"I'm back."
From the dawn of rising sunlight, a butterfly landed on a tree branch in front of the group. The butterfly then turned into a young woman, brownish short hair with a large hat— Mei Magmal appeared to be sitting on the tree branch.
"The town's clear, no sign of the SSS. Weird."
"That means we can go in then." Pearl crossed his arms.
Rina looked at Mei for a whole minute, tilting her head.
"Why are you up there?" Asked Rina.
Mei paused to look at the tree she's sitting on for a second. With a cheeky grin and a proud voice— she staggeringly stood straight up on the tree branch, hands on her hips:
"I'm no Mei Magmal, I'm the superior grand magician of the righteous land! Creating deadly rays of total destruction, with the strongest demon lords as my servants. Bow down before me, mere mortals!"
Everyone rapidly blinked at the childish lady above them. Especially Esmeralda, who quietly clapped and applauded that announcement.
"I'm not a prophet but I don't think this will end well." Marc yawned.
crack
"Heh?" Mei looked down when she heard something crack underneath her.
snap
"Ah!"
The tree branch couldn't bear Mei standing on it; it snapped perfectly so that Mei would fall towards the team, her heart raced like hell and she screamed in panic.
As she fell down; Mei felt a pair of arms grabbing her. She sat on it princess-style, while the tall figure began to snicker.
"pft... hahaha!"
The snickering turned into a giggle, the giggle turned into a full-blown laugh. Mei looked up to see a pair of glasses and short blue hair: her brother, Pearl.
"I can't- I can not… That's just so funny…" putting Mei down on the ground, Pearl lay his hand on his mouth, trying to hold in the explicite laugh.
"I don't know if I should break your teeth, or should I thank you." Mei brushed her clothes a bit before pinching Pearl's ear, which she had to reach her hand out high above to do.
…
knock knock
"Mr/Mrs Chup! It's me, Marc."
A beautiful old woman rushed to open the door, worriness were clearly shown in her eyes the moment she heard knocking on the door.
"Oh my, is everyone okay? Where- where is the kid?" Said Ms Chup.
"Eik!" Esmeralda crawled up from Marc's back onto his shoulder and jumped towards Miss Chup. In which she caught her happily.
"Ooh little cutie, you're looking a little skinny, are you hurt? Oh my."
"Are our luggages still here? We have to move before they search the town, we might have to say goodbye for now, Miss Chup." Said Marc.
"They? The people last night? W-who are they to do such things? Your bags are on the couch."
"It's… a long story, just tell them we're on our way to Fenlond if they cause trouble."
This continent— right now has seven countries, with Sulkos; the country where they are, is in the far west, while Fenlond is in the far east.
"Fenlond? The country with the… the towers? That will be a long trip…"
"It's okay, grand, we've started worse trips before. Don't worry for us."
A hug to end everything, time flies, yet no one can put their finger on how fast or slow.
…
A carriage went through the skylight, towards where the sun rises— east they went.
Four cart wheels and four horse legs, the team was sitting on a horse carriage, with Rina controlling the horse.
Verdant meadows and lush green scenery can be seen lurking outside, following every step the team made. Attractive undulating rolling hills and mountainous biomes made everything quite peaceful. The carriage went by multiple curious towns and bustle cities.
"Poor woman." Rina sighed randomly before yawning.
"Kiek?"
"What are we going to do when we get to the border? We have to pass like three or four countries before Fenlond, and Alcray's the first one." asked Mei, she's lying on the carriage with Esmeralda on her forehead.
"What, are we making up fake names now, like real fugitives?" Pearl opened a book with dark covers while sitting.
"Don't worry, you guys won't have to."
"!?"
A familiar, non-welcoming female voice answered their question. The voice came from above the carriage, where a magic-covered see-through wooden roof was covering the team from sunlight— a young woman was standing on top of it.
"Nea Vitones, D-Rank Combat Analyst." Mei flinched herself to stand up and grab Marc's sword to point it at Nea.
"You remembered!" Nea's eyes lit up a bit. She proceeded to clear her voice and continues:
"My teacher, Lloyd Avery, sent a message. And I want every one of you to listen up."
"You're in no position to make demands." Pearl sat still, flipping through his book and replied.
Marc rapidly blinked while frowning with his mouth. He stretched his arm out to quietly ask for the sword back from Mei.
"I certainly can assure you, my shoes alone will make you all bow in jail while none of your relatives can have a normal life. And have I told you my shoes are given free for work?"
Nea looked down at Esmeralda, waved and continued on:
"Master Lloyd Avery sent a message: Save Us."
A sudden pause as everyone looked up at Nea, frowning and worrying.
""I'll make sure you all get past the border safely, from then on you're not my problem, just remember what he said. And don't worry, you guys don't have wanted posters, yet." Nea let out a nice smile, kind of unusual looking.
"Why should we trust you? What if there's a whole army surrounding us right now?" Rina from the front said, while still keeping her eyes on the road.
"Yeah, about that…" Nea scratched her face a bit.
The horse carriage stopped as the team felt a familiar feeling— energies began to channel up in Rina's body, a battle mode of sorts, she's ready to fight.