𝙸𝚜𝚎𝚔𝚊𝚒 𝙶𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚆𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚐: 𝙵𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚎 𝙷𝚎𝚛𝚘𝚎𝚜 𝚁𝚒𝚜𝚎

Chapter 7 [The Realm of Eophisia]

Silence until Tsubaki had to open her mouth that's it.

"Lucas..." She mumbled out but internally cursed herself. Gawd, this was too awkward. Still, she gotta found out why or she wouldn't sleep a wink tonight. "Why..." She was hesitant, slightly worried that she may be prying but she got to know. With her lips pursed lightly, she asked. "Why did you become a party member? I mean, you weren't involved in...their plan," she frowned at the mention of it. "So why?"

It made no sense if this whole champion thing was a hoax. Lucas would have nothing to gain from it. So why? She doubted that he would actually enjoy adventuring–

"I was curious..." Tsubaki blinked as she was snapped out of her thoughts. Wait what? She furrowed her brows at his answer. 'Isn't that vague?'

And apparently, her confusion seemed to be obvious when the male sighed at the look on her face. "I am not from Istilan. I always venture here and there..." He started.

Tsubaki hummed at the reveal, now looking at him. "Then you stayed here? Long enough to become a party member?" She leaned forward, hugging her knees closer.

"Well, I heard how the Kingdom of Istalian managed to summon the Four Champions," Lucas's red eyes met with hers. "...which I thought was hard to believe."

Now that has thrown her off. "Eh? What do you mean? Haven't the Four Champions had been summoned before?" The black-haired girl blinked. "Why would this time be any different?"

The mage let out another sigh which made Tsubaki sheepishly smile. Right, she was asking too many questions.

"That was 50 years ago and since then the Sacred Weapons had been separated when the Great War had concluded," Lucas explained as he played with the fire. War? What war?

"Hold up, reel that back in. The Great War?" Tsubaki scrunched her brows. She hasn't heard anything about a war. They never found anything about any recent war in their previous research.

The mage nodded, "I am not surprised the King would hide it from you four." Of course. Tsubaki scowled at that. Better to keep your prey ignorant as much as possible. Tsk.

"So what happened?"

"...after the Defeat of Griselda and when the heroes had returned to their own homes, everyone became greedy," his voice was merely bored.

"Greedy? Like over the weapons?" Tsubaki took a guess which was correct as seen from the nod she received. Ah. Typical. Now that the champions were gone, that left these highly powerful weapons without proper owners. It would be the perfect opportunity in a power struggle between nations.

"Every Kingdom wanted the weapons for themselves..." Lucas confirmed her suspicion. "but after the war, they had been entrusted to their respectful kingdom like last I heard, Ateatis was keeping close guard over the Azure Trident especially since Tynulla was their patron goddess," the male explained.

"The Azure Trident? Isn't that Yumi's weapon?" Tsubaki's eyes widened. Damn, these mean more than mere weapons. "So what? Did Istilan just right up steal their weapon?"

Lucas simply shrugged, "how else did they manage to get their hands on it? The Ateatis Kingdom is the sea domain, the homes for the sea dwellers."

Tsubaki's eyes instantly brightened up, "sea dwellers? Like mermaids? Like actual mermaids?" She became eager, getting close. Lucas blinked, taken a bit back by her sudden enthusiasm. He only slowly nodded back to confirm her assumption. "And many others..."