{Foreign Rituals}: Tower Of Worship, Part 1

Confusion, turmoil, stress and annoyance. Every emotion needed to make a mission departing frustrating and troublesome. It was now 8 PM and Micah asked everyone to be done and ready by 6 AM. They were two hours late, all except Richard. As always, he was fully dedicated to following Micah's every instruction, or his own slightly misguided versions of them. He would bend orders given to him if he saw a more efficient solution. In the end, it was all for their group's benefit so he believed it to be a justifiable reason.

They stood leaning against the door when Gajeel appeared at the top of the stairs with a little rucksack slung over his shoulder and a frown on his face. His face did light up a little when he saw Micah and Richard.

"Finally!! What the hell kind of house is this? I got lost on my way." He trotted down the stairs as they stared at him in amazement.

"You got lost!? On the upper floor? It has four corridors, with a clear indication of what leads where. How the hell did you manage that?"

"I think the house is haunted or something," Gajeel shrugged his shoulders carelessly. "Some ghost was moving those corridors so I wouldn't find the stairs. I'm sure of it." When he made it to the bottom he looked relieved beyond belief.

"So, ready to go?"

"We are still awaiting the arrival of two graceful flowers," Richard spoke, pretty indifferent to Gajeel's behaviour. He had seen weirder people in his day.

"Pain in my ass more like it. There is nothing graceful about those devils."

"Ohh, someone's suffered from their pranks I see. I suppose I can understand why you would say that. But, remember, the more you retaliate, the more difficult life is gonna be for you." Micah had some real first-hand experience when it came to that. He knew the extremes those two girls would go to just for a laugh.

"I would rather fight an actual devil." He sighed out, looking more tired than a night without sleep would garner. "You agree, right?"

"Most definitely. A devil would be child's play in comparison."

"Speaking of the devil..." Sorana said as she had appeared ontop the stairs. She had, unfortunately for the men heard every. last. word. Some hellish nightmarish plans being concocted inside her mind. All involving Gajeel.

"Yeah, I don't like that comparison. I'm a beautiful harmless princess." Yukino stuck her head out from behind Sorana with a grin. True were her words, at least until someone took her ice-cream away.

"Can we go now? It's supposed to be at the border or Fiore, right? That will take us the entire day." Gajeel had had just about enough of this group of misfits. "Misfits, huh. Great name." He said casually as he opened the door and walked out.

"Misfits? Sister, did he call us that?"

"You can't deny that it fits. Actually, it fits very well with us." Richard seemed completely on board and followed the dragon slayer with a smile. Maybe he had finally found someone to share his devotion with, someone of equal mind. If only he knew.

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Richard had explained how 'little' money they had left after purchasing the villa. What Micah didn't realise at the time was that they shared very different definitions of what poor was. It was proved as soon as he saw the account balance after purchasing their house. By a village standard, he was still disgustingly rich. First, he had wanted it all donated away or used for the betterment of the guild. But, how fortunate he was that Richard knew better. Otherwise, they would have had to walk to their quest location instead of the luxurious carriage they were now riding.

"So," Gajeel began. "In terms of money. Where do we stand? A normal mage wouldn't ever take this kind of carriage to a quest location, despite the distance. This is nobility-level transport." It was white with golden horses engraved on the outside. The seats were made of material he couldn't identify but knew was expensive, even for a Nobel.

"We have money to spare," Micah said somewhat dejectedly. He wasn't fond of having it but was resolute in using every penny to excel in the world. Only by using it for the betterment of the world could he justify keeping it.

"We don't really need to do quests for funds. We are doing it simply for combat training and information."

"What kind of info? And, what is the long-term goal here? You can't think of uprooting or destroying every single dark guild and bandit gang, right? That would take years upon years to do.

"Well, Gajeel. We don't necessarily have to do that. My goal with creating this was to take away all evil." Micah accidentally allowed a naive and pure smile to plaster itself over his lips. "That was until I realised how naive and stupid that is. Darkness, evil, every force fighting against good only exist because we do. Light exists because of darkness and vice versa."

"Wise words, Boss!" Richard nodded proudly.

"Indeed, though not mine. Borrowed from the one and only, Blue." He saw the confusion on Gajeel but stopped him before he could ask. "Another time. Anyway, back to the point. Because evil will never disappear completely, all we can do is disrupt it and manage it. Keep it at a level where the good side of humanity can still suppress it easily."

"And how are we gonna do that?"

"First and foremost. Collect info on the three biggest dark guilds. Then, take them out. Disrupt the chain of command and give the legal guilds some breathing room. We will work in the shadows mostly and offer the good guys the way to the winning side.

"Always keeping it suppressed, but never destroy it. This is how we take back our world from corruption. At least that's the first step. After that, we can only hope that what we leave behind holds intact for generations to come." Micah wasn't a brilliant strategist, not yet at least. He wanted the darkness gone, but Blue explained why that just wasn't possible. One of the Four Concepts embodies {Darkness}, as Blue embodies {Time} alongside {Faith}. That is the reason why Darkness and in turn evil will always exist within the multiverse. So, to combat that, Micah could only come up with the solution to suppress it. Suppress it for a thousand years for example. It will always come back in force, but still, that would be a thousand years of peace. As of this moment, he could not think of any better way. Unless he himself embodied {Darkness} he could never change its nature. For that, he would need to kill or force the host of {Authority} to give him the power.

"As long as darkness exists, evil will always be reborn anew. Currently, we fight for tomorrow, and then the day after that. We are taking it slow, changing the world one step at a time."

"Also Blue?" Yukino asked curiously?

"That was all me. Nice, right?"

"It sounded better in front of your mirror."

"Sorana! When we get back home, we will discuss boundaries within the house." Micah flicked her on the nose with a sizable amount of force. Enough for it to hurt for real.

"Yeah, I was right. A bunch of misfits." Gajeel smiled for once. He simultaneously looked out the window at a mountain way in the distance. That being where they're headed.

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End