- 2 years Later: The Leicester Alliance: Imperial Year 1169: March: Arisa 9 years old, Amir 10 years old, Alexandra: 8 -
"Ahhhhhhh!"
The screams of children were heard as they were being chased by a pack of 6 wild boars. Her orange brown colored eyes were wide with fear as she runs for her life. She was an idiot. Why did she listen to those older kids in her village to hunt down a boar to prove she was a hunter like her father. The girl tripped and screamed for her life as did the others as the boars were about to lunge at them but...
Her eyes went as a chain like whip came out of nowhere and scattered around, slashing at the boars and killing them in an instant. The children along with her, could only watch in shock as the boars fell to the grass, limp. A piece of the back of their neck, sliced off.
"Seriously kids! Don't go trying to hunt without proper training for Pete's sake!"
The group of kids looked up as they heard the flapping of wings and saw a brown red pegasus land a few feet from her. She looked up and saw a cloaked girl, who was taller than her by 3 feet, glare at each one of them from her seat. They could see her green brown colored eyes and a single stand of light brown hair that faded to teal. The children flinched at her glare and then noticed the bloodied sword on her waist.
"You're all lucky my father and his group were near the road or you all been killed! If I didn't fly ahead thanks to Red Hare, you all be dead meat!" The cloaked girl said furiously, and the children looked to the ground in shame.
She stood up and dusted herself, still staring at the dead boar. The cloaked one let go of a sigh.
"Kids these days...then again...I'm no better..." she heard the cloaked girl mutter and she turned to her.
"What's your name?" The girl asked.
"Umm...L-Leonie..." she muttered.
There was a silence till the cloaked girl sighed and looked at everyone in the group.
"All of you, I'm taking you back home. Which direction to your village?" She said and one boy pointed to the north.
The cloaked girl nodded and took out her sword again. The tip of it glowed and the 6 boars began to float and shirked to the size of rabbits. They saw her open her other bag that she had strapped on the pegasus named Red Hare and the boars went in. All the kids jaw dropped as Red Pegasus began to walk slowly towards the direction of the village.
"Let's go." Was all the girl said and the children quickly followed them.
There was a tense silence as they walked at the sides of Red Hare, Leonie kept looking at the cloaked girl, who smoothly road the huge red pegasus. The said pegasus mane was braided and combed out. On his side were around 5 bags strapped on. Plus, the girl carried her own purse with a dagger strapped onto her thigh and her rapier on her waist. They also finally noticed the snowy owl that was perched on her shoulder, that was asleep.
"Umm...are you a noble?" One child asks and the cloaked girl shook her head.
"No. I'm mercenary. I'm travelling with my dad and his group." She said.
"Umm...what about your pegasus and owl?" Another child asked.
"Red Hare and Feh?" The girl said and they nodded.
The cloaked girl smiled softly and lightly poked at Feh to wake up. Unfortunately, the bird was in the middle of her beauty sleep and was pissed to be woken up.
"Aaaaiiiieeeee!" The children all laughed that Feh began pecking at the girl angrily.
"Alright, alright! I'm sorry to wake you up from your beauty sleep! I swear...you're like the bird version of Lindhart. Go fly to Amir and tell her I'll be meeting them at the village in a bit." The girl said and Feh hooted at her and flew off.
"Honestly..." she sighed and removed her hood, revealing a young girl with long light brown that fades to teal, tied in a high ponytail. She a few almost fluffy bangs that covered her forehead and one to the right and one to the left that were long that stopped right at the bottom of her chest. The tips of long bangs displayed how her hair faded to teal. But there was a single stand of her hair that was white. She also wore a flower crown with blue, pink and white small roses with a gold chain. On her right ear, she wore a single earring that was the shape of the moon with a tear drop green gem. Everyone stared at her with wide eyes as the girl let go of a sigh.
"We're close to the village. 10 more minutes." The girl said.
"What's your name?!" Leonie blurted out.
The girl was silent for a moment and then spoke.
"Arisa. Arisa Byleth. You can call me either name if you want." Arisa said as they continued forward.
"You know, trying to keep a cool attitude is only scaring the children~"
Arisa stiffened as she immediately recognized the voice of a certain green haired gremlin (Sothis: Goddess for Serios sake dammit!) As the said one appeared before her in a shower of green glittering dust. Sothis smirked as she looked at Arisa, who continued forward.
"I honestly am in a bit in a sour mood. I swear these kids." Arisa said and Sothis nodded.
"Cramps?" The goddess said.
"Yeah..." Arisa internally cried as she reached into her fourth pouch and took out a small bag.
"Heads up!" She said and threw each of the kids something.
Leonie quickly caught it and blinked at the small little wrapped ball in her hand.
"What is this?" One of the kids asked and Arisa smirked.
"Enbarr's legendary caramel candy." She smirked as she opened one and plopped the sweet treat in her mouth.
The kids began opening theirs and many squealed as they tasted the divine sweet and salty treat. Leonie felt she was in heaven as she ate hers. A few more minutes passed, and they arrived at the village entrance. Arisa could see an adult scolding around 4 older kids and also spotted her father, Amir, Alexandra, along with Sandy and the rest of the group.
"Dad!" Leonie yelled out and everyone turned their direction.
The older kids looked away while the adults were shocked to see Red Hare and Arisa. The kids ran to them while Arisa steadily rode Red Hare.
"What happened?" Amir asked as Puka was walking next to her.
