Rayneshia lay on a bed, asleep, having drained all her energy suppressing the monster. Elissa tidied up the room and Elias performed maintenance on Crystal Stream as Coppelia watched. Neither of their equipment had been severely damaged in the fight, which was a relief. The grandfather clock by the door ticked loudly, nobody drowning out its noise with their voice.
"Miss Coppelia," Elias began, having completed maintenance.
"Simply 'Coppelia' is fine."
"I will call you Miss Coppelia, thank you." After a slight pause, he continued, "We can't continue doing this, can we." It wasn't a question, simply an observation. He casually picked up his greatsword, inspecting it to make sure that he had repaired everything.
"Coppelia thinks that it will be difficult for the Princess to keep doing this every month. The monster has been getting more and more active lately."
Elias waved away his sword, then leaned back in his chair, gazing at the ceiling in thought.
"Are you feeling unwell? Do you require healing?"
"No, Miss Coppelia, I'm fine," he replied. Without moving, he added, "Miss Coppelia, Miss Elissa, do you believe it's true? The Pioneers are really being reincarnated?"
"Coppelia believes that you would be the best to confirm this. Elias trained the reincarnation of Master, after all, so you had the first contact with the reincarnations."
"I also believe that they reincarnated," Elissa added. "Princess Rayneshia and I met, without a doubt, the younger versions of the Pioneers we know. They are most likely reincarnations."
"Who did you meet?"
"Mr. Shiroe, Mr. Naotsugu, and Miss Kanami. There are others whom I am not familiar with." Elissa narrowed her eyes. "I do not recollect them being present between the times of the May Revolution and the Mass Disappearance. However, if Sheiola's theory is correct, then …"
"... The avatars of those who were inactive during the May Revolution were included in the reincarnation cycle," Elias finished. "But whose ki is inside those bodies? Were the souls of those players sucked into this world …?"
"They may be the same case as Coppelia and Roe2," the Cleric piped up. "Their bodies have a ki that was created through the 'memories' their bodies retained. Although neither Roe2 nor Coppelia have a ki from the world of the Adventurers, we still live and breathe and are capable of thoughts."
"Residual magic from Alven technology, perhaps? If they were capable of creating demihumans, perhaps they could recreate one's ki? But even if that were so, when could such a thing have -"
"The ceremony that Princess Rayneshia performed to take control of Alv technology. To assist in it, the energy that she used … was an Adventurer's. To be specific, Mr. Krusty's, before he vanished again. Mr. Shiroe also devised the spell, which also must have contributed."
Elias sat back upright, resting an elbow on his knee. "So you're suggesting that, perhaps, using an Adventurer's energy, it created a link that gave even inactive bodies ki?"
"I think that's what happened. However, without 'him', proving our theories will be much more difficult ..."
Elias raised his hand to silence her. "We cannot worry about that right now, Miss Elissa. Right now, we should perform research on whether or not the Adventurers have reincarnated. Miss Coppelia, may you use the Coppelia Network to see if Leonardo has reincarnated in the Land of Wen? And if you may excuse me, I will observe the movements of monsters around Yamato."
"Certainly." With that, the Cleric and Blademancer left, closing the door behind them, leaving Elissa alone in the room with Rayneshia.
Glancing at the Princess' figure, Elissa sighed. "Would you stop pretending to be asleep? This has to do with you as well."
Discovered, Rayneshia rolled onto her back, staring at the canopy above her head. "Hey, Elissa … what if I hadn't done the ceremony? If I didn't do it, then …"
Although Elissa understood Rayneshia's anguish, there was only so much she could advise on. "Princess, thoughts like these are useless. We just did what was best for this world. Regardless, we need to take responsibility for our actions by restoring it to normal as we intended. Currently, Roe2 is working with the Coppelia Network to search for any similar cases."
"... I know." Looking out the window, she sullenly commented, "As usual, I'm only a bother and can't do anything right, can I?"
It was useless to try and reassure her, so Elissa remained silent. Listening to the steady ticking of the clock, gazing out the window in an equally sullen mood as her mistress, she was startled when two soft knocks resounded from the door. Coppelia entered the room, her turquoise eyes reflecting a troubled demeanor.
"Pardon my intrusion. The Eastal nobles have called an emergency meeting and are already on their way to the Fortress of the Izumo Knights. Likewise, Kinjo has every intention of attending the meeting."
Naotsugu sat on a bench with Maryelle, who looked glum. Normally, seeing a woman like her in such a state would make anyone try and comfort her, but there wasn't really anything that he could say right now. After all, the reason why she was so downcast was because Henrietta's verdict was that "We can't hold Shiroe back and he's already wasted enough time here in Koorima, so stop partying." As a result, she cut the party down from one week to three days.
