Flare looked up at the blue sky as he made it within the capital. He looked around at his surroundings to see a bunch of stores and people roaming the streets in the capital. Most of them looked happy.

'I made it to the capital. Everyone looks happy, here.' Flare smiled a bit, then thought about the real reason why he came to the capital. "I need to find a barracks, soon, so I can apply for the Imperial Army." He looked and saw many different people walking and talking to one another on the street and thought of asking random people about the barracks.

As Flare was walking around, a blonde woman with a long white scarf sat at a table, drinking coffee at a coffee shop.

Flare had asked different people in the capital.

"So, you like to enlist in the Imperial Army, do you?" The man handed Flare an application. "Here. Just sign these forms and bring it back to me." said the man behind the desk. The man who told me had a black long-sleeved suit, black hair, and a bored attitude. He I take the forms and look at it for a second.

"So, I'm starting as a private, right?" Flare asked.

"What, you think you're special or something?" asked the man.

"No it's not that, I didn't think it would be this easy."

"What, you think you're some hotshot commoner who's planning to make it in the big city?" the man stood from his seat and pointed at the door. "Because if you are, I suggest you hit the road. I already threw out one kid who thought he was gonna be captain." He suggested.

"What? What are you talking about? Flare asked, a little confused.

The man at the desk sighed and sat back down. "Never mind. Just fill this out and bring this back before we close."

After a few minutes of reading, Flare had filled out the application and gave it back to the guy. "Done."

The man read Flare's signature, and looked at Flare a little different. "Uh… Flare?"

"Yeah, that's my name." Flare said.

"Alright, "Flare", just give us time to process your application. It might process between the time of tomorrow-til the next three days. Just make sure you stop by each day to check on your application. We close at six" the man said.

"Six in the morning or at night?" Flare asked.

"In the morning. This barracks closes at six at night." the man told Flare.

"Alright." Flare then went outside and sighed in relief. 'I've actually enrolled in the Imperial Army.' He smiled and saw a nearby clock. It was almost five in the evening. 'Well, since I'm here, I may as well look around the district a bit, so I could know my surroundings.' Flare looked at the setting sun, then proceeded to walk around the district.

Later that Night

The sky was dark and the stars in the sky had shined a bright light. Flare had memorized most of the district that he was roaming.

"Okay. I think I've memorized most places, now. I should find a hotel, soon." Flare muttered as he continued roaming the district he was in. Until he was suddenly approached by two burglars. The first burglar had light long her, small pupils, a skinny physique. He wore a checker sweater, an armored piece on his left shoulder and wielded two katanas on his left hip. The second burglar was overweight, had a light jacket, a helmet, two armored pieces on his shoulder and a large sword behind his back.

"Hey, you." The first burglar said as he approached Flare.

"Hm?" Flare stopped to see two burglars.

"You got some fine gear." The first burglar pointed at Flare with a sadistic look on his face.

"Give it to us. That's an order." The second burglar chuckled.

"And you two are?" Flare asked.

"You don't need to know who we are. Just know that we're your superiors!" The first burglar said.

"Now, give us your stuff!" The second burglar demanded as he grabbed the hilt of his sword behind his head.

Flare stared at the two of them and realized what they were. 'Burglars.' Flare disappointingly sighed.

Ten Seconds Later

The two burglars were knocked unconscious by Flare. They lied on the ground, face first as their eyes rolled in the back of their head and large red bruises appeared on their heads. They both groaned in their sleep.

"Stop robbing people." Flare told the two burglars before leaving them behind.

Flare continued to roam the district at night that he was in for another ten minutes, until he stopped and saw the Imperial Palace from afar. The Imperial Palace was many kilometers away from where Flare was standing. In the lower districts.

'I heard the Emperor lives there.' Flare thought as he stared at the building. "It's getting late. I should check into a hotel, now." Flare started walking, until he heard the sound of a riding horse carriage with his sharp ears. He stopped for a moment as the sound of a carriage had gotten closer. 'A horse carriage? Someone's coming.'

Meanwhile, a rich girl named Aria had blonde hair, blue eyes was being riding inside of a horse carriage at night. She was being escorted by two guards, who were driving the horse carriage. One of them was inside the horse carriage, guarding Aria.

