Faith slowly opens her eyes and awakens. She found herself covered in a blanket and on a bed, inside a small room. There is a small table right next to her bed, with a drawer attached to it. Faith sat up on the bed, only to find herself naked, and her upper body and knee covered in bandages.
"You're awake"
A girl stood next to the door. She has animal ears on top of her head, and her hair is long and messy. She is wearing only ragged clothing that didn't cover much of her body. She also has a tail behind her.
"You're pretty messy back when I found you"
Faith noticed that the girl is not human due to the animal ears on top of her head "You're…An Armenthian?"
"You noticed. I wonder what gave it away?" She answered sarcastically
"Alright Alright, geez. Sorry if I just noticed. Where am I right now?"
"Yiestin village. Found you in the forest, being chased by a group of red eye soldiers. Your knees were hurt, and I found this on your shoulder" She showed Faith a bent and used bullet.
"Stun bullets. No wonder I'm still alive. Wait, did you say I hurt my knee?"
"Are you deaf? Yes I did"
Faith moves her legs out of the blanket, and then moves her injured leg. She can move it just fine, and doesn't feel any kind of pain.
"Huh, my leg is fine?"
The girl kneeled in front of Faith and suddenly became serious. She began to inspect the injured leg. She took off the bandages that covered it and was shocked because there's no blood on it, or any sign of injury "But how? You're a human, right?"
Faith makes a makeshift animal ears on top of her head with her fingers "Oh wow, you noticed. I wonder what gave it away?"
"Cut that shit, I'm serious!"
"Yes yes, I am. I'm 100% human. I just had a fast recovery rate, that's all"
"Impossible. Humans can't recover from that kind of injury this fast. Usually it will take 2 to 3 days before your legs can fully heal from that. But yours healed In just a single night"
"Oh that. Yeah, my sister used to tell me that I have a very high recovery time from any kind of injury. I don't know why, but it just happens" Suddenly, Faith snapped "That's right, my sister"
"You're weird for a human, but I guess I'll look into this later. So what about your sister?"
"Murdered" Faith turns into a blank stare "By them"
The girl sighed "Ah, that. Sorry to break it to you, but if it's vengeance you're looking for, you won't get it here. Those guys looked way more advanced, and we didn't have the weapons to fight them. Let alone the kingdom"
Faith regains her senses "Wait, fight the kingdom?"
"That's right. Since you're a human, you must be from outside of this planet"
"Yeah, my ship crashed somewhere nearby. But it's thanks to that, that I managed to escape"
"Well good luck trying to leave. The kingdom won't allow anyone to leave or enter any of the planets"
"Why?"
"Apparently there's a big galactic war going on, and the kingdom wants to stay neutral"
"Still, why?"
"Beats me. Ask our idiotic king if you get the chance"
"Shit. Well if I can't leave, then so are they"
"Are you really that determined to fight them?"
"Yes, I want to kill them"
"All on your own?"
"There's no other way"
The girl sighs, and then hit Faith on the head "You're a moron"
"Ow, what was that for?"
"For being stupid. I can't stand your idiotic plan for revenge"
"Then what am I supposed to do, let them win?"
"I don't know, discuss it with the chief. Maybe she knows something"
Faith paused for a while "That's…Actually a good idea. Mind if I talk to her?"
"Knock yourself out. I'll take you to her but you're on your own after that. Oh, and wear some clothes before you head out unless you want to be naked. It's in the drawer next to you" The girl leaves the room.
"Naked?" Faith then looks down and remembers that she isn't wearing anything aside from some bandages on the upper part of her body. She then blushes and immediately opens the drawer to grab her clothes and starts wearing them. It was still tattered, and there was a hole on the back of her clothes, from the point where she got shot last night. Once she is done changing, she stood up and leaves the room.
She then walk towards the living room and saw that the house is poorly built. Everything in it was either made with wood or hays. The ground wasn't even covered in wooden floors. There is almost no furniture there other than a table, some chairs, and a fireplace. After looking around for a while, she finally leaves the house and saw that the girl is standing outside, looking at the sky.
"Taking in the clear blue sky?"
The girl turns around towards Faith "You could say that"
Faith would then look at the other houses. The village seems medieval. Every house is made out of wood and hays, and some looked like it won't withstand extreme weather.
"I'm surprised this village isn't like other places I've visited"
"Sadly we don't get the luxury of the rich who had better housing than we do"
"Let alone the other nations. You have no idea what kind of stuff we have up there" Faith said while pointing up to the sky.
"Must be nice to be able to go to places like that" The girl sighed.
"Haven't you been up there before?"
"Never in my entire life. So is everyone else here. The king thinks it's a divine punishment if we ever try to leave the planet. Like i give a shit to any of that"
"Sounds stupid"
"You tell me. He'd even slaughter and enslave anyone who went against his rules"
"Geez. Some king whoever that is"
"Anyway, I'll take you to the chief now. I hope you've prepared your speeches"
"Relax, I wrote down a paper"
"Whatever" The girl leads on towards the village hall at the center of the village, with Faith following close behind her.
"Hey, what's your name by the way?"
"Riu Tanaka. You?"
"Faith Narukami. Nice to meet you"
"Nice to meet you too i guess"
The two continued on walking upwards towards the hill until where the village hall is located. Once they arrive, Riu then knocks on the door "Mother, the outsider wants to see you"
"M…Mother!?"
The door opens, and an Armenthian woman who has almosy the same features as Riu, but a little older and more mature opens the door for them "Please come in"
Faith and Riu walk into the village hall. The hall is no different than the other houses in the village, except that it's bigger, has wooden floors to cover the ground, and it's the only house that has a second floor. The woman then pointed to the Sofa in the middle of the room.
