“Nobles are annoying,” Lucille, for once, agreed with one of Yhaine’s typically aggressive words directed at her fellow nobles.

 

Lucille wasn’t mad at the Vulnaza family for “wasting their time” (as Yhaine would put it,) per se but it was something of a… uhm-

 

She couldn’t really figure out a way to say how she felt but she knew she didn't hate the Vulnaza royalty the same way Yhaine did- that would just be stupid of her.

 

And the Vulnaza had been hospitable too, which isn't exactly a bad thing and she didn't think that sort of treatment was unwelcome but…

 

… they had spent most of the morning eating, talking, and socializing instead of discussing anything related to the Greatape Forest and its landmarks or even the mission in general, so far, the only thing that they have done was socialize which again, isn't bad but Lucille thought it should have been more than that.

 

Spending an entire morning so inefficiently simply didn't sit right with her…

 

Lucille shook her head, deeming that thoughts like what she had just now were offensive and cruel.

 

“Yhaine, they were trying to be hospitable,” Zyra scolded Yhaine and got a snort in response, “and I personally think it’s better than immediately heading out and killing monsters after just coming here,”

 

“Me too,” Yhaine said in dismissive agreement, “but you know, maybe we should have, oh I don’t know- spent a bit of time discussing what our plans for the hunt were? Or maybe anything mission related?”

 

“Neophyte already trained us and we know everything about Eukaleafs going forward,” Zyra argued.

 

Their tactician continued on-

 

“And it’s not like we don’t fully know how to navigate forests, Lucille most definitely does, and I think I can figure out my way around it…” Zyra’s tone had shifted halfway through her sentence, going from confident to realization that Yhaine might not have that much experience in hunting inside of or just navigating forests in general, “we won't leave you behind, don't worry,”

 

“Okay, fine,” Yhaine started to sound offended now, “let's all agree that I'm somehow not capable of walking around in a forest without getting lost-” Yhaine huffed, “which- I guess is true but-” Yhaine admitted, “- that's not the point, I just wanna ask why you're so hellbent on defending the Vulnaza,"

 

“Because they were trying to be hospitable, Yhaine,” Zyra answered simply.

 

“Okay? And?” Yhaine sounded confused, “so what?”

 

“They were trying to help, get us in our best shape before the hunt,” Zyra retorted, a frown tugging at her lips, “are you saying they should have just let us go after we got here? After Neophyte sent that letter?”

 

Yhaine grumbled something about tediousness and how tiring all these social games are as their team's support spoke up-

 

“Can I chime in?” Karsten, unlike Lucille, had something to say and she looked like she wanted everyone to hear it.

 

Zyra nodded slowly and tried not to let the discomfort she felt from someone so new to their group joining in on their arguments, “okay,”

 

“Thank you,” the pious girl nodded gratefully, “Neophyte's letter aside, I think that the Vulnaza were trying to put us at ease because they know that this is our first hunt,” she explained calmly.

 

Lucille and her friends all stared at each other as the church servant continued.

 

“And so, I don’t think it’s bad, but also, Yhaine does have a point, that we needed to have discussed what we wanted to do,” upon being told that she was right, Yhaine's face lit up in smugness, then deflated when Karsten added- “but I think that Zyra is also right, they were simply trying to help us no? There’s no harm in that,”

 

Everyone went silent for the duration of their change and Lucille took a peek at their grumpy front line on occasion, Yhaine didn’t seem mad, or even uncomfortable that she was- finally, - being berated about her complaints regarding other nobles but if she was, then she was hiding it well.

 

After seeing each other changing back into standard gear, Lucille managed to confirm that Karsten does, in fact, wear chainmail under her robes, one that was made with Holy Silver even.

 

Now armored up, she and her team went out of the armory and back into the castle to meet with the rest of the Royal Family.

 

Calcite had been the first person that greeted them, followed by her husband who nodded at them approvingly, “your gear looks expensive,” he said.

 

Lucille bowed, “thank you,” she answered for everyone, “her majesty Neophyte bought it for us with the help of her friend,”

 

“Castella, I’m guessing?” Calcite guessed with an approving nod toward the aforementioned lady.

 

“No, but they had similar names,” Lucille shook her head and tried to remember the name of the other girl, “I think it was… Capscaria?” 

 

“Oh, the- uh- Pearl’s friend?” Calcite tilted her head, a curious pitch seeping into her tone, “huh, I didn’t know they became acquainted, last I checked that Tequi girl was rather conceited,”

 

“She is?” Lucille asked.

