Estelle Bright/FC

## Trails in the Sky FC

### Prologue: A Father's Love, A New Beginning

The story begins with Estelle's, age eleven, father Cassius Bright bringing home a wounded boy to be her new brother. 5 years later Estelle and the boy, Joshua, are taking the final exam to become junior bracers. The test is administered by Bracer Scherazard (Schera) in the monster infested sewers where they must retrieve contents from a chest in the back. After obtaining the box inside the chest, they return to the guild. Inside the box are two bracer emblems. The two had passed!

After picking up a copy of the Liberl Times, their first mission is to rescue two dumb children, Pat and Luke, who were seen heading towards Esmelas Tower by the guild branch manager Aina. They rescue the kids from a group of monsters, but need to be saved by Cassius who had heard about the children not long after they did. That night, Cassius receives a shocking letter from the Erebonian guild branch and departs the next morning, leaving Estelle, Joshua, and Schera to deal with many of his jobs.

The first job at Perzel Farm goes smoothly, but while trying to collect a septian crystal for the mayor, there is a cave-in at the mines forcing Estelle and Joshua to help with the evacuation. When they arrive at the mayor’s house, he is already meeting with a girl from Jenis Royal Academy, Josette, when they arrive. The third job is to give some reporters for the Liberl Times, Nial and Dorthy, a tour of Esmelas Tower. At the top of the tower, they meet an Archaeologist named Professor Alba who is investigating the four towers and possible relationship with the Sept-Terrion.

Back in town, they get word of a theft of the crystal from the mayor's house and join with Schera to investigate. After some investigation, they deduce that Josette is the thief and that she has a base of operations in Mistwald forest. They get the crystal back, but sky pirate Josette Capua and her band escape on a light airship. Back at the guild, Aina gives them a recommendation letter for promotion to senior bracership, but then gets a call that Cassius’s airship had disappeared in the Bose region. That night Estelle, Joshua, and Schera prepare to head to Bose to look into the disappearance of the airship and her father.

### Chapter 1: Disappearance of the Linde

The next day, the party heads for Bose on foot. At the guild, they are given a request from Mayor Maybelle to investigate the airship Linde’s disappearance which is hurting the local economy. She gives them a letter of introduction and they head to Haken gate—the Erebonian border—to talk to General Morgan at Haken Gate. There they meet a traveling bard from Erebonia named Olivier Lenheim while waiting for their appointment with the General. They are able to learn a little bit about the investigation from the General, but he eventually figures out that they are bracers—an organization he hates—and kicks them out. They head back to Bose to report their findings with Olivier following behind.

Olivier leaves and the party searches the city for Nial to see if he has any useful information. They find him at the bar and learn that a kid from Ravennue Village noticed a strange shadow at night. At the village, they get more details about the “two” shadows which were seen flying north towards the mine. There, they find the Linde and the sky pirates, but the pirates escape on their own airship before they can get arrested. The airliner has been stripted of parts and no passengers are seen having been taken hostage at the pirate’s lair. After getting off the airship, they are arrested by the royal army who was just behind them.

After the Mayor explains the situation directly to Morgan, they along with Oliviert, who had been arrested for drinking a 100 thousand mira wine, are let free to continue the investigation with Olivier joining the party. Back in Bose, the south block had been raided by the sky pirates. According to the local fisherman, he saw suspicious people talking at the Kingfisher Inn at night just before the raid. They enjoy themselves at the inn until night when they sneak out and eavesdrop on a conversation between the pirates and a mysterious new figure by the lake. After the conversation ends, they follow the pirates to their airship and sneak onboard.

At the pirates' lair, they rescue all the hostages—Cassius’s not among them—and beat up all them including their leaders. The leader Don Capua was under some sort of spell that made him more likely to kill and hurt others which was broken upon being beaten, leaving him with no memories of the past week or so. The pirates escape to the surface where they are arrested by the royal army assisted by Colonel Richard of the Intelligence Division.

Back at the guild, they are getting their letter of recommendation when a mail carrier brings another letter and package with a strange orbment from Cassius which they need to deliver to Professor R. The next day Schera and Olivier leave the party for Rolent while Estelle and Joshua head to Ruan to get their next letter of recommendation.

### Chapter 2: Madrigal of the White Magnolia

Estelle and Joshua spend the night at the Krone Pass checkpoint on the way to Ruan. That night, they are forced to share a room with the bracer Agate who offers the two nothing but harsh words. After everyone goes to bed, the checkpoint gets attacked by monsters which after seeing their skills in action leads Agate to show the duo a little more respect. The next morning, the two—without Agate who had already left— head the rest of the way to Ruan. On the way there, in Manoria Village, Estelle gets her bracer emblem stolen by the child Clem from Merica Orphanage. There, she gets into an altercation with Jenis Royal Academy student Kloe Rinz who is trying to protect the child. The misunderstanding is resolved by Matron Teresa and as an apology Kloe offers to give Estelle and Joshua a tour of Ruan.

During the tour, they run afoul of the local gang by the name of the Ravens. The situation is diffused peacefully by the timely arrival of Mayor Dalmor and his stewart Gilbert. That evening, they book the Hotel's penthouse suite, but due to the untimely arrival of Queen’s nephew, they end up sharing a room with Nial who is following a lead in the city.

The next morning, they get word that Mercia Orphanage was burnt down. They  investigate the scene and determine that it was most likely an arson. They find the Matron and children safe and unharmed and the mayor offers to let her and the children stay in one of his Grancel home’s in the meantime. After the conversation ends, they notice Clem has vanished, apparently having rushed off to take on the Ravens after overhearing the mayor bring them up as the culprits. Agate rescues the kid and then takes over the investigation himself. With nothing else to do, Kloe recruits Estelle and Joshua to help with the play at the academy. Estelle and Joshua spend the next several days preparing and setting up the play with Joshua taking the role of princess and Estelle, one of the lead knights.

