Chapter 99: Epilogue (II)

Happy holidays!

Enjoy a longer chapter!

Giliath still demands your power stones!

*

December, Year S1196.

Unknown distance above Liberl's sky.

A fast sea of white clouds slowly drifted around. Many appearing gray due to the winter season. Above the clouds a loud whoosh suddenly struck the air surrounding it.

A colossal shadow suddenly appeared from inside the clouds, quickly approaching a feasible altitude. It did not look human. And it wasn't. As it was a large aircraft of sorts. Its design was mostly red, and it was as if it was a giant boat moving its oars, swimming in an ocean of clouds.

This colossal airship had not been seen much to Zemurians to date, as it was one of the trump cards of an organization that resided in the shadows.

The Glorious. Ouroboros's, largest ship for air travel and one of their main bases of operation. Spanning over two hundred and eighty meters long.

Ever since the events at Nemeth Island concluded with Paradise being completely annihilated by a joint operation between a group of escaped children, Ouroboros, and Zephyr, one of Zemuria's most renown Jaeger corps, one of the Enforcers, Campanella the Fool, invited a certain young violet haired prince and his entourage on board the Glorious.

And unbeknownst to the prince, another year went by in a blink of an eye. Just like a counterpart to his cousin, he is now ten years old. He was growing more day by day.

Most nobles debuted in high society around the age of fifteen to sixteen, so this prince still had a ways to go.

But that didn't matter to him right now. At the present moment, he was on his way back home on one of the most peak technological advancements to date.

It had been four years since his actual home was destroyed by another prominent Jaeger corp., the Red Constellation. Not many knew he was alive, but those that did, Liberal's royalty knew. The only thing that they didn't know was that their Crown Prince was returning home sooner than anticipated.

It was now morning again, and among the vast array of rooms scattered throughout the interior, inside one of them the same violet haired prince could be seen resting. He was not alone in the bed either. A purple haired girl holding a black rabbit doll could also be seen further in the bed, resting peacefully beside him.

More toward the beginning, this girl would still have nightmares after being taken by the DG Cult. Enough time had passed to where the nightmares do not occur as frequently. On this specific day, she could be seen having a nice dream as a smile was on her face.

As for me though...

Feeling the sun's rays pierce our room, I could feel my mind stir awake from the slumber of last night. Among those from our group I typically woke up the earliest. But it was hard to tell the current time due to being up so high in the air like this.

"Mmm...", I uttered softly not to wake up Renne who was sleeping beside me still. I slowly opened my eyes.

"Can't believe it's already been four months or so since I've boarded the Glorious...", I continued to utter.

"Everyone was quite welcoming too, considering I'm currently being backed by both the Grandmaster, and the Faceless. I was surprised to see the amount on board too...", I continued. Taking the time, I removed the covers slowly, but made sure Renne still had hers. Without making a sound, I slowly made my way toward my desk.

It is almost the end of our flight, but we've went around to various places before arriving into Liberlian airspace. Guess I should talk about that too, eh? My original group have unfortunately parted ways with me during this time.

To begin with was Sherryl. While still aspiring to become a maid to serve under my direct control, she herself found that her body was changing and growing stronger day by day. Hell even now she could feel faint flows of battle aura after it was shown to her. She had a very high potential to become a martial artist.

Just knowing that fact alone, Sherryl became determined to start training both physically, and mentally. While she could have found a suitable teacher while on board the Glorious, we were still in Calvard at the time of this discovery. The cause was likely Gnosis drug. As for the result, we decided to approach the Bracer Guild.

We were quickly informed the popular martial art styles to train under. While keeping up a disguise, by some stroke of luck, we were able to encounter Zin Vathek, a Bracer who had joined not too long ago. We learnt that he trained in martial arts.

Giving a formal introduction, Zin was quick-witted to realize Sherryl's potential, and even offered to train her himself in Taito, which was one of Calvard's most prominent martial arts style.

We saw no reason to decline. Sherryl steeled her resolve and decided to venture with Zin, and parted ways. We long decided to hold off on Sherryl's reunion with her parents and sister in Crossbell. That won't happen until a later time.

Sherryl was the first to go.

But up next might been our most interesting encounter. While finishing our travels in Calvard after giving our farewell to Sherryl and Zin, up next was Van.

We met a travelling priest, and it was not Kevin Graham, as he should still be with Ein. Who me met was also a member of the Septian Church. He was quick to realize who I really was as Crown Prince of Liberl, but that did not effect our conversation minus the pleasantries.

In Calvard, he was known as the Roaring Lion, but his real name was Gunther Barkhorn. To our surprise, he actually knew Van prior to us finding him. He gave us his regard for finding Van, who was actually one of his secret disciples. It was curious to know how Van fought the way he did during our raid, but apparently this style is known as the Kunlun style, which heavily focused on chi release.

