No way it was going to be that easy, I see….

The moonlight night was serene; a calm breeze blew in the town, but weirdly enough, just one room was untouched by such a quiet breeze. Instead, the breeze gets directed toward the side of the building,

'Finally, that bastard left...' Ryu, who lay acting like he was sleeping in his bed, thought as he stood up,

"It's time…" Ryu said as he shook the person still lying on his bed, and the two lying on the other bed also stood up,

"Ryu, is he really gone?" Aiena asked Ryu with a confused expression on her face as she couldn't figure out how Ryu knew without even seeing, despite her belief in Ryu,

"He is Aiena; I don't know for how long, though, so we need to act fast", Ryu replied as he checked his daggers in holder with one hand.

Rafa crept close to Ryu from the right side, her ears drooping down, and she spoke in a low voice,

"Ryu…" Rafa didn't say anything after that but held the cuffs of his jacket, her eyes seemed filled with many words, but none made it out of her mouth, and Ryu, who noticed it, just smiled and patted her,

"It'll be fine, Rafa big sister, believe in me," said Ryu, Rafa believed Ryu completely as she tightened her grip on his cuff,

'For me, he is doing it….' Rafa thought as she knew, despite not having her memories, that going against the church was a big deal as she had learned during their travels that churches are powerful; they themselves have used the name of one many time to escape troubles,

"Big brother, I'm ready," Jue said as he put his knuckles at his side, and with that as cue Ryu went towards the window and opened it ever so quietly,

"Jump quietly," Ryu said as he jumped out of the window with Aiena in his arm. Jumping from the second floor was no trouble to current Ryu as he used a minor air spell to make his and Aiena's land comfortable. Jue, who'd never jumped out of a window, was a bit nervous. It wasn't fear of height or anything, as his eyes sparked with excitement. He just wanted to think where to jump and how much pressure to put to be quiet, as Ryu stated perfectly,

'How does one Jump quietly…' Jue thought, confused, but before he could even complete the thought, Rafa, who stood behind him, grabbed him from behind,

"It is fine for Jue to be scared; I'll carry you."

"I'm not scared….!!!" Jue nearly shouted, but Rafa put a hand on his mouth as she jumped, as she whispered,

"Ryu said to jump quietly."

If Jue wasn't pouty at the lost opportunity of not being able to jump out of the window, he would've noticed what Aiena and Ryu were witnessing from the ground,

"Ryu, are you seeing what I am?" Aiena pinched her hand lightly as she saw the sight of Rafa floating down from the window with Jue in her arms like a petal falling from a tree,

"I am Aiena, I am…. Nothing is impossible for her," Ryu spoke as he thought,

'Just what is the extent of her abilities!! If she wasn't already a broken character!! Well, as long as she is at our side, it's good,'

As soon as Jue and Rafa reached the ground, everyone went to the carriage without wasting a second, Rafa held the reins, and Arion seemed to understand the direness of the situation as Rafa gently tugged on the reins. Meanwhile, Glad looked back towards Rafa. His eyes seemed to be asking,

'Is something wrong…?' like a confused kid, it looked towards Rafa to such Glad; Rafa spoke with a mellow voice,

"Everything is fine, Glad… it is similar to every other day" Rafa knew Glad wasn't mature enough to understand their problem, and she didn't want to burden its mind while running either; with a swish of reins, the great escape plan began,

"Ryu, is this really okay?" Rafa asked as she had to break through the fence to escape from the inn's backyard. Ryu spoke in a low yet clear voice,

"It is fine, Rafa, big sister; I paid Inn aunt some heavy tip!" Ryu thought,

'Just a few months ago, she was breaking things out of curiosity, and now she is caring about fences during escape…. she really has grown' Ryu felt a sense of pride as he, along with Aiena and Jue, had worked hard to teach Rafa stuff as when they met her she wasn't any different than a child,

"Ryu, we don't have any supplies…" Aiena spoke as she knew they didn't even have enough to last a day, especially with Ryu's big appetite, but Ryu spoke with a confident voice,

"There will be monsters on the way to Verdanita Town, and there are villages on the way too."

