The invasion begins

The moment she lifted her head, she met Keita's eyes. He's seen those eyes before. But the moment she recognized him, they changed. She smiled and waved her hand.

"What... What happened?" Keita asked.

Oracles were chosen by their deities to carry their words. They were few and supposedly well taken care of by the church. There was no reason for such a person to be dressed in dirty rags and beginning on the street.

But Chisa just shook her head and kept smiling.

'Don't let her find out.' he heard the familiar whisper.

Keita didn't answer. He already knew. He wasn't going to let anything happen to the voice, whispering in his ear.

"It's because of me isn't it?" Keita asked Chisa once again.

Her smile froze. She didn't want to show anything, but she couldn't hide the truth. She frantically shook her head, but Keita figured out the answer.

"Wait here, I'm going to have some words with that bitch!" Keita proclaimed.

Even if Welzour said he is an enemy of the gods, Chisa had nothing to do with this. Keita's opinion of Alcione was never positive - since he has been slaying her Heroes for such a long time - but he never knew the gods could be so petty.

As he climbed the stairs, Chisa lunged and held him from behind.

"Let me go. This is my mess, I will clean it up." he told her in cold tone.

The girl shook her head once again and Keita could feel her warm tears on his back.

Chisa kept squeezing his waist with all her strength. In the end, Keita had to give up on barging in the church.

"And? What's your plan now?" Keita stepped off the stairs and turned to Chisa.

She just showed a bitter smile.

Keita sighed. "No choice then. Come with me for a while." he took her arm and guided her, not taking no for an answer.

They walked through the town together. Keita took her to the shop, looking for the map he wanted and bought writing supplies for Chisa. Although reluctant, she eventually accepted the supplies and deeply bowed her head to Keita.

"This should be enough for a while." he said, forcing a pouch of gold coins in her hand. "Figure the rest by yourself. Goodbye." the moment he turned around though, Chisa grabbed Keita's sleeve.

Keita turned around and waited for her to write.

{Please wait.} she went back to writing. {You are a soldier from the Aerch Militia right?} Keita nodded. {Please let me come with you.}

Keita frowned at her words.

"I don't know what kind of person you think I am but I don't have time to take care of you. Find someone else." he answered.

When he first met Chisa, she was an oasis in the middle of the desert. She made him laugh and was a kind person, but he has changed since coming to this city. Being on the move and his meeting with Welzour allowed him to forget. But since coming here, his fights with the Dragonborn - as much as he enjoyed culling the weak - became routine. And things he pushed to the back of his mind resurfaced.

{I can fight.} she wrote.

"The join the militia and find a party."

Chisa puffed her cheeks.

'Is she pouting?' Keita thought.

Then without a warning, she extended her hand towards him. A white light entered Keita's chest.

"This is... White Flame? There was no chant or delay..."

A high level miracle like this, being cast at this speed wasn't something anyone could do. In fact it was impossible.

"You have a gift?" Keita got closer and whispered.

Chisa nodded with a smug smile and placed her hands on her hips.

Keita looked around. They were already drawing a crowd. He quickly took Chisa's hand and run. It was dangerous to reveal someone's gift to others, but it looked like she hasn't learned that yet. After running for a while, they both entered a alley. He waited for Chisa to catch her breath before speaking.

"I am not a good person. Following me, won't bring you happiness. You might even die. After knowing that, do you still want to come with me?"

* * *

Five days later, the humans for the first time in decades started the invasion of the Dragonborn realm. Keita and his party of four were placed as reserves, like all the other Bronze Rank soldiers.

The general, handed over authority of tens of thousands of men was Prince Edwin the 3rd. His father, the king used to be a general under the God-Kings command but was too old to lead men into battle. Rumor had it, he was too old to even see anymore. But his son looked like a competent enough commander, in Keita's eyes.

'The food isn't bad.' he thought, slurping some stew. 'The food's taste is important to lift the soldiers' spirits and keep moral after a long march or battle. If he understands at least that much-'

"Hey Keita, what's up?" Isse interrupted his thoughts.

It was the middle of the night and the soldiers have been instructed to sleep after eating. They were going to enter Dragonborn territories tomorrow.

Hyugo was with him while Yuna and Chisa have already gone to their tent.

"You should try to sleep." Keita told them.

He was sitting close to a fire, on a wood stump.

"You too." Hyugo said.

Keita smiled askew and nodded his head.

"It's fine isn't it?" Isse said with enthusiasm. "It's going to be our first battle soon. I can't sleep because of all the excitement.

Hyugo slightly blushed and nodded in agreement. It seemed that he was excited too.

Isse grew up hearing stories from Aerch Militia soldiers. After encountering the sword and becoming a Sword-Mage, he must have thought of it as some kind of fate. Hearing the exaggerated stories of glory from drunk soldiers gave him a false sense of confidence.

On the other hand, Hyugo knew about war and battle but he has never seen any. Now, he was going to use everything his grandfather and late father taught him on the field of battle. He was excited to see how far his strength could carry him.

'Children.' Keita thought after taking a look at their faces. 'Children, thinking war as a game.'

He got up from his sit and put his finished bowl of stew to the side.

"Lie down even if you can't sleep. Otherwise you might not last tomorrow." that was the only piece of advise he game them.