Megumi and her companions had a relatively uneventful journey back to Rivean, save for the ghost town they had encountered. It had to have been someone from the Villain's Guild who cleared out that town, as regular bandits would never have done something so bold as to have killed every living thing in an entire town. 

She wasn't one to judge for the most part, as she had recently done the same thing herself when liberating the orphans from Feng. Considering that the closest Villain's Guild was still quite a ways away, it stood to reason that it was the warlock woman who had done it. 

There were guards swarming the town when they had arrived and so she didn't get to look around much, but she had heard them talking about half empty barrels of blood found in the inn and a pile of burnt corpses behind the building. Megumi wondered if she would ever run into that woman again and didn't exactly relish the thought. It was hard to judge a person's power accurately without some sort of appraisal skill, but Megumi believed that the warlock woman was still quite a bit above her in terms of power.

At least Poro-tan had been able to survive that whole debacle of a plan. There wasn't anything for them to do in the town, so after they had finished snooping around a bit, they left it behind. There were no other signs that the warlock woman had gone on a rampage as they continued travelling. Each of the small towns along the week's journey back to Rivean had been normal. Megumi wondered exactly why the warlock had done what she did, and had to assume it was some sort of dark ritual; warlocks loved that kind of junk, after all.

By the time she and her companions reached Rivean, she was more than a little tired of Undine's constant whining. The woman was far more stuck up than Megumi had ever remembered being herself and it grated on her so badly that she had muted the aquamancer on several occasions when she was complaining about trivial things like how the food they had wasn't up to the standards of a high lady.

The gates of the city were just ahead now and it was already late afternoon. Megumi didn't intend to stay in town for the night, however, there was much to do, and they didn't want to delay more than necessary. Besides, Undine's seat of power had been here and it wouldn't do any good for her to be seen alive with them when she had been announced as a traitor to the throne who had been executed for her crimes.

Now that they were in a city, however, it was time to get Undine a proper disguise. The first thing on the agenda was to shorten her long, blue hair to a more common length. After that, Megumi intended on taking a quick shopping trip to the market district's clothing stores to get the woman equipped with proper attire.

She had been dressed in a fancy gown and slippers when she had come to court. Undine was too big for Megumi's clothing, particularly in the chest region, but she was also quite a bit taller. Megumi kind of envied the woman's physique a bit, but such was the cost of her power and near eternal life. The fancy dress Undine she had been wearing all this time not only smelled, but it was quite dirty from their trip through the escape tunnel.

Megumi longed to go see Tara, her Aunt Ophelia, and check up on Lydia, Nell, and Jack, but it wouldn't be a good idea. If there were any people from the Villain's Guild around and they spotted her, she would put the few people she cared about at risk. 

The last thing that she needed was for someone to use Tara or the orphans as hostages against her in order to collect on that large bounty. Most of the villain's wouldn't think twice about doing despicable things, even to children, to get a hold of 20,000 GP. No, even though cake sounded fantastic, she would not do it. Megumi had spoken to Reynard about Tara, and hopefully he would do as she asked. If he did, then Tara would have a wonderful opportunity headed her way. That was the best she could do for the girl.

As for Lydia and the others, she just had to hope that Taris was keeping an eye on their situation. She had proven to be a person who cared deeply for children. The woman might be a bitch, but at least she had a heart when it came to protecting the innocent. Megumi could respect her for that even though Taris had always treated her like garbage for being a necromancer.

Shortly after passing through the gates, they stopped by the stables and paid Malon some more money so that they could continue to rent the horse. The wagon had come with a single horse that the people who kidnapped her had owned, or stolen, but travel was easier using two horses.

Megumi poked her head out of the back of the wagon a few moments after it began rolling again. "Let me know when we get near a clothes shop. I'm going to cut her hair shorter while we're on the way."

When she turned back around she was met with a white faced Undine, who stared at her with a look that said her hair was her life. Megumi didn't care, and the woman's general attitude had not made her want to have mercy on Undine in any case.

"Don't give me that look. This is happening. The sooner you get on board with the way things are for you now, the better your eternity will be. Get over here."

Undine crawled across the floor of the wagon unwillingly and sat primly in front of Megumi, who had retrieved a set of scissors from her bag. She gathered up the woman's waist long, silky blue hair up in her fist and cut it straight across just above her shoulders. Undine stared wide eyed at her with outrage at the fact that Megumi had actually done it, and the sadistic part of Megumi kind of wanted to chop her hair up more, but she held back.

