’s office, he was greeted with the Major being seated at her desk, with a bunch of papers laid out in front of her, as well as a map. On the other side of the table where there were 2 chairs, sat Lyla on one of them.
Seeing that Kazen had entered the room, Lyla immediately turned to him and looked at him, “Kazen, you’re here! Are you excited about entering Alethea again?! You’re finally going to be able to return to your normal life! Well…not normal life before, but at least you’ll be free after 3 months!”
Kazen paused, as he looked at Lyla. For some reason today, although her words were bright and cheerful, he felt…that something was off, if he had to put a sentence to it.
Somehow, she reminded him of the Awakened back in Galina who’d tried to get on his good books just to have their weapons enchanted, although they didn’t mean many of the compliments they’d spoken.
“…Yeah. I finally get to go back.”
Regardless, hearing her mention that he’d be returning to Alethea subconsciously brought a smile to his face, and that was when Lyla’s words continued, “Of course! Still, we’re going to have to explore the Outer Lands after five years in Alethea, which is a year here…but it should be fine! They usually send a single S-Ranked Awakened with us for our first expedition, so it won’t be too much of a problem. Also…”
Then, Aileen, who’d been seated quietly so far finally coughed, causing Lyla to quieten down. Aileen gestured Kazen to sit down, and he did, even as he felt somewhat bitter after having heard Lyla’s words. He was reminded once again that he would never be able to be truly free like he’d been for the past 22 years of his life.
That was when he suddenly realized Lyla’s words as he ran them through his mind once more, and he blurted out, “…There’s a time difference between here and Alethea?”
Then, Aileen tussled with her blonde hair as she replied him, “Well, yes. We were going to cover the details in a moment, but I guess I could explain this to you first. As you heard, a single year here is five years in Alethea. So, unlike you’d feared, you’re at least going to have five years in Alethea before you have to return here.”
Hearing this brought some consolation to Kazen’s heart, as he learnt of the fact that he would at least be able to spend more time in Alethea.
“…Still, the current time difference is 1:5. However, ten years ago it seemed to have been 6:1, meaning six years in Alethea when it was one year here. So we have no way of predicting how much the time difference will narrow again as you remain in Alethea.”
The time difference has been narrowing?...
Kazen simply felt numb at this point. There were too many questions he had, and felt like he didn’t have time to connect the dots and understand what it all meant.
And neither did he really wish to. He just wanted to return home, and settled for slowly discovering answers later on in Alethea.
Kazen asked Aileen, “…And Lyla had mentioned that we’d spend 3 months doing something?”
Hearing this, Aileen nodded, “Yes. Richards has already discussed with the headquarters back in Antessa, and we’ve come up with a plan for the next 3 months for you in Alethea.”
“You’ll be training in the westernmost Kingdom of Mezendia, and will be stationed in the eastern border of the Demonic Lands, next to the Azleth River and in the border town of Haslom. You’ll be reporting to Baldin at the Hunter’s Guild branch there, and first earn your Hunter's licenses.”
The entire southern border of Alethea was in the shape of a cove, and its entirety was bordered with the Demonic Lands. It was commonly known that the more one went east of Alethea along the cove-shaped border, the more dangerous its borders with the Demonic Lands were.
This was why Kazen felt indignant. The Mezendian Kingdom was known as a good training ground for aspiring Hunters, since the Demonic Lands which were on the kingdom’s eastern border was known for its low difficulty.
Even if he’d lost the spar with Richards…were they only seen to be fit for fighting against the lowest ranked Demonic Beasts?
Seeing Kazen’s bitter smile made Lyla tilt her head, but Aileen understood.
“…Even if you’d lost, we can already see that you have plenty of potential. The reason we’re sending you there is because firstly, Lyla doesn’t have much combat experience.”
“…If I’m the issue, then you can just send me somewhere else!”
Hearing Lyla’s words as she pouted, Kazen came to a realization.
“You’re coming with me?” Kazen exclaimed as he looked at Lyla, who glared back.
“Yes, I’m coming with you! Anything wrong with that? Would you rather not have a pretty, charming woman like me accompany you around?”
This time, however, her voice seemed somewhat softer as compared to when she’d shouted when he entered the room.
Kazen sighed, and looked at Aileen for some sign of help. She seemed amused, and continued, “Of course, another reason for this is because your bodies are bound to be weaker than they currently are once you enter Alethea in your new capsules. And also…”
“There’ll be another person joining the both of you after a few days. After all, Pioneer expeditions are done in groups of five after all. We haven’t gotten the other two members yet, but the three of you will have to do for now. You’ll have to learn to work together, and brush up on your combat skills.”
Kazen hesitated for a moment, then nodded. He felt as if his own weakness was also a reason, and that Aileen was simply polite enough not to say it to him outright.
“Alright…is there anything else we need to keep note of?”
Aileen’s face turned grave as she heard this question, and Lyla slightly stiffened up as she look at Aileen as well.
Then, Aileen spoke, “I really hope you won’t die while you’re in Alethea. But if you do…”
Lyla glanced at Kazen, and wanted to say something. However, she chose to keep quiet in the end. Then, in the heavy atmosphere than engulfed the room, Aileen warned them.
“...Make sure you burn the bodies of your fallen teammates.”