The Swords had let go of Alain and Marika in a rather anticlimactic manner. They had been pushed out off the warehouse door and when they opened it again, they found that everyone had vanished into thin air.

The two stayed silent about the details of each other's missions, especially knowing that the mysterious organization had eyes and ears everywhere. But Marika looked visibly pleased as she managed to get the documents required to enter the expedition with Alain.

Alain and Marika then split off when they took the elevator down to the second floor as Alain needed to pack his belongings in his apartment that was located near the farming district, whereas most of Marika’s things were still on Rostav’s house on the first floor. They needed to pack everything to prepare for the expedition.

While the expedition itself wasn’t until the day after tomorrow, they had to be briefed of their roles and the flow of the expedition come morning. Alain returned to his apartment alone for the first time in a while and slumped down on the bed like a lazy Kashik. He leaned on his bed to gaze at the sword-ax covered in leather that was given to him by the Swords.

I have decided to call it Starheart. Alain said in his mind after pondering for a few minutes. It was rather silly, but Alain knew most of the powerful weapons wielded by famous Giantslayers and Shields’ generals were named, presumably to bring good luck and glory but some also believe naming them would give the weapons their own souls to help the wielders' in combat. Alain did not believe such a thing, but it was not an exaggeration to say that he fell in love with the flaming sword-ax when he saw it for the first time.

A sword-ax capable of being engulfed in flames, created by fallen sky rocks. With this, my strength will increase exponentially. Alain thought.

Alain reasoned that the Swords had three things: possible information on the whereabouts of the Elder Giant he's hunting, information about what happened to Cradle, his childhood home outside of this region, and guidance by some of the most elusive yet powerful people in The Sanctuary. He did not know if he was selling his soul into this shady organization, but if it meant gaining more skills and abilities than the average Giantslayer, then he was willing to take the chance.

Before he fell asleep, Alain remembered something and wrote a letter addressed to someone and put it in his luggage. He then fell asleep feeling itching to try out Starheart, as well as thinking about what would happen during the expedition. His mind was so preoccupied with such thoughts that no nightmares invaded his sleep this time.

Alain had woken up quite early in the morning and he could hear there was already commotion outside of his apartment. Shouts and murmurs of crowds could be heard even inside the room where he was. He put on some clothing and opened the door to his apartment, which was located in a window railing that provided a view of the second floor from high above.

Rows and rows of carts were jamming up the elevator, and more were coming from the third floor. They seemed to be supply carts that would be loaded into the actual expedition carriages. Giantslayers and Shield soldiers were also already trying to reach the first floor. Alain saw that the giant staircase was now opened due to the elevator being overcrowded.

“Fuck. I guess I’ll have to leave now,” Alain wore his bone armor and put his new sword-ax on his back, still covered in leather hiding it for now until he would encounter combat. He also brought one suitcase with the rest of his equipment and supplies. He left his apartment hurriedly and pushed through the crowd of people in this suburban residential area that was trying to see the expedition being set up on the first floor.

“Good luck, Giantslayer!” An old man suddenly said to Alain as he was passing by.

“You’re our hope!” A woman said to him.

The atmosphere was joyous. in contrast with the violent protest that was happening yesterday. Alain only nodded awkwardly at those people and used the giant staircase into the first floor. People’s eyes were glistening with hope, this expedition would bring wealth once more to the declining economy. Nectars were used for too many things, from Giantslaying to powering the factories and a shortage of it would spell disaster for the settlement. It was as valuable as freshwater but extremely rarer.

As he was descending down, he saw that the entire main street that stretched from the gate up to the elevator near the staircase had been closed down in favor of setting up the expedition. Giant carriages with impressive wheels were lining up, each carrying different supplies. The roads next to the main street were now used as temporary camps and stations for the Giantslayers and Shield soldiers who would leave for the expedition tomorrow. Setting up the expedition outside was too dangerous so taking up all this space could not be helped.

Alain reached the first floor and he was greeted by a Giantslayer who was guarding people coming down.

“Good morning, are you part of the expedition?” The Giantslayer asked.

“Yes I am, here’s my document,” Alain gave him pieces of paper that would state where was stationed.

“I see, you are with the ‘Communications’ team. You are stationed at the very back of the expedition, so just go up the road for a short distance, and take the very first turn right,” The Giantslayer replied.

Alain nodded and continued his path. As he passed the street in front of the elevator, he also saw Black Moon, Commander Tojido's prized black greatsword stuck on the ground. Crowds of people were gazing at it but the Shields guarding it was preventing them from touching it directly. The greatsword was now the symbol of the expedition and a promise of their return.

