In the morning of the day after, the trio had successfully reached Hilltop. They hadn't had a wink of sleep, nor did they rest at any town for they had enough rest at Cherryfield. But, thankfully, the journey was finally over.

As they trotted towards the town, bored out of their minds, Mik jumped to the question.

"Hey, guys. Now that we're done with the entire escort mission…" He began, "What now?"

"What now?" Joel repeated, "Well…damn, you're right."

"What now? It's obvious, you guys." Dolisia replied, "Money! Money is king! Coe is king! And the best way to make money for us while making progress is to do escorts every now and then."

"So, you're saying we should be full-time luminaries?" Joel questioned.

"If possible, that'd be better. Besides," She answered, "This whole world is all about luminaries. Luminary this, Luminary that, they're always at the center of some shit. If we join them, we have INFINITE possibilities of where we could go with that."

"Yeah, but don't forget." Mik reminded, "We're a bunch of aliens that went pop and started doing escort missions out of nowhere. We didn't even exist in the records just a few days ago. If the luminaries are as good as they sound, there's no way in hell they'd let us join them."

"Details, Mik. Details don't matter." She argued.

"I'll have to go with Mik on this one, Dols." Joel said, "We'll have to ditch the entire luminary idea for a while, maybe even ditch the escort idea too. As for now, we need to find a way to clear our record, and maybe even get ourselves a residence. We're literally homeless, and we've been so for the past God knows how many days."

Dolisia turned towards Joel, squinting her eyes in utter confusion.

"What did you just call me?"

"Dols?"

"What the fuck is Dols?"

"A shortened version of the name? I mean, what do you want me to call you? Doli? Sia?"

"Dolisia, thank you very much."

"Tch, bitter hag."

"What?!" Dolisia retorted, "I'm a god, you little emo shit!"

"Relax, alright?! It's just a nickname, I give it to everyone I know." Joel retaliated, "Mik here doesn't mind being called Miki, right?"

In response, Mik pursed his lips before he shrugged. Although he should have defended his friend, he slipped and let his honest side take control of him, effectively throwing Joel under the bus. Or better put, under the wagon wheel.

"You are one useless son of a bi—"

"It's the truth, bro!" Mik retorted, "Your nicknames are horrible, just face it."

"Tch, assholes."

After a long ride into Hilltop, the trio had finally reached their oh-so-desired destination—the town hall. As they trotted the few meters left before they make a stop near the hitching posts, the trio's eyes fell upon a worker of the town hall being handed a stack of papers by a very familiar face near the entrance.

"Oh, come on, Elaine!" The man whined, "There's like a thousand papers, how am I supposed to stick them all over the town on my own!"

"Mark, you're the fastest guy we have. Plus, you'll get a day off tomorrow and a bonus, that sounds like a win in any book, right?" Elaine coaxed.

"Yeah, but these papers will take nearly a week unless I distribute half of them as ass wipes."

"Well, think, Mark!" Elaine countered, "If you put these papers out as soon as possible, you'll save a lot of lives! The sooner they're out, the sooner they're caught!"

"Oh, bullshit!"

"Did someone say shit?" Joel interrupted.

Upon hearing the awfully familiar voice, Elaine's eyes shot up at the wagon parked next to her, her gaze fixed on the trio who rode on the carriage in front of her. She sighed before stating in a sarcastic tone.

"Well, the three stooges. Nice to see you again." She said, "How did it go?"

"Oh, al-fucking-right. If you count out all the hell we've been through." Joel replied.

"My oh my, am I not surprised." She sighed, "I'll assume that the client is safe and happy since you guys came back all the way here. And thankfully, with the armbands."

"Safe? I doubt so. Happy? I HEAVILY doubt so." Dolisia said.

The trio removed their armbands in unison before they handed them to Elaine. The latter examined the dirty and tattered armbands with an appalled expression. She pursed her lips before she spoke in disappointment.

"Good job, you guys…you returned it, at least."

"It's what heroes do." Mik replied.

"Hey, fellas. Wanna make a quick buck?" Mark asked, grabbing the attention of the trio. "One Coe for a hundred page, sounds good?"

Without sounding a reply, the trio each took a paper before they closely examined it, their eyes squinting into a perplexed stare. They turned towards Elaine, who was staring back at the trio with an eager look.

"Do you guys know those people?" She asked.

"It's not that. It's just…" Dolisia said, "God, this is an awful writing."

