Over mountains and through valleys

Tyler had stared with bloodshot eyes at the three carriages his gang had gradually boarded. He still couldn't believe they had left the capital and gone who knows where, but the message had been clear.

On the one hand, it had been a good thing because the Capital had been as tense as a string after the Black Mage attack. The hairs on Tyler's arms had stood on end with concern as he remembered the attack in Sun Alley. If their mysterious new boss hadn't banned them from going there, who knew how many of them would have returned?

But it had also been somewhat disturbing. Their new boss had known about the attack beforehand, Tyler was sure of that. Why else wouldn't he have wanted them to go? Did their boss have a hidden agenda? Or did he have something to do with it? Tyler hadn't wanted to think about it too much. In case he had found out the truth, there would have been a good chance he'd have had an accident.

Overall, Tyler had been quite confused by the actions of their new boss. The very next day after the attack, he had sent Destin and the strong warrior in black armor to them. As the boss had promised, he had shown them that their children were fine. What's more, even though Destin hadn't revealed anything about their new boss, he had said they were fine, well taken care of, and they had even started giving them an education.

Tyler had suspected that Destin must have been lying, but the next day Lila, who he had always known wouldn't be so easily intimidated, had come in. Yet she had also told them that nothing terrible was happening to them and that the place they were in was big and beautiful, and they could move freely. Lila had also not said anything more about their new boss, but with a defiant jut of her chin, she had claimed that she didn't trust the new boss.

She had also brought them the news that the carriages would arrive the next day, and everyone would be leaving, so they should get ready. It had been the third day, and indeed, three carriages had arrived, and they had had no choice but to load all their belongings and get in. Tyler had been the last one to get in. He had had no idea what was going to happen.

Tyler had been the first to try to follow the road, but they had soon realized they were heading away from the capital. The gates of the capital had been guarded, and anyone going in or out had had to have identification. But the strange coachman had shown the guards his credentials, and soon they had all been out of the capital.

The journey had taken some time. His men had been as nervous as Tyler, but he had tried to calm them down like a good leader.

After two hours of driving, Tyler had heard the sound of many voices. He had leaned out of the window, and his eyes had blinked in disbelief. They had been arriving at a huge estate, but that hadn't been what overwhelmed him. A large carriage convoy had gathered in front of the estate. Some had almost no cargo, but some were fully loaded.

There had been servants and blue-clad guards running around. Their three carriages had slowed and joined the convoy.

"What's going on?" Tyler had muttered, stunned, looking around. No one had been paying attention to them; they all had things to do. Some of his gang had also gotten out to watch in amazement because no one had expected the commotion as well.

"Boss!" Tyler had turned around only to see Lila skipping happily toward them, waving her arms.

Tyler had been relieved to see someone he knew. He had been beginning to wonder if there had been a mistake.

"Lila. What's going on here?" He had asked flatly, patting her head as she had come running up to him.

Lila had turned and looked at the waiting carriage convoy before looking back at Tyler. "Um... I'm not sure either. But everyone's been preparing for the big departure for a few days now. We're going too, somewhere far away." She had replied uncertainly.

"I see." Tyler had replied calmly, even though he hadn't really understood anything. Where were they going? Why?

Lila had grabbed his big hand with hers and had started pulling him. "I'll take you to 'that' woman."

"The woman?"

"You know. To 'that' bad woman." Lila had squinted her eyes. She still hadn't trusted her, and she couldn't forgive them for beating Tyler up.

Tyler had instructed everyone to stay by their cars and had let Lila lead the way. Soon he had seen the familiar figure of a strong warrior with a large black sword. He had stood calmly next to a very pretty woman with black hair and a dark purple dress, who had watched the commotion with her bright violet eyes.

The Black Warrior had noticed Tyler and had lightly alerted the woman next to him to his approach. When the beauty had turned and fixed her sharp, mesmerizing eyes on him, Tyler had flinched. He had recognized those eyes! The woman had been their new boss!

