The three operations of the Crimson Wings that day had been a resounding success. The civilians were safely taken to the Sutherland province, Legram was safe once again and Sara identified Bugbear as the group responsible for the attacks at the Nortia and Kreuzen provinces. A couple of their members were captured and delivered to the Imperial Army and it was clear this wasn't the last time they'd hear that name.

Among the refugees were Thors students as well. Some, like Emily, Alan, Nicholas and Monica, had been assisting in taking care of the civilians before transportation and were eager to join the Crimson Wing to continue doing their part, while others like Munk and Margarita joined not due to an eagerness to fight but because they didn't know what else to do.

The schoolmates Rean met back in Legram also decided to join the crew. Beryl had concluded that going along with them would only help in her studying the supernatural, Loggins was itching for fighting again and Vivi wanted nothing more than to reunite with her sister. The pink haired twins had cried when they saw each other, uncaring at the fact everyone was watching them. They hugged and simultaneously apologized for getting separated from one another, which just made them laugh at themselves.

With the reunions mostly over, Class VII and the rest of the crew started to disperse from the ship's hangar as the former would have a meeting to brief each other on their missions and the new arrivals had to be directed to their duties, however two people lingered at the hangar while everyone else had left.

"Hey," Fie said in her usual monotone, standing a respectable couple of arges away from Vivi.

"Oh hi, Fie. It's been a while," the pink haired girl responded with a cheerful smile, still drying her eyes with the sleeves of her shirt. "How are you?"

"I'm alright. You?"

"Much better now, that's for sure. You won't believe how crazy it's bee-" Vivi attempted to close the gap between her and Fie but then the silvered haired girl took a step back. "Uh, you okay, Fie?"

"Sorry but…" Ugh, this sucks.

Fie wouldn't be in this situation to begin with if Alisa and Laura hadn't put the idea in her head in the first place, but because of those two she was feeling awkward and weird around her former club partner. She didn't want a relationship with anyone, that kiss hadn't meant anything deeper for her besides experimenting. Was she being too cold? She should have asked Rean for advice or maybe Sara. What would the boss do in this situation? He hadn't taught her anything about that, neither did the rest of her family, not that she believed a bunch of jaegers in their thirties and forties could've imparted any good advice about teenage romance.

Whatever, just gotta do it like a band-aid like Gaius did. I'm pretty sure Linde cried though. Crap.

"I'm not looking for a relationship right now. Sorry if I gave the wrong impression back at the festival."

Vivi's eyes went wide with surprise and the girl seemed almost paralyzed. Her face started to twitch and Fie started to feel despaired. Crap crap crap, don't cry, don't start crying. What do I do, this sucks so much, being around people sucks, why did I even try.

Vivi's lips quivered and the former jaeger braced herself for the floodgates to open just to hear the pink haired girl guffaw. The girl did end up crying but it was from laughter and Fie honestly couldn't tell if it was better or worse.

"Y-you thought I was… That we-HAHAHA!"

Fie felt herself blush and groaned.

"Sorry, sorry," Vivi rubbed her sleeves on her eyes again and did her best to catch her breath. "Let me guess, someone put it in your head that I'd be love stricken with you after we kissed?" Fie nodded in response and Vivi laughed again. "I mean it was just a kiss."

"That's what I said! So, are we good? Friends and stuff?"

"Sure, Fie. You don't have to worry, you did not steal my heart with a single kiss," Vivi threw her head back and placed a hand on her forehead, posing dramatically like a damsel in the cover of a romance novel before snickering.

Fie breathed out in relief and made a mental note to kick Alisa and Laura in the shins next time she saw them. With that mess sorted out, she started to make her way out of the hangar to join her class.

"But you know…" Vivi said, her voice a little low. "It was a nice kiss."

Fie turned around and saw the older girl playing with a pink lock of her hair wrapped around her finger while looking away in an attempt to look casual about the whole thing. "Wanna do it again?" The question came along with a blushing of her cheeks.

The former jaeger arched an eyebrow. "I said I don't-"

"Nothing serious," Vivi hastily cut her off. "I don't think I can get into dating right now either with a war going on and all that, but maybe when we're not doing anything we could just… Have some fun?" With palpable awkwardness in her voice, the girl's face was almost as pink as her hair.

Huh, Fie thought about it for a moment. She did enjoy kissing Vivi and even though the pink haired girl looked like she needed to take a shower and do away with her battered green Thors jacket, she still looked cute. Besides, her competitive attitude would not let her watch Rean and Laura's growing relationship while she was left behind.