 

Capscaria had been excited to show them around her family’s mall so Lucille never considered that such an energetic girl was conceited.

 

“Yeah,” Calcite giggled, “she’s as arrogant as the rest of the Tequi family as well,”

 

“Castella also helped, and was there,” Zyra informed, “both of them seemed like great people,”

 

Calcite nodded, “they are, especially Castella,”

 

“Capscaria was great too actually,” Zyra added with a hum, “she even helped us buy all of this,-” she gestured at her gear, “- and she also gave us a discount which I’m pretty sure was not how things worked since the stores we bought these from couldn’t have been owned by her family…”

 

“They weren’t,” Yhaine confirmed, “some of these came from mine,”

 

“The Repudia Armory right?” Yhaine nodded at Calcite, “hm, I remember buying Bismuth something from your family for his birthday,”

 

“You did?” Yhaine tilted her head.

 

“Yeah, I bought him a chest plate made from Gleam,” Lucille recognized it as the last stage of metal before it becomes blessed, or in other words, an expensive piece of armor, “I think he threw it away months after I bought him that though, since it was in a state of disrepair and all,”

 

Lucille only nodded, impressed by just how casually Royalty could say such things. A piece of armor that would take her family decades of saving to buy wouldn’t just be “thrown away” and disregarded like it was nothing but for nobles, such a thing apparently isn’t that big of a deal.

 

And judging by how casually Neo had spent her money on them…

 

Lucille hummed in consideration, wondering if she'd ever reach that point of financial stability by becoming a Slayer.

 

As they made their way to the castle's airway, small talks were passed between them and once they got there, Calcite gestured to the flying carriage that was ready to take them to the edge of the Greatape Forest.

 

As they filed into the rectangular ride, Calcite told them that all the things they needed for the mission- which were prepared by the court’s best scribe, prince Zachrid himself, - is inside of it and true to the princess’ words, when they went in, a bag packed with paper awaited them on one of the seats. 

 

They made themselves comfortable, with Lucille taking a seat by the window, Karsten at the back, near the darkness- causing her hair to illuminate the area surrounding her, - and Zyra and Yhaine on the opposite sides of each other, with Zyra taking the seat with their bag of papers and Yhaine finding a spot to read- huh, when did she bring a book?

 

Then everything was followed by silence...

 

To disperse the weird atmosphere- or at least get away from it, - Lucille decided to simply stare out the window and let everyone else do their own thing.

 

“What are your plans for the hunt?” Surprisingly, it was Karsten who spoke first.

 

Lucille peeked into the scene and noted that Zyra just glared at the piece of paper she was reading as if that would get her to analyze it better while Yhaine only grunted in reply. Both were too focused on their respective papers to even reply.

 

Karsten sighed, “isn't this the perfect time to discuss your plans?”

 

No one talked after that, including Karsten herself, as she was now content on calmly observing the situation.

 

When no one still said anything even after a while, the church servant spoke again, “I’m not going with you into the forest,”

 

“Wait what? Why?” Yhaine turned to Karsten, “I thought Neophyte told you to do this? Don't you follow her around or something?”

 

“Because I can support you from afar,” Karsten glared at the yellow haired girl, “you should have let me finish and listened to what I was going to say,”

 

“You can just… do that?” Yhaine said in deflection, “I never knew that's possible,”

 

“Yes, and it is.” Karsten nodded, voice simple and tone unchanging. She then faced Zyra, “Zyra, what’s on the written papers?”

 

“Everything we need to know about the forest, apparently,” the Florist said in interest, “Prince Zachrid works well, it’s detailed-”

 

Zyra shrugged and pulled out a map, “- enough that we don't need to talk about the mission or make plans, we just have to pick what we want to do once we reach the forest since everything we need to know about it is already written here-” she lifted the bag and hobbled it up and down, “- and we can just review it when the time comes,”

Karsten nodded and decided to let things be and was more than content to continue with reading the holy texts she had brought on her person.

 

But come to think of it, Lucille was curious about something, “hey Karsten?”

 

“Hm?” The pious girl looked up from her book.

 

“Where are you staying if you’re not going to the forest with us?” The heroine asked.

 

“I’m going back to the castle after you three depart for the hunt,” Karsten’s answer was blunt and simple, and Lucille made a mental note that this is how the girl preferred to do things, “and afterward, I’d go to the capital and head for the cathedral,”

 

“You’re just going to pray?” Lucille asked, “is that how you can support us?”