Feeling awkward being alone with a woman who was still a stranger to him, Naotsugu attempted to start some sort of conversation. "Say, Miss Maryelle, where are you planning on going now?"
She perked up, propping herself up to face him. "Me? Well, me, Umeko, and Charasin were thinking about heading to Akiba. Charasin has always been interested in business and has some experience in it thanks to his mentor over in Urumiya. It's a huge Adventurer City too, so it must have something fun to do!"
"Speaking of this Charasin guy, who is he? I've never seen him even though he's always been mentioned."
"Ah, stupid me!" Maryelle jokingly bopped herself on the head a couple of times. "I've always been talking about him, and didn't even say who he was. Charasin is our classmate from the Academy of Urumiya, so I've went raiding a couple of times with him. I'm not very good at it, though, so I probably won't join any big raiding guild. He's a Summoner, so he's a pretty reliable ally."
There was nothing to say, so Naotsugu just nodded. To be honest, he wasn't very good with women. Did he like panties? Sure. Was he good at dealing with the ones who wore them? No.
"Hey, Maryelle!" A voice unfamiliar to Naotsugu called out from another room. At the sound, Maryelle stood up excitedly.
"Ah, Charasin, great timing!" She waved when a young man around their age entered the room they were sitting in. "Ah, Charasin, this is Naotsugu, a new friend of Shiroe's. I've already talked about you with him," she explained as Charasin greeted Naotsugu with a nervous, self-conscious chuckle. "That's right, Charasin, what did you want to do in Akiba again?"
"Ah, um, w-well," Charasin stammered, "I-I was thinking about setting up a supply guild there, where you, um, buy and sell materials."
"Materials …?" Suddenly, a devilish gleam appeared in Naotsugu's eyes. "Would you have the materials to make p-"
A sudden whack from a thrown folding fan interrupted Naotsugu's sentence. Anba stood at the doorway, glaring at him crossly. "So that's where you were, Naotsugu! We're going already! Sorry for his behavior," she directed at the confused Maryelle and Charasin as she dragged Naotsugu away.
The two of them followed Anba out to the front of the Inn, where the rest of the Tea Party had gathered in preparation to leave.
"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! Let's go, guys, it's time to hit the road!" Almost as if they had never been attacked by Brigandia, Kanami boldly pointed towards the direction of the dungeon they had set off to go to.
"Kanami, we should still be careful," Kazuhiko reminded her. "Even if you're excited about this, we have to pay attention to our surroundings. We were overconfident last time in our ability to defeat Brigandia. If we run into a similar situation again, there's no guarantee that we can be rescued like we were then."
That's right … I have to get stronger! Stronger than I am now, Shiroe reminded himself. This whole expedition is for me to level up, so I definitely can't let them down!
"It shouldn't be long before we reach the raid dungeon," Kuina informed them. "We should probably use mounts to cover the distance faster, since we lost some days at Koorima." She glared at Shiroe, probably for involving the party-loving Maryelle in the situation. "You have one, right, Mob Glasses?"
"Y-yeah …" In almost all Academies, students would undertake a quest that gave them a summoning whistle as a reward, which would call forth a horse to ride on. Urumiya was no different. By now, Shiroe had figured out that the Tea Party rarely ever used transport gates. Kanami preferred seeing sights for herself and usually just traveled by land to get to her next destination.
Shiroe sighed. This was going to be quite a trip, and he hadn't even started on getting to Tsukuba yet.
"Take care of yourself, Shiroe," Henrietta reminded him, her hands crossed loosely at her chest. Charasin just nodded in agreement.
"Have a nice trip, Shiro-bou! Hey, Naotsugu, add me to your friends list!"
"Will do!" Naotsugu saluted as they began riding off on their horses.
Shiroe just meekly waved goodbye at his sending-off party while Maryelle waved as if her hand would fall off.
Within the fortress of the Izumo Knights, Yamato's Chivalric Order, Rayneshia stood still as Elissa and some other maids finished dressing her up. Although she found these lavish, grandiose dresses to be a pain, she still was more comfortable in these than she was in the ridiculously thin, short, skin-baring pieces of cloth (they could not be dignified as a skirt) that the Pioneers had brought. She thought about the embarrassing outfit she had to wear 500 years ago, when she legendarily requested the Adventurers to protect Eastal from the hordes of thousands of monsters. In her reminiscing, she must have squirmed, because Elissa immediately told her, irately, to stop moving around.
