ILIAS VAN PAYNE

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“Seven. You’ll need at least seven sentinels to protect your village,” Askeladd explained to the farmers. “It’s getting late so I suggest we all go rest. We’ll rendezvous here tomorrow to look for others who are willing to fight for your cause.”

“About that.” Jaime and I had been silent for so long that everyone, including ourselves, had forgotten we were still here. “We had actually been following the farmers since they got rejected by the captain of a mercenary company.”

Hanzo shot a bewildered look at me. “That was this morning. You were following us since then?”

“Yeah. Jaime and I know how to lurk about unseen.”

“A mercenary company?” Aksleadd chuckled. “In your situation, less is more. It’s a good thing they said no or else they would’ve grazed through your food supply in a week.”

I continued, “Well, we were actually following you because we wanted to fight for you.” I pulled Jaime onto her feet and turned to Askeladd. “And since you’re acting as leader, Ser, we’re asking for your permission to join.”

“No, this isn’t a game,” he said dully. “A battle is no place for children.”

“Children younger than us have fought in wars.”

“They didn’t have a choice. You do.”

“We don’t have a choice either, Ser.”

The elf knight shook his head. “Believe me, you’ll have plenty of other chances to fight for glory in the future. But you’re not ready.”

“We beg to differ,” Jaime retorted.

“This isn’t a matter of opinion. I’m sure you’d love to live with honour and die with glory, but now is not the time. Let me ask you this: what’s bigger, one or five?”

Jaime held out an open palm. “Five.”

“Five…” Askeladd held up all of his fingers before making a fist. “One. One force united under one leader fighting for one purpose. In battle, not only do we need to protect ourselves but also our comrades. We fight as one by protecting the person next to us. A single weak spot and that one breaks into many.”

“You’re saying just because we’re children that we can’t fight as one? Age means nothing and you haven’t a clue what we’re capable of.” Jaime nudged me. “Ilias, show them your staff.”

I shook my head in annoyance and unwrapped my robe, presenting Aurora Ventus to Askeladd and the farmers.

The knight inspected it before handing it back. “This is an expensive staff. One that should only belong to a powerful jynxist.”

“He’s a State Jynxist,” Jaime announced. “Ilias Van Payne—Prince Of Dawn!”

“Prince Of Dawn? Never heard of it.”

“It’s a long story. Ilias will be happy to tell the tale once we join.”

Askeladd sighed. “You two aren’t joining. That’s the end of it.”

“So you’re not even willing to see what we can do?” Jaime asked. “Ilias alone can fortify the village with his spells and I can teach the basics of swordplay to the farmers. We can hold our own.”

“Fine, I’ll entertain this idea.”

The farmers shot each other looks of irritation at the idea of children fighting for them. Ritsu was the most vocal about this. He wouldn’t stop talking about how this was a waste of time.

Askeladd led us to a secluded meadow just outside of town. There were no features here except for the same browning grass that carpeted the area.

The trio of farmers took refuge behind a wall of earth I rose from the ground. The sun was about to set as well. If we didn’t want to be caught up in the dark, we should make this fast.

“Here’s what we’ll do.” Askeladd tied two acorns to his waist. “I want you to show off what you can do by trying to steal these acorns from me. And of course, I’ll be defending myself. I’ll allow whoever has an acorn to join.”

Jaime stepped forward and unsheathed her sword. “I’ll go first.”

“No one is going first. You two will go at me at the same time.”

“Huh? That just makes it harder for you and easier for us.”

“The coming battle won’t be fought alone. Let’s say you do have the skills. If you two don’t know how to work together, working together with strangers will be an impossibility.” Askeladd unsheathed his sword and tossed the hilt to Toshi. “You have until sunset and I want you two to go all out.”

The sun had almost sunk below the horizon and there were about two minutes of light left. We had to steal the acorns in that time.

Asher’s words echoed in the back of my mind about how fights were more than just abilities. It was about weather, terrain, and the little things. But there was nothing here other than grass on a flat plain.

However, that wasn’t what worried me.

