Rikuto sits in the hot water of the bathhouse inside the courtyard of Castle Mornistae. Much of the building was finished after everything happened with Daniel and the Stalvaltans, so it's not quite what the Japanese man had in mind.

Everything is in chaos, and he asked for some privacy to clean up after the return trip.

For starters, Yaulander stole the void artillery units and the ancient artifact that enables divine summoning rituals. Not only can Rikuto not keep up one part of the important peace negotiations forged with the Fievegal, he now no longer has control of the superweapons he created to counteract Daniel's nukes, and his excuse for leaving a powerful Imperial alone at Castle Mornistae is not a very good one.

With that excuse caused by the last piece that Rikuto is responsible for, a crushing weight is pressing down on him, and even what should be the refreshing heat of a fully-body soak isn't doing anything for the young King.

Rikuto allows himself to slowly sink into the water until it covers his face and head. He is relaxed enough that holding his breath is easy, and he stares up at the soft light of the mana crystals overhead as the water ripples.

The privileges of being king allowed him to have the bathhouse to himself, so only a single guard is with him inside, while the rest remain at the perimeter of the building.

First things first, what can I do? If I try to send the military after Yaulander, he'll almost certainly drag the fight across another country's border and force us into a new dispute. And, he has influence in the Empire, second only to Sundenelle.

The Japanese man sits up to lift his head out of the water, exhaling what remains and taking a new breath when his lungs demand it.

Sir Horaston is the knight standing outside of the actual bathing area, where bathers are meant to rinse off before entering the actual soaking bath. He is a human knight who became mildly famous in Mornistae for jumping from mid-level ramparts of Castle Mornistae to rescue Princess Erimaya. While his own rescue attempt was a failure, it served as a signal to Daniel and everyone else that something was wrong, which ultimately allowed Erimaya to be saved because Daniel got to her in time.

Because of her own escapes from the Castle to go to the Fievegal, Horaston was reassigned to the King, rather than an unruly Princess, lest he have to be blamed for her disappearances.

Horaston protested, but because of the rumors of impropriety and other vile things being said about Erimaya, King Greydald pushed for Horaston to accept or be stripped of the title he was only recently given.

Horaston can be trusted, but with what? thinks Rikuto to himself. What am I hoping to achieve? What can I do?

He studies the knight's armor, and Horaston asks, "Something I can do for you, your Majesty?"

I suppose I could do something stupid. Just me. Maybe a small team. As long as we're not caught… I can't use outsiders, I can't use mercenaries, and our strongest soldiers are scattered.

"Your Majesty?"

"Apologies," replies Rikuto as he snaps out of it. "I was just thinking…"

It's times like this I envy Daniel the most… Even his harem fights alongside him. But, I can't drag Heralesse into this… And, I'll need to move quickly…

"Sir Horaston, can I trust you?"

This catches the knight off guard, since he's the singular guard alone in the room with the King. While Horaston would be the only suspect if something were to happen, he could do anything. "I… would like to think so, your Majesty. Everything I have ever done was for the Kingdom of Mornistae."

"If Erimaya had dragged you along to the Fievegal, would you have stopped her or forced her back?" asks Rikuto. He doesn't really mean to test the knight, but he can't help but be curious. Among the rumors circulating between Erimaya and her loyal knight is a forbidden romance. Rikuto knows that Erimaya's heart has been stolen by Daniel rather inadvertently, and regardless of whatever he feels, Horaston maintains strict professionalism even in her presence.

"Your Majesty, it would depend on the circumstances…"

"You think you know what's best for Mornistae?" asks the young King.

"N-... No, your Majesty. Apologies if that's what my response implied. I do believe Princess Erimaya is capable of making that judgment, though, and at the time, with very few exceptions, I was to obey her orders."

"I understand. Thank you." Rikuto takes a breath and sighs. "I need to do something, but I'm going to need help. And… I'm also going to need you to ask very few questions about it."

Horaston is understandably a little concerned by the way Rikuto is putting it, since if it was a normal order, Rikuto could simply give the command, and Horaston is required to follow it. And, as he just said, there are only a very few, logical exceptions. Regardless, the knight answers, "What would you have me do?"

Rikuto slides closer to the edge of the bath, keeping his voice low. "For starters, I'd like you to get me as many tanju as you can before the end of dinner. Can you do that?"

