Risk invited Elisia to leave the house. Everyone had gathered there. Risk nodded to everyone. Zach walked over to Elisia while holding her shoulder. His gaze was flat with his usual expression. His head nodded again.
Elisia remembered that Zach would return to Tanin to fulfill Captain's summons. Suddenly, she embraced the voiceless man. Zach returned the hug by giving her a piece of paper. After letting go of the hug, Elisia read the contents of the paper.
My journey ends here. Tanin is where I live. I hope you can reach your destination safely. Fighting by your side is the greatest honor I've ever had. Goodbye, Your Majesty!
It touched Elisia when read the letter. She hugged the man again tighter. Elisia didn't want Zach to leave her because they had spent a lot of time in Tanin. She also didn't forget how worried Zach would be if Elisia took a bigger risk.
“Zach, may God always bless you in Tanin. Don't forget to adjust your running speed,” Elisia said, “Please send my greeting to Hans and Violet!”
Zach smiled at the words of the princess. He let go of the hug and saluted by bowing before Elisia. The girl was uncomfortable with his behavior, but she still held the title of a princess.
Zach stood up and saluted everyone. After that, he ran quick towards the alley. Elisia watched one of the former soldiers she admired the most. Elisia held a [Fire Pendulum], hoping that they would meet again one day.
“Well. Follow me!” Scott gave orders to walk down the alley that led to the main street.
Elisia followed everyone. At the end of the alley, the spotless state of the street amazed Elisia, with a good view of the city. Large, colorful signs adorned the buildings along the street. People passed by while holding a small device.
They traced the curb to the right of the alley. The four-wheeled vehicle passed them and stopped at a crossroads. Elisia saw the red light that was above the curved pillar. The light turned green and all the vehicles moved again. They walked towards the pole and stopped at the edge of the white line.
“Mr Scott, what makes us stop?” Elisia asked.
Scott smiled. “We stop because we are waiting for the light up there to turn red again. After that, we will cross over.”
“Oohh… So that's the function of the lamp?”
“Yes. The name of the light is a traffic light, it functions as a regulator of the intersection so that it is orderly.” Scott turned to Elisia's face. “Have you seen this in Gwelissa?"
Elisia shook her head. “In Gwelissa, there's no such thing, let alone a wheeled vehicle like this.”
“Looks like Gwelissa is still using ancient technology, so she had seen none of this,” Risk replied.
A police officer came to them after the conversation. Scott turned to him, then they shook hands.
“Doing business as usual, Mr. Harman?” The police officer asked.
“Of course, Captain! Looks like you're doing weekly inspections here.”
“You know me very well.” The police officer lifted his hat. “I got a report that some lights here had system errors over the past two days. I've sent technicians here, but they have done no repairs. Hah, this is so tiring!”
The police officer looked at Scott's friends. “Are they newcomers? I've never seen them before.”
“Oh. They are my friends from Tanin. Don't worry, they're not Sicilians. They're just ordinary citizens,” Scott replied.
The cop put on the hat again. “In first sight, they look like Sicilians. I hope it's just my feeling.”
“They may look like bad people, but they are good people. I can guarantee it.”
The police officer looked at Elisia. The girl felt uncomfortable with the scary look in his eyes.
“Hey, young girl! Enjoying the city view?” The black-haired police officer greeted.
Elisia didn’t respond to his greeting. His face was really scary.
“You seem shy. Does not matter. Hope you enjoy being in the Runga Region!”
Elisia looked at the police officer with [Sixth Sense]. She saw that the police officer's abilities were extraordinary, but couldn't find his name yet. Elisia felt that he was the police Captain that Scott spoke of earlier.
“Okay, I guess I should get on with work. We can continue at your restaurant later. Have a nice day!” The police officer turned around.
“You too. My wife is not opening the restaurant today. You can come tomorrow!” After saying that, Scott invited everyone to cross.
Elisia was curious about the police officer. According to her sight with [Sixth Sense], his stats were excellent with high numbers. The skills he used were also extraordinary. Her suspicions grew even more and guessed that she would fight with him later.