Tyler had known that their boss was a woman, but he had had no idea that she had been an aristocrat, and a really pretty one at that. Tyler had glanced briefly at the estates and then at the sign of roses with bleeding thorns on the gate and had swallowed. Duke Von Roseblood!

"'Holy shit." Tyler had muttered. Who had his little gang been messing with? And why had someone from Duke's family been trying to take over their small, insignificant gang?

He had looked again at the woman, who had begun to smile. She had looked happy, and she had been smiling, but for some reason Tyler had found the smile unsettling; he had felt like his fate had been tangled in a very intricate and tight spider web.

"Tyler. Welcome. I hope you're well prepared for your journey," the woman had said in greeting. Tyler had pursed his lips tightly, but he had known his stubborn silence would do no good there. "Yes," he had replied.

The woman had nodded in satisfaction. "Excellent! Then just wait calmly. We'll be on our way soon."

Tyler had had a mind full of questions, but because of how many people had been around, he had decided to let them go for now. He had slowly walked away, but then he had seen Mother Green and all the kids in front of their cars; he had quickly made his way over to them.

***** 

Eliz itched her palms and tapped her foot impatiently on the ground. She had been ready to go. In fact, they were supposed to leave as soon as Tyler's group had joined them, but naturally, everything had been delayed.

Mother and father had naturally been the cause. Father had been checking over and over again on the shearers, and mother had been making sure they really had everything packed. The minutes had dragged on, and eventually, it had been half an hour, and Eliz had been slowly running out of patience.

She had been finally about to hit the road, away from the main scenario. She had suffered from the feeling that if she had stayed any longer, she would have gotten herself into some more trouble.

In the end, Eliz couldn't stand it and had gone to see her father. "Father. What's the problem? We're already running late." Eliz had protested in a displeased tone.

The duke had looked at her, and his eyes had turned puppy dog. "You want to leave your old father so badly?"

Eliz's eye had twitched. "Naturally, I don't. But I must. Things won't do themselves. Stop checking the guards for the hundredth time." Eliz had caught sight of her mother giving further instructions to the servants and had hurried right after her.

"Mother! We've packed enough already. Please stop worrying!" Eliz had taken her by the arm.

"But Elizabeth, the Blue Rose estates are a large estate and there is nothing around. You'll hardly restock. What if you don't have enough bedding?"

Eliz had felt like wiping her face with despair. Surely, enough bedding had been her biggest problem!

"We'll manage, mother. Really, we must be on our way." Eliz had urged, then noticed Eren approaching and had immediately summoned him with her hand.

"Look mother, Eren! Have a nice goodbye." She had pushed the two together. Eren had been about to say something to Eliz, but their mother had hung onto his arm.

Eren had been trying to reach Elizabeth for a while now, but his sister had been on a roll for the past few days and hadn't had time for him.

Eliz had walked away from them, clapping her hands loudly. "Ten minutes! We're leaving in ten minutes!" She had shouted, glancing at her father who had been approaching the guards again.

"Dad!" She had rushed to him and had grabbed his arm, pulling him away.

***** 

They had finally set off in twenty minutes. Mother and father had only been reluctant to say goodbye, but after Eliz's father had looked for all sorts of excuses to delay everything, Eliz had become rude and had suddenly signaled for them to leave in the middle of her father's next whine and had just waved them out the window.

Eliz had leaned back in the carriage and had breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally." It hadn't really been that she had wanted to be away from her parents so badly, but if she hadn't intervened, they could have stayed until the afternoon. Their expedition would draw too much attention as it was. Eliz had never known the preparations would be so complicated. In the end, fifteen fully loaded carriages had gone, and three more with Tyler's gang. Twenty-five servants and over fifty guards.

She had gotten the impression that they had been like a sore thumb. Too conspicuous! But at least she could have expected them not to be too bothered by bandits and lesser monsters.

Eliz had folded her hands on her chest and had thought. Fortunately, she hadn't planned on riding with the convoy the whole way. She had still had to go find the World Tree before arriving at the Blue Rose Estate. So she would soon be separated from the others. Not to mention she still had to pick up someone as well.

