Dimensional Descent

Valiant Heart Mountain instantly found itself to be under a lot of pressure. Gretta hadn’t moved to attack in several days, and yet she also hadn’t tried to hide her presence. Whether it was the lowest worker in the organization up to the highest standing elder, there wasn’t a single soul that didn’t know that Valiant Heart Mountain had finally reached the end of its rope.

What was especially odd was that the Oryx Tribe had been quiet for several months already. This alone had made many feel like something was fishy. But, before they could learn what was happening, they landed in this situation.

…

Within BLACKSTAR, Keira, the twins and Rum were present. If the rest of Valiant Heart Mountain could be described to be in a panic, these four were tranquil. Even the usually reserved and panicky Litia managed to exude the same confidence as her more boisterous younger sister, Madia.

”Do you think they will really attack?” Madia asked Keira.

”I … I don’t think so.” Keira said after a moment of thought, her gaze still focused on the Craft she was working on.

Those familiar with training Crafters would immediately recognize that Keira might have been drawing Force Arts with her quill, but she wasn’t actually Crafting. Rather, her target was what looked like a solid piece of wood. And yet, beads of sweat fell from her forehead with every stroke she made.

This wood seemed simple, but it was actually a very hard substance with an irregular pattern of grain. This combination of characteristics made it especially difficult to control a Crafting Quill. The substance being dense and tough made things difficult enough, but the irregular grain patterns made it so that the quill tended to want to follow the path of said grains rather in the direction a Force Crafter wanted.

The result was a perfect training tool for those who wanted to increase their skill.

”Oh? Why not?”

Madia had been certain that the Milky Way Guild would eventually attack. Still, she wasn’t very worried about it. Worst case scenario, they would just flash the badges they had earned from the Force Crafting Guild. Unless the circumstances were very particular, no one would harm a Crafter without reason.

Of course, in order to not put their lives in the hands of others, there were all sorts of other things they could do. For example, hiring a body guard from the Guild was possible. They could also simply leave Planet Valiant for the Guild as well. So, it was no wonder none of them were worried about their safety.

That said, leaving the Planet would be an absolute last resort precisely because the optics would be poor. Whether they liked it or not, they were still representing Leonel even now. Though outsiders didn’t know it, the people of Valiant Heart did. If they failed to live up to this ideal, it would make Leonel’s future plans more difficult.

As far as they were concerned, Leonel was the reason they could live a life of such leisure now. They had gone from a Faction no one wanted to work with to the most important Crafters of the organization in just a few years. If it wasn’t for Leonel so graciously sharing his Crafting knowledge with them, how could they ever accomplish such a thing?

Though it was impossible to tell if their resolve would hold firm even to the point of death, at least for now when their lives weren’t in immediate path of harm, they had no reason to betray Leonel. ”The same reason why we can’t just leave,” Keira replied, ”the optics would be terrible. The Milky Way Guild is a Guild of Merchants. What is most important to Merchants is profit, connections, and most essentially: Neutrality.

”If they had managed to handle things back on Planet Vincero, it would have been fine. After all, that was their territory being encroached upon. They had the right to defend it. But now, they’re baring their teeth toward others. Whether they want it to or not, this action suddenly reminds everyone that this ’friendly’ group of Merchants they’ve allowed into every corner of their lives might not be so ’friendly’ anymore as long as they make one wrong move.

”If the Milky Way Guild really bares their fangs completely, nothing might change initially, but soon they’d find themselves slowly being suppressed in the future.

”It might start with a demand for higher taxes from the territories they operate in, and then it might become their operations having to be ’overseen’ in case of illegal activity, then it might become smaller merchant Guilds eating up contracts they had held on to for years… It could all eventually snowball to the point the Milky Way Guild of old would be no more.”

”Ah! Keira, you’re so smart!” Litia’s innocent, child-like eyes lit up.

Keira coughed lightly, her Crafting Quill deviating from the path she had planned.

”Yes, yes. Of course.” She said, hiding the tinge of red that colored her cheeks.

It was actually Leonel who had said all of this. He had left behind an explanation of what might happen with Allan who had passed it on to Keira. But now she was being praised for something Leonel had deduced months ago.

”But then why are they here if they won’t attack?” Madia asked after a while.

”Well,” Keira started, ”they’re probably trying to apply pressure. Also, there are probably very few people who are certain that that ship is from the Milky Way Guild and that’s only because we have information on the ships they sent to Planet Vincero.

”To a layman, though, those ships are unmarked. If I had to take a guess as to what might happen, they plan on pushing us into a corner. When we’re thoroughly suppressed, lacking in supplies, and low on morale, they’ll probably send in the three organizations to deal a decisive blow to us.

”Of course, they might sneak in a few elite soldiers from their personal fleet. But, by then, who will really pay attention to such a small detail?”

Keira coughed lightly, giving out her ’well thought out’ opinion eloquently and even taking some pauses to make it seem more authentic. When she saw the worshipful gaze in Litia’s eyes, she couldn’t help but grin to herself.

At that moment, though, Thilly came rushing in, pushing up his glasses as he hurriedly spoke.

”They’re attacking! They sent down a first wave!”