I don't own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS
Do review! (Is it really that hard to simply type a few words and hit a button?)
To guest: This is a normal world but I want to add a little bit of medieval fantasy in it. Also, Reika's flute is not magical, the melodies that she plays are the key, not the flute.
The Lambary's culture is rather similar to the ancient Chinese. So I'm going to use some of the elements from there. I got the idea of their clothing and hairstyle from there too.
It had taken her a while, but Reika finally managed to locate the forge. Given that she knew nothing about him other than his name, she had to ask around for him but given that she was socially awkward with normal people, it took her a while before someone finally told her where Takeru is and how to find the forge.
As she raised her hand to knock on the door, she paused and glanced down at her outfit, wondering if she was a little overdressed. Yuko had insisted that she wore the traditional outfit of her people and therefore gave her a long dark blue dress up to her ankles and long sleeves of a lighter color. There were aquamarine swirls all over the sleeves and top while there were sky blue swirls on the skirt with the image of ocean waves. Yuko had also insisted that she styled her hair and wore jewelry. As such, part of her auburn hair was tied into four small buns at the back of her head and decorated with small sequins and a green ribbon which ran along the back of her head. She was also wearing a necklace with a sapphire in it and hoop earrings.
As she raised her hand to attempt to knock again, the door opened and Takeru was about to step outside. Both of them paused in their actions and stared at each other for a moment before remembering what they were doing.
"Um, hi." Reika spoke first.
"Hi." Takeru greeted her back and closed the door of the forge behind him. "I didn't expect to see you again this soon, much less out of the forest."
"Well, certain circumstances led to that…" Reika trailed off awkwardly. "So, were you going somewhere?"
"Not really." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "My friend kicked me out to take a break since I have been working hard for the past few days without a proper break."
"I see." Reika giggled. "Then what do you want to do now?"
"I don't know. Probably walk around town." He shrugged. "Do you want to come along too?"
"Sure." Reika nodded eagerly. "I always wanted to have a look at it."
As they walked around town, Takeru found himself needing to explain a lot of things to her since she never heard of or seen them before.
"So Reika, what do you think about it?" Takeru asked her as they walked back to the inn Yuko had told her that she was staying beforehand.
"It's nice. I never ventured out of the forest before and I'm glad that I did. There is only so much that I can see from the cliffs." Reika grinned.
"If you don't mind me asking, what made you come out of the forest today when you said that you were told not to leave?" Takeru asked the question that has been on his mind.
"Well, you see." Reika shifted on her feet. "My teacher, the one who taught me to survive in the forest, convinced me to go with her. She wants to bring me back to her home country so I don't know when I will return again. So I wanted to see you again before I leave since you are the first human friend I had in a while."
"I see. So, she was the one who gave you the dress?" Takeru asked with an amused smile.
"You can say that again." Reika sighed and lifted up the skirt a little. "I'm not used to wearing anything like this and yet, my teacher forced me to wear it and all of the jewelry."
"I think it suits you." Takeru said sincerely.
"Thanks." Reika ducked her head and paused in her steps. "Thanks for showing me around town. I really enjoyed it. And I don't know if I'll see you again so, good bye for now."
"You're welcome." Takeru rubbed the back of his head. "But don't say it like we're not going to see each other again. Who knows? We might see each other again in the future."
"Of course." Reika nodded with a grin and went ahead into the inn. Takeru watched her go in and turned around to head back to the forge. But as he passed by the palace, one of the guards stopped him to ask a favor.
"Say, do you mind passing a message to your leader when you get back? Please tell him that we had some visitors from outside which caused an uproar earlier in the throne room. Please tell him it is from Advisor Yuusuke."
Takeru looked surprise at that but nodded. "Sure. I'll tell him later."
"Thanks." The guard nodded and went back to his post. Takeru ran the guard's words in his mind for a while and frowned. What visitor from outside would cause an uproar in the palace like the guard said?
"You're back." Yuko greeted her when she found the room that she was staying at.
"Yeah. Sorry I took so long." Reika tilted her head at the young lady her age at the other side of the room. She narrowed her eyes slightly when she noticed how similar she looks to another friend of hers that she met a while ago. Yuko noticed this and pulled her in front of her.
"Mia, this is the other apprentice I was talking about. Reika, this is Mia. She is the princess of the country I serve and my second apprentice after you."
"Hi." Reika waved with a smile.
Yuko nearly slapped her forehead and secretly pushed Reika down from the upper back so that it looks like she is bowing and hissed into her ear. "When facing royalty, the first thing you do is bow to show respect."
Reika winced at that but luckily, Mia seemed to let it slid and smiled back. "It's nice to meet you. And Master Yuko, please go easy on her. I understand that she is not familiar with our customs so why don't you take the remaining of the day to teach her some of it so that she can be presentable before my mother."
"Of course princess." Yuko bowed.
"Also, please tell her of what to expect tomorrow since you insist that she comes with me." Mia continued as she headed for the door.
"Where are you going?" Yuko frowned.
"I'm going to take a walk in town for a moment." Mia cocked her head back at her mentor. "Is there a problem with that?"
"No, please be careful then." Yuko lowered her head. Once the door closed behind her, Yuko sighed. "That girl…what am I going to do with her?"
"Is she always like this?" Reika asked curiously.
