28. Meanwhile The Other

Back again I'm already at home so i can go back to writing, I'm still recovering but I'm gonna try to released a chapter every 2 days again...

Btw don't forget to give me your feedback on this chapter.

Thank you ~

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<Djeeta PoV>

It's been a few days since Rei disappeared from the Grandcypher.

The day we found out Rei suddenly disappeared from the Grandcypher was when Lyria wanted to check on Rei's condition after we found an inn in Auguste.

That night, Lyria came running into the room we rented at the inn, out of breath and looking panicked.

Lyria informed us that Rei had disappeared from the Grandcypher, leaving only a note that read

"I will be back."

...What does he mean by he will be back? He was unconscious for several days, and when he woke up, he disappeared immediately?

I am really worried about him, and he disappeared as soon as he woke up???

...If he comes back, I will punish him.

After that, we all left the inn to try to find him because we were very worried about him.

But after trying all night to find him and asking other residents about Rei because his appearance is very standing out, so people could definitely easily recognize him.

We had to stop our search because of the problem with the Empire pouring toxic waste into the sea, causing the Leviathan primal beast to go berserk.

This was the first time we fought a primal beast without Rei's help... At first, I was very worried that we wouldn't be able to defeat this primal beast and save it.

But luckily, all of us plus Eugen managed to defeat the primal beast, and finally, Lyria absorbed its power and calmed it down.

That way, we could continue our search for Rei in peace... but turns out that was just easier said than done.

Who knew that Black knight had a friend that have the ability to absorb the power of primal beasts like Lyria.

So, when Lyria was absorbing Leviathan's power, the Black Knight suddenly appeared and stole the power that Lyria was busy absorbed... damn stealing.

After that, Eugen chose to join us because he had a connection with the Black Knight and now he want to settle his past with Black Knight by joining us.

Then we decided to pursue the Black Knight to Lumacie Archipelago.

[Lumacile Archipelago Image]

Even though I wanted to go back to searching for Rei, we always got distracted by other matters first.

I will make sure that after this, I will find you, Rei!

After landing in Lumacie Archipelago, we suddenly met a mysterious woman. She had brown hair and wore flower accessories in her hair.

[IMAGE]

She said she and us had the same destination, so she wanted to join us for a while...

Not gonna lie, but she really seemed suspicious... Why would a woman suddenly appear in the middle of the forest and say that she has the same destination as us?

"Hmmm, it seems like you missing someone, huh?" Rosetta spoke as she observed us all.

Upon hearing that, we all looked towards her, "What do you mean by 'missing someone'?"

I pretended not to know because she seemed really suspicious at the moment, so we didn't want to give out any information casually.

Rosetta then smiled while covering her mouth with one of her hands.

Suddenly, we could see green thorns starting to appear around Rosetta, which surprised us.

"Is that... isn't that the thorns that appeared when we were in Port Breeze!?" Lyria recalled seeing those green thorns helping the Empire commander when they were in Port Breeze.

"Yes, I saw that you were surrounded by Empire soldiers, so I decided to help you."

"So, can you tell me your names? I've already told you mine, so it wouldn't be fair if you didn't tell me yours too," Rosetta asked us.

After that, we introduced ourselves one by one to her.

"Hm... So you're Djeeta? Fascinating..." I saw Rosetta looking at me from head to toe.

"What's with this lady? She keeps staring at you, Djeeta..." Lyria felt uncomfortable with Rosetta's gaze that seemed to really really focus on Djeeta.

But Rosetta, upon hearing Lyria's voice, immediately turned towards her. "And you must be Lyria, yes? Cute as a button, just as I thought you'd be!"

It's strange how she said that, like she had known Lyria before...

"Huh? Oh... Thanks! I guess..." Lyria looked embarrassed as she was suddenly praised like that.

"Look at you... As fresh and innocent as the morning dew."

"It's just too bad i couldn't meet the man with white hair... maybe someday," Rosetta shook her head, feeling disappointed.

"What do you want to do with Rei!?" I immediately asked Rosetta upon hearing that.