Horaston is a bit confused. 'Tanju' is the 'name' Rikuto assigned to the pistols he is having developed, and which ended up in hands he did not intend for, since the word means 'short gun' in Japanese, so it has no distinct meaning to anyone as a sort of codename. In the same vein 'gun' doesn't really have a translation that makes sense in the Eastern Imperial Language, yet, so Rikuto simply went with the phonetic words he's familiar with.

"I can probably scrounge up a few, your Majesty. Anything else?"

"Two men you can absolutely trust to be effective and discreet to join us. Send one of them to ready the fastest mounts we have, and the other to retrieve a primary, backup, and stealth weapon for each of us. If anyone asks, we're going to test out implementing a new training regimen. We have to leave immediately after the royal dinner, though. Meet me at the courtyard. I'll have the rest prepared myself. We're going to take a small page out of Daniel's playbook, it seems."

"As you wish, your Majesty." Horaston clears his throat as he raises his volume to a more official and normal tone. "My King, forgive my impropriety, but please permit me to make use of the privy."

Rikuto knows he is making a show of being relieved so he can begin his mission. "Of course, Sir Horaston. Don't worry about sending anyone in. I'll be finished in just a moment."

"As you wish, your Majesty."

If we can gather the pieces, maybe I can turn this around before anyone is the wiser.

Rikuto takes one last dip in the water, sinking up to his nose to absorb the heat into the very core of his being.

I may not be the best king, Yaulander. But, I intend to prove whatever side you're on is the wrong side.

***

Yaulander studies the designs of the void artillery as Count Baumalde stands nearby. The Count wasn't given much choice but to accompany the group, but he didn't come completely unwillingly. The Grand Prince promised the Baumalde family wealth and power while Mornistae is on the decline. In exchange, Baumalde will teach the Imperial Magic Artisans loyal to the Strylaph family how to build the powerful weapons.

"Explain to me this part," says the blond as he points to one of the crystal arrays that's different than the others. "I understand the basics of coalescing the void magic, but I'm having trouble seeing what this spell circle is supposed to do."

"Of course, your Majesty," replies Baumalde confidently. "It's a little difficult to explain simply, since it's not just about coalescing void mana, but rather a sort of… conversion in casting."

"'Conversion in casting?'" repeats the Grand Prince.

"That's the simplest way I can put it, your Majesty. As you can see, there are elemental crystals of all of the main elements of magic, all of which are drawn into the spheres of the spell."

Yaulander nods, hearing the words, but not committing to praise nor criticism.

He shocks Baumalde with his next words as the Imperial guards continue establishing the camp they're using for the night. "I am not some mere simpleton or servant. You may explain the complicated version to me."

The blond royal looks at the magic artisan when there's a moment of hesitation that drags on into an awkward silence. It's clear immediately that Baumalde didn't expect to have to answer that question. Yaulander knows himself to be considered hot-blooded by those around him. Even the friars believe he is an emotional fool.

To hold his position of power, though, he has made some intentional choices, and some unintentional blunders that work in tandem with them. Playing the part of the fool intentionally can buy him leeway to act as he pleases, and downplay suspicion when he needs to make his own moves.

The friars don't consider him one of them, which is why they keep him at arm's length. And, it's exactly why he has the void artillery and the artifact, and they don't.

Just before the Grand Prince can press for the answer he's expecting, one of the Imperial Guardsmen bursts into the Grand Prince's large tent. "Your Majesty! We're under attack!"

"What?" snaps the blond. "By whom!?"

"U-Unclear, your Majesty. But, we should get you out of here. We're… We're being overwhelmed!"

"How many!?" snarls the Grand Prince.

"We're not sure, but it's not many. The problem is… their leader! He's… He's a monster!"

Yaulander ponders it for only a moment. "Find Commander Nesparu and have him bring his porter. We're leaving. I expect a full report once these men are dealt with."

"Of course your Majesty!" The guardsman bows and ducks out of the tent, and the sounds of gunshots ring out.

Tanju? thinks the Grand Prince to himself. Rikuto briefly demonstrated the ranged weapons meant to compete with the Fievegal's superior tools of war, but Yaulander only managed to take one of them. From what the otherworlder king described, he only had a couple of research units that he was experimenting on, and yet, the number of shots Yaulander is hearing suggest a small army of men is attacking.

