THE TAINTED MASK OF TRUTH

Unrelenting silence made the trip uncomfortable for Alicia as they walked into the town without a name. When the rest of the party tried to cope with the silence, Daito reveled in it. Since she was the only one among them who knew where the village was, Alicia's impatient steps thrust her ahead of the pack, pushing them towards it.

For once, she felt valuable. All she could do after the last assault was freak out and succumb to panic. Lisa grasped Daito's hand firmly and swung it back and forth as he moved alongside him. Slejj, at the back of the line, struggled to catch up with the youthful kids. He staggered his feet painfully, holding the basket of vegetables Lisa had carried with her, compared to the others who seemed to be racing. Daito was in charge of the larger case, which included all of their camping gear. By holding the chest, Alicia made herself useful.

"We're almost there; there's just a couple of hours left, maybe two..."

None responded, with the exception of Lisa, who turned to her and smiled brightly, finishing with a brief giggle. That was to be expected from Lisa, who was always cheerful. Alicia pondered the possibilities for her story. Slejj's plot, his quest to redemption, all while overcoming treachery for the sake of the Independent states, was familiar to her. Daito, on the other hand, had given up his role in order to maintain his humanity. But what about the teeny-tiny energy ball stuck to his arm? Alicia wanted to ask Slejj a question, but she decided to wait until they arrived in town.

The sun's rays became heavier as time passed. Daito's hand was abruptly released from Lisa's little claws as they were crossing a bridge, and she started running towards a young lady approaching them from the front. She was a long way out, but with each step she took, she got closer. The sweltering sun had made the air hazy, and she seemed to be dancing her way towards them from that distance.

"Lora!"

Lisa exclaimed joyfully as she dashed over to her, arms outstretched. She greeted her with a warm embrace. Lisa's little legs flared out and her feet knocked down the leaves hanging across the pathway as Lora picked her up and they pirouetted.

Since they were so far apart, the others couldn't hear their conversation, but when it was over, Lisa took her hand and dragged her towards the rest of the crew.

Under the scorching light, her black armour gleamed. Her black glinting hair, which crowned her head, went well with the armour. With each stride she took, it bounced lightly on her shoulders. Lora had a beautiful smile, almost too beautiful. Her thick lashes rolled up, hiding the creases beneath her brows. She had brown eyes that one would get lost in when gazing at them and her sonsy lips arced upwards, emphasizing her smile whenever she decided to pull one off. Her pronounced cheekbones protruded from her face.

Her face quickly shifted as she approached Daito. She walked up to him and yanked his hood off.

"I really can't afford to leave you alone for a day when you can't seem to stay out of trouble no matter where you go. I want to see your face while I'm talking to you, so take the hood off!"

"First and foremost, give heed to your own face,"

Daito responded, his voice hypnotic and lazy.

"Please don't make me angry with your childish responses... Do you have any idea what I went through to make sure what you did in Kiyani didn't make it to the outpost?! What were you thinking, you dunderhead, hitting Albert's son... REALLY?"

Alicia recalled her run-in with the knight guards in Kiyani.

"Did he really say that?"

"That is just what the report claims! Everyone is aware that the report is always right! When I return to the headquarters to check on matters, that's the first thing I see... you're going to get us into serious trouble, you oaf! You don't want to ruffle Albert's feathers."

"Yes, boy, Will you mind filling me in on what happened? You didn't say you had a fight with that idiot's son, did you?"

Slejj hopped in, happy to have found an opportunity to lay down the bulky basket and rest his back. He was clearly enraged at his lack of knowledge.

"It wasn't a big deal; I just shoved him and that was it."

"Since when does someone get shoved and end up with a broken rib... what did you do, shove him off a cliff?"

Lora reprimanded him in an agitated tone.

Alicia appeared to have transformed into a tree, and when Daito's reprimanding session began, she vanished. She joined in on the lecture and took Daito's hand, tired of being an assumption.

"Actually, it wasn't his fault; I was there, and the knight guards were about to attack me, so he jumped in and stopped them."

Lora noticed the foreign voice and returned her gaze to Daito, knowing it was something he did often.

'Wait, who's that?'

Lora pondered this. She had been completely oblivious to Alicia's presence for the whole time.

"Wait, who are you again?" she asked.

"My name is Alicia," Alicia replied.

Lora and Slejj shared uncomfortable glances.

"Don't look at me!"

Slejj replied, in response to Lora's strange expressions,

"Well, she knows about the weapons trade, the deity, and Daito... pretty much everything," Slejj replied.

"So who is she again?" Lora inquired once more.

Alicia suspected she was going to be at odds with her from the start.

"I just said my name is Alicia," she said.

Lora sent her a stern look. It would have surprised everyone, but nothing had been able to faze Alicia since she first saw a vurhan through her own eyes. Lora didn't make the most of first impressions. She came off as a brazen young lady who reveled in bossing people around and flaunting her beauty everywhere she went.

Slejj thought enough was enough and broke the stare-down between the two girls for what seemed like an eternity.

"All right, that's enough of that; we'll talk about it more when we get to town!"

Lora finally gave up; she couldn't stand up to those tenacious eyes of Alicia's. As her attention returned to Daito, she slapped her temple, as if a bug had crawled up her temple.

"You idiot, how do you miss this? Hand it over to me before someone else sees her with that!"

Lora wrapped her arms around Daito's neck and said. Their faces shifted dangerously close together, and a kiss would have been possible with only a small tilt of the other's head. Alicia feels compelled to separate the two. She had an intolerable sensation on her chest, as if a blacksmith had laid glowing red-hot ore on it. She found herself annoyed, folding her face and asking why she was angry in the first place.

Lora pulled her hands back, removing Daito's robe. She approached Alicia and swung the cloak over her head, causing it to settle on her back, making Alicia wonder what she was up to.

"Here... wear this,"

"What is it for?"

"Isn't this fool the one who told you? A State Guard from North Angus has no place in Defectors State. The soldiers and people here would eat you alive if you are not one of them. I'm shocked you've gotten this far."

The idea of her concealing her identity did not sit well with her. It felt wrong to her for some reason.

"This isn't something I think I'll need... I don't think I'll need to hide my armor... I'm a state guard, and I'm not afraid to wear my uniform..."

"...Listen, sister, the last time a North Angus state guard came here with that mentality, he didn't make it out of the state alive. So this is all friendly advice from a fellow State Guard member. This old geezer sent me here to scout for vurhans, and the people who can guide us to the vurhans aren't very fond of soldiers of any sort. They despise gifted people as well, so there's that."

Unwillingly, Alicia tied the lace on the cloak to keep it in place.

She took a step back to admire Alicia as if she were a magnificent painting she had been working on for a long time and had eventually completed.

"All right, then... just one thing,"

She went back to her and childishly flipped the hood up. It flipped over, obscuring Alicia's hair and a portion of her face.

"All right, now that we're all sorted, let's go kill some nasty vurhans."

Lora approached Daito and took his hand in hers, drawing him towards her.

"Now, you dunderhead, don't go hitting Lieutenants' sons without my permission!"

She growled at him jokingly, throwing him a shaky grin at the end. She pushed her way through the crowd, pulling Daito behind her as she struck up a conversation with him.

Her nose was clogged with the cloak's manly scent. It was a dreadful pleasure. She couldn't stop the unrecognizable sensation that had taken over her body. When she glanced ahead, all she could see were their clasped hands. Lora's hand would sit on his shoulder now and again, and she would randomly break out laughing while gently tapping his back.

Alicia's heart appeared to get heavy for no apparent reason, but the intense sensation reminded her of a feeling she had previously experienced. She despised it!