 

Karsten put some thought into what her answer would be and she slowly nodded, “something like that,” she answered vaguely, “my Pledge allows me to see you three from afar and at the same time, support you in such a distance, it won’t matter how much either, since the moment that I focus on you, I’d be able to see you,”

 

“That’s a rather unfair Pledge isn’t it?” Lucille mentioned. “How does it even work?”

 

“My Pledge is the reason why I’m in your class,” Karsten said with a warm smile, “they wanted someone like me to support the, according to them at the time, “problematic Saintess,”.”

 

Karsten sighed, “though it seems that my presence is unneeded in Neophyte’s side, but this also works too,” she sounded resigned as she finished. She shrugged, “and if you’re wondering what my Pledge is well… some people have compared it to the Seraphim up in the skies,”

 

“You’re kidding?” Zyra stopped reading and stared at Karsten in disbelief, the pious girl only smiled, this time it wasn’t dull, but full of pride, “you’re not.”

 

“I am serious, yes.” Karsten nodded for further emphasis.

 

Both Zyra and Karsten decided that it was then that the conversation ended and went silent, the two of them went back to reading their respective papers.

 

Lucille stared at Karsten, thinking that the princess didn’t do things half-baked didn’t she?

 

True to Karsten’s words, when they arrived at their destination, she had gone with their flying carriage back to the castle.

 

Lucille felt concerned as she watched the ride get smaller in the far distance, the heroine wasn’t sure if Karsten could really support them from way back in the capital but she decided to trust her words instead of worrying about them.

 

Zyra seemed to believe Karsten because she didn’t bother looking back or even saying something like ‘we’ll be on our own during this entire thing, so act like we don’t have support,’ and instead, slowly made her way towards Greatape Forest, her expression serious and yet at the same time, carefree.

 

The map provided to them by prince Zachrid had been something of a detailed piece of work, and instead of just giving them a note with vague descriptions about the map and directions they could go to, the thing had circles drawn on it, names were written at the top of the circles and most of them were “dangerous areas” as well as “safe spots” and occasionally, confirmed Eukaleaf tribes were marked as well.

 

Yhaine made sure to mention those marked Eukaleaf tribes, asking, “are we going to wipe those out?”

 

Zyra nodded, “yeah, it says so on the piece of paper here, see?” Zyra waved it around, Yhaine took it and started reading, the girl grunted and handed it back to Zyra, “I think we’re required to at least wipe out three different Eukaleaf tribes,”

 

“There’s only two marked there though.” Yhaine pointed out.

 

“I know,” Zyra said, “which is why we’re going to have to start searching for  Eukaleaf marks if we want to find one of their tribes before sundown.”

 

Lucille immediately searched the area for any possible signs of said marks and after a while of walking, got nothing.

 

She decided to speak up, “are we heading for one of the areas Eukaleafs are usually found in?”

 

“yes,” Zyra pointed at the map she was holding, “you see this here?” Lucille looked over at the spot their tactician was pointing at, “this area has larger than normal trees,”

 

“What's special about it?” Lucille voiced out.

 

“It's an area of the forest taken over by a specific species of tree,” Zyra answered, “I think the soil was perfect for their growth, it was why they dominated,”

 

“Uhuh…” Lucille trailed off, still confused but she got the gist- it's where they can find the Eukaleaf tribes, and the written notes on the map seem to agree with her too, “I think the princess said something about animals affecting their environment too right?”

 

“mhmm,” Zyra nodded again, then she frowned when she saw the rest of the notes for the area, “we should avoid this place I think,”

 

“Why?” Yhaine asked.

 

“Because Lucille is right; animals do affect the environment around them but the opposite is also true and that means that this part of the forest has a lot of ape-like monsters living in it thanks to the trees,” Zyra explained.

 

“Why would-” Yhaine’s eyes widened in realization, “do the trees produce fruits?”

 

“They most likely do,” Zyra replied, “which means that there are monsters feeding off of them, and this also must be the reason why this kind of tree dominates this area, because the monsters spread them,”

 

“Are they smart enough to do that?” Lucille asked.

 

“No, not really,” Zyra shook her head, “but, it is worth noting that the apes would have eaten the fruits and thrown away the seeds haphazardly, allowing for more of these trees to grow around the area.”

 

“And since they spread, that means the fruit bearing trees would have attracted even more monsters to them right?” Yhaine guessed.

 

“Mhmm.” Zyra hummed, “more monsters would have come for the food and they likely congregated in this area,” Zyra added.

 

“Guess we avoid it then,” Lucille finished for the two.

 

“We should,” Zyra replied while Yhaine grunted.