"Kinjo will be arriving soon, Princess," Elissa informed her, picking up from where she had left off before she had chided Rayneshia for moving.
"And the Eastal Lords are currently in the waiting room?"
"That is correct." After a bit of hesitation, she continued, "Princess, if these two parties are seeking you out, then …"
"They are concerned about this world. I can't blame them, since we are as well. There are too many things that are happening and too many that aren't." Rayneshia narrowed her eyes. "And I'm worried about what they are plotting. Kinjo is more straightforward with me, however, politics … has never been my specialty in the slightest."
It was a truth she had known from the beginning. Even after 500 years, Lander politics remained a male-dominated activity, although there were certainly more females in positions of power. Although she was an Ancient, Rayneshia couldn't count herself as one of them. As she saw it, she was only there for the nobles to fall back on, to rally around as a figure. In fact, most people, whether Lander or Adventurer, weren't even aware that she was still alive - though, perhaps that was for the best.
One of the maids informed her that she was done getting dressed, so she took several steps to get a feel of the dress. It felt a bit tight around the waist, but Elissa probably did it on purpose so that she would both look better and stay awake during the meeting.
She stepped into the meeting room, where Elias and Yamato's Coppelia - distinguished by her lavender eyes, compared to "Elias'" Coppelia, who had turquoise eyes - stood, also dressed up for this event. Coppelia was still in a maid outfit, but the collar of the dress was designed to resemble a kimono's. Her pinafore also had more intricate designs on them. On the other hand, Elias wore a tuxedo that matched Rayneshia's gown; this was probably by Elissa's machinations.
Two maids drew back the curtains, sunlight shining on the backs of her two fellow Ancients. Delicately, she took her place in a large, plush chair that overlooked the meeting table. This was her figurehead throne, so that nobles could act high-and-mighty because they had been in the presence of the legendary "Twilight Princess". Using her ability in the area, roses appeared, decorating the space with vibrant shades of color.
"Are you ready, Princess Rayneshia?"
"... Yes." She closed her eyes and relaxed as Coppelia went to fetch the guests. She promptly returned with five nobles and their aides behind her.
"Right this way, please," she gestured towards the seats.
"Welcome," Elias announced. "I see that everyone is here. Please, take a seat." Elias took his place at the end of the table, with Rayneshia overlooking them from behind. Interestingly enough, Elias seemed to have no intention of waiting for Kinjo to arrive. For whatever reason, she noticed, he hadn't taken a liking to the Kunie clan's leader.
A bulbous, balding man with a bright red mustache sauntered over to the long table. "I can't believe such proud, noble Ancients like yourselves allow such a tool in your presence," he sneered, obviously directing this verbal remark at Coppelia. Ignoring the glares of Rayneshia and Elias, he continued, "Even allowing her to fight by your side and treating her with an Ancient title, really, doesn't that say something about your status as an -"
"Take that back." All eyes turned to Rayneshia. Although she didn't want to get meddled into their affairs, such a comment about Coppelia would not do. "Take back your statement about Coppelia."
She didn't know it, but her "I-really-just-want-a-nap" pose, in this attire and lighting, made her look like an imposing, bored queen who had no qualms with executing whoever went against her will.
"U-uh …"
"As a noble of the Eastal League, you are an embarrassing display of ignorance and stupidity," she continued, furrowing her brows. "I may be an Ancient, but I am still a proud member of the Corwen family. Such a display is absolutely unacceptable, especially in such a crucial time. Terrus Ain-Arde Corwen," she turned to a man in his early forties. He was the current family head, a descendant of her brother, Icelus. Upon hearing his name called, Terrus' hair stood on its end. "I hope you do not stain the Corwen name."
"Y-yes, my lady," he responded curtly.
"Where did I leave off at? Ah, right, about Coppelia. Surely you know that being an Ancient isn't simply a title just given to us, correct? It is a privilege bestowed upon us by the leader of the Kunie Clan, a symbol that we are protectors of this land. And Coppelia has done a wonderful job at that; no, even more than that. It is because of the Coppelia Network that we are able to keep in contact with people in other lands." Ignoring Elissa's agitated whispers to stop, Rayneshia stood up, gesturing as if she were cutting down something in the air. "And furthermore! Coppelia is my friend! Even if she is a 'cloned puppet' or a 'fake Lander', I won't have anyone speak of her in such a disrespectful manner! If you can't agree to that statement, we have no need for you in our presence!"
After a moment of silence, Rayneshia fell back into her chair with a huff. She noticed that Coppelia herself had left.
She momentarily returned, breaking the silence with, "Coppelia appreciates your support, Princess, but the last guest has arrived." Behind her stood the stoic, proud Kinjo, leader of the Kunie Clan.
