"So where are we going exactly?" The Court Wizard asked.

"And how long will you point that sword at my back?"

"As long as I have to." The paladin answered with a gentle poke.

"We're rescuing the Princess, of course."

Lambert worried she might say that. Neither of them was good at reading tracks.

And the one person capable of finding someone through the Mana was the one they were looking for.

Plus, there was one glaring issue Cath seemed to ignore.

"What about Bastion?" He pointed at the huge Ogre behind them.

It was already insulting, that he got the blade in his back for deserting, and helping the enemy.

Sure, the girl grumbled about the monster for a day.

But now she treated him as the lesser evil, only keeping an eye on Lambert.

Her eye, and that huge falchion. His shoulder blades had holes from all the poking now.

Sure, he trusted that the Ogre wouldn't betray him after saving his life.

Still, the paladin had to get her priorities straight.

Now she only shrugged, glancing at the huge green creature behind them.

"What will you do if we catch up with your comrades?" She asked after a pause, still keeping her blade up. "They left you for dead, and we saved you."

"Now it's 'we'? I saved him, and you almost killed me for it. Even though I saved you too."

"Isn't that your job?" She poked him again.

"You said it yourself. Back in Sanctuary, remember? When the Elder said it's your destiny to Banish the Goddess of Luck."

"Yes, well, I'm a healer. That doesn't mean you should take it for granted." He grumbled, and the Ogre couldn't help but laugh at them.

"If you still want to know my answer, my Lady, I'd have to remain neutral." He noted after a while.

"While I don't harbor ill feelings towards them, I wouldn't betray my savior either."

He didn't sound like a vicious monster.

If anything, his voice was like a child's, an overeducated one, especially for the Lesser Races.

"Right. We will see about that." Cath nodded, and they continued in silence for a while.

After spending time with him, one would begin to doubt the Church's teachings.

That's what everyone grew up with. In the last decade, ever since Nordhaben became independent again.

All the dogma about how the inferior monsters tricked humanity into servitude.

And when Saint Ghisella came to restore order after their corrupt Empire collapsed.

Well, the Saint not only made it possible for commoners like him to attend school, but she also made it mandatory. Everyone his age or younger had to learn the same dogmas.

He wasn't old enough to remember how things were, all he knew was what they told him.

And now that they met the enemy, and he saved his life, the Ogre treated him better than Cath.

"So how are we going to find her?" Lambert asked when they stopped for lunch. "This continent is rather large. If we're going blind, it will take a while until we stumble on her."

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"We're not going blind." The paladin shrugged. The issue with that statement was that this entire time Lambert led the way and he had no idea where they were going.

"We follow the Imperial Road. The Champions must have done it too. They want to bring the Princess to the Demon Lord, so they're heading for the Gates of Hell." She claimed.

It was logical, but even Bastion couldn't keep quiet.

"They must have met with the other Champions by now and returned on wyverns." He said between huge bites of their portions. "But you must forgive me if I don't want to detail their plans."

"Yeah. You dealt with those beasts, but you can't outrun them." Lambert agreed.

At least the trio came prepared.

They carried a dimensional pocket with provisions for months.

Little less if the Ogre kept eating it, but it should still last a while.

Of course, it wouldn't last long enough to allow them the trek to the Gates of Hell, over a thousand miles to the south.

"I haven't seen a single wyvern since the Cyreneian Pass." Cath tended to ignore reason unless it proved her point. "As long as we don't find proof that they've met, there is no reason to give up."

While it was pointless to argue Lambert attempted to reason with her.

"We almost reached the Old Capital. It would make sense for them to meet up there. It's impossible to miss that place." He said, adding. "It's gone, but the water reservoir is still there."

They had plenty of food, camping equipment, and a change of clothes.

But their water supply wasn't endless.

Plus he could pass it in a way that appealed to the paladin.

"You killed their mounts, so they have no food, supplies, or water. Their first visit would be to the reservoir. If we headed there now, we could still catch them."

This made the blue-haired girl stop chewing and think.

Then she started chewing much faster, standing up to dust herself off.

"That's it. We must head for that place then." She claimed, as if it was her idea, and set out without waiting for the other two.

"You're going the wrong way," Lambert noted, trying to keep up with her. The Ogre didn't bother, he wouldn't cut his meal short for something like this.

"I only paced back and forth, waiting for you to finish." The paladin was terrible at lying.

"Right. This way then." The Court Wizard led the way, through the outskirts of the Old Capital. Of course, this meant an empty arid space until their eyes could see.

It was too flat and too empty to be natural. Lambert only knew from old maps that this place held a huge city a decade ago.

And that to the southwest was a hill with a large artificial lake behind it.

And he soon found out, it was where the Champions they were looking for, and their Elder fought a battle.