The sun beams down on my face, and for the first time in a while, I’m genuinely happy to be surrounded by life in the middle of this town. Me and Arciel have just gotten here, to Nerenton Port. Its name is accurate, the city rests along Andestine’s western coast. That’s not saying much though, since Andestine itself is a very thin continent, it’s stretched vertically, like it’s wrapping around Aleeze’s east. But, Nerenton is on the northern half of the continent, whereas Geraldi was more in the middle, and the capital, Re’relihn, was more southern and inland.

Like the capital, this town’s roads are paved, and the buildings here are well kept. Most structures here are stone, lined with a rich colored wood and roofed by sturdy shingles. Like the capital as well, this town also has a central castle, like Foksly’s Governmental Bureau, though Andestine of course has much better towns and architecture from what I’ve seen, it makes Foksly, no matter how modest the town is, look inferior in every way. Being a port town, the roads are bustling with activity, trade mostly thanks to the offloading and exportation of goods from ships.

“So what’s the first stop?”

I ask to Arciel. We’ve been put here on standby, so it’s not like we actually have any obligations to fulfill. The two of us are walking in the shade of some buildings on a road not far from the main street.

“Well, that Kana adventurer didn’t travel with us, but she’s already here, so I want to go and check up on her; We’ll be working together from now on, at least, from the way it looks.”

Arciel says. We traveled here by carriage, just how did she manage to get here before us?

“She’s probably at the town’s barracks, since she is a former adventurer who’s been contracted by Andestine.”

Adventurers around the different nations are varied, the adventurers in Andestine are obviously Andestine citizens, and by that fact they usually take up heavy participation with the military, mostly for monster hunting and extermination. That’s a polar opposite to the Caliphate’s adventurers, I heard from Arciel that they don’t give a damn about their country, and work mostly for themselves in isolated cells. One thing does unite the adventurers of this world though, and that’s the universal Guild they have. The Guild is apparently spread throughout the world, and acts as the bare bones organization of adventurers; Obviously nations wouldn’t appreciate heavily armed and skilled individuals walking around without any reason to do so. The Guild varies in its presence, in Andestine you can’t go two towns without at least finding an office of sorts. But in the Caliphate, the Guild’s presences is next to nothing, the adventurers there really don’t care for the government.

Though, I guess that sentiment can apply to the entirety of the Caliphate’s residents taking into account the rest of what I’ve learned. When I first came here, I thought the Caliphate of all nations would have strong national unity and motivation, but the reality is a lot different. Religion doesn’t unite the Caliphate as I thought it would, rather the Caliphate forces their religion upon their citizens, and taking into account that the Caliphate’s territory until recently was heavily divided, it’s easy to see why no one really likes the Caliphate. The Principality on the other hand, is in the middle in terms of national unity, not as much as Andestine, but not as poor as the Caliphate. The country as a whole seems to be weaker than the Caliphate, if only slightly; despite its people faring and living much better off than the Caliphates swaths of peasants and rural farmers.

After a few minutes of walking, we’ve reached Nerenton’s barracks, which resides a little ways from the fortress in the center of the city. This place looks pretty small, I’d imagine most of Nerenton’s garrison is hold up inside their castle, and not the equivalent of a police station. We were questioned by the guard stationed at the gate, but when Arciel started spouting her noble spiel, the guard’s expression instantly screamed that he regretted stopping us. Poor guy; If he didn’t stop us though, then he wouldn’t be doing his job, and then Arciel would rat him out for not doing his duty.

“…And that is why you should remember to not question nobles!”

“…Very good milady. I’m gravely sorry but, that adventurer you’re asking for just left a few minutes ago...”

The guard spoke through his teeth, desperately trying not to roll his eyes.

“Is that so…did she say where she was headed off to?”

“I’m afraid not, Miss Arcielvitzi.”

It’s kind of painful to watch this grown man talk so subordinately to the brat Arciel.

“Hmm…Well, if Kana does return, please notify her that we’re in the town.”

Arciel turned on her heel, and started off without another word. I give the guard a nod in respect to the fact that he put up with my childish summoner, he gave me an exhausted smile, appreciative of the pity. I hurriedly rushed off to Arciel’s side. Despite her treating me like a piece of trash, she get’s pretty angry if I don’t keep pace with her; she says a Hero should always be in arms reach of a summoner to be used as a shield if need be. As much as I hate that sentiment, I need to keep Arciel alive, if she dies, then I’m done for all the same.

“So what now?”

I ask, catching up to Arciel. She turns to me with a smug face.

“First, I get changed.”

Where the hell would she stash another set of clothes? I don’t ask, for now.

“…Then?”

“We enact the duty of being on standby!”

“Which is?”

I tilt my head. I swear, she’s leading me on for way to long. She punches me, lightly of course, otherwise she’d probably break her fingers on my armor.

“Some R & R idiot!”

Oh. Before I have the chance form a snarky remark, my brain instantly realizes something, the wording ‘R & R’ shouldn’t be in her language. I know that for a fact, so I think I can pretty safely assume my hunch about phrases that mean the same being translates into something I’m familiar with; like the term ‘mana’, whenever anybody says ‘mana’, the words that leave their mouth are completely different sounding.

On that note though, I am getting pretty familiar to the Andestinian language, the declensions of verbs and nouns are really solid, I haven’t heard any irregular outliers. Andestinian uses endings, whereas English uses lots of words to relay Who, what, and when…Learning endings is a lot easier than learning a bunch of BS grammar, I’d hate to be born a non-native English speaker and forced to learn such a linguistic Gordian Knot.

“You’d best change too, you know…”

Arciel eyed up my massive steel plate armor. Man, what a change of heart, usually, she’s always berating me to keep my armor on, and so I’ve gotten pretty used to wearing it. That doesn’t mean I don’t fiddle with both my armor and sword though, Epsilon lectured me a lot about the importance of respecting and maintaining your equipment after I said: ‘What’s the point in cleaning a sword if it just gets dirty?’.

I give her a pique of an eyebrow.

“Where exactly am I going to find any clothes? I left my jacket at the Hero’s Chapel.”

I was about to smirk at her, but she crossed her arms and flicked her head past me.

“The barracks should have some spare off duty clothes, use those. I don’t want to draw attention with-” She gave a tug at her summoner robes, which were riddled with Andestine insignias. “And your eye-searing armor.”

I guess my armor is pretty bright…

“What about you then?”

Arciel turned with a pout.

“Take a guess dummy.”

She was facing the compound that was adjacent to the barracks, the central fortress and castle of Nerenton. Ah…I think I get it now.

“You have ties to that castle?”

“Of course. Most all keeps have accommodations specifically reserved for the Arcielvitzi family. I’ll meet you outside the gate when I’m done.”

“Alright.”

I say as she walks off towards the gate of the compound. For once, she’s actually going off by herself without yelling at me to follow; Though I guess that’s because she’s only walking, like, a block. I turn away, and trot back over to the barracks.

“I uh, I need a change of clothes.”

