Prologue: A Rude Awakening.

It all started with a smell.

It was a simple smell. Yet it was fragrant.

Lucas could have always tasted it,it had some herbs that enhanced the flavor and tender rabbit meat to make some sort of beef stew. However, it is fair to tell it is not a smell I am somewhat familiar with from back home.

This sensation of relaxation. How long has it been since he last had this feeling, he wondered. He wondered in my half asleep state if he left his leftovers open around somewhere again.

He started to fall back asleep before realizing something. He never left anything out. Especially when he was travelling. And so he almost immediately jumped out of the bed and started looking around the room in a panic.

Alerted, a certain young woman, seemingly a plainswoman with her attire,which was a blue simple dress and with green hair tied with a high ponytail alongside a sash around her waist, a pair of brown boots and a pair of blue gloves, from the other side of the room noticed Lucas having woken up from my rest. She placed whatever she was holding aside.

'My bet is that she placed the stew that I smelled while I was waking up' Lucas thought as she walked towards him.

"Oh, you're awake." She says with concern laced in her eyes. Lucas decided to answer back in the smartest way possible, just stare at her back with confusion before asking in response:

"Who are you? Where is this?" He asks with a panicked expression.

"It is impolite to ask someone's name without introducing your own," the woman retorted.

"Right." He says thinking about this while calming myself down. After a few minutes of self reflection, he replies seriously. "My name is Lucas, and I think that I might be dreaming."

"Lucas, what a charming name you have. My name is Lyn, Lyn of the Lorca 're safe now. I found you lying unconscious on the plains not so long ago and brought you here with able hospitality." She replies seemingly satisfied with my answer.

"Oh." Lucas says choosing his response carefully. "But what region are we in? Forgive me, but I do not seem to be familiar with this place."

"We are in the Sacaean plains." She replies heading back to get the stew she prepared and handing it to him with a wooden spoon. He held the bowl and took a bite of the stew Lyndis made. He started to eat some more while he drowned out what she was saying, a habit he picked up from long hours in the academy. He may be a talented tactician but he just drowned it out.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, loud cries and screams leak out of a nearby village to the west, alerting the both of us, almost making me spit out my stew.

"What was that!?" Lyn exclaims with slight distress before looking outside of her tent, noticing a group of ruffians wielding rugged axes outside the plains and returning back inside with Lucas.

"Bandits! There are bandits pillaging the village west of us. Stay here Lucas, I will deal with them," Lyn sternly warned as Lucas placed his bowl on her dresser.

"Hold that thought, instead, let me come with you, after all it's improper for a lady to fight in battles like this." He answered confidently as he got up from the bed and donned his forest green cloak. And we immediately dashed outside and saw the destruction that they brought to the village, towns burning, bandits bellowing their names in order to be well known and people running and screaming in fear. This was totally normal here.

"These are dangerous times now. Can you hold a sword?" Lyn asks with concern.

"Uh...I'm good with a spear? I am a tactician with some military experience" he answered, while shrugging his shoulders with slight confidence.

"I see, a wandering strategist, nice to have you. I only have a hunting spear that my people use to catch game. You can have it as you battle alongside me," Lyn says as she hands a Javelin to Lucas.

Lucas nods and experimentally twirled it, being familiar with its weight. "A little light, but it shall have to do for now." He mutters enough for Lyn to hear him. But he soon smirks and walks with it like it was a walking stick. "Well, let's go." He says motioning her to follow as he runs ahead

There, the duo make their way to engage in combat with the bandits terrorizing the nearby village.

"Alright, I need information. I need you to scout ahead to see the area." Lucas says as he surveys the landscape and spots a nearby bandit watching in the grasslands.

"Let's dispose of him, he's isolated from the others," Lucas says while preparing his Javelin.

"Got it!" Lyn replies as she draws her sword and engages in combat with the bandit, wounding the bandit from her skilled slash before yelling: "Lucas! Now!"

"Haah!" Lucas cries as he throws a Javelin and strikes the wounded bandit down, nailing him bleeding in the chest. Lucas afterwards moves forward, removes the javelin and stabs him in the throat making sure that he was dead before he could scream for reinforcements. As soon as he pulls the javelin off their throat he just looks at Lyn, flicks the blood of the javelin and asks. "I forgot to ask, You're okay with me killing right?"