Just from that scene with the drunkard, I knew Askeladd was a seasoned swordsman which meant his reaction time would be unmatched. It’d be tough, but I could steal an acorn from him. I was a bit more afraid for Jaime, but she used unconditional methods and the right one would throw Askeladd’s rhythm off.

Together though? That was where my worries lay.

We’d never teamed up on one target and our mentalities were completely different. With Thaddeus and Erina, us three were all jynxists and had time to plan out something. Jaime and I were familiar with each other’s strengths and weaknesses, but we’d never teamed up on one target before.

While I was pondering, Jaime charged right at Askeladd.

“Hey! Don’t just rush him head-on!” I berated.

Usually, Jaime liked to start off her attacks by stirring dust into the air just like I did in my previous life. She took inspiration from Decan after all. But the ground was knitted together by grass.

Damn it, she could’ve at least asked.

I summoned Talking Book and read aloud an incantation. “Mists Of Time!”

A thick mist faded onto the battlefield and substituted what would’ve otherwise been the dust Jaime stirred up.

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“What are you doing?!” she screamed. “Now, I can’t see!”

“Huh?”

“I couldn’t do Decan’s move so I was doing something different.”

She’s right, I just messed up her attack.

I subsided the mist which revealed Askeladd still standing where he was. Jaime continued to rush him head-on, but she didn’t have enough momentum and was easily parried away.

I pointed my staff at the ground beneath the knight and sunk him to his knees. Jaime was momentarily aghast at my move but recovered her footing, running around Askeladd to attack him from behind.

Askeladd twisted around to meet her. Their blades clashed once, twice, and a third time. On what would’ve otherwise been the fourth contact, Jaime pulled her sword back and threw the knight into an odd position. When she went to strike his side, he caught her sword by pinning it in between his armoured armpit.

Jaime let go and dove forward to grab the acorns. Askeladd was a flash of light. He grabbed Jaime and tossed her to the side along with her sword.

As Jaime stumbled to the ground, I used Stone Free to grab Askeladd while he was distracted. It took just as quick for him to slice through it.

One minute.

While he recovered his footing, I summoned another earth hand from below to lift him as high as possible. Jaime was the swordsman and I was the jynxist so I had to back her up. Especially against a knight.

Fifty seconds.

Askeladd leapt off and had his sword phase through the rising earth hand. When he was halfway down, it began to actually slow him down, slicing through the dirt.

What is his ability?

Luckily, he didn’t notice that Jaime had gotten back on her feet and was rushing at him from a blind spot behind the pillar. His attention had to stay on me.

Thirty seconds.

I shot Askeladd with multiple Fire Balls which he cut through with ease. I blasted Water Cannon as well. He planted his feet and tanked the force. Lastly, I had a boulder roll towards him.

Twenty seconds.

Askeladd chuckled slyly and changed his breathing before splitting the boulder vertically in half.

Jaime revealed herself from behind the pillar and jumped, using gravity to increase her blow which Askleadd went to block.

Fifteen seconds.

I noticed something peculiar about Jaime and I knew exactly what she was doing. I’ve got to hand it to her, she gets creative.

While I was busy with Askeladd, she had removed her shoes, leaving her feet bare. She was going to grab the acorns with her toes.

Suddenly, Jaime’s sword which was blocked by Askeladd’s went through his, throwing her off balance. This misstep was enough for Jaime to be grabbed and thrown at me at great speed.

Ten seconds.

I slowed her down as much as I could with a gentle blast of air before catching her and rolling to mitigate the impact.

By this time, only a sliver of light was shining.

Five seconds.

Askeladd approached us and threw the acorns to the ground.

“When I’m done talking, the sun will set. So if you want to join, I’d suggest picking them up because I’m done talking.”

Without missing a beat, Jaime and I grabbed the acorns.

Sunset.

Jaime cupped a fist and threw it in the air. “Yes!”

I, however, was asking the big question. “We failed though. We didn’t steal the acorns from you.

Askeladd returned his sword to its hilt. “The test involved you acquiring the acorns, not stealing them. Jaime’s swordsmanship is really good for someone her age. She’ll cut through bandits easily. However, what I’m more interested in is teaching her the three different sword styles.”

