She probably should have been paying attention to the others but Luci couldn't look away from the shadows in the forest, something about it felt off.

"I think we should go back and gather more help," the younger one -Zu- Luci thinks was his name, was also watching the forest.

"I agree, this is a momentous occasion and the Church should be notified immediately," Luci scoffed quietly at the zealous behavior, the healers of Su were always pretentious. Though it was weird that she was in the middle of nowhere without an escort of Palidans.

"No way! I want that reward, you're just being weak." The blond that Lucky thought was a noble spat at Zu, clearly there was bad blood there Luci rolled her eyes.

"What do you think Luci?" James asked, he was watching the arguing group carefully. Luci considered what she knew:

One: There was treasure ahead.

Two: There was also Danger.

Three: She believed in her brother's strength as well as her own and Lucky's.

Four: She didn't trust the others.

"I think we get a quick look around, leave, and talk to the crew," Luci paused and squinted at the shadowed bush in the corner of her eye, had it moved? "I want the treasure that the quest mentioned but I don't trust our traveling companions and the quest also said we would have to defeat monsters."

James grinned and ruffled her hair much to her annoyance, "Good job," With that, he marched over to say his piece to the group.

"Hey, Lucky," Luci started and stared at the shadow, it had definitely moved, she was sure of it. "Do you, sense anything?"

"Hmm," Lucky ambled closer slowly, "I do sense a slight breeze." Luci tensed slightly, her right hand dropping to her holstered pistol. That was their code that yes, he did feel something off.

"James? Do you smell that, doesn't it remind you of the lilypads in Margie's pond?" Luci called out pretending she could smell something in the air.

Her brother tensed and turned slowly, before sniffing the air, "Is that so, I don't smell anything but does It remind you more of Margie or Uncle Roland?" He asked.

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Mari stared, that was obviously a code. Rolling her eyes she decided to be nice and pretend that she hadn't caught on, besides she wanted to see what her monster would do without any guidance from her.

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Luci met Lucky's eyes curious about what he thought. Margie was their mean stepmother who had married their father, later they learned she was an assassin and had been poisoning him for months.

Saying she smelt lilypads from Margie's pond, was her telling James there was danger nearby.

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Him asking if it was more like Margie or Uncle Roland was him trying to figure out how strong the danger was. Margie had been an annoyance compared to Uncle Roland.

"I don't know, can't tell. You sure you can't smell anything?" She asks, because honestly she can't tell and Lucky's shrug showed he couldn't either.

"What are you talking about? Are you insane?" Luci rolled her eyes, nobels you had to spoon-feed them everything.

Before the siblings could continue their conversation Luci spotted movement and drew her pistol with practiced ease shooting before anyone else could react.

With her left hand, she drew red lines in the air casting a fire spell that within seconds heated the air near her fingers. With a snap, Luci sparked her spell and a flick of her wrist sent it shooting towards the giant wolf that had jumped from the shadows.

"Get in position!" The old man shouted as the Wolf dodged the spell and bullet. In a smooth movement, it melted back into the shadows and disappeared.

"What, what was that?" The healer stuttered, clutching her dress tightly as the group circled around her. Always protect the healer, Luci reminded herself as she kept her head on a swivel watching the shadows.

"Sora cast a light spell and ready a healing pulse." Sora jolted at the order but quickly began to draw in the air with glowing fingers.

"Zu, ready your knives. Luke start casting water blast." The old man was on a roll as he barked out orders and drew his own sword. Luci spared a brief moment to admire the gigantic sword that had been hidden on his back the entirety of their short journey together.

"Luci, enter the circle and prepare a fire-chain." James' order startled her, a fire-chain was several fire spells linked together and would take all of her focus, which meant she wouldn't be able to cover her brother with her pistol.

She didn't hesitate long though and quickly entered the circle, she would trust her brother, they had been in far worse situations and gotten out alive.

"Lucky, make sure she can finish the spell." Lucky didn't bother to answer, he just drew his own twin pistols and stepped a bit closer to her.

James looked like he was going to keep speaking but a loud howl filled the air and sent shivers down her spine. James turned to face the forest while drawing his short sword.

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5 Warriors quest ✔️

+ 500c

Mari stared at the finished quest in front of her. It had been about an hour since the warriors had been forced to retreat from her forge and she was still in shock.

While thankfully none of them had died, she could remember with startling clarity their screams as the Forest wolf dove in and out of the shadows taking deadly swipes at them with each lunge.

They had fought hard and long, but in the end, the only reason none of them had died was because of the two women. The blonde had cast some kind of healing spell that saved the life of the one boy with water magic, he had gotten hurt almost instantly.

The pirate girl had used some impressive fire magic that had burnt the wolf so bad it almost died after it had gotten a good swipe at the pirate Mari thought was her brother.

The two men that had reminded her of rouges had been taking shots when they could but weren't much effect against the wolf.

Mari sighed, remembering the fight, the only ones that had had any chance against it were the old man in fancy armor and the brother pirate of the fire girl.

"Is my floor too strong?" Mari bit her lip and suddenly remembered the video of New York that the observer had shown her and shuddered.

"No, it's just that they're not strong enough." She sighed, "But I guess that's why I'm here."

Mari turned away from the TV where she had been watching the Warriors retreat back towards their ship. "I guess we should get back to work, there's a lot of work to do to get them ready."