"Yeah, I can't read this garbage." Joel followed.

"It hurts the soul." Mik finished.

"God…" Elaine uttered as she facepalmed, "I knew I shouldn't have let Greta write the goddamn posters. Anyway, it's a bunch of wanted posters for a radical group called the Templars. Their drawn portraits are the ones on the posters."

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"Wait, the Templars?" Joel questioned.

"Did I stutter?" Elaine retorted.

"Uh…" Joel paused, glancing at Mik and Dolisia before he turned back to Elaine. "Mind taking a quick look at our wagon?"

Elaine glanced at Mark in confusion before the two walked towards the back end of the wagon. Suddenly, their eyes fell upon two scores of men tied with ropes, thrown over each other like a pile of hay. Elaine stared dumbfoundedly, there was no doubt about it—these are the Templars.

"So…the faster they're out the sooner they're caught, eh? Remind me to never doubt you again, Elaine." Mark said.

Elaine rushed back to the town hall, fetching her notebook before going back to the wagon. As she counted the men, and confirmed their identities, she was in total shock. She couldn't believe that out of all people, it was the idiots that managed to catch these criminals. In record time!

She turned to the trio while glancing at her notebook.

"If I'm right, then only the leader is missing." She said, "Other than that, you got them. Factoring in the bounty and the returned armbands…" She calculated in her mind, her eyes widening in shock. "Sweet mother earth, what in the holy hell…"

"What is it?" Dolisia asked.

"Yeah…you stooges will have to come with me, to the backroom of the town hall."

She guided the trio to the other end of the town hall where a small door was located. Elaine and Mark entered first before the trio followed after them. Elaine walked towards one of the town hall workers, waving him a simple hello before showcasing her notes and whispering into his ear.

"You have to be kidding me…" He uttered in disbelief.

Elain nodded in response. The man stared dumbfoundedly at her before his eyes wandered off to the trio. He then cleared his throat before he stood up and walked towards another room.

An hour later, the man exited the room—dragging behind him a wooden cart filled with leather pouches. He set the cart next to the trio before he motioned to it.

"Gentlemen, and lady, your reward."

"What?! How much is that?!" Dolisia gasped.

"Well, factoring in the bounties and the armband per bounty, it would roughly be around…" Elaine said, "500,000 Coe."

"WHAT?!" Dolisia screamed, "Are you mistaken? ARE YOU SURE?!"

"You three annihilated an entire gang—except for the leader—that was wanted for a multitude of crimes. They were very strong and advised that only professional luminaries should go after them. And on top of that, you brought back forty luminary armbands that each have a reward for them." Elaine explained, "So yeah, I'm more than sure."

"WOOOHOOO!" Mik cheered, snatching one of the pouches.

He then opened the pouch and emptied the contents on his face. In his words, he "bathed in the grace of money". Meanwhile, Dolisia was going frantic as she emptied one of the pouches in her hand, the feeling of the money in her hand driving her to hysteric happiness.

"Yeah!!! I told you! Money talks, boys!" Dolisia hailed, "We're filthy rich, fuckers!"

Meanwhile, Joel couldn't care less to empty one of the pouches. He simply stood between his friends before he clasped his hands behind his head and moved his hips in a circular movement. Presumably, dancing?

"Mik, Dolisia." He called out, "Make it rain!"

In response, the two threw the money at Joel as if he were a strip dancer being tipped. Shortly, they joined him in the dance on the pile of money underneath their feet.

"Fuck yeah, moneeeeeeeeeeey!" Dolisia sang, "Goodbye hard jobs!"

"No longer need you, god! No longer need you, luck! I'm finally rich!" Mik followed, "Poverty gone, bois!"

"No more homelessness! No more dining and dashing!" Joel finished, "Who needs saving people and being a hero when you're rich enough to do anything you want!"

As they danced away in happiness, Joel's eyes wandered to the wall next to him, glancing at it for a brief moment before his happy fit of dancing ceased, shifting into a motionless statue. Dolisia and Mik didn't care at first until they took notice of the wall in front of them.

They all stared with widened eyes.

"Oh, those are some bounties from two or three days ago. Don't even think about it, there's no way in hell you'd capture them, not even the luminary commanders could." Elaine explained.

However, the trio couldn't care less. What had captured their attention wasn't the bounty, or how much it was worth, but who was the bounty. On the wall, there were pinned three wanted posters next to each other. They were all poorly-drawn portraits, but the faces were far too similar to be mistaken.

