Chapter 19: Within The Walls Of Lescatie

The streets of Lescatie were bustling with people going about their lives. Merchants beckoned people from their stalls within the market to hawk at their wares while horse drawn carriages zipped back and forth carrying the elite. Within the middle and upper quarters of the city the people had dressed themselves in their best garb and strolled around as if nothing were wrong with the world. The lower quarter, however, was busy with trying to survive in whatever way they could. One such corner near the south gate sat an old orphanage that was slowly crumbling. The various orphans could be seen outside tending to the laundry or inside sweeping the building. In one room lay a woman with green hair who was stuck bedridden. Her body ached and her head throbbed from being stricken with a fever. On one side of her bed sat a nightstand with a pitcher of water and an empty drinking glass. The other side had an open window to let in a gentle breeze. A quiet gust rocked the curtains ever so slightly as the wind carried a single leaf to the windowsill. Sasha watched from her bed as the wind carried over to the far corner away from her. The leaf landed right in front of her bedroom door as a light knocking could be heard on the other side.

"Come in." Sasha said weakly.

Two young girls, one with blonde hair and another with brown hair done up in two pig tails held by blue ribbons, entered and gave Sasha a concerned look. The two of them had been busy doing the laundry earlier and still had much to wash, but they had whittled the tiny soap bar they had down to nothing in the process. They had tried to find another bar but had no luck. Only Sasha would know where one could be now, but they didn't want to bother her when she should be resting.

"Lisia, Emiyu, what is it?" Sasha asked them when she saw the look on their faces.

Emiyu, the youngest, looked down in shame. She was the last to use the bar of soap until it was reduced to looking like a toothpick. At that point Lisia had told her they needed another bar. Now they had to disturb Sasha.

"Big sis, Sasha, we need another laundry bar." Emiyu replied while still looking down.

"We can't find any. Do you know where some might be?" Lisia added.

"Oh, dear….I remember buying two bars a month back and put them in a trunk in the attic for just such an occasion," Sasha answered, "It should have my family crest on it, the one with the holy cross surrounded by a wreath of roses, if they aren't in there then…." Sasha said to the two of them as she lay on the bed.

"Okay, well go and check. Get well soon, big sis." Lisia replied happily before she and Emiyu closed the door behind them as they left.

Sasha rubbed her temples after the two of them left. She despised being a burden on the children even if doing the chores was a good learning experience for when they were older. A frustrated groan escaped her lips as she lay motionless. She hoped Joshua would return soon to help the orphans with the chores. It had been an entire day since he'd gone with Eristia and she was growing worried. She sat herself up in bed and reached over to her nightstand, pouring herself a glass of water, and took a sip.

"Joshua, please come home soon…" She muttered anxiously.

Just then the church quaked slightly followed by the sound of a thunderous bang far off in the distance causing her to drop her drinking glass. This snapped Sasha out of her thoughts before her bedroom door burst open and the glass shattered. Three young girls rushed in with frightened looks on their faces.

"Children, whatever was that noise?" She asked the three of them, her voice full of concern.

"We were out folding clothes when we saw a bright blue beam of light shoot down from the sky!" One exclaimed frightfully.

"It came down right on top of the Asacreta Mountain!" another added.

"Isn't that where big brother Joshua went, big sister Sasha?!" The last one asked.

Sasha's blood ran cold. That was where Joshua was indeed. A wave of guilt swept over her like a tropical storm as she sat in bed. She prayed that he was safe, but deep down she knew that once you were outside the walls of Lescatie your chances of survival dropped significantly at a steady rate. She clasped a hand over her mouth as a few tears began streaming down her face.

"Oh no….I shouldn't have let him go…" She said as the orphans approached her.

The orphans climbed onto her bed and hugged her tightly. As much as Sasha was grateful to have them in her life, it didn't change the guilt she felt tightening in her chest. She held the three of them in her arms, hoping this was all just a nightmare caused by her fever. What she didn't know was that Joshua was alive but would soon be fighting for his life against Richter and his wife.

Elsewhere…..

Primera was sitting in a tree watching a group of turkeys from afar. She readied her bow and took careful aim at her target. The morning had been relatively peaceful up to that point all along Pilgrim's Road without any disturbances. She took her shot and hit her mark, causing the rest of the turkeys to scatter and one to drop to the ground dead. Primera hopped down from her perch and began walking towards her prize with a smirk on her face. It had been a seventy-yard shot, a shot no one else in Lescatie could pull off, and she managed to take down a turkey at that distance. Primera seized the dead turkey by the legs once she was right in front of it and pulled her arrow out of its side. She then turned and looked towards the Asacreta Mountains, wondering why Joshua had been gone for an entire day. A frown formed on her face as she stared at the old mountain range.

"Just where the hell are you? I told you not to upset Sasha. You better not be dead." she muttered angrily.

Just then a blue beam of light thundered down onto the mountain. The beam was followed by a thunderous bang and the scene of debris being launched towards the sky. A shockwave soared down the mountain through the trees, reaching Primera, and knocking her off her feet. She looked at the mountain from where she lay with an annoyed scowl on her face before standing up and brushing herself off.

"Okay, who the hell did that?! Wait….don't tell me that soulless idiot got into trouble!? UGH! Whatever….I'm going home." Primera shrieked furiously.

Primera stormed off towards Lescatie with her prize in hand. She had only come out there to get lunch for the orphans and wasn't looking forward to getting wrapped up in any shenanigans, especially ones involving Joshua. She grumbled as she walked through the forest, until she saw a man traveling on a slide of ice heading towards the mountain. Her elven eyesight made no mistake as he glided fast above the trees like he was in a hurry. Primera recognized him from his hair, and a chill crept down her spine.

