I was met with a punch to the face when I returned to camp. I should've realized that leaving without anyone with me or even just letting them know was a bad idea.

I was already on the ground

Alice: "You fool!! Are you empty headed or just stupid?! Do you want to be killed?!"

Agis: "O-Of course not!"

Alice: "Then why did you wander off alone?! You could've been killed out there and none of us would've known!!"

Agis: "I-I'm sorry, but... I heard a voice calling to me. It's where I got this"

I drew my sword off of my back, where a leather sheath held it in place. The second Ava saw it, her eyes opened wide.

Ava: "A-Agis!! D-Do you have any idea what that is?!"

Agis: "N-Not really, all I know is that it helps me control my wind powers"

I held my hand out and formed a mini ball of wind in my hand.

Ava: "That's one of the Legendary Swords!!"

Alice: "You mean the same swords the Knights of the Round Table wielded?"

Ava: "Precisely! It is said that each of the Holy Swords grant the weirder some special powers and abilities. For example, the sheathe of the Holy Sword Excalibur was able to grant its wielder immortality. It was called Avalon"

Noelle looked closely at the sword.

Noelle: "The blade is incredibly dull... I doubt it could cut cloth... Do you know which one this is?"

Ava: "I remember seeing that design in a book, but there was no name for it"

Alice sighed.

Alice: "Get up"

She held her hand out and helped me up.

Alice: "I'll let it slide this time, since you can at least summon wind now. But if you try and sneak out again, you'll regret it"

Agis: "O-Okay, I'm sorry"

She stormed off, back over to the wagon.

Noelle: "She's really hard on you..."

Ava: "She's his guardian, she has to be"

Ava looked over at me.

Ava: "I do have to agree with Alice though, you shouldn't have went off by yourself. You should have told us"

Agis: "I know..."

Ava eyed the sword.

Ava: "So you can really control the wind?"

Agis: "Not quite yet, I'm still trying to figure out how to command it at will. The most I can do is form a ball of wind. Hopefully the Ruler of the Kingdom of the Sea can teach me how to control it better.

Ava held her hand out to see the sword, which I handed over.

Ava: "The craftsmanship is amazing, it almost seems brand new. The only thing that's odd is the dullness, like Noelle said"

Noelle: "How many swords are there?"

Ava: "Well, the number is a bit weird... There are eight normally, two for each of the Kingdoms. However there's Agis's sword too, which has yet to be named. Finally, there's Excalibur, however that was divided into the swords we know today"

Agis: "H-Huh? What do you mean?"

Ava: "Excalibur was melted down and divided amongst eight swords. Then split into the four Kingdoms. Well... now I'm thinking it was split into nine"

Agis: "That's not what I heard growing up. I was told it was only split into four, the swords of the Kings"

Noelle: "That's the story they made us Peasants believe... They hid a lot of truth from us"

Agis: "B-But Mom told me that story"

Ava: "Don't think about it too much, maybe she misheard the story. Or maybe she changed it a bit so it was easier for you to understand"

Agis: "Maybe..."

Something about that story kept me on edge. Mom never once told a lie in her life, why would she leave that part out of her story?

Maybe I was just overthinking it.

Suddenly, we heard Alice yell out to us.

Alice: "Come on! If we hurry, we can make it before daybreak!"

We quickly loaded into the wagon with Alice driving the winds. She whipped the reins and we started moving forward.

Agis: "I-I wish this wagon had a bit more room"

Noelle: "At least we have a roof over our heads"

I saw Ava flipping through pages of a book.

Agis: "What are you reading?"

Ava: "It's kind of like a map of the Kingdom"

She turned it so we could see.

Ava: "We're pretty close to the harbor of the Kingdom of Wind. Once there, we'll get a boat to make our way to the capital of the Kingdom of the Sea"

Alice spoke up from outside.

Alice: "Rest up while you can, you'll need all the energy you can afford"

Ava and Noelle sat down and leaned against the wall.

Ava: "I guess a quick nap won't hurt"

Noelle: "A nap sounds good. My shoulder still hurts"

Before I knew it, the two of them had passed out already, with Ava resting her head on Noelle's shoulder.

