The boy was puzzled. He struggled to grasp exactly what she could possibly mean by wanting to enter all of Merlin’s Worlds. Was that even possible? had he heard wrong? Looking at her stained eyes along with the seriousness of her words, he couldn’t help but find himself frowning.

“You do know not all of them are used so openly as a test for adventurers, right? Most cities would have a ‘real world’ test, because a Merlin’s World is just that rare. This kingdom is only this brazen simply because we have 2 and my father doesn’t mind loaning one out.”

Her brows scrunched, “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying, it’s going to be very, very, hard and maybe even dangerous to enter the rest of them.”

“Oh,” She seemed to dismiss that notion, “Hardships can be overcome, and so can dangers.”

“Not when it comes to something so overpowering.”

“I beg to differ.”

Their markers blinked and opened a screen.

The two stared at their respective maps with mouths agape.

A dot of gold blinked at the head of the forest, the edge just before the barren lands.

"What the heck? Someone already found it?" Maria said, "How lucky can a person get, I thought it would take at least till the middle of the 3rd day. We have to go intercept them."

"Intercept them?"

"Yes. We need the Orb for my plan."

"And what's your plan?"

"Having Mao chase us."

"What?"

However, she had already summoned her weapon and threw it into the air, jumping and sliding upon it.

“. . .”

“Well?” She looked down at him as a white blade hovered at his front, “What are you waiting for?”

He looked at the weapon, seeing a yellow butterfly fluttering above it, before sighing and bringing himself to step on.

She grinned, “Hold on tight, I’ve only tried this a couple times.”

‘. . .I’ll die.’

The weapons slowly ascended under her control, momentarily hovering over the forest greenery. They turned slowly, aligning themselves with the golden dot before bursting forth with speed.

As he rode on the weapon and the wind smacked against his face, eyes squinted at the flying figure before him, he couldn’t help but mutter under his breath, “Not everything is as blessed as you. . .”

A circle of light suddenly covered him.

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“I’m about to increase the speed, the wind might push us off.”

She explained.

In a split second, the weapons they stood on shuddered, and two beams of light crossed the low sky. Maria continued to check the map as she carefully controlled their flight, changing their direction by even a bit with each change in the dot. It didn’t take long, however, before they happened upon a group of people as they slowed.

The land was barren, akin to hardened sand than a grassland. It was at the edge of the forest, and moving carefully to return to it in haste, were a group of 6. It looked like an odd bunch, a teenage boy in fairly accentuated clothing—a shiny white robe not made for trouble, battles, nor adventurers, that looked like it hadn’t taken even a leek of dirt after all this time—was protected on all sides by gruff men in battle gear.

‘A noble and. . .his teammates?’ Maria concluded.

Either way, it was definitely not advantageous. The possibility of fighting a group of 6 with only the 2 of them seemed suicidal, but Maria didn’t think she had time. At any moment, a slew of other participants could arrive at this location, and her plans would all but be useless in the face of such an onslaught. She looked at her map, spotting a black dot that had just left a city in ruin and seemed to be advancing towards this location.

It was either now or never.

“Ready?” She turned to her partner.

“Huh. . .I think we should sit this one aside. Getting the Artifact isn’t worth the possibility of losing.”

“What?”

To her, the thought of running away seemed ridiculous. She never liked the idea, and she never wanted to wake up to a brother with a missing arm and a caretaker that was dead again. She never wanted to sleep through such a thing once more. Running away here was admitting that she was weak, that she was too weak to be taken into any significant battle, and would always be left to run. That didn’t taste well in her mouth.

“It’s not just for the Artifact,” She said, “I don’t care about the Artifact, you can have it if you want, I just want to meet Mao again.”

“What would I do with a shield artifact?” He simply replied.

He didn’t seem to understand the point. She took a breath and gave up, calming herself down.

“Fine,” She said.

“I’ll do it myself if I have to.”

And with that, she slowly hovered down in front of the group as Rain shook his head, thinking her far too hotheaded.

As her feet made contact with the ground, and her weapon flew back into her grasp, the advancing group before her stopped.

“The orb,” She proclaimed.

“Hand it over.”

“Or what?” One of the men said.

“Wait,” A voice called out from within their enclosure, “move aside.”

The man looked back, grumbling slightly as he did as he was told.

Maria watched as a brown haired boy stepped out. He had a pair of emerald eyes that squinted above his small smile, a smile that told more about his confidence than any pleasantries. She noticed a short sword attached to his side.

“Princess Springfield, Mass Fleming at your service.” He bowed slightly.

Maria scrunched her brows. It would always feel odd no matter how many people bowed before her.

The body slowly rose up and she could see his hand move towards his waist.

Maria waisted no second in moving her body.

‘If you try to attack me from such a distance of course I’ll dodge,’ The princess thought the situation was ridiculous.

His weapon, gleaming with the finest steel, seemed like mere decoration on him as she swerved.

She dodged his swings like child’s play, her raw speed and swordsmanship overpowering him. The noble staggered, he seemed to become angered at his useless attacks, and soon swung his shortblade in a beefy arc.

Maria parried the weapon, swerved to the side, and drilled towards his throat.

-Clank-

“Get behind me!”

A buckler shield blocked her advance and she ducked to dodge a one handed sword. At that moment, a dark-blue blade blocked the rest of that attack for her before another slashed forward.

“!”

An arc of blue flew, slamming into the man, and sending him back along with the boy.

She had to say, this group of people worked well as a team.

“Finally decided to join me?” She asked.

“It’s only on a cautious level,” Rain shrugged, gripping his blades.

She scoffed, “You and your eyes.”

The mercenaries had surrounded the noble at this point. Only one of them, who seemed like a cross between a defender and a melee fighter, had been injured by Rain’s attack, with torn clothing.

“So. . .” She said, readying her blade.

“Here’s the plan.”