On the coast of Honshu Japan,
"Men, we're about to arrive, make sure you have everything."
Lucius spoke in a serious tone as he walked away from the ship.
After Ryuzo exited the cafe he started walking back home. On the way there he found a family of cats and decided to bring them back home, as he went near the cats, the kittens went behind their mother as she hissed at Ryuzo.
Ryuzo had a gentle smile on his face as he threw a piece of jerky that he has for emergencies to the cat. After the cat smelled the food and took a bite of it, she gave it to her kittens behind her. As the cat looked back at Ryuzo she saw another piece of jerky on the ground, and after a while, she started eating it. After a while the group of cats followed Ryuzo and at this moment a cage that could fit them all appeared in Ryuzo's hand as he gently picked up each cat and placed them in the cage before throwing in more jerky to them.
When Ryuzo arrived home, he opened the cage and let the cats into the living room but the cats didn't leave the cage as they seemed scared and hesitant to leave the safe area.
"Honey, why do I hear meowing?" Hannah said her face and tone puzzled as she walked into the living room only to see the family of cats.
Ryuzo spoke in a nervous tone, having a shy smile on his face:
"Well I found cats and I couldn't leave them there. It's, winter they were going to die if I didn't do anything."
After hearing this Hannah sighed while closing her eyes before looking back at cats:
"Find, but you have to make sure to take care of them."
"Deal."
Ryuzo said his smile changed into one of joy.
Before long, the cats exited the cage and began to search the area. As they did this, Ryuzo placed down bowls of water around the house as well as making a makeshift bed for them in his room.
A while later, Johan saw the cats around the house and began to chase them after hoping to pet them. Seeing the child running after them, the cats ran towards Ryuzo, and hid in his room.
Ryuzo spoke, his voice sincere: "You have to wait until they warm up to you. They're new to this place and probably aren't used to people."
"Fine."
Johan said his face and tone showed disappointment.
"When will they warm up to me?"
"That's not something I can answer." Ryuzo spoke with a gentle smile and a kindly tone.
As Aoi returned home a few hours later, she saw multiple kittens on the couch sleeping soundly next to Ryuzo as a grown cat was sitting on his lap.
"What's this about?"
Aoi inquired, her tone puzzled and face showed some signs of softness.
"Just some new company. It was getting pretty bland here."
Ryuzo said as he looked towards his daughter, his hand stroking the cat's fur that was currently sitting on his lap.
As the duo of father and daughter talked,
Lucius and his crew arrived at the foot of a mountain exhausted, some of the men even had to be carried by others, and some were vomiting as they had eaten a lot of fried fish beforehand so they didn't need to eat again.
"I told you guys not to eat that much."
A woman spoke loudly, she was wearing brown pants, a white hoodie, and white gloves. Her hood was pulled over her head as her light brown hair went out in front, flowing down her chest like strings while some parts were roughly against her forehead. She had a gentle face, thin lips, clear and soft pale skin, as well as being quite tall. Her blue eyes seem to reflect an ocean that was as calm as a sunset. All together it made a beauty that many people could only dream of.
"Sophia, don't tease them over this. It's not like most of them are vomiting."
Lucius spoke as he looked at the mountain, his tone casual as if talking to a friend.
"That's beside the point, the fact that even 30% of them are in worse condition than when we started is worrying. We might not be able to get the reward."
Sophia said this clearly worried about the fact that they may not be able to kill Ryuzo.
"We'll be fine, just trust Lucius, when has he ever let us down."
Charlie responded to Sophia quite annoyed that she was worried.
Sophia spoke hurriedly:
"When have we killed anything above angel before?"
"Never but Lucius is a true false god plus we have multiple angels." Rodolfo answered, his tone reassuring.
At this moment Lucius was looking up at the mountain, his face filled with pain and sadness before fixing his face and turning back his crew.
"Listen to me."
Lucius yelled loudly in a stern and solemn tone:
"This will be dangerous if you don't want to be in the battle you can go to nearby towns or the ship. Don't try to engage in direct combat with the enemy, that will be my job. If you wish to battle with him you must already be prepared enough that you defeat yourself at least over 50 times and im talking about if you're an angel, if not don't try it. Finally, for the people who won't go back or fight with Ryuzo Nakaya, go around and make hostages of the civilians, and try not to harm them in any way if you can. That is all."
Upon hearing this, none of the crew members left, not even the ones vomiting as they tried to stop their food from getting out of their stomach. They all looked at where Lucius was, they're faces showing they were ready to follow this man into hell if need be.
"Last chance."
Lucius spoke once again, seeing if anyone was to leave before they started the mission.
Rodolfo spoke, his tone casual and even vulgar yet his words carried the thoughts of everyone there.
"Do you think we'll leave your bitch ass here just because things got tough? Cause if you do, you really need to talk with us more, isn't that right yall?"
"Of course."
"Yes!"
"Did you have to ask?"
The crew spoke one after another, all of them clearly siding with Rodolfo. As they spoke, Lucius smiled before looking back into the mountain and speaking.
"Alright we're going now."