Moonlight Demon

At Jade's western gates, Ash arrived with the others to find that there were more vehicles than she'd expected. She didn't know how many she thought there would b exactly, but this felt surprising. Twenty carts, each one with some horses and groups of nobles or soldiers on them, all ready to leave for Pearl, and with more empty carts waiting on the side. She'd known this would be a massive undertaking, but seeing all of this made it feel more real. 

Eh,  she calmed down.  At the end of the day, to me, it's all about fighting a few monsters. Just another day on the job. 

One of the carts featured three individuals wearing black training outfits like Keiko's own, which let Ash know those were probably the people her grandmother had told Keiko to watch over. Looking to her side, Keiko was eyeing them up analytically, before a couple of guards moved over to them. 

"Saviors, this way," he said, before giving them a short bow. 

The group went with him and were taken to one cart that stood out from the others, as its wood held golden decorations and even the horses had some elegant armor on them. Here, Ash peeked inside and found Kasumi laid down and in a deep sleep. 

When she caught that sight, she chuckled. 

You call that a nap? She looks like she's not gonna wake up for years. 

At that moment, she placed Kaori down next to the Savior, before turning back toward the man who'd addressed them. 

"When are we leaving?" She heard Satsuhiro ask. 

"Just a few minutes. Everyone's finishing up their preparations," he replied. You can go ahead and sit down, even. Your coachman will be here soon, and we'll ride out immediately." 

Satsuhiro nodded and the man walked away. 

"Well, shit," Ash said, putting her hands on her hips as she looked around. "How many people are supposed to do this with us?" 

"Many more than the amount you see here," Satsuhiro replied. "It's sad for them, but if there are too many demons for you to hold back on your own, many of these people will be dead before the first week ends." 

"... Hm," Ash turned to look at them. "Did they sign up for this themselves?" 

"Who knows?" Satsuhiro shrugged. "As for us, we should just concern ourselves with our own matters. Come on, let's get in." 

They did just that and, soon, the group was all settled and ready to go, waiting for the others outside the cart to get ready themselves. Keiko was sitting next to Ash, and she yawned, as apparently, the day's training had tired her out. 

"If you want to take a nap too," Ash gestured at Kasumi, who was still laid out, "now would be the time." 

Keiko smiled at her a bit, before gently resting her head on her shoulder.

Sometime later, Ash heard the coachman getting up on their carriage, and finally, everyone got moving. As their vehicle was slowly pulled along, it was as though a sudden injection of tiredness had hit Ash as well, and soon, she found herself struggling to keep her eyes open. 

The others were just fine, though, so Ash figured she may as well take a break. Allowing her eyes to close, she leaned back and allowed herself to drift away. 

---

The trip to Pearl took a little over three days, as the caravan was in no hurry to arrive. 

Honestly, Ash grew anxious as each individual day dragged out. Those two weeks they had before Kaori's trial had been reduced to one week and four days, which all of a sudden had Ash feeling like she really needed to step things up. 

In the middle of the journey, in between breaks, at the camps the groups made, and even as she ate her snacks on occasion, Ash focused on learning new spells. She picked up a spell called  Holy Ground,  which cost 20mp and was an upgraded version of Sacred Ground  and consisted of Light magic that repulsed Dark creatures such as demons. In addition, she learned another Dark spell called  Volley of Hate, which cost 40mp, and launched a barrage of dark, magical arrows into the air, poisoning whatever they hit. 

Even then, however, as she learned these spells, and as she continued her training with Yumi and Keiko, she still felt like she wasn't doing enough. That feeling continued all the way up until the sky began to turn a dark shade of violet and the land around the carriage grew more and more familiar to the half-demon, as she saw their destination in the distance. 

Outside, she could also see the diamond-shaped portal, as giant and alive as it had been when Ash first came here, still active while some stray demons walked around it mindlessly. 

Around the portal were also dead demon bodies, and given what Ash had seen of them so far, it was easy to assume that they'd probably spent the last few months killing each other, just as much as they killed whatever wildlife they could find around them. 

"We'll be setting up camp on that hill over there!" The coachman yelled out for them to know. 

"Sounds good," Satsuhiro replied before each of the carts was then pulled up to the spot the coachman had stated.

It was a wide-open field of short grass, that rolled down into a collection of large trees by the paved road where they were now coming from. 

The first thing Ash did upon arriving was ensure that Kaori had a nice, comfortable spot to rest in while everyone else got set up. So, she spotted one of the trees and wrapped Kaori's body up in a little sheet, with her head sticking out almost comically before letting her back fall onto the tree's trunk. Now that Kaori was in a decent place, she went back to help everyone unload their things. 

As Ash carried bags and crates off of each of the nearby carts, as some soldiers asked her for help, she noticed their impressed and awed looks and wondered if she was going to have to deal with those here too, and not just at Jade. On the bright side, though, she'd finally started to grow used to this weird admiration, which made ignoring it far easier. 

The others were getting ready in their own ways, from what she could see. Keiko and Yumi consistently traded blows and even Kasumi got it on it a couple of times, while Satsuhiro was going through old Fire spellbooks, trying to either refresh his memory or learn new spells altogether. As for Sinneah, she helped Ash reach Tomoe's Divine Arts proficiency 8, and a new ability was unlocked for the half-demon, as she approached the final level of that technique. 

Tomoe's Divine Arts

Divine Fire

Stretching your hand out toward a target, allow a spray of holy white flame to surge out from your palms. The scope of the attack can be altered with a thought, but the wider the attack, the less powerful it grows. On the other hand, the more narrow the attack, the more powerful it will be. 

Mana Cost: 0

Incantation: None

In the middle of all the preparation, Ash was pulled by Satsuhiro to a small tent the soldiers had set up earlier. Here, they were going to plan out their first few days on this mission, and how exactly they'd go about re-taking this city. 

Ash sat down with her legs crossed as the soldiers got started, leaning back on her chair with a bored look on her face. 

"Following the Royal Council's initial plan is the best idea. We will need to come in through the front," a female commander said. "Surround the portal, set up a barricade of sorts immediately, and then attack the demons where they are strongest!" 

"No," a male general replied, "after seeing the current state of this place, I believe we need to go in through the palace and clear the way toward the portal." 

"If we allow them to push reinforcements into the city, we could effectively get cut off from this camp, and give them a positional advantage that would make it far harder for anything to get done!" The commander replied. 

"... Hm. Savior," the general looked over at Ash. "What would you recommend? Should we follow the Royal Council's plan or head in through the palace?" 

Huh, what?  Ash, who had been falling asleep, shook herself awake as she was addressed. 

When she processed the question, she replied honestly to it. 

"I really don't give a shit," Ash sighed. "As long as their levels are low enough, I can kill off most of them. I just want to get started already." 

Hearing her, the soldiers around them had mixed reactions. Some seemed impressed, others seemed annoyed at her disregard for this planning, but as for her, she just closed her eyes again and relaxed. 

"I... I suppose if she can deal with them so efficiently then, yes, we should try the Royal Council's idea," that general from earlier replied. 

"If anything goes wrong, we will do things your way, sir," she added.. "For now, however, let's stick to the plan."