1204/08/28 09:00
Crossbell City, Crossbell
Tita and Renne were taking a break in the Harbor District. A bowl of ramen from Ozelle's ramen stall was on their hands each. Tita grabbed the chopsticks, trying to pick up the noodle from the bowl before it slipped from the chopsticks again. She had been doing this for three minutes to no avail now.
"Uuhh... using chopsticks is hard," Tita sighed, to Renne's amusement.
"The key is to use your middle finger as the base to control the one stick that's not on your index finger," Renne told her with some giggles.
Renne then demonstrated how to do it to Tita, who still couldn't grasp what the purple-haired girl was trying to tell her.
"Uuuh..."
Suddenly, Renne picked up Tita's sliced chicken topping and ate it with a foxy smirk.
"R-Renne! Not fair!" she pouted in frustration.
"Sorry, sorry. Here, have some of mine," Renne put her topping into Tita's bowl, effectively exchanging the one she ate. "Anyway, I think you can just ask for a spoon from the stall owner. Why didn't you do so?"
"W-Well, I thought I could do it..." Tita trailed off in embarrassment.
"Ufufu! You're so cute, Tita!"
After letting Renne laugh for a minute, Tita stood up and went to the stall, intending to ask for a spoon.
"U-Um..."
Sensing her hesitation, the stall owner kindly greeted her. "What's the matter, missy? Can't handle the chopsticks, eh?"
Tita shyly nodded.
"Don't worry, lotsa people like you here in Crossbell. It's a melting pot of culture, after all, and I try my best to have my ramen as authentic as possible, so I encourage people to use chopsticks."
He rummaged something below the counter before presenting a pair of spoons and forks. "Here. It's for you. I hope you can enjoy the taste of my creation now."
"Thank you!"
"Ozelle! Give me my usual!" From beside her, a familiar voice greeted the owner. When Tita looked, it was to see Juna slapping some Mira onto the wooden counter.
"Coming right up, Juna!" the stall owner responded before preparing Juna's order.
"Oh, Tita! Are you on a break? Great choice for food. Ozelle's ramen stall is like, one of the best street foods you can find in Crossbell!" She then looked around before letting out a confused noise. "Where's your bowl?"
"Ah, I'm eating with Renne over there," Tita pointed to her friend, who was waiting for her.
"Renne? Perfect timing!" Juna clapped before turning to the stall owner. "Ozelle, I'll pick it up later! Let's go, Tita!"
"It's fine; I can just give it to you if you're going to eat with the missy over there," the stall owner replied before Tita was dragged over by Juna to the bench she and Renne used.
"Hey!" Juna greeted the purple-haired girl, who only scowled at her appearance.
"Ugh. Why are you here?"
Juna gasped. "How cold! And after I delicately did not shout your name as I ran because I know somebody might hear and pass it along to the Hayworth, too..."
Renne glared. "You know that this is why I hate you, right?"
"Aww, I love you too!" Juna said sarcastically as she opened her arms to hug Renne. The younger girl deftly dodged out of her range, leaving Juna clicking her tongue.
"Tch, my younger siblings can't dodge whenever I do that."
"Well, I am not them." Sighing, Renne changed the subject. "So, what are you doing here?"
"Can't I just greet my peer and friend and Renne?" Juna asked nicely, although her words weren't.
Renne's eye twitched. "This is revenge from the day I said 'everyone and Juna,' isn't it? Are you satisfied?"
"Plenty," Juna replied before sitting down beside Renne. "Anyway, what are you doing here?"
"I should be the one asking that. What are you doing here bothering us," Renne grumbled.
"Bothering you, obviously," Juna replied nonchalantly.
...If these two were left alone, the conversation wouldn't move an inch aside from trading insults with one another.
"Um... yesterday, we were pulling all-nighters for finishing the device. The others said no, but we insisted. Since everything's only finished just now, we only have time to get breakfast before we go back and test them. Hopefully, everything goes well and we can present it this afternoon and finish manufacturing it on a small scale tomorrow."
