It's time...for happy moments! Enjoy!

Chapter 37

A Beautiful Moment

I walked into the mess tent. There was already quite the crowd gathered inside, around several long tables that were filled with food and drink. I went in and looked around for a few moments, quickly spotting Kimiko, Luna, Lord Grant…and Lilith. I was very surprised to see her there. She was busy hugging Kimiko who was stood there with a bowl in hand. I slowly made my way over.

Lord Grant gave me a smile. "That looks good on you my boy."

I return the smile, sighing a little. The cloth was extremely light, gentle on my shoulders, which was nice compared to the heavier fabric that was the Integrity Knight underclothing. It felt very loose too, which meant I could be very flexible with it, which was perfect for the "Beyond Style". I…kind of hated that it was called it that.

I looked to Lilith, who had finally let go of Kimiko. She wiped her eyes and beamed at me. "Good morning Light. It's been a while."

I bowed to her in greeting. "Good morning Lilith."

"Shouldn't I be the one bowing? You're an Integrity Knight now."

I shook my head. "In front of all of you, I'm just Light."

She nodded, looking around for a table to sit at. "There's not a lot of space around here…"

Luna pointed towards the other side of the mess hall. "There's plenty of room over there. We can sit down there."

I spotted the table she was talking about, and we started heading over there. I sat down, Lord Grant on my right and Kimiko on my right, with Luna and Lilith on the other side. It was…kind of funny, looking at everyone here. The first time we all had been together. It gave me a sense of belonging. The last time I had felt this feeling was all the way back before Infinity…when I had sat down with Carlson, Kristina and Sixty for a drink after the Jewelled Sword, celebrating our victory.

Almost like it sensed that memory giving me happiness, the Night Shadow Blade on my back reminded me of what that victory had cost…

A loud bang shook me out of it. Lord Grant placed a bottle on the table, specifically the one I had given him as a graduation present. I was kind of surprised to see it still mostly full. "Pass over your glasses then. This moment is worthy of such splendid liquor!"

"You do know we'll be fighting a war tonight, right?" Kimiko raised an eyebrow at the glass.

"One glass won't hurt." He gave a big smile, picking up her glass and filling it. "I've been saving this for a long time, and there's no better company I'd rather share it with."

I chuckled a little. "I was half expecting it to be gone within a week."

"I won't lie, I kind of expected the same." He echoed my chuckle. "But after a while, I just wished to keep it. At least until I got to share it with the man who gifted it to me." Happiness shined in his eyes. And even if I didn't drink much, I couldn't deny him his chance at being happy. I took a glass from him, and his smile widened.

Soon enough, everyone sat with a full glass and the bottle sat half empty. Lord Grant opened his mouth to speak before I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I turned to look, seeing Eugeo standing there, with Alice, Tiese and Golgorosso. "Mind if we join you? There isn't much space left."

I was about to answer, but Lord Grant answered for me. "The more the merrier!" He immediately began filling up more glasses. "Is the young lady old enough to drink?"

Tiese looked a little offended. "I am, thank you sir." Despite the politeness of the statement, there was a small amount of anger behind it.

Lord Grant raised his hands in surrender. "I'm just checking I'm not breaking any Taboos here."

I looked up at Eugeo who sat down next to Lilith. "Is Kirito not joining you?"

Eugeo shook his head. "He's been in Bercouli's tent, asking him if they can arrange a meeting with the Dark Knight General."

He's really going all in with this plan to try and stop this war… I couldn't help but smile at Kirito's optimism. I doubted anything could be done about it now. I reached for a bread roll, cutting it in half before taking a moment. I closed my eyes, relaxing a little and opening them again. "System Call. Generate Thermal Element." The red glow appeared at my fingertips and I began carefully brush the surface of the bread. It turned golden brown rather quickly, a contrast to the rather long wait for the toaster to do the same thing. After I was done, I closed my eyes again, sucking in a sharp breath and feeling a slight tingling sensation behind my eyes.

"What was that?"

I looked up to see Kimiko staring at me. "It's nothing." I said quickly.

"Like hell it is. Your eyes turned back to brown while you did that Sacred Art." She looked at me with a piercing gaze, as if she was trying to look into my mind for the answers.