The Duscurian girl had her hair short, just above her shoulders, and wore a simple black shirt with a metal breastplate and armor shoulder protection on the right. She wore gray pants with metal knee armor protections. On both her right and left side of her waist, was each strapped one of her swords, and on her back, a double blade axe.
"I managed to save the kids on time before they got killed by a pack of wild boars." Arisa said and sent the older kids a glare as Leonie's father's voice rose as he yelled at them for the stupid bet, they made the younger kids do.
"Well, at least they are safe now. Let me guess, you brought the boars with you right?" Alexander grinned.
She wore her Azure hair in two Chinese buns with part of it lose like pigtails and the rest of her hair was let loose, it stopped halfway through her back. She wore a deep dark blue clothing of a sniper despite being a paladin in training. On her waist, was strapped a dagger and on her back, an iron bow. Her small feather antennas made many of the kids stare at her as they slightly fluttered.
"Kriii.." she giggled as a baby wyvern with black scales popped out their head from her cloak.
"Now Falco, be patience." Amir giggled.
She was finally happy to have a pet. The girls heard Feh hoot and saw her land on Arisa's head (like usual). While that went on, Arisa stared at Leonie, who was being hugged by her mother. Despite the girl being 8 years old, she looked like a mini version of her 16-year-old self. Leonie has dark orange short hair with dark orange brown colored eyes. She wore a plain white shirt with shorts and brown boots. Arisa let go of a long sigh she saw the two mercenary twins walk up to her.
"The captain has decided were going to be staying here for two days to help the people of the village out. There have been a couple of wild beasts lately and paid us to take them out." One twin had dark red blood colored spiky shoulder length hair and had an eye patch covering his green right eye. He wore the clothing of a Male assassin. This is Cinder.
"Welp, might as well keep a look out for the night. I heard demonic beast have been appearing a lot lately." The other twin look exactly the same as Cinder except he had his hair tied in a ponytail and his eyepatch on his left eye, and the clothing he wore was that of a brawler. This is Camren.
"You two!" The twins flinched at the voice of a female.
They turned and saw a young woman with half her hair brown and the other half dark green, flowing beautifully in curls, but were tied in a sideway ponytail. Her clothing was a dark green dress that split at the sides of her legs. She wore knee high brown boots with two khopesh (Egyptian hooked sword) in their sheaths, strapped to her waist. Her brown eyes glared down at the twins with arms crossed. The three girls giggled.
"Come on Hana! I promise you we won't drink tonight. We swear!" Camren raise his arms in defense.
Cinder leans a bit towards Arisa, and he whispers.
"I managed to sneak you a bottle of apple cider. I'll give it to you if you don't say anything about wine." Cinder said and Arisa whispered back.
"Deal. Just sneak me some wine too." She said back.
The flame twins, everyone calls them, along with Hana, joined her father's company two years ago. Hana was a young woman that was born in the Kingdom. From what Amir heard, she used work for House Fraldarius. The flame twins came from the Empire. Apparently, they quit serving the army and chose the life of mercenaries. Truthfully, those were made up lies by those three. Their true role was to keep watch over the girls. Especially since they screwed badly two years ago by unintentionally awaking the Crest of Flames in Byleth. Hana honestly still held a small grudge against Arisa for blasting her out of the inn room. Then again, it was her fault that the young girl literally went into temporary God mode and blasted her out with a highly advanced spell that put the girl in a one-month coma. As for the day the relics glowed, it became known as the Day of Twilight. Rhea had found a way to say that every 200 years, the Heroes Relics glowed to show that a blessing from the goddess will come soon. A load of bullshit Emily calls it. Of course, the now 15-year-old girl did not voice her thoughts because she didn't want to get screwed over like Cornelia. Speaking of the hag, there was a huge blow on her pride. One, being the main thing that half her face was nearly burned off, many nobles spoke behind her back, and with rumors, damaged part of her reputation. These rumors did reach the King's ear and had grown some distrust towards her. That greatly pleased Emily because she rose in ranks while Cornelia stayed the same. The hag's years of research was burned to ashes the day of the fire except the one USB flash drive that had everything backed up. Amir gave it back to Arisa and since then, Arisa has carried it with her since then. She created a small wooden owl necklace. Pop off the head and inside of it is the memory disk. She still hasn't found a way to access the information, but she hopes, when she turns 15 in 5 more years, she'll travel to Shambhala. Now, why the suicide mission? If she could manage to get her hands on at least another form of ancient yet modern technology, she will be able to expand the research on Crest. She has been secretly hoarding books about Crestology and with her knowledge of modern medicine from her old times as a nurse and the huge amount she has learned these past years, she prays she will be able to save Lysithea but also Edelgard. To create a change.
"Arisa, hope you're not making a deal with that red head again." Hana said as she turned to her.
The said girl just smiled as Cinder secretly put the jug of cider in her bag.
"Now Hanaohhana, why would I do that?" Arisa said with a fake hurt tone that made the others snicker.
Hana's eye twitched at the damn nickname the girl came up with to tease her. At least it wasn't Helena, who gave her the strange nickname of Pine tree. The said older woman just let go of a big sigh and spoke.
"Whatever. Anyhow, get off Red Hare. Thankfully there is an inn in this village. Also, the stables are that way." She pointed to an area where they spotted horses.
Arisa nodded and steered Red Hare towards the stables. Unfortunately, she didn't notice that Leonie went after her.
[ - ]
"There you go. Hopefully you'll actually be able to get a proper nap this time because last night was horrible." Arisa sighed as she closed the door to Red Hare's stable section, who made himself comfortable by laying down on the hay set up.