"You're lucky, Count Baumalde. You'll have some time to figure out your answer." Yaulander rolls up the scrolls containing the designs of the void artillery, and he walks briskly out the back of his tent. They have evacuation contingencies for various circumstances, and his personal guards follow him and the count as they retreat to the carriages.

Nesparu runs to catch up, saying, "Your Majesty!"

"Quickly, Lord Nesparu. As long as the four of us escape, the Empire will stand strong."

Nesparu shoots a glance at the nervous count, who is known to the Imperials. Count Baumalde carries himself with a high level of dignity and grace, and some of Nesparu's men were sent to retrieve the Count's family to bring them to the Empire. It's unlikely Rikuto is foolish enough to ignore Baumalde's ambitious turn to the Empire, but it doesn't really matter once he has all of the secrets behind the void artillery.

He has several more to fish out of the Count, but that can wait. They need to escape from the mysterious attackers raiding the camp.

As he's boarding the carriage, Yaulander looks in the direction of the sounds of battle. He is momentarily surprised at what he sees.

Imperial guards are fighting Imperial guards. His own men are fighting amongst themselves, and even the pleas of either side are ineffective at preventing the assailants from swinging their weapons.

During that flurry of motion, Yaulander sees him. While there are multiple targets visible, one stands out with a vibrant outfit that can be described as nothing less than ostentatious.

At a glance, the head of the being looks like an insect, with big, reflective red eyes and small, horn-like protrusions from the top of the face, as well as mandible-like carvings over the mouth. The armor is light, and it's painted in a vibrant red color, while his gloves and boots are white.

"What in the name of God is that?" asks Yaulander idly.

"Your Majesty, we need to go!" shouts the driver of the carriage.

"Stop for nothing," replies the Grand Prince as he boards it. "Push the beasts until they fall. We have more."

"Yes, your Grace!" The driver flicks the reins to spur the buckrokhs forward, and the beasts bellow before picking up forward speed.

"What did you see, your Majesty?" asks Nesparu as Yaulander gets comfortable in his seat.

"I'm not sure. Keep your swords close, gentlemen. We have an escort, but I don't intend to end up as a corpse on the side of the road. Nesparu, can your porter fight?"

"Serrentuk, your Majesty? Yes, I believe he is capable of some rather potent offensive spells. Though, as you saw, his mind is… absent."

"Good. If need be, have him clear the way." Yaulander leans back in his seat as the carriage rattles and bumps across the ground, doing his best to relax for the long trip.

***

"Hoho! Hold and be-lo!" Fwick! An arrow flies and finds its mark while the masked raider skillfully uses a polearm with a bladed end to parry and battle several knights on his own. Three raiders wearing strange, colorful outfits have sprung a blitz attack on the Strylaph Imperial Knights.

The one leading the charge is wearing all red, though he has armor covered with red-painted leather on his torso, and his helmet has somewhat insect-like features with big eyes.

The one with the bow is dressed in similar, strangely bright-blue armor of similar design, and the last one is wearing green.

Some nobles will have their knights wear gaudy or otherwise bright colors to represent their territory, but these three defy even that. To call them circus performers or jesters would be incorrect, since their outfits still seem suited to battle. Yet, to call them mercenaries or knights would be a stretch.

The red one, which has been front and center, takes strange poses with his legs and arms at various angles, skillfully wielding the polearm and expressing taunts. "Stand to, evil doers, and prepare yourselves for the wrath of the Heroes of Justice!"

"Keep up the attack!" shouts one of the enemy knights, and arrows fly. Fortunately, the red warrior has very little trouble parrying the projectiles even with the seemingly-unwieldy polearm.

He is not invincible, though, and his green and blue companions can only provide so much support.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Two of the Imperial knights dedicate themselves to ambushing the red warrior and seizing the polearm away from him, which catches him by surprise. But, of course, he manages to lunge away from them, taking one of the knights' sheathed swords with him. It's a bit different in construction than what he's used to, showing a difference in style and focus between the Kingdom of Mornistae's primary armament and that of the Empire, or at least, the Strylaph Royal Guard.

The red warrior swings it a few times, twirling the weapon in his hand to get his body used to its weight so his adaptation can kick in and make him proficient with the weapon.

One of the higher ranking Imperials watches in horror as the red warrior incapacitates several more knights, as well as the two that successfully took his weapon away, with a sword he just picked up on the fly. His movements are strange, but skilled. Even with the sword, he is just as capable at defending himself and his comrades from arrows, parrying and defeating the other soldiers, and transitioning through to his next taunt.

