[Tekoa Townhall]

Located at the huge Townhall of the town of Tekoa, made from sand, gravel, cement, wood, and little bit of steel, mayor Zoabi is currently pacing back and forth along his podium dedicated to him, as he recount the report that he had received.

"So your telling me that you have found the target and yet your first action towards such discovery is to leave and return here? Are you crazy? Why didnt you go after it?"

"I was thinking about you mayor! I was thinking that I needed to have you know of our findings beforehand.... since you will be the one that will lead the town into prosperity with your ways, it is only right that I thought of informing you as priority"

Hearing Captain Ester's explanation, Mayor Zoabi couldn't even decide whether he should be thankful that Ester is loyal to him or regard him as stupid, after all he did leave the target behind, such a move was akin to leaving the prey that took them so much effort to find.

"Whatever! But you should have never left your eyes on the target... but I will pardon you this time since your loyal to me, but i won't tolerate a second mistake, do you understand that captain"

"I understand!" Replied by Ester as he bowed his head

Accordingly Mayor Zoabi turned to look at Rueben who was by his side as he nodded at that certain person. As if realizing it's real intent, Rueben lightly bowed in accordance as he understood what it meant.

"I want you to return to the field Captain! This time capture the target, do not come back here if you haven't captured the target, returning here without the target is akin to betrayal to my jurisdiction"

"Understood mayor!"

"Good! Now dismiss"

As mayor Zoabi said those words, Captain Ester stood up as he bowed his head once more, before it hurried out of the Townhall itself. Following him from behind Rueben took one last look at Mayor Zoabi before he took off alongside his Captain.

When they left Jabarin came close to mayor Zoabi as he said.

"Even though he is loyal, Captain Ester still lack a lot of things in regards to accomplishing his mission, above all else it seems like his morale is somewhat held way higher in regards to his ambition, are you sure you can control such a person?"

"I can! As long as you show him a person with right ambition in which he would look up to, then you can control him"

"But what if his own morale overwrites his loyalty to you, what if he would think on his own two feet and not blindly follow you?"

"Then if such situation arises, then there's not much to say but I would have to let him go, a person who can't be controlled is good as a dead person"

"I see"

While both Jabarin and Zoabi were talking inside the room, Captain Ester and Rueben just got out of the establishment as they came to pass bye the four elite members that are under commander Jabarin. While Captain Ester bowed down in respect to the people who are in higher position than him, Rueben on the other hand stayed silent as he stared back at the elite members.

But instead of getting insulted from the person staring back at them, the elite members under Jabarin simply snickered as they watched Rueben get close to them. Apparantly the four members of the elite group knew  Rueben from way back since they were childhood. To be exact they both acknowledge and despise Rueben, after all he is a very cunning opportunistic person.

Because of Rueben's attitude on how he always go for open opportunities if presented to him, they then somewhat have mixed feelings in regards to his way of doing things. One primary example is that there were two candidates for the assistant officer of the captain brigade in the town of Tekoa, thus in order to secure that position himself, Rueben killed the other candidate in an indirectly manner.

The only reason why he wasn't caught red handed yet is because, they themselves have covered his tracks in accordance to their relationship.

"Long time no see Rueben" greeted by Vaknin

"Good evening!" Replied by Rueben

"How have you been?" Asked by Vaknin

"Im doing well apparently" answered by Rueben

"So how was it? Working under that goody two shoes of a Captain?" Asked by Segel

"Its quite annoying, even though his loyalty is commendable, all other aspects are just irritable" answered by Rueben

"Then what are you waiting for? Just kill him already, just like what you did last time" snickered by Amit

"I have my own plans" said by Rueben

"Wow! He has a plan! Alright! We won't pressure you, take as much as precious time you want oh little murderer" teased by Adri

"Oh please! You four have no right to tease me as a murderer, after all you four also killed people to get yourself in your current position, all of us here are murderers in our own right, there are no innocent among us"

"We know! So I hope you live up to your words" said by Vaknin

"I will! Plus this is just the beginning"

After Rueben said those words  he then left the four members of the elite group as he joined his Captain back towards the whole brigade.

Once the whole brigade got grouped together, Captain Ester then gave out an order as he said.

"We have been ordered to move out! We don't know when we will return after this mission, so I advise a lot of you to say goodbye to the people who are relying and waiting for you, remember a family is important, so we will disperse for now, everyone will return here with all the luggage they will bring in exactly 4 hours! Dismiss!"

"Sir thank you sir!"

Under Captain Ester's order the whole brigade returned back to their own family in order to say goodbye, of course Captain Ester was the same as he returned back to his family before he said goodbye. As for Rueben, he couldnt help but stand still dumbfounded as he don't know what to do for the next 4 hours, after all he has no family whatsoever so this free time was quite a wasteful time for him.