The said Horse let out a neigh as he was placed a basket of vegetables in front of him. He lightly flapped his wings to get off a few of the fallen leaves stuck to them.
"Whoooooaaa! He looks amazing now that I got a better look!"
Arisa turned to see Leonie outside the door, looking in with a grin on her face. She chuckled seeing the young girl, and motioned her to come in.
"Want to pet him?" She said and Leonie nodded as she enters.
"Now, softly, reach out your hand. Let him come to you." Arisa said as Leonie stood next to her.
Leonie stuck out her hand and waited. Red Hare stared at her for a few seconds and closed his eyes, gently nuzzling her hand. The orange haired girl giggled as he allowed her to pet him. Feh chirped, landing on the girl's shoulder. Arisa smiled as she saw them getting along with the little girl, despite her only being a year younger than her. But she frowned as she heard the murmurs of a few of the villagers.
"Have you heard?! Everyone in House Barteles has been massacred!"
"Have they caught the killer?"
"Unfortunately, no. No one was left alive. Not even the children."
She knew the news was going to reach Mercedes soon and wasn't happy. For now, she will focus on her current time. They are heading to Derdui, the Aquatic Capital of the Alliance and known as, where Claude lives. She let go of a long sigh as she saw Leonie still petting Red Hare. For now, she only hoped that guarding the village tonight will help her relax a bit.
- Later at Night -
With a dagger in her hand and standing guard at the village entrance, Hana stared out to the forest as she twirled her blade. She was stationed there along with the Flame Twins. Arisa and Sandy are at the south entrance, Jeralt and Amir at the east, lastly Fiona, Alexandra and Temes at the west.
"I really am not liking this." Hana said suddenly as she stared out to the forest.
"Not liking what? The life of a mercenary?" Camren said as he was taking a bit of the dried meat, he had brought with him to snack on.
"No not that." Hana glared, "I'm saying these past two years we haven't gotten any information at all! It clear that the girl hid somewhere that device. Sigh...I don't know what Emily was thinking of having us go undercover." She said.
"Look, Hana. I get how you feel but we must. If Rhea gets her hands on Byleth or those snakes, it's game over." Cinder remind her.
"I know...That's why I'm mad...it would be so much easier if we knew how to extract the Crest stone in her heart and get rid of it. Then that girl could live a normal human life." She said.
"Are you crazy?!" The twins yelled at her and she just rolled her eyes.
"Never mind that. Has Emily reported anything?" Hana changed the subject.
"Other than famine and an epidemic going on in The Kingdom..." Carmen said and Han let go of a long sigh.
"I'm guessing she's having trouble." Hana said.
"What's this about famine and epidemic?"
All three turned to see Arisa walking towards them.
"Kid don't scare us like that." Cinder said was Arisa stood next to them.
"What are you doing here anyway?" Hana said, eyes slightly narrowed.
"Sandy let me take a break. I wanted to look around the village. Now, about this famine I heard." She said.
"Well, it's mostly taking place in Galatea territory. The land isn't very good for growing crops and thus food shortages. Add that with now an epidemic...sigh...disaster." Camden said.
"What are the symptoms of the epidemic?" Arisa said.
The three looked at each other with raised eyebrows. What is this getting at?
"Chills, clammy skin, dehydration, fatigue, fever, loss of appetite, malaise, or sweating. Plus, fast breathing, shallow breathing, shortness of breath, or wheezing. Sharp pains in the chest, along with fast heart rate." Hana answered.
Arisa was silent for a moment and spoke.
"Pneumonia. That's not a good sign..." Arisa said.
"Wait, you know what it's called?" Hana quickly uncrossed her arms and stared at the girl.
"I never heard of it. That's...completely new..." Cinder said.
"Have any of the people been coughing blood?" Arisa asked quickly.
"Thankfully no. Arisa...do you know something?" Camren said.
"...I do...and I know how to treat those people. The problem is, the ingredients needed to make the medicine..." before she finished, Hana quickly grabbed her shoulders.
"Say them. Say the ingredients right now and we can help you prepare for that medicine." Hana said too quickly.
Internally, she was laughing madly. This girl knew something that Emily didn't! Oh, how this brought her joy because the red head was a showoff most of the time.
Arisa felt like she just messed up big time. Suggesting making a modern-day antibiotic was absurd in this time. Ingredients like sulfuric acid and such aren't easy to come upon with. Plus, the tools needed to prepare for it...
"Hydrochloric acid, Chloros Fluoric acid, sodium hydroxide, ammonia, carbonated water, baking soda, alcohol." She said.
Why is she running her mouth?! Ohhhhh! Her doctor side is taking over. Hana was doing everything in her power not to grin and quickly took out a piece of paper with her charcoal pencil.
"Write down the entire process and give it to us tomorrow. All credit will go to you." Hana said.
"Alright. Just...make sure not to say my real name. Call me...Kiana Kalsana ." Arisa said.
Why does she keep saying that her name is the idiot tuna? Hana giggled and nodded.
"Alright. I will. But for now, head back to Sandy. We still need to keep watch." The older woman said.
Arisa nodded and waved goodbye.
"I'm going to regret this."