Rosetta upon hearing me turned towards me and for a moment she just remained silent and staring at my expression. But eventually, she smiled again.

"Fufufu~ Relax, Djeeta, I just want to meet him. I won't take your *friend* away from you." She's said teasingly

I felt a little embarrassed because I could hear the tone Rosetta used when she said "friend".

So, I chose to ignore her and just stayed silent.

Rosetta looks happy when she saw me remaining silent and get embarrassed....

"My~ My~ both of you is so cute, looks like I'm gonna have fun while I'm joining you guys"

After that, we started to continue our journey to search for the whereabouts of the black knight, and Rosetta is seen joking around with some of us...

Many monsters also attacked us, but we easily defeated the monsters with Rosetta's help using her Thorns ability.

After walking deeper into the forest for a while, suddenly Katalina warned us.

"Wait! I can sense someone behind that tree," Katalina pointed towards one of the large trees.

"Is it another monster? Or an empire soldier?" Eugen pulled out his gun.

Strangely, Rosetta ignored Katalina's words and continued walking towards the tree and went behind it.

"Have you been waiting too long, orchis?" Rosetta spoke as she walked behind the tree.

Hearing Rosetta knowing who the person was, we cautiously started following her towards the back of the tree.

Then I could see a girl with blue twintail hair, like Lyria's hair color but not as bright color as her, with red eyes, holding a doll while eating something.

[IMAGE]

Isn't she that Black Knight friend who absorbed Leviathan power ???

"Nyom....nyom...nyom"

Orchis was still busy chewing the food she was eating.

"So, uh... what are you doing here, little miss?" Rackam asked the girl.

"I'm not a little miss. My name is Orchis."

"So, Orchis... Did you come here by yourself? Where's the knight?" Io asked the girl, looking around for the Black Knight.

"I was left on watch."

"On watch? So the Black Knight just left you here?" I couldn't believe the Black Knight would leave a little girl alone in the middle of the forest.

But Orchis' reaction was completely different from what I had imagined because she was currently looking towards Rosetta.

"She told me to wait here," Orchis said, continuing to eat her food.

We then turned to Rosetta, who was smiling, seemingly feeling no guilt.

"So, you're the one who left a little girl alone in the middle of the forest... and why did you bring Orchis here like this?" Katalina spoke.

"No reason in particular! I saw an airship I hadn't seen before, so I took a stroll around it... She looked dreadfully bored on deck. So... I brought her here!"

We were now staring at Rosetta with blank expressions due to her behavior... just because Orchis looked bored, she brought her into the middle of the forest? Wait, isn't this considered kidnapping?

"That's totally kidnapping! What do you think you're doing?" Vyrn shouted at Rosetta.

"Hehe." Rosetta making a face like she's saying oopsie....

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After that mess we decided to find Black Knight and returned Orchis to them, so now we just walking randomly through the forest in hope of finding Black Knight.

As we walked, I could hear Katalina still scolding Rosetta about the issue with Orchis, while Lyria and Io were trying to engage in conversation with Orchis.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Orchis! I'm Lyria and this is Djeeta!" Lyria introduced herself and me to Orchis, who had been silent all this time.

"What's a pleasure?" Orchis tilted her head, not understanding what Lyria meant.

"Basically it means let's be friends! My name's Io and it's a pleasure to meet you!" Io explained it to her and introduced herself as well.

"You want to... be friends... with me?" Orchis looked surprised to hear Io's words.

"Yes, friend, do you mind if we become your friends?" I also said to Orchis when I saw her puzzled expression.

"Friends..." Orchis kept murmuring the word "Friends" repeatedly... it was strange why she was expressing herself as if she never have any friends before.

"Why are you so interested in me?" Orchis asked us.

Lyria upon hearing this thought for a moment and finally answered, "Well... we just want to get to know you better, I guess!"

"I knew it. You're weird and too nice." Orchis said without any emotion in her tone.

"I might be weird... but sometimes I can be not so nice!"

"I mean... sometimes I eat Rei's slice of cake when he's not looking! And sometimes I pretend to eat vegetables I don't like but secretly give them to Vyrn!