As Tita said that, the ramen stall owner came and gave Juna the bowl of ramen she had ordered. It reminded her that she hadn't finished eating yet. So, using the new spoon and fork, she ate the food.
"That's amazing!" Juna said once she gulped down the food. Seeing her skillfully using a chopstick made Tita feel a little down...
"So, what about you?" Renne asked Juna again. But this, either because her question was already answered or because she was eating, Juna answered.
"I just finished training in East Crossbell Highway. On the way back, the red buildings in East Street remind me of the red on Ozelle's ramen bowl, so my hungry self came here!" Juna exclaimed in cheer.
"What a simple answer from a simpleton. I shouldn't have asked."
"Re-Renne!"
"It's fine, it's fine. Exchanging verbal blows with Renne is fun, Tita," Juna, for some reason, defended Renne. As Tita thought... their relationship was very complicated despite their short history of knowing each other. "Anyway, Renne. Are you still keeping up with Ouroboros?"
Renne furrowed her eyebrows. "No. You do know that I am now officially Renne Bright, right? You think Estelle would ever let me back to the snake den?"
Juna shrugged. "I mean, I asked you if you're still keeping up with them, not still with them. You're a hacker; for all I know, you could've hacked them or something to keep up with the news."
Renne hummed. "No. I learned hacking from them. Anything I can do, they can do better. Why did you ask, anyway?"
Slurping her noodle, Juna said without any tension. "Lloyd saw two suspicious figures near the Rosenberg Mansion. We thought it's probably Ouroboros members, so I wanna ask if you know anything about it."
Renne coughed in surprise.
"Cough cough... what? Who? When?"
"Green hair in a magenta suit and a blonde old man in a lab coat is what Lloyd used to describe them," Juna answered. "A week ago before you came here. You know anything?"
"The professor and Campanella..."
Ah, Tita remembered the name Campanella. Agate fought him before and lost. To think he was here now... and near a terrorist attack, too.
"Do you think it's connected to the terrorist attack?" Tita voiced her concern to Juna.
"Could be. I need more information before I can get anything. That's why I asked Renne in the first place," Juna answered.
The girl in question only looked down at her empty bowl.
"Renne?" Tita tried to get her attention.
"No, it's nothing. I didn't keep up with them anymore, Juna. Sorry, I can't answer your question," the purple-haired girl finished with a sigh.
Juna stared at Renne before shrugging and continue eating the ramen. The silence between them was awkward. Before Tita could break it, Juna started speaking.
"I wonder what kind of Sept-Terrion Crossbell have."
This time, it was Tita who coughed because the food had entered the wrong pipe. Sept-Terrion?! Crossbell's? Tita was caught off-guard by Juna's random statement.
"Y-You!" Renne said in quiet anger.
"Hm? What's wrong? Isn't it easy to conclude that Ouroboros targets the Sept-Terrion based on their action in Liberl? If they're here, it means they're targeting Crossbell's, right?" Juna slurped another mouthful of noodles without any care.
That somewhat made sense to Tita. It jumped over a lot of things, but according to Estelle and Joshua, that was how Juna did things. And... if it made sense for her, it should make sense for someone as smart as Renne. She glanced at her friend.
Renne's hand formed a fist.
"Renne..." She quietly put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it softly. Tita might not be as close to Renne as Estelle and Joshua, but she was close. Her friend was probably worried about her family. Not the Bright, but her real original family here in Crossbell.
"Anyway, thanks for the confirmation about those two Ouroboros guys. I still have a few hours before I need to go to the guild. I think I'm gonna check the library to look up anything about Sept-Terrion."
Once Juna left, Tita scooted closer to the purple-haired girl, who still looked down, holding back all her emotions. "It's okay, Renne. It's going to be okay."
"..." Renne looked up to her. "Tita?"
"Yes?"
"Do you think Estelle and Joshua would let me stay here for a while?" Renne asked her.
Tita smiled, reassuring her. "Of course they will. They love you, just like you still love your family."
Renne let out a small laugh. "Haha, so you saw through me..."