To say the first floor was crowded was the understatement of the year, it seemed as if the entire population of The Sanctuary was down on the first floor. Some people were even sitting on rooftops waving at the expedition team below. Musical instruments and singing could also be heard everywhere. The song lyrics wished the mighty Giantslayers the best of luck on their journey or told tales of successful past expeditions.

It seemed almost like a festival, only grander in scale. Although the expedition would not leave until early in the morning tomorrow, the people waited patiently and would probably accompany the explorers until they left the gates. Not a small number of civilians also signed up as volunteers that would help pack the supplies into the giant carriages or cook delicious meals for one last time before they leave.

Families and loved ones of the expedition members were also here. Everyone did not know if the expedition would even make it back here with nectars, nevermind alive, so it was as if some people were saying their final goodbyes to their families. Although tears were not yet shed, that would wait until tomorrow.

Alain finally reached the line of people that were queueing up to report themselves as being part of the communications team. Surprisingly enough, he found himself lining up directly behind three people he recognized The three of them were talking merrily with one another when one of them noticed his approach.

“Alain! We’re on the same team!” A male figure with long hair called out to Alain. It was Jon, one of his teammates in the practical exam a few days ago. He was carrying a glaive on his back. The one directly behind him was also another teammate of his.

“Alain, I did not expect you in this team…” Lasik, a young woman with curly hair and a homely face. She was carrying a bow and a quiver of arrows on her back, indicating her specialty. She also brought down the Rakus with Alain, Jon, and Guru Bram at the start of the week.

“Lasik?” Alain tilted his head. “I thought you were going to get supplementary archery lessons with one of the Gurus, why are you here?” He asked.

“That is…” Lasik twirled her hair. Her face showed hesitation to answer, “I decided to just get some real-life battle experience in the expedition instead of just shooting at dummies in the academy grounds, so I asked for special permission from the academy and they let me in,"

“Hey! Don’t ignore me!” Jon hit Alain’s shoulder to remind him of his presence.

“And why are you here?” Alain turned to Jon and asked in a visibly annoyed tone.

“Rude!” Jon slumped down his shoulder and his face showed resignation, “Uncle Bram told me to join the expedition and serve the Sanctuary instead of spending the summer break drinking at the tavern. This sucks….But also, introduce yourself to her!” Jon pointed at the third person who they were talking to.

“Hey, nice to meet you! My name is Marika Greenleaf,” She said with a cheeky smile and offering her hand.

I see. I guess we’ll have to hide that we knew each other before. Alain thought as he noticed Marika pretended to meet Alain for the first time.

“Alain,” He replied shortly and took her handshake with a smile.

Lasik and Jon blinked multiple times in confusion as they saw his friendly smirk at Marika.

“Bro...did you just...smile? Have you finally fallen in love with someone, and at first sight too?” Jon said.

Alain frowned and let go of the handshake right away. Marika chuckled in response.

“Shut up, so what do we have to do now?” Alain said sternly.

“We just wait to register ourselves,” Lasik replied.

“You know, I heard about it from my uncle that our team is quite special. They say that we can still communicate with The Sanctuary even in the middle of our expedition using the device we are escorting. That means that we can ask for emergency backups or when we find the new nectar reserve, we can let The Sanctuary know we are coming back,” Jon said enthusiastically.

Malaina did say something like that, but I can hardly imagine how you would communicate long distances like that. Alain thought.

“It’s our turn,” Marika interrupted the conversation as they found themselves to be in front of the lines.

The four of them presented their documents again and in another turn of fate, they were all placed on the same team. Alain noticed that even within one team, there were multiple divisions.

The expedition had rented out shop buildings near the main street to serve as temporary briefing stations for the explorers. The four of them found themselves sitting in a rather spacious restaurant whose seats had been arranged in such a way that people were the audience and the woman at the end of the room was the performer. Including the four of them, there were more than a dozen people sitting next to them. Some looked to be Giantslayers while some wore long white robes unfit for combat. There were also some Shields guarding each corner of the room.

The woman at the front who looked to be in charge was completely bald, something quite striking but many people would still call her attractive. She wore a uniform everyone recognized to be the standard uniform for the Shields when they were not in combat wearing their armor. The uniform was completely white with some insignia and patches on it.

“Greetings cadets,” The bald woman said with a powerful voice. “I am Striker Liv of the Sanctuary’s Shields. I am one of the team leaders for the communications team that you are in and the leader for your division,” She said.

“Is ‘striker’ her first name?” Marika whispered to Alain sitting next to her,

“No, that’s her rank. I don’t remember the entire order, but she’s a senior officer.” Alain replied.

Marika nodded and continued listening to her speech.

“Before I explain to you the role of our communications team and your division specifically, I will now tell you about the overall goal and makeup of this expedition.” Striker Liv pointed at something behind her. The room suddenly fell dark and a square image was cast on the wall.

