Small Steps Forward

The citadel of the Calidor Empire was a place of never-ending activity, befitting the running of a vast bureaucracy needed to keep the wheels of government moving. In the central hall, a column of soldiers marched in to report the events from the past few days after more extensive searches were conducted but failed to find anything.

"It pains me... and saddens me to hear this news..." Emperor Takahito Minamoto sighed with a cold measured tone as his advisors brought him up to date on the latest news from Fort Magish.

"My Lord, I hesitate to bring it up..." one of the ministers chimed in, "but what shall we announce with regard to the Lady Minamoto's status with respect to the Kingdom? Is she to be considered a fugitive or captive?"

The Emperor took a moment to consider before answering. "If it's feasible to bring her in alive, then she is to be considered a fugitive. I would very much like to have words with my wayward progeny, if indeed that is the case. However, if it proves too costly because of the weapon she carries, then the forces in the field have my permission to do whatever is necessary to bring her down, one way or another."

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Seer Haruka Ogawa sat in his solitary room with the stoicism that his order practiced. Oh, how quickly the tides could turn, he mused. He had allowed his pride and need to humiliate his tormentors override his judgement and now he was paying the price. He had underestimated the first girl, and it had cost him an eye. He did it again with the second girl, which had led to his capture. Well, it wouldn't happen again, he vowed.

Just then, the door to his room opened and a group of soldiers entered, along with Jun and Hiroshige. They looked him over with a mixture of contempt. They had already stripped him of his magical crystals, but after Keiko's own example, additional cautions were taken, and his wrists and ankles were shackled.

"So, we'll make this short and get straight to the point," Jun promised. "If you answer our questions, we'll make things easy for you. We know the Emperor doesn't do well with people who he considers disloyal after all."

"And if I refuse, you'll what... torture me? Please... if you were going to do that, you may as well just release me and let the Emperor's Church do that for my failure," Haruka scoffed.

"Then work with us," Hiroshige offered. "Give us the information on when the prisoners are going to be transferred for starters. No Empire lasts forever. You yourself believe in prophecy. And your own prophecy says our warrior will bring this Emperor down."

"And if you fail...?"

"By your own statement, you're facing torture just for failing the Empire. What worse punishment would you be facing for helping us?"

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Masako winced and shook her head as she watched Akiko swing her swords against the moving target dummies that had been swinging on ropes. "This is the form you've been using again the Empire's troops?" she asked disdainfully. "You swing those swords like tennis rackets; it's a wonder you've been having any kind of success."

"It's been working for me so far," Akiko pointed out.

Masako moved in front of Akiko with her sword ready in sparring position. "Show me," she commanded.

After a brief hesitation, Akiko readied her swords and charged forward, leading with her right, slashing high while holding her left in a reverse parrying grip. Right at the apex of her attack, Masako swatted Akiko's right wrist with the flat of her weapon, which sent her primary weapon flying, followed by an upward reverse slash that sent her off-hand weapon into the air.

Akiko stood frozen in disbelief as Keiko looked on sheepish off to the side. "You have no discipline to your form," Masako declared. "You're relying solely on Akira Fujiwara's experience but don't have any of your own to back them up."

"Well, easy for you to say," Akiko insisted. "You're using a really powerful magical sword!"

Masako snorted. "Fair enough," as she sheathed her soul sword and strapped it onto her back, then retrieved a pair of iaitos from the rack and tossed one to Akiko. "No magic, no tricks, just straight up skill and cold steel then," as she extended her weapon to a middle guard position.

Akiko held her training weapon in a similar stance, fixed her gaze on Masako, trying to anticipate what to do next. She opened with a combination of strikes to the head and torso, which were easily parried. Taking a step back, she feigned a wide swing before switching to a lunging thrust. Masako sidestepped her and before Akiko realized it, Masako was holding what would have been the edge of her blade right at her throat.

"And you're worried about a magical sword?" Masako scoffed. "Right now, if you go up against the Emperor with that level of skill, he'll beat you to death with a steel pipe! Coasting on the memories of Captain Fujiwara's skills may work fine against a bunch of untrained grunts, but the next time you go up against an expert, you won't stand a chance, and this Empire has a lot of those in the upper echelons of the elite."

"Sergeant Takeda tried working with her when we first got here," Keiko recounted. "Mostly he was focusing on trying to get the Captain's skills to come out of her."

"If you want those skills to reach their full potential, you need a solid foundation of skills to build on," Masako insisted. "There are no short cuts."  She turned to Keiko.  "You didn't start casting magic just because you're good at math. You had to study, build up your skills and develop a foundation over your natural talent."

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Staff Sergeant Inen Taira made his final preparations before mounting his horse at the head of the formation of the wagon train as it made ready to leave the capital city in the next few days. Ever since that debacle of failing to retrieve the Fujiwara girl months ago, he had been demoted to garrison duty, dropping him a full rank. The loss in pay and prestige was still something that ate at him, fouling his mood like an odorous stench. Still, he was determined to regain that lost promotion any way he could, even if it meant stabbing a higher ranked NCO in the back, figuratively or literally.

So, when the assignment was announced that an experienced combat officer would be needed to lead a platoon of troops to escort a prison transport of high value prisoners to the Murshard Isles, he jumped at the chance. Such an assignment had to be a high priority mission; do well and he would surely have a chance to erase the black mark that had been placed on his record. He was even more excited when he found out who was in the group of prisoners.

"Sergeant Kenji Takeda, I had heard that you were among the group of the fallen," Inen mocked and shook his head with feigned regret. "I also found out you were close to Captain Fujiwara... in fact some say you were his right-hand man. Your record in the military speaks volumes to your service to the Empire..." He shook his head. "How tragic to see you've fallen so far.... Perhaps if you had been there the night your Captain had fallen, none of this would be happening..." he trailed off suggestively.

Kenji's eyebrow twitched as the last bit of conversation hung in the air. All those months ago, he never knew why he had been assigned off Captain Fujiwara's platoon at the last second, but he hadn't questioned it at the time. It was just one mission, and they assumed they would see each other afterwards, but alas it was not meant to be. Or was it...? Was Sergeant Taira's little wordplay suggesting he knew more than he was letting on? Perhaps he was mocking with more than just cruelty. His wrists rattled the chains as the possible scenarios went through his head, none of them good. If Inen was involved beyond simply being a bystander in this little drama, then it fell on him to find out how... and if necessary, bring justice and avenge his friend.