Another thing that had worried her had been that since she had gotten the last reward, she hadn't heard from the System. She had expected some sort of closure after the Sun Alley event, but there had been silence. Eliz had had a nagging feeling that the System was planning something again, but she had had no way of knowing. She had been constructing her Status constantly for the last few days, but there had been no changes. All she could think was that maybe this thing hadn't been closed after all?

In the end, Eliz had pushed it aside. She had rather thought about the things she could influence. Eliz had just wanted to find Shannon, clean her roots, get her answers, and leave quickly. Eliz had known Shannon was a good girl... Tree... but the World Tree had just been something too important and mystical to get too involved with.

Eliz had sighed and had looked out the window. She had had to wait for night.

***** 

The whole plan had been simple. Eliz and the group she had picked would sneak away in the middle of the night. Everything had already been arranged. Two unmarked carriages would be waiting for them near their first stop. Estimating approximately where they would stop for the night hadn't been difficult; all they had to do was calculate speed and distance.

Eliz had had to stoop to something like this, knowing that getting rid of the guards wouldn't be easy even if Eliz made an order or even a scene. The warriors would have refused to leave her, and that had been assuming she had had her guards.

Unfortunately, the planned fight hadn't happened. Her father still hadn't been happy with her team of Boulders, but he had acknowledged the fact that they had managed to keep Eliz safe. So, had he forgotten about things for the time being, or had he just put them aside? He had been considerably nervous since he had found out Mori was wandering the world, and so had her mother.

Of course, she hadn't wanted to just disappear. Eliz had left a note, and she hadn't taken Haidi with her either. In addition to being given the task of delivering the message, she had also instructed her to learn from the explorers who had traveled with them.

Eliz hadn't quite had a plan for Haidi's future development. Her Trails had been lackluster, and her Potential had been more than a little worrisome. Therefore, Eliz had thought she might let her try to learn from real professionals and deepen her knowledge of exploration more. And honestly, something like this she needed to learn elsewhere.

In the end, Allar, Holm, Raiana, and Alobela had gone with Eliz. Eliz had known Alobela would know about her leaving; it had been easier to just take her along.

In the middle of the night, Eliz and her cloaked group quietly slipped out of the campsite. Alobela didn't even bother to cover up; she simply disappeared from the site and waited for them.

Alobela led them to the prepared carriages, one of which had a large chest attached to it. Alobela, upon seeing this, looked at the chest for a moment before turning away.

Eliz got in first and, inside the carriage, she changed out of her dress into more comfortable travel clothes. The traveling clothes were replaced with trousers, high boots, a shirt, and a vest of hardened leather that provided at least a little protection.

After she had changed, they set out on their journey.

Their carriage was in a hurry to begin with, and as the hours ticked by, they slowed down. It was beginning to dawn when Holm noticed a figure standing in the distance. Holm squinted his eyes, but once he recognized the figure, he calmed down and slowed the carriage. Eliz peeked out of the window, rubbed her sleepy eyes, then stepped out to greet the man.

"Fraril. I hope you didn't wait too long," Eliz greeted him, walking over and squeezing his hand in greeting.

"Not long, Lady Elizabeth," Fraril replied and smiled. Fraril was wearing a similar outfit to the last time they had met, only now it was complete with a cloak and a satchel on his back.

"Good," Eliz replied, nodding her head. "Do you have what I asked for?" she wondered.

Fraril nodded before pulling out a scroll from his satchel and handing it to her, followed by a collar of red elastic and a narrow ring with a small red stone.

Eliz took both, unfolded the scroll, ran her eyes over it, and smiled. "Great. Just what I needed," she complimented and made her way to the back of the carriage where a large chest was attached.

Fraril followed her, and the others stepped out to watch the whole affair. Eliz opened the chest, revealing a bound cat-man who had a dark and grim look.

"Hmpf!" he mumbled something through the gag. He did not sound happy.

"Holm. Get him out," Eliz demanded, watching as Holm pulled Grash out of the chest. The poor guy was all stiff after all that time and couldn't stretch his legs right away, so he ended up sitting on the floor.