- The Next Day -
While the others went to eat, Arisa remained in the room she was staying in. She sat on her bed, staring at the pile of books she had tied together in front of her. Each book was every single little detail of Modern medicine she learned from her time. Diseases, medicine, operations, sanitary treatments/procedures, way to cure normal small flus, dangerous flues, the woman body, the Male body, the human body on general, sex education, the ingredients and procedures to make Modern day medicine. This all together was a pile of 10 books, each one 500 pages. Basically, everything she could remember. Everything was written down by hand. So pretty much this was her course of four years of work plus all the research she did learning the ways of medicine in this world.
"You don't have to do this."
She looked up and saw Sothis looking at her worried.
"What good will come if you share this forbidden knowledge? Even if you made 3 backups of your life work, what good will come of it falls to the wrong hands?! I know you don't completely trust Hana." Sothis said.
"This could save lives." Arisa said.
"Yes, I know that but at what cost?!" Sothis said back.
Arisa turned to her desk and began writing a letter. Sothis watched as the girl was writing and somehow smirked.
"I see... quite the deal maker and blackmailer, now are you?" Sothis said as the girl sealed the letter with a wax stamp.
"Yeah. Also..." she turned to the mirror and stared at her herself, "I'm not about to run from a possible ally." And left.
- Forest -
"Good! You made it!" Hana smiled as Arisa walked towards her with a pile of books floating behind her.
"I thought you chickened out on me but all's well that ends well. Come on." She turned to start walking till Arisa spoke.
"You're the woman that tried to steal that flash drive 2 years ago, aren't you?" Arisa said without a single lace of emotion in her voice.
Hana stopped and let go of a long sigh.
"Well...I never would have thought I would already be discovered. Two years. When did you figure out?" She turned to the girl, void of emotions also.
"The day I caught you and Cinder making out." And Hana exploded in red.
"DON'T TALK ABOUT THAT DAY!" Hana looked like a tea pot at this point and Arisa couldn't help but laugh.
"Anyhow, back to the subject. Other than that day I caught you two have a quickie, I managed to overhear about him talking about the scar on your stomach. You told Sandy that you got it from a fight against a bandit when in reality...I'm the one that caused it." She said with arms crossed.
"Yeah. You're the one that caused it. And you want to know the main reason why I want that device. Unfortunately, I'm not the liberality to tell you that since I am bound a contract in case, I ever get captured by someone." Hana smiled and Arisa looks at her worried.
"But I can tell you we are on the same side. I want those maggots gone too but it's not easy. But you...you seem to have...a lot more information than any of us." Hana said.
"I do. But I am also not at liberty to say it. Tell me Hanaohana, was it your intention to awaken the Crest of Flames inside me?" Arisa glared.
"That's a no. We...screwed up...far too much...do you want to know what happened that day?" Hana said and Arisa nodded.
As Hana explained what happened...Arisa wanted to throw herself off a bridge badly.
"I'M SO FUCKEN SCREWED! AAAAAAHHHHH!" Arisa finally snapped and screamed out every bottled emotion of anger.
Meanwhile the said child was throwing a huge hissy anger episode, slashing a tree, Hana stared. The girl had a mentality of an adult. That much she figured out. Her guess that she must be someone like Emily who was reborn with the memories of their previous life. Hana herself isn't one but she a runaway from the underground slums of the Empire. Life was hard enough being a commoner. So barely escaping magicians dress in black and wanted to implant a Crest in her for experiments? That woman ran for her life. She was nearly captured if it wasn't for Erik to have saved her. Hana sighed as she saw looked over to Arisa who was gasping for air, on all fours on the ground. Her hair was a complete mess, let loose. Anger towards herself for being stupid for blasting Hana away. Sothis hummed as she floated a bit closer to her friend.
"Are you done?" Sothis said, with a giggle.
"Yeah, I am." Arisa said as she stood up, dusted herself, and looked over to Hana.
"Back to the topic." She made the books float next the older woman, "The procedure to make the medicine is in the red book, it's also booked marked. I also wrote down substitutes for certain ingredients since they are very difficult to obtain. Guess you could say it is the updated version using magic to make it. There is also a letter I have written to the one receiving these. Tell your boss I won't tolerate me not being credited. Also...absolutely do not let ANYONE let alone Cornelia or The Church of Serios to learn of the existence of these books. I can guarantee they would try and hunt me down, let alone, Rhea especially. That woman is doing everything in her power to keep advancements from happening." Arisa said as she glared at Hana.
She meant it. She will not allow ANYONE but those she allows to touch these books. Hana stared at her and nodded.
"Deal. My boss owes you a favor now. What do you desire? Name your price." Hana said.
Arisa thought for a moment and took a deep breath. This will be the most messed up indirect move she will ever make against the Church of Serios.
"A fragment from the Sword of the Creator and a Crest stone of the Crest of Timotheos, the Crest that Amir has." She said.
Hana looked at her like she grew a second head but smiled.
"We'll see what we can do...I'll back at the village in 2 hours. I'll tell my boss and see what she can do." Hana said and wrapped away.
[ - ]
"When mounting a horse, pegasus, kinshi, wyvern, griffon, or even oxen, you need to know the proper rules!" As much as Arisa would have loved to join her father in helping the villagers hunt (Sothis: are you sick?!) she decided to give riding lessons to children here with the help of Alexandra, who is a wyvern rider in training.
Falco hatched about a few days ago so he is still a baby. Given how small he is, it's possible he may have been the runt of the litter, that's why his egg was completely alone. The older girl of the bunch looked at all of them one by one. No surprise Leonie was there. She could tell the younger children were very excited, but she also noticed a few of the older kids (the ones that made the kids do the bet) glare at her. Alexandra's tiny head wings fluttered a bit as she spoke.