"It would be wise to surrender! For we are the Sanookami!" (A/N 1) The red warrior strikes a pose, declaring proudly, "Akaookami, ready for action!"

The other two remain on guard with their weapons ready, not doing anything.

Akookami sighs, declaring, "That's Aookami and Midorookami."

"You are outnumbered and attacking the Grand Zenkon Empire!" shouts one of the officers of the Imperials. "This is an act of war!"

"The Sanookami represent no nation!" shouts Akookami, shifting to a new pose. "We represent only Justice!"

That said, if he's caught, it absolutely could appear to be an act of war against the Empire, which would be extremely precarious given the peace treaty with the Fievegal, which now includes a supposed engagement between the Empress of the GZE and Daniel of the Fievegal. The problem is, it's Mornistae's word against Yaulander's as far as what was stolen, which are also supposed to cease production and utilization under the terms of peace. Mornistae is allowed to keep the ones that were already produced as a defense against the Fievegal, which could be lying about nukes, but now those weapons are in the hands of Yaulander, along with the artifact and the heroine Rikuto had a direct hand in summoning.

If Divine Summons were treated like property, the otherworlders that arrived together would be living very different lives right now.

Akookami closes the distance and takes down another knight. He realizes that Yaulander and his high value allies have already escaped. The red warrior knows that an elf was supposedly the one who appeared and made the void artilleries disappear into some sort of spell of darkness. One of the survivors of the sneak attack relayed that much.

The problem is, Akookami hasn't had the chance to find the elf, but it's almost certain that he's with Yaulander. Were he to abandon his two comrades, though, they would surely be killed and identified. While they aren't necessarily as identifiable as Akookami himself, they will certainly lead back to the truth.

And, to a new war that Mornistae wouldn't possibly have any hope of winning.

Aookami, the blue warrior, cries out as he is impaled by a sword from one of the gatonine knights managing to slip past the red leader of the small squad. Midorookami lunges in and manages to chase off the gatonine with several parries, but the noose is closing in.

One of the officers from earlier calls out, "Surrender or die! This is your final warning!"

The blue and green warriors are quickly surrounded at sword point, with archers backing them up.

Akookami has two more important tricks up his sleeve, but each has limited use, and will endanger him further if he fails to win the battle. He had hoped to whittle down the troops a bit more, but he clearly bit off more than he could chew.

"Your Ma-!" starts Midorookami before stopping himself and urging, "Sir! It's bad!"

"Your Ma-...?" quotes the officer in charge. "Hah! King Rikuto Tachibana, is it? This was your foolish decision? You dare stand against the Grand Zenkon Empire?"

Akookami shifts uneasily.

I need time to think. Or, I need to open an opportunity…

The young man removes his red helmet, revealing the Japanese man's face. 'Japanese' means nothing to the people of Zenkon, of course, with the only possible exception being Luna and her ancestors.

Seeing Rikuto's distinctive face, though, which are fairly unique features on the continent among humans, is a dead giveaway to who he is. While not exclusively European-esque in appearance, most humans lean more towards European traits, with some fantasy hair and eye colors mixed in.

The Imperial Knights who hadn't figured it out yet realize it as well. The red warrior that launched the ambush on Yaulander's personal detachment of Imperial Guards is none other than the otherworldly king Rikuto Tachibana.

Rikuto specifically aimed to wound the Imperials, since he doesn't want to take lives if he can help it, but his two companions, Sir Horaston in green and Sir Loxourren in blue, don't have the magic weapon proficiency Rikuto has that allowed him to fight skillfully with the weapons he swapped through. They had to incapacitate and even kill anyone who managed to get too close.

As it stands, they're looking at a massive international incident hot on the heels of the Empire declaring a pending alliance with the Fievegal.

Rikuto places his hand on the grip of one of the four tanju pistols Horaston managed to scrounge up in a hurry. He should be able to take out the officer and three more men if he's careful and makes use of his weapon proficiency skill, but there's almost no chance Horaston and Loxourren will survive.

"Hand off the tanju, Rikuto," orders the officer as several archers aim at the young man. He's not sure how the man saw the weapon tucked into the fabric obi-style sash around his waist.

Think Rikuto. What are my options? I got us into this mess. I thought I could handle capturing Yaulander and the elf that has the item box. (A/N 2)

He glances at Horaston and Loxourren, with the latter bleeding profusely while Horaston tries to keep pressure on the wound.

