The middle-aged man with red-tinted dark hair looked at Rem, specks of light bringing hope into his dark eyes.
"Can we stop this information from reaching Tymia?" He asked, desperation clinging to his voice.
Rem frowned for a mont.
"No. But I don’t think we need to. Up to this point, the three kingdoms have maintained a delicate balance for several decades. There have been smaller skirmishes and transgressions, but nothing of this scale. The Queen is breaking the tacit agreent between the three kingdoms and bringing chaos upon Vorad and Matarok.
"The eting will be held to discuss this matter."
At this point, neither Vorad nor Matarok were interested in a peaceful resolution, but that wasn’t why the eting was being held. It was to figure out why Tymia was charging at Matarok and how to stop Syttle from devouring them both once they were done with their battle. It was also to discuss how to minimize the permanent damages to each kingdom.
"Tymia won’t be interested in a eting like that," The man said.
There was no need to stop her from knowing about it when she wouldn’t attend anyway.
"And so, we wait and prepare." The man sighed and looked into his glass before downing the last of it in one quick gulp.
"That we do." Rem nodded.
***
"I told you this was a bad idea, Captain!" Lily hissed at Squawks in the cell next to her. The bars were made of wood and the walls of dirt, but they couldn’t get out. Besides, they weren’t here to fight. If they had been, they wouldn’t have let themselves be captured by the tribes.
"No, the idea was sound. It was just the execution that faltered a little," Squawks stubbornly insisted while trying to squeeze out between the bars.
"In what way is entering Tiabe when they have just concluded a battle with Voradi troops a good idea?!" Lily exclaid in exasperation.
"Isn’t it fine since we aren’t Voradi troops?"
"They have just been invaded by humans. Do you think they care about where they’re from?"
"But we’re nothing like Voradi troops."
"Captain..."
"Yes, Lily?"
"Are you stuck?"
"Nonsense," Squawks claid while being firmly lodged between two wooden poles connecting the ceiling and floor.
Lily sighed tiredly and leaned against the cool earthen wall.
"Let’s just hope they listened to us and talked to Malak," she hoped.
"Malak, huh? Sorry to tell you, but Malak is busy right now. You will have to chat with a little." A voice spoke from the darkness of the underground tunnels.
"And who are you?" Squawks asked with a frown. Neither of them had noticed him arrive. They were trapped in hostile territory. They hadn’t let their guards down, but this man had still appeared without making a sound or disturbing the air.
"You can just call Qiro," Qiro answered, his yellow eyes glowing slightly in the dark.
***
After a ’quick chat’ with Qiro, Lily and Squawks were free to go. They were even kindly ’guided’ out of the forest by a burly warrior from the Jakka tribe with tan, spotted fur and round animal ears on their head.
Squawks was deep in thought all the way back to their base in Syttle.
Before going inside, he stopped Lily.
"Lily, things are going to get dangerous from now."
Lily frowned slightly as she looked at Squawks. His tone was much more serious than usual.
"We’re rcenaries, Captain. We eat danger for breakfast as long as we get paid."
"I know, Lily, but this ti, we won’t be fighting bandits or monsters or chasing runaway kittens. This ti, we’ll be fighting in the war."
"I know." She had been there when Qiro asked them to join.
"No, you don’t," Squawks said in a low voice. His eyes were deathly serious as he t Lily’s gaze.
"You know fighting and battles. War is a whole different beast, Lily."
Lily frowned.
"If you’re trying to say that I’m not coming, you can keep your mouth shut." Lily’s frown transford into a glare.
Squawks shook his head.
"That’s not it. I know I can’t stop you. I don’t want to stop you. But I do want you to live. So, I’ll teach you."
"What?" Lily’s glare turned back into a frown as Squawks patted her on the shoulder with a smile.
"I’m going to teach you how to Bring Down The Heavens. Prepare yourself."
Lily felt shivers run down her spine.
She couldn’t rember how many tis she had wanted to learn sword techniques from Squawks, the experienced and skilled captain of their rcenary group. Every ti, he had refused, saying that she was too weak, too beautiful, or too good at petting dogs. He made up a new reason every ti, and eventually, she stopped asking.
Clearly, he didn’t want to teach her, and he didn’t want to tell her the real reason why.
But now, more than any excitent she would have felt in the past about learning the Captain’s sword techniques, she felt fear.
Squawks didn’t give her ti to figure out why she felt that instead of excitent before showing her.
Like the ti he used Sky Splitter to cleave apart Tair’s iron cage in Mischel, his sword techniques, gathered under the na To Bring Down The Heavens, all required physical strength beyond the norm.
Lily was strong. She had worked hard and trained since she was young. She was also good at using all of her strength. And thanks to power crystals, she had overco the natural differences between n and won.
There was a reason why she was the vice-captain of their rcenary group, and it wasn’t because she was pretty or good with money.
However, she had underestimated the strength needed for the captain’s techniques.
After a week of nothing but heavy physical training and loads of at, she complained to Squawks abou when she was actually going to learn sothing.
He had frowned for a mont and crossed his arms before his eyes lit up, sending another chill down Lily’s spine.
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