"Don't tell him a thing. I can shoot fire, I'm fast, I'm strong. Nothing more." Sasuke whispered to Louise.
Wardes was looking around their temporary took this chance to make sure Louise didn't say more than she should. The pinkette didn't seem to agree with his stance on not trusting Wardes.
"But.." Louise did not get the chance to finish. Sasuke delivered a stern glare.
"Don't care. I'm not asking." Sasuke made a show of stopping her rebuttal, by walking back towards the camp, where Wardes seemed done with his observations. Louise huffed, but said nothing else.
"You're used to traveling light, so this should go well. We need to go south west. I'm not sure if you learned any of our geography while you were still at the academy, but that direction is where we'll find Gallia." Wardes put one hand on his hip as he turned to face Sasuke.
"Why south west? is that a special way past the border? Louise said Gallia was south, in general." Sasuke asked. Wardes moved his head to look at Louise as she walked past Sasuke.
"Exactly that. It is a region notorious for having powerful monsters. Powerful enough that, unless Gallia sees special need, more men are dedicated towards the monsters than the actual guarding of that section of the boarder. Even more in our favor, is that Gallia is putting some troops on their north west border. Not many, but enough to not have their pants down if Albion air movement approached. Very unlikely, but Gallia can afford to spare the men." Wardes explained.
Louise was a tad bit confused.
"Why would Gallia be worried about Albion?" She asked with a frown.
"The rebellion is coming to a boiling point, won't be long before it completely hits the fan. There is a real chance the rebels win and spread out." Wardes sat down on a tree stump.
"But, even with Albion's heavy military focus, surely they can't actually be planning to..to come to Tristain, right?" Louise looked worried.
"Louise, you are aware that Reconquista did not come out of thin air. Some nobles have always held the sentiment that we should take the fight o the elves, as Brimir once did. If they win in Albion, they won't just be bringing their troops, they'll be receiving eager recruits from Tristain it self. Albion is just dealing with a civil war, if they lose, Tristain will be fighting a war plus a civil war. But that is no longer our concern." Wardes raised an eyebrow at Louise.
The girl seemed to digesting that. So was Sasuke.
'Sounds like Tristain is the obvious next choice for Albion to target. Meaning this country is busy. We go to Gallia, a seemingly well armed and prepared country, while Albion keeps Tristain too busy to care about us. There are still some problems though.' Sasuke thought.
"Even if we sneak into Gallia, what stops Tristain from just requesting that Gallia deals with us? I was under the impression that most of the countries were amicable with each other, this Albion thing being fairly recent?" The Uchiha was trying to find the holes in Wardes' plan.
"If we are spotted by a reputable source, yes, Tristain will cause problems for us even in Gallia, but it won't be as bad as it is here. Plus, There is far more land in Gallia, and I've friends there who won't care too much lend us aid." The Griffon knight explained.
Sasuke nodded, he couldn't find anything worth mentioning.
"But enough on that. Sasuke, there are some things I'd like clarity on. I'm referring most especially, to your curse or demonic origin, whatever it is." Wardes offered the shinobi a grin.
Sasuke scoffed. Louise frowned at him. A thousand words were packed in her eyes.
"Demonic origin, huh? I'll explain it to you so that there are no misunderstandings." Sasuke sighed. He pulled on cloth and showed his curse mark. "This is my curse mark. A man promised me power and training, this curse mark was to show me a taste of what he could deliver. And he didn't lie. It makes me stronger. There are downsides, but they were manageable before Louise made me her familiar. These familiar runes did something. Now I sometime lose control when Louise is insulted, most likely also when she's threatened." Sasuke ex pained, a slither of annoyance in his voice.
"But I've been threatened tons since we've been on the run, and you never had an episode." Louise questioned. "And some of those bandits and bounty hunters insulted me!" She exclaimed.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "None of those people were a real threat, and their insults aren't the same as your peers insulting you. I think it is some type of defensive mechanism for Louise's sake. I've activated my curse mark on my own, and it was normal."
Wardes nodded with a hum. "Than I should have nothing to worry about. We'll have plenty of time for chatter as we move towards our destination, so for now I only have one more question for you, Sasuke Uchiha." Wardes looked into Sasuke's eyes. "Will you spar with me?"
"Kill her, damn it! Kill this bitch!" A pirate, likely the captain, screamed. His men were dropping like flies.
Karin wasn't all that rusty. The captain and 2 others were mages, but the rest were just normal men. Karin had yet to meet the soldier who was her equal. Karin trained her body more than most nobles, and she had spells to boost her physical speed. Unfortunately for these men, they weren't even worth those spells. She imply cut their throats and knocked them away with wind.
"I'd say you're a Triangle Mage. Maybe you're a bastard, maybe you slacked, losing your title. I do not know. But you surely could have done better with this with your life. Pray to Brimir for your soul's guidance, for your body's path ends here." Karin pointed her wand at the man. He was in the middle of casting a Triangle spell, one of his fellow mages tried to protect him. They both died in the same attack.
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