Eliz didn't give him too much time to get his bearings; she immediately walked over to him and put a collar around his neck and put a ring on his finger.

Everyone watched Eliz's actions; Alobel and Fraril were the only ones without expression. Alarr was typically frowning, Holm looked concerned, and Raiana was curious.

Eliz, oblivious to the others, drew her dagger with which she slashed her finger, causing a slight jerk from Alobel. Eliz pressed her finger to the scroll before bending down and doing the same to Grash. She took a breath and sent some of her mana into the scroll, which glowed with a blue light and disintegrated into silver dust that flew towards her ring and the collar around Grash's neck.

She could finally breathe a sigh of relief. To hold Grash was more difficult than she thought; she had to renew his bonds too often, and hiding him wasn't exactly creative either. Eliz looked at Fraril. "Thanks. This will make things a lot easier."

Fraril nodded. "No problem. It's in my interest, after all. Keeping a Dark Mage as a slave is truly unusual. Don't forget to hand me some of the Dark Mana as we agreed, though," Fraril didn't forget to remind her that nothing was free.

Fraril had prepared a magical contract that his organization used for slaves. There were different types of contracts, and depending on how powerful one was, different levels of contracts were needed. Of course, the ones that were capable of triggering someone who was at some level of Rank required them to be stronger. The magical contract was the medium through which mana was channeled and concentrated. Due to the complexity of the production, the one who activated it was in the role of master and the other was in a subordinate role. The one in the subordinate role then had no choice but to obey, unless they planned to suffer pain or commit suicide.

Eliz nodded. "He's harmless now. We can untie him."

Raiana was the first to move, and she began to unbind Grash. As soon as his hands were free, he pulled the gag out of his mouth.

"Gah! Was that really necessary? I said I'd cooperate!" the black cat complained.

Eliz threw him a deadpan look. "Of course. I trust you completely." As if she actually believed him.

Grash smacked his lips and started massaging his legs with his hands to get rid of the stiffness. "You're not an innocent maiden at all," he grumbled.

She snorted. "Stop pouting. If you're obedient, you have nothing to fear from me."

Grash's eyes glittered, and he looked up at Eliz. "Oh? Does that mean if I'm good, I'll get a reward too?" Eliz squinted at him and thought about kicking him, but it was Alobela who walked up to her holding something.

Eliz looked at the package and raised her eyebrows in confusion. "What's this?" she asked, taking it from her. She started to open it, only to see a bunch of little tea bags.

But when she went to pull one out, Alobela held her back and shook her head as if she didn't want her to show it to the others.

Eliz was getting more and more confused. "Why are you giving it to me? This is no time for tea." Alobela grabbed Eliz's arm and took her away from the others.

Then she covered her mouth with one hand and whispered. "It's for protection." With a brief frown, she glanced at Garsh, who was pounding his fists into his thighs as he sat on the ground. He caught her gaze and looked at her.

Eliz glared at Alobela. "Huh?" Eliz still couldn't figure out what Alobela meant; she wanted to ask more, but Alobela stepped away and went back to the others.

She looked back and forth for a moment before finally hiding the tea in her ring space. Later she would let Alobela explain it properly.

"Let's get going. It's a long journey," she ordered Eliz, and they all got into the carriages. Eliz rode in the carriage with Alarr, Grash, and Fraril, while Holm drove. Raiana drove the other carriage, and Alobel rode along with the equipment.

Grash seemed quite happy now, glad to be out of the chest. His apprentices were twitching and stroking his cat tail.

"Where are we going anyway?" Grash asked, who didn't seem to mind the sudden bondage either. Eliz had to wonder, how much did Grash care about his own fate? What a strange character...

"We're going to see the World Tree," she replied, following him. She wasn't alone, and Fraril was looking at Grash, or at least had his head turned toward him.

Grash sounded surprised. "Huh? Really? Why?"

Eliz furrowed her chin as she looked at Grash, finding the reaction a little odd.

"We're going to heal her roots," she replied. Now that she had him under control, she wasn't afraid to share information.

"Damn! So you know about this too?!" Grash glared at Eliz, but he looked more excited than stunned.