After the banquet, Joan learned Klein's background from the other guests, and Klein learned that Joan was pretending to be a princess.
"They said it would draw people from the old kingdom here..." Joan felt a little embarrassed, but she could hardly keep lying to Annan's companion.
"Annan... Is he doing well?"
"Better than ever. He's even more impressive than he was in Star-Moon Bay!" Joan said enviously, sneaking a look at Klein.
Her armor had to weigh at least a hundred pounds, and she stood taller than the Orcs at school. It was easy to imagine how strong the woman inside must be. Could she be another one of his...?
"Are you from the Dimon Kingdom?"
After a brief silence, a muffled answer came from the scratched helmet. "I'm from Rikaner. My family refused to give up the fight, so the Betrayer wiped them out..."
Those memories were a tangle of pain, hatred, blood, and tears. In the end, Klein had fled alone to the Dimon Kingdom, buried her hatred deep, and trained herself there.
The cuts and gouges in her armor had all been left over the past year.
Joan thought there was no way to explain the disappearance of tens of millions of people from the Rikaner Kingdom in a few sentences.
She deliberately changed to a lighter subject. "How did you meet Annan?"
"Michael's mercenary team."
"I know him! He's Free City's chief alchemist now." At last, they were talking about something Joan knew. "Annan was a mercenary?"
"He'd just arrived in Breeze City then and was still investigating the attack. I left after Star-Moon Bay was established."
People who had lost their past were prone to reminiscing. Klein remembered the brief but enjoyable time she had spent with the Mercenary Squad.
Michael and Francois had