Tita enveloped her in a hug. "Because I'm your friend. Now, how about we go back to the lab? Chief Roberts is waiting for us."
"...Yes. Thank you, Tita."
"Ehehe... you're welcome, Renne."
1204/08/28 12:00
Crossbell City, Crossbell
"Afternoon, Michel, Agate."
The door was opened by a sight that was now becoming more familiar to Agate, of one Juna Crawford visiting the guild.
"Afternoon, Juna."
"Afternoon."
The two replied to the girl.
"By the way, Agate. I met Tita and Renne on the Harbor District. I'm surprised you let them stay the night in the lab."
"They what?!" Agate roared in surprise.
"Calm down, Agate."
"Yeah, Tita said she and Renne forced the issue because they're about to finish the prototype," Juna elaborated to calm the red-haired man down.
"...I see..." Agate sighed. "Tita is being hard on herself as usual. And it doesn't help that Renne was there to encourage her."
"Anyway, you're waiting for the call from Miles, right?" Michel changed the subject.
"Yes. He promised to connect me with the students from the military academy who foiled the terrorist plot last month. Apparently, they will be visiting the city Miles is assigned to. What's the name again? Legam? Legarm?" the pink-haired girl questioned Michel.
"It's Legram," Michel answered.
"Ah, right, Legram! I'll ask Wenzel about Erebonia in detail when he's free. The military academy students will be visiting Legram today, so I'm waiting for the call."
Michel laughed. "I see, I see..."
"What would you talk with them?" Agate asked. "Are you going to..."
Juna nodded at the implication. "Somewhat. I'm going to try getting some more facts about them to see if I can get some new information."
The door was opened, and Aeolia and Lynn entered the guild. "Good afternoon, Michel! The request for gathering Beast Flesh is completed," the lilac-haired bracer greeted him.
"Oh, Juna and Agate are here too."
"Afternoon, Aeolia, Lynn. Let me confirm the requests." As Michel took a pen and was about to check the contents of the bag on Lynn's arm, the orbital phone rang. "Ah, Juna, it's probably Miles. You can take it."
"Sure!" Juna ran towards the phone and picked it up. "Crossbell branch Bracer Guild; I speak for Michel."
1204/08/28 12:00
Legram, Erebonia
Rean Schwarzer and the other Class VII members assigned as Group A (which consisted of Jusis, Emma, Gaius, Laura, and Millium) were inside the Legram branch of the Bracer Guild. Klaus had said that the one assigning their task for the field study was professional themselves, and it turned out that it was Toval, the bracer who helped them back in Bareahard. After some pleasantries, Toval handed them their assignment.
"...Let me give those to you now."
As Rean and the rest of them perused the envelope, Toval clicked his finger.
"Ah! I forgot. Miles told me that someone from the guild wants to talk to you. Let me call them."
Toval then pressed some buttons on the orbal telephone before he spoke. "Hello. ...Ah, is Michel busy? Miles isn't here, so I'm subbing for him. I see. Okay, yeah, Miles told me that someone from the Crossbell branch wants to talk with the group from Thors Military Academy about something important. They're already here."
Everyone from Class VII looked at each other in confusion. A guild member from Crossbell? What do they want with them?
"Oh, that's you?" Toval laughed. "So you've been waiting for them, huh? Alright, alright, I won't take more of your time."
He then handed the phone handle to them. "Here it is. Who's gonna take it?"
For some reason, everyone looked at Rean.
"...I feel like you guys are singling me out," he sighed before turning to Laura. This was her hometown; why did he have to be the one taking it? Nonetheless, Rean took the handle from Toval's side and raised it to his ear.
"Hello, you're speaking to Rean Schwarzer, Class VII of Thors Military Academy. To whom am I speaking?"
Rean heard a soft, melodic hum coming from the other side. "Hmm... well, to not undermine the SSS's effort to conceal me, I might as well use an alias. Alright, you can call me the SSS's Informant."
What exactly was an SSS? Rean wanted to ask but held back. So he was dealing with more mysterious figures, huh? His mind went back to the encounter in the sewer last month. C...
