Outside the city walls, Leona, Krieg, Phoebe and Charlotte were accompanied by a group of five soldiers, each carrying their own small barrel of gunpowder tied to their backs with ropes. One of them approached the group. It was a tanned young man wearing the Asteram uniform with two unusual curved blades sheathed by his hip, his dark eyes seemed rather confident.

“Lady Charlotte! We are ready to depart at any moment, you just need to say the word.”

“Very well.” She looked at Leona and gestured with her open hand. “My soldiers are yours to command, Princess Tactician.”

The other soldiers whispered amongst themselves.

“The Arcadian Princess?”

“What is she doing here of all places?”

“Shut it up.” The tallest one elbowed both of them. “Don’t embarrass lady Charlotte.”

Reluctantly stepping forward, Leona cleared her throat before she addressed the soldiers.

“Today, I, Leona Crossford shall be spearheading the cleanse of a kobold nest southwest of here, you valiant soldiers have been handpicked by Lady Charlotte for your combat experience which shall prove indispensable in this mission.” She clenched her right hand into a fist as she brought it closer to her chest. “Along myself, Krieg and Phoebe shall also be filling out ranks in order to tackle this endeavor. For the safety of the city and its subjects, I promise you we will carry out this operation without casualties.”

Charlotte slowly began to clap while nodding. The soldiers glanced upon each other before doing the same.

After a few minutes, they loaded their equipment and supplies in an open carriage, Leona, Krieg, Charlotte and other four soldiers boarded on the back while Phoebe and another soldier who held the reins stayed in the front to steer the wagon.

“I hope it doesn’t rain today… ugh why did we have to go out today?”

The youngest looking soldier mumbled under his breath, but a senior soldier elbowed him in the ribs. Despite the gray hair showing his age, his muscular build and square jaw made him look much younger than he was.

“We are in the presence of lady Charlotte, show some respect lad.”

“Oh it doesn’t bother me.” She replied while shaking her head. “Truth to be told, I’m glad I could choose your group for this mission, gramps.”

“It is our honor to serve you, my lady.”

He bowed his head while grabbing the young soldier beside him by the neck and lowering his head as well. Looking at the friendly chatter, Leona noticed the young soldier didn’t carry a rifle like the others and instead had a pair of scimitars on his lap.

“Might I ask-” Her curiosity got the best of her and before she knew it, she was already addressing him with a question. “-why do you carry those two blades instead of a firearm like your peers?”

He pushed the old man’s arm off his head while looking at her, clearly surprised.

“Huh? Ah, it’s because my role in this unit isn’t to hunt the enemy down. While sir Gregor here leads the charge, I keep our backs safe.”

“Hmmm…”

Leona didn’t seem convinced, but the old soldier reassured her with a big smile on his face as he slapped his comrade on the back.

“You can trust this lad, Lady Leona. If anything comes too close he’ll shred it to pieces like a hound with rabies.”

“Hey I am no dog and watch your strength old man.”

The young man managed to catch both of his scimitars before they could fall on the carriage floor as the senior soldier just laughed. Phoebe noticed the way he carried both swords and brushed Leona’s elbow with her own until she looked at her.

“We should be careful, he’s a bedouin warrior.”

“As from the Aradian empire?”

She nodded in response.

“Scimitars are only used in the southern kingdom and even then it’s rare to see someone use them in pairs.”

Leona glanced again at the young man, he seemed somewhat frail to be a warrior, yet if Phoebe said he was, it wasn’t something she could easily dismiss.

Bedouin warriors served a major role in the south conquest and creation of the empire of Aradia. Under the leadership of one man, they created a legacy that would last for centuries only to crumble down at the hands of a commander of the Arcadian royal knights.

‘Eleonora…’ Leona thought for herself. ‘Even if she was responsible for the death of their king, I can scarcely imagine what one devout warrior would do in his name.’

She could feel the tension in the air, after knowing one soldier of a kingdom that swore to destroy Arcadia was sharing the same carriage as her, it made cold sweat come down from her brow. As she was about to seek Krieg’s guidance, she couldn’t help but notice the way he was holding the longsword’s scabbard and handle on his lap as if he was ready to fight at a moment’s notice.

“Now, now.” Charlotte clapped twice and stopped Gregor from picking on the young lad. “I know this excursion of ours may be brief but how about all of you introduce yourselves to our comrade in arms here?”

“I have already been introduced but I’ll do so again.” The tall aged man placed his hand in front of his chest and bowed slightly. “My name is Gregor, lieutenant of this squad.”

The tanned young man bowed as well before introducing himself.

“Khalid, Aradian warrior.”

On the other side of the carriage, the rugged looking bald man waved to her.

“Name’s Luka, it's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Leona.”

