TEN LARGE, square towers dominate the skyline of this massive castle and are connected by giant, solid walls made of red stone.

Wide windows are scattered here and there around the walls in seemingly perfect symmetry, along with small holes for archers and artillery. A regular gate with giant metal doors offered a warm haven within these cold, isolated lands and it's the only way in, at least without taking down the castle walls.

Remnants of broken swords and shields litter the fields outside of the castle and the Kingdom, a painful reminder of a past war. This castle and the town were relatively new, but so far it stood its ground with ease and it'll likely do so for ages to come.

The large gates opened upon my arrival and I walked along the dark stone path that led to a pair of large steel doors in the wall of the castle. The ground trembled as an army of 90,000 men moved forward. Every step fell in perfect harmony, drowning out all other sounds from the vicinity.

Up close it's the sound of heavy armor clashing together which overpowers all other sounds. The creaking of metal of the siege engines can be heard only faintly and the sounds of the war mounts are all but drowned out completely.

Despite all the noise, the soldiers are talking and laughing with each other, many eager for the battle ahead, at least for now. As silence fell, the entire army became one body, one collective mind with a single goal: Defeat the enemy.

The different divisions were divided for training exercises. Eager foot soldiers armed with maces, axes, spears, and large shields stood in battle formation practicing maneuvers. Mounted cavalry armed with spears, shields, and swords sat astride their mounts practicing charges. One group stood apart from the rest, although they were physically in the middle of the controlled chaos.

Elite foot soldiers armed with katakana and daggers stood in a circle around two sparring members. Their technique revealed pieces of Aislin's training from years ago. Kingsley was carrying on the tradition of selective training that Aislin had always emphasized. These warriors may come in handy later.

Many other regiments filled the training area, including what appeared to be mercenaries in various armors and uniforms, allied soldiers sporting the colors of neighboring Kingdoms, allied cavalry units, allied defensive units yielding shields almost as big as themselves, various flanking units, and various mounted and foot archery units. August's attention was drawn to the ranks of archers, jealousy directed at the mounted troops. He was amazing with his recurve bow, but he was terribly unsteady on horseback. It was a significant weakness, at least in his own eyes. He could feel himself slowly falling out of practice after long days on the ship.

Aislin surveyed the ranks of soldiers carefully and noted with joy that there were almost as many women among the ranks as there were men. They all wore identical uniforms and all had their hair pulled into a tight knot at the top of their heads so they were difficult to distinguish, but there were definitely women kicking butt and taking names despite this patriarchal culture.

I felt Evander stiffen beside me as he realized just how much of the army was composed of the female sex. I heard him mutter something that sounded like disdain at the thought of women fighting along men and distinctly heard a comment that sounded seriously like "Who cooks and bears children if all the women are going to war?" I bit my tongue. I knew there would be someone to set him straight soon enough. I just had to bide my time.

Leland was visibly trying to restrain himself from laughing at Evander's reaction. I guess he came to terms with the fact that women make good soldiers.

I crossed my arms with pride and as I scanned the training grounds. I couldn't help but smirk at the woman who was standing her ground in the sparring ring. She was holding herself back, trying to teach her partner to anticipate attacks more effectively. Aislin caught her eye and the girl paused, almost letting her partner land a blow on her shoulder, barely dodging at the last second. She excused herself from the ring and ordered another soldier to replace her as the student bowed respectfully.

Kingsley Kaneko walked toward Aislin's landing party. She hadn't aged a day in the 6 years since Aislin had last seen her. Her inky black hair was swept up into a high ponytail, held in place by a silver ring and pin hair ornament and revealing her sharp features. Her skin was as clear as day and pale as ivory.

Her dark eyes held a sharp expression that could pierce steel. Her black leather General's vest was cinched tightly around her waist with a matching belt and flowed around her knees, the side panels opening and closing as she moved. Her black silk uniform protected her fair skin from the forces around her. The cuffs of the sleeves hugged her wrists tightly and her forearms were protected by leather cuffs that ran from just below her elbow to a point over the back of her palm. Her flowing pants were tucked into a pair of shiny black leather boots.

She dropped forward into a 90-degree bow and waited for a couple of seconds before lifting her head to face me again. I dropped my head in a small bow in acknowledgment. I could hear August's heart rate skyrocket as he stood next to me. I stared at him in wonder. He looked like Kingsley's sharp gaze had shot Cupid's arrow straight through his heart and out the other side. I hoped he wouldn't start drooling.

"Sensei. What are you doing here?" Kingsley asked in Japanese. The eastern Asian dialect rolled off her tongue as easily as English rolled off mine.

"It's been a while." I chuckled, replying in Japanese. "Truth be told, I need your help."