"Okay, why not? Just don't get clingy."

"Sure," Vivi giggled. Fie could be so blunt but that was part of her charm. She never thought she was into girls before, the kiss at the festival being more like a dare than real desire and when they went for it, it was clumsy and awkward but also better than she expected. It helped that she always thought Fie was cute with her silver hair and green eyes but now she was seeing her with new eyes and wow she was rocking that outfit.

Catching up to Fie, Vivi got a hold of her arm and settled her head against her shoulder, pulling her along. "Now let us go, my dear. Show me around our love nest."

Fie groaned. This is a mistake.

The meeting between the Crimson Wings' ground team was a short one, since all of their missions were a success there wasn't much reason to linger on those topics besides Sara saying they'd have to inform their allies at the RMP and Imperial Army to keep an eye for the Bugbear jaegers. Also present were Princess Alfin and Beryl (who invited herself in) while the presence of Prince Olivert, Viscount Arseid, Toval and Towa was lacking, as they had other matters to discuss and Sara was considered enough to supervise things.

"Not that you young ones can't be responsible for yourselves," Prince Olivert had said with a strange glint in his eye, as if he had something planned but wasn't telling them.

That aside, the main attraction was, of course, Emma's Water Window spell and possible communication with her grandmother, the chief witch of the Hexen Clan. Everyone watched with curiosity as Emma brought in a large bowl she had filled with water from Lake Ebel and started to prepare the spell, which made her slightly nervous but she didn't let it get to her. She added wolfsbane, powdered coal and dried out mushrooms she had also picked up in Legram to the liquid and let the ingredients settle.

"Are you sure those mushrooms are going to be enough?" Celine suggested and adding her own suggestion, Beryl said they should try divination and wrap goat entrails around the bowl to enhance the spell's power, to which Celine blanched. "What is wrong with this girl!?"

"Please, let me work, it's already hard to work with a spell I never performed before as it is."

Emma's exasperation drew amused chuckles from the others while Celine and Beryl backed off.

Looking from the outside, the bowl and its contents held nothing special, just water and random ingredients like some weird soup, but then Emma touched the surface of the water with her index finger and sparkles of light started to form as she moved it around.

"Appear, oh image from beyond! Cross space through that which gives life! Through lakes, rivers and oceans, create a window to the world and show me the one who I seek!" Tracing circles on the water, her voice sounded out with a different intonation, smooth and deep, as her eyes shined a bright blue and increased in intensity when Emma placed all five fingers of her hand on the water.

The air was foreboding, tense and electrified, and everyone waited with bated breath for what would happen next.

…

Nothing happened.

"Did it work?" Asked Alisa, tense with antecipation.

"Yes but…" The witch bit her bottom lip, still holding her hand on the liquid. "Grandmother has to respond with her own magic to finish the spell."

"Do you mean she has to pick up the phone?" Rean asked with half-lidded eyes and Emma nodded with some embarrassment.

And with that the tension was defused. It was a spell to communicate with someone, not some arcane incantation to summon unknown powers from beyond, so while fascinating they shouldn't have expected something grander than what was essentially a phone call.

Water Window, Emma had explained, was a rudimentary spell that had fallen in disuse due to better ones existing for long range communication, such as the ones she herself had used to talk with her grandmother back during her school days. Those powerful spells, however, had proven useless since the war started, if it was due to the agitations to the spirit veins or VIta's interference she could not tell. After many failed attempts, Celine had suggested using an older spell like Water Window that relied less on the spirit veins and more on the natural flow of mana in the elements, in this case water.

After a couple of minutes there was a response and the water in the bowl started to shine with the same blue light from Emma's eyes and she removed her hand from the water, smiling in relief at the spell succeeding. The liquid shimmered and bubbled and particles jumped from the surface, like sparks in a bonfire, and anticipation started to build up again then everything went still.

"Emma? Emma, is that you?" A voice called, clearly coming from the bowl. Slightly distorted, it sounded like the speaker had their head halfway submerged but most strange of all was how youthful the person sounded, like a young girl. A quirk from the spell, some theorized.

"Grandma! Yes, it's me!"

"I've been trying to communicate with you for the past month, why haven't you answered my calls?" The elderly witch not only sounded annoyed but honestly kind of bratty due to her voice sounding so young. "And why are you using a spell like Water Window? I didn't have a source for it prepared because why would I!? Next thing I know I'm about to take a bath and the water starts to shimmer with a summon and I had to rush to Aura's to get the ingredients and she was almost out of wolfsbane!"