The guard out front nods thoughtfully, he’d probably heard me and Arciel.

“Nobles are a handful huh? Must be hard having one as your summoner.”

I shrug.

“I manage.”

The guard nodded.

“Well, we’ve got some spares in the back.”

The guard waved me on through the small portcullis.

…

A guard further into the barracks helped me through to a room and handed the clothes I’m now wearing. The off-duty clothing is a mainly black tailcoat with splashes of grey and white. After taking off my armor, and putting this on, I feel a million times lighter. From wearing my armor all the time, I’ve gotten used to its weight, but now, I feel as light as a butterfly. I left my armor in one of the rooms in the barracks, I’ll probably be staying nights in the barracks, like Kana, so it’s not a problem. I still have my sword though, resting in a sheath on my back.

For once, I don’t feel out of place wearing this nice tailcoat, it’s definitely not as cool as my leather jacket, but it’s snazzy, and not flashy, so I’m fine with it. It’s less a gentleman’s garb, and more what an unarmored soldier would wear. The shoulders of the tail coat are white and laced, makes it look like pauldrons. And it’s good thing I fit in, because I’m waiting for Arciel in front of the keep that she went into. Well, I guess it’d take her longer, conversing with other nobles and showing face I guess.

And, you know, girls take longer to change.

This would be a really nice time for a smoke; too bad there’s no cigarettes in this world. Pipes and hookahs yes, but I’m not going to stoop that low, I’m not a hippie.

After about ten minutes though, she does come out, followed by a few aristocrats fawning over her. They’re obviously trying to win the favor of such a higher ranking noble.

Arciel doesn’t seem bothered though, she replies and listens to them with the smile befitting a princess and with the giggles of an angel. She reaches the gate, and the nobles start bidding her farewell. They spend another long minute chatting about how their families have been and such, it’s really just disguised bragging for nobles.

When all is said and done, and the few aristocrat looking people take their leave back into the fortress, Arciel turns to me, and her smiling face is replaced by a disgusted frown. I didn’t know Arciel could be so, princess like…And I also didn’t know that she could change her expression so fluidly.

“Have fun?”

I ask slyly.

“Oh please. They always say the same things, they always go on and on about how its dangerous and unbefitting of a noble to serve as a soldier. I appreciate their hospitality and kindness, but the lot of them are pansies I tell you.”

She crosses her arms, obviously looking down on the non-combatant nobles. For all the crap I’ve been giving Arciel about being bratty, I still can’t deny that she’s a step higher than those knuckleheaded nobles, she voluntarily serves, and risks her life; even when she could live a luxurious life with her birth right. Thinking about it, for being this ‘important noble’, I haven’t seen Arciel with any other people who serve or belong to her family. I’d imagine she’d be flocked by a legion of servants, guards and advisors, yet here she is, a Great Noble with not a single bodyguard. Unless you count me of course. I also don’t know why Arciel refuses to ride around towns in a carriage, it’s what most nobles do, you know, since they don’t want to be seen with the common people or whatever.

She’s pretty a much a noble in demeanor, but not at all in her actions.

Well, Arciel certainly changed clothing. From her overbearing and armored summoner robes to a Victorian-esque dress. It had a large dark blue bow on its collar, and tight and wound waist with a long skirt. Although the coloring and design is definitely tamer, her face and hair are still pretty noble-like, with the whole uncommon hair color and large twin tails she has, so it’s not exactly like she’s the most inconspicuous person just because of a clothing change.

She doesn’t have her staff. I don’t think that’s a problem, just why would Arciel need the equivalent of 155mm howitzer shells at her disposal in this peaceful port town?

“Well, what do you do in your free time?”

I ask. Arciel started off down the road, and I followed her abrupt motion. The road we walk leads to the oceanside of the city.

“I read mostly.”

“Booooring.” I say, a bit sarcastically. She gives me a little annoyed frown before continuing.

“Other than that I’m usually too busy with other nobles to do much else. But I heard that Nerenton got its coastal defense guns a few weeks back, so I really wanna see them.”

…From reading and dealing with noble high life to coastal guns…Arciel really changes on a dime.

“…Coastal guns?”

I ask. There aren’t any guns in this world, I know that for a fact. But the reason I heard the word ‘Gun’, whatever she’s referring to, it must be related to guns as I know them, since my magic translation as I’ve already seen translates similar terms into ones I know. So what exactly would warrant the specific terming of ‘gun’ in this world?

“It’s a part of an effort to invasion-proof Andestine. Those magic cannons can nail a ship from bow to stern in one shot. They’re huge, I’m really interested in how they got the concept for them working, back when I was enrolled in the School of Crafts, it was all theories and tests; it’s pretty crazy that it’s actually becoming reality now.”

‘Nail a ship from bow to stern in one shot’, just what kind of firepower are these things packing? Well, now it makes sense, they’re not ‘guns’ they’re magic powered cannons. Exactly how and where they get the mana to power a shot, I don’t know; storing mana in this world isn’t possible from what I’ve researched, only the imbuement branch of magic can yield indefinite storage. Though all spells can be stored, like Arciel can cast a Rey spell and just have it charged and ready to go inside her staff, it’d require constant attention and mana from a caster to stay useable. Actual unsupervised storing can only be done with spells that have been imbued into an object by someone who knows imbuement magic. I haven’t heard of storing pure mana in an object, like just having a barrel of mana or something; so I’m also curious to see how these magic cannons work.

“Maybe we’ll see Kana on the way, I don’t know where she would run off to or what she’s doing.”

Arciel says. It’s clear Arciel hasn’t worked with Kana before, so I wouldn’t expect her to know anything about her. As we approach closer to the sea, seabirds flutter high in the sky, and the wind gets notably chillier.

The air in Nerenton is already pretty salty and brisk, and it’s also very windy out as well. As we do approach Nerenton’s large wharf, I see it, the blue of the ocean. I’ve seen the Andestinian strait a few times already because of me being ferried over to Aleeze back and forth already; but the stimulation of seeing the ocean from such a view is far different than that of a crowded ship.

Nerenton’s huge wharf, berthing dozens of large ships at once, really looks more like a boardwalk, with numerous piers jutting out for ship docking. I really have to hand it to Andestine, the country keeps blowing me away in my expectations of architecture in this pre-electrical world. I wonder if this is really the kind of life ancient civilizations like Rome had, with their near mythological achievements for the time. I’m still questioning just how many hoops had to be jumped through to even create the foundation for this massive pier.

Disregarding the wonder of human architecture before me, I easily see what Arciel was talking about, those supposed magical coastal cannons. There are two of them, each on either side of me. They aren’t big enough to be seen from across the city, but they’re certainly larger than all the surrounding seaside buildings, they encroach on the size of the fortress in the center of the city. A cylindrical base, followed by a large dome atop it, and jutting from this large dome was two large prongs of numerous concentric circles. The barrel itself looks like the rail and coil guns of fantasy space comics.

The guns are built on solid ground, on extrusions of land from the main town; the gap between them was filled in with the boardwalk over the water.

