Chapter 10

The next morning the group woke up and started to get ready for the journey as the city of Hilmesh is quite far away from Redolg. They all packed some things essential for travel like food, clothes, tents, and so on. Each of their luggage is stored in their respective rings given by Diore and as for Rian, Ria, and Mika, their luggage was kept in the shadow realm by Jackson who can create a dimensional storage space with his cape. The group all gathered at the gates and are about to leave when a man came running towards them. The man said that he was one of the people who the group rescued and said that he wanted to thank the group. The group said that anybody in their place would do the same. The man then asked if they are going to leave. Then Rian replied, “ Yes we need to go to the city of Hilmesh as fast as possible.” The man then said, “Do you mind if I help, because I have three horses and a wagon. I could give them to you if you don’t mind, but I will accompany you because I am a traveling merchant. Also in return for protecting me while I travel with you, I will look after all of your expenses.” The group discussed this for a minute and Elijah with a serious look said to the man “We agree to this but there is a condition.”

The man asked, “What is it?”

Elijah: “You must flee when we say without hesitation and you must listen to everything we ask of you regarding your safety, but first what is your name?”

The man: “Ok I agree to this condition and my name is Stephen.”

Elijah: “Ok, Stephen welcome to the group.”

Stephen: “Ok guys wait for me here, I will go and bring the horses and the wagon.”

After that, the group waited for Stphen at the gates and they got bored and started talking with each on how great the blue mellow tasted. While in the midst of their discussion, Elijah saw how Rian and Ria are hesitating to ask something and so he said;

Elijah: “Hey Rian and Ria do you guys want to ask something don’t worry and, just ask.”

Rian: “Well the thing is I was wondering how you guys are so close even more than us even though we all technically spent a year with each other”.

Elijah: “Well it is due to us being the Apostils of the goddess, we all felt a deep connection with each other since the beginning.”

Rian: “Oh.”

Ria: “Well there is something I want to ask”

Elijah: “What is it?”

Ria: “Well the question is for both Ken and Sarah.”

Ken and Sarah: “Huh for us.”

Ria: “Yes, what I want to ask you guys is you two look closer than the remaining. Are the two of you a couple?”

After hearing the words of Ria both of them blushed up a storm and looked away but to resolve this situation, Ken turned to her and began to speak;

Ken: “Well even when meeting the group for the first time I felt closer to Sarah than anyone else in the group, and we bonded over each other more when Diore was training us for a year and even Diore supported it so we became a couple.”

From the answer they got from Ken both Ria and Rian were in awe and surprised and that is when Stephen returned with the horses and the wagon. There is also an unfamiliar man beside him.

Marcus: “Oh I see you are back Stephen, nice wagon you got there but who is this man here beside you.”

Stephen: “He is John a wagon driver, we need someone to drive the wagon his brother must be arriving soon because you guys said we need to go to Hilmesh quickly so I thought it would be better to hire two people to drive the wagon in shifts.”

Marcus: “Oh I see you really thought far ahead thanks for your help man.”

Stephen: “Don’t mention it.”

That is when a young who looks to be in his twenties came running towards them and after he reached them the young man started panting and taking deep breaths.

The Young man: “Sorry for being late I was packing. Sorry for not introducing myself, I am Joseph. I look forward to traveling with you guys.”

Jackson: “So he is the one you are talking about.”

Stephen: “Yes. He is the one.”

They all introduce each other and after introducing each other Elijah began to speak.

Elijah: “I don’t know if you three understand it or not but think about it properly right now this is going to be risky and we are going to Hilmesh to rescue the saintess who is going to be executed unjustly and we are going to go against the church.”

After hearing what Elijah said it was silent for a minute but then the three said, “We accepted coming with you knowing the risk so you don’t need to worry about us.” After hearing the determination in their voice Elija said, “I see. So welcome aboard guys.”

They all started to climb the wagon and the first shift to drive the wagon was taken by Joseph. The group started to settle down in the wagon. After some time Stephen said, “We need to stop for some time in the next town because we need to collect some essentials like travel food and some medicines in case we catch that could not be healed by magic. It is also good for you guys to make some connections because it will be useful to get information when we need it.” Everyone agreed to it and they all understand the value of information.

Elijah: “So would you introduce us to a network.”

Stephen: “Yes. That is one of the main reasons we are going to stop in the next town.”

Elijah: “I see. Thank you for teaching us what we lack.”

Stephen: “It is of no problem Elijah after all this is for the best and this will help you in ways.”

After some time Joseph informed them that they reached the town and so the first to get down the wagon was Stephen and the rest followed him with the exception of John and Joseph as they were going to rest for the day.

After going through the city for some time the group stopped at a building which has a board on which written were the words “Rohan - Antiques”. Upon entering the store they all saw an old man cleaning some old things.

Stephen:” Hey Rohan how are you.”

Rohan: “I am good and all but who are these young ones you brought here.”

Stephen: “Well they saved my life and by trying to repay them I thought it would be good to integrate them into the network as they are going to be travelling the whole world.”

Rohan: “Oh I see it is good if you are vouching for them, Oh young ones this is an organization called 'Moon Light' You guys can buy, sell, and know the information provided by the members of the organization"

Elijah: "I see. It is very helpful for an organization helping us. We would surely help the o 'Moon Light' as best as we can."

Rohan: "That's good young man, look around my shop while I prepare your identification as a member of 'Moon Light'."

With these words said Rohan went into an old room and started to search while the group started to look around the shop when Jackson found something and called for the remaining members of the group.

Jackson: "Hey guys do you see this, it is a connector stone and it is big enough to at least make it into twenty pieces.”

Rian: “What is this connecter stone you are talking about?”

Jackson: “It is a precious stone when broken and injected energy by different people each part of the stone can tell its owner the location of the other parts of the stone wherever there might be and by looking at the purity of this stone if we can refine it properly we can even establish a telepathic link between us.”

Rian: “So are you planning to buy that stone.”

Jackson: “Yes because we can have Lilly use her ability to summon an undead who is very capable in Alchemy.”

Rian: “Oh I see.”

As the group continued to talk amongst themselves Rohan come out of the rooms with ten blank cards and what seems to be ten maps

Rohan: “Ok guys all you need to do is take a card, pour a drop of your blood on it, and inject your energy into the card.”

The group did as they were told and the blank cards began to shine, after a second the shine stopped and on the cards was written their names and age, and each of their cards has a shining moon emblem on the back.

Rohan: “Congratulations, young ones you are now officially a part of ‘Moon Light’ and here take the maps on the table each one is a map that has the locations of our branches. In a way, it is a gathering of our organization members.”

Elijah: “Thank you for welcoming us into the organization and if you don’t mind can we know what is the price of that connector stone.”

Rohan: “You mean that purple stone I don’t know what it is, I just brought it because I thought it looked cool, but if you guys want it I can give it to you as a welcoming gift.”

Jackson: “Thank you very much Mr.Rohan we will never forget your generosity.”

Rohan: “You guys don’t need to be that grateful. To me who does not know its value it is but a stone, so I hope it will be of great use to you.”

Elijah: “Thank you very much, Mr.Rohan.”

After bidding their farewells to Rohan the group once again started their journey towards the city of Hilmesh to save the priestess.