Lyn just nods in response unsure how to respond. "It was necessary."

Lucas nods and moves ahead to scout some more. He sees a couple more bandits, one of them just finished cleaning his axe with blood and another was raiding a hut and was about to leave the place.

"Lyn, I see 2 more. Both armed with axes. I say we take the one outside first then we go after the one in the hut." He strategizes almost immediately, seemingly focused on the bandits' movement.

Lyn nods and sneaks off to where the bandits were and hides off somewhere in the plain. As one of the bandits leaves to find more houses to pillage, Lucas slowly stands up and grips the javelin and slowly sneaks up on Batta, who had stupidly yelled out his name while he was raiding the house as they were sneaking by, and thrusts it only to hit his shoulder making him scream in pain. Within moments, as the other nearby bandit is alerted by his comrade's demise, he retaliates and targets Lyn, slashing her with his axe, only to be met by her sword and die in the grass.

Lucas meanwhile was struggling to fight off the battle hardened thief Batta at the gate of the village. As the javelin met axe, it resulted in splintage of the wooden shaft and struck a deep, but far from life-threatening wound on his chest, which made him yell in pain.

"Lucas!" Lyn yelled in response from his wails and rushed to finish off Batta with a swift and blessed slash that made him bleed fervently.

"B-but, how…," Batta whispers before dying at the gate.

Lyn moves towards the wincing tactician as he was trying to pull out the splintage without hurting himself. After a few minutes of seeing him try, and fail miserably, to pull the splintered javelin and seeing him gripe in pain. Lyn brings him into hut to tend to their wounds. And maybe finish the meal that they had together.

(Timeskip 2 days)

After two days have passed, with the two talking and tending to the wounds that they have received, with Lucas nursed under Lyn's meager hospitality in her humble abode, he finally regained his strength. "I thank you for helping me recover, Lyn," Lucas answered as he dons his dark-green cloak again while facing Lyn.

"I appreciate your thanks, but I must ask, are you planning on leaving the plains and traveling around?" Lyn asks curiously.

"I have to, I have things that I wish to confirm and the world to see, so this is probably goodbye." Lucas bids as he holds up his knapsack, that Lyn placed all the belongings of the tactician that she found into, onto his shoulder.

"In that case, please take me with you!" Lyn answered swiftly as she stood up in response to him, making him confused and doubtful.

"Wait, what?" Lucas asks back surprised. He did not expect to see the maiden who took care of him to want to journey with him.

"Please take me with you." She repeats letting what she said sink in. After a few minutes of pondering in silence, He asks the Sacaean woman.

"Have you thought long about this decision of yours? What about your family and people that care about you?"

"My family...that is...you see, I am the last of my tribe...the Lorca...we were ambushed by bandits, the Taliver Bandits, slain everyone in my tribe and my parents in a single night, scattering the last of the survivors and me. I wish I could do what my father, the chief of our tribe, by reviving the tribe, but they won't ever listen to a woman," Lyn answers with deep grief and slight tears in her eyes.

"My condolences for your family." Lucas says immediately after he heard that her family was put to the sword. His eyes fluttered with sadness at the mere mention of her parents being slain. He shakes his head as if dispelling a memory and looks at her in the eye.

"Please wait, let me regain my composure. I promised to shed no more tears," Lyn replies as she calms herself down.

"Well, I guess we can travel together…" Lucas says rubbing the back of his head nervously.

"Really!? Thank you for your generosity! I promise to be of great help in our mysterious journey together," Lyn answers with glee and a dashingly cute smile, slightly making Lucas blush scarlet with the sheer cuteness of it.

"Um, yes, but for now, we should head for the nearby city called Bulgar, probably not even a few hours long on horseback. We could start getting supplies for the journey ahead of us from then," Lucas sternly answers while trying to distance his mind from any distractions but a single thought comes to mind.

"Wait, aren't you going to pack your belongings?" Lucas asks.

(Timeskip few hours of disassembling the tent and packing the necessary supplies into small bags)

""Are you ready to start our journey, milady?" Lucas asks carrying half of the things that Lyn packed and prepared..

