They made it to Benjamin Town without incident, Tony leading the way, Katrin and Ginny chatting behind them, and Colin following behind, saying nothing to either companions or Comrades the entire way.
Katrin hung back to wait for him as Tony and Ginny entered the town. "Hey, Prayerman."
"Great." Colin groaned. "You're never going to let me forget this, are you?"
Katrin giggled.
"Well, what is it?" Colin asked.
"Ginny says we can see the outskirts of Joseph Town's farms from here." Katrin said.
"Let's go take a look." Colin nodded.
"Are you sure? I mean, we're supposed to be mercenaries…"
"We're already here." Colin said. "And I know you want to see what they're like. Joseph Town provides most of the food on this continent, and I heard their farms are amazing."
Katrin hesitated.
"You want to see if you can learn something, don't you?" Colin said. "Maybe bring it back to improve Edward's Farm?"
Katrin jumped. "Uh… well…"
"Let's do it." Colin told her.
Katrin marveled. "You really know me well, huh?"
"No. I just know that you care about the farm."
Katrin eyed him sideways. "The way you care about the forest?"
"That's different." Colin answered.
"How?"
"It just… is."
Katrin stuck out her tongue at him.
Tony rolled his eyes when Colin said they wanted to take a short break, but Ginny grinned. "Great! I was waiting for a chance to go shopping. I need to stock up on food; there's no telling if I'll get another chance once we start work."
"That's another thing I like about rock Comrades." Tony told Colin. "They rarely need to eat. I can carry a week's worth of energy crystals in my pocket easily."
"Buying those must be seriously expensive." Ginny snorted. "Especially since the airport was wrecked."
"I stocked up a year's worth last Fire Seas." Tony shrugged.
Katrin nudged Colin as they moved out of earshot. "What's this about fire seas?"
"It's a season. Like summer or winter." Colin said. "Satrox said it's like a festival, people come from all over just to see it. It's why the north-east areas of Lamico are all desert."
"It sounds like the sea catches fire or something."
Colin shrugged. "Satrox said it makes for some great pictures. It's another of those reasons why the Republic's so rich. Windy Plains gets lots of tourists when it happens."
"When is it?" Katrin wanted to know.
Colin scratched his head. "I don't know. He didn't tell me. We can ask around."
They came within sight of the farms, and Katrin forgot all about the fire seas.
"Wow!" she said, and dashed forward.
Joseph Town itself was far in the distance, but the farms around it stretched almost as far as Benjamin Town. These farms weren't anything like what Farmer Edward and Katrin had run back on the Crescent Continent.
These farms were huge. They were organized and automated. They were irrigated, formed into structured rows, with what appeared to be a monorail going around large segments of irrigation.
The crops themselves were varied but stacked four decks high, the top three hydroponic, the bottom filled with the kind of crops that bore fruit over and over again. Each deck was ten feet above the last and seemed to have sprinklers to water the crops below. Were they using the same water?! Colin didn't know, but it all looked very efficient.
"That's brilliant…" Katrin whispered, sounding dreamy.
Beeping sounded from his watch. Someone was calling.
"Excuse me." Colin said, startled to see who the caller was.
He went aside a little way and took the call. "May?"
"Colin!" May greeted him. "When are we going to battle?"
Colin gulped, realizing that May had been waiting to battle him for a few nights now. "I… uh… well… I'm busy…"
"I heard. Forester eh? I've had to change my map three times because of you."
"You're going to have to change it again, soon." Colin said. "We're rebuilding and planting more forests."
"So I've heard. I also heard you were kicked out of the J-Knights. Mom seems to like you more because of that. She said she understands completely."
"She did the same thing, didn't she?" Colin remembered. "She only destroyed one village before she was kicked out, though. I took out a village and a town. Problem is, I'm not sure what I did was legal."
"Mom says that's one problem about the J-Knights. They're too concerned about law. Sometimes, doing what is right has nothing to do with law. Sometimes, following the law would be unjust."