They walked the other way, toward their apartment. Elisia confused for a while, but realized that they had crossed the road earlier. As she once thought, Elisia had to learn many things in Runga, because her life differed completely from Tanin's.
After a long walk, Scott led them into an alley. Elisia saw a small street that was quite clean, with a flooded road. The stench didn’t waft into her nostrils. The environment was cleaner than Tanin.
“Where are you taking us, Scott?” Risk asked.
“Just follow.”
On the way, they met two people dressed all in black. They were standing in the middle of the alley. Scott stopped. Elisia held a [Fire Pendulum] just in case. Scott approached the two of them.
“You guys came sooner than I thought,” Scott said.
They took off their jackets. A white-haired man with a face covered in cuts, and a woman with short red hair. They wore similar clothes, a black jacket and black pants.
“We have understood your habits, and you brought many people this time,” The woman said.
“Sure. We're going on a dangerous mission.” Scott turned around. “Introducing, this is my old partner in Siraca Special Forces, Risk. This is Rhino and Upgrade, two of Risk's friends. This girl's name is Elisia Naumann.”
Scott's answer took the two of them by surprise. A man walked up to Elisia. He stared at the girl's face for a long moment, then turned his head.
“Scott, are you sure you want to involve her in this mission?” The man asked.
“Any problem?”
The man held his head and took a deep breath. “I mean, are you seriously taking a princess into our reckless act?”
“You know me?” Elisia replied spontaneously.
The man turned. “Of course I know. All the bandits are hunting you. I once had a chat with one bandit and he said that the rewards for returning the princess to Gwelissa were huge. They could be rich for life.”
“Yeah, but we're not crazy about money. Instant riches can kill everyone.” The woman approached Elisia. “If she wanna join this mission and can take care of herself, it doesn’t matter.”
Scott held Elisia's left shoulder. “Elisia, I want you to know our team members, Kafka and Ilya. They're ex-mercenaries living in this town.”
“Greetings, princess!” Kafka bowed before Elisia. “Please accept our cooperation!”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Ilya hit Kafka's head. “What are you doing, idiot?!”
“I pay my respects to the princess. Is it wrong?”
“She is a princess indeed, but this isn’t her kingdom. She's just like us.”
“Miss Ilya is right. I may be a princess, but this isn’t my family's land. So, just think of me as an ordinary person.” Elisia mediated their dispute.
“Enough. Let's go to the meeting room now!” Scott opened the door in one building and let everyone in.
Elisia entered early into the dark room. The light was on. A rather messy room greeted the girl's eyes with a round table in the center. Kafka walked to a refrigerator and took out a few bottles of drinks.
After entering, Elisia got a message.
“Objective completed!”
“Reward: 200 Player EXP and 100 Skill EXP.”
.
“New Objective:”
“Make a plan to infiltrate ELECTEC Main Building (0/1)”
“Reward: 500 Player EXP.”
.
Everyone stood around the table. Scott pulled out a bunch of equipment drawing paper. Elisia thought that among all of them there was information about the five combat devices it aimed her mission at.
Scott spread out a map on the table. He had marked several points using red and black markers. Elisia continued to stare at the map. There were several things that caught his attention, especially when she saw the border area.
“I've marked all the suspected areas where the four devices are stored. But, I can't confirm it because the original location is in the main building of ELECTEC and they also store one device there. Its guard is tight,” Scott explained.
“The only way to be sure is to snoop into these places. I heard that these three places are ordinary houses with no guards,” Kafka continued.
Elisia noticed her friends were deep in thought. Risk was looking at the map and Upgrade was reading information about the device. She still didn't understand what they could do in this region. Elisia didn't understand the technology. All she knew was fighting and kingdom.
“Where did you get these papers?” Upgrade asked.
“A diner at my wife's restaurant left a bag with the papers. She gave it to me and it surprised me to see it.” Scott took a sip of water.
Upgrade looked at it again carefully. “If you know, these devices made by one brain, and I know him very well.”
“Is he Kontara?” Elisia snorted.
“You’re right. ELECTEC, in fact, is an ordinary electronics company that creates devices to make human work easier. A few months ago, I once came to the company with Kontara. He came up to make war devices to protect Runga.” Upgrade threw the paper he read.