I decided to let them rest. To give them enough room, I stepped out of the wagon and joined Alice up front.

Alice: "You should rest"

Agis: "You're the better fighter, you should"

Alice: "It's not about fighting"

Agis: "I'm not completely helpless. You don't have to treat me like I can't do anything"

Alice: "Then what can you do?"

I didn't have an answer for that.

Agis: "I can protect myself. I won't kill another person, but I'll defend myself"

She glared at me.

Alice: "And that's what'll get you killed"

Agis: "I... I've never taken a life..."

Alice's expression softened for a second before going back to normal.

Alice: "As much as I hate to say it, I hope you never have to kill someone. But if you truly want to reclaim the Kingdom, you'll need to kill at least one person"

Agis: "Who?"

Alice: "Raiden"

We spent the rest of the ride in silence.

Just as the sun started to rise over the horizon, we finally made our way out of the forest and closer to an actual town. It was the coastal town named Zephyrus, the trade center of the Kingdom of Wind. This was where all imported goods were brought in.

Agis: "I-It's beautiful"

Ava: "You've never really been outside your own town before, have you?"

Agis: "No, just the Capital"

Noelle: "I remember this place..."

We looked over at her.

Agis: "What do you mean?"

Noelle: "Don't be fooled by the appearance. This is also where slaves are brought in from other parts of the world..."

I noticed Alice's grip on the reigns tighten.

Alice: "We can't afford to get distracted"

She pulled over and hid the wagon behind a large set of trees.

Alice: "Ava, an illusion spell, please?"

Ava: "On it"

Ava held up her staff.

Ava: "Illusio"

The trees began to grow around the wagon, completely, hiding it from anyone who would come by.

Agis: "How are we going to get a boat?"

Alice: "One step at a time. We first need to get through town without being recognized. We're likely the Kingdom's most wanted"

Agis: "Ava, are there any spells you can use? Like an illusion?"

Ava: "Hiding a wagon is one thing, since it's not going to move. But to keep up with four illusion spells while moving will be tough"

Alice: "Maybe I can sneak around and—"

Noelle: "Leave it to me"

Alice: "Are you certain?"

Noelle: "I may also be wanted, but not nearly as bad as you three"

Alice: "How are you in stealth?"

Noelle: "Watch this"

She slowly walked behind a tree, letting the shadows completely cover her. After a few moments, we heard nothing.

Agis: "Noelle?"

I walked over and looked behind the tree, however she was gone.

Noelle: "Over here!"

She called out to us from a few trees down.

Alice: "Impressive, even I didn't see you"

Alice seemed genuinely impressed.

Alice: "Very well. Sneak around and see what you can find. If you see any of our wanted posters, grab them. If you happen upon an unprotected ship, make sure to inform us"

Noelle grabbed her twin sickles and hooked them onto her belt.

Alice: "One more thing. If you are noticed and pursued, make sure to lose them before returning. If you feel you are in too much danger to lose them, return immediately"

She nodded and put her hood up.

Noelle: "If I'm not back within an hour, I've either been captured or killed"

With that, she walked down an alley and vanished.

Ava: "Will she be okay?"

Alice: "She's a capable fighter"

Agis: "But she's still hurt... we shouldn't have asked that of her"

Alice: "You underestimate how much pain she can tolerate. She was a slave for who knows how long. She knows true pain. Compared to that, this is nothing"

Agis: "That... just makes me feel even more bad for her"

Alice: "You've already agreed to ban slavery in this Kingdom. All that's left is to reclaim it. With you as King, no one will ever be a slave again"

Despite her speech suggesting that I will become king, her tone said otherwise.

After about an hour, Noelle returned to us. Immediately, she pulled out three wanted posters from her jacket.

Noelle: "You three have some crazy high bounties"

I grabbed ahold of mine and saw what my head was worth.

Agis: "T-Ten thousand gold?!"

Ava: "M-Mine is only five hundred"

Alice: "Mine is a thousand"

Noelle: "Agis, you need to lay low until we get out of here. Once we cross the border, they won't have any way of getting you"

I nodded.