"Since it is your first-time riding, make sure to be wearing long pants, closed toe shoes or your boots, a helmet, and finally gloves. The gloves are if you have sensitive skin." Alexandra said as she walked up to one of the horses that they could borrow.
During these past two years, Arisa, Amir and Alexandra have gotten the habits of teaching to children in villages they stop at some time during their travels. Alexandra mostly when it comes to riding lessons, Arisa in teaching how to read and write, and Amir in self-defense. Sandy and Florencio found it unusual while Jeralt found it interesting. But nonetheless, they were happy to see the girls enjoy themselves. Arisa did it because she wanted to have the experience of teaching, also because she believed everyone should have the right to education. So, in a way, this was her way of telling the Crest system a big "FUCK YOU!".
"Another important thing," Arisa spoke this time as she walked over to Red Hare and gently petted him, "You need to get acquaintance with your ride. Always approach your horse from the side, preferably the left side. Scratch your horse's neck gently. Different horses like affection in different ways, but almost all horses love a good neck scratch. You can also ask whoever is helping you. Wyrens, make sure to approach them from the front so they can see who you are. They aren't fond if you sneak up on them. Griffins and Kinshi you need to be gentle and let them approach you. They are highly prideful creatures and if you disrespect them, I can guarantee they won't even let you approach them. So, do be mindful and have patience." Arisa said and Red Hare nuzzled her.
She heard a few of the older kids groan but they instantly froze from the glare they got from Red Hare. The younger children snickered.
"Now, who wants to go first?" Alexandra said and all the kids rose their hands.
"Oohhh...umm...How about you... Leonie right?" Alexandra said.
"Yup! That's me!" Leonie said excitedly as she quickly walked up to them.
"Alright Leo," Arisa said and noticed the girl frown at her calling that, "Mental note, don't call her Leo because I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the older kids." Arisa thought she saw a few of the older kids' snicker.
"Correction, Leonie." Arisa corrected herself and seems Leonie wasn't expecting that, "Please approach the horse, Bucky, carefully." She said and Leonie nodded.
The girl carefully walked up to the gray colored horse, who unfortunately is also called the "scrooge" of the group, because of how he would just ignore people. Bucky was chewing hay and turned towards Leonie, who froze. He glared and looks like the two were having a stare down. Horses are known for being able to sense human emotions through seeing their facial expressions and voice tones. The girl was not backing down from her stare down. Leonie Pinelli had one goal in mind, to prove to the older kids that she could be mercenary. That she wasn't afraid. Seems Bucky could sense her ambition.
"Oh my..." you saw Sothis appear as everyone watched the stare down between Buck and Leonie.
Red Hare was getting ready to defend the girl if the scrooge tried anything. Bucky slowly approached the girl and stopped in front of her. The two still had eyes locked. Arisa was silent and kept go a sigh of relief when Bucky motion his head towards the saddle on his back.
"Did she just?!" One of the older boys said shocked.
"Congratulations Leonie. Bucky seems you worthy of riding him." Alexandra grinned and Leonie was shocked.
"W-What?! Really?" The orange haired girl said excitedly, and Bucky rolled his eyes.
"Yup. Now, carefully place y-!" Unfortunately, Leonie despite being a child, was as impatient as her older counterpart.
"Ow!" The girl fell off the saddle.
"What did I just say?!"
Bucky was neighing (laughing) loudly as Leonie was struggling to get on.
- Fhirdiad: Palace -
With the letter in her hands, Emily was grinning like a mad woman as she read the letter from Arisa.
"You're scaring me woman. Just what did she write in that letter?" Hana said as she took a sip of her tea.
"Oh...this girl is smart! Way too smart! I definitely want her to join us and be our ally!" Emily began cackling.
"Give me that!" Hana said and was handed the letter.
To the one receiving these books and my 10 years of life's work, I am granting permission to you ONLY to have access to these books. These books contain knowledge that far more advanced than anything in this country. Everything is about medical information. By accepting these books, you have agreed to the contract of this letter that you hereby swear you will not share, sell, copy, or even try giving this information to anyone. No one from the Church of Serios or who works under Cornelia or Those who Slither in the Dark is not to get their hands on this information. The books and letter will immediately detect if you have such plans to betray my trust, they will be burned to ashes immediately and not a single trace of them will be left. And like usual, I do have a price. Get me a fragment of the Sword of the Creator and the Crest stone of the Crest of Timotheos. That is my price for this information. Also, my identity is to remain a secret and credit for the "antibiotic" recipe belongs to me. I will go by the name Kiana Kalsana for my own safety.
- Kiana Kalsana
×××××× place a drop of your blood here if you choose to accept these terms and were both bound by the contract
"WHO THE HELL IS THIS SMART-ASS BITCH?!" Hana yelled as she looked in complete shock at the letter while Emily burst out laughing.
"Quite the woman I must say." Emily recovered quickly as she smiled slyly, "The spell used is far too advance for even me because of the amount of unknown formulas and elements applied to them. I accept her contract. Besides, I had no plan EVER to share these beautiful books of forbidden knowledge!" Emily squealed as she hugged the pile.
"So, you're seriously accepting?" Hana said as she gave the letter back to her.
"I am." Emily said as she placed a drop of blood and the letters and books glowed.
A rose marking appeared over her hand and she smiled.
