“...”


    “...”


    Shortly after the appearance of Arbitrator D’émori, Kahokayo and her fell silent, the awkward tension sealing their lips. The arbitrator kept a firm grasp on her sword’s hip, her hair swaying to the calm breeze throughout the forest. Kahokayo’s ears perked up to the sound of the refugee camp not too far away, to which we were pursuing Yodomi and that boy. From the way D’émori had described it they were mere childhood friends, yet the two stood far apart as if they were strangers in this reúnion.


    I’d known the feeling…a person I’d acquainted for many years to drift off on their own future paths, only to have a bitter meeting at how far we’d strayed from each other. The stark differences between our likes and dislikes, experiences and life endeavors, personality and worldviews—I despised our reúnion, but change was inevitable.


    “There have been reports that a Koronese supremacist group is harassing the people down here in the eastern woods,” D’émori cleared her throat, speaking in formal Koronese, “May I ask why you two are here also?”


    After avoiding eye contact, Kahokayo regained her composure. “We are here as well for the same reason.”


    “Kahokayo, this is my job. You and Kawari better head back to Yubiyubi.” The arbitrator shook her head. “My squad is not far behind.”


    “I am afraid I shall decline. My subject is facing this danger alone, and the Stranieros are in need of help.”


    “...”


    “I apologize, Rosée, but you will not stop me. Even if I disobey an order of the Court, this is what I must do.” Kahokayo turned around and prepared to move forward.


    “You…Has the House of Biyu—”


    “Alright, that’s enough.” I clapped my hands together to get their attention. Kahokayo turned her head and the arbitrator shot her gaze at me. “Look, I don’t speak Koronese that fluently, but the more time we waste, Yodomi, and the Stranieros will be in more trouble. So I request, let us co?perate with Arbitrator D’émori and handle this together.”


    “...”


    “...”


    We found ourselves walking together alongside D’émori, along with her other teammates assisting her. Although the servants of the Court looked at us with suspicious eyes under their hoods, they decided to keep to themselves. To think we were now working together with a government entity just to reach Yodomi…I questioned what I’d gotten ourselves into.


    The group of ten continued deeper into the forest. A scent of fire pervaded in the breeze while belches of smoke rose into the air. We hastened our strides and pushed onward. The refugee camp ahead fell silent. Just what was going on? If this was something that prompted even the Court to investigate, then the percussions of our participation could affect the course of our journey.


    Koroné was unlike the other nations; A small country that bore old connections similar to a countryside town, and everyone seemed to know each other. And with the relationship between the House of Biyu and the Court, I felt I’d been thrust into decades of struggle within this tiny nation on the map.


    As we drew closer, the faint echoes of men sounded throughout the trees. The voices rustled the branches and scared the tiny rodents. I clenched my fist tight and fastened my sword. When I glanced to my sides, D’émori and Kahokayo seemed unfazed by nature’s signs. They marched onward parallel to each other in silence. They hadn’t spoken a word since I asked them to work together.


    “Miss Biyu.”


    “...Yes?”


    “Could fill me in on what this whole ‘supremacist group is about’?” I had genuine curiosity and had to ask. “What Arbitrator D’émori said—”


    “They…are unredeemable, pitiful people. That’s all,” the mandarin arbitrator answered for her, “You’ll see.”


    Kahokayo turned and faced D’émori. “Rosée. They are our people, the <ruby>Koronézuki<rt>citizens of Koroné</rt></ruby>. They just need the right guidance.”


    “Have you tried convincing them?” She fired back, before dialing her tone down a bit. At that moment I was reminded by how she acted around Tursun. “The Court has already attempted quelling these movements to no avail.”


    “The Court sympathizes with them. After all, we all share in their sentiment towards the fall of émori.”


    Kahokayo’s retort silenced the mandarin arbitrator who gave a sigh. I didn’t know if I regretted asking the question in the first place. émori…I recalled on the map the ruins of the same name in the west.


    “...I apologize for bringing that up.” Kahokayo lowered her head. “My brother and I have not seen you since you joined the Court’s upper echelon.”