Agis: "What about a boat? Did you find one?"

Noelle: "A pretty nice one, actually. There's one near the far end of the dock that could easily get us to the Kingdom of the Sea"

Alice: "How well is it guarded?"

Noelle: "Not a single guard when I was there. I cannot speak for when night comes, however I'm sure it'll be even quieter"

Alice: "Then we make our move when the sun sets. We'll steal the boat and set sail before we're noticed"

Ava: "U-Um, I have a question"

Agis: "What?"

Ava: "Does anyone know how to man the ship?"

We were all silent.

Ava: "I was afraid of that..."

Agis: "How hard can it be?"

Alice: "Noelle, did you happen to see a library?"

Noelle: "I did, however it's the most guarded place in town. Looks like that is a sacred place here"

Alice: "Would you be able to sneak in and get a book on how to sail a boat?"

Noelle: "That's a little specific, I'm not sure they'll have one. Even if they do, I need to get in there and out undetected"

Alice: "We may be forced to figure it out on our own then"

Ava: "I can try to look through my books, maybe find a spell that can help"

Agis: "There's a spell that can sail an entire boat by itself?!"

Ava: "N-No... But it won't hurt to check. We have to wait until nightfall anyways"

Alice: "Precisely. Until then, let's see what that sword is made of"

Alice grabbed ahold of my arm and took me deep into the forest.

Alice: "Noelle, you watch over Ava. We won't be long"

Agis: "H-Hold on!"

She ignored me and continued farther into the forest. Once we were at a safe distance, she released me.

Alice: "While we have downtime, it's important to practice. Touch up on your sword skills in the event we come to battle. If you are to be King, you need to learn to fight"

For once, Alice seemed more supportive than pessimistic.

Alice: "Show me what you can do with that sword"

I drew my sword off of my back and held it steady. Unlike the last one I used, this one felt properly weighted in my hands. It wasn't too heavy and it wasn't too light.

I charged at her, swinging my sword downwards. Alice easily parried my sword with her dagger and went in for a punch. Before I knew it, I had swiftly dodged the punch, leaving both of us stunned.

Alice: "Is the sword giving you power?"

Alice went in for a barrage of punches, however each one seemed slower to me. It was almost as if time was slowing down. I was able to dodge every punch, however those I couldn't, I was able to block with my arm. Finally, Alice's barrage had ended and she took a step back. She didn't smile, however her tone was a bit more optimistic.

Alice: "Perhaps finding that sword was better than I initially thought"

Agis: "I-I still don't get it"

Alice: "It would appear the sword has given you enhanced reflexes. You're able to weave and dodge, almost... like trying to strike the wind"

I gripped my sword tighter.

Alice: "But dodging will only get you so far. You need to counter!"

She thrusted her dagger towards me. I narrowly weaved out of the way and tried to swing up and hit her blade, however she pulled back when she saw my intent.

Alice: "Perhaps you aren't completely hopeless after all"

She reached down and picked up a rock.

Alice: "Let's practice your precision. I'll toss, you strike"

I readied my sword. The second she tossed it at me, I swung my sword and struck it mid air, however due to the dull blade, all it did was make it fly off into a bush.

Alice: "That dull blade is an issue..."

Agis: "It will do for now"

I didn't say it at the time, but I was glad it wasn't sharp. It meant that I couldn't kill someone with it. I mean, it was still possible, but I would've really had to try for it to kill.

Alice: "Once we're done with your precision training, we'll go back to combat"

I nodded.

Agis: "Right"

For the next few hours, we trained until I physically couldn't keep going. I collapsed to the ground.

Alice: "That should do it for today. You can spend the rest of the day resting and recovering. You'll need it for tonight"

She held out her hand and helped me up.

Alice: "You're showing improvement. Steady, but improvement nonetheless"

Agis: "T-Thank you"

She began walking back to the others, which I quickly followed behind. When we got back, we saw Noelle and Ava relaxing under a tree. Ava was reading a book while Noelle was fiddling with her sickle.

Ava: "How did it go?"

Alice: "Halfway decent, the sword gives him enhanced reflexes"

Ava: "How much are they enhanced?"

