1.23 — Medith and her crew slipped into daily training inside the guild, steel returning to the whetstone like dawn to the horizon.

Other guild folk dropped by, doors swinging like wind-touched banners. Many confessed fear, voices thin as frost.

They said once Blood Coins hit the table, they won’t stop till blood spills, iron scent rising like a red tide.

Medith only smiled, a crescent thin as a blade, and held her tongue.

Anyone who once set eyes on her as prey—man or god—now lies under the soil.

If the Kuso Guild can do it, let them come, storm or no storm.

That same afternoon, Olivya’s packet on the Sanctuary of Freedom arrived, neat as snowbound letters.

Compiled intel on the near-northern legend, the Kuso Guild, came with it, like maps inked in cold wind.

She pointed out their guild holds a hefty Divine Stone, a heart of rock heavy as a mountain.

1.24 — Crimson Rose’s leader Lilina came with Koniya to give thanks, footsteps soft as rain.

Koniya offered a basket of her own dishes, steam curling like morning mist over a field.

They smiled and let old grudges melt, ice turning to spring water.

Lilina proposed merging with Medith’s guild, two rivers joining under the same sky.

Medith agreed at once, steady as a drawn bow.

From that day, the reborn guild gained three hundred women, a river pouring into a lake.

Its scale rose to four hundred, numbers like stars stitched into night.

That night, after long talk under lamplight pooling like honey, they chose quick-witted Iling to hold the fort.

She would co-govern with Lilina, Nora, and the others, threads weaving into one tapestry.

1.25 — Medith and her people packed their saddlebags, dew beading on leather like pearls.

They set out for the Sanctuary of Freedom, banners snapping like swallows in the wind.

They would seek the Divine Stone, grow the guild along the road, and meet this so-called Priest, storm or sunshine.

“Remember, don’t try to fix things by force,” Olivya warned, voice a soft veil in the doorway.

“It breeds more thorns—take care.” She was summoned away, worry trailing like smoke.

…

“Commander, you stayed only a few days, and you’re leaving already?” Martina’s eyes brimmed like rain over dark soil.

“Can’t be helped,” Medith laughed, clear as a bell in fog. “I’m finding you more companions.

Otherwise I wouldn’t grind myself like this.”

They still didn’t know her real aim—too wild to speak, like a dragon under the lake.

“Commander, please, take Peggy. She’s strong.” Nora nudged Peggy.

Peggy clung to her hand, terror bright as a startled fawn in tall grass.

“Commander…” Nora soothed Peggy, then leaned close to Medith’s ear, voice a whisper of ash.

“At fifteen, she watched Mountain Bandits kill her parents.”

“She, with looks and a body that matured early, almost was—”

After that, she became like this, a shuttered house in winter.

I’m worried. She won’t let anyone near except me.

Please take her, and guide her if you can, slow as sun on snow.

Medith listened and looked at Peggy, emotions clouding like a storm over quiet water.

After a long beat: “I get it. But the road is cruel.”

“Honestly, even we can’t promise safety. You know that.”

“The world shifts without warning.”

“When I went to the Eastern Nation’s Royal Capital for fun, who foresaw Sia City?”

Nora hesitated, a reed bending in wind, then bit down like flint.

“Then consider it my plea. Care for her.”

Medith glanced at the six-pointed star brand on Nora’s face, a scar like a cold comet.

She finally sighed, wind leaving her chest.

…

“Peggy, are you sure?” Sais asked after Medith relayed the tale, voice a drumbeat.

“We’re not going to play.”

Peggy nodded, a pebble firm in a stream. “Mm! Nora’s order. Peggy goes.”

“I’m asking you,” Sais said, tone heavier than rain. “Don’t drag her in.”

“Uh…” Peggy flinched, a sparrow startled from the eaves.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Peggy didn’t mean it.”

“Hey! Too harsh.” Rita flicked out tissues, quick as a swallow.

“Don’t cry, little one. Sais is bullying a sister.”

“You…” Sais choked on words, a blade that slipped in the scabbard.

It was her first time losing to a woman’s hand. Maybe the second.

Medith trotted a few steps, reins singing like strings, and found her pace again.

“Peggy, one line. Do you want to go with us?”

“I’m asking you, Peggy, not Nora.”

“Peggy…” Peggy looked at Nora.

Nora steeled herself and turned away, a door closing against the wind.

Loss flickered in Peggy’s eyes, then settled into resolve like embers catching.

“Mm! Peggy will be the Commander’s good assistant!”

“Assistant?” Medith understood, a bitter smile like dark tea.

Then she raised her voice, clear as a horn: “Move out—”

“Yo-oh-oh-oh—”

“Safe travels—”

“Medith! Come back and see us—” Lilina waved, tears bright as dew on petals.

“She’s gone. What an irresponsible Commander.” Nora watched their figures fade, geese dissolving into fog.

“Yes, truly a…” Lilina smiled, helpless and bitter, like salt in sweet water.

“Yet somehow it calms the heart, doesn’t it?” Iling said, her smile warm as lamplight.

…

[Somewhere in the Eastern Nation]

“Medith…” King Segi muttered, face carved from stone.

“Your Majesty, that woman’s too strong.”

“In that battle, she seemed to awaken some power,” Manto said, voice thin as winter reed.

“Forgive me, but it’s the most brutal, most terrifying Lawbreaking Ability this continent has ever seen.”

He remembered that proud mushroom cloud, a gray flower punching the sky.

Gooseflesh rose like frost along his arms.

Erig knelt on one knee, respectful as a sheathed blade.

“Your Majesty, the Empire lost half its elite.”

“At this point, we’re cornered like wolves.”

“We can only pray that One succeeds.”

The king pressed both hands to his jeweled seat, calm as winter water.

“Ostos’s retribution is near.”

“But when the lips are gone, the teeth feel the cold.”

“I don’t believe that One will keep us after.”

“He doesn’t need to keep us.”

“If he finishes his aim, our first goal is met.”

“We can negotiate slowly after,” Erig replied, voice steady as a plumb line.

“How’s your wound, Manto?” the king asked, worry drifting like a shadow.

Manto gripped his chest. “Not good.”

“I likely can’t use my Lawbreaking Ability.”

“I see…” Sadness rippled in the king’s eyes like dusk across a lake.

“But our harvest outweighs this by far.”

Manto looked toward a figure in the shadow, shape dark as a moonless tree.