Enjoy another chapter! Just had super duper busy work. Nothing crazy. I do have one more crazy week, but will try to get some chapters out.
As always, Giliath demands your power stones!
*****
Leica District. A couple minutes after 11AM.
Upon disembarking the orbal tram, two Bracers and a Bracer-in-training quickly found themselves encountering two more individuals, a stern, black-haired woman, and a nonchalant orange-haired man who didn't seem to care about anything that was happening around him. He even had a bored look in his eyes as he took more puffs of his cigarette, ignoring the warning from the black-haired woman earlier.
To say the least, it was an unusual group together. Zin knew of Walter's background, as did Kilika, but Sara and Lavi were clueless on the matter. They didn't know that he was part of Ouroboros.
Currently, Ouroboros had little intervention in central Erebonia as a whole. Most of their current focus was in the western section of the country, where one of its current Anguis, the Azure Abyss, was currently overlooking a Trial of the Divine Knight. Apart from that, most of their focus was currently watching from the shadows and observing what's going to be happening in Liberl. Their "Gospel Plan" plan has already started its gears. The Shining Ring's defenses have already weakened thanks to the capturing of the four towers, and their next step was to scout out the primal land that rested beneath Grancel Castle and Lake Valeria, at Renne's behest no less.
There were a couple of Ouroboros members who decided to stay behind, one person being Walter. Right now, Campanella left Walter as a security measure if something unexpected would happen before what was about to take place here in the coming month or two. Zin and Kilika knew, as they were invited by Naoto to partake in the Trial of the Vermillion Knight, but Sara and Lavi were kept out of the loop. To them, encountering Kilika was a much bigger surprise to them. Sara thought Kilika was still residing in Liberl due to her recent promotion in the Zeiss region.
But at her digression, Kilika's arrival was a welcoming one. They were quick to chat away as the group began to walk alongside the long curving street. It was elevated over a bunch of housing complexes that made up the heart of Heimdallr, making it an easy view to see the rest of the capital city. But the street itself was flat, and didn't have any elevation to it. While the group chatted, they saw people going in and out of the famous bakery in the middle of the street. Further beyond that was the Vander Dojo, and if one listened closely they could hear loud strikes clashing against each other, signaling that a fight was underway. As the five crept closer and closer, the clashing noises increased.
As for the rest of the city folk, apart from the tourists, they were used to the happenings of the Vander Dojo. It was one, if not the most renowned school of swordsmanship in Erebonia. After all, the direct bloodline of the Vander family served the royal family of Erebonia for centuries. Right now, Mueller Vander was serving as the primary bodyguard to Erebonia's current Crown Prince, Prince Olivert.
Prince Olivert was likely dealing with a hangover thanks to indulging himself in a lot of wine during the celebratory new years dinner with Naoto and everyone else. Princess Alfin was worried about her older brother, but as Naoto stated earlier, he only reaps what he sows. He didn't venture with Naoto's group into the Vander Dojo. It was a shame, but drinking came at a cost. Even with excellent hangover medicine, it still took time to kick in.
However, as far as how Sara went here, she was blessed with what Prince Olivert lacked. A tolerance to drinking alcohol. She could keep up with the likes of Schera and Aina, even if it wasn't for a long period of time.
Just last night, Sara was drinking her heart out with other fellow Bracers and some friends to celebrate the new year, in the capital city of Calvard, Edith, no less. She became very drunk then, but was quick to recover just from a short nights' sleep. She, in fact, felt well rested afterward. Since then, Sara and Lavi parted ways from Elaine and Van and their other friends who they have made during their first two terms spent in Aramis High school.
How schools went here mirrored that of the Japanese in Naoto's past life. Each year was split into three terms. The first term started in April, which would last until August, giving them a month-long summer break. From there, the second term would start in September and go until the end of December. That would give students a short winter break to spend new years with their families. From there, they would enter their final term in January, going all the way to March.
Elaine and Van finished their first two terms so far. Naoto has been in touch with Van despite his little disappearance act, and seeing Van was doing well gave him a sigh of relief. He is also taking economic-related courses very seriously, and also to Naoto's surprise, joined the Student Council. Elaine was elated at the matter seeing Van so serious. Right now, their friend, Rene, was the current Student Council President. Elaine was already Aramis's Vice-President by the time Van came to a decision.
Van decided to take the spot of Aramis High School's Treasurer.
Originally, Van would have enrolled in Aramis High School two years after Rene, and one year after Elaine, thanks to a particular priest freeing him from the cult. Because Naoto took an active part in this, he freed Van earlier than what had originally taken place. Van still met up with that priest for a while and learned combat underneath his tutelage, but became determined to enroll at Aramis High School the same year as Elaine did.