Even to Rayneshia, who was now an immortal Ancient, Kinjo was beyond her understanding. By all indications, he was a normal Lander that had the ability to maintain and operate some of the Alv's magical technology. However, he was able to survive for the 500 years after the Mass Disappearance. While she had aged five years between the May Revolution and the Mass Disappearance, Kinjo hadn't changed since she had met him to defend Akiba from the murderer. She wasn't sure what he did, but it was beyond her comprehension. Furthermore, he could turn Landers into Ancients, which didn't seem to be a power derived from the Alv's technology, since she couldn't do it even with her abilities. For these reasons, Kinjo was a figure that she both revered and feared. He was relatively friendly to her - taking control of Alv magic seemed to have placed a damper on their relationship, but he wasn't outright antagonistic towards her yet - but nevertheless, he was also a monster in his own right.
"It is nice to see you again, Princess of the Corwen Family," he smiled, although it was a practiced smile that only served to conceal his intentions. He really is here for me, isn't he? Rayneshia returned his smile with her own.
"With everyone here now, shall we begin?" Elias waved to the seats, inviting everyone to sit down - while facing Rayneshia's anger, they had been too awestruck to move. After everyone had taken a seat, he continued, "This emergency meeting has been called since the nobles of Eastal have concerns about this world."
"To start," Terrus continued, "we have heard rumors that the Pioneers are possibly being reincarnated into this world. Mr. Elias, do you have any concrete proof of this?"
Elias clasped his hands on the table. "Although we have conclusive proof that people who look like the Adventurers have indeed reappeared in this world, we have nothing to confirm that they are reincarnations in all aspects. I personally trained the woman who was my former leader, Kanami, until she was nine. Princess Rayneshia and Miss Elissa have had direct contact with several Pioneers, such as Naotsugu, Kanami again, and the legendary Shiroe."
The last name created excitement in the air amongst the nobles. Rayneshia furrowed her brows worriedly. She could tell what this emotion was. Anticipation, as if awaiting the return of a savior. Although she was also guilty of it, she felt that the nobles were placing too many expectations on the young Shiroe. Of course, Shiroe had saved Yamato with his actions; this was recorded in the archives, although he had made precise care to cover up his existence in common everyday history. However, there was no telling if this "Shiroe" was the same as the Villain in Glasses of the past. Even if he was, the man she had known was much more experienced than the boy she had met. There was no saying that this new "Shiroe" would grow into the genius mastermind of his previous self.
"The Chronicler of the East, Shiroe?!" one noble blurted out.
"The one who saved Yamato from destruction at the hands of the Genii, right?" another asked.
Murmurs like these arose among the nobles and their assistants. Kinjo's face, like usual, revealed none of his thoughts, nor did he make a sound. For that matter, he never spoke at the meetings he did attend. Elias had always hated that. Rayneshia wasn't sure how to take Kinjo's current apathetic demeanor. Either he was pleased by what he heard, was ambivalent about it, or was already beginning to plot something. His relationship with Shiroe in the past was rocky at best, so there was no saying what he would try and do now.
Terrus cleared his throat. "Well, that, of course, isn't our only concern. We all know that throughout history, as monsters grow stronger and create new bases, Adventurers are granted the ability to become stronger by having a raised level cap. This phenomenon usually occurs every 24 to 12 years. It even continued after the May Revolution. However, it has not occurred in the past 83 years, which is a cause of major concern. Both our scouts and Adventurers that assist us have confirmed that new monsters are still appearing and that new dungeons have appeared in various locations within the normal times."
A thin, intellectual-looking noble piped up, "The monsters' levels have also been increasing. Some of my troops were wiped out when they inadvertently entered the lair of a level 127 monster. Adventurers reach their limit at level 120. If the levels keep increasing like this, then even the Adventurers won't be enough …"
Elias raised his hand to stop him from continuing. "Where is this monster located? Removing it will take priority. I will send some Ancients to at least temporarily put an end to it. If Princess Rayneshia's power is gracious to us, perhaps she will be able to seal it for a while to prevent Adventurers and Landers from wandering in and getting killed."
As Rayneshia thought, the man's true intention was just to get assistance, since he simply responded with the location with a satisfied smile. Of course, the point he raised was a valid one, but even so, he thought more for himself than for the betterment of Yamato.