"Nice to meet you, SSS's Informant," Rean said before he winced. His tone might have been a little sarcastic. He hoped the other side wouldn't catch it.
"Ahaha..." Rean heard a sheepish laughter from the other side. Well, it confirmed that this figure, the SSS informant, was a woman, then. "Sorry, but it'd be easy to trace if I used a single-letter alias. Wouldn't want the Intelligence Division to catch me after the SSS's effort."
She said that. As if it was that easy to open the veil of identities for those terrorists. C, S, and V...
"So, what do you want to talk about, Miss SSS's Informant?" To reach out to them meant that they knew something. But far away in Crossbell? What would they want to talk about?
"Before that, let me confirm some things. You can elaborate if my assumption is wrong. First, are you a student of a military academy? I know you are, but I just want to confirm some of my assumptions."
Rean didn't understand why she had to ask this question if she already knew the answer. Confirming her assumptions? Even so, Rean still answered. "Yes. I am from Thors Military Academy."
He heard some scribbles from the other side before SSS's Informant posed her next question. "Okay, next, are you a part of a special group or club in your school where you have to do something different from the normal students?"
"Yes," Rean answered the second question before he elaborated. "I am part of Class VII of Thors Military Academy."
He wanted to say more, but he remembered that the woman on the other side was from another country.
"Alright. Next, I heard from Miles that some students from your school helped foil some terrorist plot to kidnap the princess last month. ...Am I correct to assume that it's your group, the Class VII, who did it?"
"...Yes," Rean answered hesitantly. Nobody should know the details about the plot, considering that the Imperial Chronicle only said that Alfin was placed in great danger. Rean looked at Toval. He assumed the guild must have found out about it and told her.
The others seemed to sense his hesitation because they sent him concerned looks.
"Hmm, from your tone... it's you, isn't it?"
Rean felt his stomach drop.
"Did you hear about it from someone?"
He heard another laughter from the call. However, there was no malice, just amusement. "Sorry for worrying you, but I really have not heard it from anyone else. In fact, it's my specialty: using whatever information is available to predict something. And my gut feeling tells me that it's you."
He unconsciously let out a sigh of relief. Maybe she also predicted the truth about the kidnapping incident by just reading the Imperial Chronicle. "Is that all?" He really didn't want to deal with this informant character. One mysterious figure was enough.
"No, there's more, unfortunately for you." Rean grimaced at her answer. "Let me guess... you've foiled a plot of the terrorists to kidnap the princess last month. ...May I know if it is your first time meeting them or not?"
Rean eyed Gaius. The first meeting between him and Gideon from the ILF was actually in Gaius' homeland, Nord. He and the others from Class VII had to face a spider monster summoned by Gideon in one of the big caves in Nord.
"No, that was not my first time," Rean decided to answer but not elaborate more.
"As I thought..." Rean heard the woman sigh. "May I know what their objectives were in your previous meetings?"
Their objective... "I gather that you're trying to get more information to predict something? Otherwise, you wouldn't ask those questions. However, I need to know something else before I answer: what is your objective?"
"Well, if I weren't told to keep my mouth shut, I'd happily inform you. Alas, the higher-ups want to keep a tight lip on this matter..." She really did sound disappointed by what she was commanded. "But hey, don't worry. It's not something dangerous for Erebonia at all. In fact, I'm probably helping you Erebonians indirectly."
Rean bit his lip. Should he trust her? Looking at his classmates, who were full of concern, Rean finally made a decision.
"I'm sorry, but I need to discuss this with my classmates first. Is it okay?"
"Yep, yep." SSS's informant laughed again. Strangely, he heard a fondness behind her laugh. "You and him really resemble one another. I'll call again in ten minutes."
Him? Who? Rean wanted to ask, but he returned the handle to Toval after the other side ended the call.
"Who was it, Rean?"
"She does not want to be named," Rean answered Laura's question. "She uses 'SSS's Informant' as an alias. She's inquiring about our exploit against the ILF."