"I should have invited the others for a drink" muttered by Rueben as he remembered the four elite members during his free time, before heading out to the bar

*********

During the free hours before the start of the mission for the whole town brigade, Ester then headed straight to his home as he plans to prepare some bags for his long away trip in hunting down the target given for their group. Alongside it, he was planning to bid some goodbyes to his family that he is currently trying his best to feed despite the harshness of life itself.

"Honey! I'm back!"

"Huh? Your back early"

**********
Ziv

Female

36 years old

Wife of Ester
*********
*********
Talia

Female

6 years old

Daughter of Ester and Ziv
*********

The moment Ester opened the door and entered his home, he was immediately greeted by his wife Ziv and his daughter who just returned from her primary schooling in the town.

"Father!!!"

As Talia who's hair is tied in a bun and clothed in average linen, such color scheme of red and yellow completely blend in with her brownish skin which came from being always out in the sun throughout its life. In fact all people in this land has brownish to darkest color, so a person who has near white skin color is literally rare in comparison to the natives of this land.

As for Ziv, her long black hair drops down along her back, with few accessories along her neck and ears, and somewhat wearing a greenish linen robe which compliments her white inner linen clothes.

Ss Talia was hugging up Ester on his legs, Ester then gently lifted up his daughter, as he booked her nose with a cheeky laugh before facing his wife.

"Boop!"

"Ehehehe"

"Alright sweetheart! I'm gonna talk to your mother!"

"Don't worry I'll stay suuuuupppeeerrr quiet" said by Talia, as she cheekily did a shhh finger sign above her lips

With that Ester faced Ziv while carrying his daughter.

"I won't stay for long! I'm just here to pick some stuff up and say goodbye before I head back to work"

"Picking some stuff up? So you've been sent to a mission just like before?"

"Indeed!"

"How long will this take?"

"Honestly I'm not sure! The target this time is truly dangerous soil need to be extra careful with this one"

Upon hearing that Ziv turned her back on Ester as she grips the cloth on her hand tightly.

"Dangerous you say? Do you really have to go? Why not send someone else in your stead?"

"I can't! Honey this is my job! Plus I'm also sending my own men, so it's only appropriate that their leader should be sent too"

"But what if this time you won't come back? You know how I worry about you everytime you do this, our daughter? Our deal Talia, what would she do if something were to happen to you?"

"That... that won't happen! Believe in me, believe on my men! Believe in them! They are loyal people, no one among us wanted to end up dead on our mission, so we have each other backs whenever we are in a dire situation"

"Loyal men! Don't blindly trust anyone Ester! You can only trust on yourself and your family"

"Why do you say that?"

"Humans are prone to betrayal Ester"

"My men wouldn't dare do that"

When Ziv heard his husband's words, she then looked out of the window of their house, before coming in close to her husband.

"Your assistant! Rueben! You can't blindly trust him?"

"What are you saying? Rueben may be rude at times, but he is someone you can trust"

"You don't know that Ester! I saw him during my stroll about a few days ago, he was currently talking to a suspicious person, and just as when I was about to greet him, I heard something quite unexpected, everything I knew and understand about him is wrong, the way he talks and the way he acts is completely different from when you are around.... of course I may be overacting a bit, but the moment I heard the words that he loathes you, that's when I know that he is a fiend"

".... That's not enough proof to condemn a person! You know that.... you must have heard it wrong, but anyway remove that out of your head, I trust my men just as I trust the mayor and you"

"But Ester...."

"Enough! I will not have any more of this... I will just prepare my stuff before I head out"

In that moment Talia opened her mouth.

"Father! Don't fight with mother"

"I'm not fighting her sweetheart! There is just a misunderstanding"

After he said that, he them pinched her cheeks before giving Talia to his wife. After that he went inside their room and took some stuff before giving them a farewell kiss and heading out. Unknown to him his wife's warning was a crucial one which he had overlooked as a mere suspicion without proof.

After leaving his home again, Ester met up with his other men as they debriefed on what to do in this mission, after a few hours they then started their mission as they rode their horses into the horizon and head to their next checkpoint in which they would need to change rides to cope with the changing environment.

While this was all happening in this land, the lone march of the cloaked person, the hunt of the brigade, the corruption of people in power, and the cult, the kingdom I the sky had finally reached the tip of the western land as the Azure Kingdom flies above the western skies.

Because the western skies is almost devoid of clouds due to its temperature, Asagi then had no choice but activate the systems camouflage function which turns the kingdom in the sky into a invisible ethereal place and are only visible to people who are given permission by Asagi to witness such paradise.

As long as the camouflage system and the cloaking barrier is on, no one would be able to see the kingdom in the sky matter what they do.