Soon, the nobles began returning to more mundane issues that didn't require her attention. Watching them discuss and occasionally bicker over state issues, she eventually noticed Kinjo glancing at her. So he still wants to see me after this, doesn't he, Rayneshia thought with a sigh. These meetings have been becoming more and more frequent since the monster's outbursts have been occurring more frequently as well …
It had been centuries since she acquired this power, but she she still felt awkward being touched by a man she barely knew. She didn't even have to undress or anything, he just had to touch the area between her collarbones with his index finger to examine the magic flowing through her body and make sure that the sigils engraved in her back were working properly. The examination itself only took two to five seconds as well, so it wasn't that he was touching her for a long time, either. She visited him at least once a year; by now, they were meeting once a month. She should have been accustomed to it by now. But she wasn't.
Deciding that she was thinking too much about things beyond her control, she went back to daydreaming about her soft plush bed. Soon after, she heard Elias announcing the end of the meeting. As the nobles left, led along by Coppelia, she waved them goodbye almost mechanically, in a practiced fashion. Rising from her chair, she turned to Kinjo with a somewhat apologetic "I'll just change out of this, if you don't mind," to which he only responded with a small nod.
Elissa changed her into a more demure, simple white dress and let her hair down. Rayneshia breathed a sigh of relief, glad to be out of the thick dress. Noticing Elissa's concerned glance as she was about to leave, she turned back to her handmaiden.
"Princess Rayneshia, are you okay with being alone again?" Usually, she was alone with Kinjo when he performed the checkup. Neither of them had ever even said anything like "Don't come near us" or "We need privacy" because it was such a short operation, but for whatever reason, Elissa always demanded they be alone and made sure that nobody disturbed them for the five seconds that they needed.
"Elissa, my checkups with Kinjo aren't all that private. You could stand around and it wouldn't even matter."
"Master Kinjo seems to be a rather private man."
"Well, he came here, so he would only have himself to blame," Rayneshia retorted. She just wanted this over as fast as possible. Exiting the changing room, she noticed Coppelia standing on the balcony alone, overlooking the scenery outside. She usually only did this when she was upset or displeased, so Rayneshia decided to join her outside. "Coppelia?"
The Cleric turned around at the sound of her name. She was clasping her hands so tightly that they had turned white. Rayneshia wrapped her own hands around the other girls' and looked at her.
"Coppelia, don't mind those inconsiderate men. Even if 'Coppelia' wasn't like the other Pioneers and was just some sort of … bot in their world, it doesn't matter here! You're as real as anyone else. And you're my friend! Nobody will tell me otherwise, no matter how powerful or important they are! In their world, I wasn't real either. But here, we're real, we're living and breathing just like everyone else. We think for ourselves, we know what's right and what's wrong. Don't let some people who act high-and-mighty make you think that you're less than you really are!"
Rayneshia wasn't really sure what she was even saying. Like usual, she was just speaking with of her emotions like the troublesome girl she was, who always made more problems by doing so. But this was all the truth.
"I -"
"Ah, there you are, Princess Rayneshia." Spinning her head around, Rayneshia saw Kinjo at the doorway, his hand resting on the doorframe. Had he overheard everything? Was there anything important that she had said? Hesitantly, she drew her hands away from Coppelia's, and the troubled girl left the two Landers alone.
As Kinjo approached her, she sat down on a bench and stared at the walls of the fortress, not turning to look at him. For some reason, she could never bring herself to look at him during the process. Momentarily, she felt a cool finger press on her skin and felt a strong magic presence. Even now, she was amazed that this was her's. She was apparently the descendant of a famous figure in Yamato history, who had an affinity for magic; it had just been dormant until it was forcefully awakened by the ritual she performed to control Alv technology.
After Kinjo removed his finger, she felt slightly fatigued. It had been too long since she had begun these checkups, but she couldn't remember the fatigue being there until around a hundred or so years ago. Then again, it was such a routine that she found it hard to remember details about it. The sensation was barely there, so she quickly recovered from it.
"Thank you, Kinjo."
After a momentary pause, he responded with, "Is something wrong, Rayneshia?"
"Eh?"
"You seem to be worried." Following his stare, she found that she was holding tightly onto the fabric of her skirt. Embarrassed by her lack of control, she slowly loosened her fists.
"It's … nothing important. I'm just worrying over nothing again," she reassured him with a smile. "I probably just need some fresh air after that stuffy meeting," she further explained, feeling a refreshing breeze flow through the air.
He bowed his head slightly, leaving her with, "I hope you will be well." Gazing at his retreating figure, she waited until a minute after Kinjo was gone to slowly raise her hand, which had been balled into a light fist again.
In it contained a slip of paper that Coppelia had clasped in her hands earlier, which Rayneshia had retrieved when she held Coppelia's hands. Cautiously, she unraveled the crumpled paper to read its contents.
