War For Underworld

To My Savior, Farewell

Ilia, two months later...

Two months have passed since the fall of Primus and the First Children. Two long months of rebuilding a broken Human Empire and Dark Territory, reestablishing the order trampled upon them, and preparations for the ceremonies to proceed the next few days. For Ilia, Ronie, and Tiese, tomorrow's their formal induction into the Order of Integrity Knights ranks, but today is the day the artificers' guild gain their new trainees.

One of them Ilia knows to be Alice's younger sister, Selka Zuberg. Having seen the young girl's work firsthand, Ilia knows she'll do well in the guild. Another choice, however, surprised her as much as it did Ronie and Tiese when they first heard it. After being strung by Tiese the entire morning, first to get into their pale-green and white knight uniforms, then sprinting through the cathedral gardens, the trio finally finds their target, and the redhead calls out to them. "Frenica!"

"Frenica! Over here!"

A girl their age with light brown hair tied into twin pigtails down her shoulders, dressed in the black and white uniform of the Axiom Church's artificers, turns to them and gasps. "Ronie! Tiese! Ilia!" She runs and hugs Ronie and Tiese first, then Ilia.

"I missed you, Frenica!" Ronie says.

"Me too... How've you both been?"

"Great, of course! Good to see you're looking well, too."

"We were so surprised when we heard the news," Ilia adds as the four girls take a seat on a bench. "It's amazing you were selected for the artificers' guild."

Frenica chuckles. "I know. But I wasn't sure I'd get the posting until a couple of months ago. Besides, I wanted to surprise you."

"Well, you certainly did! When I heard you were coming, I actually screamed."

"But congratulations, Frenica."

"Indeed. You deserve it, Frenica."

"We're all reunited, as of today!"

Frenica nods. "I'm still an apprentice, though, so I'll be spending a lot of my time training. But I'm so happy I get to be with you girls again! Ronie, Ilia, Tiese, we're going to have so much fun!" Ilia sees the grand smiles on her friends and decide against saying how much work they have yet to complete, especially after their promotion to full-fledged knights.

She turns her sights to the garden, where more artificer apprentices gather and hone in on one in particular. Standing with the Swordsman Delegate and Swordswoman Subdelegate is Selka. They seem to be having a cordial conversation, but something seems weird about all this... Right, the Emperor of the Dark Territory isn't present. He wouldn't miss today, would he? He did promise Ilia he'll be here for the induction ceremony. Maybe he will be at the Council meeting later on...the one that decides the fate of the sole prisoner of the First Children's rebellion.

Soon afterward, Lady Ahuya calls all the apprentices to gather for orientation. Frenica bids them farewell and joins Selka in following Ahuya to the cathedral. Standing up, Ilia straightens her tunic and turns to the girls. "We should have a celebratory dinner in town for Frenica. What do you say?"

Tiese stands up and nods. "Right... Oh, and I should tell her the news as well." Her eyes flicker to her right hand, where a silver ring is placed on the associated finger. About a month ago, Tiese happily accepted Renly's marriage proposal. Her feelings about him and Eugeo were sorted the moment Kirito gifted her the Blue Rose Sword, now attached to her side.