Chương 111: Intermission. Laura's Thoughts

Laura Buckley's Point of View It's been 3 months since we were repelled by that group of Demons with the purple knight. I've spent that time since, training and diving into Dungeons with my Friends. We made good progress, even without a Hero with us. It seems that Jessie has taken to training the Hero a lot more seriously compared to before. He refuses to even let the Hero fight any Monsters until he feels the Hero is ready.

During one of our raids on a Dungeon for training, after defeating the Boss of one of the floors, we were alerted on our way back that the King had requested our presence for a meeting." What do you think he wants, Laura?" Ashley asked for my theory on why we were called. My answer was a simple one." Most likely, he needs us to act like a party with the Hero again. Probably for some publicity if I had to guess?" The girls ruminated on my thoughts. Jaime was the first to respond."

But why would he do something like that so soon? Only 3 months after such a big failure. For something he pushed for so hard in the public sphere? I mean, the entire reason he brought... The Hero with him, was to instill confidence in his invasion plan." Jaime struggled to find a way to name the fool. But she brought up an interesting point, but I had a simple counter point." My conclusion comes from the fact that this is the first time he's sought us out since we reported about what happened that day.""

Speaking of that day, Laura, any luck with your contacting him?" Lucy asked me about the problem I disliked the most." Well, it's complicated."" What do you mean?" Lucy and the girls looked at me with curiosity. Unfortunately, my report for them isn't amazing." Well, to start with, Agnus said that my technique is flawless now, but for some reason, I can't seem to contact him. I feel like I reach him, but it's like my voice... No, my intentions don't reach him."" Why could that possibly be?"

Ashely asked why, no doubt she was disappointed in my answer. Now to explain what I've been dealing with the past 2 months." Well, I don't know why, to be honest. All I can really say is that I keep trying to reach out, but he never hears me. And that's not the only thing that I find weird."" What else has happened, Laura?" Jaime responded with a question of her own. I turned to her and began to explain this change that has me worried with this dream I've had." The scenery has changed."" In what way?"

Lucy responded to me. At this point, we all had stopped walking to the Throne Room. I took a deep breath before trying to convey these things I've been seeing for the last 2 months." Well, John is still walking away from me. The purple horizon has gotten darker and looks as if it's slowly wrapping itself around him. To the point where I can hardly make John's figure out anymore."" Is that it?"" No." Jaime wondered if that was the only problem. I wish it was."

Before, the surroundings around him were white and didn't really have anything to define it. Now however, his surroundings have been filled in with a deep and dark green forest that threatens to swallow him whole. Yet John, no matter how much I yell, continues to march forward."" What could that mean?" Lucy spoke first. If only she knew that still wasn't the most concerning to me." There's one more thing actually."" What else!?" All of them asked me in unison.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings." Well, the most concerning thing to me, is something I hadn't noticed until a week ago. On the horizon, underneath the now dark purple color. There's a blood red sliver that has begun to bleed down the horizon. It's like a blood red sun is beginning to rise during a deep dark night." We all sat there confused. The only possible bright side to me explaining this to them is now I'm no longer confused by myself.

After we all thought about possible meanings, Jaime decided to bring this needless thinking to an end point." AH! Enough! We don't have enough information! It's useless to wrap our heads around this! It's like trying to figure out a math question without knowing what 3 different symbols in the equation means!"" You have a point. It's just that I keep seeing it every night. I can't shake the feeling that the red color is starting to grow bigger. Should I just ignore it and continue trying to contact him?""

Maybe not ignore it, keep us updated on its growth and any changes moving forward. We may not be able to help, but maybe we can figure something out in time? Also, don't ever stop trying to contact him. Go full clinginess, girl! Every deep dark fantasy you've had, wrapped into every attempt! We need to make contact and make sure John is safe! The worst-case scenario could be...."" Could be what, Jaime?" Ashley asked Jaime to finish her sentence. I had a feeling it would be something bad." What if John...