It had probably taken Undine a decade to grow her hair that long. In a sense, Megumi could sympathize with her, just a little bit. Her hair was fairly long also, but it really wouldn't do them any good if someone recognized Undine when they went out shopping. Megumi patted the other woman on the shoulder as she saw that Undine was now weeping silently.

"It had to be done. Now, we're going to get you some proper travelling clothes, and then we'll bid farewell to Rivean."  

The wagon stopped a few minutes later and Poro-tan came into the back. He stared at Undine for a moment before speaking, "I found a decent place to park the wagon. There's a bunch of clothing shops along the street around here from what I can tell."

"Great. You stay here with the wagon and we'll go look for some clothes. Give me one of your cloaks. She needs to be covered up. I'll have her put it on and have her keep the hood up."

"Sure, just a second." Poro-tan climbed over some piles of stuff and got to his pack. He retrieved one of his black cloaks and handed it over to Undine.

"I'll let you talk now, but if you cause any trouble, I'll make you regret it."

Undine snatched the cloak out of Poro-tan's outstretched hand and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I wish they had just executed me and been done with it! How dare you treat me like this? You cut my hair! Not only that, but I'm not some common slave for you to mute whenever you want! Also, this cloak is rough! It's unacceptable."

Megumi already regretted letting her speak. She simply rolled her eyes climbed out of the back of the cart. "Just put it on. Let's go. Enough of the whining already. If I have to mute you again, I'm going to give you pain to go along with the punishment."

Undine clamped her mouth shut and followed Megumi down the street. Most of the shops had large windows with mannequins wearing clothes on display. There were a lot of nice things, but most of it was for every day use and not really the kind of gear one would need for hard travel.

After passing by several stores without seeing anything that caught her eye, they came upon a little hole in the wall shop called The Adventure Mart. The clothes on display were practical and sturdy looking. The shop sold both men and women's clothing and although nothing looked particularly pretty, nothing was ugly, either. It would do.

As they entered the shop a little bell rang above the door and Megumi looked around. There wasn't a ton on display, which meant that this place probably made clothes to order. It was worth asking, however, so they waited a moment and looked around. The shopkeeper came out of the back while Megumi was looking a simple woolen dress.

"Welcome to The Adventure Mart! Sorry for keeping you waiting. What can I get for you two ladies?"

Undine started to open her mouth to reply, but Megumi stifled it and cut in, "We're looking for some plain, but practical clothing for a long journey. We're headed down the mountain to Oleander and she needs a few things to wear." 

"Okay. Come over and let me have a look at you. I'm Jess, what are your names?"

"I'm Megumi, and this is Sarah." 

"Nice to meet you. I just need to take some measurements. Take that cloak off, will you, Sarah?"

Undine gave her a little look and when Megumi nodded, she complied and removed the cloak. Jess produced a roll of measuring tape and began taking measurements. Undine looked very uncomfortable, especially when the woman measured her bust, but she was forced to endure in silence. Megumi wasn't sure why Undine would care, surely she had a personal tailor who did this once in a while before making her dresses. Each time Jess took a measurement, she wrote it down on a little notepad before moving on to the next.

Several minutes later, she was done. "I'll go look at what I have in the back. I can customize anything to fit her size if you have a couple days to wait, but if not, then I have some things that will fit fairly well."

"We need to be on the road today. Whatever fits her will be fine. A dress, some trousers and shirts. Also, if you have one, a sturdy cloak like this one she has would be good."

"Sure. I have everything you need. Just a moment while I go grab some things for her to try on."

The woman rushed into the back room again and the two of them were left alone. 

"Are you really going to force me to wear drab clothing like some... some commoner?"

"Yes. If I can do it, then so can you."

"Your clothes aren't nearly as common looking as the ones here."

"If your attitude improves, maybe I'll get you something nicer when we get to Oleander. So shut up about it anyway. I'm the master here, and you're my servant. Remember that."

The high lady frowned at her indignantly, but didn't press any further. Megumi had been forced to show the woman her place a few times during the trip and the irritation that had come out with her voice in that last bit must have told her that she should zip it or face hours of torment while her soul was squeezed.

