It was still early evening by the time Yuriko, Asami, and Desire returned to their inn. The Beaver’s Largesse, as the sign said. Yuriko didn’t care to remember and only saw the sign when they returned. It wasn’t that hard to distinguish though, even if most of the buildings in this part of the city looked practically identical. The Largesse was the only one painted a lurid red.

The ground floor was made out of red bricks. That, Yuriko thought, was naturally coloured that way. The upper levels were made out of wood, and those were painted. Probably with a single coat since the red layer was already peeling at some points, revealing the dark brown underneath. It was a nice, cozy inn, even if it didn’t offer much privacy.

They returned to their communal room and found Heron in the midst of meditating. Sheamus wasn’t in sight. The young man jolted out of his meditations as soon as she entered, and his eyes examined her from head to toe, before he looked relieved.

“Welcome back. Good news?” he asked.

Yuriko nodded, “We found a warehouse with pallets of Wayfarer’s bread. We can raid it tonight and be gone by morning.” They would reach the oasis a couple of days afterwards and be on their way towards the Zarek Valley. “The others aren’t back yet? And where’s Sheamus?”

“Bathroom,” Heron said succinctly. Then he frowned. “Preventing my Anima from flaring is hard. How do you manage it?”

Yuriko tilted her head. “I, uh, I don’t know. I mean, keeping my Anima within my body simply was a matter of Willing it to. And it stays that way unless I decide otherwise. Actually, my Anima isn’t constrained, but rather, invisible.”

“Oh? Does that mean you can perceive what I’m doing behind my back?” He held his hands at the small of his back and held out three fingers: his right index, and his left pinky and middle. When she said as much, he whistled in appreciation. “Can you teach that to me?”

“Er, I just Will my Anima to thin.”

“Ancestors! It’s a matter of Will and concentration then?”

“I guess.”

He returned to his seated meditation pose and focused. His azure light flickered and contracted, but every now and then, it popped back out to full flare. As she’d observed before, he couldn’t seem to do anything other than a full flare, or a full condensed aura. He could coat his weapon and shields with it though, which was how he matched up against Roland a few days ago.

Tapping her lips with her fingers, Yuriko wondered if it was only a matter of training that he lacked. Gwendith was able to freely manipulate her Anima within a few days, and the two of them were already on the second Growth Phase. Gwendith’s reach had grown to fifteen inches, while Heron’s was still at the base ten. It was when she watched both of their progress that she realised how dangerous, and advantageous her unscheduled dip into the Chaos Sea had been. That and her forays into Kogasi and Bella plane, as well as the Pure Lands, had accelerated her growth. Gwendtih’s reach had been fifteen for a couple of weeks now, too.

Pressuring their Anima with hers wasn’t really enough to stimulate it. Their growth was also capped by their ability to produce distilled Chaos, but she knew that wasn’t the only thing needed. Fractures within the Anima were filled by distilled Chaos and Animus, but the quality and extent of the fractures mattered, too.

What she could do for them only fractured the surface layer, while her own experiences and battles and caused fissures deep within. It was only Damien and Fri’Avgi who made sure that she survived those experiences.

Descending to control you also hurt your Anima, you know. Which also meant better growth afterwards.

‘Alright, but I still don’t want you doing it,’ Yuriko shot back.

I probably won’t be able to anymore. Your Radiant Ennoia has progressed nicely, and taking over would take too much from me.

Was it relief she felt or regret? She wasn’t sure. Damien being able to take over when things got too rough had been a safety net, but now…well, it was better not to rely on it, anyway.

She enveloped Heron’s Anima and helped push down on it. He grunted as he struggled, and Yuriko saw a few fractures. But they were too miniscule. She wasn’t sure how to help him create deeper fissures, short of dragging him over into the Chaos Sea. That would practically be murder, however, as he didn’t have a protective artefact.

Well, he and Gwendith would just have to grow steadily, even if it would be slower than her ascent. It would take years at this rate before they would be ready to face their World Trials. As for her own progress…

Well, not much changed with the Radiant Body Refinement. In the past few weeks it had only progressed by half a percent, while her reach was now eight and a half paces. Slow going, and it continued to slow. The ambient Chaos here just wasn’t enough. She mostly relied on challenging battles now, as well as seeing new things, to expand her Anima. Then again, there was the fact that for every inch her Anima expanded, the volume it took was much greater than every inch represented before. It could be that it just took a lot longer since there was more space to fill up.

Her musings were interrupted when the others returned. Braden, Orrin, and Gwendith were carrying several bags filled with…dried meat? A few root vegetables, too, and onions! That only left the two beastkin.

“Those two are gambling,” Braden said, “and they seem to be winning. I dunno if they’d make enough coin to pay for everything, or if they’d even contribute it.”

Yuriko shrugged. “It’s their winnings in that case. We found the warehouse storing the bread. We can go liberate it come midnight.”

“Alright.”

