Sacred Stone Memories Chapter 3/Quest 1 - Storyline

Lands of the Horse Tribe

Kanon	Hyaaah! You're going down! Fyuuuuah!!!
Monster	...
Monsters	...
Kanon	Ack! More coming! There's no end to this!
Almira	Not good! What're we gonna do?! If we don't get back to where we were before, we won't be able to rendezvous with the reinforcements.
Kanon	I'm well aware of that, Almira! All right. I guess I'll have to use my special attack... Miracle Kanon Slaaaaaaash!!!
Monsters	...
Kanon	There's an opening! Let's go, Almira!
Almira	Yes!
A moment later...
Seida	Phew... I finally found you.
Kanon	Seida!
Almira	Who's that? Is she the reinforcements?
Kanon	Yep! Amongst us apprentices, she was the most capable knight! You came, Seida! Whoo-hoo!
Seida	Don't "whoo-hoo" me, Kanon. How long do you think we looked for you? Look how far you are from the rendezvous point.
Kanon	Oh, sorry! There were more monsters that we have expected, and we had to retreat at once.
Seida	It's hihgly inefficient to make excuses at this point.
Kanon	Ack. I guss some things don't change. Did you come alone?
Monzein	...I'm here as well.
Kanon	Vice-Captain Monzein!
Monzein	That's Captain Elect Monzein to you!
Kanon	Come on, that's just a minor detail. It doesn't change the fact that you're my commander right now...wait, what?! Where did you get that injury from?!
Monzein	I got caught up in your Miracle-something-something.
Kanon	Seriously?! I-I-I'm so sorry!
Monzein	More importantly, regardless of how big of a horde attacked you, why did you retreat all the way here?! What happened to your honor as a knight?!
Kanon	Uckkk. I'm sorry.
Seida	Vice-Captain, enough with the inefficient, long-winded lecture. Kanon, who is that girl? I've never met her before.
Almira	Ah, right! I'm Almira! I hunt and live around here! Nice meeting you!
Kanon	We've hired her as our guide of the Saga Region. She's a bit reckless but very trustworthy.
Almira	You just hit one of your allies with your special move, Kanon. You're the last person to call someone reckless!
Kanon	Ack... Well, um...
Monzein	Seriously. After having been knighted into the Holy Guard, I thought you'd mature a little, but you haven't changed at all.
Kanon	I-I messed up.
Monzein	In any case...from here on, the 2nd Regiment will accompany you of the 4th Regiment. Where is the main army led by Captain Kudanstein?
Kanon	He's on the campaingn in the grasslands up ahead.
Seida	We heard that the mission was to search for and immediately interrogate factions that are causing conflict within Saga.
Kanon	Yes. The grasslands are vast and quite a few of the equestrian tribe live spread apart, so they need more people.
Monzein	Then we must hurry and rendezvous with them. Let's go!
Time moves; the sun and moon of 3 years flowing, holding onto a heart of light. One grown Paladin speaks. Memories engraved on a Philosopher's Stone.