"Sometimes." Colin admitted. "But in this war, I think the concern they have is about order. They're trying to make peace and end the war. Scopia has a point; maintaining order and keeping peace isn't really justice either."
"They're basically police, Colin. Law and order is one thing, but if you're really concerned about right and wrong, and about justice itself, well… you end up like mom."
"I already did." Colin sighed. "But I feel a bit bad about it, though. Lord Geoffrey and everyone treated me fairly about my Comrades. They didn't try to lock me up or anything."
"About your Comrades? What are you talking about?"
"It's a big risk if they went Frenzied." Colin explained. "They're all high-class Comrades. Shiro and Raiki are both above class-10. If they went Frenzied…"
"They'd wipe out everything." May agreed. "Uber Marshes all over again."
"Actually that was because of something else." Colin remembered Lynn's sharing. "But yeah, the risk is the same."
"Well, that's still no reason for anyone to lock you up." May declared. "Choosing their Comrades is a basic right of all Travelers. They have no right to punish or even judge you about your choice of Comrades."
"But it's risky, and they were all busy trying to clear out the Frenzieds." Colin said, softly. "May, I saw what happened when a class-9 went Frenzied. That Dire Bear was a Comrade of one of our volunteers and… well…"
"That wasn't yours." May said. "If they're so worried, they can try protecting you, but punish you? They have no right."
"Well, they might try coming after me because of what I did to Lakeside and Riverfork." Colin said. "I did order the destruction of a village and a town."
"They kicked you out for that." May pointed out. "Why would they go any further?"
"There's a trial three nights from now." Colin said.
"Really…" May sounded troubled. "I wonder if mom went through one too. I'll have to ask. But really, the more I hear about them, the lower my opinion of J-Knights."
"They're good guys, mostly." Colin said. "They're just…"
"Confused." May snorted.
"Maybe. But they're still the good guys. They're trying, even if it costs them. That's far better than causing trouble for their own profit, like the Lamico Underground." Colin said.
"You might not be saying that after that trial of yours."
"Maybe." Colin said again. "But I've got other things to worry about right now."
"Where's the trial?" another voice suddenly asked over the call. Colin's eyes widened; that voice wasn't May. It was her mom, Scarlet.
"I don't know." Colin said. "They'll probably tell me when it's time. Why?"
"I think I'll drop in or stick around." Scarlet told him. "I didn't go for my own trial, and I'm curious to know what it will be like."
"And if things go too badly, we can try a rescue." May threw in, mischievously.
"Uh…"
"Hey, Prayerman!" Tony was coming over.
Colin winced. "Uhoh. I gotta go."
"Call me back when you can!" May shot in before Colin cut the comms link.
Colin turned to Tony as the other boy arrived and was a bit startled when Tony grabbed him and pulled him aside, looking around furtively.
"What's wrong?" Colin blinked. "You're acting weird."
"How much are they paying you?" Tony asked in a low voice, still looking around as if afraid to see someone.
"Huh?" Colin stared.
"How much, Prayerman? You must have come all the way here from another continent, because I've never heard of you before now. Whatever they're paying you two, it's got to be good, so… how much?"
"Why do you want to know?" Colin asked, confused.
"I want to know what this mission's really worth!" Tony said in a low voice.
"This mission…?" Colin paused. "Why are you looking around like that? Why don't you ask Huntress when we meet her?"
"Because I want to know the truth!" Tony growled. "You're the religious sort, right? Your kind doesn't like lying. Tell me! How much are they paying you?"
Colin shook his head. "I shouldn't tell you."
"Come on! We're friends, right?" Tony pressed.
Colin frowned. "What makes you my friend? You're just saying that to make me do what you want me to. Would a real friend do that?"
"Hey!" Ginny arrived from the side. "Tony! I told you to let those two lovebirds have some privacy!"
"Lovebirds?!" Colin spluttered.
"Oh. Luna told me." Ginny waved aside dismissively.
"What?!" Colin choked.
"Ginny!" Katrin pounced on her from behind. "Don't twist my words!"