"There's one!" Aria pointed as she spotted Flare within her carriage, yards away.

"It's getting late. We should head home. Your parents will be worried." The guard inside the carriage told Aria.

"Not until we help that person, now." Aria told the guards, as she looked at Flare. The guard who was driving the carriage sighed and drove towards Flare's location.

Flare stood and watched as a white horse carriage had stopped right in front of him. 'Why is the carriage approaching me?'

"Another person, miss Aria?" The Guard asked after opening the door for miss Aria.

"I can't help it. It's what I'm good at." Aria replied, then proceeded to walk towards Flare. The two guards looked worried, as they stare at Aria.

"Hello, there." Aria had greeted Flare, keeping a six-foot distance.

"Uh, hello?" Flare replied.

"Are you a foreigner?" Aria asked Flare.

"Uh, yeah. I am..." Flare answered Aria's question.

"If you don't have a place to stay, you can come and stay with me!" Aria smiled with sparkling blue eyes.

Flare paused and stared at Aria. "Wait, you're asking me, a total stranger... someone who's not from the capital to stay at your house?"

"Mm-hmm!" Aria happily nodded.

'Something is definitely wrong, here. There's no way some rich person would ask a total stranger to come live with them. She's either trying to rob me, murder me, or...' Flare blinked. "Thanks for the offer, but I'll pass."

Aria was thrown off by Flare declining her. "What? Why not?"

"I appreciate the offer, but I have money. I'm already planning on checking into a hotel, tonight." Flare said, then proceeded to walk away.

Aria gasped. "P-please, come with us!" She quickly grasped onto strong his left arm and pressed her chest up against it. "We'll give you a place to stay, a free meal. And you won't even have to pay for anything!" Aria begged, as she refused to let go.

"Miss Aria just can't leave cute boys alone, can she?" One guard muttered.

"Just take her offer, kid. Miss Aria is really stubborn." The other guard said.

Flare looked at the two guards, then at Aria, who continued to clutch his left arm. She had gave him the puppy eyes and small orbs of tears appeared in the small corners of her eyes. He sighed. "Fine, I'll go with you."

"Hurray!" Aria said in a cheerful manner while letting go of his arm. "Then its settled."

Flare rode within Aria's carriage and agreed to go with Aria towards her residence.

"Here we are!" Aria said as she, Flare and her two guards had stood outside of her family's residence.

"This is your house?" Flare asked as he stared at the roof of the mansion.

"Yep." Aria quickly nodded at Flare. "My family has been living here for many generations."

Flare stared at the two-storied mansion. 'If I'm comparing the size of this big house and my village back home, this'll probably take up to at least two in a half to cover the whole village. Everyone back home could just simply live here.'

"Come on, let's go in!" Aria grabbed Flare's hand and begun to drag him inside of her family's resident.

Twelve Seconds Later

Flare stood inside Aria's family residence and stared at the many antiques. He saw a clean vase, a deer's head mounted on a wall, a large chandelier above him, he spotted few maids dressed in uniform cleaning the furniture. Such as the bell collection and the tables and the dead animals. 'This place looks really nice...'

"Come on. This way. I'll introduce you to my parents." Aria smiled and brought Flare into the living room, where Flare had seen a married couple sitting on fancy furniture and sipping tea.

Aria's father turned his head to see Flare standing next to his daughter, Aria. "Oh! Aria has brought home another guest."

'Another guest?'

"It's her way of acting kind." Aria's mother giggled. "Now, how many guest does that make?"

"To be honest, I've lost count. Let's hope that Aria brought home a future son-in-law, this time." Aria's Father joked while sipping tea.

"Uh?" Flare grunted.

Aria felt a little embarrassed. "D-daddy! I just met him!"

Flare looked around the living room, then stared at Aria's parents. 'Wait, how many guests has Aria brought here? And what does she mean by another guest? Is her family like, "I feed you and let you sleep for the night, then send you packing the next morning?" or is it something else...' Flare thought, then looked at the guards who stood in place. 'Those guards have been really quiet, as if they're up to something...'

