The Sword of Light

The road to Pugna was quite long. The group most likely had to make a stop in a nearby village, spend some time there, and continue after a good sleep. This did make Edward concerned about the logistics of travel, especially if they weren’t able to secure any transport in Pugna itself.

Especially with the fact that Auranna was already insufferable enough on this shorter trip.

“Now that I’m thinking about it, you should have requested some Lunar from the Governor,” Auranna said. “Wish you would’ve thought of that.”

Edward was in the carriage with the rest of his party, so he didn’t want to make a scene by starting an argument with a ghost that they couldn’t see. So he just simply let her ramble on her thoughts.

He definitely would’ve wanted to get some sleep by now, but alas it was impossible. He’ll have to sleep at whatever inn they stop by.

“I do ponder, however,” Auranna said. “How much further is the village?”

Auranna could move through walls in the short area around Ed. The two were bound together but she had freedom of movement within the small radius. As a result, she was the only one who could peek outside of the carriage with little issue.

“There’s a girl wandering the road up ahead,” she said. That caught Ed’s attention. “I wonder what she’s doing.”

“Huh?” Ed said, turning around to the window. “Let me see that.”

Ed pulled open the window, letting the light shine out from the side.

“Ed! Don’t open the window like that!” Cozy immediately pulled the blinds down after him.

“Well, I was curious. I sensed a presence outside of the carriage-”

As Ed was explaining, a sudden BUMP shook the carriage. The ride came to a stop as Cozy rolled her eyes.

“Ed, deal with that,” Cozy said. “You’re the one who opened the blinds. If you need help, then we’ll be there.”

“...That definitely wasn’t your best move,” Auranna also noted. Ed wanted to tell her that she made him want to look outside, but he also didn’t want to argue in front of Cozy.

“Fine,” Ed groaned and pushed the door open, stepping outside. Though, the second he stepped outside, he was overtaken by a flash of glowing light.

The monster that was standing just outside was cut in half, straight down the middle with a clean blow. Glowing liquid flushed out of its wound as it fell apart, and both Auranna and Ed looked very surprised at the sight.

Standing in the middle seemed to be someone about Ed’s age. She seemed to be wearing a brown cloak over her head, and holding a glowing sword of pure energy in her hands. The sword felt divine, in a sense, as if it commanded absolute authority. Its power was likely incredible, with the monster’s corpse being the proof.

From what Ed could see under the cloak, the girl seemed to be wearing an expensive dress. Far too expensive for any common traveller, however he couldn’t glean much more information from that. Under the hood, her eyes were red, and her hair was blonde. The girl sheathed her glowing sword and looked at Edward.

“Did something disturb you?”

***

“She looks familiar…” Cozy muttered. “I just can’t put my name on it.”

The new girl was getting observed by everybody in the carriage. Seeing that she was walking on her own, Ed decided to repay the favor of killing the monster by offering her a ride.

“I receive that a lot,” the red-eyed girl responded, sitting elegantly in the carriage.

“You’re very pretty, miss!” Adelyn said, a little bit abruptly. Though, it’s not like she was wrong. If you ignored the dirty cloak that she wore, the girl’s dress, the way her hair was done, it was all very impressive.

“Adelyn, tact,” Cozy reminded her.

“I’m sorry, I just thought of it,” Adelyn sighed. “Especially because most travellers aren’t wearing such nice dresses.”

“It’s no problem, though isn’t that strange with you two?” the blonde girl asked Adelyn and Cozy. “Your dresses don’t look cheap either.”

She was right on that point too. Both Adelyn and Cozy wore similarly-designed small dresses that definitely weren’t considered adventurer gear.

“I don’t really have any other dresses,” Adelyn responded. “Plus, it still fits comfortably.”

“Plus!” Cozy added. “Appearances are important, even in the midst of combat. Don’t want to be caught lacking!”

“I see,” the girl said.

“If… you don’t mind me asking,” Teddie raised his hand. “What’s your… name?”

Ed was definitely curious about that too, because he never really asked even after inviting her into the carriage.

“My name is… uhh…” she seemed to pause for a moment. “Joyce… yeah. Joyce.”

“It’s good to meet you, Joyce!” Adelyn shook her hand instantly. “My name is Adelyn! This is Cozy, Ed, and Teddie. We’re a team!”

“This girl is lying about her name,” Auranna said while that happened.

“What?” Ed whispered, quietly enough so that nobody else could hear him.

