Tap, tap-tap, tap!
The light sound of paws kicking against stone echoed through the cool morning air.
The owner of those footsteps was a magnificent wolfdog, proudly wearing the noble insignia of the Imperial Family around his neck.
The salty sea breeze softly rippled through his glossy gray fur.
Every so often, he stopped in the middle of his path and looked up at the sky.
His eyes were not the usual yellow eyes of a wolf, but strange eyes resembling the gray sky now faintly brightening with the breaking dawn.
After running for some time, the wolfdog arrived at a training ground overlooking the sea.
There, the Inquisitors who had recently returned from their short voyage were in the middle of their morning training.
“Rear Form Two, sweeping strike!”
“Hah!”
Whoosh!
A heavy mass of metal tore through the air with an oppressive sound.
“Lower-left Form Two, smash down!”
“Haaah!”
BOOM!
At the shouted command, the flails all slammed downward at once.
A thick cloud of dust billowed up as the dirt of the training ground was gouged deeply away.
The wolfdog stopped walking and closely observed a small white girl who looked completely out of place amidst that ominous spectacle.
It was Sisley, the remarkable girl who produced craters wider and deeper than even those made by the burly Inquisitors around her.
“Good work! First squad, take a short break! Second squad, level the ground in the meantime!”
At Lieutenant Lumie’s declaration, a white teddy bear toddled toward Sisley as…