The Martial Unity

Leonel's pupils constricted. To his side, Aina tensed up. It was only then he registered that this person had spoken in English.

"… Who are you?"

"Me?" The old man replied. "I'm a nobody. Just a curious old man. I guess it's not very polite to ask a question without answering one first, so do you mind answering mine now?"

Leonel's gaze narrowed. Something was wrong with this place. He didn't quite understand it, but Force was far more dense here than it should be. In the 1400's, the amount of Fourth Dimensional Force should have been minuscule.

But this wasn't even close to the most important point. Who was this person and how the hell did he know his and Aina's true identity?

The old man sighed. "There's no need to be so tense. Us three will be here together for a long time. Isn't it best if we get to know each other…? I spent all that effort learning that ugly… English, they call it. I'd like for it to not be useless, if possible."

The gray-robed old man slowly stood, pushing a chair that seemed it might collapse at any moment back and grabbing a bulbous wooden cane head.

When he turned to face them, his slumped back straightened with a crack. It was like his formerly frail appearance was just an act. Such a simple action caused the air around him to speed up before settling back down.

The lower half of his face was covered in a gray mustache and beard that swept over his collar bone. However, his upper half wasn't as wrinkled as one might expect. It seemed that if he took the effort to shave, he would look no different from a normal 40 year old man. Even Leonel's own father only seemed to be a bit younger than that.

"I guess we got off on the wrong foot. I believe my name is pronounced … Nicholas, in your English. I can't say I hate this tone of address, though, I prefer the original Nicolas. I'm sure you've heard of me."

Leonel inwardly cocked an eyebrow, though he remained deadpan. There probably were famous Nicolas's in history, but Leonel would be lying if he said he knew who this person was. Was he supposed to know?

Nicolas stretched his limbs. It seemed the cane he held in his hand was just for show.

to keep

I can't have you ruining

"Your plans?"

I'd say, uh…" Nicolas stared at blank space for

what could possibly

before Charles was officially crowned, but so what? According to the

it was their hidden quest to reverse that course. In fact, they would be greatly rewarded for it. So maybe the measure they should be measuring their success against is how much they did change as opposed to how

he couldn't grapple with the conclusion he

Charles coronation this Nicolas

Nicolas' side. However, no matter how subtle it was, Leonel was too alert at this point to miss it. His senses latched onto it

that Joan's

You shouldn't be here, if you're gone for too long it could be a

are a danger to you, Sire. I cannot leave them to

Joan's ability at all, but rather someone else this whole

She seemed to look this calm all the time now, he hadn't seen her shy expression for a while. But once again, it seemed that his one sided decisions had

sighed. "You're always too overzealous,

me strength. I am simply doing what I can to return

something clicked

concentration of Force… The month timeline he set… His words

widened.

battle axes. Her main ax couldn't fit, however, in

Nicolas frowned. "…