The Martial Unity

Sternon and Siliscia widened their eyes in shock at Ria’s words. Runark, of course, simply heaved a deep breath while Misha stirred at her words, not nearly as surprised as the other two.

”Y-you…” Sternon stammered. ”You’re the princess? Of the Kandrian Empire? You’re the daughter of the Emperor of Water?”

She nodded seriously. ”My first name is the same, of course. But my last name. That’s an alias.”

”You’re a princess…” Silisica murmured with a stunned expression. ”The princess of the Kandrian Empire…”

”I thought so. Your relationship with the Blood Empress makes sense. She’s your aunt. That’s why she fought that hard to protect you.” Misha remarked with a knowing gaze. ”You should have chosen an alias for your first name. I would have been less certain of it.”

Sternon and Siliscia were still rocked by the revelation, simply staring at Ria as if she had revealed to them that she was actually an alien. Sternon, in particular, struggled to parse the revelation. His memories of the Emperor of Water, both real and inherited, made the impact that the Emperor had on his life as multi-faceted as it was deep.

”No wonder… You felt strangely familiar when we first fought in that sparring session,” Sternon muttered. ”I always thought it was just a random feeling. But… to think that you’re the princess of the greatest empire in the world.”

It was such a shocking revelation that he was still reeling from the impact. He was sitting in front of an unimaginable importance, value, and power.

”If you’re a princess, then do you have one of those royal amulets that the royalty of the Kandrian Empire supposedly have?” Siliscia asked, almost as if she still couldn’t believe the confession.

”Yes, unfortunately.” Ria heaved a sigh, reaching for the air.

WHOOSH

In her hand, an amulet bearing the crest of the Kandrian Royal Family appeared out of nowhere. It was fashioned out of an esoteric substance that could be used to create pocket dimensions that could follow a marked object no matter where it went, a priceless esoteric substance that was used to create an even more valuable artifact.

A single glance at the red and white crest of the Kandrian Empire, which was a simple circle of life symbol surrounded by two curved olive branches, told them that they were looking at the real deal. Such was the magnificence of the craft.

”It’s real…” Silisica murmured, turning back to Ria with wide eyes, her sapphire pupils bearing deep into Ria’s eyes. ”You really are the princess of the Kandrian Empire.”

She nodded, putting the amulet away. She hated the artifact, even if she had promised her father that she would keep it and throw it away. Even if it was a symbol of her loathed status, it was also a symbol of her family. She begrudgingly kept it.

”Now that we’ve gotten out of the way,” Misha leaned back on Ria’s bed, staring right at her. ”What is a princess like yourself doing all the way out here in the frontier, Your Highness?”

”Stop that!” Ria cajoled Misha with knitted eyebrows. ”Just treat me as you have until now.”

”A bit difficult to do that, Your Highness.”

”Just Ria,” Ria glared at her.

Misha heaved a sigh. ”Very well then, but you haven’t answered my question.”

Several moments of silence passed. ”…I’m just spending as much time as far away from home as I possibly can, I suppose.”

”…Running away from home, are we?”

”I wasn’t running,” she quickly shot back. ”I was just… You know, taking a break from home.”

Even Runark directed a side stare at her.

”Ok, an extended break, sheesh. Get off my back.” She rolled her eyes.

”…You said you wanted to do missions taking on infected worlds, so I assume the extended break is going to continue?” Sternon asked.

He was still reeling from the impact of the revelation that she had shared. Countless questions bubbled in his mind, and it took real self-control to stop him from asking all of them. Now was not the time, clearly. Especially with that big, scary Martial Sage standing behind her ominously.

”Yes, I’m staying in the frontier,” Ria replied, before doing a double-take. ”Wait, I was planning on going back home briefly. Right away. After that, it will be more permanent.”

”What?” Siliscia gazed at her with a confused expression.

”Well,” Ria inhaled deeply. ”After everything that happened in Planet Amadeus III, I have come to realize that there’s…”

She stirred, thinking of how to put it. ”…something different about me. Something that my aunt, Runark’s dad—”

”Runark’s dad?” Sternon turned towards him. ”What about your dad?”

Runark smirked. ”Kane Dullahan.”

Sternon’s eyes widened. ”A Martial Corporeal?!”

”Yep,” Runark proudly replied.

”—and this annoyingly silent Martial Sage behind me,” she continued, shooting a scowl at Sage Sayfeel. ”Know and refuse to tell me about.”

Sage Sayfeel didn’t react to her barb, simply staring forward with inscrutable silence. She could say anything she wanted to him, and it wouldn’t change what he had to do and what his orders were. He could not reveal to her the truth, the truth that not even he fully understood.

Ria heaved an exasperated sigh, turning back to her friends. ”So I have to go back home, confront my father, and get the truth from him.”

”When you say different…” Misha remarked knowingly. ”You mean this?”

Her cybernetic white pupils lit up, projecting a two-dimensional hologram midair.

It was a brief, distant footage of the entire homoarachnoid population converging on one, and only one target.

Ria.

”What the hell?” Sternon’s translucent eyes widened. ”That happened when we were unconscious?”

WHOOSH

The hologram disappeared.

Ria nodded. ”Yes. For some reason, the homoararchnoids were obsessed with me. The stronger ones kept talking about the universe, or something, in my eyes. And on top of that.”

She gazed at her hands, closing her eyes.

”…I feel these strange sensations on my skin, like little needles lightly touching them,” she remarked, turning back to them with a serious expression. ”From a far, far away distance, and…”

She hesitated. ”…I think these sensations are infected worlds.”

She directed a sweeping gaze at them.

”I think I can sense infected worlds in the cosmos, the galaxy… maybe even the universe.”