Noelle tossed an apple at me, which hit me right in the head.

Agis: "O-Ow!!"

Noelle: "S-Sorry Agis!!!"

She quickly got up and ran over to make sure I was okay.

Noelle: "I thought you would dodge it"

Agis: "I didn't think you'd throw at apple at me to test it"

Ava: "You two look tired, let's cook something up"

We built a small enough fire to make sure no one would find us. Noelle and Alice hunted for a few fish, which we cooked by the fire.

Noelle rubbed her shoulder.

Noelle: "I think my shoulder is starting to feel a bit better now"

Agis: "Don't push yourself"

Ava: "He's right, we don't want it to open up again"

Alice: "If that shoulder will be an issue, maybe it would be best if you remained here"

Noelle: "It won't, I'll be fine"

Alice: "We cannot afford to have anything slow us down"

She grabbed one of the fish from the fire that we attached to sticks.

Alice: "Once we arrive at the Kingdom of the Sea, we will seek audience with their ruler. From there, we will ask them to teach Agis how to control his powers better. We cannot venture into the Kingdom of Earth until Agis has been trained"

Noelle: "Why is that?"

Ava: "The Kingdom of the Sea is known to be very peaceful, aside from the occasional pirate. We shouldn't face too much danger there. The Kingdom of Earth however will hold many more dangers"

Alice: "So having a helpless King's Candidate who can't fight will result in him slowing us down or leading to someone dying"

Agis: "I'm right here..."

Alice: "And you should listen to every word. This is life or death. We all need to be able to hold our own and support each other when we need it. At the moment, you can do neither"

Agis: "I'll work hard, I promise"

Alice: "For all of our sakes, I hope you mean that"

With that depressing discussion, we all ate. It wasn't until the sun began to set that we started our mission.

Once the citizens had made their way into their homes, we began skulking around the town, avoiding any guards we saw. Alice and Noelle were like experts while Ava and I straggled behind.

Finally, we reached the docks. On the far end of the dock was a beautiful ship. It wasn't massive, but it was definitely a good ship. The base was made of a dark wood while the sails were an unstained white. The wheel stood near the back on a higher elevated deck.

Alice: "I don't see any guards, let's get on and set sail"

We boarded the boat without being noticed. With the help of Noelle, we lifted the anchors and Ava did something with the rope attached to the mast, letting the sail open wide. Alice quickly got to the wheel and held on.

At that moment, we heard someone yell.

Guard: "Halt!! Do not move!!!"

We looked back over at the docks and saw a few soldiers of the King's Guard running towards us. A few drew bows and fired off some arrows. Luckily, the dark of night threw off their aim.

A few soldiers climbed on deck, making Noelle and Ava go into battle. Ava cast a spell that summoned multiple shards of light into the air before firing straight at the soldiers, knocking a few of them off the boat. Noelle went for a more close combat route and began clashing blades with a few soldiers. She caught the shaft of the blades inside her sickles and disarmed most of them before either pushing or hitting them off of the boat.

Despite how many they were fighting off, more kept flooding in.

Ava: "W-What should we do?!"

Alice: "Agis!! Make the winds blow into our sails! We need to get out of here now!!!"

Agis: "B-But I don't know how!"

Alice weaved out of the way of an arrow.

Alice: "Either you figure it out or we're all dead!"

Suddenly, I heard a voice.

???: "Remember the lake...."

I looked around, however I couldn't find where the voice was coming from.

Alice: "What are you doing?!"

Agis: "Can't you hear that voice?"

Alice: "What voice?"

Again, I heard it.

???: "Remember the lake..."

I thought back to when I was on the island in the lake, where I found my sword. I tried to think about what the voice could be telling me. Then it clicked.

I ran up to the top area where Alice was and drew my sword.

Agis: "You may want to grab onto something"

Alice held onto the railing of the ship while Ava and Noelle wrapped their arms around the mast.

I took a deep and held my sword out to my side, ready to swing.

Agis: "Please!!"

I swung my sword with all my strength. From my blade, a massive burst of wind blew from me to the sails of the ship. From that, winds from behind us blew in, pushing against the sail. With surprising speed, the boat began moving.