He puts his hands up, and the officer signals for one of his soldiers to disarm Rikuto.

The young king closes his eyes, listening to what's going on. One of the senior sergeants of the Imperial knights gives the instruction, "Take one of the horses and catch up to the carriage. His Majesty must know about this…"

Another pair of soldiers is murmuring, "Do we chalk this up as 'bandits'?"

"Shh. Captain's still going to make sure…"

"Line them up and search the area," orders the officer. "We'll exe-"

"Captain!" cries out one of the Imperials.

"What!?" snaps the officer, whirling to look at the urgent cry.

Rikuto can already see the knight, who is pointing upwards, and he directs his gaze in that direction.

Rikuto's eyes widen.

He easily recognizes the vehicle for what it is, since only one nation so far has revealed flying vehicles.

Before anyone can react, though, the magic VTOL jet with its own cargo bay passes over the mixed group, barely clearing the treetops around them. And, from that cargo bay, humanoid figures pour out. Some land on the human-kin soldiers, which emphasizes the small size of the newcomers, while others seem to be descending more slowly than gravity would normally suggest, and the bursting coughs of suppressed firearms fills the air with chaos as men start screaming, flashes of semi-golden materials rain down, the devious cackling of small, gremlin-like creatures claws at the souls of everyone who hears it.

Rikuto is stunned as he watches helplessly, too dumbfounded to even lower his hands.

The Imperial Knights try to scatter and regroup themselves into smaller units to engage the blitz attack, but they are being mowed down without mercy by individuals of small stature.

The ones that pounced several knights take the much larger beings down with precision and skill, drawing miniature machine guns even as they ride the toppling soldiers to the ground. The apparent dwarven soldiers with big green ears emerging from the sides of their helmets land on their feet, forming a circle around Rikuto and the other two before he even realizes it, and they fire outwards.

One of the attackers is hit with an arrow, and he cries out with a somewhat high-pitched voice, and his comrades close ranks and gun down the archers with precision shots.

In Rikuto's eyes, he is watching a strange action movie play out. The soldiers move like special forces, forcefully seizing cover, fighting valiantly, and prioritizing targets as they chatter in a language the Japanese human doesn't understand. They have submachine guns with large, but functional suppressors on them. They reload deftly, and…

BOOM!

Rikuto finally flinches as an explosion takes the lives of no small portion of the Imperial soldiers.

Grenades!?

Rikuto is finally able to make some sense of what he's watching, but he still has many, many questions.

The problem is the mental disconnect plaguing the young Japanese man, who has watched many animes, read many light novels, and even dabbled in the mythologies of various countries on Earth.

And, from what he knows, the goblins of Zenkon match the fictional depictions of those various media. They are violent, rather barbaric, and unrepentant thieves barely capable of discerning friend from foe. Ahok, Shek, and Skloe were anomalies, as far as Rikuto has heard, yet these soldiers are almost unmistakably goblins.

They are a little shorter than Ahok, but have the same distinctive ears and skin tones. And, they cackle deviously, which leans closer to Rikuto's original image.

Still, he is able to gain a moment of breathing room, and he dashes past several bodies to Sir Loxourren.

One of the goblins tosses an item to Rikuto, and he manages to catch it. It's a phial of liquid with a somewhat distinct magic glow. It's not the color Rikuto recognizes, but he doesn't have a lot of options right now.

Rikuto's 'cure' ability, which was the only one the artifact specifically revealed the day he and Daniel arrived, can't heal wounds. Assuming the goblins are actually present to help, he'll have to go with the flow.

He can address the consequences afterwards.

The otherworlder quickly pops the cork of the liquid, and he takes a quick whiff of it, recoiling in surprise. It has the distinct, sharp bite of a very strong alcohol. He hesitates, having believed it was a western potion for healing, but now he's having second thoughts.

"Let me see it," requests Horaston, and Rikuto hands over the bottle. The knight cautiously sniffs the mouth of the bottle, and he nods. Horaston feeds the liquid to their fallen companion, and Rikuto asks, "Sir Midorookami?"

The magic illuminates quickly in a soft golden glow, and it closes the wound in short order. Horaston explains, "Demon-kin don't use alchemy the way we do. They brew these potions that smell strong, but are effective. They do commonly make people sick, though."