"The contract is done, and we will keep our end of the deal. Thankfully, I already have the Crest stone she wants because I broke in to take a few last year. But...as for a piece of the Sword of the Creator..." Emily intertwined her fingers together and thought deeply, "That part...will be difficult...I can get us in easily to the holy tomb thanks to my methods but...we will technically have to break a part of the Sword of The Creator. The seal to that main tomb is a hassle..." she muttered.
"What about Tharja?" Hana said suddenly and Emily instantly cringed.
"Why her of all people?" She said.
"Hey, it's either her or Gregory." Hana said and Emily let go of a long sigh.
"Got it. Tell Kiana I'll have the fragment in 4 months. That's when...Rhea will leave the Monastery to go to the Empire for the Holy Blessing of Enbarr. It will be its most vulnerable." Emily said as she looked at Hana.
"Got it." She said as Emily handed her a medium sized wooden box.
"The crest stone is in these along with the bones of my brother..." she took a deep breath, "I trust her to make use of these and make a heroes relic worthy of my brother's name, Timotheos." She said firmly.
- Back to The Girls -
"So, she accepted..." Arisa muttered as she rode Red Hare gently through the grassy fields.
"Hmmm...to be honest, you can tell it took a good hour a half for Hana's leader to think about it before they accepted." Sothis said as she floated nearby and saw the rose marking over Arisa's right breast.
The said girl closed her cloak and nodded.
"That's a good sign then. Means they are smart. Sothis, we just made an ally." Arisa smiled.
Sothis nodded and the two turned back to what they were doing. Leonie rode proudly Bucky next to her. The girl was full of confidence but not cocky, which was a good thing. Alexandra is back at the village giving instructions on how to ride the horses. Since Leonie was quick to learn, Arisa decided to take her on a nice and easy ride together.
"I never felt like this my whole life! You really are Jeralt's daughter!" Leonie said excitedly as they looked to the sun set.
"My dad is an amazing person. I'm more than grateful for him to be my father." Arisa said.
"Well of course! He used to be a Knight of Serios!" She said.
"Is that so...? I didn't know." Arisa said.
She was playing dumb. Time for information gathering. Leonie looked at her shocked.
"You never heard of the Knights of Serios!? Have you been living under a rock?!" Leonie said.
"How Rude!" Sothis said.
"No. My dad never talked about them." She said.
"Let me tell you then!" The girl said excitedly.
"Jeralt was known as The Blade Breaker! He was once a Captain of the Knight of Serios. They serve the Church of Serios. They help keep order in all of Fodlan and are under the command of The Archbishop, Lady Rhea." Leonie said confidently.
"Is that so? Hmm...I never heard of any of this. Guess I learned something new." Arisa hummed.
"By the way, are you going to be a mercenary or knight like your dad?" Leonie asked.
"I want to me a Professor." Arisa said.
"Oh. Then that means you want to work in the at the Officer's Academy. Good luck! I can tell you'll be an amazing teacher because of how you taught us all today. My dad is an amazing hunter but him trying to teach us is like him talking to a tree." Leonie said.
Arisa couldn't help but laugh hearing her say that.
The two looked out to the grassy field and Arisa's eyes went wide.
"Are those...wooly bugs?!" She said as she saw many of them floating nearby.
"Is this your first time seeing them?" Leonie ask and Arisa nodded her head rapidly.
Lennie's eyes sparkled.
"Come on! Let's join them!" She said and turned to Bucky.
"Bucky! Can we please?!" She said and the said horse snorted and gently ran ahead with her.
The girl was laughing loudly as Arisa went after her.
"Let's go Red Hare! Hyaa!" She said.
"Nyyuuuuuu...nyuuu..."
The wooly bugs lazily floated, letting loose cute sounds. They looked like little sheep with wings. The girl gently approached them and seems they noticed. Leonie giggled as they began to nuzzle attack her and a few of them landed on Arisa's head. Feh chirped and one of them flapped its wings.
"They're so soft..." Arisa muttered and heard Sothis giggling happily as they surrounded the goddess.
"Sometimes they pass through the village. During the summer we help shave off their wool along with the sheep. We use it for clothing and pillows. They say their wool keeps nightmares away." Leonie giggled.
Arisa smiled and laughed as many landed on Bucky. The said horse just let his head down, as if embarrassed.
"We should head back. Don't want your parents to worry." Arisa said.
"Alright. Umm...Also..." Leonie nervously twiddle with her fingers, "Ummm...thank you for...saving me..and my friends...you're..an amazing teacher...can I call you...Professor?" She said.
Arisa just stared in shock.
"You know what, sure. Call me Professor." Arisa smiled and Leonie had a small blush but grinned.
"Yay! Also, I hereby declare you also my rival!" Leonie said suddenly.
Annnnnnnnnnddsd there goes that moment out the window.
- 2 Weeks Later -
"And that is my report King Lambert. The epidemic has been controlled and many are beginning to recover with the proper rest after taking the "antibiotic". We also made a triple check to make sure none of those who took it were allergic to the ingredients. As such, Kiana Kalsana was properly able to identify the name of the sickness. She knew the symptoms and it is called Pneumonia. She is the owner and founder of the medication called antibiotics. My role was to acquire the ingredients to make it. Thus, credit for creating this new medication and discovery goes to her. All I did was help produce the medicine." Emily said as she read her report to the king in roundtable conference room.
The heads of House Galatea, Flaudirius, Rowe, Gautier, Charon, Gaspard, Kleiman, Dominic, Cornelia and King Lambert himself, all were silent as they heard the report.
"S-Some unknown woman is the one who created this medicine?!" Count Rowe said.
