"Who is she?"
Ryukishi still doesn't know who she is.
"She will be your escort. The one known as Hilda Reinier."
Ari couldn't wait to see Ryukishi's reaction.
"It's a pleasure to meet you sir."
Hilda extended her hand out to shake his hand.
Ryukishi simply stared at her in disbelief.
"Did escorts change in the past few years I could've sworn they weren't this clumsy."
"HEY WHO ARE YOU CALLING CLUMSY?!"
"You, kid."
"Oh."
Hilda was silenced. She had nothing to say in response immediately after.
"Well, now that we've got that out of the way why don't we enlighten ourselves on the mission plan eh?"
Ari stared at Ryukishi with a look that said 'please just go along with me'
"U- um… Sure… Let's go ahead with that."
Ryukishi didn't get the hint yet somehow, his instincts told him to go along with what Ari said.
Ari proceeds to place multiple pieces of paper across the table.
"Right, so the plan. The trip will be from Kaimino to Enden. Now, we can't go by sea as that area of the sea is covered by fleets of Camelot boats.
"What about going through Rivia?"
Hilda didn't understand why they had to go through Kaimino.
"We can't enter through Rivia as multiple Camelot guards have been spotted near the border. Some Rivian army members were captured by them around that border area as well."
"Well, if the border security is that tight, what's stopping them from capturing us?"
Ryukishi's head started filling up with questions as well. But he prioritized ones he wanted to be answered first.
"You see, we're quite fortunate in this situation"
"How so, Ari?"
"They recently finished a stand-off against Kanrai and took over that portion of our territory."
"Damn, Kanrai was taken… I loved that place. Small as hell but man was it charming."
"Kanrai… Such a shame I'll never see how it was back then…"
Hilda felt a bit sad but she couldn't afford to show it to everyone here.
"Now, the good part comes in with the border security. It's become laxer. Meaning…"
"We have a high chance of sneaking through the border."
"Yes. Precisely. After that comes the hard part."
"That wasn't hard part!?"
Hilda was shocked when she heard it
"Yep. The hard part is hiding from the Kingsglaive and making your way to Enden."
"Who are the Kingsglaive?"
"They're an elite group of soldiers who serve the Camelot army. Most of them are unranked but 15 of their strongest soldiers are ranked. We're currently expecting Kingsglaive members ranked 10-15 to be present, as they've been assigned cleaning duty with the Kanrai mess."
"I see…"
"Now, should everything go smooth. This should take about a month or 2. Once you reach Enden, they can supply Ryukishi with a boat to bypass the Camelot fleets and make it safely to Rivia. From there he can come back to Kaimino. Did you understand all that?"
"Yes Ari."
"Uhh… ma'am could you go over that one more time- "
"I'm certain your bodyguard Ryukishi over here can debrief you on the mission plan."
Hana had to butt into the conversation to avoid wasting time. Right after this meeting they had another meeting with Polpanaria regarding their debt
"I see. Well. Hope you'll make things easier to understand Mr. Rayukishii"
"It's Ryukishi, kid"
"Yea. Rayukishii got it."
Ryukishi sighed. He can see why Rivia paid Kaimino so much to accomplish this mission. No ordinary soldier could tolerate her goofiness in accordance with the mission.
"Okay then, guess that settles our meeting. You 2 did pack up right?"
"I'd already finished packing up yesterday Ari I thought you knew that."
"WAIT WE HAD TO PACK THINGS I THOUGHT WE WERE BEING SUPPLIED FOOD."
Ari was starting to get a bit pissed off. She didn't expect the Rivian to be this clumsy
"This girl…. Well, I'm sure we can provide you with Kaimino's fine- "
"No need. I have a surplus of resources. It's fine she can take some of it"
"Oh. Thank you, Mr. Rayukishii,"
"You're never gonna fix that are you?"
"Fix what?"
"Nevermind…"
"Well, I guess that concludes our meeting then."
Han decided to interject a bit to end the meeting.
"Yamamoto, we have a horse ready at the stables for you."
"Ah. Thank you, Emperor."
Ryukishi turned around and left the hall. He could hear an annoying voice from behind
"HEY WAIT UP FOR ME!"
Ryukishi sighed again. 'This mission really was that high ranked because of her wasn't it', he thought to himself.
Led by the guards, Ryukishi (and Hilda) walked over to the stables. There, they saw 3 horses. One was black, one was white and one was brown with a blonde mane. The last one in particular interested Hilda.
"Ooooh. I like her. Let's pick that one."
"I see no problem with this one. So, let's choose it then. What shall we name her?"
Ryukishi also pondered upon his own question. What's name that would fit a brown horse with a blonde mane…
"OH, I KNOW! 'Epona'."
"What?"
"Yea. 'Epona'. That's a beautiful name for her."
Ryukishi looked at her for a full minute straight without a word from his mouth.
"…Is there a problem, Rayukishii?
"2 in fact. 1, it's Ryukishi. And 2, could you at least think of a more original name? Sure, Epona is a beautiful name, but they use it all the time in Polpanaria."
"Urgh, fine. How about… 'Roach'?"
"I'll smack you in the face next time you know"
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH ROACH!?"
"Again, very unoriginal. If I remember correctly they use that name all the time in Rivia don't they!?"
"Okay fine, you're right. They do use that name a lot. Then, what shall we name it?"
"Hmm… How about, 'Hikari'?"
"Oooh I like that name. What does it mean?"
"It means light, her mane reminded me of it."
"Alright then, Hikari it is."
And so after answering a quite meaningless question. They got on the horse and set for the gates of Gwangjeon. As they were going through the village, everyone was saying farewell to Ryukishi and wishing him goodluck. At the gate there were 2 people. Ari and Hiroshi. Both of them came to say their goodbyes and wish him goodluck.
"RYUKISHI-SENSEI!!"
"Ah! Hiroshi!"
"GOOD LUCK! I KNOW YOU'LL COME BACK FOR SURE!"
Ari also began shouting towards Ryukishi
"GOOD LUCK RYUKISHI! YOU'VE GOT THIS!"
"Thanks everyone!"
Ryukishi and Hilda waved the citizens of Gwangjeon goodbye and as they passed the gates, they had officially left Gwangjeon. From here, their adventure to Enden begins. Both of them eager to see what lies ahead of their road to the destination. Little did they know…
…the road was much more dangerous than they thought it'd be.
ACT 1: END