CHAPTER 10

It was confirmed to the rest of the mercenaries by Ike that Greil passed away. When Shinon and Gatrie heard of this, they made their immediate exit, no longer associating themselves with the Greil Mercenaries. They had left the company because they thought that Ike was too inexperienced to be a mercenary leader, while Shinon quoted to himself saying that he was green as they came. Ike then yelled to Shinon, saying that he was going to do his best as the new leader of the Greil Mercenaries, as this is what his father would have wanted from a son like him. However, Shinon did not even believe a word Ike said and gave out a disgusting spit.

"Did he just spit?" asked Samantha.

"Looks like it." said Ike. He later sighed and walked to Greil's grave, where Mist was sitting and crying.

"Mist… are you alright?" Titania asked.

"Why… why did this have to happen?" asked Mist. "First Crimean territory gets invaded by the madness of the Daein Kingdom, and now a stupid pathetic Daein soldier murders my own father… why is the world like this?" she later asked.

"Listen, Mist, when beorc or laguz die… they never come back from the dead. It's permanent." Titania said in a soft tone.

"Now both of my parents are dead… I should be lucky my brother is still alive from this mess going on!" exclaimed Mist.

When Mist made her way back to the fort, Luganda the laguz tiger returned. She even questioned where Greil was.

"He died." Soren stated to Luganda.

"What happened?" asked Luganda.

"None of us want to talk about this mess." said Titania. "It's tragic as it already is!"

"I see." Luganda said. "I have something for you and the company, though."

"What is it?" asked Soren. Luganda later sent in a beorc soldier with a chestnut horse with a gold mane, wearing a blue saddle. In his hands, he was also holding a uniform that would normally be worn by staff-wielding Crimean valkyries.

"I had… witnessed… the death of Greil with His Majesty, King Caineghis, and his heir, Skrimir." said Luganda. "Thinking that this would be hurtful to Mist, and feeling like she would also want to avenge her father, I am giving her the mount that once belonged to the great Crimean valkyrie Victoria. She… just died at the hands of the Daein army not too long ago. We took her mount, and she requested that it be given to a great staff-wielding priestess of good faith, trust, luck, and someone of great resistance to Crimea. We immediately thought of Mist."

"I'll go get her." said Titania.

"What's going on?" asked Ike.

"We are giving your sister the horse of the late valkyrie Victoria." said the Crimean beorc soldier. "Oh, and… please… give this to your sister, too." he said as he presented a shiny pink sword.

"What's this?" asked Ike.

"This sword is called Rožinis, the ancient sword of valkyries of Victoria's Crimean-born family tree." explained the beorc soldier of Crimea. "This sword is one of the many weapons blessed by the goddess herself."

"Wow…" said Ike. "Mist would love a gift like this… but there's a big problem…"

"What's that?" Luganda asked.

"She doesn't know swordplay." Ike stated.

"Well, you can teach her, right?" asked Luganda.

"But I was just trained by my father not too long ago…" said Ike. "Should I use his sword-fighting technique on my sister?"

"It would appreciate the late commander and former cavalry general of the Daein army." a voice said.

"Who said that?" asked Luganda.

"Ah, Luganda." Caineghis said. "Thank you for finding Ike and his group alive." Luganda later took a bow. Caineghis later expressed his condolences for the late Commander Greil to Ike.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Ike said as he took a bow. "But… do you really want me to take up the sword teaching to Mist?" asked Ike.

"Sure." Caineghis said. "It would not hurt. Oh, and, meet me at the palace soon, will you?" he later asked the group. "I'm interested in seeing the Crimean beorc responsible for protecting Princess Elincia."

"OK." Ike said. Soon afterwards, screaming was heard from the fort as well as the words "Daein Soldiers." That was when Ike decided to investigate.

"We'll talk later about this." said Luganda to Mist. Luganda later transformed and left for the Gallian Palace, Zarzi. Mist mounted her new horse, took up the new sword Rožinis that once belonged to the late Crimean valkyrie Victoria, and rode into the battle not even knowing the art of the sword, but figuring it out along the way. Mist then wanted to be on the verge with her brother. However, she was not the only child apart of the battle, as Rolf, knowing the art of the bow from Shinon, took up the battle too.

"Seriously?" Ike asked. "I need to teach you swordplay, Mist!" Ike later yelled.

"I'm going to be a trooper and figure it all out on my own!" Mist said.

"She's not even wearing the clothes provided." Soren said.

"Eh… she's going to change into them afterwards." said Titania. "Hopefully we can find somewhere for her to get changed into her battle gear." As all of the Daein soldiers were later fought off, Mist quickly went back inside to get changed into her battle gear, mounted on her horse again after exiting, and later followed the orders of her brother, which is leaving for Castle Gallia to see King Caineghis.

"Hopefully my sister Lorriane's alright!" Samantha said.

"Wait for me!" exclaimed Kamaria. And so, off to the Gallian castle they went. Gebal Castle was later abandoned.

The group later continued on walking to Castle Gallia. Kamaria even asked if supplies were running low. Ike answered, saying that fresh fruit and meat were needed. However, while everyone was in the middle of chatting, Ranulf, Lethe, Lyre, and Mordecai appeared before the group again. All of them reverted to human form

"Oh, you again." Soren said.

"I had heard about your commander's death." said Ranulf. "I am here to take you to the palace."

"We were looking for you back at Gebal Castle." Lyre said.

"Very well." Ike said. "We were just headed there ourselves, but you can take us." The laguz were happy to accompany the group to Zarzi, Castle Gallia. Little did Ike know that an adventure that would take him across the continent would soon begin for not only him, but for the entire mercenary company that would soon become an important army to Princess Elincia Ridell Crimea.