"Please sit down while i prepare us some drinks"
Faith sat on the sofa while Riu stood and leaned on the door, far away from the two. The woman walks towards the kitchen and shortly returns with two cups of tea. She put them on the table in front of the sofa, before finally sitting down on the sofa across the one that Faith is sitting on.
"Thank you for waiting. Please have a drink"
Faith grabs her cup and took a sip out of it "This taste…Good"
The woman smiled "Thank you. Now, allow me to introduce myself. I am Yami Tanaka. I believe you've met my daughter, Riu Tanaka"
Faith puts down the cup back on the table "Yeah, I'm Faith Narukami by the way. Riu already told me about your rebellion against the kingdom, and that your people can't leave this planet because of the laws made by the current king"
"Then I believe you are already aware of our situation"
"Yes. But I'm afraid that your fight will be much more difficult than it already has now"
"Why so?"
"My sister was recently murdered by a group of soldiers, and our ship had just crash landed on this planet as well. They will surely make contact with the kingdom you are at war with, and will no doubt work with them if it means getting off this planet"
"I see. Then what are you suggesting?"
"I want to join your rebellion. In return, I want your people to help me fight them"
"And if we accept, what will you offer in return?"
Faith smiled "Blueprints"
Yami raised her eyebrows in confusion "Blueprints?"
"Weapons, armor, anything that your people need to succeed in this rebellion" Faith cross her arms "I'll have you know that my sister is a genius in weapons development. All we need is the plans, and then your people can begin manufacturing them"
"But how will we acquire it?"
"Simple. I'll sneak back into the crashed ship, and steal the data directly. I know that ship like the back of my head, so it should be no problem for me" Faith said while pointing towards her head.
Yami thought for a while, and then smiled "Quite an interesting proposal you have. Very well then. If you can recover the Blueprints you speak of, then we will allow you to join us, and you will have our full support in your fight against them"
Faith smiled back at her "Then I guess we have an agreement. I promise you won't regret this"
"I hope so. Though if I had to ask. Will it not be hard for you to sneak in alone?"
"Yeah" Faith starts scratching her head "I was going to ask if I could have some backup, but if you don't want to, then I guess I can do this solo"
Yami laughed a little, and then flick her fingers. Shortly after that, Riu came inside and walked up to them "Riu. Our guest, miss Narukami wants to join our cause, but in order to do so, she needs to prove herself. You will provide her with whatever assistance that she requires"
Riu answered "What, why me?"
"I have my reason" Yami smiled at Riu in an unnerving way "You will do as you are told, will you not?"
"N…no mother. Of course I will help her" Riu answered while shaking in fear.
"Excellent. I trust that my daughter will be enough miss Narukami?"
Faith gulped "Yep, you're too kind ma'am. Thank you"
"You're welcome. Now, is there anything else you wish to talk about?"
"Nope, nothing at all. Then if I may"
"Of course"
Faith stood up and left the house, with Riu following behind her. After the door was closed, Faith let out a sigh of relief.
"Your mom is scary Riu"
"Tell me about it. One time she hit me so hard that I could barely even feel my head, just because i skipped out on training"
"Heh, that's nothing. My sister is even crueler. I once tried using one of her experimental weapons, but then she found me, beat me up, and lock me up in the closet for hours"
"Damn. You had it rough"
"Tell me about it"
"Well aside from our harsh elders. What's your plan for getting those blueprints?"
"You were listening in on our conversation back there?"
"Yeah" Riu pointed to her ears "My hearing is pretty sharp you know"
"I see. Since you already know, I guess I'll just walk you through our plans for tonight. But first, I need a weapon"
Riu took out a knife from her pockets "Here"
Faith took it, and inspected it "Just a regular knife? This isn't going to cut through their armor you know"
"Well it's what you'll be using for now. Sorry Faith, village rules prohibits us from giving weapons to our guests"
"When you think about it, I'm sure none of your weapons might work on them. So it didn't really matter what you give me"
"Don't worry though" Riu flex out her muscle "I'm strong enough to handle an entire army"
"Really?"
"Yep. Fast too if you want to count that"
"Then I guess I'll be counting on that. Anyway, here's the plan"
Faith begins to explain her plans to infiltrate the crashed Frigate to Riu as they continue walking through the village. Then they waited for nightfall before they could begin their infiltration.
For some time, Priad continues to walk through the city alone, after splitting up from Echo and Alpha. He walks through the Shopping district, where the citizens of the city are still going on with their daily life. Priad then stopped in front of a clothing shop where he saw a black colored military uniform. As he looks at it, brief flashes of a person wearing a similar outfit appeared in his mind. He shook his head trying to dismiss the flashes until someone called out to him.
"Sir" Echo and Alpha stood behind him.
Priad turns around and looks at them "Did you find anything?"
"Lots, but I don't think our credits will cover much. The prices here are too high"
Priad then noticed that there are a couple of people lurking at them, probably wondering about the armor they are wearing, let alone their origin. He points to a nearby alley, and the three of them went there. After that, he continued the conversation.
"We're a mess right now. Our ship just crashed and we probably just lost half of our company before our memory loss"
"Then what's the plan, sir?"
"From the looks of things, we take the count's offer at the moment. Work as a mercenary company and help them fight against the rebels. At the same time, learn more about the kingdom"
"Good plan sir, but we might need a guide for this. We don't quite know our environment yet"
"We can use the slaves as our guide. I recall some of them are wild hunters. Buy the cheapest one from the market"
"Yes sir"
"That's all for now. Let's continue shopping" The three of them then leave the alley and continue on with their shopping.