Road to Elsa

The noon sunlight bathed the landscape and extended over the horizon. Below it, Raiko and Shizune followed the dirt road at a tired pace. Raiko insisted on having lunch and now they were feeling heavy, and yet, their destination was nowhere to be seen.

For a couple days now, they have been heading to the neighboring town of Elsa. Hopefully, they could get Mia’s help for their journey, but if that wasn’t possible, sleeping on a bed would be great on its own. It has been two days since they left the ruins of Aomura, memories of the attack still haunted the girls’ minds, especially at night.

But right now, an even bigger threat encroached upon the girls: it was boredom, and they had no way to fight back against such a powerful foe. The open field offered no interesting sight to distract with, and Raiko was already tired of trying to find shapes in the clouds passing by.

“Are we there yet?”

“No, I already told you we're halfway there.”

“How about now?”

Shizune let out a deep sigh.

“You know, complaining won't make us advance any faster.”

“Why didn't I obtain flight magic? We'd already be there, dammit!”

“You are not the kind of purifier that could develop a power like that.” Iblis added.” You are too aggressive.

“What kind of excuse is that?” Now Raiko’s attention was on Iblis. "You have been a bad girl so you're getting coal for Christmas, bullshit!”

“I would pay to see your face if you actually got coal for Christmas.” Shizune smiled at the worst moments.

“Hey, what was that for?”

“For fun, of course.”

Raiko was getting in the mood to fight, at least that would kill boredom. Then, she spotted a black dot moving in the horizon.

“Hey Shizune, what’s that?”

Whatever it was, it was moving in their direction, it was also bigger and faster than them. They kept going, getting progressively more curious as they closed the distance. Sometime later, they realized it was a stagecoach.

The vehicle was driven by two women, who seemed to notice the girls walking in their direction. Their pace didn’t change; they would meet eventually, so there was no need to rush.

Once they got close enough to identify the human shapes Raiko began making gestures at them, clearly wanting them to stop. The drivers didn’t think they were bandits, at least, so they gave them a chance, and when they eventually met each other, they stopped the stagecoach.

Immediately, one of the women recognized Shizune's face.

“Hey, I know you, you are from the weapons store. “

“You are correct but... our village has been destroyed by an apparition.”

“What? We were heading there! That's terrible!”

“It is, we are heading to Elsa now so we can think what to do next.”

“Would you like us to take you there? We can be there by evening.”

“Yes please! I was getting tired of the sight.” Raiko didn’t even wait for Shizune to think about it.

“We could also look for some help in the town, Raiko.”

“Ah, yes, that too.”

“Very well, hop in ladies; we're going back to Elsa.”