"I asked you if he was someone special to you, and you said 'yes', remember?" Ginny pointed out.
"When did…?" Colin stared.
"I did, but… I mean…" Katrin's face was all red.
"Oh? So it's not like that?" Ginny peered at Katrin.
Tony sneaked a glance at Colin's face. "You're blushing."
"Then it {is} like that!" Ginny grinned.
"Um…" Katrin turned away. "We should go!"
"Yeah!" Colin agreed.
"HEY!" Ginny complained, but the pair of them were already heading out.
Behind them, Colin heard Tony grumble. "You know, we're missing the Protectorate's Technique Exhibition for this."
"We're heading to Port Rachel anyway." Ginny consoled him. "Maybe we'll be able to drop in at the Grand Arena before everything starts."
Tony barked a laugh. "Huntress and Forkscar died, remember? I think everything's already started."
Katrin nudged Colin as they walked on. "What's the Grand Arena?"
"No idea." Colin told her.
Katrin rolled her eyes at him and asked Ginny.
"The Grand Arena?" Ginny blinked. "I'm surprised you didn't know. It's the biggest arena on the whole continent. The Protectorate likes to show off their military strength. Exhibitions and competitions on specific things like techniques or combinations or speed or acrobatics are held there weekly. Tonight's the Technique Exhibition."
"It's a Tournament, then?" Katrin asked.
"Not really." Ginny said. "It's a matter of performances and scoring points for judges, there's no actual fighting."
Just then, the ground started shaking.
"What the…?!" Tony yelped as they spun around to see what the shaking was all about.
They found it at once. Towering over Benjamin Town was the looming figure of Yggdrasil.
"Sekai…" Colin winced.
"Run!" Katrin grabbed Ginny and dashed down the road.
"What…?!" Ginny blinked once as she was whisked off.
"Just run!" Katrin said, dragging her along.
Colin ran on, thinking of how many towns were being destroyed in Lamico lately.
{This time, it's not my fault!}
But the score still tallied at Colin three, Sekai two.
{Oh, come on, it's not like I WANT her to cause more trouble than I have…}
Yet here they were heading to Port Rachel, the last city left standing on the continent, with Sekai not very far behind them. Sora was held there, and if Sekai found out, Colin had little doubt that the city would be in ruins by morning.
{How long is the Protectorate going to let her rampage?}
But already Kenneth Fervor, one of their top generals, had been killed outright when he faced her. Even Satrox started running when he realized she had found him. Was the Protectorate even able to stop her?
{The entire Union couldn't stop me. I caught them off guard. Those who put up a fight didn't last very long. The Lords of the Wilds were just too powerful for them.}
{Maybe it's the same in this case. Unless they get organized… no, even if they did get organized…}
"Somebody's got to stop that girl!" Katrin growled, overtaking Colin, Ginny no longer needing to be dragged.
"I don't know if anyone can." Colin replied.
"Who's the most powerful person on this continent?" Katrin asked Ginny.
Ginny thought about it for two seconds. "My guess? It's probably the Forester."
{Me?!} Colin half-groaned.
Katrin sneaked a sideways glance at him.
Colin shook his head. {Why's everyone looking at me to save them nowadays?}
Besides, looking at Yggdrasil , Colin had to wonder if even the Lords of the Wilds could stop Sekai.
"Why the Forester?" Colin had to ask.
"Yeah. After all, if Aaron hadn't left the Lamico Union, those towns might still be around." Tony put in.
{Aaron? They had someone who could have stopped me?}
"What happened to him?" Colin asked.
"He quit the Lamico Union some time back. Something about honor." Tony shrugged.
That makes sense.
Colin frowned as he thought about it. {Who's this Sekai anyway? I thought the Seven Champions of the Justice Knights were among the most powerful people on this world. Yet even Satrox just died trying to run from her.}
{Sora's sister. House Melody had someone like THAT and they hadn't won the war yet?}
That didn't make sense. At all.
They ran.