"Against the ILF?" Jusis frowned.
"Last month?" Emma questioned.
"Or was it the one in Nord?"
"Back in June, huh...?" Gaius mentioned. It was his homeland, after all.
"Millium is correct. She wanted to know about our previous clash with them. The thing is, she said that she is predicting the future using the information available, so she wants to know about our meeting with the ILF. I asked her for the reason, but she said her superior forbids her to talk."
"Predicting the future?" Laura hummed. "That sounds impossible."
"Yeah..." Emma followed. Though there was a strange inflection to her words.
"Oh, hey, that sounds similar to what Lechter does!" Millium chimed in. "Is she also from the Intelligence Division?"
"No, Millium," Jusis sighed. "Toval clearly said they're someone from the Crossbell's Bracer Guild before."
"Whoa! Someone like Lechter is there in Crossbell? Oh yeah, aren't Lechter in Crossbell right now? I wonder if they would meet..." Millium trailed off as she put her hands behind her head.
Like Lechter? Rean shook his head.
"In any case, what do you guys think? Should we trust her and tell her about our encounter?"
Everyone fell silent at Rean's question. Should Class VII trust this mysterious figure?
Laura was the first one to voice out her answer. "We need to know more about this mysterious figure first. Toval, did Miles tell you more about her?"
"Nope," Toval shook his head. "Miles did say that she's trustworthy, and the reason for his absence today is partially because of what she had done, I think. But that is his stance as a guild member. You guys are not Miles nor guild members. You are military academy students. You need to find your own answer."
As his friends discussed what they should do, Rean closed his eyes. There was no malice the entire time he talked with SSS's Informant. Why did she ask about the terrorist? Did she know about them? She said she was predicting the future. Did they know about the terrorist's next move?
"...how about it, Rean?"
His musing was broken when Emma questioned him. "I'm sorry?"
"Gaius, Laura, and I chose to tell SSS's Informant. Jusis and Millium chose not to do it."
"Trusting someone without them extending their trust to us is too one-sided," Jusis harrumphed.
"I'm a member of the Intelligence Division. I don't condone sharing information with another nation," Millium shrugged.
"What about you?" Laura asked him. "If you follow Jusis and Millium, then we're at an impasse. We need to find another method to break the deadlock. Hmm, maybe a duel would suffice..."
It was very Laura to settle disputes via duels. Rean smiled at her blue-haired noble friend.
"That sounds fun!" Millium raised her arm. "Fighting to defend your conviction is cool!" And, of course, the childlike Millium wanted to have fun, even if it was fighting against her classmate. Trust her to be cheerful in any situation.
"U-Um, do we have to fight?" Emma raised a question in panic.
But honestly, Rean wouldn't have his classmates any other way.
"Er, everyone. There's no need for that," Rean calmed everyone. "I think I want to try extending my trust to her. We might be strangers, but I have a feeling that, like us, she's interested in the ILF. Who knows, we'll have the chance to fight together in the future."
"Rean..."
"Of course."
Emma looked at him while Laura nodded.
"Hmph, as I expected you'd trust her," Jusis scoffed before he smiled. "But I guess you wouldn't be you without doing things like that."
"Ahaha, Rean is Rean, I guess," Millium grinned.
"I'll support whatever decision will be," Gaius said to him.
Rean nodded at everyone's encouragement. He turned to Toval. "Toval, can you call her again? I'm ready to continue."
"No need. It's almost-" the phone rang, cutting Toval's words off. "Legram branch Bracer Guild, Toval Randonneur, registration id 020240001. ...That's how you do it, girlie."
Toval laughed.
"Anyway, here he is," he handed the handle to Rean.
"You're speaking to Rean Schwarzer, Class VII of Thors Military Academy," Rean started.
"Hello, Rean. Have you decided, then?" The same melodic voice from before asked him straight to the point.
"Yes," Rean answered firmly. "I'll tell you about our encounter."