Seida	Hey, Kanon. It might just be my imagination, but weren't we supposed to rendezvous with the 4th Regiment a lot sooner?
Kanon	No, Seida...it's not your imagination. I'm sorry! We've already gotten lost!
Monzein	What?! Stop speaking nonsense! You even hired a guide! What are you playing at?!
Almira	What do you expect! I know this terrain well, but I don't know where the knigts are located.
Monzein	Well...!
Seida	...She's right. Fine, I guess I have no choice. ... ...
Kanon	Ah, there it is! Seida's special move!
Almira	Huh? What are you doing?
Seida	They're this way. The 4th Regiment's distance is about 8 miles ahead. That's about a 2-hour ride.
Monzein	What!? How can you know that?!
Seida	An archer is expected to know how to read the wind. Don't ask stupid things. I hate inefficient questions.
Almira	Can you really do that? Wow! Hey, next time I go hunting, you should come with me! You can tell me where the prey is!
Seida	What the...?! Stop grabbing onto me! You can read the wind too, right?!
Almira	I can't do complicated things like that! Can I call you teacher?
Seida	Of course not! Hey, Vice-Captain, don't just stand there watching and help!
Monzein	I can't lend you Seida for something like that. She's the star of the 2nd Division whom I have high hopes for!
Almira	Seriously? Just of a bit! If you're with me, Seida, I'll be able to stuff myself full every day!
Kanon	Yeah, I totally understand where you're coming from. When I used to get lost, she'd help me a lot.
Seida	These people are getting on my nerves.
Kanon	Huh? Did you say something, Seida?
Seida	Nothing... Let's cross that hill right there north of us. There should be fewer monsters, so we'll be able to efficiently narrow the distance.
Monzein	No. It's a good idea, but we're going this way.
Kanon	What? Why? The path Seida proposed will help us rendezvous with the others faster.
Monzein	We are honorable knights of the Holy Guard. We will not cowardly turn our backs to the monsters.
Seida	Here you go again. You really should get that checked.
Monzein	What did you say?
Seida	Our mission is to rendezvous with the 4th Division as soon as possible. We should choose the most efficient route.
Monzein	Efficient? A knight should always be marching forward with his head held high...
Seida	So you're okay with depleting valuable food supplies and the stamina of those under you so that you can keep your head held high?
Monzein	Ack...!
Seida	Are you saying that, as long as you maintain your Code of Chivalry and fight with your head held high, the results don't matter?
Monzein	Agh...!
Seida	Are you going to pointlessly put the lives of your men in danger, just to satisfy your own ego?
Monzein	Ughh...!
Kanon	U-um...I agree with what you said, Vice-Captain Monzein! But...I think we should priritize rendezvousing with the rest of the 4th Regiment. Besides, I'm worried about little Kagura.
Seida	For starters, it's highly inefficient to argue over this right now. What do we do? Do we take the shorter path? Or the longer?
Monzein	Ack... It's to protect the 4th Regiment. It goes against my Code of Chivalry, but we'll take the shortest route.
Seida	Seriously. The conclusion was clear, so you should've said that from the beginning. We've wasted valuable time.
Almira	Teacher, you're so cool! ...Hm?
Monster	...
Seida	Look, we've wasted time and now monsters have shown up. Let's inefficiently take them out and advance forward.
Later...

Kanon	Huff...huff... This is tough. Hey, Seida, is it really a shortcut to go through this mountain path?
Seida	I can sense the 4th Regiment spread out on the other side of this hill. It'll save us a lot of time to cut across the hill than to make our way around it. Besides, there are much fewer monsters. Isn't that right, Almira?
Almira	Oh, right! It's true that there's a wide plain on the other side of this hill, but...
Seida	But what?
Almira	No, I was just impressed that oyu knew about it! I guess I should expect that much from my teacher!
Kanon	Now that I think about it, it's true. You seem to know a lot about this area, Seida.
Monzein	Seriously? You trained together and you don't know? Seida is originally from Saga. This prairie is practically her backyard.
Kanon	What?! I had no idea!
Almira	Neither did I! I wonder if we've met somewhere before.
Seida	I doubt it. That was a long time ago.
Kanon	Oh, but wait. Does that mean you're also from one of the equestrian tribes?
Seida	Yes. I'm from one of the equestrian tribes. What about it?
Kanon	What about it? You're my friend. I want to know these things.
Seida	It's irrelevant. This is the past I've abandoned long ago.
Kanon	Huh...?
Seida	Vice-Captain, no more unnecessary comments, please. I told you about it because I thought it would be necessary for this expedition, but it's the past that I wish to forget.
Monzein	Shouldn't you value your homeland? I don't know what happened, but your homeland is where you began and...
Seida	If you don't know what happened, then it would be more efficient if you kept your mouth shut.
Monzein	Hmph...
Kanon	...What's that?