"Is there a problem with that Count?" Lord Lonato said to the count.
"Of course, there is! The fact that the woman refuses to show her identity and only give her name?! For all we know, she could s-some enemy!" Lord Gautier said.
"I wouldn't say that." King Lambert spoke, making the room go silent.
"This woman has chosen to remain unidentified and that is her choice. Seeing the reaction some of you are having makes it sense." King Lambert said and a few had their heads down, " What's more, she decided to trust Lady Emily, head of House Zoltras, to produce this medicine to help the citizens. She clearly had good intentions to help the people of The Kingdom. " He finished.
Emily had to keep herself from smirking because how composed Cornelia is barely managing to keep herself.
"I'll admit," Emily spoke and they turned to her, "Even I myself am very impressed. She identified a sickness that is not in any of our royal archives. Her knowledge reminded me of an old friend of mine who travels across the world. The woman is very smart. She even turned down my offer to come work for me." Emily chuckled and heard half the room choke on their own spit.
"You admit...you have been out done?" Cornelia could not believe what she was hearing.
"Yes, I admit it. I been outdone." Emily grumbled and half the lords exploded to huge questions.
King Lambert along with his friends, Lord Rodrigues, Sir Gustav and Lord Lonato were trying not to burst out laughing, seeing the utterly devastating blow on the most prideful doctor, Emily.
"ANYHOW!" Emily said and glared at the four friends who just coughed while the other quite down, "Lord Galatea," she turned to Ingrid's father, "Lady Kiana also spoke about the famine going on in your land." She said.
"What?" The lord was confused, and Emily smiled sadly, "I have sent her samples of the soil of the land and she was able to identify that it is the lack of nutrition in it. We also spoke about creating other medicines to help treat the lack of nutrition to your people. She has suggested for now, focus on making sure that the practice of washing your hands is spread out through the Kingdom and beyond. This helps reduce the spread of diseases but also helps cleanness. She also said to make sure to boil the water if it retrieved from wells, lakes, or ponds. This also kills any bacteria in it. Lastly, since thankfully this can be done, food scraps such as vegetable peels, fish bones, fish meat, dead leaves, and eggshells are to be mixed into the soil. This will help bring nutrients back to the soil and allow farmers to plant crops. Finally, a new method of farming called crop rotation." Emily smiled.
The entire room was silent, and Lord Galatea was doing everything he could to hold back tears, only his body shook. For his land has suffered so much...to think, even this woman, despite no one knows her true intentions, has chosen to help him.
"Emily, where is this woman now?" King Lambert said and Emily knew that look in his eye.
This was a possible ally. Someone who could help the Kingdom flourish.
"Unfortunately, I am not in the position to say her location. For she and I have sworn an oath of secrecy together. But...she is a professor. She travels around Fodlan teaching children how to read and write. She will be coming here to the Kingdom in 5 more years. That is all I can say my king." Emily said.
"What? She goes around teaching commoners how to read and write? What is this fool thinking?" Lord Kleiman huffed.
Emily's eye twitched.
"My Lord, Lady Kiana beliefs are different from those of us here in Fodlan. In her country, children of all status receive free education. The people entrust the future to future generations. They believe in their children. Unlike they system here, there is no such thing as nobility in her country." Emily said as she was trying not to laugh at the faces many were making.
Now..how does Emily know this? In the spandex of the two weeks, her and Arisa have been exchanging letters. Each one very much knew that they all had a goal in mind. A common goal. But they also shared their own knowledge. Within this span, both Arisa and Emily can safely say they are allies and have trust, bit out of safety reasons, for both, they have chosen to remain in the contract. The fact that Arisa has chosen to share things about her old world, hoping for better benefit, is enough.
"What...?" Were all the others could say..
Emily smiled and turned to King Lambert who nodded.
"Very well. Thank you, Lady Emily. Lady Kiana has my gratitude. I must admit...hearing she rejected your offer remind me of when I offered Sir Jeralt to join the Kingdom Knights. I do wonder how that man is doing along with his daughter. My son misses her." The King chuckled while far away, Arisa shuttered for some reason.
"Right...King Lambert, with your permission, I would like to suggest something." She said.
"Oh? This is quite rare for you to voice your ideas. What do you wish to speak?" The king said and Emily smiled.
"How do you feel about sponsoring this girl when she comes to the Kingdom in five years? She does plan to enroll in the Magic Academy for a semester at most. Not to mention...if she takes the exams of the Church of Serios to become a High Ranking Mage such as the other 4 and I, many will be bringing offers to have her join them. Let us not forget the battle we lost to House Reigan over Doctor Edward Snowden, who, like Lady Kiana and Doctor Lilac, are commoners. Also, he was later adopted by House Edmund at age 15." She smiled and King Lambert was not happy with her bring up that battle of offers from 10 years ago.
"Must you remind us of us losing to our cousin?!"
King Lambert let out a dry laugh as he saw his Elder Brother, Duke Rufus, come in.
"You're late." King Lambert said.
"Believe me...you don't want to know why." Rufus said and sat next to him.
"Back to the topic," Cornelia spoke, she fixed her mask, "It was his choice to take House Reigan's offer. Despite what was offered by many of us here, he chose to join the Alliance. By the end of the day, it is our choice to who we chose." Cornelia said.
"Oh," Emily smirked coyly as she placed her index finger on the side of her lips, "My this is rare for you to say that "it is our choice." Since when was the last time the self-proclaimed mage has actually thought to give a choice to others?" Emily said.
