This Is the Endless Frontier Pt. 5/10

CHAPTER 5: THE SHURA, THE PRINCESS, AND THE PRINCESS

[Principality of Riksent - Castle]

Gilliam: Princess Shine, where might you be?
Shine: It's not often I see you moving with such urgency, Major Gilliam Jaeger.
Gilliam: I have a report to deliver, Highness. The SRX Commonwealth's Hagane landship has entered Riksent territory. I'm also receiving reports that a battle has taken place.
Shine: What are they doing here? Might this have something to do with the bird I foresaw, the one cursed to herald death?
Gilliam: It is as you say, Highness. The Huckebein, the Vanishing Trooper of the ancient Raven War, has shown up in eastern lands.
Shine: Where is the Raven now?
Gilliam: We don't have its exact location, but it's possible that it has entered our territory.
Shine: Well, I won't freak out over—*cough*—That is, I shall not be cowed by this! I would be an embarrassment to House Hausen if I were to yield in the face of such an utterly brazen violation of our territory! That, and... help is coming. I have foreseen it!
Gilliam: (She's aware already, huh. She's a credit to the royal bloodline, all right. That means that they'll be...)
Gilliam: Are you brave enough to put your vision to the test?
Shine: Ah? How do you mean?
Gilliam: The Wandering Bounty Hunters are descendants of the disobedient wanderers. They seek an audience with Your Highness.
Shine: The Wandering Bounty Hunters. The big shots—*cough*—That is, the highly esteemed hunters said to have been active since the days of the Raven War... Yes, I shall meet them in accordance with my vision!

[Scene transition]

