Back in Luno's chamber, Alistair stood at the base of a cocoon. Lenoria's body slumped against the cavern wall behind him while her ethereal presence poked out of the cocoon above. Luno stared curiously at the paladin, something that turned his face red.

  "Your mate has a good heart, young man," Luno commented.

  "She's my girlfriend," Al corrected, "we're not at that stage just yet."

  "Girl...friend? But you are friends with the other girl there, right?" Luno pointed at Aquamarine. "Is she your 'girlfriend,' too?"

  "No way!" Aquamarine was quick to dismiss the idea. "No offense, Alistair."

  "None taken," Alistair shrugged off the comment just fine. "Lenoria is...something else."

  Luno still seemed confused. "Something else? She's not your mate and she didn't bear your offspring. What would that make her?"

  "H-human relationships are more complicated than that." His cheeks flushed, Alistair fought to keep his composure. "We make choices together, whether they're easy or complicated."

  "Oh?"

  "Take now, for example. Truth be told, I anticipated nothing more than a monster that needed to be slain," Al admitted. "But I can see why Caesar wants to help you. All Lenoria did was find a way to finish that task sooner and more efficiently." He stared into the distance absent-mindedly. "She's looking out for the best interests of both parties. I'm still against the idea, but the samurai that spawned from the pool earlier was proof that her plan can succeed."

  "I see. You have your disagreements, but you make things work."

  There was an awkward silence between the two of them. Alistair kept calm but he couldn't shake off his anxiety, while there was no shortage of guilt for Luno.

  "Caesar is angry with me..."

  "Miss Cecilia gave me the synopsis of her encounter with you," Alistair said without a hint of compassion. "You refused to sit down and talk with the pirates and instead chose underhanded methods to get what you wanted. They may be petty criminals, but it seems you underestimated their sense of camaraderie. Once they found out their captain was in trouble, they did everything they could to rush to his side. I don't know the amount of mental anguish you put them all through, but I could see it in your eyes; it's enough to justify their anger."

  "You don't hold back, do you?"

  "In speaking my thoughts? Never. One must always be ready to face the truth, no matter how unpleasant it is. You're guilty because you hurt someone who was looking out for you initially, and part of you wants to justify what you've done so you don't feel as terrible. If you truly want to earn forgiveness, you have to take accountability for what you've done and maybe even commit an act of penance. Only then do you have a chance to earn Caesar's forgiveness, and it may take a while before he even considers it. Are you ready for that?"

  Luno didn't have an answer. Her left hand trailed up and down her right arm with a look of discomfort on her face. Sensing more guilt and perhaps a willingness to make things work, Al decided to try a different approach.

  "But," he continued, "to your credit, no one under your care was actually hurt. Even when things didn't go your way, you didn't resort to physical violence. I can't speak on how much mental damage you've done, but the fact that you're feeling some guilt is a step in the right direction. I've met plenty of people who can't even define what remorse means. What you're feeling now, Luno, is an admirable quality."

  You're trash, and trash deserves to be caged away in service of their masters! No one loves you, Alistair! You're lucky you even get to look at me at all!

  Recalling the harsh words from his past, Alistair remained steadfast and looked up at Lenoria's cocoon.

  I should have been more considerate of your feelings! You've kept your distance because you didn't want me to think you were acting inappropriately, right? And yet I kept breaching your personal space! I should have done more for you instead of acting selfishly! I knew the signs because I've been there before! And yet...I didn't do anything for you...

  A single tear went down Alistair's cheek. Lenoria never exactly said the words 'I'm sorry,' but given the context of that evening, she didn't need to. Her feelings were genuine; he had Mirabelle for comparison, who would actually do the same thing while putting on an act. By contrast, Lenoria was not one to shirk responsibility if she was the one at fault. In fact, her guilt for her behavior was the source of her tears, and it was only after Alistair voiced his approval that she was able to calm down.

  "As long as you're honest, Luno, Caesar may come around eventually. Do your best to help him."

  "If you say so..." Luno didn't understand Alistair's sudden change in tone, but she knew he didn't feel well. "Would you like to see her?"