Within seconds, we were out of the harbor with arrows still flying our way, however not a single one came close to hitting us.

I suddenly fell back, however Alice caught me before I could fall on my back. For once, I saw a slight grin on her face. Despite that, her voice was still very monotone.

Alice: "You did it, good job"

I blushed a tiny bit.

Agis: "T-Thanks"

Ava: "T-That was amazing!!"

Ava and Noelle ran up to us.

Noelle: "What did you do?"

Agis: "I don't know, I-I heard this voice in my head. It reminded me of something I did when I found this sword"

Ava: "I've started to notice something with your wind. The only times you've been able to control it is when you're under serious stress"

Alice: "Didn't work when we were being chased in the wagon"

Ava: "But the first time was when he blocked a lightning attack from Raiden. Then, he was under stress from the attack, where he was able to blow wind into the sails"

Agis: "I... I don't really know"

Alice patted me on the shoulder as she walked past us and towards the wheel.

Alice: "You'll learn from the ruler of the Kingdom of the Sea. For now, look on board and see what you can find"

Noelle: "We didn't exactly think of food or water..."

Ava: "I can always purify the sea water, but food will be an issue"

Agis: "How long will it take for us to reach the capital?"

Ava: "I don't know from personal experience, but based on the map, I would say a few days at least, maybe a week"

Agis: "That's a long time at sea..."

Alice: "We'll have to put up with it. The wind Agis summoned is still going strong. We're moving pretty fast, so we may get there sooner than expected. For now, go search and see what we have. I'll manage steering"

Ava: "I'll stay up here and help navigate"

Noelle: "Okay, we'll let you know what we find"

Noelle and I went below deck to look for any kind of food or supplies we could find. Almost immediately, we found a barrel full of fruit.

Noelle: "This is perfect! It's no meat, but it should last us until we get there"

I opened up a cabinet.

Agis: "I think I found some bread over here too"

That's when I suddenly felt something cold and hard press against my neck.

???: "Looks like we've got a couple thieves~"

I went to turn around, however the blade was pressed against my neck harder.

???: "Turn around and I'll slit your throat"

I somehow managed to keep myself calm and listened.

???: "Both of you, slowly walk above deck, try to escape and you're dead"

When I was finally directed to turn around, I saw some person had a dagger up to Noelle's neck as well. I hadn't gotten a good look at the person who held me at knife point, however we did as we were told and went above deck.

The second Alice saw us, she drew her dagger and got ready to fight, however she immediately stood down when my captor spoke.

???: "Try anything and I'll kill this kid"

Alice scowled at them.

Alice: "You... of all people..."

Ava: "Y-You know them?"

Alice: "What are you doing all the way out here? Stealing ships from an enemy Kingdom could lead to war"

???: "I don't really care that much"

It was only then that I realized the voice was more feminine.

???: "So drop will your weapons or we'll see how he can handle an open neck"

Alice and Ava immediately dropped their weapons. A few other people ran up and tied their hands. They did the same to me and Noelle before sitting us all down near the main mast.

It was then that I could finally see my captor.

Standing before us was a tall woman, pretty buff with abs showing through her red jacket. She wore some kind of white bra underneath, however she didn't seem to care it was showing. The red jacket had leather straps around it, as well as white fur over the shoulders. She wore dark blue pants with brown boots on her feet. She had bluish green hair that was tied up into a messy ponytail. She had a massive scar over her right eye which was covered by an eye patch. Her other eye was pale blue, almost like ice.

???: "You've just stolen a vessel from the biggest pirate group of the Four Kingdoms. Now, you'll either work for us or die a painful and slow death out at sea~"

She approached me and drew a beautiful rapier from a sheath on her belt. The handle and guard were pure gold while the blade shined a light blue, almost like ice. The closer the blade got to my neck, the colder the air felt.

???: "We are the Glacier Pirates~ And I am their captain, Leona. You picked the wrong vessel to steal~"

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Sorry for the stupid long wait, I've had stuff irl to do and I've been pretty busy. I'll try to get more stuff published soon!!

I hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you next time!!