Emma was mortified at being scolded in front of all of her friends who watched the scene with all sorts of looks directed at her. This was not how one expected to first communicate to an old and wise witch. "G-grandma, there are other people around, my classmates and other friends."

"What!?" The elder witch stopped talking then and the water swirled and splashed momentarily, as if the figure inside the bowl was trying to peek over the edge to look around the conference and the many eyes staring with curiosity.

"Ah, you've revealed yourself, I see. So this is the state of things now. I suppose introductions are in order then," the woman in the bowl audibly cleared her throat and while her voice still sounded much younger than they had expected, she at least sounded more cordial, greeting them and introducing herself as Roselia Millstein, the elder witch of the Hexen Clan. The cordiality was, however, short lived as she bluntly asked if the Ashen Awakener was there or if he had died on the trial.

"Y-yes, grandma, he's right here," Emma beckoned Rean to approach her and the bowl and he did so with curiosity.

What Rean saw at the water could barely be considered the image of a person, maybe if he squinted he could make out a set of eyes and a mouth. "Uh hi, Emma's grandmother," he raised a hand awkwardly, unsure on how to proceed.

The water stirred and the witch hummed to herself as if thinking of something. "Hmm, he's adequate, I suppose."

"Wow, thanks."

"Is he treating Valimar well?"

Rean felt it rather insulting that she didn't ask him directly since he was standing right there. Now he knew where Vita and familiar and Celine got their attitude from. It seemed Emma was a real outlier if all other witches were like that as well.

"He is now that we kicked his ass into learning how to behave," the cat familiar sneered.

Emma watched Rean's face start to contort into a scowl and winced. Oh no they did not need to have him going off on her grandmother and Celine at that moment, she needed to take control of the situation quickly. "Celine, don't you start it. And grandmother, please show Rean some respect, things haven't been easy for us," Emma chastised them and both familiar and elder witch muttered a "fine" like children being scolded.

Not wanting to give a chance for things to escalate further, Emma dove in with a succinct explanation of what had transpired at Trista and the current state of Erebonia. "Vita has guided the Azure Awakener to Ordine and joined a secret society to launch a coup in Erebonia, causing a civil war between the central government and noble houses to start the Rivalries. They've gone so far as to create mass produced Divine Knights called panzer soldats based on Ordine. They've taken over the capital and we think they are after the Vermillion Apocalypse, maybe so that Ordine can defeat it in a Rivalry and absorb its power. We need your help to figure out what to do next before it's too late."

Her grandmother went silent again, pondering the information she just received, and Rean seemed to calm down. Good, they needed to stay on track of what was important.

"Well, this explains why things have been so quiet over here", said Roselia, more to herself to anyone who was listening. "I see now what is happening, it is very likely Vita has put a series of veils over the village. First an illusionary one so I wouldn't notice the disturbances in the spirit veins caused by the Rivalry, that I can easily dispel later, but the one stopping communication spells is more worrisome. Undoubtedly she had assistance from her new friends to be able to sneak in such a spell without my notice."

"Is it true that there is a Divine Knight locked under Valflame Palace?" Princess Alfin interjected, a hint of worry in her voice.

"Who said that?" Emma's grandmother called out, her image stirring as she looked for the speaker.

Getting up from the seat, Alfin walked closer over to the bowl and though it looked very silly, curtsied to it. "Greetings, Lady Millstein. I am Princess Alfin Reise Arnor, daughter of Emperor Eugent Reise Arnor. My brother, Prince Olivert, has informed us of the legend of the Vermillion Apocalypse and we surmised that it must be a Divine Knight, is that correct?"

"Hmm, so you have one of Dreichels' descendants with you…" The witch muttered, as if that bit of information had some deeper meaning. "Testa-Rossa, that is the name of the Divine Knight that lies under the palace. And no, Emma, she can't be after it because it acquired the Vermillion Apocalypse epithet when it was corrupted by the blood of Zoro-Agruga and awakening it would be the equivalent of unleashing that catastrophe all over again."

"Wasn't that what that ILF man called the monster he summoned back in Heimdallr?" Said Gaius, referring to the attempted kidnapping of Alfin and Elise.

"Emma informed of that event. What you children fought was merely an reanimated corpse, were it the actual Zoro-Agruga, you and the entirety of Heimdallr would be dead by now, just like it happened eight hundred years ago," the elder witch grimly said.

