Takahiro
A mission from Headquarters. That had to be big, right? Wait—what even is Headquarters? I glanced to my side to see Kenji bouncing in his seat, barely able to contain his excitement.
"When are we getting started?" he asked eagerly.
"In about four hours," Miss Stone replied. "The carriage will be passing by the Emerald Road near the Division base. You'll meet up with it and begin your mission from there."
"Emerald Road?" Yushiro asked.
"Yes, it's the main route connecting our territory to the others," she explained.
Miss Stone gave a satisfied nod, then gestured to one of her teammates. A man with a bizarre haircut and flowing robe stepped forward, dropping two glowing orbs onto the table—one red, one green.
"These are your emergency tools. This red one," she said, pointing to it, "is an emergency orb. When you pour your hashi into it, it launches into the air, sending out a distress signal to all nearby Division Knights. The green one is... uh... actually, I forgot. Anyway, doesn't matter. Take them."
She waved it off casually. Huh. Can you just forget mission equipment details like that?
Her teammate also placed three black pouches on the table. Each pouch contained the two orbs, both smaller than my palm. I strapped mine onto my belt, noticing Yushiro doing the same.
Just as we finished gearing up, one of Miss Stone's teammates stepped in front of me. The figure wore a hood, and despite their face being hidden, I could tell she was a woman by her voice and frame. I'd learned from my past mistakes—thanks to Yushiro's ambiguous looks as a kid.
"I, the one with the Ravens, stand before you with a gift," she said theatrically, letting her cloak flutter.
We stared at her.
She extended two sleek black scabbards. "These scabbards I offer. Accept them at once or suffer the consequences."
Yushiro took one without hesitation. "Thank you," he said, handing the other to Kenji.
Well, to be fair, they did need them. Kenji and Yushiro always carried their weapons without proper straps, one hand constantly occupied. These would help.
I patted the katana sheathed at my hip and gave a respectful bow. She turned with dramatic flair, her cloak fluttering behind her like a cape.
"Do not thank me, hatchlings. Prove your worth to me first."
Her teammates showered her with praise.
"Good work, Berry."
"You did great, Berry."
"I'm proud of you, Berry."
Ah, so her name is Berry.
With everything ready, we left the base and headed toward the Emerald Road. The walk took about three hours. We arrived with an hour to spare, settling in to wait for the caravan.
A dragon flew overhead, dragging the wind behind it. We looked up to see a dark blue dragon with a rider who waved before soaring back in the direction it had come from.
Roughly thirty minutes later, two carriages appeared in the distance, drawn by four massive horses. Two armored figures flanked the vehicles. The first carriage stopped in front of us. The elderly driver hopped down and opened the door.
Out stepped a pudgy boy who looked younger than us. He was wearing overly fancy clothes and gnawing on a piece of meat.
He looked us over, chewing all the while, before snapping his fingers.
The elderly man cleared his throat and addressed us. "Good afternoon, my dear sirs. This is the young master of the Zel House, Jerry Zel."
Jerry gave us a haughty look. "Thank you, Cedrick. I'm Jerry Zel. You fools will be my bodyguards. Protect me well and don't annoy me. Let's go, Cedrick."
Fools?
Cedrick closed the door and returned to the coachman's seat, flicking the reins. Kenji simply shrugged and followed the carriage. Yushiro and I trailed behind.
One of the armored guards—the tallest of the bunch—walked over and removed his helmet. He was handsome enough to make my sister Yume swoon.
"Yo, name's Gareth Walter," he greeted with a smile.
"Sup, I'm Kenji Kimura. These are my brothers," Kenji responded casually, gesturing toward us.
Yushiro whispered something in his ear. Kenji nodded and added, "Oh yeah, you're right."
"I'm Takahiro," I said.
"Yushiro," he introduced himself with a rehearsed smile.
Gareth looked at us for a moment, then grinned. "Nice to meet ya. The others here are Donovan and Naiz."
The other two guards waved.
Then Gareth leaned closer and nodded toward the coach seat. "See that guy sitting next to the driver? He's our supervisor."
The man glared down at us.
This mission had officially begun.