"So, let's get down to business. You said this Hanakawa place is over to the West, right?", Seika started as she pointed to the woods Kaito had mentioned before.

Kaito nodded in affirmation.

Seika paused in thought for a moment before continuing, "Which province is that in?"

"I'm sorry... province?"

"Yes, which of the four prov- Who the hell lives here and doesn't know of the provinces?! Were you reincarnated from ancient times or something??"

Kaito now understood the reason behind their confusion.

"Right... this confirms that there's an entirely different world outside of the barrier..."

"This might seem crazy- but there's a giant barrier hidden back behind the forest-"

"Or at least, there was- Whatever, this'll be the easiest way to catch her up to speed", Kaito reassured himself.

"Oh, the barrier? Yeah I know about that. Something something unstable truce with the corrupted armies and we're not allowed to go near them"

"Wait, you know about the barrier? Nevermind that. Hanakawa is the name of the village I come from, within the barrier"

Seika didn't respond for a moment.

"So that's what they've been hiding inside there... I won't prod further for now then", she decided.

In the brief silence, the two locked eyes as if telepathically agreeing to move on from the matter.

"Anyways, I've lived in Hanakawa my whole life, so I've never heard of any of these provinces or places outside the barrier"

Seika cupped her hand over her chin, lost in thought for a moment.

"Alright, it's decided then! From now on, you're gonna be my apprentice!", she exclaimed as she swung her arm over Kaito's shoulder with a smile.

Kaito opened his mouth, about to speak, but suddenly decided to hold back. 

Taking his silence as agreement, Seika donned her cloak and hopped back to the front of the wagon. 

"If I'm going to find out more about this world, I'll need close connections... She seems trustworthy... so I'll go along with it. There'll be a chance to tell her more later anyways"

"We're finally onto something... we'll shut down whatever they're plotting for sure now"

With their travels resuming in silence at first, Kaito decided to break the tension by scooting up near the front of the wagon.

"Considering I'm now your apprentice, shouldn't you be telling me more about- everything?"

"Oh, right. I'm not used to people not knowing about these kinda things-"

Kaito began listening attentively.

"Right now we're on the continent of Greater Magius, the largest of the three continents that make up World Zero. It's split up into four provinces: Occidentalis to the West, Borealis to the North, the newly formed Divinus Imperium to the South, and Orientalis to the East, which is where we are right now. Specifically, we're along the Western border and heading towards Synoria Outlook, a small town that serves as an observation post and rest stop for travellers under the watch of Synoria"

"Damn, there's a lot to go over with someone who knows nothing- I've been taking all this information for granted", Seika joked inwardly to herself before resuming.

"Each of the four provinces has a different governing system, but we can just focus on Orientalis for now. Everything official is taken care of by our three guilds: the Snow Guild, in charge of representation and politics, the Shadow Guild, in charge of war and defense, and the Steel Guild, in charge of production and commerce. Synoria serves as the headquarters for the Snow Guild, and right now I'm under instructions from their guildmaster to investigate some 'disturbance' out here"

Seika never said it, but she was 90% sure that Kaito, a lone person with unknown origins from an unknown village, was at least somehow related to this disturbance.

Kaito, on the other hand, knew for sure that he was the source of the disturbance, having defeated calamity-class threats and shattered a barrier he now knew to be extremely important. 

"I'll come clean to her eventually", he sighed. 

Having bored herself with her own history lesson, Seika suddenly perked up and excitedly swiveled her head around to Kaito.

"We're almost there!", she exclaimed like a child who had been dragged unwillingly on a trip by her parents.

Looking ahead, Kaito now saw what had suddenly caught Seika's attention. Especially to one such as himself, the spectacle of the surrounding scenery was breathtaking. 

Off to the left, the forest abruptly stopped and changed to rugged, rocky terrain. Straight ahead, the small town of Synoria Outlook could be seen with well kept buildings of older fashion. Unlike the more ornate designs of architecture in Hanakawa, the buildings that made up the town before the two bore relatively straight and simple construction. However, most notably was the fact that it stood atop the end of a canyon that stretched downwards and off in the distance to the left, seamlessly blending together with the change to rocky terrain witnessed before. Towards the town's right, a ledge the height of four stories towered above the buildings, acting as a natural wall that marked the back end of the town.

Grinning once more, Seika felt compelled to deliver an introduction, "Bet'cha never seen anything like this before! Welcome to Synoria Outlook."