As a result, Van caught an extra year ahead. All three of their studies were going well, according to what Sara had heard during their chatting inside that restaurant.
Presently, Sara was a B-Rank Bracer, just shy of an A-Rank Bracer like Zin was. Sara has received enough tasks to get promoted to an A-Rank, but she is still looking to improve her combat techniques further before she decides to take the A-Rank Bracer Exam. And right now, Sara was twenty-one years old. It was mentioned that Elaine would become the youngest to achieve the A-Rank status, outstripping Sara's previous title of being the youngest bracer to do so. That would happen in the next seven years, which meant Elaine would be twenty-three at the time. Back on the point of Sara being twenty-one, it was likely Sara would become an A-Rank Bracer by the time the Cold Steel games happen in S1204. In another three years, she would become twenty-four, which would align with what eventually happens to Elaine.
And on that note, Rene was currently Aramis's Student Council President. From his departure after his graduation, eventually, Renne would take the spotlight in becoming Aramis's new Student Council President alongside Agnes, who would enroll the same year as Renne...
But that wouldn't happen, far, far into the future. After all, Renne was only half as young as a high school student. She had just started taking middle school courses in St. Astraia. Thanks to her joining this school, it is a question of doubt as to whether would continue her pursuits into Calvard.
Thankfully, despite the looming housing bubble burst lurking in the coming year or two in Calvard, Van was trying to make the most of it. Sara easily saw the resolution in his eyes during that celebratory dinner.
Since that night, Sara had little worry about how things were going in Calvard, so she decided to hop on the next orbal carrier out of Edith with Lavi in tow. They were originally going to fly down to Liberl and check in with Schera, but Sara received a quick notice from her saying that she was too swamped in teaching not one, not two, but three upcoming Bracers. One of the latter was her direct student, while the other two were practicing mostly on their own, under Schera's guidance. Estelle Bright, Joshua Bright, and Angelica Rogner.
Seeing that was the case, the two wound up here in Heimdallr instead, at Zin's invitation to Sara's surprise.
But now it made sense, seeing Kilika and Walter here. Sara likely guessed something was happening, or going to happen, but couldn't figure out what exactly that was yet.
Sara ignored Walter's banter as Kilika berated him in front of Lavi, mostly keeping to her own thoughts. Lavi, on the other hand, was under a constant watch of observing Walter and his current behavior, continuing to smoke away even after being warned by Kilika not to do so. Lavi was used to older Jaeger members smoking back in North Ambria so she wasn't particularly bothered by the smell, but it still annoyed Kilika.
She could see Walter's disinterested look in his eyes from an outward glance, but it didn't take long for a hidden pressure to start swelling inside her body, making her back run cold the more she observed Walter. She knew well what this feeling was.
It was the feeling of bloodlust. Something that was causing flags to be raised inside Lavi's head, signaling that this man in front of her was not a good person. And a very dangerous man at that.
She was rightful to have such a feeling. After all, Walter was a martial artist like Zin was, honing his techniques over large periods of time. Both Zin and Walter studied under the same teacher. Zin was grateful to their master's teachings, but Walter diverged from his teachers' path, and wound up killing him to form his own martial arts. This sensation of bloodlust could only be earned through combat with others, and earning its highest proficiency by killing others.
As Lavi felt her back run cold, Sara too, felt something similar. Even if she did have any lingering sensation from the night before, that feeling was long gone, and her eyes remained serious while observing Walter chat away with Kilika. He released a sensation equivalent to that of being a fighter on the battlefield, which Sara was very used to. After all, Sara had a good five to seven years of being a Jaeger under her belt.
Lavi leaned toward Sara while the two felt this bloodlust.
"This guy has bad news written all over it, Sara. There's no way he's a Bracer.", Lavi said, whispering to Sara with a small frown.
"No kidding. You can't get this bloodlust so easily, even if one was proficient enough in combat. I can hide mine pretty well, but this guy just acts as if he doesn't even care about him being exposed or not. I can't trust him one bit, but the one I do trust is Kilika next to him. It does beg the question on how the two even met.", Sara wondered, whispering back at Lavi.
Kilika and Walter were further beyond the two, and Zin was right next to Sara and Lavi.
While feeling this, Lavi reached toward Sara and began whispering to her.
"This guy has bad news written all over it. There's no way he can be a Bracer like you.", Lavi whispered to Sara.
"No kidding. It's almost like I'm staring at a Jaeger in disguise. I didn't think Kilika would have interest in such a man. He is dangerous, that much I can tell you. I wouldn't trust him one bit, but I trust Kilika. With her here, I'm sure whoever this guy is, he won't get off his rocks.", Sara whispered back, trying to calm Lavi's uneasiness down. "You wouldn't think these two would be related, I can't help but wonder how these two even met up.", Sara continued to wonder.