"I am ready now," Lyn replies after packing an extra sword and a couple of vulneries in her satchel. "Oh wait! Take this spare hunting spear, at least to replace the one you broke," Lyn replies as she hands another Javelin to Lucas.

"Lyn, I don't want to afford breaking another javelin. Plus, I am still sore. I'll buy a spear in the town," Lucas says, handing it back to her.

"Don't worry, besides, spears and lances are not my forte, so it's best that you make the most out of them at the very least," Lyn cheerfully answers with content.

"I shall take up on your offer then, milady Lyn," Lucas playfully answers, making Lyn giggle in response. "Now then, let us depart, shall we?" Lucas says with excitement as he flaunts his green cloak out and carries his knapsack.

"And depart we shall!" Lyn replies back with excitement and travels with Lucas atop two tamed horses that were previously provided as gifts from the neighboring village that they have saved.

As soon as they reached the top of the hill, Lucas ended up falling down his horse, with Lyn laughing briefly from his comical moment.

"Perhaps you are not accustomed to horseback riding yourself, are you Lucas?" Lyn asks with concern, yet with a playful tone.

"In my defense, I do believe that they never taught us this in the military school I was in," Lucas answers back defensively as he struggles to get up and dust his cloak.

"Fair enough, either way, Bulgar is a few minutes away now," Lyn continues while helping Lucas with the saddle on his horse on their way reaching Bulgar.

After a few minutes and placing the horses in a place that they could find later, the two of them decide to split up to look for things that might assist them with their journey. Lucas manages to get a setup where he carries a knapsack in one arm and uses the javelin as a walking stick, looking around the market for a new spear when he accidentally bumps into someone, knocking them down.

"Oh my bad." He says immediately helping the stranger as he fell down due to the weight of his red armor.

The stranger had brown hair with a sword at his side and a sturdy lance in his hand next to his steed. His brown eyes shone with intelligence and his red armor gleamed in the sun practically radiating in it, with a sword attached to his belt and brown pants and boots.

"Here's your spear." Lucas says handing his spear to the armored man in a respectful manner before leaving the area, unknowingly leaving a small pouch of gold coins behind him.

Meanwhile, Lyn goes squabbling around vendors for rations necessary in their journey at affordable costs. However, as she walks around, she stumbles upon a certain knight cladded in green that flirted with various village girls and maidens and now starts to flaunt Lyn with his "skills."

"O beauteous maiden, marvelous angel, would you care to grace this gentleman with your company?" the green knight flatters Lyn.

"I'm sorry, but I am not like your average village girl, sir knight, now, goodday," Lyn bids and leaves the green knight brokenhearted from rejection and makes her way to Lucas, who was liking the new spear that he just bought..

"Lucas! I have our necessities ready now, get ready with your horse," Lyn says sternly while playfully teasing him.

"But I don't like the horse…" Lucas pouts in protest. "And I am pretty sure that the horse does not like me, Lyn." Lucas blatantly protests, making Lyn laugh before feeling a tap on his shoulder and meets the same red knight that he assisted not so long ago.

"I believe this belongs to you," the red knight says as he hands the pouch of gold coins to Lucas.

"Argh, careless of me. I knew that I missed a few coins earlier when paying for the spear. Thank you for returning it back to me, kind sir knight," Lucas replies as he receives the coins back.

"Oh, and who is this?" Lyn asks Lucas pertaining to the red knight beside him.

"Ah, him? I helped him after accidentally knocking him off the ground not long ago, it was embarrassing, to be honest," Lucas replies, rubbing his head as he introduces the red knight.

"Greetings, my name is Kent, a knight of house Caelin, I am along with a scoundrel for a companion, and have lost track of him. Do you happen to see a knight in green armor nearby, or even cross paths with him?" Kent asks.

"Hey Kent! I am over here! Sorry, I was taking a break– O my angel! Well met once more! Surely this has to be fate!" Sain swiftly changes upon seeing Lyn.

Lucas immediately pulls out his new iron lance against the green knight's neck. "I do not tolerate seduction whatsoever. If you wish to talk to her, talk to her as you talk to Kent," He says angrily. "Or you will meet the end of my spear," he continues as he points the tip of his lance at Sain.