“Wow…”

Arciel seemed to gawk at the guns just as I had, the sheer size of them is definitely a sight to behold.

“Well? What are you waiting for!”

She looked up at me, with sparkles in her eyes, like a child who’d spotted ice-cream. Before I could say anything, she pulled on my hand, tugging me with her in her skip of glee toward one of the coastal guns. If someone were to see me and Arciel, they probably would’ve thought I was father being dragged off by his daughter to buy candy.

So, across the boardwalk Arciel trotted, pulling me along with her. I’m trying not to stumble, but it’s really a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. We soon reach the base of the cannon, and as Arciel comes to a stop, I roughly remove her hand from my arms, like getting rid of a stuck parasite. Thankfully, she seems to be distracted, fawning over the massive cannon before her to notice. I look around, my eyes sharp, but to my relief, nobody seems to have saw.

The cannon has an array of catwalks and ladders enthralling it, some permanent, and other seeming like temporary scaffolding.

“Hey! It’s dangerous being so close!”

I hear rushed footsteps, and I turn to see a man, about as tall as me, running toward us.

“Wait a…Why if it isn’t the little troublemaker!”

The guy stops before us, crossing his arms with a smile. Wearing a cleanly green and ornate mantel, he looks to be someone important. He had glasses, brown hair and eyes, as well as a swath of stubble around his face, like a lazy dad.

Arciel’s smirks, also crossing her arms.

“Mr. Oswell, I didn’t expect to see you outside of campus. I see you’re finally following up on your fanatical dreams.”

Arciel says.

“You know this guy?”

I ask, being a little suspicious. Arciel nodded her head.

“Mr. Oswell was one of my teachers, he was the crazy one who came up with the concept of combined mana channeling.”

This is a teacher, of magic? Putting aside his clothing, he looks like a mad scientist, or like a Sunday morning dad, either or.

Oswell shook his head wryly.

“Now now, I’m not as crazy as you think I am.”

Arciel looked up at the massive cannon besides us, before looking back down at Oswell.

“Look beside yourself and tell me that again.”

She say’s smugly. Oswell chuckled.

“I see you haven’t changed Arciel, how have you been? I see you’ve finally became a summoner.”

He glanced over at me.

“Mm. I’ve been well. Nothing much has happened, or at least, nothing I couldn’t handle. This here is Shepard, my summon.”

“Ah, pleased to meet you, Hero.”

He bobbed his head at me, I nodded.

“Well, I quit being a teacher a while ago, it’s only recently I was able to actually start construction, I’ve spent the majority of my time convincing the council of the concept’s plausibility. But in the end, I got my funding.”

“Yes, the council is always so tight fisted isn’t it?”

Oswell nodded.

“Mm. Well I see that you’re interested Arciel, I’ll show you ‘round.”

Arciel nodded with a pleased smile.

“Please do.”

He led us to one of the stairways that spiraled up the stone brick base of the cannon. The base of the gun, like the rest of the town, is built less like a military defense asset, and more like a simple part of the town, with ornate and cleanly bricks.

“We’ve already finished the calibration and most all the testing, now all that’s left is to rip down the scaffolding and they’ll be raring to go.”

We reached the top of the base of the gun, and we followed Oswell into the actual structure of the cannon. Despite being on top of it’s base, the cannon is still massively looming above me. Oswell led us further up the cannon’s structure, where we came to a catwalk that circled the firing tower. Now above the barrel of the cannon, I can see it extending outward, from right below my feet, to far off into the sky.

Arciel, grabbed on to the railing, peering down at the girth of the barrel with starry eyes.

“So how’s it work? Hm? Hm?”

Arciel asked, bobbing back and forth whilst staring at the large barrel.

“Well, you didn’t see any power rooms on the way up now did you?”

Arciel shook her head.

“The mana this thing fires is generated deeper into the city by casters, inside the city citadel. From there, it’s routed all the way up into the guns with a few cables, that’s the invention that solved our conundrum, instead of having casters dump mana into the gun directly, we’ve developed a cable that allows the travel of mana, so that the casters aren’t as exposed.”

“Ah, so what kind of actuators did you use? I thought the current ones were insufficient with what firepower you wanted…”

I gradually tune out of the conversation, it’s not like I can exactly understand their mumbo-jumbo. Other than the citadel in the center of the city, no other location offers a more clear view of the. As I realize that, and feel the sun beat down on my face, my eyes peer down to the city streets far below me. I gaze at the swaths of people, sharply seeing every small interaction with my Hero-enhanced eyesight. I see a wailing boy, who’d dropped his food, I see a merchant, yelling at a thief who’d just burglarized his stand, but most of all I see the smiles of a great many deal of people. The sea birds caw and squawk as they soar on the same plane as I, their eyes keen for any scraps or nibbles to feast on from.

This is most definitely not a view I could’ve enjoy back home.

One sight of the city does stand out to me, a ring of knights, looking to be Platinum ranked, stand around cheering and hollering an ongoing spar. They’re in a more open part of the town, like a fenced off training field a little ways from the barracks. Intrigued, I squint my eyes, and make out the two fighters in the center of the ring. One wore bright cerulean tinged armor, which looked very elaborate compared to the platinum knights, though I couldn’t make out too many small details from such a distance. The second fighter had an immensely smaller frame, and was clad in some sort of black, non-shining material except at their head, wherein I could spot a blot of red.

I immediately recognized the color scheme of the second fighter as Kana, being the only person I know so far to have red hair. The first fighter, the one clad in cerulean plate armor, that’s the one I don’t know. But, judging that the people surrounding them are of the Andestine Order’s Platinum ranking, and how the ranked knights so far have had colors ordaining to their rank, I think I can safely assume the first fighter as a Diamond Knight, the top 1% among career soldiers.

The fight seems to have been going on for a while. I stare at the amazing agility and speed of Kana, as she weaves and bobs around attacks, then responding with an equally swift barrage of slices and cuts. The Diamond rank isn’t a joke either, they’re both maneuvering around, above, and below each other, caught in a dance of swordplay.

“…Well that’s how it is. If you’re interested, we’ll actually be test firing the guns later tonight, it’ll be a spectacle for the whole damn town I imagine.”

“That doesn’t seem very safe…”

“Don’t worry, we wouldn’t be so brazen as to test fire if we didn’t know whether or not the cannons would self-combust, I’m ninety nine percent sure they won’t. We just need to measure the exact drop-off value, to perfect our accuracy. Like I mentioned earlier, the cannons can fire in two modes, a long stream, or a quick explosive bolt; we’ll be testing both types, each cannon will fire in a different mode.”

“Hmm…I imagine you’d could sever the cables if anything goes wrong as well.”

“Yes, yes. If something really does go wrong, then we can just cut the cables, and no mana will be dumped into the cannons; hence, nothing happens.”

“Yes…”

Arciel nods her head, her gaze setting onto the city scape before us.

“…Is that…Oh, that’s where Kana is.”

Arciel exclaims, before shooting a smug grin at me.