Haken: ...And that's the long and short of it, Little Princess. Now you've got the whole story on why the Wandering Bounty Hunters have brought guests with us from Kurogane, Regiment, and another world.
Shine: So it is as we feared. The return of the Huckebein, the Raven that Heralds Death. The nightmare of the Raven War.
Gilliam: I was aware that Holy Regiment Island had come under attack, but if the secret treasure Fau Kern is involved, that changes matters.
Arriere: Agreed. I was under the impression that the ones behind the attack were the SRX Commonwealth, but...
Shine: But now one of their VIPs, Ingram Plissken, has turned on his own side and fled. Could they truly be the culprits?
Ratsel: He was never on the SRX Commonwealth's side. I suspect he's a secret agent affiliated with some other organization.
Sanger: Ingram's former subordinates, the SRX Team, left for their homeland on our way here. They expected chaos back home.
Gilliam: So far so good. I guess that makes you two the agents from another world?
Kyosuke: Good guess.
Excellen: Thaaat's us!
Shine: Would that make them the same as 'him'?
Arriere: Is there someone else from another world here? From Lieutenant Kyosuke and Excellen's world?
Gilliam: No, they're not affiliated. Their names and appearances are too different. We're talking about a young man who showed up out of the blue at some Crossgate ruins. He's staying here at the castle under our protection.
Haken: Boy, questions are begettin' questions around here. I'd like to meet our extra etranger, but I think we'd better take care of what we came for first.
Ratsel: A wise decision. Princess Shine, we would like to request that you use House Hausen's powers of precognition to aid us.
Shine: You wish to know where the Raven that Heralds Death will appear next, do you not?
Sanger: You catch on quickly. We would like to find out the next location where it will show up.
Arriere: How detailed do your visions get? Can they even be done on command?
Shine: They tend to come to me in fragments, but I shall make an attempt.
Shine: ...
Excellen: (Wow, this is like, super tense.)
Shine: ......
Sanger: (Her concentration is impressive.)
Shine: .........
Lamia: (She seems to be deep in thought. Is this some form of meditative state?)
Shine: ...'Tis curry.
Ratsel: Hm? Is that a region name? I haven't heard of it before.
Shine: This is... Oh, no... I can't take it... It's too spicy for me...
Kyosuke: Hey, something's wrong.
Gilliam: Curry and rice. That's what Her Highness will be having for dinner tonight.
Excellen: What good does predicting dinner do?! She even predicted how it would taste!
Aschen: Okay, I say we give her rear a few smacks until something about the Huckie comes out.
Arriere: She isn't a fortune vending machine...
Shine: But... I will not be able to have dinner tonight... Coming... to the castle... the emissary... of the wind...
Haken: Is there more? What's coming?
Shine: Urgh...
Gilliam: Princess Shine, please don't strain yourself further.
???: ...
Gilliam: Folka? What is it?
Folka: I just sensed a tremendous haki. Was that your doing, Lord's Daughter?
Shine: Yes, it was, though I gleaned little more than fragmented images.
Folka: The Lord's power is too great for you. You lack the experience to properly wield it.
Shine: Ngh... Well...
Kyosuke: Who's this? He doesn't look like a royal retainer to me.
Folka: ...
Gilliam: Second Lieutenant Excellen. First Lieutenant Kyosuke. This is the otherworlder I was just talking about. He's the same as you guys.
Folka: I am?
Excellen: Wow! C'mon, buddy, gimme some deets! Who are you? Where do you come from, and where are you going next?
Folka: ...I'm Folka Alberk. I come from the Land of Ra, and I seek a way back.
Kyosuke: Never heard of any Land of Ra. I guess you're not from Earth? Our world, that is.
Folka: I doubt it. You two give off a type of haki I've never sensed before.
Gilliam: So the Crossgate ruins connect to multiple other worlds.
Folka: I'm not here about that. I'm here because the haki that the Lord's Daughter gave off was incredibly huge.
Shine: So, when I had that vision...
Lamia: I don't know the definition of haki, but does that mean she has a lot of it?
Excellen: Would that mean she got 100% of the ultra-spicy curry experience?! Oh geez, that's brutal...
Lamia: I am referring to what came after that. Her prediction that dinner would be interrupted by the appearination of something unspecified.
Haken: ...
Haken: We ain't got any way to be sure, but... Hey, honcho. Got a favor to ask.
Sanger: Very well. I'll take some of our group back to the ship. Ratsel, you remain with Haken Browning. I'll leave negotiations with the princess to you.
Ratsel: Certainly. I'll leave the group splitting to your discretion. I trust you're fine with that, Captain?
Haken: Knock yerselves out, Sansel. Glad to see you're both quick on the uptake. Wish I could keep you guys on my regular crew.
Sanger: Let's see... Lieutenant Kyosuke. Lieutenant Excellen. Lamia Loveless. Lady Priestess. All of you come back to ship with me and remain on standby in case of battle.
Kyosuke: Roger. This bet seems like one with a pretty decent payout.
Lamia: Roger-dodger-smodger! I'll keep the Vysaga on standby.
Excellen: Hey, Lamia, remember—You'd better be wearing the swimsuit your sister picked out, or you're in for a spanking.
Lamia: I... I'll preparify the swimsuit, Exxy.
Arriere: Would that there were a tactical device or personal trooper simple enough for me to pilot. I wish I could do more to help.
Gilliam: Thanks for this, Captain Haken Browning.
Haken: Hey, don't mention it, Silver Trench Coat. Always wanna stay ready for a rainy day, right?
Aschen: You're looking wobbly, Your Highness. Do you think you'll be all rightaroonie?
Shine: I'm... rightaroonie as rain. I would like to hear the rest of your story.
Ratsel: As you wish, Princess. Ever since the return of the Raven that Heralds Death, there have been numerous incidents going on. The stolen Fau Kern, the chaos in the SRX Commonwealth, and the appearance of otherworlders like Lieutenant Kyosuke and Folka here.
Folka: So you need to use the Lord's Technique to track this Kishin called the Raven, or there will be destruction.
Shine: ...
Shine: Very well, I shall provide my assistance.
Gilliam: Princess Shine?
Shine: I do it for the city of Riksent my father and mother loved so dearly, as well as the people who live within its walls.
Folka: (Her haki just spiked drastically. This girl is a noble among nobles. She has the qualities of a true Lord.)
Haken: Okay, Great Hausen. We'll be countin' on ya, Princess.
Shine: I, too, greatly look forward to witnessing the prowess of the famed Wandering Bounty Hunters firsthand.
Ratsel: I'd like to say let's get to it, but something tells me that prediction you did wore you out.
Folka: The haki of that technique is too much for her immature body to bear.
Shine: I do not appreciate you mocking me, Folka!
Folka: I owe you a great debt of gratitude. You provided me with vital water when I was wandering after my shunten into this world.
Shine: I hardly think a glass of water merits such...
Ratsel: Princess Shine, that's what a debt of gratitude is. Why don't you take his advice and get a little rest?
Folka: Hm? Wait. I sense haki. Something's approaching!
Aschen (DTD): My sensors are beeping belatedly, too! Seriously, he picked up the haki before I picked up any readings?! How is that fair?!
Gilliam: Sounds like we've got intruders.