“Then, the idea was accepted by them?” Scott looked straight at Upgrade.
“Initially they refused, but Kontara applied for large funding for this project. So far, ELECTEC seems to have made five of the seven devices.”
“What?! So, there are actually seven devices?” Ilya answered.
Upgrade nodded. “I doubt they can make those two devices, as the materials used on them are very dangerous.”
“That means...” Scott glanced around.
“Yes, Ascendant!”
Everyone surprised to hear Upgrade's answer. Only Elisia and Rhino were silent as they watched their friends in shock. Elisia confused by all the strange things she encountered. First, she was already confused with Kryptadium and Kryptida infections. Now, the girl must hear the term new material.
“But, what is an Ascendant?” Elisia asked that.
Upgrade turned to Elisia. “You're still too young to understand the material, but you can tell it's a dangerous object.”
“Then, was the device successfully made?” Rhino asked with an innocent face.
“I heard that ELECTEC was developing a technology with the codenames 'Pyro' and 'Cryo'. I don't know the details of the project because I only heard about it from one of my acquaintances in the company,” Kafka replied.
It was quiet again with everyone thinking. Elisia looked at one of the papers that contained Camouflage Net. She was quite interested in the device. Its ability was to disguise the user using camouflage technology. Elisia could use it to attack the enemy without showing her whereabouts.
On a whim, Elisia took the [Telum Experto] from the [Flame Pendulum] to match a similar weapon to the device. The only weapon capable of approaching the Camouflage Net was a suit of armor called The Chameleons. Whoever used it, no one could see its form.
In the book, Elisia found a bunch of weapons belonging to the group 'The Seven Curse of Lord’s Weapons', including [The Chameleons]. Elisia read the knowledge of the weapons and matched them with the five combat devices. Elisia surprised.
“Upgrade, as a person who had entered ELECTEC, do you still remember where is the safest door to enter?” Scott asked, a little despondently.
“I remember little, but the door must have been heavily secured.”
“Maybe we can check it out. Who knows, it hasn't been closely guarded yet,” Kafka said, giving advice.
“If it's not guarded, we have to explore the building to find what we're looking for,” Ilya argued.
Elisia pulled Upgrade's clothes off. The man turned. Elisia held out [Telum Experto], which had opened the page about 'The Seven Curses of Lord Weapons'. Upgrade read it and immersed in it. In no time, he shocked after reading the book.
The meeting never ended because they had not found a solution for the plan they were going to make. Finally, everyone sat on the sofa while drinking bottles. Elisia wanted to drink it, but Risk forbade it.
“Come with me outside!” Risk turned to Scott. “Scott, I'll be right back.”
Risk invited Elisia out of the room. The air temperature had already risen when they stepped foot into the alley. They walked to the end of the alley. Elisia was curious where Risk would take her, but there seemed to be something to talk about.
They arrived at the edge of the main Runga road. Vehicles filled the streets and people walked faster. Risk turned left towards the traffic light. Elisia followed him aimlessly. After that, they turned into a large tavern near the crossroads.
The tavern door opened. A dense and hungry crowd of visitors greeted them. Risk invited Elisia over to the cashier's desk.
“Order what you want for lunch when it's your turn!”
“Uh, what's this? Why are you sudden–”
“Just do it!”
The queue advanced one by one slowly. After waiting for a few minutes, they were at the cashier's desk. Elisia looked at all the strange equipment on the table. Risk told his order, then asked Elisia asked to choose the food menu.
Elisia read the menu containing delicious desserts. She saw the food that Risk had bought when she was at Tanin, coconut pancake. Elisia immediately pointed to the food, plus the strawberry juice drink.
After making the payment, Risk and Elisia looked for a seat. The crowded conditions of the shop made them difficult to find a table. Finally, a table in the corner of the room immediately approached.
“Risk, why did you invite me here?” Elisia asked for a moment.
Risk smiled. “Do you know what drinks they were served in the room earlier?”
Elisia shook her head. She also smelled a strange aroma from the bottled drink.
