"Elder Yukika and many others are dead, murdered by Priestess Papuyo's supporters. They ambushed us with the intent to kill. They show no remorse in their actions and continue in their excessive zealotry." Tusile speaks at the end of the Lojyo, just before everyone goes to the baths, with Guklaro at her side.
"They will not let us access Temple Island and will kill anyone who attempts to do so. They are all criminals who must be punished; unfortunately, there are too many of them, and they will try to fight back. As of now, we are at war with these criminals. Anyone who supports them is not welcome in our village, and anyone who joins them on Temple Island will be considered a criminal along with them," Guklaro says darkly, making sure everyone knows the consequences of joining the enemy.
The news of Yukika's death and the betrayal of the priestesses is a surprise to many. I am also surprised, not by the fact that the Priestess tried killing the elders, but instead by how fast it happened.
Even now, I can see conflicted looks on many faces within my perception as everyone heads to the baths.
"Alysara, can you stay for a moment?" Tusile says. I nod, my family staying behind with me. Once we have some privacy, Tusile speaks.
"The airships will prove vital in the coming conflict. We need your help in making a few new models for this," Tusile says before looking at my parents. "I promise she won’t be involved any further outside of making preparations for our warriors."
"You better keep your promise, but I think your biggest issue will be gathering enough warriors willing to fight," Dad says.
"Yes, but out of all the islands, we should have enough people," Guklaro replies.
"It will take months of preparation, and they will be doing the same. We'll need to know exactly how many supporters they have, how many warriors, mages, and their supplies. They lack the infrastructure we have, so that's a major plus on our end, but we have to worry about sabotage and maybe even assassinations," I say. Knowledge of some of the most basic warfare strategies surfaces to the forefront of my mind from the memories of my past life.
"Let us worry about that, for now, just get some rest," Tusile says.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Tanafyam wakes up to noise in the house. Investigating the sounds, he finds his parents putting things into boxes: their few dedications to Myrou, clothes, tools and his old toys.
"Momara? What are you doing?" Tana can't help but ask with a foreboding feeling in his stomach.
"Grab that pot, Tana; we're leaving this heretic village!" Tana's taller parent, Folor, points at the cooking pot. "We're going to Temple Island."
"Why? This is our home; we can't leave to join the criminals." He can't understand what his parents are talking about. After all this time, they are just going to leave? Even after hearing that the criminals murdered somebody?
Momara Aya sighs angrily. "You were always an ugly child! Never once did you have faith in our goddess, did you?! This is your punishment for your heresy! The only way for you to become beautiful is to pray to our goddess, have faith in her, and serve her. Even now, you don't take art and creativity to heart! You are a sinful child, an ugly child!"
Tana cannot believe his ears; why is Momara Aya saying this?
"You will either join the Order of Myrou, or we will leave you behind!"
Tana is taken aback. Why would Momara Aya even say such things? Tana looks at Momara Folor, eyes pleading. This all feels like a bad dream.
"You wear your sins, Tanafyam. Only through faith can you be washed clean of them. You either come with us and be cleansed of your sins, or you stay here with the rest of the heretics, but we will not tolerate ugliness or heresy within our family."
Tana just wants to get stronger. All he wants is to prove to himself that he can stand by the side of his only true friend. But if he goes with his parents, he'll be forever set apart from her. Tears threaten to overwhelm his eyes as he hears his parents’ harsh words.
What do I do? If I choose to stay here, I won't have a family anymore; I won’t have anywhere to go. If I go, then I can't be friends with Aly anymore.
"C-can I think about it?" Tana asks, almost pleading.
"There's nothing to think about! You are either a heretic or not!"
Just then, a knock comes at the door.
"I'll go get it," Momara Aya says.
She opens the door revealing Esofy, who takes one look around before fixing Momara Aya and Folor with a cold glare and speaking harshly.
"I thought as much. You two were always very... over-eager in your proclamations of your faith, and judging by your yelling, you're trying to pressure your child into joining our enemies. Do you even hear yourselves talk? You are not good parents." Esofy's voice is filled with cold venom.
"Begone, heretic! We will not tolerate your presence!" Momara Folor hisses.
"I'm not the one proclaiming my faith with words alone; I put my faith into my sculptures. When was the last time you did anything of the sort, I wonder? Regardless, that's not why I'm here." Esofy looks at Tana and her gaze warms. "You've got such a talented child, and yet you reject her. Come here, Tana, be the person you want to be, not what someone else demands of you."
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"No! Tanafyam is going to serve Myrou in the Order of Myrou; stop corrupting my child!" Momara Aya shouts.
Esofy pushes the door open forcefully, making Momara Aya stumble, and walks over to Tana. Momara Folor picks up a broom and attacks Esofy, but she doesn’t even flinch under the strike. Kneeling down, Esofy hugs Tana.
"Be the person you want to be, Tana... don't let anyone tell you otherwise."
Tana can’t hold back his tears any further as he returns Esofy’s hug.
"Come with me, Tana, let’s get stronger, let’s prove to the world how strong the Runalymo can become."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The next morning I meet with the Elders to help make plans for the warships. These ones will have several large spell crystals to power strong spells, which will in turn necessitate a few changes so that the spell crystals can target the ground properly, but other than that the designs won’t change much.