[Outskirts]

Haken: The princess's vision was right on the money... and now there's a real big prize.
Ratsel: That's an Elemental Lord of the Kingdom of Shurangran!
Cenia: Yes, the greatest of them all—The Norse Rei.
Folka: A Kishin clad in magic. So that's this world's Kikaishin...
Aschen: This must be the emissary of being winded, or whatever the prediction said. Come on over after you've caught your breath.
Masaki: I ain't winded! I'm Masaki Andoh! Masaki the Gale, of the Kingdom of Shurangran!
Gilliam: Masaki the Gale. One of the Shura Four. That would make his machine Cybaster, Elemental Lord of the Wind.
Haken: Hoo, there's a rare find! And here I only thought they did archaeological excavations in the south. What brings the fancy-pants Elemental Lord here with a lady-friend? Granted, it IS a real fine spot for a date...
Cenia: Wow, someone's rude. Do you have any idea who you're talking to? I'm Cenia Grania Vilsaer, Queen of the Kingdom of Shurangran.
Folka: A woman Lord? Is she another bearer of a Lord's power, like the girl? If the Lord is coming out in person, that says a lot...
Gilliam: Yes, it says a great deal. Are you here to start a war, Queen Cenia?
Cenia: Not in the least. For one thing, I know the Principality of Riksent doesn't have the firepower to fight an Elemental Lord.
Ratsel: Then your objective lies elsewhere.
Shine: Are you here to take me to the Kingdom of Shurangran?! You've trespassed into our lands without so much as a letter of notice... Who does that?! *cough* That is, how dare you?!
Cenia: Look, we don't have much time. We're here to locate the Huckebein, the Vanishing Trooper.
Haken: Okay, Surprise Queen. Y'know, I'm honored to be on the same page as such a lovely lady.
Masaki: On the same page? Princess Shine, you're doin' the same thing for these guys?
Shine: I most certainly am! I have joined forces with the Wandering Bounty Hunters to seek out the Raven that Heralds Death!
Cenia: They beat me to the punch? What's going on here?
Aschen: What's going on with YOU two, traipsing into a foreign country and making demands of its leader?
Masaki: Look, we got a lot of stuff goin' on and a lot of responsibilities, okay?
Gilliam: (Responsibilities?)
Shine: I have a proposal for the Queen of the Kingdom of Shurangran! I will work with my group to fell the Raven that Heralds Death.
Cenia: That's not enough. I have to be the one that does it. Yes, the Huckebein is something *I* should—
(flash)
Cenia: Hrrk!
Masaki: Hey, Riksent ain't got any weapons that can attack an Elemental Lord! That must mean...
Haken: That's what I call just in the nick of time! Or was the honcho waitin' in the wings for them to say somethin' useful?
Gilliam: Looks like you were right to prepare for a rainy day, Captain Haken.
Haken: I was just goin' off the whole "Something's coming" thing the princess added at the end of her curry prophecy. The rest was all the boss and Kyocellen.
Ratsel: Mm. Let us prepare to intercept while my friend buys us time.
Aschen: What do we do about defensifying the area?
Folka: I'll protect the Lord's Daughter. I won't let any Star of Death descend upon her head.
Shine: Kick that queen's royal—*cough*—That is, give that queen just a wee bit of chastising! I shall get her to see reason!
Haken: Whatever you say, Street Punk Princess. I never turn down a request from a princess.

(Battle commences)

Masaki: It really is the Wandering Bounty Hunters!
Sanger: It's only a cheat if you get caught at it. Isn't that right, Kyosuke Nambu?
Kyosuke: Sure is. Time to see what cards the other side's holding.
Cenia: Are those all Wandering Bounty Hunters mechs? Oh man, this is RAD!
Arriere: Um... We're the ones ambushing them, right?
Excellen: Wow, is this what they call a morale boost?
Lamia: It's noncertain which of us laid the trap here.
Cenia: I wanna see 'em up close! I wanna touch 'em! I wanna disassemble 'em! Masaki, capture all of them!
Masaki: Are you nuts? They've got tactical devices from Kurogane over there. This ain't gonna be a picnic!
Masaki: (In fact, I may have to start planning on getting Cenia out of here alone...)
Cenia: Let's get this started, then! I'll let our mass production Elemental Diablo army handle the van!