Ever since that time when I broke the Seal of the Right Eye, I had been struggling to speak. It was because somehow breaking the Seal had disrupted the translation device in my Soul Translator. It was only through Incarnation that I was able to speak and understand Japanese, having to remove the Incarnation whenever I wanted to speak English, also known as the Sacred Tongue. To be honest, it took until my memories fully returned to be able to understand half of that, knowing that Underworld was another virtual world-

No…it wasn't just another virtual world. All the people surrounding me right now, they were real. I had developed attachment to these people. This…was a whole new reality.

I looked back at Kimiko. "I'm surprised you knew the colour of my eyes before."

"Well when all you did was watch my eyes when we duelled, how could I not?"

I felt my cheeks heat up when she said that. "Well…that's because I was-"

"He was looking to see if your eyes would betray your strikes." Luna said quickly.

I couldn't help but crack a smile. "You remember."

"I remember it all." Luna looked proud of herself. "How do you think I graduated second?"

I took some cheese and placed it between the toasted bread. "I would've loved to seen that…I'm glad you got so far."

"All thanks to you." Luna blushed.

"You graduated second in your year?" Tiese looked shocked, pulling Luna into another conversation.

I was glad for the distraction, because it seemed to put Kimiko's question to the back of her mind. I didn't want to reveal the concept of Incarnation to anyone in here. Mainly because I didn't fully understand it myself and didn't want to give out anything wrong. Despite living in this world for two years, there was still so much I didn't understand.

I sat there for a few moments, observing the people I was sat with. Hearty laughter came from Lord Grant and Golgorosso, who were tapping their glasses while giving off a thousand toasts. Eugeo was being babied by Alice, insisting he ate properly so he could put on some weight, while Lilith watched both of them with a bright smile on her face. Kimiko, Luna and Tiese were all talking about their time as pages.

For the first time since the beginning of my journey, all the way back to the launch of The Land Beyond…I felt like I had a place to belong.

Kimiko looked at me for a brief moment and frowned. "Are you crying?"

"N-no, I'm fine…" I quickly wiped my cheeks. I hadn't even realised that it had made me cry. "Sorry…"

Kimiko shook her head. "Why are you sorry?" She placed her hand on mine. "I don't understand the whole reason…but I know why. This is a happy moment."

I gave her a smile. "I know."

Someone tapped me on the shoulder. For a moment, I expected Kirito, but with Eugeo and Alice already sat here, I knew he would just join us. I looked around to see Linel Synthesis Twenty-Eight and Fizel Synthesis Twenty-Nine. "Hey Light, boss wanted you." Fizel said simply. There was a look of deep guilt in her eyes.

I frowned, nodding. "I'll be back." I got up slowly and walked towards the entrance of the mess tent, taking one last look back at everyone and smiling.

I guessed by "boss", the twins meant Bercouli, so I headed straight for his tent. I went inside, seeing Kirito and smiling at him, until I saw the expression on his face. He looked like he had seen a ghost, his face pale and his eyes wet. In his arms was a girl with ginger hair that look muddy and dirty, her nun habit bloody and ripped…by what looked like a weapon. She was hiding her face in Kirito coat, sobbing.

I looked by to Bercouli. "What happened?"

"Rulid Village was attacked by a raiding party from the Dark Territory." Bercouli looked grim. "They had been buried inside the End Mountains and dug their way out." He looked frustrated with himself. "We should've checked inside…instead we just blocked it up and thought that would be fine…"

Fanatio put a hand on his shoulder. "It's not your fault."

The girl finally calmed down enough to speak. "W-we were told to set up a d-defensive position by Z-Zink…it was only after they broke through F-Father could tell us to run…and he was k-killed protecting m-me…" Her sobs started anew. "I can't tell A-Alice…she's just returned h-home…"

"It's okay Selka…it's alright…" Kirito whispered to her.

I walked further into the tent. "What do you need me to do?"

"I'm sorry, but I need you and the other Integrity Knights to house the refugees from Rulid. We don't have the space." Bercouli sighed. "With the beginning of the war so close, we don't have time to set up tents for them. Our forces are already preparing to move to the Eastern Gate."

"No problem sir." I bowed. Since they were technically our living quarters, he couldn't just move them in without permission. "I'll grab everything I need for the battle to come."

"You'll need some armour." He pointed out. I nodded, looking back at Selka. "And…could you ask Eugeo and Alice to come here."

Selka shook her head. "I can't tell them…"

"Selka…it'll be harder if they find out later." Kirito said softly. He gave me a look as if to say to go ahead. I nodded, heading back to the mess tent.

