Time: 0900

Location: Gallia Militia Base

"A tour around town?"

"Yeah. So you could be more familiar with the place. Don't you want to go?"

"Of course. But I don't want to bother you..."

"Nonsense! Besides, you don't have our kind of currency here, right?"

"Actually, I do. *Shows the bag full of Ducat* Always exchange before heading to the next country."

"... How rich are both of you?"

"Didn't our weapons tell much?"

"...Good point."

Time: 0930

Location: Rangridz

"The street sure looks more crowded than usual."

"Can't be helped, since it's the central city of Gallia."

"And that..." Uni points to the castle in the far end. "Is where the Royalties stay?"

"It's mostly for the princess to live, and the important meetings to arrange. Though, she's young, and the current Regent, Maurits von Borg, mostly gives out the orders."

"Hm... no wonder that Empire wants to take your country. Your leader is quite weak."

"Hey now." Alicia scolds a bit. "I know we don't have a good politics, but we can handle ourselves quite well."

"That's not what I meant, and sorry if I offend you." Uni apologizes. "However, what I can see here, is that the Regent is taking advantages of the princess in controlling the country. One day he will try to get her off the throne for sure."

"... You do have a point." Isara agrees. "But, that's not our place to question it. We have to wait and see if it's really the truth."

"I suppose... hey, newspapers." Walking into Castlefront Street, Uni takes a look at what's being sold here. "Most of them about wars, I see..."

"Just the person I need!" Irene walks out of her stand, already having the notebook in her hand. "Hey miss, can I have a minute with you?"

"... You are the one interviewing Kuro a few days before, right?"

"Yep! My question still stands, though."

"... Three minutes."

"Great!" The reporter then gestures the girl towards a table with chairs, and the girls start surrounding the duo in curiosity. Then the interview starts with Irene giving Uni a newspaper. "Do you know this item of your friend?"

Uni holds the paper up, and immediately facepalms when she sees the demon motorbike appears on the front page. "...Yes, I do. However, just think of it as a motorbike, please. I don't like going into details."

"Oh come on! At least tell me where he got it from!" Ellet is a bit impatient as she whines. "He gave me vague answers before, I don't want to hear it from you as well!"

Uni rubs her eyes with her free hand. "... All I can really say is that, he got it from another mercenary. And it could surpass speed of sound if he wants to do it willingly."

Aika's eyes widen in surprise, then turn to normal. "Not really surprised if he could have something like that. He even ordered Welkin to shoot at him..."

"What? He asked his allies to shoot him?" Ellen quickly writes it down in disbelief.

"I didn't even believe it at first when the rest told us about it." Alicia deadpans when she remembered about the fight. "But, judging by how serious the others were, I guess I have to accept it."

"...Wow, never heard someone would dare to order such things." Ellet speaks to herself. Then, she continues: "So, how long have you known him for?"

"He was friends with our sisters first, and from that we know him. A shy guy with a childish personality..."

"That... doesn't match with current him... except the part when he couldn't drink coffee..."

"Just him trying to be tough. Actually, if you push him around enough, he would let inner-him out unwillingly."

Now that makes the girls (except Alicia and Isara) to start making plans to try to prank him. Ellet decides to return back to the interview: "So basically he's your childhood friend? Then... may I ask if you really swing that way?"

"That way... yeah, so?"

"Just a bit curious. It's rare to hear about romantic between girls...Also, you said 'our sisters', so that meant..."

"He knows both me and my girlfriend, and some of my other friends as well..."

"You sure have a lot of 'sisters' as your friends." Edy leans on the back of her chair while wondering.

"It's a bit complicated..."

"By the way, do you know where Kuro is?" Ellet asks.

"... Beats me. But if I'm right..."

Same time

Location: Graveyard

"Quite a surprise. A new face around the city." The aged gentleman walks into the place, with his cane supporting him. "And quite young, also."

"Greetings to you as well." Not removing his eyes from watching the graves, Kuro speaks. "A lot of soldiers have fallen during the war. As a person who witnessed many wars, I respect every single one of them, no matter where they are from."

The man stands next to Kuro and asks: "Even if those soldiers were trying to kill you?"

"Depends. If they followed their orders, then I can sympathize. Doing on their own sick desires, different story."

Kuro doesn't notice, but the man takes a small moment to observe him, before saying: "You seem to have witnessed the dark corners of the wars... and yet, you don't seem to be traumatized by it."

"I have passed the point." The 'younger man' then kneels down on one of the graves and touches the stone. "Though the bodies have returned to dust, their souls are lingered to the realm of living, unsatisfied by their incomplete desires..."

Now that makes even the veteran of war feel uneasy. The way the 'young man' just said feels so... creepy. Not even the cruel of war sounds the same as those words. "Death is quick and unpredictable. We leave much regrets to the world after we die..."