"Oh no..." all the men thought, and they knew what was about to happen.
Cornelia looked at Emily like she was about to murder her on the spot.
"Oh? Says the woman who was outdone by someone who is complete foreign. Let alone she knew knowledge you clearly Oh so easily say you could do anything now?" Cornelia smirked back.
"Listen here fake glass surgery of fake breast and shitty fashion sense. I actually care about people and chose to actually help others free of charge unlike some fake eyelashes I know." Emily said back.
And that's when Cornelia lunged at her and the cat fight ensued.
"WHOA WHOA!" all the Lords quickly got up to try and stop the fight going on between the two females.
King Lambert groans into his hands and Lord Lonato could not help but burst out laughing.
"Why must this happen in every meeting?" The king said and Lord Rodrigue all he could do was patted his friend on the back along with his brother, while the others were finally able to separate the two women.
"Say that again you bloody brat!" Cornelia roared, her lipstick smeared and mask half coming off.
"I said bring it on harlot!" Emily roared back; her fluffy red hair completely frizzy.
So much for the meeting...
- Leicester Alliance: House Reigan -
With a bottle of purple colored liquid in his hand, he nodded in satisfaction at his creation.
"Now where is that book on creams..." he muttered.
In a room filled with books, papers, shelves and tools of science all over, one could argue this was a lab. In a way, it was. Papers scattered all over the table, the door to the balcony left wide open. Outside you could see plates filled with fresh fruits and wooly bugs eating them happily. The shelves were filled with jars that had many questionable things. Many had herbs while others had a few live insects or plants in them. Some even had a few corpses of different small animals that were perfectly preserved. His red eyes blinked as they heard shuffling near his door and sighed.
"Claude...I know you're there." He said.
A young boy with tan colored skin, Verdant colored eyes, dark brown hair with a small braid on the side. He wore a yellow and green patterned scarf wrapped around his head as he wore a yellow shirt with shorts and brown boots. The boy grinned as he went in, and the older man, who wore a lab coat, blue hair tied in a ponytail, a brown shirt, black pants and sandals, gave him a tired smile. He had circles under his eyes.
"Hello Claude...you're not getting your hands on my books of poison." He said.
"Aawww! Come on Doc, it's not like I'm scheming anything!" The boy known as Claude said as smiled.
"The last time you said that you made a poison that gave a group of boys stomach aches for two days." The man said and Claude grinned.
"I regret nothing! Come on Edward! I swear I will use it responsibly." Claude grin and yelped at the karate chop he got on the head.
"No." Was all the man now known as Edward said as he turned back to his work.
Claude pouted but blinked when he saw a book open. His eyes saw the picture of a woman drawn in the style of Fodlan. She wore strange armor and a lance. Angel like wings as she flew towards the sky with many others.
"Hey Edward, I don't remember you liking picture books." He said and Edward turned his way.
The older man had the boy sat down next to him and pointed to the women.
"Marianne loves it when I read her stories at night. This here is a legend of Brunhild and Sigurd from a country far away from Fodlan. But, guess you could say her personal favorite is this one," he turned the page to show a picture of two women dancing, "The Legend of Rose and Marigold." Edward saw Claude raised an eyebrow.
"Mother has told me a few legends of Fodlan but this is my first hearing of this one." He said and Edward's laughed.
"That's because this legend isn't from Fodlan. This book is filled with legends from different countries around the world." He said and Claude had a gleam in his eye that the older man knew well.
"Can I borrow it? I want to read it." He said.
"Alright. Just...please don't lose it. This my personal book." He said.
"I swear to the goddess of Fodlan I will not lose this book." Claude said.
"Alright. Now, get of here before I get yelled at by your grandfather." Edward chuckled.
Claude grinned as he left the lab with the book in his arms. He headed straight to his room. He jumped on his bed and opened the book. The first story he randomly opened to was the story of...The Snow Queen. Now, Claude was not the type to read fairy tales but at times he would. About 20 minutes in, he saw it was getting late and closed it.
"Yaaawwwn...snow queen huh? Kind of reminds me of the story of Cirina." He muttered as he looked out to the starry sky. Now, he usually isn't the type to single lullabies at times, but the stars always remained him of the one his mother would sing to him. About the stars.
Little star, where are you?
I wonder what you are.
In the sky and in the sea
A real diamond.
Little star, where are you?
I wonder what you are.
At that same moment, Alexandra was still awake while the others were asleep in their tents. She also was softly singing the song while looking at the night sky.
When the sun has already gone,
When nothing else shines,
You show us your shine.
You shine, you shine constantly.
Little star, where are you?
I wonder what you are.
The girl hummed softly as she stared up. It felt strange, at times to be sitting alone like this. Amir was out cold asleep, and Arisa slept like a log. But her, she was a light sleeper. At times she wondered why but then again, she still at times has nightmares of her mother. Her little feathers drooped as she looked back up to the sky.
"Is there someone out there...who...is a bit like me?"
Chapter 14: Travel Winds: Part 1: Forbidden Knowledge
[ - ]
Two-year gap once more. We begin to see politics and more serious things going to happen soon. I decided to show the adult side of Arisa in this chapter and how strict and cold she could be when she is angered, and sees people doing idiot things. But also, when she needs to get serious. We also got to see how she manages to make a deal with Emily. The red-haired woman's true role is slowly being brought out and how Arisa is now taking steps to gain allies for when the next time gap happens. The next chapter won't come out till most likely around the end of December or January. I'm in finals weeks in my university. Someone save me.