"That's too dangerous! What are you talking about?" A Royalty member exclaimed while suddenly banging the table. His expression tells the other members that he's really mad about the decision of the board.
"That's the most optimal solution for us, unfortunately. We didn't plan the Mana Zone program the way that you're thinking it. The Mana Zone will save hundreds, no– A thousand young teens and while they're away with their parents, they'll situate their condition into something far better than what the protectors are capable of." Captain Lennon answered.
"Then are you implying that once they've finished their term, you're going to deploy them to fight the X organization? Isn't that too absurd?!" A response from another royalty member.
"Well, at the very least, if things got out of hand, that's the last resort that we're going to do. But don't worry, as of now, there's not that much evidence that will hinder us from going against them. The only problem we can only expect and hope it wouldn't happen is if Yama will break through his slumber and conquer each division." He followed.
"Still that's too critical–"
"Those kids..." Suddenly, Uncle Martin interrupted the ongoing dispute between the two.
"Those kids... Even though they're weak as of now... If things will be like that in the future, then you guys won't have to worry about them." Uncle Martin softly said while gazing down. The royalty shifted their gaze from the captain to him all while illustrating a scorned face and disoriented expression.
"What do you mean?" A member asked.
"They are... They are destined to fight and defeat Yama one day." Uncle Martin stated those words with a serious demeanor. Not that hostile, but, with confidence.
"Well, you heard him. Besides, we're not actually going to deploy them without any experience and training. They have like 4 terms to take before they master their skills and adapt some major development. By those 4 years, we, and the other division captains including the leader of each Zodiac Clans will have to do our best before Yama gets here. We're going to take any advantages, skills, any bits of knowledge and chances we can get to prevent the critical future of Raiaterra." Captain Lennon continued.
"Does the other country knows about this plan?" Arthur asked.
"Yeah, they all have their own Mana Zone program as well. It's not gonna be easy but the one thing that we need to keep is their confidentiality from the public domain. The program is not actually held between each capital. They're hosted far away from this land and hopefully, nothing's going to happen." Captain Lennon answered.
"Well? What are you thinking right now? X must be moving as of now while we're talking. Heck, we don't even know, but maybe they're already spying on us and gathering information." Captain Lich asked.
"The main plan right now as proposed by King Berg of the Taurus Zodiac Clan is to determine the location of X's subordinates and their potential hideout throughout the other city, division by division. All people who wear a cloak with a symbol X should be neutralized before they relay any information regarding the Mana Zone program. That's going to be the waypoint and outline." Captain Lennon answered.
"Hmm, you're right. Considering that they must be scattered around the country, we can only hope that they won't notice the way and the path through the program. But other than that, the decoy announcement that we made about hosting the program here inside the capital, don't you think that it's kinda obvious for them to not be subtle about our decision?"
"About that, don't worry. That's our way of baiting them anyway. If they knew about the announcement then they're most likely to venture around the capital in which it is easier for us to capture them." He answered.
"Then what about the motive? They're actually going to destroy everything if they find it, right?" Arthur asked.
"Well about that, they don't actually know the reason why we're sending these kids on a program like this. If they knew they would've already spotted it and destroyed the plan. What do they know is that we're just hosting a secret organization that will train them. That's all." Captain Lennon answered.
"Sounds about right, but I'm more worried about how the kids will actually do the job though." Uncle Martin joined it.
"How are they going to train exactly? I also don't think they need to either way because their body won't be able to handle it at some point." Arthur followed.
"Well things like being adept to their own professional nature is actually the training they'll take. The administrator will have to give them a test that is pertaining to the opposite of what they're capable of and get the adaptation to be more proficient and stronger in taking it."
"Huh? I didn't get it." Uncle Martin raised his left eyebrow with a dumbfounded expression.
"What I mean is, at their first term, they'll have to develop their own aptitude at a certain element. For example, if it is fire then they'll have to train under rainy weather to boost their resiliency and develop a stronger body. The opposite nature that serves as their weakness will be used to train them under any circumstance. Well, that's actually all I know, I don't really know the other details." Captain Lennon answered with a little shyness.
While the discussion is ongoing, Lich's behavior suddenly turned upright. A black figure can be seen in the reflection of the window where he's seated. He moved his head a little to see and feel the pressure that someone's watching them. After that, he sighed as he stood up.
"I'm sorry, I'll be going outside for a while to get some fresh air. You guys continue the meeting without me."Lich offered to step outside for some business.
"Okay then, see you." Captain Lennon responded and the other guards including Arthur and Martin offered their salute by their 3 fingers horizontally on the left side of their chest near the heart.
After that, he opened the door and departed the room.
Outside the building, Lich exited from the gates and started walking on the alley sideways. He searched his surroundings but nothing showed up.
"Ice Magic Skill: Chilled Search" He cast a spell that lets him find something unordinary movement that's caused by anything that's not rational. A cold breeze will be used to determine any footprints under his radius.