“I guess I’ve got better eyesight than a hero huh?”

I was so caught up in the fight of Kana and the Diamond knight that I didn’t think to actually tell Arciel about it. I don’t bother correcting Arciel, that’ll just be a hassle, so I disinterestedly shrug with a curt nod. Despite my obvious uncaring, Arciel’s smirk seems to widen a little.

“Come on Shepard, let’s go say hi!”

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Arciel reached out to grab my hand, but I quickly pulled away before she had the chance, opting to calmly walk in her wake instead.

“Oh, and we I’ll be watching tonight, so put on a good show Mr. Oswell!”

Apparently ignoring my arm’s retraction, Arciel still says happily to Oswell.

“I’ll try.”

Oswell says lightheartedly, as me and Arciel take our leave for the sparing Kana.

…

After making our way down from the colossal coastal gun, me and Arciel walk down the road calmly, past many people. We attract the occasional suspicious glare and murmur, but thankfully not much else. We soon near the compound I’d earlier seen from my literal bird’s eye view, and it seems to be exactly what I made it out to me, a training field. Though, this place is more akin to New York’s Central Park, as lush tree’s sprout and hang over the grassy area. The place the Platinum Knights are has been worn away, the ground is dusty and bare of any grass or paths like the rest of the park, it seems people train there regularly. The place they fight is in the shade of some tall willow trees, me and Arciel quietly approach the crowd of rowdy soldiers.

Arciel takes the lead, tapping the back of a Platinum Knight. The knight turned, after a brief second of confusion, physically jumped in recognition of Arciel, startled to have someone so high ranked casually touching his back. The knight understood Arciel’s wants though, and silently shifted to the side, making way for the both of us. I see the fight just in time to witness Kana jumping over the Diamond rank with a nimble flip, landing and shoving the tip of her katana in the back of the Diamond Rank’s back, lightly of course.

I’ll need to ask Kana where in the hell she found a sword that resembles a katana as I know them from my world, I wonder if humans here found it out as well, or if it was an invention from a hero or something.

“Alright! Alright! You got me.”

I hear a muffled voice from the cerulean suit of armor, the Diamond Rank. Kana relaxes, lowering her weapon and smiling despite breathing heavily with fatigue. She clicks her tongue while shaking her head slowly.

“Tch tch tch. Teaches you right for being so full of yourself.”

“Come on, you now that was just to provoke you,” The Diamond Rank retorted, turning toward Kana with a sly shrug. “Anybody’d be anxious to fight someone as notorious as yourself.”

“Oh, men and their ego’s…”

Kana continued smirking, but looked over lazily, as if ready to walk away, when she caught sight of me and Arciel.

“Oh, will if it isn’t the Hero and little Arcielvitzi. It seems you’ve both made it safely here.”

‘Little’? Arciel is basically the same height as you; two heads smaller than me.

“Hmph. And it’s nice to see you too.” Arciel said, clearly a bit irked. “I’ve been wondering,” Now with the whole attention of the surrounding soldiers, the area was silent. “How exactly did you manage to get here faster than us, alone?”

Kana furrowed her mouth for a moment, before smiling deviously, clearly with an idea. She rose a hand to her mouth, and with two fingers, whistled a staccato tune for a split second. A second of silence followed; Then, in between the legs of two knight’s behind her, came bounding a massive dog. Before I had to time to look further, it kept its sprint, and jumped, tackling Arciel. Arciel yelped, taken off guard by the shear speed and size of the dog. Now on the ground, licking and slobbering all over Arciel’s face whilst wagging it’s tail happily, I got a better look at it.

…This thing definitely isn’t just a dog. It reminds me of that Czechoslovakian dog, the one that was made with German Shepherds and wolves, damned wolfhounds. It’s got the size of a Caucasian Sheep Dog though, so Arciel ain’t moving any time soon with that massive thing pinning her down. Though, overall, it still looks like a massive, grey, wolf.

“-Hey! ? What the-!? Get off of me!”

She struggled on the ground, her arms and legs flaying around, to no avail. I could see Arciel’s right hand opening and closing, as if she was trying to clutch her staff. All the mutt’s doing is licking her face, but she’s ready to blow the place to hell and back. It’s a little scary how little restraint Arciel seems to have. Although, I guess I’m kind of at fault too, I mean, what if the dog just took a bite out of Arciel’s throat right here and now, that’d be me dead just like that, and I’d be the fool to blame.

“Pat. That’s enough, down boy.”

At Kana’s words, the dog gave one last large lick at Arciel’s face before retracing its steps and sitting neatly upright beside Kana.

“So you weren’t alone on your trip over here…”

I mumble.

“Yup. I’ve had Pat by my side since the day I was born, we’ve kicked all kinds of ass. But, I’m still reluctant to bring him to big battles, so I kept him back for our earlier…engagement.”

Kana says, careful not to spill the beans on the secret of the fight with the Sidonians a week back.

“Why…why you-!”

Arciel rises shakily, wiping her face with her arm, trying to rid herself of all the dog slobber. She paced toward Kana, grabbing her by the collar angrily. She of course was the same height, and probably orders of magnitudes less physically strong than Kana, so she wouldn’t be doing anything to her anytime soon.

“Just what were you thinking!? I could’ve died! Getting all this, filth, on me!”

Kana simply looked away with a sly smirk, still being shaken by Arciel. Kana really looks like a tomboy with how smug a prankster she’s being. Ignoring the two entangled girls, the Diamond Knight strides to me.

“Nice to see you again, Shepard, was it?”

“…Do I know you?” I ask quizically.

The Diamond Rank sighs, though he shakes his head slightly, as if expecting my response. He lifts his gauntleted, cerulean metal hands to his helmet, and with a twist, took his helmet off.

“Oh, you’re Freudlin, the Platinum Knight from the First Cohort, right?”

I can’t say much else, since the mission was hush-hush and all. If he is Freudlin, then he’ll know the unit name.

“Yes, I'm glad you remember me. Although,” He gave a little glance down at his armor, “I’m not exactly a Platinum any more, and now, I’m in charge of these fine boys, the 153rd Platinum Knight Platoon. We just got formed a few days ago for some off-continent gig the brass have been hinting at, and from the way it looks, you and your compadres are coming with us. There’s no official orders so far, so I can’t even begin to guess what we’ll be doing but, it’s a pleasure to work with you again, Hero.”

Freudlin extended his hand toward me, and we shook hands for a moment. I wasn’t expecting to see some random soldier I fought beside again, much less at such an elevated position. Regardless of the rank bump up, if what he says is true about us working together, he’ll probably be my superior heading forward. Being a Diamond Rank, he’s one of a rank of knight’s only in the quintuple digits, a small number in this world as I’ve learned; for some armies have upwards of millions of men. Then Aleeze must certainly be larger than any Pangea if that’s the case; medieval armies didn’t typically cross into even the hundreds of thousands, not even fifty thousand for that matter, it was really a slap in the face when I heard the how large the Andestinian 1st Army was: exactly one million. Supposedly that is Andestine’s largest army, and although it’s minuscule in the face of the larger continental powers, Andestine has many other detachments than just their 1st army. Like the Sidonians, Andestine has much higher quality troops than the mainland powers. I’m still anxious to see if they’ll hold a candle to those damned Sidonians though.

