I ran into the inn and looked for the Ronia and co. I found them off in a corner sitting at a table, chatting and head over there. I walked over and started talking once they noticed me and greeted me.

Ray saw me and waved at me saying "Hey Zane, hows it going? You don't seem so good. You look like you've seen a ghost dude. Whats up?". I took a few breaths to calm myself down and saw that the rest were also looking at me with a touch of concern.

I calmed down after a few seconds and spoke up finally. "Hey Ray, I'm fine but I have something I wanted to chat with you guys about."

The 3 looked at me more intently and Ray replied saying "No worries, whats the problem dude?" I took a deep breath to temporarily allay my feelings of impending doom and destruction and said what was on my mind. "I'm going to be leaving the city in a couple of days, maybe tomorrow if need be. Stuff's come up and I can't stay in this city much longer."

Ronia spoke up at this moment and asked "Why? What's going on? Anything we can help with or is it something private?" Her voice had clear concern and worry in it and it made me feel a bit better that she genuinely cared about me. I shook my head and answered her questions with a story I had made up on my way here while I was sorting my thoughts out. "Did you hear about the Retributionist of Light and priests coming from the church? Yeah, Me and the church don't exactly get along well. Not after what happened back in Twitty forest. Especially with me being a Grand Archmage that isn't in their grasp"

I had decided to make up a story about me having an altercation with the church that revolved around my mysterious background as a grand archmage. I figured they would believe it and it wouldn't make them suspicious as to why I'm avoiding the church. No sooner had I finished speaking had Ray jumped out of his seat and stared directly at me with a panicked look in his eyes. Ray opened his mouth and spoke in a slightly shaky voice that was tinted with fear. "T-t-the church of light? Coming here? Are you sure its a Retributionist Zane?!"

His voice was getting louder as he spoke and I motioned to him to be quiet. He looked around and saw that the very few people still in the cafeteria area were looking our way with annoyed looks. Ray coughed and sat down but still had that look of fear in his eyes. Ronia and Herald were confused as to why Ray was so damn afraid but I had a sneaking suspicion as to why but I had no definitive proof.

I simply nodded and said "Yes, it's confirmed a retributionist of light and his entourage of priests are on their way here as we speak. I've already made some preparations to leave the city. The reason I came here was to inform you guys of my decision to leave and ask if you wanted to leave as well, or if you were going to stay. I'm leaving either way though."

I saw that Ray was looking even worse as his fears were confirmed and looked towards Ronia and Herald. Ronia was looking at Ray and me and was thinking about something, while Herald spoke up and said "I'm content with following Ronia and Ray wherever so if both Ray and Ronia decide to leave I'll follow." He turned to look at Ronia who sighed after a minute of thinking and said "Alright, let's pack up and leave in an hour. It seems that Ray really has a troubled past that I won't dig into, but he's a comrade of ours, so we'll stick by him through till the end."

Ray had a visible look of relief that we were leaving so soon and with that it was settled. We decided to get up and go do some last minute packing and shopping. Well they did but I really had nothing to do. I waited at the entrance for the others to pack up and get ready but Ray as downstairs in less than a minute, fully packed with everything haphazardly as he looked at me. Before he even said a word I tossed his stuff into my inventory. He clutched his spear with a tight grip, his knuckles going nearly white as he clutched it so damn hard. Ronia and Herald were downstairs and ready after a few minutes and I tossed their stuff into my inventory after they arrived, and they said their thanks as we left the inn.

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We were on the way to the city gates when I heard someone passing by say something alarming. It made both me and Zane twitch and look at eachother. "Cmon Mel, the Retributionist of Light is here! Let's go see them at the gates! This is a once in a lifetime experience for most so let's go!" There were quite a lot of people heading towards the city gates and now I understood why. "But how did the retributionist get here so damn fast? Did they really use a freaking light bridge? Is the church really going to waste so much on travel? They're insane..."

I continued to mumble to myself while Ray as having a mini panic attack and Ronia calmed him down. He didn't look too good and it seemed we were going to be stuck in the city for a bit. Ronia looked at Ray and then towards the gates with a hard stare, before speaking up with a firm voice. "Guys. we're going to try to sneak out. Any ideas? I know zane could just blow a hole in the wall with his magic if we provided him with enough mana but that's not exactly a smart way to leave. Well?"

Herald was thinking and had a hand up to his chin as he thought, while Ray was looking around for any means to escape and I was wracking my brain for an escape path. It was when I heard a cheering crowd when in the distance getting closer that I had an idea. But it involved us going in the direction of the church's people. Oh well.

I cleared my throat and said "Hey, I got an idea but we need to head to a store near the crowd where the priests presumably are. If this works out we'll be outside the city gates within minutes."

The others looked at me and aside from Ray who was pretty much shitting himself, he others agreed. They dragged Ray along as he clutched his spear slung over his back, every so often.

I told them I needed to get some money for the purchase first and we head to Dokam's. I walked in and asked if my ore was done evaluation. The same staff I spoke with last time spoke up and said "Yes it's done evaluation. The ore was valued at 21 Silver. The price is non-negotiable I'm afraid. Would this be fine sir?" I was impatient and said "yeah sure, its fine so please give me the money. I'm in a bit of a rush at the moment. Also could you tell Dokam that I'm leaving the city and I said goodbye?"

The staff handed me the 21 silver coins and nodded, saying "Certainly sir. I'll be sure to let him know of your words. Thank you for your business and come again." The staff bowed slightly as he said that. I quickly left along with the rest and we headed towards the store I visited earlier today. We entered the magic tool shop and immediately head for the 3rd floor. The group looked around at some of the things and Ray snorted and barely contained his laughter at some of the ridiculous items. He seemed a bit better now that a bit of time had passed it seemed. He still looked worried as hell but he wasn't as doomsday shook as before.

We finally made it to the relocation devices. I got 3 of the single use preset ones that were already set to the designated area outside the city. They cost 3 silver total and I paid at the front desk and left. I gave them the devices, which looked like a coin imbedded onto a square plate of metal with multiple patterns on it and mana was flowing through it along those intricate patterns. They grabbed them and followed me as we head to an alley to use the devices. The store had a strict no using devices within 25metres of the store policy for some reason so we had to leave. I was heading into the alley when I heard a deep voice nearby. It sounded like it was coming from directly behind me and whispering into my ear.

I heard the voice say "It seems we have some company brothers. Time to pay a visit to our dear friend." The voice sent a chill down my spine and I knew time was up. We needed to leave and leave now. I just hope we could get away from the city fast enough and lose them in the forest somewhere.