Jue, who sat beside Ryu, asked him with a curious voice,

"Big brother, will Chisi be fine?" Jue was concerned about their newly made acquittance, and Ryu, even though doubtful, nodded as he spoke,

"Her dungeon is one heck of a deal; I doubt that Elite Paladin can reach even the boss room."

"It really was confusing…" Jue's expression turned troubled, with his eyes squinting as he remembered how much the dungeon messed them up too; if not for finding Rei and then Ryu testing the durability of the dagger, they would've never found Chisi's core room, but Ryu had more than one reason to believe he won't be able to clear dungeon as he thought,

'To begin with, that bastard was weaker than Jue….'.

As the carriage kept running in the embrace of dusk, it only came across occasional lights of lamps placed to lighten the important buildings even at night, the exit of the town was within their sight now, and in response to it, Ardian and Gald sped up as if they didn't want to remain in this town any more than Ryu and Fusion Souls.

"We crossed the gate," Rafa said, indicating their escape from the town; in the rough path of the jungle, the carriage kept moving, and not seeing anything out of place so far. Fusion Souls finally let their bodies loose in relief as they were on alert throughout the way,

"Now nothing will go wrong!!" Jue said excitedly, but as if waiting for that as a cue Ryu felt something rushing towards them fast with [Instantaneous Detection] and shouted,

"Get down!!" without thinking twice, all of them lowered their body as the carriage get penetrated by arrows imbued with some unknown skills; Aiena's breathing was heavy as the wall that was at her back seconds ago was pierced with arrows if not for Ryu's warning she would've been stabbed her. Her heart dropped a beat, but she tried her best to collect herself,

"Big brother, what is happening!?" Jue asked, confused, and Ryu held back hard on shouting,

'You jinxed us!! That's what happened!'

"They baited us!" Ryu said as he felt the carriage getting slower, Jue was confused and was waiting for Ryu's instruction, but his hand was instinctively moving towards his knuckles at his side,

"Rafa, big sister, who is there!?" Ryu asked confidently, as he knew Rafa would know who attacked them and what was going on,

"Elite Paladin, and adventurers…. A person in a robe," Rafa replied as she still kept marching the carriage,

'Ardian, Gald, I am sorry… just give it your best,' Rafa thought as she spoke to Ryu,

"Ryu, can I take it through them all? They are weak."

'If it was someone else or another situation… I would advise against acting rash but….' Thought Ryu and, with a confidence-filled voice, spoke to Rafa,

"Bash them, Rafa big sister!!" he knew it was better than to make Aiena witness him do another murder, and it was too late to hold any conversation with Elite Paladin anymore,

The carriage that had slowed began gaining speed. Arion's and Gald's legs glowed, and Elite Paladin and other people who expected the carriage to stop started panicking, but the person in the robe was excited for another reason,

"Animal with active skills!? Miraculous!!"

Rafa didn't care one bit for what the person was saying as she swished the reins she held in her hands,

'Leave it to us, miss!!' Arion seemed to be neighing to Rafa,

'I am running faster!!' Glad neighed,

The adventurers who stood at the side of Elite Paladin began panicking, and some of them even moved away from the road as they spoke,

"This is crazy!!"

"You'll get us killed."

"I'd rather be alive than a paladin!"

"I didn't even want to come."

Even Elite Paladin nearly peed his pants, but the Robed guy spoke in a low voice,

"Wait for the right moment!!"

"Okay….." Elite Paladin gulped, and two seconds before the clash, the robed man jumped aside, throwing up some weird white powder in the air and pushing Elite Paladin the other way; Ryu and Fusion Souls thought they had escaped, but something totally unexpected happened, Rafa who never needed mask even in the poisonous gas of dungeon, fall from the front of carriage on the ground a loud sound was heard. Arion and Glad stopped suddenly as they felt the reins loosen,

"No way it was going to be that easy, I see…." Ryu spoke in a bitter voice as he smashed open the door of the carriage, trying to maintain his cool not to panic Jue and Aiena

--to be continued