"Wait, that's Richter Noscrim…..why's he here?" She said as her body shook with fear.

She immediately took off running through the trees. All the heroes in Lescatie knew of and were afraid of Richter. Primera probably more so than most, as she knew just how strong he had really gotten in the ten years he'd been missing. It was only two months ago that several heroes had gone missing because of him, and Primera was determined not to end up like them. She checked behind herself at times to make sure she wasn't being followed by him and didn't stop running until she got to the edge of the forest. She took one last look behind her before she scrambled back to the city in a panic. When the guards saw her, they quickly opened the gate and let her back inside. Primera took several breaths once she was inside the walls as the gate closed behind her. A few of the guards standing on the wall looked out over the ramparts before looking down at her and then back over the ramparts. They, too, had seen the beam of light and wondered just what in the world had happened. Before they could question her, Primera took off towards the orphanage with her turkey still clutched tightly in her hand.

Elsewhere, still…

Captain Mersé was training a small batch of recruits down on the parade grounds. They were going over form and technique exercises under her instruction. Elt was among the trainees and was showing a small margin of improvement from the last time he trained with Mersé there. She watched as he stepped in, but not too much before thrusting his spear forward with more strength. The rest, on the other hand, hadn't been able to improve as much as him.

"No, no, no! You all are stepping in too much! Look at Elt, he's doing it right! You all could learn a thing or two from him!" She scolded as she glared at the other knights.

The others stared daggers at Elt. Out of all of them, he was the only one who didn't take advantage of the captain coming over and pressing up behind him like they did. There wasn't much of an opportunity for them to have some physical contact with a woman, but they weren't about to let their training stop them. They all took advantage of their captain's willingness to get close to them to teach them the motions, all just so she would press her breasts up against their backs. They were all also jealous of how much time Elt and the captain spent together after training. They knew of how the two often went to the bar after training, even if they had been training all day and into the night afterwards. Some wished they could get in on that action, but they didn't want to have to spend more time with Elt than was necessary.

"Run it again! Honestly….what'll it take to get you all into fighting shape!" she bellowed at the trainees.

She then turned to Elt, happy that her favorite was applying his lessons and listening to her. This is why he was her favorite among her recruits thus far as he learned from his mistakes and took steps to improve as best he could, and why some of the other higher ups had high hopes for him.

" Elt, move on to the next phase and go practice sword forms!" she said with a smile as she looked at Elt.

Elt nodded and went to return his practice spear to the weapon rack and exchange it for a practice sword, just as a blue beam thundered down on top of the Asacreta Mountains. They all stumbled a tad when they heard the explosion and looked at the beam as it faded into nothing shortly after it rained down from the sky. Some had looked on in bewilderment, others wondered if this spectacle was about to ruin their day. They all watched as a shockwave shook the trees around the mountain far off in the distance.

"What on earth…" A trainee muttered as he watched the beam fade.

"Isn't that where lady Vitral and her squire are?" one asked as he turned to another knight.

"Yeah. They were with Lady Sausare and "that" man when they left. Not many people had high hopes for them because they were with "that" man….guess he got them into quite a bit of trouble." The other knight replied as he rubbed his chin.

Mersé heard their conversation and a scowl spread across her face. It was too soon for anyone to start pointing fingers and casting their blame. Until they heard from Eristia and Yuriy, she wasn't about to let them all drag Joshua's name through the dirt. Not until she knew the whole truth.

"Alright, all of you head back to the barracks! Training is called off until we know just what that beam was." She ordered as she turned to face the recruits.

The knights began trudging back towards the city with some grumbling about how their day was "ruined". Elt, on the other hand, stared at the mountain for a short while longer. Deep down he hoped nothing bad had happened to Eristia, Yuriy, Luciana, and Joshua. It still baffled him as to what they did that caused that beam. He knew Eristia didn't have the mana capacity for a spell so large and Mimil and Wilmarina weren't with them. Mersé approached him from behind and clasped a hand of his left shoulder. She knew what he was thinking, but she herself wasn't about to just write them off right yet.

"Until I hear otherwise, I'm giving them another day. I know you're worried about Joshua, but he beat me in an arm wresting match. That's impressive seeing how he doesn't have the Chief God's blessing us heroes have. If this goes well, you two are going to start working together when he gets back," she said to comfort him, "You've made considerable improvement yourself so I think you two will work well together."

"I'm not doubting his capabilities, I'm just wondering if the four of them survived that beam. I know neither Mimil or Wilmarina out there, and Sasha isn't capable of a light magic spell like that. I may not be skilled at mana manipulation, but I've seen enough of Mimil's spells in action during magic demonstrations. I don't think there's anyone on the whole continent who could top their mana pool and skill either." Elt replied calmly as he looked at the mountain.

Mersé nodded in agreement. Not even Wilmarina could have done something as similarly destructive with her magic. It was right then that Elt's stomach growled followed by Mersé's.

"Guess we better go grab a seat at the mess hall. Don't want to miss out on getting some salt pork this time." Mersé said as she started heading back towards the castle.

Elt did the same, but not before taking one last look at the mountain. Whatever caused that light spell was about to cause quite a ruckus within the walls of Lescatie. The only people who knew the truth had yet to return, but what no one expected was just who Joshua was currently fighting. Once he returned, the truth would shake the city. Some would deny, but others would come to know his name. It would be the start of something none thought possible—the tipping of the scales in humanity's favor. A light in the darkness and the start of revolution, and it all would start within the walls of Lescatie.