"Right? I just met these two after getting off the tram, but I'm getting a similar feeling. Kilika looks to be such a strong-hearted woman...", Lavi responded back, being amazed as to how Kilika currently appeared to her. She was stoic, classy, and at the same time, Lavi felt like she couldn't underestimate Kilika.
Little did the two know that Kilika was also an expert in combat and a martial artist like Zin and Walter was. Her attacks were more profound, and kept a graceful appearance to her attacks. Her primary weapon of choice were chakrams, circular, bladed weapons that could be thrown at any distance, and could also use them to attack from close-range. There wasn't a safe or dull spot, making chakrams quite deadly.
Kilika wanted to join Naoto's group in partaking in the Trial of the Vermillion Knight alongside Zin. It wasn't known at this time whether Walter would join, but considering Campanella left the task of observation to Walter, it was possible he might join the group.
Seeing Sara and Lavi whisper, Zin was close enough to hear their conversation, and spoke out to the two.
"Oh yeah. I should have told you two. But knowing is good now, Sara. The man you see before you is Kilika's boyfriend. We kinda go way back, but went our separate ways back then. I didn't think Kilika would take an interest in Walter. Your suspicion is valid though. With Kilika here, Walter shouldn't do anything too crazy.", Zin said, trying to calm Sara and Lavi down.
"E-Eh?", Sara tried to respond back, taken by surprise at Zin's words just now. It took a moment for Zin's words to register. "These two...are dating!?", Sara whispered back in shock.
"Totally didn't see that coming.", Lavi retorted hearing that.
"Oh my, guess the cat is out of the bag. Seems you two are talking about something rather interesting.", Kilika said, turning around. Her eyes curved upward into two crescent moons as she looked at Sara.
"You're seriously dating this guy, Kilika? I just can't seem to trust this no-good-looking guy one bit!", Sara said with a frown.
"Hey, I take offense to that. I see myself as a classy dude.", Walter said, taking in another puff.
"Sure, one who loves to sink his time away gambling and drinking.", Zin retorted back.
"Heh, you're always missin' out on the fun, Zin. Still, you're quite the beauty yourself, Purple Lightning. Wanna ditch this joint and go enjoy the capital? I've found one or two good spots we can try out.", Walter suddenly said, approaching Sara. He even placed his arm around her shoulder, catching her off-guard.
"Aren't you dating Kilika...?", Sara uttered, not expecting Walter to hit on Sara. Yet before Walter could do anything, Kilika was swift, striking out with her arm, and grabbed onto his ear, and yanked him back.
"I do apologize for Walter's stupidity just now, Sara. You even dared to say that in front of me. You'll be getting an earful later.", Kilika responded with a serious tone.
"Sheesh. Can't you take a joke? I was bein' serious there though...", Walter tried to say, only to get interrupted with a slap to the back of the head. "Fine, fine. I get it already. Sheesh.", Walter continued to say.
Still, Sara was caught off-guard by Walter's actions. A light blush appeared on her cheeks realizing what had happened.
"Don't take Walter seriously, Sara.", Kilika said again.
"It's more flattering really. I haven't really considered dating much of an option before...", Sara uttered. Hearing Sara said this did draw Kilika's interest, as did Lavi.
"Well you were pretty pre-occupied while training me Sara. Is there a guy out there you like?", Lavi decided to ask. With that question, the group came to a halt right outside the bakery. The smell of baked bread wafted around their noses.
"To be honest, the Purple Lightning liking someone would be a surprise.", Kilika also wondered. Sara did react, as the blush on her cheeks reddened.
"I wouldn't say there isn't someone I like...It's just I don't think it will come to happen.", Sara said, regaining her composure, and sighed.
"Oho, now this is something I want to listen to, so the Purple Lightning does like someone.", Kilika replied, revealing a playful grin.
"Yes. The only issue is, I think I have an age gap over them. Maybe seven years or so?", Sara wondered, and began to imagine the person she currently liked in her head. Before long, a certain violet-haired boy popped in, sporting mostly dark green and black leather-plated armor that covered most of his body fighting away several armored figures as she imagined that.
"And you call me the crazy one.", Walter immediately retorted, which only earned another yank from Kilika.
"Fufu, sounds like an interesting fellow to say the least. I didn't think you'd swing that way though.", Kilika smiled, seeing Sara's heartfelt look in her eyes.
"You like that guy, don't you?", Lavi also uttered, quickly realizing who it was that Sara was referring to. The same violet-haired boy appeared in her mind, one that she had a chance encounter with back in North Ambria a couple years ago...
*****
I do not recall stating Sara's Bracer rank previously, but if I did, she is supposed to be B rank around this time. She will get promoted in the next couple years before Cold Steel 1 starts.