"Eight hundred… So the story is true then?" Jusis spoke out and eyes turned to him but the blond shrugged at the attention. "That a particularly vicious monster made its nest in Heimdallr and caused such destruction that it forced Emperor Astorius to move the capital to Saint-Arkh. Rean, didn't you ace the test about that subject?"

The swordsman nodded. "Right. Most of that story has been thrown aside as myth and there are some theories that it was all an excuse to attempt to shift the balance of power back then but nobody ever managed to explain why Heimdallr was abandoned for a century. If it was a cryptid then it explains how people back then couldn't deal with it and they needed a Divine Knight to kill it."

"Oooh, if we're talking about history maybe we should call Instructor Thomas over," Millium suggested and earned an unanimous "NO!" from her classmates.

"Calling it a cryptid doesn't even begin to describe Zoro-Agruga, that creature was a calamity that could've wiped Erebonia from the face of Zemuria, but none of that is important, focus here," Emma's grandmother yelled out to get their attention back to her. "When the Vermillion Awakener of that time slew Zoro-Agruga he also died during combat, it was a mutual kill, and its blood flowed inside Testa-Rossa and corrupted his systems. The next time the Vermillion Knight was awakened was during the War of the Lions by Dreichels' brother and he immediately lost control. It was a miracle that Dreichels managed to defeat and contain the Vermillion Apocalypse but… the battle was not without its costs and the Argent Awakener perished in battle."

A memory flashed in Rean's mind, a crimson spear running through the chest of the Argent Knight as it laid down, unmoving against a dilapidated building. For less than a second feelings of dread, grief and rage coursed through his mind and it required Rean all of his self control to not let the others see it. he really wished that would stop, out of all of Valimar and Dreichels' memories did those have to appear to him so frequently?

"So Vita can't be looking to awaken Testa-Rossa and take its power, especially if all she has is Ordine."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Rean asked at the odd statement.

"Ordine is among the weakest of the Deus Excellion, alongside Valimar and Zector, the Palatinate Knight. The Vermillion Apocalypse could easily overwhelm the Azure Awakener by himself."

The statement came as a shock. Ordine was one of the weakest? The Ordine that whooped his ass twice and could've easily killed him and Valimar? What kind of power did the Vermillion Apocalypse, who killed Saint Sandlot, had then? And worse yet, Valimar was also among the weakest. But then, Valimar did ended up emerging victorious.

"Well, she obviously has some kind of plan otherwise she wouldn't have done all this crap," said Fie.

"Excuse me, but the Argent Awakener who fell in battle, it was Lianne Sandlot, was it?" Laura spoke up. "What has happened to the Argent Knight? Why wasn't he at Lohengin Castle?"

"Who is it now?" Emma's grandmother said with a groan.

"That was Laura Arseid, grandma. Remember? The one from Legram."

"Oh, the Arseid, I see. Well, that is none of your concern."

The dismissive tone with which her question was responded and the way she referred to her family's name annoyed Laura but she managed to keep her composure for the moment. "I disagree. If they could be an ally then surely we must look for-"

"I've said that is none of your concern! You must not waste your time with Argreion or your infatuation with Sandlot. Yes, I know how you Arseids can get about her, the S thing is cute, but it's best if you forget about following in her footsteps."

"Excuse me!?" But that then sent her over the edge and Laura shot up from her seat with a scowl over her face. Rean mirrored her expression as well, taking issue once again at how they were being spoken to.

"Grandmother!" Emma tried once again to take control of the situation. What got into her to be this rude to her classmate? "This war threw everyone's lives into chaos and some of us have personal stakes in everything that is going on, so I think you should try to be at least a bit nicer to my friends. Everyone is full of questions, myself included, so I'll start with something that has been bugging me since the last time we saw Vita. She said I should ask you about the origins of the Deus Excellion. I know they were created by the Hexen Clan and the gnomes to contain the Great Power but is there something beyond that? And what is the Great One and how is it related to the Divine Knights? I saw its name scribbled on the ruins of Valimar's Reverie Corridor. 'Born out of fire and rock, the Great One is now seven,' what does that mean?"

But despite Emma's pleading tone, Roselia once again dismissed a question directed at her. "That is not something you need to know."

"Are you kidding me?"

"This was a waste of time then."

Rean and Jusis shouted with exasperation and Sara had to hold herself to not mirror them.

Not exactly the image of the old wise sage, that one, Sara thought of Emma's grandmother. She could see Rean was agitated and seemed on the edge to say something that would derail things further. Well, time for the Bracer to act like a teacher then.