Jess came out a few moments later with a few options of each type of clothing. The prices weren't too bad and Reynard had been nice enough to send her off with a small stipend of money, so she didn't mind spending a bit here. 

"You should try them on. These are all I have right now that would fit her."

Undine gathered up the clothes and thanked the woman through gritted teeth before heading over to the changing room. Megumi followed and poked her head through the curtain every once in a while to make sure Undine wasn't destroying the clothes or something out of anger. All of the clothes that Jess had brought seemed to fit relatively well, she had a good eye for these things Megumi supposed.

"We'll take all of them."

"I noticed that she's just wearing slippers. Not exactly the footwear for hard travel, would you ladies be interested in getting some boots? I have a small selection, but everything was built well for adventurers. Would you like to see what I have? I'll need to measure her shoe size." 

Jess had mostly been looking at her when speaking, it must have been clear that she was in charge, despite looking a good five or so years younger than Undine. She hadn't thought a shop like this would also sell shoes, but if there was something sturdy that would fit her new pet, then it would save her a trip to the cobbler's shop. 

"Okay."

Jess went over to Undine and pulled out her measuring tape again, taking measurements of her feet before running off to the back room again. 

"My slippers are quite comfortable, thank you. I'd rather not be forced to shove my feet into boots."

"They won't be comfortable if we have to walk long distances. Who knows if we'll even keep the wagon forever. It's slow and we won't be able to take it across the sea when the time comes. You're going to wear what I tell you to wear and that's final."

Megumi did not relish the idea of traveling across the sea again, but it was an inevitability. Jess returned and cleared her throat as the two of them had been glaring at one another. She then beckoned them over to her desk and placed three different styles of boots in front of them. Out of spite, Megumi picked the most uncomfortable looking ones and then paid for everything. "Go change into these before we leave so we can be on our way."

She shoved a plain looking dress, wool leggings, and the boots towards the indignant Undine with a smile. When the insufferable lady didn't move fast enough, Megumi gave her a little pain and forced her to go into the changing room. 

By the gods, that woman is exhausting to be around! Useful in fights or not, this is beginning to be a huge pain in the ass!

When they arrived back at the wagon, Megumi was more than ready to rest for the day, but she had thought of one more thing she'd like to have before they left town. "Let's go find a general store on our way out of the market district, Poro-tan."

"What for? We got supplies in Lerwick." 

"I want to get something for Undine to help us in fights."

"Huh?"

"We're going to have her carry around several flasks of water on her belt. That way, at any given time she will always have a powerful weapon at her disposal, even if we were to be in the middle of a desert."

"You want me to carry around large quantities of water?! Am I a pack mule now?"

"You're a lot sturdier now than you were when you were alive thanks to me. You'll be fine."

The three of them found a general store fairly easily and bought a large water skin that attached to one's back like a pack. It would work out better than Megumi's flask idea, and it could easily be obscured below Undine's cloak. The pack could hold a considerable amount of water, and Megumi couldn't wait to put it to the test in battle. 

Now we're ready to go hunting. 

It was nearly dusk when they finally left Rivean and started down the mountain. Getting down to a warmer climate would be nice after all this time spent up in the high mountains. Once they reached Oleander, they would take the road leading further south to Oceanspire. It was the largest city in the southern part of the country and it was where the Villains Guild she knew about was located. 

They would kill everyone there and extract some information; namely she hoped to find a lead on where exactly Thera's hideout was. The direction that the two kidnappers had taken her in was a clue as to the general location of where Thera's lair was, which was to say that she was likely in the swamp lands on the other side of the mountain range, but she wanted more concrete information.

Beyond that, the woman was a member of the Council of Nine, and it would be foolish to think that their little group was strong enough to take her on at this point. Megumi had met her a few times in the past when she was travelling with Cerberus, and the woman put a chill in her bones at the time. The last thing that Megumi wanted to do again, was underestimate a foe. Either way, they would not be leaving this continent until Megumi had Thera's head. She would not be able to rest easy until she eliminated all of the council and then she could go about returning to her kingdom and getting the sweet revenge that her broken soul still craved.

The wagon continued to roll along and Megumi laid down on her makeshift bed and closed her eyes. She dreamed of sitting upon the Crystal Throne that was her birthright, atop a pile of a thousand corpses. She would settle for no less than the annihilation of all who had contributed to her suffering; Cerberus included.