...even though in the end, Rei still catches me, and he threatens me that if I don't eat my vegetables, he won't make snacks for me anymore," Lyria recalled the incident when Rei cooked for them all on the Grandcypher.

Well... this is all Lyria's fault anyway.

Sigh... It's been a long time since I haven't eaten Rei's cooking, ever since he fainted, we've had to take turns cooking, and our cooking tastes really different from Rei's...

After that, I heard Lyria and Io still continuously trying to engage Orchis in conversation with them.

But after walking for a while and defeating many monsters, suddenly we heard a voice coming from a direction.

"Hello! Everyone okay over here? I heard some fighting just now. Are any of you hurt?"

We were all surprised to hear this person speaking because I could see none of us heard or felt this person approaching us.

After that, we all turned towards the sound and could see someone wearing full scarlet armor, but he looked very tall for a regular person, so he seemed to be a Draph.

He was also carrying a very large sword on his waist, and his right hand was resting on the sword.

[IMAGE]

"Scarlet armor... Can it be?" Katalina seemed to recognize who the person was.

"No need to worry yourself, whoever you are. We're fine," Rackam responded casually to the Knight.

"Yeah! We may not look it, but we've seen our fair share of trouble!" Vyrn also replied to the Knight.

"Is that so! Thank goodness..." the Knight sounded relieved upon hearing their words, but I wasn't sure as his voice was slightly muffled by the armor helm he was wearing.

"Beg your pardon, sir. But with that armor of yours, you wouldn't happen to be..." Eugen asked for the knight's identity, but from the armor that he was wearing, we had already guessed who he was.

"Come again? Oh, how rude of me! Where are my manners?

I'm the Scarlet Knight Baragona Aragon, one of the Seven Luminary Knights who maintain order across the skies. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

The Scarlet Knight placed his right hand on his chest and performed a polite bow, as befitting a knight.

"You're the Scarlet Knight? Does that mean you're friends with the Black Knight?" Rackam asked the knight.

"The Black Knight? Ah, yes. Her... We do have a partnership of sorts... But I would hesitate to call her a friend, per se," Baragona sounded hesitant to refer to the Black Knight as a friend.

"Besides, since we have met like this in this place, how about we journey together? The more people, the safer we can pass through this forest."

Upon hearing Baragona's words, I turned to Katalina to see her reaction, but all I saw was Katalina nodding towards me without saying anything.

After that, I allowed Baragona to join us, at least until we could return Orchis to the Black Knight.

Currently, we were walking with Baragona leading in front, and then I heard Io ask Katalina something,

"Is he famous or something? I mean, he says he's a knight, but he doesn't look like he'd hurt a fly."

"Famous doesn't quite seem like an appropriate way to describe one of the Seven Luminaries. The Seven Luminary Knights are the seven supreme keepers of the skies," Katalina explained to Io.

"Lyria, do you remember when I said we'd need the sky map to cross the Grim Basin?"

"I do. The Grim Basin separates the skydoms and it's too dangerous to cross without the sky map," Lyria responded to Katalina's question.

"That's right. But that rule isn't absolute. The Seven Luminaries have the power to cross the Grim Basin without a sky map. It's a feat that's all but impossible for anyone else in the skies."

"T-that means they must be incredibly strong!" Lyria sounded surprised to hear Katalina's words.

"Strong isn't exactly how I'd put it... But they do have an overwhelming power all their own. Especially the Scarlet Knight, who's a superior fighter. While I served in Erste's military, he was known as the strongest knight in the empire."

Hearing that made me curious if he was stronger than Rei? At least Rei could defeat primal beasts one on one.

"Katalina, do you think he stronger than Rei?" I asked Katalina.

Katalina looked pensive upon hearing my question for a few moments but eventually sighed.

"I don't know... besides, I'm sure we haven't seen all of Rei's abilities."

"Of course, Rei is definitely stronger than them." Lyria seemed very confident that Rei was much stronger.

"Yap yap my number 2 best pals definitely are stronger," Vyrn also supported Lyria's words.

Hearing them made me smile and then look up at the sky while thinking,

'I hope you come back soon, Rei...'