“It is an honor to fight alongside the fabled Princess Tactician.” The soldier that was leading the reins looked over his shoulder. His voice made him seem a bit older, maybe around his fifties, but it wasn’t apparent by his looks. “My name is Percival Orlov, former servant of the Russe household.”

The last soldier that kept to themselves was hugging their rifle while trying to appear inconspicuous, but Charlotte turned everyone’s attention to them by saying.

“Come on now, don’t be shy.”

Though wearing the full Asteram uniform that consisted of high leather boots, thick dark green trousers, numerous belts, dark green coat, a black mask that covered both the mouth and nose. The feminine voice gave away her gender.

“...Cecile Braveheart. Scout and sharpshooter.”

At first no one really paid any mind to her appearance, but once Krieg saw her golden eyes it sent a chill down his spine. It felt like he was looking at Eleonora.

“Also formerly known as the scourge of the seas.” Charlotte cheerfully added. “She was the hardest member to acquire.”

“Acquire?”

Leona had a puzzled expression on her face.

“These people are the closest I consider as family. Needless to say, even family sometimes fight with each other.” She threw her arm over and around Cecile’s neck. “Ain’t it right?”

“I suppose so.”

The woman answered quietly.

“Oh Cecil, you’re no fun.” Charlotte turned once again to Leona in order to explain. “She used to be the captain of the rebels here in Astera, back when my father was still trying to establish the three guilds you see today. Unmatched both in water and land, practically nobody could win against her in a fair fight.”

“You give me too much credit.”

Cecile muttered.

“I give credit where it’s due.” Charlotte answered while going back to tell the whole story. “Where was I? Ah yes, that was back then. She used to help the less fortunate with what treasures she would plunder from ships passing by the Londrian waters.” She pointed to one of the buildings that became visible as they were climbing uphill. “See that orange building near Murakano’s inn? That’s the orphanage.”

Since it was midday, the sun was at its peak which allowed Leona to see it clearly without being blinded by it. The building she mentioned was a large rectangular structure that stood out from the rest around it since most of them were mostly only made of bricks and the only other that came close to it in terms of color was the red painted inn.

“I can understand seeking out the means to fund your endeavors, pardon me if it sounds rude but, why would you go out of your way to help children?” Leona genuinely asked. “From what I’ve known about Astera was that it used to be a pirate town which thrived only from plundering.”

“Plunderers we might have been but it wasn’t from our free will.” Cecile answered with a hint of sadness in her voice. “Many of my crewmates had families to feed. Their children were the ones who suffered most from the violence in the streets. Growing up not knowing who your father or mother were, eating stale bread stolen from a merchant, sharing your beds in the sewers with rats… if I could at least spare those children from suffering the same fate, no price would be too high.”

At that point Charlotte sighed while clenching her left hand into a fist.

“If only your captain wasn’t so stubborn. We could’ve builded a far greater city, one that could even rival Arcadia.” Just after a few seconds she noticed how rude that sounded and turned to Leona whilst shaking her left hand. “No offense.”

“None taken.” She answered before changing the topic. “I’m glad there are people like yourself, Lady Cecile.” She smiled warmly. “Those that are willing to sacrifice personal gain in order to make things right are indeed one of the hardest individuals to find.”

“See? Even the Princess Tactician finds you unique.” Charlotte had a smug expression. “Needless to say I-”

“Lady Charl! Enemies at twelve o’clock!”

Percival shouted from the front as Phoebe jumped off to the right side of the carriage.

Without hesitating, the other soldiers jumped out of the carriage with their firearms at the ready which by then Leona stood up just enough to see they were facing about seven creatures that stood on two legs, they had thick furs of different colors, ranging from gray to brown, some of them even wore armor made of an assortment of random pieces. However the wolf-like face made it clear that they were monsters.

‘Kobolds… or wolfmen.’ She was pulling information from what she could remember reading about them. ‘Known for killing and eating most prey. Some are as smart as humans.’

She noticed one of them raising a club while the others had spears on hands.

“Percival!” She shouted. “Turn the carriage sideways! Everyone get behind it!”

The moment she yelled, the soldier on the reins made a sharp turn to the right, almost throwing both her and Krieg off the back, but the knight managed to grab her by the waist and jump behind the carriage. A split second later a few wooden spears landed around them, some hit the horses which tried to take off in a high gallop but Phoebe managed to cut the reins that kept them tied to the wagon and they soon escaped the scene.

“I never heard of kobolds using weapons!” Gregor shouted. “Sly bastards!”

Leona looked at Cecile who held her rifle in a familiar manner.

“Can you kill their leader?”

She asked the woman.

“If I can get a clear shot, yes.”

“I like your confidence.” She then turned to Phoebe. “Can you distract them?”