Rikuto can see why. He's not heavily familiar with alcohol himself, since he detests drunkards, but he has smelled his fair share. That small phial reminded him of the kind of liquor used in flambe, or even flaming shots, which could likely melt paint with the vapors alone.

"Your Majesty," murmurs Horaston. "Are those… goblins?"

Rikuto scoffs. He would have trouble believing it himself if it was simply described to him. "It appears so."

"What should we do?" whispers the knight dressed as an imitation of a fairly recognizable pop culture subgenre from Japan.

"Stay calm. I think they're on our side. At least, we share the same goal."

The chaos finally subsides after only a couple of minutes, and the goblins immediately set to policing, finishing off any of the Imperial knights that were only incapacitated or wounded. Rikuto winces, but a dark part of him knows it has to be done. Even if the baffling goblin spec ops soldiers don't know it, the Fievegal can't be caught operating deep in eastern territories without permission any more than Rikuto can be revealed to have ambushed the Grand Prince's convoy.

What happens next is what disturbs Rikuto more than a little.

The goblin soldiers begin cackling as they immediately start stripping equipment from the Imperials, showing off daggers, money pouches, and even personal effects like lockets, cameos, and even small pocket portraits, which are generally decorative metal cases that hold portraits of family members.

The goblins have no reverence for their contents, taking the portraits out and tossing them onto the bodies of the men they took them from.

Horaston stands up and grips his sword as a goblin approaches bearing a spitfire-like face on his black helmet and a long grey cape that brushes against the ground. His left arm is different than his right arm, and it reminds Rikuto of some sort of cybernetic replacement arm, but without the electronics.

"You understand Eastern, yeah?" asks the goblin.

"O-Of course," replies Rikuto as he reaches behind him to grip the tanju once more.

"Who are you?" asks Horaston a little curtly.

"I am Field Marshal Klur. I command Grendel Six." He gestures generally around them with his hands, his small machine gun draped across his chest by a sling that looks kind of like a compacted M3 'grease gun' which were used in WWII. Across his back, which becomes visible for a moment when his arms flare his cape out a bit, the apparent goblin officer has a large revolver that appears to have a foregrip like a tactical rifle or shotgun. Given the size of the blocky weapon and its much larger caliber than the machine gun, it makes sense for the compact soldier carrying it.

"Did Daniel send you?" asks Rikuto cautiously.

"We no know Emperor," replies Klur with a semi-unintelligent-sounding way of speaking. "Just passing bandits. We hunt blond human thief."

Rikuto ponders the words with a hint of confusion blended with his suspicion. At face value, the words are conflicting. He claims not to know Daniel, but knows he is the Emperor. And, he claims this 'Grendel Six' are just passing bandits, which is dumb on its own, but they are hunting a blond thief. Yaulander is blond, and from what Rikuto remembers, Zuzia could be mistaken for blond. The Fievegal demanded that Rikuto hand over both the artifact and Zuzia, both of which have been captured by the Grand Prince.

"This thief…?" starts Rikuto. "It wouldn't happen to be Grand Prince Yaulander, would it?" He can't help but look on with a bit of disdain as the goblin soldiers continue looting the dead down to their armor, boots, and valuables.

Klur cocks his head, chuckling. "Klur tell who Klur and Grendel Six is. Humans no tell yet."

Rikuto hesitates.

Is it possible that Daniel hasn't shown his soldiers any sort of information on who I am? Will this work?

"We are Sanookami, and I am Akookami, this is Aookami, and Midorookami. The Grand Prince and his troops murdered Mornistae soldiers and stole several highly valuable items, two of which the Fievegal is very interested in."

"Filthy thieves," retorts Klur. Again, Rikuto can't help but glance at the other goblins as two of them seem to be tossing a coin over who gets to take the Captain's helmet with a feathery mane on it. Another seems to be cutting off a piece of meat from one of the human soldiers, which horrifies the human, but another goblin jogs over and starts scolding the former in their language.

Klur notices Rikuto looking at the goblin looting, and he cackles. "Human-kin no need shine anymore. Human-king lucky Grendel Six no charge for rescue."

Rikuto's eye twitches. He definitely heard 'human-kin' the first time, but the second time,...

Do they know who I am, or don't they? Did they rescue me to make me indebted to the Fievegal, or do our goals simply align?

"Is this common practice for the Fievegal?" asks Rikuto.

Klur looks at him again, and his posture seems more irritated this time.