    D’émori looked away and scratched her head. Her face hid her tightened lips. “Tch. It’s fine.”


    “Miss D’émori!” An arbitrator yelled and pointed upward. Everyone grounded in place.


    My chest began to clench. I could hear whistling from the trees. That familiar whistle painted the image of Ruri in my head, yet it was less refined than her sound. My hands stumbled to get Zhongji Ruidao and fumbled my grip onto its scabbard. In a split second, I saw D’émori before she shoved me into the nearby bushes.


    D’émori drew out her longsword and shouted, “Disperse! Kahokayo, shield!”


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Kahokayo stepped forward and spread her hands into the air. The arbitrators affirmed her order with a grunt and scattered into the adjacent shrubbery. She and Kahokayo stood side by side as a barrier formed above them from a quick chant. Arrows whirred and bounced off the side of the two. A beam of energy blasted from nowhere to follow the initial arrow rain. The two didn’t flinch while the magical laser split in half in front of them.


    “Honenu, Ribiko, Sochi, make sure to get these casters off our backs! The other four will follow me.” D’émori’s voice cut through the cacophony of ongoing projectiles. Then she rushed towards me and pulled me from the ground. “Up on your feet, Kawari! The rest of us will head to the camp!”


    “...Yes ma’am!” I couldn’t tell if I said that in sync with the other arbitrators. My fingers at last found a grip on my blade’s handle as I tailed Kahokayo and D’émori running deeper into the forest.


    The branches poked and crunched beneath my feet. The clashing of metal erupted from all directions. Two other arbitrators engaged the unknown hostiles at our rear. The scent of smoke strengthened. I held my breath. The air never felt more constrictive. A sensation that I would surely choke if I inhaled it. The sky brewed into a grayish blue.


    A shredded green tent appeared on the right. For a moment I stopped my run and slowed down, wanting to observe the dilapidated structure. Holding my nose from the smoke I approached the tent and pulled back the fly sheet with shaking hands. A wave of nausea crept up my stomach.


    “Gh—It’s…” I jumped back after seeing a pool of blood. The man inside had his entire side missing. Even if I held my nose, the corpse’s pungent stench shot right up my nostrils. A foul taste gurgled in my throat. Who would murder these people?—no, the thought of several similar events back on Earth retorted that question. I didn’t want to see this again since our time in Waqwaq, yet I knew this was unavoidable in this world. Kahokayo’s voice reminded me to continue marching onward.


    By the time I caught up with the main group they squatted behind a couple of trees. I crouched and came up to them, trying to see who they were observing. I put my back to a tree and peeked to the side. Just ahead was a clearing in the forest, where a man brandished a spear towards several demihuman men surrounding him. As I squinted my eyes, I noticed another person cowering behind the man. A rugged boy fearing for his life. The boy I’d given my pen to.


    “Yodomi and that boy,” I blurted out, only to shut my mouth at D’émori’s hush.


    Kahokayo whispered from a nearby bush, “Indeed. That man is my retainer. What shall we do to save him and that child?”


    “Hold on, I’m thinking…” She rubbed her hand on her temple, staring downward and set her sword into the dirt. Then D’émori glanced at the rest of us awaiting her commands.


    I’d never known her to be so reliable. From meeting her on the Koronese border, to when I witnessed discrimination against her firsthand in Yubiyubi, she always seemed distant. But hearing her shout and take the lead was a new side I hadn’t seen. I couldn’t help but be amazed by her prowess. Why didn’t the Court utilize her more than just border patrol?


    “They’re sporadically positioned in the opposite direction of the two. Kawari, Kahokayo, with me. Sumiyu and Miki will flank left and right and stay hidden until my signal. We will support your retainer in broad daylight.”


    “Affirmative.” The other arbitrators nodded quietly before sneaking to the edges of the clearing. The rest of us lay in the bushes. Nothing could be heard except for the loud wind whirling through the tense forest. Until one of the hostile men shouted over it.


