"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.

Nea rubbed her glasses against her suit to clean and yawned as everyone worried for the worst case that could’ve happened: they’re actually surrounded.

The numbers are clear, around 9 SSS’s white suited individuals surrounded them with a variety of weapons and magic utilities drawed.

Nea Vitones raised her right hand and made a fist, everyone then got out of sight, seemingly leaving and cleared the road ahead for the carriage.

“Was that supposed to be a… cool introduction?” Rina cautiously frowned, her hands still on the horse’s reins.

“Didn’t think this through, never thought I’ll make it this far without stepping on any of you. I just wanted to show off my power; in which case, it's kind of intimidating right?” Nea smiled brightly.

...

crack, thump!

Before anyone could form a comment or make sense of the situation, a loud crack and breaking sound resounded from above. Nea tried to sit down but somehow fell through the roof, slamming herself butt-first into the carriage.

She fell right in the middle where Pearl and Marc were sitting; Marc instinctively leaned in and tried to catch but was too late, while Pearl just withdrew his legs to dodge.

“Déjà vu, anyone?” Rina grinned and puffed up her cheeks to hold in laughter.

Nea emotionlessly sat back up, she bit her lips and exhaled really rush breaths. She ran their hands through from the forehead to her neck; facepalming herself as her throat seized up and choked on making sounds.

“Are you… okay?” Pearl slowly tapped on Nea’s shaky shoulders.

Marc slowly tilted his head sideways to express curiosity; he put Esmeralda down from his nape and took out an apple from the backpack to hand it to Nea.

"You want one?" Marc smiled kindly, which might be forced out but there wasn’t any sign of that being true.

"Marc, that's not how you treat a girl- Well it is but not now." Mei whispered.

Nea robotically turned towards Marc and grabbed the apple while her face was pale red: “Thanks.”

"Eik, krak" said Esmeralda, which translated to "Mom, you never give me an apple-"

...

Quiet ensued and silent aching breezes blew. As the south-west atmosphere covered heaven's gifts, personal and flowery day thoughts ran through every conscious mind of people.

The sky darkened, signaling a bad change of weather, Rina looked up before holding on the reins tight; she sped up the carriage, planning to get past the Sulkos’s border before it rains, or at least get to a big city with somewhere to rest.

The curious little Esmeralda stared up into the sky, she widened her eyes as if focusing on something— before her body slowly growed up and she turned into her human form. Marc struck up a conversation by laying down on the moving carriage and looked up with her.

“What are you thinking about?”

Esmeralda wiggled her ears, she sniffed in the fresh air and turned towards Marc, her heart broke when she noticed something.

“I’m a dragon…” Esmeralda slowly whispered.

“Yes...?”

A sudden rush of chills ran through Marc’s spine, as he feared for the worst that might happen. The team's eyes and ears are on this conversation.

"So my biological mother must be a dragon…" Esmeralda's voice became quieter.

"Vel…" Marc was left speechless, he opened his mouth but didn't say anything.

Pearl closed his book and frowned; he put his glasses down on the carriage floor:

"Marc… She deserves to know about Ciellia."

Esmeralda felt a weird urge to hiccup. She backed up from Marc and didn't notice when she hit Mei, who was sitting.

"Pearl, we promised to not mention this." Marc gripped tight on his shirt.

"To hell with your promises and oaths that only make things worse! You can't blame yourself and take responsibility for everything!"

The carriage seemed to move slower.

"And I thought you're an honorable person that keeps his mouth shut… I'm the leader! If you have a problem-"

Before Marc could finish his sentence, Pearl flinched forwards and punched him in the face.

"You dense motherfucker! Would you look around for once!" Pearl grabbed Marc's shirt collar and yelled at him. "I've had enough! Of course you're our damn leader, which is why we don't want you dead! Do us three seems like someone you need to fucking risk your life and protect every day?"

Marc head bashed Pearl, sending him backwards. He then grabbed Pearl by his shirt collar.

"So this is about you now? What happened to Ciella is my fault! She had one wish, one… gosh, damn last wish Pearl! And yesterday we broke it! I don't want anymore of my friends or family gone!"

"Does it look like we want you gone? You goddamn rubber head!"

Marc's fist formed a punch, Pearl's limbs created ice.

The carriage suddenly stopped, as Mei pulled Marc away and Rina held Pearl still one nanosecond before they hit each other.

Meanwhile, Nea was sitting next to them, munching on her apple and widened her eyes to enjoy the scene.

Marc and Pearl heavily exhaled, they glared at each other for a solid minute— Mei and Rina slowly let loose and released them.

“hiccup”

They looked over to the corner, to see Esmeralda— still confused and frightened by the sight. Marc slowly approached and reached his hands out, Esmeralda replied by simply cowering and stared at him.

The carriage began moving again.

…

They safely got past the border, Nea stood at the gates and waved goodbye at them, no one was in the mood or relationship to wave back at her.

Leaving Sulkos, they are greeted by Alcray, a country on the East of Sulkos. It is definitely not their destination but a fine stop, they rented a room at the inn when soon, another problem erupted.