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Airi's POV
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Unlike many of the other towns I had been to, Greif seemed much livelier. Everyone walked around with a smiled on their faces despite their hands being black with soot or covered in blisters.

Children ran down the street, laughing at each other while weaving in between the adults that were walking past. They each held makeshift swords in their hands, waving it high in the air as they ran.

Women walked past, some with buckets, some with different sizes of cloth, which was likely their clothing. They prattled on between each other about various different things, whether that be gossip or simply boasting about their families.

It was a cheerful place, one that was needed everywhere. One that everyone could visit and stay in.

Even as we got closer to where Etsu was, the woodworking area, the noise only seemed to get louder as short bursts of laughter could be heard from the men that were cutting the wood in between the conversations they were having.

As we turned the corner into the area where all the chopping was taking place, a few eyes seemed to turn towards us, then back to the logs again with little interest to us.

Further down, I could see the figure of a Etsu chopping away at wood, his average build showing through the uniform that he wore.

"'susu!" (Astrid)

His face seemed to bolt up at the mention of a nickname he had attempted to forbid, to little use.

"Astrid? Ah, and everyone else too. You got here a little late, no? I thought you mentioned you would arrive a few days ago?" (Etsu)

"I had planned on doing that, but some circumstances came up with the slave trade and Baron Vionne. But that's all sorted now and the Vusin Squad is on that case." (Captain)

"The Vusin Squad? Why didn't they take it in the first place?" (Etsu)

"Don't know. They might've had other cases to do. No point in complaining about it now, we no longer have to deal with it." (Captain)

"I suppose that's true." (Etsu)

"Anyway! Captain, is this supposed to be some downtime? Can we relax?" (Astrid)

"...Hm... I suppose so. As far as I know, nothing is happening in this town, and we don't have any extra missions." (Captain)

"Woo! Then, let's go! Kaka, Riri, let's go!" (Astrid)

As soon as she was given permission from Captain, she was already off, grabbing Kana and I's wrists and pulling us away from the two of them.

Somehow, she seemed to know where she was going as she darted around corners and through alleys, leading us to a single street.

As I looked around, the contrast from the rest of the town startled me slightly, as instead of wooden and stone buildings, these were made of bricks, similar to that of Richt, but not as finely made. Even the street was different, as more people seemed to appear wherever you looked, though it still wasn't so many to make you get lost in a sea of people.

Each building had glass on the outside, which allowed you to look in, and what allowed me to realise that Astrid had dragged us to a shopping street.

Looking through the glass, many of the shops housed intricate designs on pots and the like, while some sold clothes for the commoners.

The clothes were well made, yet they couldn't be compared to the clothes you'd see often in the larger towns, like Alzibria. But they were made for commoners, not people who would flaunt their wealth on stuffy clothes with designs that'd make you stand out like a bird in a fishing net.

This was common in many of the shops on the street, yet some also had things that you wouldn't find anywhere else.

One shop sold shields designed for children, so they could learn how to use it from a young age. Some offered services to younger children to help design armour or weapons.

We walked past some restaurants and cafes, a few of which seemed to be surprisingly attractive, yet we didn't enter any.

Our trip continued for a while, as long as Astrid wanted to walk, before we took a seat on a bench that we found not too far away.

"Phew, I'm tired..." (Astrid)

"You shouldn't have walked so much." (Kana)

"But! It was a rare day off! How could I waste that?" (Astrid)

"This isn't our only day off." (Kana)

"Eh? It's not?" (Astrid)

"No. I'm pretty sure Doujima plans on staying until the festival ends." (Kana)

"A festival?" (Airi)

"You didn't hear? The reason everyone is this lively is because there's a festival called the 'Founding Festival' coming up in a few days." (Kana)

"I didn't know... That's rare for him to do that." (Airi)

"Do you think he's feeling sorry for what happened at the barracks?" (Astrid)

Though it was a broad question, I knew she was referring to the conversation he had with Ryu before we left for Greif.

"I wonder. He doesn't seem like the person to regret his words..." (Airi)

"...Pff. You two see him in such a stubborn light. He is a human as well. Of course he'll have regrets." (Kana)

"Then, do you think he'll answer honestly if I ask?" (Astrid)

"Hm... No, probably not." (Kana)

"Damn. I want a confession out of his mouth." (Astrid)

"You won't get one. At least, not one you hope to get." (Kana)

"What do you mean by that?" (Airi)

"Well, when he saved me from death when I was escaping Alfenheim, I asked him why he did it." (Kana)

"And? What'd he say?" (Astrid)

Astrid leans in closer to Kana in her anticipation.

"He said it was because I looked awful." (Kana)

"...What?!" (Astrid)

"That's what he said. With two arrows in my back, my right arm shattered and my left leg broken. He said that I looked terrible." (Kana)

"...He had to be lying, right?" (Airi)

"He was. I'm pretty good at discerning lies. He was lying to my face, but I never followed up on it." (Kana)

"Why is that?" (Astrid)

"I could tell how stubborn he was. Just from looking at his face while he lied to me." (Kana)

"...How long have you been in his squad?" (Astrid)

"12 years." (Kana)

"And you haven't asked again? Not even once?" (Astrid)

"No." (Kana)

"Are you not curious?" (Astrid)

"...Not anymore, no." (Kana)

"Not anymore?" (Airi)

"Well, I've fought with him long enough that I'm confident that i can usually tell his reasons behind his actions." (Kana)

"So you know why he did it?" (Airi)

"Not with certainty. But close enough." (Kana)

"Can you tell us why then?" (Astrid)

"Hm... Nope." (Kana)

"Eh?! Why?!" (Astrid)

"Because it's my secret." (Kana)

"Eh?!" (Astrid)

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Author Notes
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And there we go. Chapter 90. I was planning on doing a longer chapter for this one, but the way I had set it up made it extremely hard to do, so you've ended up with this.

As for the upcoming Chapter 100, I want it to be a long one. Whether that be by doing 2 or 3 chapters, then copy and pasting them into one chapter, or making a really long single chapter, I haven't decided yet, and that will likely be decided when I'm writing.

Chances are that it'll be multiple chapters stitched together, based on where I'm taking this arc.

This is also the first chapter that I'm not writing on my phone! It's still 2am, but I'm currently writing on my laptop. It's very different when comparing the two, but I'm pretty sure that I'm a faster writer on this, so I may stick to using this.

But that's all I have to say for this chapter, so thank you for reading and please continue doing so!