"I'm afraid so." Yuko shook her head. "But don't take it to heart. She may be aloof but that's because, like I said before, she barely has any friends around her age. In fact, I'm glad that she's try to be friendly to you."
"Oh." Reika looked around the room and went over to the window. "So what was she talking about just now about tomorrow?"
"Oh, that." Yuko sighed and sat down on her bed. "It's a long story here. But to put it simple, she wants to go down to the Kaidou Empire's capital, Aradia, to visit the king. But the problem is, this king's grandfather is the one who killed her father. So I am not too keen of her going there. Therefore, I requested that at the very least she brought you along since you can help her get away easily if necessary."
"You mean play that melody that brings me to the forest?" Reika said in surprise as she took out her flute from her pouch.
"Exactly." Yuko nodded.
"Alright then." Reika nodded. "I don't know much about the king or what he did to Mia's father, but if it keeps her safe, then I'm willing to do it."
"And one more thing." Yuko said quietly as she stood up and placed a hand on her apprentice's shoulder. "When outside, you must call Mia by her title, princess. But if she tells you otherwise, you can call her by name when no one is around."
"Alright." Reika said reluctantly. Yuko smiled and began to teach Reika the customs that she should know before they headed back.
As Mia walked down the streets of the town, she wished that she had the forethought of changing out of her clothes into the ones that the people here normally wore since she was getting more stares and there were whispers about how she had created an uproar at the palace earlier that day and was getting black stares as a result.
'And I did not do anything at all.' She grumbled inwardly but maintained a straight face on the outside. 'It was that dumbass's fault after all. All I was doing was telling them what mother wanted me to tell the queen and he suddenly calls for all the guards to attack me.'
She quietly sighed and went into the narrow alley beside her and was satisfied when she saw that no one was around. Turns out, she spoke too soon.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" A man spoke as he and his friends stepped in front of her while another one blocked the path behind her.
"A foreign girl who doesn't look bad." The one behind Ma crackled with laughter. "I bet she'll give us a lot of fun tonight."
Mia glared at them harshly and her hands fell to her sides as the men began to close on her. But the sound of someone clearing his throat and the men halted in their tracks to glare at whoever who was there.
"I would like it if you left her alone." Haruki spoke quietly.
"And why should we do that?" The leader mocked as he cracked his knuckles.
"You can either beat me up or answer to the queen." Haruki said casually and held up the silver medallion that the queen had given to him, Hikaru and Arata so that they can help keep peace in the town when her own guards couldn't. The men seem to recognize the medallion and mumbled something as they ran away.
Mia glared at him and then at the direction where the men ran off. She spun on her heel and was going to leave when Haruki called her.
"Wait, where are you going?"
Mia nearly let out an exasperated sigh and spun back around. "Down here. Why?"
"That's where those men ran off to. If you go down there, you will get cornered again." Haruki said with a frown.
"So?" Mia tossed her hair back. "I can take care of myself. Don't underestimate me just because I'm a girl."
"I know that. But I'm saying it more for the men's sake than yours. I know that you are hiding something in your skirt. Although I don't know what it is, I know that it is lethal."
Mia's lips turned up into a thin smile but her eyes became predatory. Her left hand fell back to her side and gripped on something. "So what of it?"
"It is my job to keep peace here at Wecasta. If what you intend to do what I think you are going to do to the men if you see them again, then it is my duty to stop you." Haruki patiently explained. Her moments did not miss his gaze so his hand rested on the hilt of his sword in case he needed to use it.
Mia glared at him for a moment and suddenly flicked her wrist. As she did so, a short blade flew out of the hidden pouch sewn into her skirt and she grabbed it, pointing it at him. Haruki immediately reacted by pulling out his sword and pointed it at her. Neither of them moved nor did they break eye contact.
But suddenly, Mia burst out laughing which surprised Haurki. She flicked her wrist again and the blade flew back into the pouch in her skirt. Haruki's face screwed up in confusion as he lowered his sword. Seeing this, Mia chuckled. "You've just proven to me that people from Wecasta do have some honor and value. So, I won't stay around to fight you. By the way, I am not going to kill them if I see those men again if that's what you thought. But I would not let them go without a bruised face or so."
Haruki did not know what to say about this but he frowned, wondering who in the world she was and from what he observed, she seems to be a capable fighter to be able to use her blade like she did despite her frail appearance. But she seems sincere enough so he returned his sword to his sheath and turned to go. "If you really want to do so, then I'm not going to stop you. But please think twice about your actions. I wouldn't want your country to get a black mark because of this incident."
Mia shot him a frosty glare and for a split second, Haruki could have sworn that there was fire in her eyes. She took a step towards him and her hand fell back to her side. Now, Haruki could see clearly that the hilt of the blade was actually cleverly disguised among the patterns of her skirt which is why he never noticed it.
"Why would I care about giving my country a bad name when it no longer exist?" She hissed and stormed away before she could do something she regretted. Haruki watched her go curiously and thought of something.
"Could she be the princess that caused a scene at the palace today?" He asked himself. But inwardly he knew the answer. "But if so, the this princess is no ordinary one." He mused to himself. "It is clear that she is capable of using short blades, a weapon which is commonly used in the east but only by highly trained people in martial artist."
He narrowed his eyes at that thought. "I think Arata and Kazu should know about this. I better go back and tell them now."