The trio said their goodbyes to Barry and the others. Though slightly less reluctantly regarding Emcee and the others.

"It was great seeing a friendly face. We'll stop by the shop after we're done here, Barry." Wardi smiled at him and gave a nod towards the others. Lucy and Rhua waved goodbye.

"Aye pet, that's champion! See you in a little while then mun!" The trio walked a few steps forward, and by the time they looked back, the group had gone.

Walking alongside each other and giving Lucy a helping hand when she needed it, the trio walked and talked before they headed towards Marcel, vice-captain of the guard, who hadn't long made his way back to the castle.

"I know we had a job to do gang, looking at all this though. I just can't walk away from it after everything that's happened. It's ok if you need to get out an~" Lucy tapped his hand with her wand.

"Hush. Don't you dare go thinking we will split up into three groups now. Or I'll chop-chop your head with my wand." Angry hat girl is serious right now.

Rhua agreed with them both: "I don't know how long I'm up for staying to do this. We still have the request to finish after all, and I don't trust those three to have gotten themselves into a mess." She had more to say, though she was stopped by the interjection of an awful-sounding trumpet announcement.

Paaaaaaa pa pa, re REEEEEEEEE re pa ME LA REEEE~

"Vice-Captain of the guard, Marcel Poirot, has returned with the western patrol. Gather round for orders!" There was a scramble as the guards dropped everything they were doing and rushed towards what remained of the western entranceway. Marcel was an abnormally short yet slender Huundhan with a pink pouffe of hair atop his head and the same-coloured hair on his hands.

"By the gods, what has happened here? I demand to know at once, where is King Blau? And Captain Edward?" His appearance was hard to take seriously with how bizarrely guttural and deep his voice was. "That's a bit of a shock, eh?" Wardi giggle-whispered to Rhua. She gave a nod of approval.

Bagu had been on the other side of the rubble and out of view, taking a moment to breathe after everything that happened. "Marcel, the King is no more. He had been dead for a while, replaced by a puppet of a dangerous shadow group." His response was one of rage.

"Impossible...w-w-who did this to our king? Edward, where the damned hell is he!" Wardi took it upon himself to speak up, taking pressure off Bagu, who clearly wasn't up for talking, from what Wardi could see of him. His eyes were bloodshot and sunken.

"They call themselves Rising Dawn. Fanatics of Serilia...allegedly. The King likely died the same day he met them, at the event a short while ago. Does an unknown and unexpected group of well-dressed individuals that tries to invite you to a special society sound familiar? That's them. And sad to say, Edward died in the battle. Honourably defending everyone here."

Marcel's heart sank as low as he did to the floor. The great noble king that took him in when he was but a mere street rat and the man that taught him everything he knows. "This is difficult to process... Yes, now that you mention that well-dressed group, it was also when the king had a sudden change to his personality. As if he was going through some sort of bizarre mental switch.

Spurred on to try and get down to the hard labour ahead Wardi kept going, "Behind closed doors is when the takeover initiation begins. They did the same to the Von family in Et-Navn. Lord Broekslang managed to survive, though, likely due to a concoction he had consumed at some point earlier close to the ceremony.

Bagu felt compelled to pull himself together; Edward wouldn't have wanted him to mope around. "Marcel, I think it would be best if we began the restoration. There is a time for grief; that day is not today."

Marcel needed more time. The news was not something he could just brush aside. Bagu was right, however; this was not a time for wallowing. "I have a battalion of two hundred, including Art users and Automs. Let's see what we can do with a house full of hands. Soldiers will handle the manual lifting; Art users will help with procuring food and materials. Automs will be on transport duty. For the King, for Edward, for the Kingdom!" Marcel's words rang true, filling the people with a newfound hope. And earning him cheers from the crowd "YES SIR MARCEL, FOR THE KINGDOM!"

The trio joined up with Bagu, who informed them Lumra had begun making his way back to Quilliberg City in the Hankae region. They understood he was here under manipulations from the king and wanted to get as far away as possible.

Lucy and Bagu had been delivered a large mixing pot from one of the soldiers and began to fill it with the aqueous and Gorthen substances they conjured with their refreshed Lùth and mixed it together, forming a grey paste for Wardi to use. Rhua wanted to do something more strenuous and helped load debris into the wagons. Wardi, slightly familiar with construction techniques from his army days, began to apply them liberally to stacks of bricks that a soldier had procured from one of the nearby towns.

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"Do you think that's actually going to be strong, though?" He wasn't sure how well materials made from thin air would hold up over time. Neither was Rhua, for that matter. They had rarely come across a construction project before, and certainly not one this up-close.

"Of course. This will all get reinforced with proper substances before it's finished; this will work as a makeshift fix for now." Bagu informed Wardi, who spread the paste along a line for one of the soldiers to start placing bricks upon it.

"What's your name, mate? I'm Wardi." Reaching out his hand, the soldier brushed his hands against his legs, removing white chalk-like powder from them, and shook his hand back. "Bertram, sir. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise. How long have you been a soldier here for?" Wardi said, smiling away, not paying much attention to spillages around him.