"Oh…" Joel started.

"My…" Mik followed.

"God…." Dolisia finished.

The posters were large, occupying a third of the board they were pinned to. The faces all exuded an aura of danger and mystery. The first was of a bob-cut-wearing, smirking woman with Asian features and a commanding look, the second was of an expressionless man with a soul-piercing glare, and the last was a tall, imposing figure with medium-length hair, shooting a toothy grin that stretched from ear to ear, chilling and sinister to say the least.

Their names, written under their portraits in bold uppercase, exuded an air of urgency. The names written in black with wide underlining in red ink emphasized the sense of danger, and screamed out their identities:

KUROSAWA     TATSUO     RAIDER

Although two of the names were different, the faces were unmistakable. It should be them, it has to be them. No, it was them. They were sure, and there was no escaping the shocking reality. It was Sumiko, Tatsuo, and Killian. Wanted people of the same gang, each carrying a staggering bounty on their head, an unbelievable fortune for any fool daring enough to take them on, a sum of 600,000 Coe for each.

Atop the posters, written directly on the board, was a sign with lettering the size of the posters. It was written in bold uppercase, its aura equally overpowering and terrifying as the posters underneath it:

"THE NEW AGE BIND" it read. A new renegade gang, with the trio being one of its current recognizable members that roamed these lands. A terrifying gang, that not even the luminaries were able to take down. And the trio were only 'some' of their ranks.

…

A few hours after the trio had left, Luke was back at his inn room, packing his belongings and arranging his stuff for an early trip tomorrow morning. He had set his sights on venturing a little beyond these lands and becoming a merchant of goods from far away, so that he may explore the world and learn more about it until he one-day groups up with the trio again.

However, as of the moment, he was to accompany Sumiko, Tatsuo, and Killian on another trip that he willingly joined, hoping that it may become another adventure that he may never forget.

As he was busy packing his luggage, while the locals of the town partying and raking hell at the tavern underneath, Luke heard a gentle rapping on the door. As such, he assumed it must've been one of the three and instinctively answered.

"Come in."

However, it had been a few seconds yet no door had been opened, and no knocking had resonated. Luke turned to the door, staring with a perplexed expression before he shrugged and resumed his tasks.

Suddenly, a knocking was heard a little louder, one that made Luke wary. Regardless, he wasn't a coward. If it was a drunk local trying to entertain himself with this tomfoolery, then he must put an end to it. He stepped towards the door, took a deep breath, and opened it.

His heart sank.

The man knocking on his chamber door was a towering, long-haired, brownish-blonde man. He wasn't a man of extreme physique, but he was considerably well-built in comparison to Luke. He was also a little older than the boy, visibly so.

He smirked as he stared back at Luke, gently placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite merchant. I've been looking for you everywhere, you really made me run out of breath." The blonde man whispered, "I didn't hear back from you on the offer though."

"I-…I-…." He stuttered, "I sold the black powder! It's gone! I have no use anymore, so leave me be!"

"You don't say?"

"YEAH! And I also made s-s-some new friends! They will beat you up if you hurt me!"

The blonde man broke out into a fit of laughter before wiping a single tear from his eye. With a snap of his finger, a small figure appeared behind him before it spoke.

"Oi, Luke!" Sumiko greeted.

"Sumiko?!" Luke gasped in horror. "B-but why?"

"Oh, merchant. You didn't think my associates were going to help you with your crisis just because, eh?" The man questioned, "You underestimated me if you thought that I wouldn't go as far as to make others stalk you instead."

The boy was silent, he couldn't speak a single word, for he was mute due to the incomprehensible fear that flooded his mind. The feeling of betrayal as he glanced at Sumiko shattered him before he glanced back at the man.

"I heard from Kuro and Killy that you were a luminary engineer, specializing in black powder? Isn't that just my lucky day." He said, "Now I won't need the powder barrels you had. Now all that I need…is you."

The boy was visibly shaking, tears trickling down his cheeks as he stared at the blonde man in horror. His problem, his fear…his worst possible nightmare didn't only realize into reality, but also in the worst way possible.

"So, maybe you wanna take me up on the offer now?"

He was crushed. And even though he felt his life falling apart right in front of him, he was strong enough to muster a thought, a prayer that kept him from passing out of fear:

'Joel...please...save me.'