"Say, you seem to be another spearman. Splendid, perhaps a duel should be fair," Sain adds as he readies his sturdy iron lance in hand.

"A duel?" Lucas asks, dropping the sack that he carried, while he twirls the iron lance that he just bought in hand. "I see no objections."

He twirls it around to intimidate and to feel the weight, although it was a little heavier than the javelin that Lyn loaned him, it still felt imbalanced in his arms.

"Stop acting childish Lucas, he's just toying with you. Let's just be on our way," Lyn interrupts.

"Tch, Fine." Lucas says picking the bag up and slinging it across his left shoulder. "You are a lucky man." He says as he goes up towards the horse, even though he may not like it, and places his sack on it along with some last minute items.

"Wait a moment, milady, have we met before?" Kent interjected and left Lyn confused.

"I beg your pardon?" Lyn asks with confusion.

"Hey Kent, no fair! I encountered her first earlier!" Sain replies with annoyance, now infuriating both Lyn and Lucas.

"Nevermind them Lucas, there is no integrity among the knights of Caelin," Lyn scoffed as she and Lucas left with their supplies and reach for their horses.

"Ah! No wait! Grggh, Sain you lout!" Kent scolded his partner.

(Timeskip few minutes later)

Soon Lucas falls out of the horse for the 12th time in a row and curses at himself before he could get far. "Dammit, I swear the horse is trying to kill me."

"Fufufu, no need to worry, we can rest somewhere and set up camp later. Hm?" Lyn says before bumping into some brigands, around 12 or so, with rugged faces surrounding them.

"Hey, are you Lyndis?" The leader amongst them, the one with a goatee, asks Lyn.

"Lyndis? What are you talking about?" Lucas asks, quite confused.

"Ah what a waste indeed, anyway, time to die sweetheart, nothin' personal," the leader continues before trying to slash Lyn with his axe and misses.

"Wait, what are you doing!? I'm not named Lyndis!" Lyn answers as she dodges and parries.

"Sorry darling, this ain't personal, oof!" the leader says before being pushed away by Lucas seeing what just transpired immediately jumped off the horse and grabbed his lance as a way to defend himself and Lyn. He soon finds one with a sword and immediately rushes towards his direction.

"This is not going to end well," Lucas deadpans before hearing gallops coming at his direction, only to find the two same knights that pestered them back from Bulgar with their arms ready for combat.

Lucas immediately curses again. "Dammit, now we have to deal with them too?!" He says kicking the bandit away for some distance between them before rushing towards him and stabbing his eye.

"O you hungry brutes, leave now, or else face the hammer of judgement upon you!" yelled Sain as he pointed his lance towards the leader.

"Captain Zugu, seems like this ain't simple no more," says a fledgeling brigand.

"Enough talk, brothers! Surround them, take their heads!" Zugu commands all the bandits to go to their own strategic spots.

"Lucas, well met again, I apologize for the misunderstanding earlier in Bulgar, but now we face a threat to you and the lady. My sword is yours to command, as is my companion," Kent says sternly.

Lucas ponders on this for a while as if seeing it on a chessboard, observing what they have on them at the moment and seeing the items the bandits have. "Kent, give Sain one of your swords. I can tell the poor lout seems to have forgotten to bring his sword."

"Right, I will do that– Sain!?" Kent notices Sain fighting the nearest axe-wielding bandit with his iron lance and it looked like he was losing.

Lucas curses at the green rider's foolishness and prepares to throw a javelin as a way to support the poor fool. As the tactician threw the javelin, it landed against the dumb bandit's skull, killing him on the spot. Afterwards, Lucas soon walks over and picks up his spear casually. "Done being a dummy?" Lucas taunts while going towards Lyn to support her while Sain looks dumbfounded at the whole affair.

"Lucas, with our numbers, we won't be able to rest before dusk," Lyn points out with concern in her tone.

"But we can take out the leader before then." Lucas says thrusting a spear towards another sword bandit, stabbing his gut and pulling the spear and smacking another's face with the side of the iron tip. "Let us advance. Kent, Sain cover the flanks and…." Before he could say anymore he hears something.

"Argh, nasty pests, stop dodging!" Sain cries as he struggles against two bandits hiding in the forest and attacking Sain.