  "See her? But she's right here," he said as he pointed at her slumbering body.

  "Her dream, silly." Luno pointed at the small pool of water not far from them. "The water there not only molds pieces of your dreams into reality; the pool itself allows you to look into the dreams of anyone in a cocoon."

  "Wouldn't that be a breach of her privacy? B-besides, I've already caught a glimpse of the inner workings of her mind. You didn't put her in some fantasy where I'm some lustful knight, did you?"

  "None of the sort, Alistair. She wanted to dream of a place that brought her inner peace. Wouldn't you like to know what that is?"

  Alistair wanted to deny it, but curiosity got the better of him. A place that brought Lenoria inner peace; she had already done so much for him, and after all the stressful events they faced together, he had a mind to take her to such a place if it existed in the world.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  He had to know what it was.

  "Fine." Alistair knelt in front of Lenoria, placed his hands on the back of her head and knees, and carried her off the ground. "In case she is facing anything unpleasant, I'd like to be the first person she sees when she wakes up. Let us see what she's dreaming about, Luno."

  ***

  Prior to the scene above, Lenoria and Luno reached an agreement.

  Lenoria would be the only one to step inside a cocoon and come up with a small number of soldiers for Luno to use against the demons. The moth woman refused at first, dissatisfied with the amount, but after spending five minutes alone with Lenoria, she was convinced that a small number was all the scientist needed to achieve victory.

  In exchange, Luno would give up her kidnappings and focus on alternative ways to protect her babies without hurting visitors and the locals. Lenoria would do what she could to help in this endeavor, but Luno would need to take initiative in whatever big decisions would need to be made in the future. Hopefully, if the demons and the Blue Jays were driven back, Luno would have all the time and respite she needs to do things peacefully.

  Once the two women shook on it, Lenoria sat on the cold, hard cave ground and submitted to Luno's sleeping spell. She was promised sweet dreams, so she was nervous about where she would end up.

  She could feel her consciousness awaken somewhere outdoors. Her legs brushed against the coarse grass beneath her as she rose to her feet. The skies were clear, and the sun was out, yet the chilly air was a sharp contrast to the scene before her.

  The girl was not far from the edge of a small cliff. She carefully strolled towards it until she spotted a sandy beach in the distance. She had been here before.

  "Wait a minute. There's no doubt about it; the lush green steppes, the blue beach on the shore, the crisp winds blowing against my face. This is- OH MY GOSH, THIS IS SO DULL!"

  The girl sighed to herself and sat down at the edge of the cliff. Without a doubt in her mind, this was the one place that brought her inner peace.

  "No wonder I feel at home..."

  "Then this would be the Great Plateau." Pearl, unseen until now, sat alongside her companion. "Your home."

  Lenoria smiled. Caesar had told her that keeping the Soulstone active while sleeping would connect her to Pearl in the Realm of Dreams. Part of her was worried it wouldn't work, so seeing Pearl next to her eased her worries.

  "Yeah," Lenoria said, "Mom would take everyone to the beach while Pop would sit here to meditate. He'd always jump down if Mom ever got in trouble, even though she can handle herself. He doesn't show it, but he always loved us."

  The eerie absence of people in the dream was then noticed by Pearl, bringing up a concern. "Where are they, then?"

  "When you think about it, dreams are just illusions of the mind. Even if I thought about everyone back home, it wouldn't really be them. So, I told Luno not to make copies of them. And even if I wanted her to, it probably wouldn't be the best idea considering what I'm about to do."

  "Raise an army." Pearl nodded. "You told Luno you'll only make a few soldiers. With your vast imagination, I'm sure you have a plan."

  Lenoria's smile slowly waned. "Pop would always tell us scary stories. A lot of them were fiction, but there was one time he told one based on true events. Pearl, have you ever heard of the Tiger Claw?"

  "I can't say that I...have..."

  Perceptive as ever, Pearl was the first to realize they weren't alone. She turned around to see a lone figure in the distance standing on the steppes, gazing at the blue skies. His great armor was as ebony as the night, with orange markings on his face too far to make out what they were. Poe croaked with surprising defiance, jumping from Pearl's shoulder and landing in front of her, as if wishing to protect her.