"Klur humble goblin. That much true. But,..." His tone shifts, and his speech instantly clears up. "I am not so foolish as to miss what you are doing, 'Akookami'. If Grendel Six did not come, you could kiss your kingdom goodbye." He flexes his 'robot' hand idly, saying coldly, "The Empire is an ally of the Fievegal. That much is also true."

Rikuto hesitates. Klur is giving him a very cold warning, and considering how enjoyable the goblins seemed to find murdering Imperial Soldiers as if shooting fish in a barrel, they would have no issue including Rikuto and his men in the casualty list.

"Goblins take what we earn," adds Klur seriously. "You risked starting a war that would wipe out your kingdom with three men and lacking the resolve to do what was necessary. We are nothing but resolve. We will capture the thief, reclaim stolen property, and we will do so as nothing more than savage goblins."

Rikuto notices that Klur is the only one with distinctive marks on his armor.

One of the other goblins approaches, and his armor is of similar modern-esque design, but painted a green that would match his skin tone, with somewhat unintelligent-looking savage eyes and a seemingly dumb-looking face painted on the helmet.

He speaks with a somewhat gruff and quiet tone, and Rikuto only understands 'Klur' out of the sentence.

Klur nods, replying in the goblin language. While the two goblins are conversing, Horaston points out quietly, "Your Majesty, we will need to evacuate the area quickly. We also need to try to catch up to Sir Chebnom, er, uh,... Yellow… fighter…"

Rikuto can't fault the knight for trying. He has proven loyal, and even when Rikuto got them buried by his own over-estimation of their ability to take out the soldiers and get enough traction to capture Yaulander. And, the names he chose are pretty simply Japanese words fused somewhat improperly, each standing for their color and 'wolf', just as 'Sanookami' is a fusion he intends to mean 'Three Wolves'.

But, as with everything else he proved reliable on, Horaston retrieved one more knight he could trust absolutely, and he was tasked with pursuing Yaulander's carriage at all costs, including using stealth magic to avoid being caught.

Klur faces Rikuto again, saying, "Human-king Akookami, Grendel Six will continue on. Many buckrokhs and horses have scattered. We will pass by again, so if you need assistance…"

"Take us with you," replies Rikuto. He thinks to himself, He's definitely calling me 'human-king', isn't he?

Klur shrugs. "Grendel Six won't take responsibility. If you die, your shine will be ours."

Rikuto flexes his hands as he closes his eyes, and he can hear Horaston's sword rattle slightly in its scabbard for a moment as he, too, has a minor reaction to those words.

They are goblins, I guess.

"Fine. But, I have a man tailing the Grand Prince."

"Don't try anything funny," replies the other goblin with the cold voice. "As you see, killing humans is easy."

"You insolent…!" starts Horaston, but Rikuto places his hand on the knight's shoulder.

"We're allies for now, and we've both crossed a line. We need each other not to reveal what has happened here."

The goblins chuckle together, indicating that most of them do understand the Eastern language. It's rather intimidating being surrounded by so many of them, but the fact that they could turn Rikuto and the knights into Swiss cheese at any moment and the fact that they haven't are not lost on him.

Daniel may have created his own version of Seal Team Six, but it seems to be with bloodthirsty loot gremlins. If he sanctioned this mission, it was most likely focused on rescuing Zuzia, and then retrieving the artifact, assuming he received the same warning from Ryukana that she gave to the Japanese man. Rikuto's American counterpart may or may not know about the void artilleries, but at this point, Rikuto is confident that their fellow Earthling is the highest priority even to 'Loot Gremlin Six'.

Hopefully, they'll be able to retrieve her without issue.

***

A/N 1: 'Ookami' is a common Romanized (romaji) spelling for the Japanese word for 'wolf', and is pronounced 'ohh-kami', where the 'oh' sound is an elongated 'long 'O'' sound, rather than the 'uu' sound of the typical English 'oo', as in 'zoo'.

A/N 2: An 'item box' is a common feature in the fantasy genre, especially video game-esque settings, where the main character is granted a special ability or even an item that functions as a 'bottomless storage void'. In context, the 'void bags' Daniel has been using since Peony would be a type of 'item box', but the term can also refer to what Serrentuk is doing with his 'Gate' ability. 'Item box' is just one such term for the concept, and other examples would include Mary Poppins' bag or Doraemon's pocket.

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