Barkhorn determined it was a strand of unfortunate bad luck for Van getting captured into the DG Cult. Knowing it wasn't time yet to reunite with Elaine, Van became determined to grow even stronger, and decided to accompany Priest Barkhorn. Van parted ways from our group and would always remember this grace for saving him, becoming determined to pay me back at some point too. Van left with Barkhorn afterward.

With Sherryl and Van gone, only Ennea, Tio and Emma remained behind, to which we traveled out of Calvard via the Glorious, thanks to Campanella's invitation.

Ennea did not react much while Tio had sparkling eyes every inch and corner she saw while on board the Glorious while Emma had a surprised Pikachu face the whole time, not knowing how such a feet like the Glorious was possible.

Still, we were able to meet the other Enforcers. The only one who was not present was surprisingly McBurn. He was still in seclusion and did not show any sign of coming out soon. Hopefully he will by the time zero and cold steel start.

The first one we met was Enforcer II, Leonhardt the Bladelord. With him was the Enforcer XIII, the Black Fang. Loewe and Joshua respectively.

Up next was someone who I was not familiar with, but Ennea was shocked to see her. This woman one one of Ennea's senior assassins while in the Order of the Moonlight Horse. She introduced herself as Enforcer III The Golden Butterfly. Real name being Lucrezia Isselee. This woman did not make a single appearance in the existing Trails games, so I could only assume she appeared in Kuro onward. To say the least, she was quite elegant. Ennea quickly got along with her as a fellow assassin.

Up next was another woman who this time I was familiar with. Enforcer VI The Bewitching Bell. Sherazard's older sister in a way and still a breathtaking beauty at that. Luciola. Any time I got caught staring at her insanely large breasts, Emma would pinch me. Haha!

Moving along, the only remaining Enforcer on board the Glorious was probably one of the most hated, annoying yet likeable at the same time characters that I remember. Enforcer X, Phantom Thief B. A real noble in the Erebonian Empire who went by Bleublanc.

Besides these Enforcers currently on board with us, they did mention that one retired not too long ago, who was also part of the Golden Butterfly's and Ennea's group. This one was of course the Severing Chains, or more commonly known as Sharon Kreuger. It was unfortunately she had already retired, but I guess her battle with the Black Alberich successfully ensued after he was chased out of the White Shrine by Isola.

Sadly none of the Anguis were on board right now either, it was mostly just us venturing with Liberl as our final destination. After departing from Calvard, Remiferia was our next destination. Meeting the Bartholomeus House was on my radar in person, but that didn't happen at this point. The only thing we had in Remiferia was for Tio.

Just like how Guy brought Tio back to her parents when she was rescued, we decided to do the same. Unsurprisingly, Tio had a similar reaction compared to the original story. Thanks to the Gnosis drug and her lack of emotion, her parents quickly alienated themselves from Tio. Tio became disheartened, thinking her parents could change for better, but after one to two weeks, her parents didn't even see Tio as their own child anymore, and even got disowned.

Thankfully we were there to comfort Tio, but despite not having much emotion anymore, Tio was still able to cry after the paperwork was filled out. That didn't come without a response though. After going through a period of sadness, Tio renewed her determination, and successfully found where her interests laid. Orbal technology and magic. Tio decided to go with the former first, and requested us to pay a visit to the Epstein Foundation.

Despite Gnosis mostly powering up her sensory capabilities, Tio's intellect was also risen by a good amount. After visiting the main Epstein Foundation in Leman State, their scientists didn't take long to offer a full scholarship for Tio to study at their institute of technology, despite still being a mere six year old girl. Over there it was open to all ages, only those with bright minds that could strive for a better tomorrow could compete with each other.

Seeing this result, Tio was still reluctant to say goodbye to us, but she wanted to do this, and we didn't stop her. She promised that once she achieved good results and gotten older, that she would come pay a visit to me, wherever that may be at the time.

With that, it was now down to just Ennea, me, and Emma. As for Ennea, she quickly decided to stay on board the Glorious, especially after telling her the person she was going to meet was none other than one of the Anguis. Unfortunately the Steel Maiden herself wasn't on board during this trip, so she will like remain on board until she meets her. As to whether the Steel Maiden had already recruited Duvalie and Ines, that remains to be seen.

Emma's decision on what to do from here on was quite simple. Roselia gave her a mission of watching over me for the time being in Vita's place, and that is what she is going to do. So no matter where I go, Emma will be by my side for now.

After departing from Remiferia and Leman State, we did a quick detour in secrecy to Heimdallr, and dropped off Lechter and Rufus. Lechter treated this as just one of his normal mission and bid us farewell, while I personally bid goodbye to Rufus. I also gave a side mission to Rufus to check on the Cayenne House. Musse's parents were to due to die any time now thanks to a maritime accident, so it was crucial to see whether that would still happen, as I had personally warned them back when I was in Heimdallr several years ago. Hopefully they took that warning seriously, otherwise there will likely be a switch in power in the Cayenne House. Rufus could quickly tell what I was up to, and promised he would look into the matter.

