I awoke in the morning and felt a weight in my arms on the bed. Looking towards the source I see Lyn looking at me with a bright smile. "Good morning, Percy!" She says. "Morning." I reply stunned by her brightness. "Did you sleep alright?" She says with a bit of worry in her eyes. "I slept great." I say before trying to get away.
"Everyone's waiting for us outside." She says getting up and going to get ready to greet everyone. I nod and do the same. Moving robotically along the way.
…
When we go outside Sain is glaring at me. Gawain, Madelyn, and Wil are smiling at me with pride? Erk is trying to hide a smile, while Lucius, Athena and Serra look confused at everyone's moods. After a few moments Lyn walks out and has a cheery demeanor rather than having her brow furrowed with worry. Everyone else notices the change and has their smiles growing wider.
"Oh! I forgot something in the inn!" I say walking away from the group. When I walk away, I see Madelyn approaching her daughter and whispering something to each other.
I enter the inn and exit through the back door. Looking around I see no one watching and cast the Summon Stefan skill. A portal opens in front of me and out steps the lion branded swordsman. His hair is a messy green. He has black tights on with a purple jacket over him. On his side is a Vague Katti, the lightweight powerhouse from the Tellius region. He has his typical swords master garment on as well.
"Stefan at your service." He says with a bow. He looks at me surprised after covering from the bow. "Oh? You're branded as well? A lion… What do you say a test of skill?" He says eager for a fight.
"We don't have time for that right now. I have something I need you to do…" I summon my duplicate and explain the plan to him.
"So, you and I will go figure out who is being held hostage for that man and then save them? Easy enough. I will return when I have the person." He nods. My duplicate goes with him and I return to the group. The duplicate will know how to return to me wherever I am since it's just me. So it has access to the system map as well.
After seeing me return Lyn nods to herself "Lets head out!"
--
We finally arrive in Caelin after a few hours' worth of travel.
"Look, Percy! The mountains seem so far away now. We've come such a long way…" Lyn says from beside me.
"Milady Madelyn, Milady Lyndis! We can't be very far from the castle now!" Sain says looking forward.
"By my reckoning, we can reach Castle Caelin in two days if we hurry." Kent adds in.
"Two more days… Hold on grandfather. Please…" She says with a downcast expression.
Florina speaks up from beside Lyn. "Cheer up, Lyn. If they see you looking so sad, the entire company will lose heart."
"Florina is right." I say adding on.
"You're right. There's nothing to be gained by worrying. We just have to press onward."
"That's the spirit!" Florina says with a cheer before quickly quieting down after seeing the eyes on her. "Sorry." She mumbles out.
"No, keep that energy Florina! It'll keep us going!" I say trying to get her out of her shell. "Say it with me! Woooooo!" Full of energy I shout out.
"W-wooo!" She tries to shout but struggles a bit. "Don't worry we'll work on it!" I say giving her reassurance and her eyes light up with a fire.
I look towards Matthew who starts to walk. "Lady Lyndis! Sir Percival! I have some minor… business… to attend to. I'm unable to join you. If you need any of my possessions, please take them now." I nod to him and Lyn nods along. "Get some information on Lundgren if you can as well for us, while you're gone." I say not quite remembering where he's going.
Gawain notices Nils stop moving and turns towards him. "What's the matter kid?"
"Danger approaches…" He says with his trained-on Lyn. 'Oh shit I forgot about the ballistas!'
I move towards Lyn and keep an eye out for projectiles.
"What did you say?" Lyn says speaking up, but stops moving when she sees me coming close to her.
"I don't see anything. Are you sure?" Sain says looking around not seeing anything.
"I feel it, too. I'm sure of it. Ah! Percival dodge it!" Ninian shouts out.
My eyes ability already activated I see the ballista bolt soaring at me. I place a hand on my sword and get ready to intercept it.
Ninian screams, but I ignore it. If I move Lyn will get hit so I just need to cut it. 'Now!' With a wide grin on my face I slash out with my sword. The bolt is split in half and separated in two separate directions. I make sure to avoid any teammates with shrapnel. I put my sword back and let out a breath I was holding in.
"So, he's set up ballistas…" I say looking at the bolt. "Set up for a fight!" I shout out. Not hearing any movements, I turn around. Instead of seeing a dreadful scene that I was expecting, everyone is looking at me with shock. "What?" I say looking at them confused. Gawain and Athena have the same confused expression on.
"Don't you say 'what' after cutting a high-speed ballista bolt coming at you!" Erk yells out from the back, while everyone else is shouting out agreements.
"If I dodged it Lyn would've got hit. So, I had to cut it in half." I say shrugging my shoulder.