"My help?" She asked in very proper English, crossing her arms and raising an inquisitive eyebrow. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw August stagger backwards and Arius quickly grabbed his arm to steady him with a look of bewilderment on his face.

I nodded, "Yes. I got an assignment that is more than meets the eye. It requires some extra manpower."

"Oh? And what is this assignment specifically?" She asked with curiosity.

"Marry me." The words came from absolutely nowhere. All eyes turned to August in disbelief.

He was staring at Kingsley with stars in his eyes. Her surprised and confused gaze met his puppy eyes and his eyes went wider than I thought possible as he realized they were making eye contact. He turned his head slightly to whisper in Aruis' ear, never breaking eye contact with Kingsley. "Did I say that out loud?" he whispered loudly.

"What do you think?" Arius replied, not even attempting to lower his voice. Leland and Evander tried (and failed) to smother snickers and August's face turned as red as an apple.

Just then a tall thin man in black came up and stood protectively behind Kingsley's left shoulder. He slashed the invisible line between Kingsley and August with an icy stare. August took half a step back and with considerable effort pointed his gaze toward the ground.

Kingsley reached behind her and placed a reassuring hand on the man's hand which rested on the hilt of his katakana, ready to draw the weapon at a moment's notice in a practiced gesture. I raised a questioning eyebrow as Kingsley's gaze refocused on me, but I received no response.

"A King was kidnapped." I resumed, shifting on my feet, "King Kole."

Her eyes widened at his name. "H-He was kidnapped?" I could see the concern for her classmate flash through her eyes. August looked up at the change in her voice, but quickly looked back down when he saw the man behind her was still glaring.

I nodded, "Finding him has been more difficult than expected." I began to tell her about the journey I've been through. The royal family, the clues, the trips to other Kingdoms, the trip to my home island, all of it.

By the time I finished, Kingsley had removed her hand from the man behind her and moved it to her mouth, attempting to cover her surprise, concern and irritation. She shook her head and looked to the ground.

A sigh escaped her mouth and she spoke in her native tongue again, "What's the game plan?"

"It's time to bring the syndicate back together," I smirked.

"We're coming back?" She smiled.

"There are no other options." I said resignedly. I felt the eyes of all the boys bore into my back as the weight of my words settled on them. It never really occurred to me that the weight of our situation hadn't hit them until now, nor had they actually thought about it.

"I'll be ready to leave in an hour." Kingsley said. "This is my second-in-command, Hori Misao." She continued, gesturing to the man behind her. "He will take care of anything you need while you wait." She turned to face the man who bowed in response to her action.

"Take them somewhere they can sit and relax for an hour or so. Give them anything they want. We have no secrets from this woman. I will be setting off for Kavan within the next hour. You are to continue drills as usual in my absence. The safety of the empire is in your hands." she rattled off in rapid-fire Japanese. Hori looked at her as if he would rather be anywhere other than babysitting an army, but the soldier in him bowed obediently and rose as his commanding officer turned on her heel and left.

Hori turned to glare at August who was gazing longingly after Kingsley as she departed. Arius had gathered the back of August's collar in his hand as if he were worried August would try to follow her. Hori stepped in front of August and blocked his view of Kingsley, forcing him to meet his gaze.

"You do not touch her." Hori rumbled in a voice deeper than his stature indicated he should have. It was clear in his voice that his threat didn't come from love. It was the voice of a soldier protecting his commanding officer from all forms of harm.

All I could do was stare at Hori in wonder. I had never heard him speak before.

I stifled a chuckle as Hori turned and gestured for us to follow him. This would be almost as entertaining as Evander getting what was coming to him. I don't think Hori's warning is going to deter the obviously lovestruck August beside me.

×××××××××××××

Author Note!

AUGUST IS SUCH A SOFT BOY MY HEART hUrTs!!!! Hes so cuteee! i want my own august, where can i buy him?

W-what is that? bruh- *bangs credit card on table aggressively*

We need a ship name for August x Kingsley STAT!! >

So for part two I wanted to really use Kingsley's native language in this book (Japanese), but I didn't want to mess up translations so I hope the switching back and forth made sense to you all.

I also cant promise that its culturally correct because me and my friends don't know much on how the customs surrounding Japanese culture works but my friend knew the customs surrounding Chinese emperors and Korean emperors, so we went off of that. I cant promise its correct though.

Chapter twenty-seven analysis.

Thoughts >

Feelings >

Predictions >

Random >

How is your day today? Was it super suck-y like always? livable? In between?

QOTD: Glasses or no glasses?

I have reading glasses because my eyes strain.

Do I wear them? No. No I don't.

Do I wear fake glasses that have no prescription because they look cute on me? Yes. Yes I do. hehe.



Love you all thank you for reading! Xoxox 💋💋

- Mickey ✨