And so Rean told the mysterious SSS's Informant about Class VII's clash with Gideon from the ILF in Nord. How they tried to attack the watchtower near the border with Calvard and almost incited war. How they had found out the real culprit and chased them through the caves. Then, Rean also told her about the encounter in Heimdallr, the kidnapping of the princess, and how Class VII thwarted them again.
"That's a lot of detailed information," the voice mentioned. Of course. Rean had to write reports on them as part of the Field Study's curriculum. There was no way he wouldn't have detailed summaries of his own experience. "Thank you, Rean Schwarzer."
"You're welcome. I hope this will help you."
Rean heard a sigh from the other side. "They really are built different, huh... anyway, I want to thank you, is that okay? But you have to give me information about your special thingy that made you visit Legram."
Should he? Well, Class VII's journey through the country on field studies was already known all over. At least there were no state secrets involved.
"...okay. So, my class, Class VII, has a special curriculum where we visit places all around the country and complete requests from the local population. It's called Field Study."
"...That sounds like a Bracer's job."
"Because it is," Rean sighed. Even someone from another country noticed it.
"...hold on. Why would a military academy imitate the guild's way of doing things? Isn't your Chancellor the one who drove away the guild in the first place?" ...She was really sharp. Rean really couldn't let his guard down."Hmmm... is someone in the school board trying to oppose the chancellor politically?"
Rean had to hold back a sharp intake of his breath lest he'd give away his surprise. Just last month, Class VII patron and founder Prince Olivert had just told them about part of the reason why he brought the concept of Class VII to the forefront. One of them was for them to 'act independently' in this turbulent time.
"...did I hit the nail again? Damn... sorry..." Somehow, Rean felt that she didn't feel sorry at all. "Anyway, you wanna continue?"
"R-Right..." By now, the others looked at him in concern again. Sorry, guys... "For the next five days? Today is August 28, and we're doing some requests in Legram for today and tomorrow. After that, we'll head to Garrelia Fortress on 31 for the second half of the Field Study."
"...Where is Garrelia Fortress again?" Rean heard small whispers from the other side. So she wasn't alone. "...I see... Hmm..." Rean heard more scribbles on the phone before SSS's Informant was back.
"Okay, is there anything else?"
"No," Rean answered. "Garrelia Fortress is the last part of our Field Study."
"Right. Wait a minute..." Rean waited. After two minutes, the voice came back. "Prepare yourselves. Is there a big landmark in Legram? Caves, underground tunnels, or big forest?"
One thing came to Rean's mind. "The Lohengrin Castle."
"A castle... perhaps it has some mystical legend associated with it?" Rean's mind went back to the small talk they made when they arrived in Legram a few hours ago.
"My friend might know more about it. Wait," Rean said, then turned to Laura. "Laura, can you confirm if there are mystical legends about Lohengrin Castle?"
"Mystical legend... well, it is famous for being the base of St. Sandlot back in the War of the Lions. Because of that, lots of people begin to revere it," Laura answered. "There are countless grandma sayings about the castle. It will kidnap you. It's filled with otherworldly beings that will eat you. Mostly just what the older generation used to curb children's curiosity."
"Right. You did say your family took the task of maintaining the castle on your shoulder," Gaius commented.
"Alright, thank you," Rean nodded before coming back to the phone. "According to my friend, yes, there are, but mostly to prevent children from going there."
"...Are you really kidding me?"
Huh? Why did she sound really angry all of a sudden? Was it something he said?
"Listen, Rean. This one is a freebie because it's too easy. Some children will be lost inside the castle either today or tomorrow," Rean heard a sigh.
"Huh? Then we need to-"
"I leave it to you about what to do. I just want to thank you for giving me the previous information," she cut him off."Now, for the real one... Listen. This might sound crazy, but if I say that on the 31st, the terrorists will attack the fortress, would you believe me?"
Rean frowned at the question. Garelia Fortress? Being attacked? "I can't say I believe you."
"Well, it's up to you to do whatever you want."
"But since you go your way to predict things for me, I'll take it under consideration. Thank you."