“…Ah! You’ll pay! You’ll pay! You’ll pay-eee!”

Arciel, still shaking Kana back and forth, whined miserably, her face fully blushed red. The more I see angry Arciel, the more my image of her sours; just who in the world can have such a beamingly gentle smile and soft laugh while making such a ruckus as this?

“Even if I pulled up all my savings, I don’t think I’d be able to buy a dress like yours, sorry, Arciel.”

Arciel didn’t respond, though she let go of Kana, glaring at her with askance.

“Well, before you both prance off, I’d like to ask a favor of you, Arciel.”

“…Shoot.”

Kana rose a hand, and pointed, at me.

“Let me fight your summon.”

Almost as fast as Arciel’s face had turned into anger did it now turn into devious excitement. Arciel turned to me,

“Kick her butt Shepard!”

She looked at me almost pleadingly. I glance at Kana, at her infinitely smaller frame, and at the contrarily large katana she held. I look back to Arciel, who’s now pouting at me apparent hesitation.

“You’re one sick girl, you berate me for provoking you for a fight earlier and then turn around and do the same thing.”

Freudlin said, his arms crossed.

“It’s a lady’s privilege.”

Kana tilted her head with a sarcastic smile. Well, I’m certainly not going to pass up an opportunity for a friendly duel to get better, especially with someone so skilled as Kana. Although, I am a little worried about how tired she is, I can see her chest bobbing heavily up and down with her breath, even if she’s trying to stifle her fatigue

“Sure, I’m game. But are sure you’re alright? You look exhausted.”

I say, tilting my head in concern.

“Thanks for the worry but, I’m not as fragile as I look.”

Kana averted her eyes for am moment toward Arciel, to which Arciel thankfully didn’t notice.

“Alright then.”

I say. If she says she’s good, then she’s good. I raise my sword out of it’s straps on my back, and the surrounding soldiers, Freudlin and Arciel included, spread out a little further than they had been. Clear of bystanders, I lift my sword up, and Kana does the same, mimicking my simple stance. The both of us are using two-handed weapons, but Kana’s is significantly thinner, so she already has the speed advantage; not to mention her overall superior agility from her smaller build. Though, I’m not wearing any armor this time, so I won’t be as slow as I usually am, I should be able to push my body much faster without my massive armor anchoring me down.

“To whoever get’s the first hit then?”

Kana asks.

“Sounds fine.”

Kana lifts a hand off her sword, dropping her fingers in a countdown from five. As soon as her pinkie finger drops down, and her fist clenches, she surges for me, preparing a large horizontal strike, right at my stomach. Such aggressiveness!

I raise my sword sideways, effectively immunizing myself from her strike. Though, Kana does something that I wasn’t exactly expecting, she halts her running, digging both her feet into the ground and lifting her katana into another lane, with her momentum halted, she easily weaves her sword around my defense.

She really is as fast as I thought, able to disengage from such an overwhelming attack just like that. Well, thanks to her halt in momentum, I can see her blade encroaching on my exposed body just fine. I twist my back, and sidestep as best I can. Kana soars past me, and I stumble back into my stance.

“Ah, you’re better than I thought you’d be, but, you did fend off against Lackadaisical, so I guess that’s expected.”

I’m guessing not many new Heroes know swordplay as well as I; I’ve been fortunate enough to have Epsilon show me the ropes when I first started out, sparring with her really helped me out. I wouldn’t be able to identify and evade Kana’s disengage if it weren’t for my earlier efforts. Again, Kana rushes me, showing that signature aggressiveness I’ve seen all skilled fighters exhibit. This time though, I won’t be a meek little bitch and take it.

I rush forth to meet Kana’s attack, and I surprise myself with how fast I move without my heavy armor; I reach swinging distance within the blink of an eye. I swing, and my sword impacts on Kana’s katana with a horrid whine of metal. It looks like I was too fast for her to disengage, I really should stop being so defensive and reactive. The both of us are locked in a blade lock momentarily…

…Ha, like that’s actually the case. I am stronger than Kana, no doubt about it, so I purposely didn’t use my full strength to push on her blade, else she’d just disengage to save herself. But, for now, by not applying my full power immediately, I fooled her senses into thinking this is a blade lock she can hold.

Let’s change that.

Only a second after our blades impact, I quickly tense my muscles, easily overpowering Kana in a flash, and she almost loses her grip on her katana with how fast I pushed it away. She stumbles back, with her sword out of the way, she’s wide open. My sword is already flying off with insane momentum, unless I give up on my attack, there’s no way I can bring it over to Kana in time for an effective swing.

I let go of it.

I have another, far more practical weapon; my fists. I grab onto Kana by the scruff off her neck, she seems clearly in shock. Lifting her off her feet, I rev back an uppercut with my other hand, and send it home. Kana’s eyes widen in shock, and she cringes in anticipation for a mass of pain: a punch from a Hero.

My fist soars forward, and, of course, it halts, not a centimeter from Kana’s exposed belly. Kana hangs limply for a moment, dangling by one of my hands, cringing in expectation. The punch never comes though, and Kana’s eyes crack open slowly. She looks around for a moment, and her terrified face soon turns to relief, as she flashes a wry smile at me, still without a doubt nervous.

“Ah…haha…”

She chuckles nervously, her eyes wide.

“…Well…um…you beat me, can you put me down now?”

I chuckle for myself and gently set Kana back down.

“So was that just because you were tired? Or because you didn’t expect that?”

I ask, both as a joke and out of legitimate questioning.

“Well,” Kana dusts of her black armor, which, I still don’t know exactly what it is, it’s not steel or chainmail, that’s for sure. “I was surprised…I didn’t think you’d do something so brazen as to let go of your weapon, most noobies act like their sword’s been welded to their hands you see.”

Kana say’s, taking some deep breaths. I must of really scared her. My instinct kind of kicked in, years of picking on dweebs will do that.

I can’t exactly say the thought of letting go of my weapon is my own creation though, that’s to a certain yellowed haired bastard.

“Ha…You fight like a brute, Shepard.”

“I take that as a complement.”

I shrug with a smirk. Arciel approaches me, and gives me a firm pat on the back, filled with glee. If someone like Freudlin did that, a seasoned warrior, I’d take it as a form of respect, but coming from a little brat like Arciel doesn’t feel good at all; it feels more like mockery. Oh well; I’m not exactly a prideful guy, unless it comes to dorks and people I don’t like, if that’s the case, than I’ll be as prideful as I damn please around those no-hopers.

“Ha ha! Nice job Shepard! That will tea-”

“Pat.”

Arciel is interrupted by Kana, and before she can even yelp, Kana’s wolfhound, ‘Pat’, tackles Arciel away from my side once more. The crowd surrounding us breaks into laughter, at Arciel’s expense.