"Not long. Just over two months, I'm one of the youngest recruits. was dossing about on welfare until King Blau did a recruitment drive."

Bertram talked a lot. It wasn't a bother for Wardi though. He enjoyed these sorts of interactions. He felt the camaraderie, just like in his military days.

"Hah! Guess it doesn't matter where you come from; armies still do those recruitment drives universally, it seems. Me and Rhua, that one over there. We're from Terra originally. I used to be in the army too. Though fighting is a bit different back home compared to here." Bertram became more excited after hearing this. Wardi could tell he wanted to start asking questions, and he was happy to answer them.

***

Rhua had been mostly just grabbing what was within reach and loading up the closest wagons to her. She noticed there was a trio of young-looking recruits really struggling to load up their wagon and being berated by a superior with old and decrepit armour. Oh hell no, screw off with that attitude, she thought, rushing over to them.

"Oi RUSTY, back the fuck off," Pointing her finger at him whilst she moved in closer to the trio.

"What? Who are you talking to? You aren't even part of the kingdom!" She held her hand at him. "I don't care; they're just kids. You need to take your time with them and show a little patience. It's taking three of them just to try and lift these rocks, and I don't see you doing much but standing around delegating. Lazy prick,"

"They're under MY supervision, not YOURS. You're nothing but a passing visitor in this kingdom. Show some damn manners." Rhua loaded up the wagon, picking up boulders one-handed and throwing them in. The recruits watched in awe of her strength and her refusal to see others be spoken to in such a terrible way firsthand as she squared up to the sergeant.

Standing at a distance. He didn't quite realise how much better equipped, experienced, and tough the person he just tried to shoo away was. Like a petty child, he called over to his superior, the vice-captain, Marcel. Rhua watched the sergeant point his fingers at her and hide behind him as he walked over.

"What exactly is the problem here? It's a simple task. Pick things up, load them into the wagon, repeat." Marcel, immediately taking the sides of his people, wanted answers from Rhua.

"That little rat there was getting kids to do a grown man's job that HE himself should be doing. Instead, he's standing around getting his rocks off shouting at the kids that can't do the work so his rotten pickle can be tickled." Rhua was relentless in getting the point across; Marcel was for a moment unable to quite respond. Waiting for a few seconds, he approached the young trio to ask if that was true.

"Vice-Captain Sir!" the shortest of the three spoke out and bowed at him. "What say you, Private Manda? Are the words of this adventurer true?" Looking at the recruit with a stern eye, she wanted to look away. That would have meant a punishment, though.

"Sir, the adventurer's words are true. The sergeant has simply stood around giving orders and avoiding the hard labour." The other two supported her with a resounding "It's true sir!" and "She is not lying Sir!"

I've been here five minutes, and I'm already having to deal with insubordination in the camp. Give me strength, Serilia. "Sergeant! You're on wagon unloading duty at the dump; you can go with the wagon that's just leaving over there." He pointed towards an Autom leaving by itself. He groaned when he saw it was the one loading and unloading some of the larger boulders.

"Miss, would you aid these fine younglings in their task? Your skills would be a blessing in their time of need." Ah, justice. Rhua thought, watching the lazy sod be sent away. "No problem at all, Marcel. Come on you three, let's smash this together, eh!" Their energy working alongside her began to rise; Rhua's smile grew alongside with them.

"I'm Manda. The middle one is Jaga, and shorty over there is Silya. Thanks for helping us back there. Sergeant Brilt has always been a dick."

"No cap," Jaga followed up by saying.

Silya's line of, "Yeah, your rizz is on fleek, Miss. How'd you get all that? You look fire."

Rhua was starting to regret jumping in to save the young recruits. "I don't know what anything you just said means. Is it good?

Manda and Silya began to snicker amongst themselves, and Silya whispered a bit too loud. "Bruh, she's old."

For fuck's sake, thought Rhua, trying not to die inside feeling older than she was. They're just kids; they say the darndest things after all, she had to think on repeat.

Jaga was the more appreciative and down-to-Maliterr member of the trio. Full of questions from natural curiosity. "What's your class Miss? You're so tough, there's no way you hide in the backline." She smiled at Rhua, who wanted to do it back but tried to keep that tough big sister energy going. This was more like it, Rhua thought, blushing inside.

"You're right with that. I'm the main line of defence, right up there in the action. I'm a hybrid type. Chevalier & Caller are my two classes. Unfortunately, Caller is a special case. I'm not allowed to talk about it, god-related rules and all that."

Rhua had to lie; nothing would make her feel more clueless than having to explain she doesn't know how to use her class after seven years.

"I understand! Chevallier, though, that's so cool. How do I become one like you?" Her wide, starry eyes were unavoidable; she had wormed her way into Rhua's soft spot.

"Pick 'Esquire' when the system becomes available, then defend companions 3000 times. It hurts the first 2000, becomes easier from then on. Worth it though!"

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