It felt almost chilling, to go from that to this place full of laughter and happiness. I tried to ignore the atmosphere and headed straight back to the table where I was sat before. I looked straight at Eugeo and Alice, who were busy smiling while listening to Lilith. "Hey…um, Eugeo and Alice?" They both looked up, their happy grins almost stopping me from saying it. "C-could you go and see Commander Bercouli?" They nodded and quickly headed off. I could swear there was a dagger being driven into my heart as I sent them off.

Without saying a word to anyone else, I immediately headed straight for my tent. There was very little I needed from there, but it was best to make sure there was nothing I was leaving behind.

As I arrived, I heard someone struggling to lift something. It was amazing I even heard it, with my state of mind. I turned to the source of the sound, seeing Eldrie, dragging two mattresses behind him.

Normally I would avoid Eldrie at all costs, but I just couldn't leave him to struggle like that. I quickly walked over. "Here, I'll take one of those."

"I don't want your help." He put emphasis on 'your', as if he would accept anyone else's aid other than my own. That probably extended to Kirito and Eugeo too though.

"You clearly need it, and there isn't anyone else around." I sighed, taking it from him. "Besides, I need to think about something else. Where is this going?"

Eldrie narrowed his eyes at me for a few moments before pointing. "To my tent."

I nodded, pulling the thin mattress across the ground. It didn't take long, as the mattress itself wasn't heavy, but kept bending and twisting, making it awkward to control. Soon enough though, we had both made it inside.

I looked at the small pile of mattresses, a little surprised. "You carried all this on your own?"

"Not exactly. I did have a cart, but someone else needed it, so I volunteered it to them." Eldrie began spreading the mattresses across the floor, giving every one of them equal room.

I smiled, a little nostalgic. The Eldrie I remembered was exactly like this. Even though before all I had done was help him repair his cart, he gave me a lift to Centoria and fed me. It wasn't out of a desire to pay off a debt, like he said, because seeing this…he didn't owe any of the people from Rulid anything. He was doing it because he was a knight.

"What's with that look?" Eldrie asked.

"It's nothing important." I saw a few mattresses left over that wouldn't fit anywhere. "Mind if I take these back to my tent?"

Eldrie looked a little taken aback, as if he expected me to leave them there. "Sure…"

I grabbed the top and bottom of the pile, lifting them up. I wobbled a little, but soon balanced the pile on my shoulder and headed out, giving Eldrie the briefest of nods. I headed straight to my tent, ignoring the confused stare that followed me.

Inside, I placed the mattresses down and let out a small sigh. I grabbed a pouch and filled it with two healing potions. I strapped it to my belt, and slid a knife alongside it. I made sure to take the Night Shadow Blade off my back before going over to the Integrity Knight armour that sat there on display, broken and cracked. Luckily, the part I wanted was still intact. I picked up the breastplate, which fitted under my arms rather nicely. The shoulder straps were hidden under the jacket thanks to slits in the fabric.

I took a deep breath, putting the crystalline blade over my shoulder and drawing it. For the first time…it really hit me that I was going to war again…though this time it was against an army of people…not just one man and his Four Generals.

For the briefest of seconds, I thought I felt that familiar shoulder pat before every time we raided that castle. I looked behind me to see nothing. I smiled, feeling my stomach clench up.

"I will survive this…no matter what. I have to get back home…"

So...I kind of mislead you there... My goal with this chapter was to have a moment of levity, before slapping this back down to reality. I know, I'm cruel. But...that's war. One of the main goals with this story was to show that such a simple change like adding in Light can change the entire course of events. But not always for the better. Because Alice wasn't there in Rulid, the villagers couldn't escape until the person with highest authority had the foresight to run. Which would unfortunately lead to his death. Eventually, someone would clean up the goblin raiding party...but it would be too late to save most of the people there...Selka being one of the only survivors.

Next chapter will be the fallout of Rulid's destruction and the armies gathering at the Eastern Gate. I want to spend some time establishing who's going where, and have a recreation of that amazing scene of the Human Empire armies and Dark Territory forces watch the Eastern Gate fall.

I've waited a long time for this... I hope I don't let you down.

Reviews:

blackbutterfly1313: Thank you so much sweetheart. I'm glad I did everything good. Hopefully this continued that streak. I'll make sure to have plenty more moments throughout the war 3

Anyway, thank you all so much for reading, favouriting, reviewing etc. Hopefully the next chapter won't take so long. War is on the horizon, so no matter what...Don't Break.