…

We’d left the sparring soldiers behind after that. Of course, Kana seemed to be willing to let Arciel be mauled by Pat for the rest of the day, so eventually I had to concede and ask Kana to call her hound off when Arciel looked to be on the verge of tears. Yeah, she probably lost a big hit of pride after that, being humiliated in front of so many knights and all. As soon as she stood though, their laughter died, as a noble’s fury was not something the soldiers wanted to further entail. The sun was going to set anytime now, so Kana had decided to join us on a night out.

Walking down a cobble road, near the coast of Nerenton, Arciel is on the lookout for a place with a good view of the coastal defense cannons. The port-town gradually shutdown for the night, fewer wagons rolled through the streets and fewer people walked along the roads for many had retired to their homes for the day. Trotting right behind us was Kana’s dog, Pat; I’m surprised how disciplined he is.

“Hey.” I cuff my arm around Arciel’s back deviously. “Look on the bright side, at least you can say you’ve fought off a wolf with your bare hands.”

Arciel seemed to have still been quite angry, so I teased her more on the matter.

“Hmph!” She shook my hand off, crossing her arms. “I am not a dog person.”

“Cat person?”

“No cats either! No animals! They all hate me! Fifio had a pet rabbit, and when she let me hold it, it bit me! A bunny bit me!”

Both me and Kana chuckle at the apparent helplessness of Arciel. We really are just a pair from hell for any noble aren’t we, a country-bred Yankee and a hardy self-taught adventurer; any noble would be tearing out their hair by now with us as company.

As Arciel was glancing around her head jumped up, spotting something appealing.

“Ooo~ Hey Kana, want to go out shopping sometime?”

Getting pummeled by someone’s dog only to ask to go shopping with them…I guess that’s just a girl thing.

Kana briefly glanced over to where Arciel was pointing.

“Sorry to disappoint, but I’m not one to fawn over different panty colors.”

Kana smiles wryly at Arciel. I don’t need to look to know what it was that Arciel was pointing at.

“Hmph! You really are as much as a tomboy as people say you are.”

Arciel crossed her arms, averting her head.

“What can I say? I was an adventurer. In that line of work, you lose your sense of dignity, pride, and any elegance real ‘quick.”

“Hrm…What a horrible job then.”

Arciel growls.

“Sorry to interrupt, but would that place suit your fetish, Arciel?”

I stop walking and point over to my left. We’re quite distanced from the more urban part of Nerenton, having long since past the end of the large boardwalk. Now, to our left, is a pile of rocks, leading down to the beach along the coast. Some of the rocks near us have fallen into the sea a dozen or so meters, creating a jetty; with the smaller buildings around here, it had an amazing view of the coastal guns being further out to sea.

“Tch. It’s not a fetish, it’s paying respect where respect is due.”

“Whatever, explosion-girl.”

Come on, somebody who can cast that terrifying Reysarke spell? They’d be obsessed with big laser beams and explosions. Thinking back on it, Fifio could cast the spell two tiers above what Arciel can, yet is infinitely saner, so maybe it’s just Arciel. It’s definitely a childish instinct, feeling pride in your power, or what you’ve accomplished, even though that in comparison to other things, it’s not monumental. I think that emotion is important and all, but Arciel is way to old to warrant feeling any childish pride.

“Explosion, girl? I hope this isn’t some stupid pet-name.”

‘It most certainly is.’ Is what I want to say, though I think I’ve had my fun antagonizing Arciel. It most certainly isn’t creative enough to be a ‘pet-name’ either.

Arciel, apparently accepting my proposal of using the rock jetty as a good viewing point, starts off in front of me. She walks forward all of a few meters on the uneven rocky surface before she stumbles slightly.

Seeing this, I silently stalk nearer behind her.

Sure enough, after another few meters walking into the sea on the rocks, Arciel’s foot slips, and she loses her stability, falling to the side, and towards the water. I deftly reach out and grab onto the scruff of her neck, stopping her from falling sideways into the ocean surrounding us.

Yep, I guessed right. This stupid, spoiled, brat of a noble, probably hasn’t ever walked on terrain like this; these rocks are wet from the splashing tides of the ocean, and she didn’t realize that.

What’s all that schooling and noble etiquette good for if you slip on some rocks and drown in water, or worse, she could’ve cracked her head open on the rocks; these things are pretty jagged.

“Pu…P-put me down!”

I lift Arciel up higher with my one hand; her body looms over the thrashing tides of the ocean beside me.

“Or I could just drop you in the water. Care for a swim?”

“N-n-no please! P-put me down already!”

Chuckling, I gently set her down on the last rock in the path, it’s large and flat, and not wet, so I don’t think she’d kill herself that stupidly.

“You know, I think you’d make a good father, Shepard.”

Kana says behind me, Pat close behind her.

“Well, having three younger sisters will do that.”

I say gruffly. Both Kana and Arciel gawk at me for a moment, apparently taken back for whatever reason.

“What?” I ask, furrowing my brow.

“No, it’s nothing, it’s just, I didn’t take you to be the older brother type…W-why did you never tell me?”

Arciel seems a little angry.

“You never asked.”

Unlike Arciel, I’ll keep my private life to myself thank you very much; I know the names of both Arciel’s parents and her younger brother, who’s set to inherit the family, since apparently Arciel’s parents aren’t actually too fond of her. It's just TMI with her.

…

The sun was now all but set. Of course, Nerenton is on the eastern part of Andestine, and as such the sun is setting farther inland. I was surprised at first that the sun in this world still even rises and sets in the same cardinal directions as it did back home. From our great view of the Nerenton pier, we can see both coastal guns easily. They started turning and adjusting for their firing position a few minutes ago, I was surprised to feel the rumbling motion of the massive cannons even so far away.

“So when do you think they’ll fire?”

Kana asked, sitting beside me and petting Pat.

“When the sun sets fully, and it’s dark out, I’d imagine. Mr. Oswell would want easy visibility of the projectiles, and they’d be easier spot in the dark, that’s what I think.”

“Hm. I’ve seen a few of these guns before, but I’ve never seen them fire though.”

“Me neither, that’s why I wanted this good view.”

Arciel and Kana say. Me? I’m just hopping they don’t detonate. I swear, I’ve seen this time and time again, this great and powerful weapon that literally just blows up in the face of its creator. I don’t care that Arciel and Oswell were talking about being able to cut the cables of whatever, anything’s possible in my book. So, I’m mentally readying myself for the possibility that they do explode; in that event, I’ll have to hunker over Arciel, and just hope that the explosion isn’t powerful enough at such a distance to vaporize the two of us. If I die, sure, that’s a big whoop, but Arciel? Then I’d really die. I’ve been thinking about it, and the full realization of being basically immortal really hasn’t fazed me as much as I thought it would. Sure, I’ll be used as a canary and human shield I’m sure, but if I do my job, I won’t really die.

Finally, the last slivers of the sun are fading away.