"Yes, it is. But, who is responsible for it? Themselves, or the others? And if people find out their dreams, would those dreams be sated by the living?" Standing up, Kuro turns to the exit and walks off. "It's been an interesting trade of words, mister Kankkunen. Maybe we can sit down and talk at a better place than the place of the souls. See you again soon." And when he reaches the exit, Welkin is walking towards the place. "Have a good day, Welkin."

"Thanks Kuro." Welkin, having no suspicions, greets back before Kuro walks away. He then sees the old man standing there. "Hello, sir. You have met one of my friends?"

"...If he is your friend, then yes indeed. And he's... quite interesting."

"Yes, he is." Welkin scratches his head while smiling nervously. "We can't even sure how he could even do what he did."

"..." The old man doesn't say anything yet, before turning to the grave Kuro touched. "That one..."

Time: 2100

Location: Eleanor's office

"Come in." Hearing the knock on her door, the Captain calls the person without looking up as she's focusing on her work. "My apology, I'm having some important work, so can you sit on the chair and wait for me a bit?" From the corner of her eyes, she sees the boots of the person walking towards a chair as the person sits on it. And after that, the person just waits patiently on that chair, not even saying one word. 'Strange... but at least he doesn't distract me...'

After a few minutes, she has done her work, and she puts it aside and sits straight up. "Thanks for your waiting. Now, what do you want..."

"Still the same Eleanor I remember." All words get stuck in her throat, as she finally recognizes who has been waiting for her. Looking at the person's face, she sees the face of a long lost friend she thought she could never meet again smiling at her.

On instinct, she grabs the pistol and points it at the person, thinking that it's an imposter. "... Who are you?"

The person stands up, and the gun follows his movements. "Don't you remember? It's me, Frederic. Friend of yours and Largo's."

"... That person is dead." Yes, the Militia has recovered the broken corpse of the person, and it's been buried in the graveyard.

"Yes, I am. But, a person has lent me his body, so I could talk to you one last time."

Gripping on her pistol harder, Eleanor asks: "Then, do you have any proves that you're Frederic?"

The person before her reaches his hand into one of the pockets, and then places something on the table, before backing away slowly. Looking down, the Captain gasps in shock. "This..."

"I kept it until the end. Even though it's a copy, the person has traced back a bit to find it out so that I could prove myself to you."

Lowering down her pistol, her eyes start tearing up, then she opens one of her drawers and pulls out the exact object, albeit being rusty. "It... I..."

Frederic slowly walks to her, and places his hand on her cheek, and gently moves her face to look at him. "I know you're still angry and wanting to take revenge for me, but, please let it go."

From happiness to anger, she wipes her tears and puts the item back into the drawer. "My objective has been there after your death. I'm not going to back off."

The dead man sighs, as he takes his own back. "I know. However, please listen to me. There's a way for you to take revenge on Giorgios without killing him."

Taken surprised, Varrot looks back and orders: "Continue."

"His work of torturing has provoked ire of Maximilian, to the point there's an order of execution on him. The moment you captured him, you could try to push him back into Imperial's land, and he will be killed accordingly."

"..." Varrot's not really liking that plan. She wants to be the one who will punish the bastard for what he has done...

She then nearly jumps in surprise, as Frederic hugs her from behind. "There's one last thing I want to say. Please move on, don't live with your past but with your present. Do it for yourself, and for me, so I could rest easily."

One of the very rare times, blush slowly raises up on the Captain's face. "I... I will try..."

Frederic chuckles. "I know you can." Though, the moment he releases the woman, his right hand suddenly slaps his own face hard. "Ouch!"

"What... what was that for?" Trying to hide her embarrassment, Eleanor asks back in confusion.

"Yeah... he did warn me not to interact with you too much... it's still his body..." He then starts walking towards the exit. "I think it's my time to go now. Live well, my love."

"... Rest in peace, Frederic." The moment the door's closed, she says her farewell, then she sits down on her chair, and cries, not in sadness but in happiness that she could at least meet him for the last time. "... Thank you... whoever you are..."

The next day

"FREDERIC?" Largo immediately chokes on his food after hearing the story from the Captain. "Are you sure it's not your dream?"

"It's not. Too early for me to sleep." Eleanor explains. "I have never heard about the problem between that bastard and the country, so the conversation was real."

"... Damn, now that's a bit creepy." Drinking water for the food to go down, Largo continues: "So all we need to do is to send him back to the guy, and he will do the rest?"

"Kind of."

"... Do you know who could LEND a body to a dead person?"

The two look directly at each other's eyes, having one exact answer for that question. Then Largo dismisses: "That's too ridiculous. Could be someone else..."

"But it makes sense. I will try to ask him after this mission."

"Yeah, in Barious Desert. Not going to be fun."

"No battle is fun, Largo... What kind of weapon is he going to show-off this time?"