  "The Tiger Claw was said to be the Emperor's hunter. He went after hardened criminals 90% of the time. The other 10%...were those the Emperor wanted eliminated."

  Pearl looked on with awe, never taking her eyes off the armored samurai. "I get the image is cool, but why a tiger?"

  "Pop said that Eishima is a continent with seven different cultures, each with their own government. But the seat of the Emperor rules them all. And when it's time for a new Emperor to be chosen, they search for the one worthy of rule across all seven islands. Over fifty years ago, a man from Akihabara named Takahashi Shin was chosen from among those eligible to rule. As for the tiger..."

  The women gaze at the sky, where they see an enormous reptilian creature with a serpentine body and sharp teeth gazing back at the samurai.

  "Akihabara chooses their own candidates meticulously. Every Emperor that has hailed from Akihabara descended from the Dragon Clan." Annoyed, Lenoria crossed her arms. "Great. Now I have to explain the concept of clans to you."

  "Not necessarily," Pearl reassured her, "because a clan can be boiled down to a large family. Isn't that right?"

  Lenoria grinned. "Something like that. Here's where the symbolism comes in, though."

  Back at the sky, the dragon looked away from the samurai and spotted another celestial figure in its domain: a giant tiger. The tiger immediately pounced, landing on the dragon and flipping it on its back. The dragon, however, showed considerable resistance by using its claws to try to push away the tiger when it tried to bite down on its neck. Feinting with a bite of its own, the dragon distracted its adversary long enough to coil its snake-like body around it, locking each other down in what appeared to be an eternal stalemate.

  "They are evenly matched," Pearl pointed out.

  "That's right; the people of Guangzhou - another nation in Eishima - have an idiom: 'The dragon and the tiger.' They symbolize two contradictory forces that are also similar to each other. The dragon is said to symbolize humility, patience, wisdom, and anything else that could be categorized as 'laid-back.' Meanwhile, the tiger is the opposite: wild, enthusiastic, passionate, and anything else that would fall under 'hot-blooded.' There's a whole philosophy behind it, but Pop never bothered to get into that."

  "Given the context you provided, the Emperor is supposed represent the dragon, and his personal enforcer would be the tiger."

  "Correct. The Dragon Clan took note of this philosophy and declared that any Emperor born from the Dragon Clan must never dirty their hands to achieve their goals. If they need something stolen or murder a political opponent, to name two examples, they must send the tiger to do it for them."

  "Then it's safe to say the Dragon Clan's history is stained with blood."

  "Yeah. There have been many tigers in Akihabara's history, but only one took on the mantle of the Tiger Claw. He is infamous to be the most hardened assassin of them all, killing his enemies without mercy and disemboweling the truly craven."

  With all the information provided, Pearl knew where Lenoria was going with this. "And we're building a squad of Tiger Claws?"

  "Oh, maliciously!"

  ***

  The putrid stench of decay, blood, and brimstone filled the air of the darkened forest.

  Screams echoed Norwich Forest, a place usually devoid of human visitors. But the screams did not come from any animal or fey creature; they came from the demons and Blue Jays that infested the place, who now had to choose between fighting the new threat or disobeying the orders of their masters to save themselves.

  One group of abrikandilu had chosen to flee, but thorny vines and silk blocked their way out of the forest.

  "We have to get out of here!"

  "The forest has no exit! What do we do?"

  "The master's portal! It's only open for another hour before it closes on us! We better get there before he finds out we deserted him!"

  A single gleam in the shadows was the only warning these runaway demons could ever receive, but their panicked state distracted them from their surroundings. As a result, two samurai jumped out and pounced on two demons like a pair of tigers hunting their prey. Impaled from behind, the demons screamed as the metal claws slid down through their insides, opening a cavity on both sides of their torsos to better spill out their organs.

  The surviving demon, cornered and alone, roared as it prepared its attack. But the two samurai served as a distraction from the third, who jumped from a branch right above the last demon standing and impaled its skull with his claw.

  With the demons dead, the three samurai took a moment to nod to each other before slinking back to the shadows. Their blades hungered for blood, and it was now time to feast.