After being escorted out of the Umbryan domain, the Noctil gentlemen, sorry gentle-elf, left us exactly where Licht and I had been waiting for the patriarch's answer when we first arrived in the capital a few weeks ago. It felt like coming full circle, having obtained what we came here for, only to find ourselves back at the beginning.
As I sent a call for Veilleuse-19, I stretched my old bones, a crack resonating from my back, eliciting a low moan. Noting how Licht and Aquaflora stared at me, "what?" I asked, a hint of mock indignation in my voice. "Can't an old lady crack her back in peace anymore without being judged?"
"That's not what we're looking at you for," Licht replied.
With a smile, I teased them, "So, what is it then? You're just curious as to what we're going to do now, aren't you?"
"Well," I began, already hearing Veilleuse-19 screeching in the distance, responding to my call, "as you can see, we're done with what we came here to do. We got the patriarch's agreement to join our coalition." I explained further, "There's no reason for us to stay anymore, unless you, Licht, have a reason?" I asked, pointing at him.
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He shook his head.
"You? Perhaps you developed a fondness for the noctil elves of the capital after their beautiful display of humanity and thus want to stay? I won't judge."
Aquaflora gave me an exasperated look and then sighed, "Spare me your sarcasm. You know my answer. What we want to know is where we're headed next."
Hearing these words, I couldn't help but note that she used "we." From the beginning of this journey, no, even before that, our agreement was for her to just help us communicate with the Umbryan family patriarch as a representative. She did her part, and per our agreement, there was nothing that bound us anymore. But from the way she spoke, she was intent on tagging along. The only question now was whether she would like what I had next in mind.
"Where we're headed next, huh?" I said, pretending to muse before answering. "How about we go hunt some monsters?" I declared, just as Veilleuse made a smooth landing before us. "A monster hunt like we've never done before!"