C21: Divided into Two Teams,

Alan got into his white shirt and the brown trousers before heading out of his room.

"Took you long enough to wake up!" Elijah said as Alan finally came into the room. All the others were sitting at the table, ready to head out.

He took a seat at the table and sat with the group. As soon as he sat on the table, all the eyes went to him and fixed.

"Uh... Any ideas?" Alan asked the rest of them.

"We were waiting for you! You're the one who knows so much about this bloodstone!" Luke muttered impatiently.

"The..." Alan paused and took a deep breath. He tried to remember everything he could and finally, got an idea came.

"My God... Well... Ugh..." for a moment, he looked at the few faces in front of him. Finally, he decided to count them to see how many of them were there.

'Lucy, Elijah, Winry, Riza, Owl, Luke, Aether and myself... That's 8 people in the group. We should go 4 in each party...' Alan thought.

He didn't have an exact idea about what they were going to do, but at least if they went in two groups, they could get some clues about the Blood Stone much sooner.

He knew one thing. If they found the Blood Stone, it was going to lead them to the Blood Mage automatically, but only if the rumors he heard were true.

"We'll go in two teams!" He said.

Elijah raised her eyebrow and the moment he said this, Owl yelled, "I'm with Elijah!"

Elijah turned to Owl, blushing. "Owl! Aghh.... Don't be so..." she stopped when she saw Owl's smile slightly turning to a frown. "Ok... Owl's with me!"

She smiled at him.

"I'm with the boy," Riza uttered, unexpectedly.

"I'm wherever Riza goes!" Lucy yelled, wrapping her arms around Riza's waist. "Haha... kid." Riza caressed the little girl's head.

"Same here." Winry volunteered to join Alan too. Alan was astonished to see this, but he instantly got suspicious of it.

'The Succubus... Why choose me? Is she... Trying to... Hit on me?' His mind spoke to him. 'No no... She's... Way out of my league? Those boobs don't fit these...' now that he remembered it, he wasn't much of a weak person. Even though his level may be low, his body and looks were impressive.

"Oh... It's already decided. Alan, you're going with the ladies, I'm going with the men." Elijah smiled awkwardly, standing up.

"Let's go boys!"

She took hold of Aether and Luke's collars and dragged them out while Owl landed on her shoulder, shifting back to the owl manifestation.

Alan took a glance at Elijah as she left the room with the boys. And Elijah turned back to take a look at Alan and their eyes met.

'Eh...' Alan scratched his head as if he had never seen anyone before.

'Eeh!' Elijah turned around and blushed for no reason. 'Why did that bastard look at me!'

'She's onto me too....' Alan's mind whispered to him.

***

"Now, girls... Where should we go first?" Alan asked from the 3 girls behind him. All of them followed him out of the inn.

Riza looked at him, fluttering her eyelashes. "Take the lead boy. I actually like it if you would lead us," the woman said with an alluring tone.

Alan narrowed his eyes and looked at the other two. The little blind girl was clinging on to Riza's dress and Winry was holding her long staff, wearing the hat of a classic witch.

Alan didn't want to treat her especially and make a doubt on the Succubus's eyes, so he kept silent and turned around.

'Damn... Winry is too sexy right now.' Though his mind didn't let go of that image. Her short skirt made her plump and juicy thighs pop up like marshmallows. Not to mention the panties showing up every time a wind blows her skirt up.

He shook his head and started to walk onwards. "Let's go... We need to find a clue about this Blood Mage shit!" He muttered, going mad. He never asked to get dragged out of that castle and get pushed into the roads once more...

'My God... I'll give hell to every single one of you who fucked me up...'

***

They asked a few of the Knights and shopkeepers about the Blood Mage but found no clue about it. They continued walking through the streets until evening and yet, no one had the slightest idea of a true Blood Stone.

"It's a bloody myth you fools!"

"I haven't heard of a Blood Mage, I think you lot are on a wild goose chase!"

"My mom told me about the stone when I was a kid. Said the Blood Mage would suck all my blood down here until I won't be able to make another woman pregnant to take her through the same misery as her."

'My God men... You lot had sad pasts...' Alan thought, turning away yet again.

Finally, they were out of breath and they sat down at the water fountain where everyone came to enjoy the view. Some ate snacks there, but most people only came there to rest and enjoy the cold sensation near the fountain.

Alan sat on the edge, exhausted after searching for all that time.

"Alan..." suddenly, he heard the angelic voice and it slightly comforted him. Alan turned to see Winry's eyes, darting towards his.

"Winry?"

"In books, I've read those non-leveling mages cannot level, but they can go higher in their rankings. But they need soul power and experience to do that. For quite some time... I've been thinking..." she continued.

"If you were the king and had enough soul power before, wouldn't that be enough to enhance yourself with certain spells? And it gives you tremendous power, doesn't it? It might come in handy and it might be useful for you to gain more power."

Alan was surprised to see that she had already figured that out. Even Alan didn't until his dream goddess called to him.

"Aghh... There's something I didn't tell you yet." Alan told her, scratching his head.

"What? Did something happen!?" Her voice seemed so concerned with him that it made Alan feel a little too comfortable.

"Haha... It's just that —"

"Oi! You two! What are you two lovebirds talking about!?" Riza barged in right before he told his secret to Winry.

"Ummm..." Alan stared at her, frozen.

"TRAGEDY!!!!!" A scream came from the streets.

"What the —" Alan turned around to see a fat old guy standing on top of a carriage, holding a large bag of... Coins!

Coins... He had a treasury of coins that filled an enormous room entirely. But now... He seems to be drooling over that bag of coins more than anything.

Even though the Woodland Foxes were rebels, they didn't have enoughwealth. So he was getting back to his very old habits of feeding on coins.

"Tragedy! This woman right here..." the old fat guy pointed at the woman in front of the carriage. "She is noble! And her son, an heir to a throne has been captured by the dragon that had been summoned by an evil summoner! If any of you would volunteer to slay the dragon, the man who would succeed will be awarded by these 2000 Rims!"

The crowd surrounded the old guy and stared at the bag of money.

"Any of you!? Would any of you gladly accept this quest?" The old guy asked once more.

"A dragon!? Are you serious!? That prince is a goner!"

"No... No one can save that. Unless the Midnight or some legend appears!"

The crowd started to gossip.

But Alan had quite a good idea for this. His glance went to the three women standing beside him. "Hmm... A Dragon eh?"