"Don't say something so humanly impossible so casually!" Wil shouts out. "How am I supposed to compete with him now…" Sain starts to mope. Lyn walks up to me and checks for wounds. "Don't do it again." She says looking at me with serious look in her eyes. "Don't stand in front of a ballista bolt next time." I mumble out. She shakes her head and turns back to the others.
I turn to Wil. "Can you use a ballista?" I say looking at him.
"I've never tried it, but… It's just a really big bow, right? I should be able to figure it out."
"All we can ask is that you try…" Kent says from the side.
"Let's see what we can do!" Sain shouts out trying to hype himself up.
I turn back towards the battlefield. Surveying it I see the ballista stationed on a hill to the south. "I see the ballista. Wil you're with me! Kent and Sain push up slowly with Serra, Erk and Lucius on support. Lyn keep an eye out for any enemies they can't handle." They nod and I rush off with Wil behind me.
"Wil it'll take us maybe five minutes to get there at a full sprint. Can you keep up?" I say with a smirk.
"You're not leaving me in the dust! I've trained just for this!" He says running at my pace. I nod and pull out my sword and fight off the first soldier we meet. Cutting him down before he has a chance to attack scares the others. Wil takes advantage of their fright and launches arrows at them. Most die instantly to the arrows, but a few miss. The targets that didn't die to the arrows die to my blade instead.
"What are you curs waiting for? They're nothing but fleas! Call up for reinforcements, and rush 'em!" I hear a burly man's voice yell out over the sound of battle. 'Lyn should make short work of him with the Mani Katti.'
We finally reach the ballista and secure it. "Wil get on it. I'll watch over you." He nods and starts trying to work the thing. "How does this thing even work…" I hear him mumbling to himself.
He launches a ballista bolt and pierces an enemy immediately. "Looks like you figured it out, Wil."
"Oh, it's definitely something. I can get used to this!" He shouts out excited.
The leader of the Caelin forces turns in our direction and I wave at him. He turns back around and sees Lyn charging at him. "Curses! The ballista was taken… What's going on here!? Somebody, get that girl!"
Lyn and the man fight, but his lance was designed to counter axes. It's natural defense against blades gone ruining any chance he has against a fast fighter like Lyn. She pierces his armor like butter with her blade.
"Lord Lundgren… I've failed you… I pray you hurry… with those reinforcements… you promised." The man says before his life fades from his eyes.
Wil and I arrive just in time to see Matthew approaching as well. Seeing the ballista bolts sticking out of a couple of corpses his face grimaces. "What's this? You dealt with the ballista, too? Nicely done!"
I turn towards him and wait for him to speak, while Lyn nods at him. "Matthew, where were you during all this?"
He rubs his nose and says "I went to the village to sniff about for information. I got some interesting news for my trouble, too. First, about the Marquess Caelin's illness. He really is unwell. He's been abed for nigh on three months. The people believe someone's poisoning him."
Lyn looks shocked at this. Not willing to believe her granduncle would do something like that to his own brother. "He's been poisoned!? How can this be? How can they allow him to get away with this?"
"The townsfolk believe it to be Lord Lundgren, the marquess's brother."
"The villagers know he's the one poisoning my grandfather, and yet no one raises a hand against him? Why?"
I look towards Lyn and shake my head. "They lack proof and they are just villagers. The whisperings of common people nothing to those above them. If they even so much as had the idea an army would be on their doorsteps."
Matthew shakes his head. "The worst news is yet to come. An imposter's appeared, claiming to be the marquess's granddaughter. At least, that's the story he's telling anyone willing to listen."
"What does that mean?" Lyn says confused by the politics in this plot.
"It means that people are waiting for two traitorous knights and a baseborn child to appear and lay claim to Castle Caelin." Matthew speaks up to clarify.
"Traitors? Us? Ridiculous!!!" Kent shouts out.
"He says… I'm an imposter?" Lyn speaks up, shaken by the granduncle's betrayal.
"Don't you have anything that proves your lineage?" Matthew says looking over Lyn.
"When my mother joined the Lorca, she brought nothing of Lycia with her." Lyn looks towards her mother. "No I did not manage to bring anything that would be able to confirm who we are… Lundgren will be able to recognize me, though."
"He'll certainly claim you're also an imposter." Matthew speaks up.
"The portraits inside the castle should be enough proof… No it won't work we'll need another plan." I say looking towards Lyn.
"Eliwood would be able to help us. In blocking any other lords from involving themselves…" I say looking back to Kathelet.
"Let's hurry!" Sain says and Lyn agrees.