Lucas groans a little bit and almost facepalms. "I'll help him," Kent sighs with disappointment as he rides off to assist his friend.

"See what I mean," Lyn says.

"Well, looks like it's just the two of us again." Lucas smirks as he cleans the javelin. "Shall we show them our unity, Lyn?"

"I guess so– hey, what's happening on the other side?" Lyn asks while pointing to their front at the enemy side, noticing a stranger easily fighting against groups of brigands while remaining unscathed.

Meanwhile on the other side the bandits were shocked as they were being beaten by what looks like 4 to 5 people against half a dozen left as Zugu looks at Lucas and Lyndis with hatred.

"Grrrgh those bastards. They planned this, didn't they?" He growls in hatred.

"Not quite," the stranger replied as he stabbed Zugu right through his heart, making him bleed to death among the grass.

"What?" Zugu asks as he slowly bled out to die.

"Who is that?" Lyn asks Lucas before turning to Kent and Sain, who had arrived after defeating the bandits.

"Not quite sure, I've never seen those garbs before, and that sword, it seems too difficult for an ordinary swordsman to wield," Kent comments as he sheathed his blade. While Lucas looked at the swordsmanship as if he knew those techniques from another time.

"Lucas?" Lyn asks again.

Lucas then had a look of surprise appeared and he smiles as he remembered in his head who it could possibly be. "Lyn, I think I am going to meet with our mercenary. C'mon, I should introduce him to you. Kent, Sain? Could you guard our belongings?" He says confidently and smiles like he usually does before running off towards the stranger holding her hand the whole way before Kent and Sain could protest.

He finally stops near the stranger who just finished removing the blood on his curved blade on the grass before wiping it off with the bloodstained cloth and sheathing it in its scabbard. After the stranger turned to see Lucas, a familiar figure entered his eyes for a moment before he showed a weak, but seen smirk.

"Well, I see that fate has brought us together again." Lucas says with his usual cheerful smirk carrying his spear on the side but not being any aggressive in it..

"I believe so, old pal." the stranger replied back as he pulled back his grey cloak, showing short, slightly sleek, jet black hair with a grey undershirt and grey pants with a sword belt holding the pants together.

"You know, I find it a miracle that you cannot be seen by the bandits with that grey cloak of yours, in the middle of a field no less." Lucas says jokingly, pointing to said cloak.

"I can take that as a compliment, hahaha!" the stranger laughed, leaving Lyn confused.

"Um, Lucas, if I may, mind if I ask who is this?" Lyn interrupts the moment.

"Oh! Right, right, introductions. Lyn, this is my old friend from the orphanage, Ren." Lucas introduces. "He's a good friend, even though he flunked tactics school," Lucas adds that last part jokingly.

"Apparently, I have found swordsmanship and adventuring to be my liking, so I just wandered around as a hired sword for small villages at cheap prices, though all I usually ask is just food and shelter, hehe," Ren embarrassingly replies.

"Well aren't you St. Elimine?" Lucas smirks. "Anyway, come on, me 'n Lyn are on a journey, or adventure. For old times' sake." Lucas pulls his spear and motions Ren to come along.

"Adventure hm? I see, well then, let me join your meager band, not as your assistant, but as your chess piece, Lucas." Ren replies, much to Lucas's rolling of eyes. "Moreover, I must say, the lady's sword skills are quite intriguing. Hope it won't hurt to do some friendly sparring later on," Ren continues as the three head back to where Kent and Sain were..

"If the chance arises, might as well. Now then, what are we gonna do with these two annoyances?" Lyn turns towards the two knights.

"We can try hearing out their side of the story for starters, I guess. So, who are you, knights of Caelin?" Lucas interrogates with prejudice out of concern for Lyn.