Alain turned and saw Marika’s eyes widened in surprise.

“You don’t have projectors in your country?” He asked.

Marika shook her head.

“That projector would project anything placed on that device that’s powered by nectar.” Alain pointed at a cube-shaped device in front of Striker Liv. “Our university is quite advanced I must say. They have replicated a lot of things from the ancient past before the final curse. The ancient humans who lived in this old building that make up The Sanctuary seem to be quite studious, you see, they have a lot of books left behind.” He explained.

“That explains why I’ve seen a lot of things we don't have back in The Domain. A lot of nobles are not really interested in advancing our society, they want to keep the current status quo. They are content in following the feudal nobility system that worked so well in the ancient past.” Marika replied.

A Shield soldier who was guarding the room approached them. “You two, stay quiet and listen!” He said.

Alain and Marika only nodded awkwardly and continued listening in silence. Jon who sat next to them chuckled as he saw what happened, although he did not hear their conversation.

“—that’s why we must do everything we can to find more nectar reserves,” Striker Liv continued her speech. “Here is the current makeup of the expedition.” She pointed at the projected screen that was now showing the following things in order:

Scouting Team. Aim: to scout ahead of the expedition carriages to survey the lands for any signs of nectars and preemptively annihilate any threats ahead of the expedition. Number: 10 elite Giantslayers, 8 elite Shields. Total: 18. Brains and Brawns Team. Aim: to escort the commanders of the expedition and some of the most elite Giantslayers from the guild and Shields. Number: 5 commanders, 50 elite Giantslayers, 50 elite Shield soldiers. Total: 105. Armament Supply Team. Aim: To carry the expedition’s supply of nectars, weapons, and equipment, as well as escort some of the non-nectar enhanced craftsmen that will create more equipment necessary for the sustainability of the expedition. This team is also responsible for transporting the empty carriages that will be used to transport nectars back into The Sanctuary. Number: 50 craftsmen, 50 Shield soldiers, 47 Giantslayers. Total: 147. Food Supply Team. Aim: To carry the expedition’s supply of food ingredients, cook the food that will be eaten by all the expedition members, as well as hunt edible giants to ensure the sustainability of our food supply. Number: 75 Giantslayers, 75 Shield soldiers. Total: 150. Research Team. Aim: to escort the non-nectar enhanced university scholars that will consist of cartographers, biologists, historians, giant experts, and so on that will study the environments and our expedition. Number: 50 scholars, 50 shield soldiers, 50 Giantslayers. Total: 150. Builder team. Aim: to construct the camps, temporary fortresses, headquarters, and other buildings that will be required during the course of the expedition. Number: 10 architects, 40 shield soldiers, 60 Giantslayers. Total: 110. Patrolling Shields. Aim: patrol the perimeter and flanks of the expedition to ensure the security of the carriages. Total: 50 Shields. Communications Team. Aim: to escort the university scholars responsible for the operation of the experimental communication device, as well as ensure the security of the communication device. Number: 10 scholars, 25 shield soldiers, 20 Giantslayers. Total: 55.

The total number of expedition members: 785.

The people in the audience gasped. It was indeed a major operation, nearly eight hundred people were on this expedition, and even some knowledgable civilians bravely joined offering their expertise.

Striker Liv continued her explanation, “We are essentially operating as a nomadic tribe, a part of The Sanctuary constantly on the move. We suspect this expedition might be a long one as we venture out into the great unknown regions outside of our own. You won’t have to know fully how we will operate, but essentially, we will occasionally make progress forward but most of the time, we may stop at certain locations and create bases while the scouting team looks for signs of nectars and the commanders mull over decisions of which direction to go next.”

Someone in the audience raised her hand, "Why do we have a relatively low number of people on our communications team?”

Striker Liv sighed. “Because this communication device had not yet been proven its effectiveness at extremely long distances because, well, we had not had the chance to construct such a thing before this. So just in case our team falls apart entirely due to the failure of the device, we can easily be integrated to any of the other teams,” She answered.

Alain looked around the room at the twenty or so people around him. He scrutinized each of them closely.

Malaina said to look out for each member and detect any suspicious activities. Alain thought. He turned to Marika to see her doing the same thing as he did. It seems that’s also part of her mission. He thought.

“Anyway,” Striker Liv coughed. “We are part of the ‘Vasgram’ division responsible for directly escorting the scholars that will operate the device. I will now invite Professor Stroma to explain how the device operates,” She nodded at one of the audience members.

A middle-aged man wearing the university uniform, which consists of a long, one-piece white leather coat that reached his ankles, stepped forward and faced the audience.

“Greetings, my name is Stroma and I am part of the scholars responsible for re-inventing this device we have named the ‘Vasgram’ that will allow us to communicate at extremely long distances between the expedition team and The Sanctuary. Please look at this diagram,” Professor Stroma turned his attention to the image currently projected on the wall.