Thanks to the generosity of the guests, the play manages to raise one million mira for rebuilding the orphanage. However, on the way back to Manoria, the matron is mugged. Joining with Agate, they follow the Kloe’s trusty falcon Sieg to the culprits hiding out in the lighthouse north of the village. Inside, they plough through brainwashed Ravens before finding Gilbert and some mercenaries on the roof. The whole scenario was instigated by Mayor Dalmore in order to sell vacation homes to rich people since orphans bring down property values. The mercenaries escape and Agate leaves the party to chase after them.

The next day Estelle, Joshua, and Kloe head to Ruan to interrogate the mayor. As for the motive, Nial brings up he had apparently racked up some serious debt in the Calvard Republic. After defeating his guard dogs he uses an artifact to stop time, but just before he is about to kill Joshua, Estelle screams and the mysterious orbment activates, disabling the effect. He tries to escape by boat, but is arrested by the royal guard arriving on the new next generation airship—the Arseille.

### Chapter 3: The Black Orbment

After everything has calmed down, Estelle and Joshua receive their letter of recommendation and head for Zeiss. On the way there, they encounter a young apprentice engineer named Tita and then escort her back to the Central Factory. After meeting with Kilika at the guild and factory chief Murdock, Tita escorts the two to her home to have her grandfather Professor Albert Russell investigate the black orbment. That night, he triggers the orbal shutdown phenomenon over the entire city while trying to scan orbment.

The next day, since orbal tech doesn’t work near the orbment, they use a combustion engine to cut a small dent into the side of the orbment, but just before they can run more tests, they get an emergency call from Elmo Village about the orbal water pump not working. Estelle and Joshua escort Tita to the village to complete the repairs. While there, the duo are asked to find a missing guest which turns out to be Dorthy.

After spending the night at the Inn, they return to Zeiss only to find out that the central factory has been attacked by masked figures who have kidnapped Professor Russell and taken the black orbment. Leaving Tita behind and joining with Agate, they follow a lead from Professor Alba to Carnelia tower. However, just before they can rescue the professor, Tita rushes forward firing at the assailants airship. Agate takes a bullet for Tita and succumbs to its poison on the way back to Zeiss. To cure the poison, they join with the Calvardian bracer Zin to gather the ingredients from the Limestone Cave.

The next day, Estelle and Joshua receive a photograph from Dorthy showing the airship flying over Leiston Fortress. There, they find the royal army acting suspicious and their orbments occasionally not working properly confirming that the professor and black orbment were taken here. Using the professor’s detector jammer, the two along with Agate and Tita sneak into the fortress by hiding in an ingoing cargo container. After rescuing the professor, they learn from Commander Cid that Colonel Richard has effectively taken over the entire army. The four escape through a secret passage before splitting up to avoid putting suspicion on Estelle and Joshua.

### Final Chapter: Turmoil in the Royal City

The following day, Estelle and Josha receive their recommendation from Kilika in addition to boarding passes for the first flight to Grancel. However, the arrival of the intelligence division forces them to once again travel by foot. At Sanktheim gate, they meet Professor Alba and travel with him the rest of the way to Grancel to avoid suspicion lobbied against by bracers. After failing to meet the Queen in Grancel, the two watch the end of the Martial Arts Tournament preliminaries which ends with Duke Dunan announcing that the winners will get to stay the night at Grancel Castle. Using this as their way in, Estelle and Joshua as well as Olivier join Zin’s team. After winning the tournament, they are allowed in the castle, though without Olivier who had been forced to return to the embassy by Mueller.

With the head maid Hilda’s help, Estelle and Joshua sneak into the Queen’s keep disguised as maids. There, they meet Queen Alicia who requests that they rescue her granddaughter who is being held at Erbe Royal Villa. After everything is finished, on the way back to their room, they are intercepted by Captain Amalthea. Zin bails them out and they learn that Zin came to Liberl at Cassius’s request. The next day, Estelle, Joshua, and Zin get the help of remaining bracers in the city as well as the royal guard to launch an assault on the villa. They manage to rescue the captives including Nial and the Kloe going by her true name Princess Klaudia, but the intelligence division uses General Morgan’s son as a hostage to curtail the rescue. They are stopped by the timely arrival of Olivier and Schera.

The next day, the group moves to rescue the Queen at Kloe’s request. Joshua, Zin, and Olivier enter the castle through a secret entrance in the sewers, letting the royal guard past the castle gate, creating a diversion. Meanwhile, Estelle, Kloe, and Schera fly up to the terrace in an intelligence division airship. After fighting off Lt. Lorence, they learn from the Queen that Colonel Richard is after the Aureole which he believes is sealed beneath the castle treasury. Below the treasury is a giant ruin built by the pre-septian society. At the end of the ruin, the Colonel is using the gospel to unseal the Aureole. However, this turns out to just the first seal and undoing it awakens an ancient killing machine. As it’s about to kill Richard, Cassius arrives to save the day.

Following the end of the turmoil at the capital, Estelle and Joshua acquire the last letter of recommendation, becoming full-fledged bracers. Estelle and Joshua then spend their free time around the city enjoying the festivities, before taking a rest on the parkside bench outside the shopping center. Estelle goes to get the two ice cream and on the way back runs into Professor Alba who wishes her well. Upon return, she finds that something is off about Joshua’s demeanor but doesn’t question it further. That night, she meets Joshua on the terrace and learns the truth about his past. Estelle confesses her feelings and Joshua pulls her in for a kiss, shoving a sleep agent down her mouth in the process. As she falls unconscious, Joshua returns her feelings and then leaves not wanting Estelle to meet his true self.