Jaime hopped around in joy. “Yes! The colonel was going to teach me that once he got back. I’d rather you be my teacher, Ser. At least you’ve shown your skills.”

“Shown? No, I was just defending myself.” He turned to me. “And you, Ilias. I don’t know about your claims of being a State Jynxist, but you are worthy of that staff. Twenty-two gates and an excellent understanding of elemental jynx is really something for a kid.”

“Thank you, Ser.”

“I admire both of your skills. However, you two failed because you couldn’t work together. If you each went against me on your own, you would’ve stolen the acorns. But together? You were like oil and water. You don’t know teamwork.”

“So why let us join?” Jaime asked.

“Have you two fought together like that before?”

“No.”

“Then it’s because I see potential. For your first time working together, that was pretty good. I’m sure with time and under the right care, you two will know what the other is thinking.”

Ritsu left the safety of my wall to protest. “Ser, you can’t possibly be serious about having these children join?”

“I do. Weren’t you watching? Surprisingly, they’re good fighters. They can hold their own.”

“But…”

“They’re children? Children work harder than adults, but only if you treat them as such. Besides, they’re smaller and you don’t have to feed them much.”

“Ser Askeladd is right,” Toshi said. “Together, they’ll only eat the rations of one person. It’ll be like only feeding six mouths as opposed to seven.”

“I know,” Ritsu said. “I just don’t think everyone in the village will want children fighting for them.”

We returned to town where Askeladd gave the instructions for the next day. We’d be spending three days in Shoya trying to recruit four more others willing to join our campaign. With that, the farmers headed back to their inn while Askeladd went with Jaime and I, renting a room for himself to stay where we were.

The elf knight tried to learn more about us and made small talk during dinner. “So, what brought you here? Children such as yourselves on your own is definitely an interesting story.”

I chuckled. “You won’t believe it.”

“Try me. Earlier today, I overheard these twin girls talking about how they were from the west and when a beam of light struck them, they got teleported here.”

“That’s—twins?” Jaime stuttered her words. “I don’t know any twins from the village.”

The twins!

I remembered them now. Just before the calamity hit, Jaime and I were on the road just outside of Gilead. Ahead of us were what looked to be adventurer twins.

“Let me guess what their hair colours were. Blue and pink.”

“Yeah, did you run into them too?”

I nudged Jaime. “It’s the adventurers that were ahead of us. Remember? When we were heading back?”

“Oh yeah, the ones that were with us.”

“Yeah, they got caught up in this too.”

“Wait,” Askeladd said. “You know them?”

“Not really.” I sighed. “Just listen carefully. It’s a long story.”

The small talk led to me explaining the mana incident.

By the end of it, Askeladd had three cups of beer. “So that explains why you want to join this campaign so badly. Food, shelter, and a chance to get money at the end of it.”

“Yeah, it solves everything we’re worrying about. At least for now.”

“And you plan on travelling all the way back?” He stroked his goatee. “The hardest part would be crossing the desert. But after that, it’s smooth sailing. You two could just hop from stagecoach to stagecoach or buy a horse. What happens when you reach Headrig’s Pass?”

“By then, we hope that the white whale’s been dealt with.”

“What if it isn’t?”

“I guess we’d help out.”

Askeladd guffawed at that idea. “Bandits are one thing, but an ancient leviathan that knows jynx is something else.”

“So you believe us?”

“I don’t see why you two would lie.”

“So you’d believe this too?” I handed him my pocket watch.

“Ilias Van Payne. Prince Of Dawn. So you are a State Jynxist.”

“I just passed the exam and acquired the license this year. But during it, the white whale claimed Headrig’s Pass and made sending documents here impossible.”

“Now I see why you have such an expensive staff. And the spells you cast earlier were amazing.” He handed it back. “Why don’t you just wait until you get your monthly allowance and use that money to cross the desert? You’ll get free transportation too, no?”

“Yeah, but unfortunately, Brigadier Ishida doesn’t believe us. Neither will anyone else. There’s no documents proving my licence so they’ll think it’s a fake.”

“So your plan is to just travel back until you get to Headrig’s Pass.”

“Yup, and what happens then, we’ll see. But before that, defending this village is the only thing in our minds.”