All the elders will be attending a meeting in a few days to discuss the war, on the offshore shelter that was made after the village fire, the place that we took shelter during the superstorm. I don't know how they'll approach this war, but I can be sure that people who've not seen real conflict in a thousand years won't make the best decisions. I can only hope that they don't mess up too much. Not that I’d be much better, really, I don’t remember nearly enough to handle something like this.
The next week I take the relative calm as a chance to train my skills; I don't know if I will have a chance to do so later. I have one clone practicing [Musician] with Chofel; apparently, I can get another breakthrough, one which helps me communicate through music, although it is a hard one to get. I practice with Chyzu to work on my [Persistent State] and [Acting] with a second clone, while a third is working at home, helping Yafel and Yafe practice their Bonds. My fourth clone is working on the warship spell crystals.
Despite the news of war, the village atmosphere has remained relatively normal, although that is probably because the Runalymo doesn't understand what that really means. A few people have or are leaving the village, presumably to go to Temple Island, but for everyone else it's just another day.
As I spar with others in Chyzu's dojo, I take note of how her style of teaching has changed since the dungeon. Her focus has shifted from practice to preparation, dealing with unknowns, and skills to break free of restraints, both magical and physical. There are even times when we all sit down and discuss scenarios one might find themselves in against monsters, although Chyzu has adapted it wonderfully to the Kheshamo tournaments.
"Just because someone has a skillset that is hard for you to deal with doesn't mean that you automatically lose. Think, 'How will they defeat me?' 'If I were them, what would I do to defeat me?' Put yourselves in the other's position and plan around that. Do your best to cover your weaknesses while capitalizing on those of your opponent."
Just then, a knock comes at the door and Chyzu smiles and stands up. "I have a special announcement for you all." She walks to the door and opens it up, revealing Esofy and her students. With the others joining us, Chyzu and Esofy stand next to each other.
"From now on, we will be combining our dojos to form the first Runalymo Academy of Combat. We will focus on many things, from learning how to fight in tournaments as usual to fighting monsters, strategy, tactics, using equipment effectively, and even on-field training to get real experience fighting monsters. If some of you only want to learn sports combat, that is fine; we won’t force you to do the rest." Chyzu says with a bright smile.
"You might ask 'why teach both warriors and mages the same things?'" Chyzu adds, "The reasons are simple. Real combat doesn't care what you are; whether you beat your enemy or not depends more on your capabilities. We will teach you how both warriors and mages fight; this will help you understand how each will approach the same situations. It's to widen your perspectives so you can better overcome monsters, as many can use combinations of physical and magical combat styles."
With that said, the lessons begin, which adds a new shift to how things are taught. The first thing that Esofy stressed to get, especially for warriors, is a skill to prevent being caught in crowd-control spells like those used by the Aydomr and Everwinter Slime.
I am called on to provide the spell, while Esofy and Chyzu join in the training as well. To further push the importance of this training, I summon fairies to boop people’s noses, delivering a painful sting, and say "You're dead" to them. By the end of the training session, no one has yet to gain a skill or breakthrough to resist the restraining spell.
I begin to think about how [Graceful Movements] might gain a breakthrough from putting myself in their shoes. The first step would be to perhaps use quick movements to evade physical restraints, such as rope or chains. The next would be to somehow resist or free myself from spell entrapments. But how could I do that? The variant skill uses beauty mana; perhaps I can start there?
In any case, figuring out how to get those breakthroughs will also help Esofy, who has her own variant of [Agile Movements]; [Battle Movements], probably influenced by her battle essence Bond just like how my [Graceful Movements] was influenced by my beauty essence.
At the end of the day, Esofy and Chyzu dismiss everyone to go to the after-work baths, but ask Tana and I to stay behind.
"Tana's parents... have decided to go to Temple Island," Esofy says. The news shocks me, but in hindsight it shouldn't have; they were always zealous. "Tana will be staying with me, and I ask you to help Tana through these times."
I turn my head towards Tana, studying his face. It's clear that he's trying to put on a hard expression, but I can only imagine the turmoil going on inside him. I walk forward and give my friend a hug, softly purring.
For years, Tana has only been interested in one thing, getting stronger. Well, two things, I know he has feelings towards me, but now definitely isn’t the time for that. So I say the only thing I can think of to help take his mind off things.
"Let’s train together, Tana. Let’s get stronger together."
We go to the baths together with Esofy and Chyzu, after which, I train with Tana for the rest of the day.
The next morning my family's shop receives several orders for armor and weapons to be made, although not all are for the war efforts: a lot have come from the Academy of Combat too. With a large backlog of orders, one of my clones has to help manage the shop. Even at the end of the week, we still have orders to work through.
After the workday, ten days after the announcement of Yukika's death and the declaration of war, we have finally gotten through all of our work orders. With some free time for my clone, I check out how the production for the warship is going.
I walk to the pier, only to find a crowd clamoring around something. Moving closer, I see the burning form of the warship. Not just that, though... all of our airships are burning. The Valymo, the Winamr, the prototypes that Tusile wanted to experiment with, all of them. Struggling on the ground, being held by three others each, are four people. Some of them are shouting, but I can't hear them over the noise of the crowd. One of them has a fire bond, so I assume her to be the main culprit of the sabotage.
I sigh and walk away. This may be the first sabotage, but it won't be the last.