“It was Vodka. I don't want you to be a drunk like Scott. That man! He should know what he served in front of a princess.”
“So you brought me here so I can have a safer drink?”
“Of course. I'm not a drunk either, nor are Upgrade and Rhino,” Risk said.
“Then why don't you invite them too?!” Elisia annoyed to hear that.
“Upgrade was in his mind world, and Rhino seemed to enjoy the atmosphere of the room. I dare not disturb their fun.”
The waiter came to their table with the order. He gave Strawberry juice to Elisia and a dark brown drink to Risk. Elisia drank the juice. Fresh drink wet her throat. Risk watched the little girl happily.
“You really like that drink, don't you?”
“Gwelissa Palace had a large strawberry garden. The plant could produce a lot of strawberries. Royal chefs often made strawberry preparations for sale in the market or royal consumption. My mother made me strawberry juice often. I like it.”
“I didn't think that Gwelissa kingdom also had a plantation business. I think they only like politics and war,” Risk said.
“I don't understand what are you saying, but Gwelissa kingdom has many business sectors. I know little about it, but my mother told me.”
Elisia's other order came. [Coconut Pancake] served on the table. Elisia immediately ate it without hesitation. While chewing, Elisia heard Risk calling out to her, but she was too focused on her food.
“Elisia, there are many things I want to ask you. You don't have to answer now, but you can choose to answer it or not.”
Elisia responded by raising her eyebrows.
“Clean your meal! I know you won't focus on what I'm saying!” Risk got annoyed.
After the [Coconut Pancake] finished, Elisia wiped her mouth with a tissue. Then her gaze fell on Risk.
“Okay, I'm done!”
“Okay. I don't think there will be any disturbance between us. I'll ask you something.”
Elisia nodded and brought her head closer to Risk.
“Do you know why you're here?”
Elisia was silent for a moment. In her memory, her mother transferred her using an unknown magic. The light dazzled her eyes, and she woke up in the forest after a year of disappearance.
“I don’t know. My mother transferred me because there was a group of people who attacked our palace.”
“Palace attack?!”
“Exactly. My father and the royal guard had restrained them, but not strong enough. It forced my mother to use magic for transfer me to a new place.”
Risk was silent with his head down. Elisia noticed the expression of the mentor, who seemed to know something. Elisia also remembered that Siraca's special forces once helped the kingdom of Gwelissa, as Captain Hans said.
“Risk, is there something you remember?” Elisia confirmed.
Risk raised his head suddenly. “Sorry to make you worry. I just thought of something in the past.”
“What's that?”
“I don’t know. I don't really remind it,” Risk replied.
After hearing Elisia's answer, Risk didn't touch his drink again. This made Elisia anxious and curious about Risk. Looked like Risk knew something related to the incident a year ago. But the man didn't respond anymore.
“Risk, you deliberately brought me here because you want to know about it?” Elisia asked for reassurance again.
Risk remained silent with his hand still holding his head. Elisia held Risk's right arm. The touch of the princess's hand made Risk turn to the girl. His gaze was emotionless and continued to stare at Elisia.
“I received strange words from Province saying that I must take care of you with all my heart and soul. I don't know what she means, but I think it has something to do with your being here.”
“What?! What has Vivi said?”
“She just said that, but it makes me uneasy.”
Elisia held Risk's right hand. She grasped all of her mentor's fingers with a gentle touch. Risk felt strange that he wanted to return the touch.
“I want you to stay calm. My problem is my problem. Don’t worry about that. Remember your goal of returning to Siraca!” Elisia tried to resuscitate Risk.
Risk fell silent again, but it seemed Elisia's words had brought him to his senses.
“You're right... I have seemed to worry too much about you.”
“Maybe we should go back to Scott and the others.”
Elisia stood up from the chair and grabbed Risk's hand to leave the tavern. Risk's bigger body made the little girl difficult to pull him up, but the man still had not walked of his own. They made it out of the tavern.
Risk stopped his steps. He took aback Elisia and let her mentor be silent for a while. Then Risk shook his head. He walked alone and grabbed Elisia's hand. The girl was happy to have brought Risk consciousness back to his heart.