"...Ugh, people like you really are the worst at doing that. Anyway, thank you for the information. Maybe we can exchange more in the future. See you."
And the phone call ended.
"What's wrong, Rean?" Laura asked him when she saw he hadn't moved from the spot after the call ended. "You looked dire."
What would be the correct decision here? Should he tell them about the two predictions SSS's Informant made?
Toval patted him on the shoulder. "Come on, you've been deciding things as a united front. Why wouldn't you be one now?"
Rean turned and saw his grin. Right. Toval was correct. Class VII had always been moving as a group. This time was no exception.
"Alright, so SSS's Informant gave me two predictions as a gratitude. It would be up to us to do anything about it."
Rean exhaled.
"First, she said that today or tomorrow, children will be lost inside the castle," he said mainly to Laura, who furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "I think this is easy enough to prevent with Laura here. You need to gather all the children and tell everyone to not do it."
"Right, everyone in this town looks up to Laura so much," Emma nodded. "I can see them not wanting to disappoint Laura."
"Very well. We'll do it sometime today," Laura nodded with a conviction.
"What's the next thing she said?" Jusis, who noticed Rean's wording, asked him to continue.
Rean closed his eyes and bit his lip. "It concerned our second half of field study in Garrelia Fortress. She said that there is a chance that the ILF will attack Garrelia Fortress."
There were various gasps of shock at what Rean revealed.
"That's too big of a prediction," Gaius commented.
"Oh, definitely, nobody would believe us!" Millium responded with a cheer.
Rean nodded. "Yes. Which is why I don't know if we can do anything except to prepare ourselves."
"You guys should definitely tell Sara. She's a former Bracer, so if you said this SSS's Informant uses Crossbell branch to contact you, she'd be inclined to believe you more than she wouldn't," Toval advised.
"I see..." Bracers were weird. They were willing to trust people on the other side of Zemuria just because they came from the same organization. But at the same time, that also meant that the faith they had in their institution was unshakeable. Maybe, in the future...
Rean shook his head from any overarching imagination.
"Okay, everyone. Let's start with our first request. Toval. Thanks for the call."
"Don't mention it!"
And so Class VII moved to fulfill their requests.
1204/08/28 12:30
Crossbell City, Crossbell
Once Juna closed the call, Agate couldn't help but question one thing Juna said to the students from the Empire.
"Oi, Juna... did you just say that the terrorists would attack them?"
Juna didn't reply.
"Juna?" Even Michel now called out to her, looking concerned.
She ignored him. Juna's eyes never strayed from the notes she had been taking.
After two minutes, Juna snapped her head and looked around. "Lynn! Are you free? Can you escort me to Bellguard Gate?!" She asked in a hurry.
"Sure. But why?"
"Then let's go!" Juna dragged the older woman to the exit.
Agate and Michel looked at each other before Michel nudged him to go with them.
"Oi, wait. Let me help. I haven't been there before, but I sure can pitch in if monsters jumped you," Agate walked towards them.
"Thank you."
There were no smiles on Juna's face. Agate had only known her for a short time, but it was very unlike Juna to not smile at anything and anyone. What was happening?
1204/08/28 13:00
Bellguard Gate, Crossbell
The three consisted of Agate, Lynn, and Juna, rushed towards the Bellguard Gate. On their way, they defeated a lot of monsters because Juna was too hurried to sneak around them.
They arrived in front of the gate. Juna quickly turned to Lynn.
"Can we go to the rooftop or whatever it's called?"
"Yes, we can. Let me talk with the commander first."
Juna clicked her tongue at Lynn's reply, so Agate gestured to Lynn to go talk to the relevant people while he engaged Juna in a talk.
"So, talk to me, Juna. What got you up in a tizzy?"
The pink-haired junior probably needed that because she quickly turned to Agate and nodded. "Remember when I said that the terrorists will attack Garrelia Fortress?"
"Yeah, that's what I questioned you before," Agate pointed out. What do you mean by that?"
"They will definitely attack. I can't say how or why, but they will, just like I know they will attack the conference. With me so far?" Juna let him digest the information.
