Inverse System

"Huh?!" Xenia whisper-yelled, her eyes widening in more amazement. "Rein said that the gorilla was weakened when he did what he did. You're telling me the Seeking Blade can do that using only a tenth of his power? And the gorilla is at full strength?" Xenia confirmed, Clyde nodding his head in affirmation.

"That's amazing… Do you think you could get him to teach us some things?" She requested.

"If he's home, then maybe. Though, he's rarely home these days, what with the state of the continent," Clyde informed, Xenia's posture growing dejected.

The smooth carriage continued through the road from Stogue, eventually passing through Sahdahwar, which Rien briefly stopped at to scan it one more time just in case, then boarded again and continued through when he found nothing.

They eventually made it to an intersection in the road, one that led to Alwaaq, the city in the south-east corner of Orthlys, and the other that lead to Alh, which was their designated route.

Rein stopped at the intersection and looked out onto the other road, staring at it intently as Chloe lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at the path with him.

"What's wrong?" She asked Rein, who shook his head.

"Nothing. Let's continue," he whipped the cart into motion again, a suspicious feeling lingering over him as they passed by the intersection.

A little bit later, Rein heard his name being called from inside the carriage.

"Rein! We have a question!" He heard Xenia's voice emerge, peeking his head in to see what they wanted.

"What's up?"

"We were just wondering the details of the quest. We kinda just took it without even looking," she asked, which reminded Rein, taking the paper out of his inventory and reading its details.

As Rein scanned through the paper, no clear reaction emerged from his eyes, throwing it down to Xenia and Clyde, who were sitting down.

"Apparently a goblin lord was spotted roaming the island. According to the description, it hasn't acted yet, but they're hiring Rangers to take it out before it's able to cause any damage. A pretty simple request," Rein summarized as he headed back to the front seat of the carriage.

"A goblin lord..?" Reggie turned his attention to Clyde, who was now holding the paper, who turned his head to Reggie with a worried look.

Reggie swiftly averted his gaze, as did Clyde, wanting to avoid any unnecessary conversation.

They eventually made it to Alh, Rein emerging from the carriage to scan the small village, not feeling any sign of the prince in the area. They continued down the road until they made it to the agricultural town of Pathuless.

Upon entrance to the city, wide, vast rice fields could be seen stretching out across the plains. Large, red barn houses were dotted around each patch of crops, with different vegetables and food growing along the other sides of the farmlands. As they continued down the path, the crops disappeared, and what replaced it was even vaster open grassy land, cylinders of hay bales appearing frequently throughout these pastures.

There were cows, horses, and lamb on one side, another side containing chickens and pasture-raised slime, which was specifically farmed for edible purposes. There were ample other species of animals, but the main ones were the aforementioned.

The group marveled at the awe-inspiring environment, finally reaching the gate of the city, entering it to find an ordinary-looking town, with street vendors and farmers selling their freshly procured produce.

As they rid the carriage through the wide main road, Rein tried feeling out the surroundings of the town, exiting the carriage and hopping around the town to examine the entire thing. Once again, he felt no sign of the prince around the town. He hopped back to the carriage and told everyone about his findings, a look of discouragement growing on their faces.

"Don't worry though. This narrows it down. Now we know where the prince is. Let's slay that goblin lord and make our way back," Rein declared, all of them nodding in agreement as they drove the carriage to cities guild branch, parking it there as they headed to the port of the city to catch a ferry to Aj'ess.

They waited for a while, and after about 10 minutes, a ferry arrived and let them on, along with some other tourists and civilians who were also going to Aj'ess. They stood on the glow stone powered boat and stared out into the glistening sea, refracting the bright solar rays.

"Hey, have you guys ever wondered what would happen if you sailed far away? Like, way past the edges of the map?" Xenia posed, the question catching everyone's attention. "That was all I thought about while I was in the hospital. About sailing away from the continent and escaping the curse that was on me. I thought I could find some other land out there and my curse would magically disappear. I was pretty stupid, huh?" She laughed as she continued pondering, blankly staring into the ocean's horizon, seeing nothing but saltwater as long as the eye could see.

"That's quite charming. I can tell you, it's not stupid at all," Clyde laughed, making her blush slightly as she continued staring into the sea.

"I think we've all thought about that at least once in our lives, but nobody's ever actually tried it," Chloe joined in, standing beside her as they both looked out into the blue body of water.

"There are legends about what lies beyond though. An unbound plane of existence that doesn't abide by the laws of this world. I read about it once when I was a kid," Rein exclaimed, his story fascinating everyone.

"Is that true?" Xenia asked excitedly.

"Hell if I know. When you become a full Ranger, how about you check it out yourself?" Rein suggested, his words instilling hope into her heart.

"You're right! I'll do that! And you're coming with me Quint!" She put her arm around his neck and pointed out into the unknown sea. "We're gonna sail through the mysterious grand line, and find the one p—"

"Stop draggin' me into this, sis! If you wanna sail to your death, bring someone more willing!" Quint complained as he pushed himself away from her grip, everyone except Reggie laughing.

After the scene died down, Reggie, who was sitting at the front of the ship, staring forward lifted his head and pointed outwards.

"I see the island. We're almost there."

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