“Hey, Shepard, what exactly were you before you got summoned?”

Kana asks.

“I was one month away from being done with school as a student. I was set to be a mechanic.”

“Oh? Of what?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

Kana hummed, intrigued.

“Shoot. I can take it.”

“Alright then. I’ll explain in the simplest terms, then. In my world, transport was in the form of mainly steel caskets that rolled on rubber wheels. They got their power from exploding oil in small compartments to generate kinetic energy to turn the wheels. They’re called cars, and I’m an expert on them and other engines.”

I thought for second about mentioning planes, but that’s probably way out of the scope of every single person’s mind in this world. If there aren’t any Heroes that come farther in the future than me, than I think I’m single handedly the only being who understands modern society. Well, at least someone like Danton came from the 1700’s, that’s far nearer to me than say, someone like Epsilon.

Kana stifled a snicker.

“I can’t imagine how stupid that'd look, people, riding around in buckets with wheels?”

She laughed.

As a car-guy, that’s a little disheartening, hearing her think that cars look dumb. I’d like to show her a picture of say, a McLaren F1, but unfortunately I didn’t exactly get summoned with any pictures of such cool cars. Thinking about it, I was riding my bike when I got summoned, so where in the hell did it go? For that reason, just why was I transported with clothes at all? Well, I can’t exactly make sense of it right now.

“Well, you’ll just have to take my word when I say that they’re a lot more than just buckets on wheels. People fawned about them just like warriors over swords or armor.”

Kana still smiled, but just closed her eyes with contempt, apparently not believing me. Hell, I’ll go back and draw up a picture of a car when I have the chance, I mean, I’ve drawn plenty of design blueprints for engines and axel-views. Ah, but if I get worried about spreading the knowledge of my world to this one, I won’t be able to focus on what’s really important, getting back home in the first place.

“Ah, look, the gun’s barrels are making their final adjustments!”

Arciel says. The cannon closer to us is pointed at a fifteen degree angle toward the ocean. The second though, rises its barrel to a sixty-five degree angle, pointing high into the sky.

“Why is one of them more elevated than the other?”

Kana asks, and Arciel shrugged in response.

“My guess is that they’d want to test the drop off rate at different altitudes…I mean, it’s not like the guns will ever be firing at aerial targets anyway.”

As I glance back over to the cannons, a few questions pass my mind. There’re no planes in this world, and aerial mages are far too small of targets to be hit by the massive coastal guns, so why the hell can they even elevate to such a degree? I guess it’s for ultra-long ranges but, where the hell would they get the targeting information to fire, say, over the horizon? I voice my last question to Arciel, because she’d probably know the answer.

“How do those things move anyway?”

Last I checked, there aren’t any electric motors in this world.

“If you think there’s a legion of slaves turning those things, you’re wrong. The general movement of the gun’s base is powered by magic wind and force type spells, specifically designed to move those guns. The finer adjustment and elevation is done by measured counterweights within the center of the gun tower.”

Ah, so then the coastal gun must really be a bull-pup design, where the barrel of a gun or cannon is a ways into the turret mantel, either for protection of the barrel or technical need.

“Why not do the finer adjustment by magic too? Wouldn’t it be easier?”

I ask.

“Magic is powerful sure, but the cannons will be changing elevation much more than rotating, and the mana required to lift up such a heavy barrel would be sizable, so Oswell opted to just use some of his mechanical wizardry, to save mana consumption.”

“I’m guessing you didn’t learn much else than magic at that School of Crafts then, ‘Ms. Mechanical Wizardry’.”

“Oh shush. It’s just an expression, of course I know that science and magic are two different things.”

Even so, science in this world seems to get the short end of the stick. All smart and educated people are shoved into the realm of casting and spell development, just because on paper magic seems more useful than basic physics and chemistry. Oh, how backwards this society is, the science of my world would be to Arciel like magic is to me. Well, at least I can say that it’s good thing no such magic exist back home, look where we’ve gotten without it.

“Hey, Arciel, how long has the world existed for?”

I ask. I’m curious now. Has it been eons of stagnation, or is life on the same track as my own world? I don’t know how old Jeremiah is, and by extension, how old summoning and Andestine are, so I can’t draw conclusions.

“Now just why in the world would I know that!?”

Okay…

“Alright then, how long have the countries existed?”

Arciel furrows her brow for a moment.

“Andestine is as old as the world itself. Our nation was formed by a small group at Re’relihn. Nobody knows how they got there, but no other peoples lived on Andestine, just that group. From there, Andestine grew into what it is today. The council theorizes that Sidonia has been around for just as long, but that’s all guess work, nobody has a clue about them. I guess if you count the Principality and Caliphate as the same groups as the small tribes they started out as, then they’ve been around pretty long too. The northern nations are the youngest nations, but that’s mostly because they get destroyed and conquered by each other every other day.”

Nations started forming as soon as there was a world? What? Just where is the periods of evolution, you know, the stone age, bronze age, just why did people suddenly ‘appear’?

“Does anybody know where humans come from?”

Arciel shook her head.

“The only answer for that is in religion.”

Well, I’m a good and upstanding Christian, but of course, there’s no Catholicism here, so my religious affiliation is as good as nonexistent. The two big religions are in the Caliphate and Principality. The Caliphate worships the Hole-Hearted Cavalier, some Jesus-like guy that taught that hard work and thinking for one’s self was the path for a stable life. The Caliph’s family are apparently the only ones who can communicate with the Cavalier’s dead spirit.

The Principality believes in their royal family, as in their way of thought, the Irine-Ir-Iridide line holds domination over powerful evil spirits, and scares them away, making the world peaceful as long as a family member is alive.

Andestine though, isn’t very religious at all. They believe in humanity, and as such elect and are led by their own. They’re the closest thing to a democracy in this world.

“Hey, Arciel, does the term ‘Evolution’, ring a bell?”

I ask.

“It’s the name of some theory created years ago, I don’t remember the person who made it – it’s a minor theory, just one in the pile of hundreds of others. I’m pretty sure there were stories of a Hero who was openly supporting it, but that’s about it. I think it’s a bunch of malarkey if you ask-”

Arciel stops her words, as if cut off, though nobody had spoken to interrupt her.

“Look-! They’re powering up!”

Arciel sits up straighter leaning toward the guns. As I look over, I see what Arciel was talking about. The rings that line the barrel of one of the guns are lighting up a feint blue. The rings, more aptly, the coils, soon shine brightly, and waft blue wisps. The barrels the now blue rings surround also faintly glows blue, and at the base of the gun, crevices and cracks burst with light, and run up the entirety of the gun. The surge of energy continues, all the way to and out the barrel of the now effulgent gun.

A large beam of light blue mana is shot from the coastal gun, the noise roars and quakes through my body. The gun continues firing this beam for all most five straight seconds, its screech deep and undulating. The stream of mana, now cut from the gun, continues westward, and I see it drop off in elevation, falling at an arc. After about fifteen seconds, the stream of mana, now only a blip in my eyes due to its distance, impacts on the water, creating a splash and wave of colossal magnitude that blots over the horizon.