"Forgive us for the late introductions, so let us start over. My name is Kent, a knight under the house of Lord Hausen, the Marquess of Caelin. And this is Sain, a knight who also serves Caelin." Kent Introduces the two as he begins to explain. "We are both dispatched on a mission to find Lord Hausen's daughter, lady Madelyn. Lady Madelyn is Lord Hausen's daughter who left and eloped with a Sacaen nomad, which enraged the lord to the point he declares that he has no daughter. Few years later, Madelyn sent a letter to Lord Hausen that they were living happily in Sacae and had a daughter that partially bears the name of the marquess' late wife: Lyndis,'' Kent pauses, confusing Lyn, then continues: "From there, Lord Hausen was overjoyed with his becoming a grandfather not too long after hearing the news. However, word has it that the tribe where lady Madelyn resides was massacred. This has brought great sadness to our lord, but that changed when our eyes met. You bear your mother's image,"

"Why so? Do you know my mother?" Lyn asks as Lucas looks around the battlefield for something to clean his spear with.

"No, but I have seen portraits of her displayed around the castle, and you are living proof," Kent adds.

"But then, those bandits we fought earlier. The leader recognized her and called her Lyndis," Lucas points out coming back with a shirt of a dead bandit.

"Ah! It must be that bastard, Lord Lundgren!" Sain scoffs.

"Who's Lundgren?" Ren curiously asks.

"Lundgren is Lord Hausen's younger brother. He is a greedy noble who despised his own brother," Sain adds.

"That so? Speaking of Marquess Caelin, is he not ill lately? Was that not a rumor?" Ren asks from recalling numerous gossips in his travels in Caelin, worrying Lyndis.

"And yet, the happiness of this "uncle" extends to murdering Lyn." Lucas deadpans polishing the spear using a nearby bandits shirt. "The bastard has most likely been poisoning the Lord for months now. "

"Lucas?" Lyn gives Lucas a concerned look.

"Lyn, Battle is inevitable around this point. He intends to be Lord of Caelin." Lucas answers looking serious. The newly cleaned spear reflecting his hardening eyes.

"Hmmm, so Lundgren plans to even eliminate other members of Hausen's direct bloodline to obtain the throne. I wonder…," Ren comments before whispering the last part to himself.

"This is all too sudden for me to take in...I actually have a grandfather...I must go see him," Lyn replies.

"Lyn?" Lucas reacts almost dropping the spear.

"Huh?" Ren responded.

"I know it is too sudden, but to think, I actually have a family, a grandfather, from a noble house, with a noble name, but all under such atrocities! I must go and see him and help him! Lucas, are you willing to come with me?" Lyn replies before turning and asking Lucas.

Lucas thinks a little bit and ponders on the choice for a few minutes. "Well, I might as well. Plus, we need to make sure that this green moron would get himself killed again." He points to Sain with his opposite hand.

"Hey!" Sain responded, making everyone in the group laugh.

"If Lucas is coming, then I'm coming too. Interesting things happen with this knucklehead for a friend around," Ren comments as he nudges Lucas from behind, making Lyn giggle from his remark.

"Wait Ren, your sword, and your technique. It seems awfully familiar for some reason. Are you a Sacaen by chance?" Lyn asks.

"Well, yes and no, I am only half, like you are, but my other heritage is from Etruria, with my dark shade of hair giving it away, though I am left as an orphan at a young age," Ren replies.

"My deepest sympathies, Ren, but your sword just seemed to come from those of the Lorca tribal fighters," Lyn comments.

"How so?" Ren asks.

"You see, I am from the Lorca tribe. Daughter of Hassar, the chief of our tribe," Lyn gleefully says.

"Really then? This blade was my mother's memento for me. It would be nice to have a blood relative such as yourself, calling you sister," Ren smirks, making Lyn laugh from being called sister.

Upon hearing all of this new information, Lucas makes a face. "Wait, if you're from Sacae and Etruria, how did you reach my village in Bern?" Lucas asks with a troubled look on his face.

"Oh, that was because I was transferred from orphanage to orphanage due to my reckless behavior, so they decided to send me to the orphanage in Bern, where we became the best of friends," Ren says heartily, prompting Lucas to face-palm.

"No wonder you were a flunky," Lucas comments to Ren, making him and everyone including Lyn laugh loudly before saying: "Alright, now that we have that settled, shall we continue our journey, milady?" Lucas says in his most gentlemanly fashion.

"Yes, Lucas, let us hurry now, to Caelin," Lyn answers.

"Don't forget about us," Kent replies.

"Onwards!" Lucas motions, rallying the group to their next destination: the allied regions of Lycia.

Prologue: A Rude Awakening. END