"Miss Millstein, this is Sara Valestein speaking, Emma's teacher from Thors. There is a civil war going on in our country spurred by one of your granddaughters using one of the Divine Knights created by your clan. You sent Emma to watch over Rean and Valimar because you expected something like this would happen. We have all sorts of questions about this whole mess, so if you could help instead of acting annoyed like you are not a part of this, I'd really appreciate it!"

It had been a while since Class VII had seen their instructor acting that serious and none of them had any memory of the downright authoritative tone that had picked up in her voice as she spoke.

"I get that you have things you don't want to divulge, as a Bracer I've worked with governments and even the Church and everyone's got their dirty little secrets they think it's too much for others to know, so I'm fine with skipping on why your people decided to make giant death machines or why you are hiding the Argent Knight," the Bracer needled Roselia and Celine growled and glared at her. "What we need to know is: if she doesn't want the Vermillion Apocalypse, what is she doing in Heimdallr? What could be her real objective and how can we put a stop to it? I assume you can answer that at least because otherwise I don't see the point as to why you even decided to send Emma to Thors."

Her grandmother went quiet in a way Emma hadn't really expected, then again, nobody ever really challenged the elder witch in that way and for once, she had no response and her usual demeanor failed her. Not that Roselia Millstein was an authoritarian person, just unaccustomed to it.

"I can't tell you what Vita's objective is," Roselia finally started to everyone's frustration. "I can't… because I myself have no way of knowing. When she ran away she took my staff, Kerykeion, with her and erased all of her traces though I had an inkling that Ouroboros might be involved, and yes, Emma, I was aware of Ouroboros and kept that from you because there was no point in telling you back then.

"Unless Vita's gone completely insane, she doesn't plan to awaken Testa-Rossa but you're correct, if she's at the capital then it's likely her interest lies in him. Due to the corruption, the Vermillion Apocalypse's power was never absorbed by Valimar and that Rivalry was never finished, instead he was locked inside the Reverie Corridor that served as trial grounds for the Vermillion Awakener. It is very likely she plans to use that somehow.

"All signs indicate that a Rivalry is being prepared, the lines of causality were already pointing towards that back when I decided to send Emma to investigate Thors and now with Erebonia embroiled in war, that is a certainty."

At the tacit mention of the fight between him and Crow, Rean thought of Towa's reaction back days ago. Is there a way to avoid the Rivalry, he thought to ask. With his anger tempered by Towa and George's words, Rean wasn't sure if he was ready to fight Crow anymore, maybe he never was, but so many people were counting on him to end this war. He was the only one who could, after all.

"Emma's mission was to guide the Ashen Awakener through that process, I trust that has been going well at least?" Roselia continued.

"Yes, grandma. Rean has been proactive in learning about magic and his connection with Valimar and he is rapidly becoming better in his role as a pilot," Emma said enthusiastically with a hint of pride in her voice.

Roselia made a sound of approval at that. Finally, something made that cranky, old (?) witch happy. "Keep training, Ashen Awakener, with the spirit veins in Erebonia in turmoil as they are, you'll have no shortage of creatures for practice on, make use of them. Work on perfecting your connection with Valimar and understanding your role in this, that is the only way you can unlock the Ashen Knight's true potential."

Valimar's true potential… Something like Ordine's Boost Mode, Rean thought. And just like understanding of his deeper connection to Valimar, it would be something he figures out by himself, through trial and error and practice instead of it being an answer handed to him.

"Have you procured a weapon for yourself?" Roselia asked.

"Huh? Ah, well, we got some swords from panzer soldats I took down. They don't last very long though."

The elder witch blew air out of her mouth dismissively at the mention of the cheap copies of the Deus Excellion. "That won't do at all. If you wish to defeat the Azure Awakener at the Rivalries, you must have a weapon made of zemurian ore, the same material used in the creation of the shell of the Divine Knights and the only substance that can reliably pierce it. I have no doubt that the Azure has such a weapon."

That brought back memories of Ordine's double saber cutting through Valimar and stabbing his shoulder and Rean felt the ghost of that pain in his own body. Thinking back on it, Ordine's double saber did seem more unique than the weapons from the soldats Rean had fought. So his weapon was special, because of course it was, Crow always had the deck stacked in his favor it seemed.

"That is another topic I wanted to talk to you about, grandma," said Emma. "You've never told me how to find the shrines where zemurian ore was cultivated."

