The Adrift Oath

Chapter VIII: Hope

"How?" Yuna exclaimed with a loud whisper as her heart had yet to recover from the previous answer

"Eh?" Ichiya replied with confusion of her own as Yuna took a step forward, her see through silhouette was intimidating as it is let alone when she was visibly angry

"I said how?!" She yelled, furrowing her eyebrows as her logical side could only see Ichiya's statement being a joke

"There's no way my country still stand!" She gestured aggressively with her hand towards Ichiya, denial in her words

"I saw what happened! I was with the men and women in the frontline when we lost the battle at Yokohama!" Ichiya on the other hand tried to protect herself from the angry spirit with her hands raised

"Wait... does that mean you really are Naginata Yuna...?" Ichiya asked her, mouth opened while her eyes widened at the sight of one of the legend's heroes, or at least the spirit of one

"Answer me!" Yuna screamed at her which prompted her to recoil back with a skipped heartbeat

"Yuna your anger isn't helping Ichiya explain what you want her to!" Fae said loudly to her friend that slowly looked over her shoulder to give Fae a freezing gaze

But then, as she could see Fae's eyes hide the fear that she had for Yuna's intimidating stare, the wraith decided that she should take a deep breath, Fae was the only reason that she was out of that putrid dungeon and brought here, she shouldn't act this way

"I apologize" Giving a bow to both Fae behind her and Ichiya in front of her, Yuna then lifted her head and looked at the latter

"Please, just tell me what happened after I died" She asked for the truth that was finally out of arm's reach

"W-well" With a stutter from the still present tension, Ichiya scratched the back of her head

"I'm not very knowledgeable about our history" She started off with not giving much hope for Yuna

"But I know that after Yokohama was lost, the Aralians sailed to our islands and fought against us for 7 months" Putting one hand on her waist and gesturing with the other, Ichiya continued

"After that period a truce was made between both nations, and with the end of the Naginata bloodline a famous figure of that war was chosen as the next emperor" Ichiya explained, Yuna seemed to catch on to what happened but Fae was as lost as the word could get

"What's uh, Yokohama?" Fae asked, and Ichiya seemed happy to give the answer of that

"Yokohama was a blade colony that Yuna's parents received as a peace offering from the Aralians when they were at war" As she explained the start, Fae crossed her arms and tilted her head

"Looks like your country and Aralia aren't the best of friends" Ichiya let out a soft chuckle

"Well, Aralia never was friends with any nation due to it being a militaristic nation in nature" Her chuckle then turned sour as remembrance hit her

"And the church nesting itself in Aralia's capital doesn't help either" Fae had a curious eyebrow raised

"Why's that?" What seemed like a right question for Fae, looked bizarre for Ichiya

"The church is infamous for being intolerant towards any belief other than the four gods" Yuna replied on behalf of Ichiya

"But please, let's stay on topic" She added on, looking at Ichiya again for more answers

"We had no chance against the Aralians with how many soldiers we lost at Yokohama, just how did you win the war?" Yuna with her tone sounded as if she was pleading for answers, but Ichiya's knowledge finally dried out