It was also likely Rufus and Lechter would report to father on the happenings thus far, and father may even come to hate me if he learns that I am cooperating with the snakes, or will soon be anyway. He has definitely done his fair share of give and take, so I don't see why I couldn't do that too.

And now, it was just mostly us three and the enforcers on deck, finally arriving in Liberl. It probably wasn't long until we reach Grancel Castle. Before I knew it while thinking that, another one to two hours passed as the sun continued to rise, starting the next morning.

"Mmm...", The purple haired girl suddenly said, feeling her eyelids flutter thanks to the sun peering into our room. It didn't take long for her to wake up, and saw me at my desk with my diary open, recalling the events that had taken place.

"Good morning, Big Brother.", Renne said, revealing a smile on her face. She leaned up and rested her back on the pillows behind her. "Already writing again?", Renne continued to ask, seeing me with my diary open.

Hearing Renne ask that, I let out a chuckle.

"Haha, not this time. Just a bit of recollecting. Most of my friends have departed since we started this flight, and it looks like I'm next up. We arrived in Liberl not too long ago.", I said, revealing a smile.

Unexpectedly, Renne revealed a frown, only to quickly get out of bed and rush at me. With a hint of sadness in her eyes, she gave a hug.

"Must you go? Can't I come with you?", Renne asked, worriedly.

I couldn't help but pat Renne's head a bit after she asked that.

"Sadly I must. I have my own duties to attend to in Liberl. You are having fun with Loewe, Joshua, and the others, aren't you, Renne?", I asked as I patted Renne's head a bit.

"Yeah. They're really fun to play with, but I'd rather go with you!", Renne said, revealing a pout.

"Tell you what. Become an enforcer here and I'll personally pick you up and let you tour Grancel Castle. How does that sound?", I decided to ask, which immediately drew Renne's interest.

"Really?", Renne asked.

"Of course. And now that you're up, why don't we start our next session?", I answered with a smile.

"Okay! That magic is really nice to the touch. I don't feel much pain on my back anymore.", Renne answered happily. Before I could do anything else, Renne returned to the bed, and began to undo her blouse. Letting it slide off revealed her bare back and chest, but it wasn't smooth and silky like a normal girl her age would be. Over her skin laid a good amount of scars and bruises of varying degrees. But now thankfully most seemed to be closed.

Seeing Renne do this proactively, I closed my diary and brought my chair over to the bed. Circulating my mana, I rose my hand a bit, before it was covered in a bluish aura. However, just as I was about to place my hand on Renne's back to start today's healing session, we suddenly heard a knock on our door.

"Are you up, Naoto? Mister Campanella said we would be arriving at Grancel Castle later today--?", Emma's voice suddenly carried throughout our room. Opening the door, Emma's head peaked into our room.

"Ah...", Emma tried to say, only to see me circulating my mana. However, the moment Emma laid her eyes on Renne's back, I saw Renne begin to tense up. I immediately moved the bed covers over Renne to cover her body from being seen. Despite that, Emma was still able to catch a glimpse of Renne's scars.

"I'm sorry, Emma. Renne is still uncomfortable with others still seeing her like this.",

"Big Brother...", Renne tried to say, only to feel me pat her head a bit more. "It's Big Sister Emma. I don't mind. Really.", Renne tried to say, only to continue shivering slightly.

"Are you sure, Renne?", I asked Renne.

"Yeah.", Renne said, nodding her head a bit before the covers loosened a bit.

"It's those bastards who are unforgivable. I can't believe they would do something to a little girl like you...", Emma said, flaring up in anger seeing Renne like this.

"You are right about that, Emma. Has Master taught you healing magic at all?", I decided to ask Emma.

"Only a bit. And seeing wounds like these, it will definitely take time to recover. But from the sound of it, you've already had a few sessions of doing this, haven't you, Naoto?", Emma asked me.

"We have. To be honest, it will go quicker with your help in this. Are you fine with Emma joining, Renne?", I decided to ask again to be sure.

"I don't mind. It is very soothing to me.", Renne answered in confidence. She stopped shivering after saying that.

Gently closing the door, Emma continued to speak.

"What do I need to do, Naoto?", Emma decided to ask as she approached us.

Just like that, I, or we now, started our next healing session of healing Renne's wounds. More time passed as a result, and the Glorious drawing ever closer to Grancel Castle was soon to come into view..

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[Insert picture of Zin Vathek here]

[Insert picture of Gunther Barkhorn here]

[Insert picture of Lucrezia Isselee here]

[Insert picture of Luciola here]

[Insert picture of Bleublanc here]

[Insert picture of Renne here]