(Battle ends)

Cenia: Urgh, they even managed to beat the Norse Rei, the most powerful of all the Elemental Lords! These mechs are something else, all right!
Masaki: Cenia, I'll catch you with Cybaster! If you can move your arms at all, grab on!

[Outskirts]

Masaki: You okay, Cenia?
Cenia: Yeah, I'm holding up all right.
Haken: Dang, Cybaster still has juice to spare, huh? If he was plannin' on this, then he's a smarter cookie than I gave him credit for.
Aschen: It's still a moth in the face of an inferno. I say we lay on the offense.
Lamia: You are ruthless, Sister Aschen.
Ratsel: Cenia Grania Vilsaer, I will ask you this once. Why is it that you can't cooperate with us?
Cenia: It's because... the one who reactivated the Huckebein... the Raven that Heralds Death... was me!
Sanger: What?!
Arriere: You mean it was brought back by the hands of Man?! Why would you do such a thing?!
Cenia: ...
Masaki: That's why it's our job to do somethin' about it.
Haken: Okay, Hot Windy Gale Boy. I still don't see how that means we can't work together.
Masaki: ...!
Sanger: The Raven that Heralds Death is a common foe in the eyes of the world. A cursed legacy that must be destroyed. You have no reason to turn down our offer.
Kyosuke: If you're still not interested, that probably means you're holding a card with low odds but a real big payout.
Cenia: Why, uh, I have no idea what you're talking about. Come on, Masaki, we're leaving!
Masaki: Oh, for... Fine, whatever!
Arriere: Wait!

Aschen: Targets lost. They pretty much ditchscaped.
Excellen: Maybe we should get back to the castle. Shiny's gonna want to hear our report, right?
Haken: Yeah, and we're gonna need the princess's help more than ever. We'll be the ones to bag the Huckebein.

[Principality of Riksent - Castle]

Gilliam: I certainly wasn't expecting to hear that the Huckebein was reactivated by the queen of the Kingdom of Shurangran.
Lamia: If what she said was true, anyway.
Ratsel: The Kingdom of Shurangran has the technology to excavate and control Elemental Lords, and Queen Cenia herself is supposed to be a quite prodigious engineer.
Aschen: That, and she venturated all the way out to Riksent to get access to the princess's power, just like we did.
Aschen (DTD): That's like, a total red flag! Red flag city!
Excellen: Did you see the way her eyes sparkled when she saw our machines? Her Majesty was giddy as a schoolgirl.
Arriere: Do you think she might have taken the Fau Kern?
Kyosuke: Just the opposite, actually. If the Fau Kern draws the Huckebein to it, then she'd have no reason to abduct Princess Shine.
Sanger: This might have some connection to why we haven't seen any activity from the Raven as of late.
Haken: Okay, Huckie Hunters. Since we don't know what other people are thinkin', our job is simple. Track it down and destroy it completely.
Excellen: Make it live up to its name and vanish for real, huh. Where IS ol' Huckster, anyway?
Lamia: Princess Shine is presentatedly precognitioning over there, Sister Exxy.

Ratsel: Any luck, Princess Shine? If you can envision the Huckebein at all...
Shine: Ch... Chilled... tofu...
Excellen: You already did the meal prediction joke once! What comes after that?!
Kyosuke: (That's a surprisingly frugal meal.)
Shine: Urgh... *huff* A great... power... appears... This place... is... a god's...
Folka: I think you'd better stop there, Lord's Daughter. Your body can't withstand more haki than this.
Shine: Phew... Thank you kindly, Folka.
Sanger: Did you see anything other than a menu?
Shine: Mountains. I think it's the mountains to the south. There, I saw the figure of a blue giant...
Folka: A blue giant. That must be the Raven that Heralds Death. In the mountains, though... I'm not sure I'll be able to sense its haki.
Shine: I saw... a building, deep within the mountains. I think it's... a place of worship for a god? That is where the blue figure dwells.
Gilliam: A shrine to the south? Ah. I see now. It must be Mount Grimold, the mountain where a god resides.
Ratsel: I've heard of it. That mountain's been a place of worship since before the Raven War. I believe it's within Shurangran territory.
Folka: Right in the territory of the people who just dueled us. That's unfortunate luck. They'll have the advantage of home terrain.
Shine: ...
Shine: Everyone... I say we bring the battle to them!
Gilliam: Your Highness...
Haken: Well, I'll be. The princess is ready and rarin' to go. Guess we'd better be, too.

(end of chapter 5)