After a while, he noticed that there are some unnatural struggle and smeared footprints behind the building of Captain Lennon's office. He followed the track until he reached the back alley. It's quite dark at that time and the breeze was pretty chilling, not to mention that he cast another spell using his ice magic.
He continued to walk and passed through some gates. Most of the fences are left open and didn't even bother to close it. He continued to emit the searching spell until he felt an irregular chill.
He started running away to chase it up to the point where he crossed the bridge to get into the western area of the capital. He used his elemental magic to boost his movement and when he pinpointed the location of the black figure, a large building can be found in front of him and at the backside as well.
On the other hand, the black figure stopped its momentum.
There's a lot of lamps outside the street but it's not really enough to actually see. He then showed up to reveal himself under the orange light lamp.
The black figure was a member of X. He wears a dark cloak with a symbol on his wrist. Suddenly, the sound of a footstep resonated around the backside of the building. He gasped and tried to escape by jumping...
However
"Ice Magic Skill: Ice Prison." Lich suddenly showed up behind his back. The member of the X organization suddenly felt a chill. His body was turning blue indicating that his bones and nerves are freezing. After that, a big prison-shaped Ice started to grow outside his body.
"Well well well... How bold of you to assume that you can actually get away with me." Lich appeared right in front of him.
"You're lucky that I didn't use anything dangerous with my spell just to capture you." He continued.
Meanwhile, at the wagons.
The sky is pretty, the moon and the illuminated stars can be seen while they're traveling our far away location. Inside one of those wagons, Nile and Stell can be seen alongside with 2 girls. One of them has green hair and the other one has red hair.
Stell is smiling with a mortifying attitude while Nile is looking outside to see where they're going.
"Er... Psst, Nile." Stell tapped Nile's belly with his elbow while whispering.
"What?" Nile asked.
"The atmosphere here is really... Really uhh... I don't know what to say, it's kinda embarrassing to be with them you know? What should we do?" Stell asked while gazing at them every single second.
"Why are you so anxious? They're just the same as us..." Nile answered.
Stell suddenly faced palm himself so hard.
"This freaking naive-dense guy..." Stell murmured while being agitated.
"Hey..." Suddenly, the red-haired girl spoke.
Nile and Stell shifted their gaze from each other to look at her.
"You guys... You're not from the capital, aren't you?" She asked.
"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Stell asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, you guys look so dumb together...–"
A nerve suddenly popped out on Stell's forehead and gave her a menacing look.
"What'd you say? HUH?"
"Ack! Calm down, tell! Hey, come on now." Nile read the atmosphere pretty well. He tried to lock Stell's shoulder to avoid letting him hit the girl.
"Come on, Adara. Why do you have to say that?" The green-haired girl joined in.
"Um... I'm very sorry for his behavior! Please forgive us!" Nile bowed his head. On the other hand...
"No, it's okay! It's our fault in the first place!" She bowed as well.
Nile raised his head in awe while Stell forced his back to lean on the seat.
"Heh! Why do you even care about where we came from anyway? It's not like we're discriminated in any way at all." Stell responded with a passive and raspy voice.
"That's what I'm told to in my case, though. They said people outside the capital are just commoners who're not really welcomed." Adara said. Stell opened his eyes, glaring at here.
"Hey now... Let's not talk about something like that." Nile tried to calm them down.
"Anyway, my name is Nile. Me and stell lived outside the capital just as you guys know. We were told that there's going to be something for this program, that's why we headed out here." Nile introduced himself properly with a formal tone.
"Oh that's great, we're actually the same! My name is Aella, and she's Adara, my childhood friend. To be honest with you, even though we lived inside the Capital things are not really that fun at all." Aella introduced herself as well.
"Oh... Why is that?" Nile asked with worriedness.
"Well for the past 2 weeks there has been a lot of crimes that are happening near our hometown. We cannot afford to go outside or do some things we normally do since that time." She continued.
"Crimes?" Stell asked.
"Yes, for the following days, there's a lot of criminals lurking around it. Some of them are wearing a dark cloak or something."
'dark cloak'
"Well, I guess that must be the reason of why you guys signed up for this?" Nile asked.
"Yes. When we heard that we're going to do some actual training at this program, we've made up our mind that we're going to become stronger in order to protect our family. It's been hard for them recently, not to mention, the crimes and the pillaging of products and thieves destroying our crops and taking them, it had a negative impact on all of us. But we can't do anything about it since we're not really strong." Aella answered.
"The authorities are not responding either, they keep mentioning that guards will be on their way but it's been like a week and now they're going to announce something like this. I just don't know what they're thinking." Adara responded as well.
"What about you guys? Why makes you go here?" Aella asked.
"I'm here to become stronger and beat some bad guys and to be the best!" Stell exclaimed.
...
"I'm here to find my mother and other families."