"Flare. Come sit." Aria offered him a single chair to sit.

Flare took a seat in a single chair, next to Aria.

"So, tell us about yourself, Flare." Aria's Father said as he made eye contact with Flare.

Thirty Seconds Later

"I see... so you've already applied for the Imperial Army to save your village..."

"I do, sir. I'm supposed to be checking in, daily so that my application would fully process." Flare replied.

"That sounds really nice." Aria smiled.

"But there's something you should know, Flare... the capital maybe peaceful though, but there are three sides that are flanked by murderous tribes. The chances of the Imperial Army sending you to the front lines is really high." Aria's Father explained.

"I'm well aware. In fact I ended up encountering a group of bandits last night when I was coming to the capital." Flare told Aria and her parents.

"And you managed to escape them in one piece?" Aria's Father asked.

"Yeah, I did. They thought they could use the dark on their side, but I could easily sense them out." Flare said, then started reminiscing.

Flashback

Flare was surrounded by a group of dark skinned bandits. There were multiple males and one female. They wanted to kill him and take his valuables. One of the bandits Flare had encountered had on a white wolf headdress. They males charged towards him, some of them had the lust to kill.

Within the next minute, Flare had pummeled all of the men, leaving them knocked unconscious on the ground. Some of them had broken ribs, busted noses, eyes rolling in the back of their heads and missing teeth.

The only one left standing other than Flare was a bandit girl around his age. She had dark skin, black smooth neck-length hair, brown eyes. She had worn a white tribal skirt, a white tribal hoodie and a short strapless blue top. She stood and watched in fear as she watched her tribesmen get beaten down.

As soon as Flare looked over to her, she flinched and dropped her dagger out of fear. As Flare walked over to her, the Female Bandit's body slowly trembled in fear, assuming that Flare would do the same thing to her. Bubbly orbs began to appear in the corners of her eyes, seeming like she was about to cry.

"Your tribesmen are still breathing. They're knocked unconscious." Flare told the Female Bandit.

The Female Bandit gasped.

"Make sure that y'all never attack anyone else again, or y'all be sorry." Flare told the Female Bandit, plainly.

The Female Bandit happily sniffled. "Thank you." she quickly ran away from the scene.

End Flashback

"Some of the bandits were physically strong, but were nothing compared to the training that I've went through during the past year." Flare told Aria and her family on how he encountered bandits.

"I see. How I admire mercy." Aria's Father said.

"Flare? Did you come from a village, alone?" Aria asked.

"Yeah, I did." Flare replied. "I'm here to make money, so that my village wouldn't continue living in poverty."

"Very well, then." Aria's Father tapped the table. "I shall talk to a friend of mine in the Imperial Army."

"Okay." Flare said.

"I believe it is time for bed, now." Aria's Father stretched his arm and back.

"Is there anything I can do, while I'm here?" Flare asked.

"Ah!" Aria smiles. "How would you like to escort me, along with the guards tomorrow?"

"Escort?" Flare asked.

"She means help go into town and do some shopping." Aria's Mother said.

"Oh... that. Sure, I'll help." Flare told Aria's Mother.

"That sounds good..." Aria turned to one of his top guards, Gauri. "Gauri. I am counting on you to protect my daughter with your life."

"Yes, sir." Gauri replied.

Flare stares at Gauri for a moment, then looked at Aria's parents. "Thank you for letting me stay here."

"The feeling is mutual. You can pay make it up to us by taking our daughter's hand in marriage." Aria's Mother joked.

"M-mom! You're embarrassing me!" Aria yelled, as her face turned pink.

Ten Minutes Later

Flare had settled down in one of the many guest rooms within the house, as he lied down in a bed. 'It's nice to have a warm bed to sleep on, but everything feels kind of rushed...' Flare thought back earlier, when he met Aria. 'Since I met Aria today, she's been doing nothing but smiling towards me. Is that really her way of being nice to foreigners or is she hiding something? I can sense something's definitely off about her.' Flare thought.

Author's Note: I'm taking the story a bit slow, so the story could make sense.

The Bandits that Flare encountered in the flashback were the same bandits that Night Raid killed in Episode 3.