Yuriko sighed as she lay down and took a nap on her bedroll. Stealing the bread was…well, it was theft, pure and simple. However, she was on a mission sanctioned by her nation, so it was probably alright. Probably. Her sense of honour wouldn’t quite tell her it was fine though. If she had attacked an army camp and liberated the supplies, then that was clearly part of making war. But what about this? It wasn’t clear at all. The warehouse was in a civilian area…

Then again, the entirety of the Federation, including the city of Uaran, was party to abducting travellers, and their own people, and sacrificing them to the Chaos Courts. Such atrocities meant that they were definitely not following the generally accepted rules of war.

She and Gwendith, along with Heron, and Asami, talked about it. The three of them were part of Agaza Academy, and as such knew the conventions of civilised warfare. That the Federation was willing to conduct near total war against the Empire meant that all pretences were off.

But still, her heart wasn’t so easily settled. Just because they were committing atrocities didn’t mean she should as well.

But what could she do? They were on a strict time limit, and they weren’t able to find the army stockpiles. Unless the warehouses near the ocean were those stockpiles? The crates containing the bread were so uniform and stamped with a sigil that they could have been army provisions.

Practicality dictated she shouldn’t have to bother though. But still…

On and on her thoughts went, circling around each other and coming back to the same point. What she wanted them to do was theft, pure and simple. The extenuating circumstances justified the attempt.

Then again, what difference did it make, especially considering the blood on her hands?

It is just another way to make war.

Right…

She woke up out of her half-daze when the two beastkin came back. To her relief, both of them carried at least half a MiJin worth of Wayfarer’s bread, bypassing her conundrum.

“You two won that much?” Braden asked incredulously. “I’m surprised the gambling house didn’t throw you out!”

“Ah, but you see, we’ve been through here before, and the Crooked Brook always deals.” Kassy grinned. “Most of the coin I took came from the customers, not the house, and Rolland’s fights drain funds from the bettors, not the bookers.”

“Oh.”

“Still, the understanding is that we don’t do this too often in one establishment, or city,” Kassy sniffed. “Only those brutes in Kadrac don’t follow the rules.”

“Hmmm, I guess that means we can go back already, yes?” Gwendith asked. It was already well into evening though, so it wasn’t really worth it to just leave.

“Are we still going after the warehouses?” Heron asked.

“No need to risk it, I think.” Asami answered before Yuriko could say a word, then she clapped a hand over her mouth and muttered, “Sorry, it’s your decision.”

“No, you’re right,” Yuriko admitted. “No sense to risk getting caught and having to fight our way out.”

With things decided, Yuriko and the others headed down for dinner. It was a modest repast, but delicious in its simplicity. Bread, seafood stew, and unfiltered ale. The drink was more like porridge than anything else, and Yuriko had never had the old-style brew before. There was only a mild warmth from the alcohol, easily burned away by her body. She’d probably have to drink several bucketsful of the stuff to even grow tipsy.

Afterwards, they headed back into their communal room and slept.

Only to be awakened just before midnight by a piercing siren.

Yuriko jolted out of her sleep, Radiant energy gushed out of her body and formed a dozen sunshards even as her perceptive aura spread out across the entire room and even managed to spill outside by a couple of paces. Across the hallway, she saw the other tenants jolt awake. The streets were empty, and she wasn’t sure where the sound came from, but there didn’t seem to be any danger.

She saw someone running up the hallway, the innkeeper, and before the man could open their door, Yuriko extinguished the shards.

“Apologies, that’s the war siren. Everyone must head to the shelters!” he yelled as soon as he opened the door, but didn’t even bother to stick his head inside. He ran up to the next rooms and repeated the same warnings.

“We aren’t going there, are we?” Orrin asked.

Sheamus rubbed the sleep off his eyes and yawned. “Only if you want to stay here for Seasons.” He looked at Yuriko, “Run?”

“Yes, of course.” Yuriko agreed, “Whatever it is, we should be able to outrun or fight it off.”

While most of the populace, and even the visitors headed towards the centre of the city, the Imperial team consolidated their gains and divided the Wayfarer’s bread between the ten of them. Yuriko took two hundred Jin, as did Roland. The others took a bit less, Heron got a hundred and fifty, Gwendith and Asami took fifty each. The twins took seventy-five Jin a piece, and Sheamus took the rest. Their backpacks were bulkier after all of that, but at least they didn’t have to carry crates.

By the time they exited the Beaver’s Largesse, the streets were practically deserted. The Full Moon had only been a night ago, so the skies were bright with Luminous light. That meant that the night lamps hadn’t been lit and that other light sources, such as torches and lamps, were readily apparent.

Right as they were about to reach the edge of Uaran, they saw torches borne by Uaran warriors. They were staring out into the countryside, and every now and then, they moved across the street. It wasn’t a very effective patrol, however, since the gaps were large enough for a Colossus to slip past.

It was easy enough to avoid the light and the patrols. It didn’t take ten minutes to get through, and in no time at all, they were already on the road.

Whatever it was that the alarm sounded for, didn’t come from this direction…

“What’s that?” Heron grabbed her wrist and pointed. Yuriko didn’t see much, but when she activated Chaos Sight, it was to see dozens, perhaps hundreds of silhouettes just a couple of hundred paces away. They were stretched out across the land, in a wide net that would catch them if they continued on their path.