“It took her a moment to come up with that name, as if she was thinking of it on the spot. I don’t see a reason why she would want to lie about her identity,” Auranna said.

“I think you’re overthinking things,” Ed whispered. “Even if she’s lying then who cares? It’s her business, not ours.”

“What are you whispering about?” Joyce asked, looking over Ed’s shoulder. That caused him to jump a little bit.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Ed said.

“I was also wondering where you all were headed too, since I can’t imagine you’d take a carriage to a small village,” Joyce asked.

“We’re going to Pugna, the City of Battle!” Adelyn clapped her hands together. “What about you?”

“Oh, same,” Joyce said.

“You were planning on walking all the way to the Pugna?” Cozy asked. “That would take forever!”

“I think I would’ve been fine. I don’t want to talk to people that much,” Joyce responded.

“Well…” Teddie said. “If it makes it easier, we could take you there. We’re both going the same way after all.”

“Oh, if you’re willing then sure,” Joyce responded. “I’ll need to go after I reach there. I’m planning on entering a tournament, I want to ask something of the governor.”

“Oh, same, same!” Adelyn said. “We need to get into the capital, so we’ve heard that the governor is willing to fulfill some requests to tournament winners.”

“You need to get into the capital? Why can’t you just walk in?” Joyce asked, her eyes opening a little bit wider.

“I don’t know,” Adelyn said. “There’s something about security and lockdowns. It really sucks because I have a friend that I really need to meet in the capital, so we can’t do that until we get clearance from all of the governors.”

“I… see,” Joyce said. “Do you know why it’s under lockdown…?”

“No idea, they won’t say,” Edward sighed. “It really does make this whole thing way more complicated than it should be.”

Ed noticed Joyce seemed to be a little bit worried about the lockdown. Was she planning on going to the capital as well? He couldn’t guess, but he also couldn’t really care to guess. Getting to the capital was already a lot to think about, he couldn’t afford thinking about other people’s plans right now.

“Look,” Ed said. “If you’re going to Pugna, we’ll take you all the way there. Just stay with us and don’t cause a lot of trouble.”

“Your group would get quite big if you include her. I’d advise against bloat,” Auranna said.

“She’s not permanent,” Ed responded quietly before turning back to Joyce. “We’re probably gonna stick around in the City for a while. But you’re probably on your own after that.”

“That’s fine,” Joyce said. “I needed the ride, but I’d like to work on my own as well.”

“Though, if you do win the tournament,” Cozy slid next to Joyce with a smile. “Put in a good word for us, right? It’s the least you could do after we graciously gave you a ride.”

“Well this really isn’t our ri-” Ed was about to say before Auranna covered his mouth. Nobody else could see this action so it just seemed like he stopped talking.

“What was that?” Joyce asked.

“Absolutely nothing!” Cozy said. “Just put in a good word for us, you seem strong and all.”

“Sure,” Joyce nodded. “I’ll give them a notice, I don’t know if it’ll help though, ahah. I do have something important I want to take care of first.”

“Oh?” Cozy pressed. “What is it?”

“It’s private, sorry,” Joyce shook her head.

Cozy looked like she was about to press the girl a little bit more, but Teddie spoke up before she could continue.

“I hope you get it resolved, Miss Joyce,” Teddie smiled. “We’re going to be working hard too.”

The carriage stopped once more, all of the sudden.

“Are we there?” Adelyn asked.

“Well, we can check. By doing the proper procedure this time,” Cozy said, looking at Edward.

“Yeah, yeah,” Ed sighed. He turned off the lantern in the middle of the carriage and replaced it with a glowing water light. It didn’t allow them to see as far, but it’s good enough for checking outside.

Ed opened the window and the five of them looked outside. They looked ahead, and were surprised at the sight. They saw the small town up ahead, where they were planning to rest. However, there was one thing they were concerned about.

“Is it normally this crowded?” Cozy said, looking over Ed’s shoulder. They noticed a massive crowd of people within the village. Far greater than the size of the town would expect. It was constantly bustling, and the people themselves were odd too.

Many of them carried weapons, armor, and gear. The majority of them were quite young, some accompanied by older guardians, and some on their own.

“Tourists?” Joyce suggested. “Maybe they’re also here for the tournament too.”

“Wasn’t expecting them to be so far out, not even in the city yet,” Ed noted. “Looks like we’ll have quite a lot of competition on our hands.”

“That won’t be a problem, I’m sure of it,” Cozy said. “Let’s relax for now. We need to be well-rested for our upcoming victory.”