Agate bit his lip. "Alright. Let's say that what you said will come true. What do you need here in Bellguard gate?"
"I have something I need to see with my own eyes to confirm my hunch. Hopefully, I'm wrong. I really, really want to be wrong this time. However, I'm correct instead..."
Juna trailed off, leaving her words hanging. Just then, Lynn was back with a blue-haired woman.
"This is Commander Baelz. You've met with her, right? She quickly put aside her things when I mentioned you want to go to the rooftop," Lynn said.
"Sergei asked it of me once before," was her curt reply.
"Alright, thank you! Let's go!"
"Wait, slow down, Juna!"
The younger girl ignored Lynn's warning as she dashed to the stairs.
The others, including Agate, followed, though with a more sedate pace.
Once they arrived on the rooftop, they saw Juna observing Garrelia Fortress. Agate himself couldn't help but be impressed. It was huge. It was bigger than any fortress in Liberl. The only points of entry were the highway and the railway, which came from the Erebonian side. Everything else was covered with a combination of natural earthen walls and modified steel.
"Juna?" Lynn called out, cutting Agate's thought.
The girl fell to her knees.
"So that's how it is..." her voice conveyed a sign of frustration and helplessness.
"I don't understand..." Lynn wondered aloud, trying to get Juna's attention.
"Tell me, Commander... what are those two metal panels hiding behind them?" Juna asked the commander.
"...cannons..." Commander Baelz answered hesitantly. "Cannons strong enough to destroy Crossbell."
Cannons... the terrorists attacking Garrelia Fortress... combined with Juna not liking the situation...
Agate wasn't the brightest person in the room, considering his background. But even so, his experience told him one conclusion.
"Oi, Juna! Don't tell me-"
"Yes." Juna cut him off with a dry tone. "We've been had. We were too focused on the possible attack at the conference, so we didn't consider any other angle of attack."
"What do you..." Lynn still didn't get it, but even she slowly got the clue. "Oh, Aidios..."
"The terrorists would launch a two-pronged attack. One team targeted the trade conference, and another targeted Garrelia Fortress. The reason? To take control of the weapon and aim it at the biggest landmark in town: Orchis Tower."
A/N: Hello and welcome to the latest chapter of the Azure/CS1 arc of Junior Bracer. Wait, did I say CS1? Hell yeah! The Rean part actually has been finished since December, and it's a big part of why I want to continue the Azure arc. So we can finally get to this chapter! It's a long six month journey since I wrote the Rean part and start preparing things from there. Could this be better? Definitely. Am I satisfied? Yes, yes I am. I hope you all are satisfied too.
Oh yeah, remember the thing Lloyd forgot last chapter? That was him reminding Juna to not look up Ouroboros. Thank Aidios he didn't because now Renne is considering doing something. Still, it's not like Juna would find anything about Sept-Terrion in the library. Everything about them should've been erased from the normal civilian publication. But wait until she realized she knew a member of the secret order of the church. As for how she came to the correct conclusion without any misunderstanding this time, well, it's simply because this is the main plot of a JRPG story. Something like that is easy to guess. She got the ILF target wrong because she's working on limited information and can't really draw conclusion that something called Imperial Liberation Front is not targetting the royal family, but actually the commoner Chancellor.
If you look and see the call between Juna and Rean, Juna actually tried to establish a mysterious character as the SSS's Informant but Juna being Juna she quickly went careless and the real Juna came out. Must be one confusing character for the Cold Steel-newbie players. Also yes, the entire chapter is not shown in the Xanaduverse!Azure so when Rean got a phone call in chapter 5 of CS1 the old-timers are gonna 'Holy shit it's Juna!' to the confusion of the newbies.
Anyway, I cheated by ending the chapter in the same cliffhanger as chapter 34, but well, this entire chapter isn't shown to the players so Juna can pull it once more without any consequence. What would happen next to Crossbell? What would Juna do? What about the SSS? Find out next in Trails of a Junior Bracer in Crossbell and Erebonia!