It took a few seconds for the sound to reach, but when it did, I almost felt like I was going to be blown over, like it was an intense release of wind.

I looked over to Arciel to check that she was alright, and although she seemed to be fine, her face played numerous emotions across it at once. She was starstruck, in awe, filled with jubilee, fascinated, and starry eyed all at once.

“Hey, not bad.”

Kana says.

“W-w-what do you mean!? That was awesome!”

Arciel sprung to her feet, as if rooting for the coastal defense cannon. Only seconds passed before the second gun initiated its firing sequence, illuminating the same way as the first. The surge of energy came, and again blue mana was ejected from the gun’s barrel. This time though, it wasn’t a steady beam, it was a short bolt.

The second gun, being the one more angled into the sky, shot it’s bolt high into the clouds. It was fast, and a few seconds after it was fired, I saw a flash of blue in the clouds, akin to lighting. The clouds exploded, as a shockwave of air created a crater midair where the clouds had once been.

Once again, a few seconds passed before the sound and shockwave reached us, and unlike the roaring of the first gun, this one’s noise and wave of wind was more abrupt, metallic, and explosive.

“Hahaha! How about that?”

“Mm. It’s a little better I guess.”

Amidst the cheering Arciel, the smirking Kana and the panting Pat, a thought is still lingering on my mind. Just why the hell can these things fire as if they were anti-air emplacements?

…

After the pseudo-fireworks display, the three of us retired for the night. The warm lights of the interiors of the surrounding buildings endows sense of safety in me, as if the lights can repel the darkness overhead. Of course, the houses in my immediate area, beside the city barracks, are nothing compared to the beacon that is the city’s citadel, where Arciel got changed earlier in the day.

“Are you staying with us for the night then, Arciel?”

Kana asked.

“Of course not! I am a noble, a Great Noble no less, of course I have accommodations here lent to me by other nobles. Besides, I’d lose face if I were to sleep with the common people, soldiers no less, hmph!”

Arciel pouted, crossing her arms and turning away.

“And good night to you too.”

I say as she walks off toward the citadel gates.

“Shepard, has Arciel ever been grateful?”

As we enter the barracks, Kana asks me. I shake my head.

“Never. Which is weird because, when we were on deployment in Foksly, she got her wrist dislocated and her shoulder impaled; But you wouldn’t be able to tell just by looking at her. She’s been through plenty of pain, but for some reason she still isn’t too grateful for anything.”

“I can’t imagine Arciel being wounded, from her attitude, I’d think she would just break down in tears.”

“Mm. She’s a lot tougher than she lets on, but she’s still just as much of a brat.”

“Well, it’s a noble’s thing I guess.”

I can only imagine how Jeremiah must’ve felt, some sort of French aristocrat being forced to serve some random other nation. He certainly didn’t sound like a noble, but that might be because of how long he’s been here; I can imagine one would develop a thorough air of uncaring from living so long.

Me and Kana reach the room where I’d taken off my armor previously.

“Ah, it must be such a burden wearing that heavy hero armor all the time.”

Kana remarked, glancing at my empty suit of armor.

“Thanks to my strength, not so much.”

I shrug as she collapses on one of the beds in the room, yawning.

“So…You’re okay sleeping in the same room as me? I’m a guy you know.”

“What? Shy?”

Kana sneered, sitting up and stretching. Pat hops up onto the bed she was on and curled up beside her, taking up about half the space.

“No, I was just wondering was all. Arciel would have a heart attack if she slept in the same room as me.”

“Well, of course, she’s a lady’s lady. I stopped caring back when I was an adventurer about where I slept. We needed to be able to rest at anytime and anywhere, on grass, dirt, mud, rocks, anything.”

I’d imagine. Kana starts to unclip and unbuckle her top, and as I do, I remember that I wanted to ask her about what kind of armor it was.

“I’ve been meaning ask, what’s that you’re wearing, it’s leather, right?”

“Of course it’s not leather. It’s gambeson dummy.”

“Gamba-what now?”

Kana furrowed her brow at me.

“You…don’t know what gambeson is?”

I shake my head. Kana sighed, taking of the coat of gambeson like it was a tight sweater.

“Gambeson, aketons, arming doublets, all it is is padded fabric armor. It’s generally made of linen or wool and it’s stuffed with lots of different things. Though, aketons and arming doublets are generally the terms given to under armor or secondary protection, whereas gambeson is more a standalone mode of protection. There’s also jacks, those go over plate or chain as outer defense.”

Kana said, now only in a tank-top.

Thinking back on it, I remember seeing some soldiers wearing gambeson in the Foksly Regional Militia, and some of the garrison of Nerenton and Re’relihn were also wearing get-ups that weren’t made of metal. I can imagine other soldiers I’ve seen also wearing aketons or arming doublets under their plate armor. When I think of non-metal armor, I always think leather, not some sort of wool or linen garb.

“…And it actually protects you?”

“It depends on the thickness and craft, but gambeson is very protective for how cheap and easy it is to produce compared to chain or steel, hell, some of the thicker gambeson suits I’ve seen can stand toe to toe with steel.”

…what? How have I not heard this before? Cloth armor that can block swords? Well, thinking on it now, I can imagine what the swing of a sword would do to an extremely thick layering of wool; in my mind, unless the sword was being swung in such a way that the blade would run across gambeson, letting the blade do the work, I really don’t think gambeson would be pierced by much. I guess thrusting would do the trick, though that’d depend on the speed and length of the attacking weapon, and also the shape of the cutting edge’s tip.

I think I understand now why I’ve seen so many soldiers obsessing over keeping their weapons as sharp as can be, if their sword were too dull, than they couldn’t hope to cut gambeson.

“What about an arrow?”

I ask. Kana lifts a hand to her chin, pondering.

“Again, it depends on what kind of gambeson you have, and what kind of arrow you’re talking about. I’ve seen gambeson stop some arrows dead in their tracks, I’ve seen arrows penetrate the steel of someone’s armor only to be halted by the aketon underneath. Of course, I’ve seen arrows punch through gambeson like it’s paper, but those kinds of arrows boast piercing steel just the same; You never know with the heavier bows. The heaviest archers I know of are the Nuam archers of Sidonia or our own heavier Andestine archers, those guys are scary, damn arrows will go right through you. There’s really no stopping those, they could probably even put a sizable hole in your hero armor too.”

I guess I’ve been lucky so far, I haven’t been hit by any damned arrows. Kana places her sword right next to her, in arms reach of the bed, and I remember that I also wanted to ask about where’d she’d gotten it from.

“Hey, where’d you get a sword like that, it’s not a common sight around here.”

Kana shrugged.

“This? I just found it at a shop one day when I was little, I still don’t know who made it or where it came from, a lot of people tell me that it’s it’s from the Far East, but I find that dubious.”

Kana starts to take of her tank top, and I gruffly turn away from her, preparing for bed for myself.

***