Hikari stared in the distance at the wyvern peaks.
The support team had left in the morning towards RazenHeir territory.
It was a standard precautionary measure to evacuate all non-combatants towards the climax of the raid.
"The train is here. Good luck, Hikari, I'll be waiting for you in the fortress of Escher."
"Be safe, my lady."
"I will, you especially! Don't forget, a feast awaits you in Escher."
Ria smiled brightly at her.
Hikari watched as the RazenHeir knights and her attendants escorted her onto the train.
"Man! I wish I could fight the wyvern queen alongside you. But I'm grounded because reasons."
"Master Sheela."
Sheela stood beside her, her head was now just above the height of Hikari's thighs.
She had a bundle of almond silky almond cloth in her hand.
Then, she knelt in front of Hikari.
"Lift your foot."
Hikari paused.
"You heard me."
Hikari lifted her left foot. Sheela wrapped one of the sheets of cloth around the middle of Hikari's foot and under the arch. The runes on the cloth glowed as the cloth tightened.
Hikari rotated and scrunched the foot.
"One more layer."
Sheela wraps another layer over the first.
"I see that your boots are too small for you now. Good. This is a chance for you to get used to fighting barefoot."
"It's nice." Hikari looked over her shoulder at her foot.
"The other one."
Sheela wrapped two layers of enchanted cloth onto Hikari's right foot.
Hikari then placed both feet flat on the ground, scrunching her feet alternatively to feel the balance.
As one foot was slightly lifted off the ground, Sheela ran her hand under the bore of the foot.
"Don't be afraid to stomp a sandworm with your bare feet. Your soles are harder than steel."
Hikari lifts the soles of her feet behind her one at a time, studying and testing the foot wraps.
Sheela stood up.
"Well, my train is here too. Good luck, my student. Make sure to bring that brother of mine back."
"Thanks, master Sheela." Hikari bows.
"No need to thank me. In fact."
Sheela paused.
"Promise me. Visit me in the Heartstone estate some time. "
Sheela appeared serious.
"I will."
She smiled and boarded the train.
As the train moved out of the station into the distance, the camp quietened down.
Back to training with her sword.
It was slightly smaller and slimmer than her old claymore but heavier and made of a metal much harder than steel.
"I can't activate the runes but at least I have a sturdy dueling sword."
Her camp was now empty except for several RazenHeir scouts.
She paused for a break.
She stared at the wyvern peaks.
The sound of the desert wind blowing over the empty path leading outwards from the camp.
From where she stood, the foggy wyvern peaks were as still as the day she arrived.
She drew her sword again, her feet one front and one facing diagonally.
She drilled.
"Ah, the legendary knight Hikari. The bane of wyverns that scotch the sky, and the sandworms that split the earth. Pleasure to make your acquaintance again!"
The slayer master in his straw hat walked up to her.
"Greetings"
"Sorry to disturb your training, but there's just a bit of business I wish to discuss with you."
Two men pushed a cart containing a round glass vial of a swirling orange potion the size of a cauldron that the normal infantry uses.
"An experimental potion I concocted to match your physiology."
Hikari picks up the vial, shakes it and pops open the cork.
She gave the potion a sniff.
Mostly common ingredients that one would find in a strength potion.
She took a sip. The thick liquid slides down her throat. It was clearly not poisoned.
She drank the whole potion.
After waiting a while, she flexes her arms a bit.
"How is it?"
"I feel less tired"
"Hmm… right… I see…" The slayer master took out a paper and began scribbling.
"The subject digests the Ryulibutten roots… no signs of muscle expansion…. No visible side effects… " he mumbled to himself.
"There!" He folds his notes up neatly and hands it to one of his men.
"Did you like it?"
"It fills me up a little"
"Well, that's not what I intended. I'll brew something stronger next time. Anyways, I have a little mission for you."
Another two men pushed forward a cart full of scrolls.
"The spell inscribed on the scrolls will activate a rune inscribed into the slayers that puts them to sleep. I'll pay you for each one that you knock out."
Hikari nods as she keeps the scrolls in her pouch.
"I'll leave you to it now." The slayer master turns around and leaves.
Hikari continues drilling with her sword.