"Don't worry yourself, Emma. I know the location of a couple of shrines where you can get zemurian ore, I shall give you the means of finding them as soon as we are done here. Unfortunately I can't leave here and assist you myself. I can now feel that the veil over Eryn is a powerful one and I need to study it properly before taking action. I can think of a couple of ways Vita could deter me from interfering even if it meant putting the whole village at risk."

Emma wanted to protest at that statement but Vita had done so many horrible things already that she couldn't put it past her. Her loss of faith in her older sister saddened the younger witch immensely.

"Vita is at Heimdallr trying to access the Reverie Corridor and the Vermillion Apocalypse, which is where undoubtedly the enemy armies are centered and retaking it was your main objective. So, as frustrating as it might sound, if you want to stop Ouroboros' plan of using the Deus Excellion, you have to continue to play to the war's tune. I will see what I can do on my end to assist you and I will try to contact the Argent Awakener but I make no promises. And Arseid girl… I apologize for my words."

Laura thanked her for the apology and said no more. Emma's grandmother obviously was hiding some knowledge about Saint Sandlot and the Arseid family, that much was certain, but pushing the subject wouldn't help anything, she doubted even her father would be able to get much from the stubborn and secretive woman.

"Well, I guess this is it for the moment," said Emma. Despite the rough start things have worked out. "Unless anyone has any more questions?"

"Oh I have many!" Beryl jumped next to Emma to peer at the bowl, startling not only the young witch but the elder one as well.

"What the hell is that thing doing there!?" Roselia all but shrieked.

"G-grandmother! That's Beryl, don't call her a thing! Honestly, what is going on with your manners lately?"

"I'm not talking about the girl, I mean the wraith behind her!"

Everyone looked at Beryl and then past her, puzzled as they tried to see something, anything in the girl's vicinity. Rean and Fie even made sure to circle around the gloomy girl and focused their sharper senses but nothing came from the closer examination.

"Oh, you can see Bella Berifes? Fascinating."

"You gave it a name!?"

"Of course. She deserves one as my guardian spirit."

Right. Her guardian spirit. So it was a real thing, Rean and the others from the Legram mission thought. It was a good thing that Beryl wasn't crazy but now there was a guardian spirit living on the ship so who knew what that meant for them. Hopefully nothing.

Having had enough of the rude elder witch and seeing as they had nothing to add, everyone else decided to make a strategic exit from the conference room and retire for the day, leaving Emma and Celine to placate the growing argument between a yelling bowl of water and the gloomy looking girl.

In the early hours of the following day, Class VII was roused from their sleep by an emergency reunion by Captain Arseid, though curiously, that one was to take place at the ship's bridge and not the conference room. The viscount, Prince Olivert, Toval and Towa were there waiting for them, the members of the secret reunion from the previous day, as well as Instructor Sara, and while the grown ups held pleasant smiles between them, the younger girl looked absolutely terrified while seating at the captain's chair.

And before anyone could ask anything, Prince Olivert struck a pose extending both arms at Towa. "Say hello to the Courageous' new captain!"

AUTHOR'S NOTES: So, Fie and Vivi. I'm honestly surprised this isn't a somewhat popular ship, I think there's an interesting dynamic to be had between them, the blunt girl who doesn't really understand much about living in regular society or relationships with the overly social and hyperactive one. But as I say that I also have to say this will be in the background much like Jusis asking Alisa out, since I already have enough on my plate with Rean and Laura and the story. So this won't even be a tag lest I lead on unsuspecting would-be-readers into reading a story that's over 300k words (and growing) thinking they'll get the content they crave.

Also Class VII talks to Roselia during the Civil War because why wouldn't they? I remember back when I played CS3 and when she was revealed I was like "Yeah, right, this character exists, why didn't she do anything back then?" At least I didn't find an answer in the wiki or the database. I could've ignored this part of the plot completely like the games did and saved myself a lot of time and headache writing this but oh well.

And yes, finally Victor, Olivert and Toval will be leaving. Just like in the games, Laura's dad can't be hanging around when he can solo every threat they face. That's why he gets to captain the Courageous fair away from them in some instances, and while he participates in rescuing Fiona, it's a little more complex than him just beating everyone around. Here I just delayed things a bit, instead of immediately handing them the keys to the Courageous, Olivert and Victor needed to see what they were capable of for a bit and now that they are sure the kids won't ram the ship on Valflame Palace, they're free to do as they please and I myself am free from having to come up with ways to keep Victor from solving all problems by himself.