Is here on Gaia as well?"" What do you mean!?"" Don't you remember how we got here? It was a wide, bright light that surrounded us. John was right next to us. What if he got caught in the light and ended up transferred here too?"" But why didn't he end up in the Throne Room then?"" Maybe because he wasn't destined to be a part of the Hero Party? Maybe the Spell self-corrected and spat him out before arriving in Promethia?" Grip!" Calm down, Laura! This is all a hypothetical!"

Lucy grabbed my hand as I lost myself for a moment." I'm sorry, it's just... The idea that he's here and not safe. What if he's hurt?"" Well, he appears normal in your dream, right?"" Yes, that's true. Jaime stated an obvious truth to me." Well, your dream is an ability that connects you with someone. Don't you think it makes sense that your dream is showing you the current state of the person your connected to?"" Like a video call?"" Yeah, something like that." I thought about what Jaime had to say.

I couldn't refute it." Ah the Hero Party Members!" As I was thinking about John's current status, a Maid called to us." Please, come quick! The meeting time is approaching!" The Maid urged us to follow her. Since we were at a dead end anyways, we decided to follow her. We entered the Throne Room to find that the Hero was already there." Girls. Good to see you all." He smiled at us. I felt no reason to greet him. Before anything else could happen, the King, Queen and First Princess arrived." Ah!

I'm glad you've all made it!" The King started to speak with an upbeat tone." Hello, Your Majesty. Why is it that we're here? If I could ask, that is?"" Of course, you can, Hero Luke! I've called you here because I've received some information recently! It makes me think I found a perfect way for you all to regain some trust from the Public!"" Well, what is it?" The Hero and King had a back and forth while the rest of us just stood here.

If this turns out to be an invitation to a party, I plan on turning him down and getting back to work, training. I need to beat that woman Sarah when we meet again! While I was thinking of that vixen, the King began to speak again." My 2nd Daughter, Nancy, she sent us a letter recently, it was dated 2 weeks ago. She spoke about how a Duke has been abusing Our Citizens in his territory. It's to the East of the Capital. It's the biggest trading city in the Eastern part of Promethia. It's called Atheis.

It'll take around 2 months by carriage to get there. I want you to go and arrest the Duke and anyone who tries to stop you from arresting him." We heard his order. The first to speak was the idiot." Wait! 2 months to get to a city!? But we made it to Diablos in a week didn't we!?"" Technically, 11 days, but you see... We kind of helped you in a way."

"How!" The King looked apologetic towards the fool." Shortly after you arrived, we had some of our Army clear out a straight line towards Diablos. Because of that, a journey that should have taken around 4 months, we were able to get you to the destination in 11 days."" How does that even make any kind of sense!?"" Well, that has to do with your Jobs, Luke. They're all good Jobs for your physical development. Because of that, you were all able to cover more ground per day than usual.

Didn't you notice that the Logistics couldn't keep up with you?"" I mean, isn't that because they were Logistics and not Warriors!?"" No, it's important that the Logistics Group can keep up with the Main Group. If not, they could be attacked or worse, completely separate from the Main Group and never group back up with them." There was silence between them for a while. I lost interest in hearing the conversation anymore, they continued to talk... Something about a King's Road and an Evolution of it.

I began to confirm some things after the discussion ended.

"With all of that out of the way, how do we reach Atheis?"" Well, we want you all to travel together as a group. We'll announce as a pretext to travel to Atheis, that you all are going on a journey to gain strength and once you reach Atheis, you arrest him."" Does the Duke need to come back alive?"" It's preferrable, but not needed."" I see. Is the information legitimate?"" Yes, My Daughter gave us the information using a cypher My Wife and I taught her."" Understood.

I'll go collect my things then and prepare to leave immediately. Am I allowed to leave, King Roman?"" Yes, all of you may leave now. May the Gods be on your side." Without much fanfare, we left and prepared for the journey to come. My thoughts about John drowned out the fool's attempts to speak to me. I tried not to think about how the King tried to make it seem that it was the public's trust he wanted us to regain and not his. Regardless, it's good that this Duke had decided to be a fool.

I needed something to hit anyways..... An Observation From Someone Kings filled with avarice, men filled with pride and envy, wickedness infecting their own hearts whilst reveling in hurting the innocent. So much happening so closely together. To the point where no one noticed the shadows covering the sky and the earth itself...