Sixty-Four

The sky was clear and the wind blew the desert sand. A van stopped just outside the slums, its wheels rolling on rocky grounds until it came before a downed transporter—a rectangular contraption of metal. The latch of the thing was open and two soldiers stood guard at either side, guns within their grasp.

Rose descended from the back of the vehicle as her feet met sand. Besides her, Elsa laughed and hopped down as well.

"Hopefully no 'Smugglers of Slummers' comes attacking us, eh?"

"That wouldn't be funny. . ." Rose muttered.

By their side, Mare chuckled, hands behind her head as she walked forward, whistling. "An official, military transporter, you guys are quite lucky."

Lilias stepped out and squinted at the thing.

It was black and quite similar to the one they had attacked before. The difference between that and this was that this one looked much studier, had latches that clearly hid weaponry, and had the insignia of Alos's military etched on its doors—a circle with a needle sticking from the bottom edge to the center and four smaller circles within.

The rest of the people stepped out of the vehicle as well, save for Liz, and Lucy spoke as they walked closer to it.

"All of your belongings have already been moved inside. At least, those that Alos will allow entry."

At those words, Elsa Mont gnashed her teeth. "They only hecking moved my bike! My dang mecha is still sitting in the slums!"

Lilias looked at her as if she was stupid. Then again, there was little she could expect from people who had never resided in a city before.

Samuel, on the other hand, merely shrugged. "Unless you have a contract or license, we can't just let people bring mech suits into the city, you know? Especially not one of your generation. Rose's dune-buggy, likewise, didn't pass regulations for entry."

Rose raised a brow at that. Clearly, without her dune-buggy, nothing of hers was in that transporter.

In time, they came upon the doors off the vehicle.

The two soldiers, dressed in a black spandex-like things and jackets of blue, saluted Samuel. They didn't even glance at the group.

"Everything is ready, sir!" One of them spoke.

He nodded. "Open it up, then."

As the latch opened, Rose took a moment to glance at the slums behind her.

A part of it was destroyed. Another part had been uprooted by a still-standing castle of iron. Then, the first through third rim were now gone as Alos's walls had fully expanded to encompass the areas that once belonged to the slummers. The small war had forever reshaped the landscape of the place.

She looked to her left and saw Elsa claps her hands together, towards a distant mountain, and mutter, "Thank you for everything, sis. I'll be going now."

The girl stood back up in moments, a grinning smile lighting up her face.

"Come on, Rose! Off to Alos and then to the mage academy!" Elsa's enthusiastic voice echoed as she was dragged forward.

"Fine fine." Rose smiled. Boarding the transporter with the rest of the group.

As the latch closed and the vehicle soundlessly ascended into the sky, Brian looked to Lucy.

"I had my doubts, and wondered why we were funding her, but she really did create an amazing homunculus," He said, stroking his chin, "If she's that powerful now, I can't wait to see what happens down the line."

His older sister nodded. "Indeed. At this point, everything is in motion against The Tower."

Mare squinted at the receding thing and smirked, turning back around towards the van.

"Oh Prince Chaz, oh Princess Chaz. . .shouldn't you two be coaxing Liz as we speak? Someone has to head the reshaped slums while you two return to Ondrea, don't you think?" She said, "Of course, I can help you coax her. . .for a price."

". . ." The two dark elves were speechless.