    “Wawaqi, why protect that boy?” A masculine, yet clear voice cleared the silence. I had trouble listening to his Koronese, an unrecognizable strange accent I’d never heard before. “If you’ve lived here then you know the history behind this country. And surely, Waqwaq has experienced the exact same tragedies. Hand him over and we’ll take better care of him than the Court will.”


    “...”


    I could imagine Yodomi’s response clearly without even seeing it.


    Yodomi soon shouted back, “‘Take care of him’? I’m sure you’ll slide that halberd in his throat before that, and I won’t let that happen.”


    What were we doing? Shouldn’t we jump in already? They’d already drawn and brandished their weapons. I looked up to D’émori, who closely observed Yodomi and the demihuman’s interaction.


    “Any Aquitani, whether it be Straniero or D’Orientois, is poison to Koroné. Any one of them, even the ones who dare call themselves <ruby>Koronézuki<rt>demihumans</rt></ruby>, will—”


    “Now,” The mandarin arbitrator said without warning. My legs sprung myself into the clearing as the other arbitrators marched from the outer flanks. The hostile party found themselves evenly matched by us, while D’émori stood before the man who belittled the Stranieros. Her arm extended her longsword, barely touching the tip of the man’s spear. Yodomi’s eyes widened as Kahokayo and I stood beside him. Kahokayo put her hand on the boy’s shoulder to reassure him.


    “...Well, well. You could have just massacred us in an ambush, Arbitrator D’émori. I take it perhaps you’ve grown to sympathize with our cause?” The demihuman man, instead of a surprised look, gave a nasty grin.


    “You’re lucky. Hadn’t a Biyu been present I would slaughter you after hearing your arrogant, vile philosophy.” She matched his attitude with no hesitation. “The Koronese Restoration League has no place in modern Koroné, yet you lot lurk in the countryside to satiate your sadistic pleasure.”


    “Someone has to do the necessary evil. We’ll try to be quieter next time.”


    “Oh, you’ll be quiet under the damning silence of the Okayu Court.”


    “You seem more pissed off than usual. Us restorationists are the vigilantes, the backbone that the Court lacks.” He laughed nonchalantly even after D’émori attempted to tell him off. No one moved a step except for those two, who moved from side to side, watching each other play off their words. “<ruby>Cioqui ci''a canuo?o és-ùnes?osu?i<rt>Chioki yumiyuéchi kanuoro so esero.</rt></ruby>.”


    “Siquicuca ossi! Speaking in that tongue will never bring back émori, é?io!”


    I once again scratch my head at the strange language. I could get a vague idea of what they argued about, although they sounded as if they had tweaked some words.


    “émorian Koronese,” Kahokayo answered my question, “I have not heard that dialect spoken in decades…nevermind that. Yodomi, we came to help you. Why did you leave without warning us?”


    “Tch. I did not require any assistance, Lady Biyu. They—”


    Ignoring Yodomi’s dodgy reply, my mind focused on é?io’s <ruby>entourage<rt>restoriationists</rt></ruby> who observed us and the arbitrators in the back. Wearing flowy capes and plumed hats, they had staves with a rhombus-shaped gemstone on the tips. They chattered amongst themselves, inaudible to even D’émori who bickered with é?io. My stomach clenched as I knew something would come. I sheathed Zhongji Ruidao and carefully tuned my ears. My eavesdropping skills wouldn’t fail me now. I attempted to listen to the background voices, hearing the bloodlust in the oncoming breeze. I could hear…a song? A melody?


    “On, nomici Cu?oné, misuso oqui?i goci ?i in guné sonsu miùnées…”


    “....”


    “Oqui?i guocu''umi cunées nsu sonsu ''asioni ésu''aùnées…”


    “...Gh!” I’d just realized what é?io’s plan was. My hands reached for Kahokayo and Yodomi’s shoulders and pulled them back. “Those people behind him are chanting! Get out of the way!”


    D’émori glanced behind me. All the other arbitrators ducked. é?io dashed towards D''émori, thrusting his halberd. The mages behind him lifted their hands and broke into song. Red energy beams burst from their mouths. From then onward, I could only hear music.