The image was the large carriage that they would be escorting. It was made out of wood with several sets of wheels to help it move. In front of it, seats, pedals, and steers were connected to the wheels by some sort of mechanism involving chains, presumably so people could drive it. But there was something underneath it, what looked to be a giant head of a shovel.

“This shovel underneath the carriage would constantly dig out the soil beneath us as the carriage drivers cycled forward and it would automatically plant this cable,” The Professor showed them a piece of black cable that was rather thin.

“I can’t disclose what this is fully made of, but this cable would be able to send out and receive messages in the form of beeps. The cable would send out beeps that we press into the device, and the beeps will then be translated into written words, this essentially allows us to have conversations with one another over long distances.” He explained.

Alain raised his hand.

"Yes?" Professor Stroma nodded at Alain.

"So...we will have one device here at the Sanctuary and one constantly on the move with us connected by this...cable?" Alain asked.

"Precisely,"

"What about the strength of the cable? Won't it snap or be chewed on by Giants?" Alain asked again.

"Well, that's why we're burying it underground. But we also have experimented on the materials for the cable and it's very resistant to physical disruptions," The Professor replied.

Lasik raised her hand and the Professor pointed to her.

"But we're potentially going very far, right? Won't we run out of cables eventually?" She asked with a bewildered face.

"I wouldn't worry about that for a long while," Professor Stroma raised the thin cable again, "Look at how thin this is and how big our carriage is. This cable can be tangled up and packed so tightly that I think we could travel for a few months without it running out. And in the case of it running out, we also have a contingency plan for that so it's not your business to worry about that," He explained.

"And what is our business?" Alain asked.

It was Striker Liv that replied to him, "Your job is to operate the main carriage directly as the drivers and the immediate escort of the communication device. An expedition team is made up of the main carriages and smaller carriages following it as extra layers of security. Thus, you will be at the main 'Vasgram' carriage to accompany the scholars that you see sitting next to you that will operate it,"

That's quite a job, I can see why it would pose a threat if someone were to hijack the Vasgram and send messages to a compromised person inside The Sanctuary....or receive them. Alain thought.

Alain started to look around the room again to remember all the faces of people inside his team. Malaina had suspicions about whether there was a Rakus hiding inside the expedition, and he knew that giants were not necessarily the only threats they will face out there.

"Anyway, I believe it would be better if we go out and do it instead of just overloading your brains with information, so I'll end the briefing now. Don't bother getting to know your division members, for now, I want each of you to load your suitcases on our team's smaller carriages responsible for luggage transport and then help with setting up the main carriage you will be driving. Dismissed." Striker Liv waved her hand and everyone left their seats to prepare everything.

She was right as even the four of them did not have a chance to interact with one another for the rest of the day. Everyone was busy setting up all the carriages and doing final checks on the supplies. Meanwhile, the festivity raged on throughout the night as singing and dancing were had. Alain even saw many young couples in which one of the partners would go with the expedition sneak into back alleys to perform...their final goodbyes.

His division team slept quite late as the main carriage, which they have decided to just call the 'Vasgram Central', needed a lot of preparations. Alain could see that the cable left the carriage and up into the floors above. He guessed that the cable led to the high council buildings on the third floor so the communication line was secure.

And so the dawn of the new light came and everyone was on their station. Alain was picked to be one of the drivers of the carriage, he was fed some bottles of nectars so he would have enough strength to keep cycling the pedals with his feet and move the wheels of the enormous carriage. From the crowd of civilians next to the expedition line, he saw someone he familiar approaching.

"Alain!" Rostav shouted from the crowd.

"Yes! Rostav! How is Renald!?" Alain shouted loudly in order to not have his voice drowned out by the crowd.

"He's fine! He's recovering really fast! Good luck out there!"

"Thank you! Oh yeah! Give this letter to Renald! Tell him to read it!" Alain shouted and stretched his hand out and Rostav took the letter he wrote last night. The bald bearded man nodded and waved his goodbye.

Alain was quite a distance from him, but he could vaguely see tears on Rostav's face. He seemed...proud, like a father finally letting his son go after raising him for a long time. It was something Alain severely missed in his childhood, something he yearned but was deprived of.

Before he knew it, he spotted water forming in his eyes as well and he tried to keep it together but couldn't. A wave of emotions swept over the usually stoic Alain. But it was alright, he saw the surroundings and all the crowd and expedition members were all in tears with him. Mothers waved goodbye to their sons, lovers kissed deeply and let go at the last possible moment. The expedition left The Sanctuary under trails of tears with the blaze of new hope.

End of Part 1: Children of The Scorching Sun