Alissa released her prisoners, attention back on Rin, “It’s amazing! There’s so much water mana in the air it’s always raining with lightning racing over the skies! She bought a mansion from the dwarves that’s so much bigger than it looks. When I was a hatchling and got to visit I’d spend days exploring all the rooms and floors.”

“The best part is the garden courtyard though. Miles and miles of exotic flowers in every shade of every color. She keeps everything in full bloom and is always finding more and changing the layout.”

“That sounds like paradise, do you think we’d be able to see it someday?”

Alissa looked up in surprise at Rin, “Well, it depends. There are tens of thousands of islands around the edges of our forests, and that’s where most dragons live after reaching S rank. There are a lot of crotchety old fossils from the other clans that wouldn’t let you anywhere near it, but…”

Alissa leaned into Rin’s ear to speak so quietly the other two couldn’t hear, as she spoke Rin’s face took on a deeper hue of red eventually making a tomato look pale in comparison and grew silent, looking flustered at the table.

Alissa laughed and brought the younger human into a one-armed embrace, “It’ll be fine Rin, just trust yourself more.”

Adrest and Belle were dying to know what the two women were discussing but were cut off by a look from Alissa. Shutting up, Adrest went back to playing with Belle, the nice one.

Several more bottles were passed around, until everyone was sufficiently red and stumbling. Adrest and Alissa escorting Rin to her room a few feet over.

“Night Ady, Night Ali.”

“Have a good night, Rin.” “Sweet dreams.”

Getting back to their own room, Belle had already passed out into her bundle of blankets leaving only her snow-white ears peeking out.

Alissa giggled as she wrapped her arms around Adrest’s neck and brought him tumbling down into their bed. She brought her cherry red lips closer to start her barrage, smothering every inch of his face.

Adrest chuckled and allowed the willful drunk to do as she wished. When she was finally satisfied, she brought her face away from his to look into the burning orange eyes bright in the dark room.

She whispered, “Help Rin while I’m gone. She’s a smart kid, but she’ll try to do everything herself while she’s the leader. And make sure she gets to sightsee as you make your way north, drag her if you have to. She needs to see more just as much as the two of you.”

“It’ll be fine Ali. It’s only six months or so. In no time at all I’ll be telling you all about how I embarrassed Rin and Belle in every town we stop at.”

Alissa giggled at the stories she was sure would happen, “I’m holding you to that. I’m just a little anxious. Before, a few months of training would pass in a blink of an eye, but now I can already feel how slow each day is going to go.”

Adrest tried to reassure the girl, “If your sister is anything like you, you won’t even have time to think about us. We’ll be back together and terrorizing entire forests again before you know it.”

Alissa giggled at the lighthearted take, “If you think I’m bad, just wait until you train with Zoya or my father. I’m a saint in comparison!”

Adrest legitimately couldn’t imagine what kind of training that would entail, but made him latch onto something else.

“Ali, what’s your father like? Does being so strong change your personality?”

Alissa widened her eyes at the sudden and personal question. She silently thought about her childhood for a long moment, “Well, Father is very strict, but also kind in his own way. He made sure I had every advantage from the very start and has looked over every aspect of each of my siblings and I personally, helping us go as far as we can on our paths. He lets me use the treasury as I please, and if I wanted to see or get something he would make it happen for the most part. I never got to interact with many people and races, but I think that’s because Father is scared to lose any of his own, so he’s done everything possible to ensure we can ascend. As for his personality, Zoya said he was the exact same in her training and that was back when he had just broken past S rank. Why do you ask?”

Alissa had a sweet smile on her face as she talked more about her Father, putting it into words helped her sort and think about her own feelings for the man.

Adrest awkwardly rubbed his head, “Well I’ve been thinking about the future you want a lot Ali, and it might just be a holdover from my last life, but when I hear Gods I imagine a different species from us entirely. Would we be the same after ascending, or does it change you and who you are?”

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Alissa kissed the nervous demon’s forehead, and was relieved that was all he was worried about. “With the way we’ll be ascending there’s nothing to worry about, we’ll focus on our own power and forcefully ascend, you might change a little through the years, but that's just time. At most you’ll just be a slightly different you. But, there is a different method that does change you like you're afraid of. I’m not allowed to say too much, but it’s called the path of a Living God, you gain strength and spread word of your deeds to create a religion or massive following behind you. With enough people believing you’re a god for a long enough time, it will eventually come true. The disadvantage is you become tied to the myths and what your followers believe and change with it, taking on new personalities and attributes as the stories change.”

Adrest felt better and more nervous at her answer and wanted to ask more questions but Alissa cut him off with her lips, only parting after some seconds, “No more questions. Let’s go to sleep, it’ll be awhile before we can do this again.”

Adrest woke at his usual time, barely able to breathe with how hard his ribs were being squeezed by Alissa’s iron grip. Completely unable to break free, Adrest was left with no choice but to spend the next hour trying his best to wake the sleeping beauty. Mercifully she roused with a long yawn, and kissed Adrest’s cheek that was above her.

It was a whirlwind of a morning as Alissa fussed over each member of her party before squeezing everyone near to death as they said their temporary goodbyes. She waved and refused to look away from them until the doors of the Inn closed, cutting off her view.

The now three left Everflow headed deeper into Radagon, Belle’s eyes still glassy. They spent the first few hours of the trip in relative silence, except for Rin pointing out landmarks in the surroundings and where they correspond on a map.

Adrest was feeling more like himself after a short lunch break and asked their new leader, “Where’s our first stop?”

They were briskly walking a well-maintained wide path, very occasionally passing others going in either direction. As Rin led their way she turned around to walk backwards while answering, “Tonight we’ll be camping a bit off the trail, but tomorrow around lunch we should arrive in a little town. We can eat there and take an hour or two to tour around, then be back on the trail. Are the two of you fine with that?”

Adrest and Belle both nodded along, they were taking this trip to learn more about the adventuring life, so camping was a must. Rin gave them a goofy grin, “Great! Our first stop is still a week or so out, but I’m really excited to show you my surprise!”

Belle’s attention was grabbed by the magical word surprise and hopped up to Rin’s side, “Surprise?”

Rin put a hand through Belle’s white hair, laughing, “You’ll know when we get there, but I’ll give you a hint, one of the most beautiful places in Radagon is nearby.”

Belle was tilting her head in thought, but had no idea where Rin was thinking and just pouted at the hero.

“It’s only a week, you’ll be fine. Plus, it’s fun watching you sulk!” Rin stuck her tongue out at the rabbit and Adrest laughed as he agreed with Rin on this one.

The first night was completely uneventful, the army kept this high traffic path clear for over a mile on either side. Their first stop the next day was a small and ordinary town named Ralph, the café they ate an early lunch at was bland compared to the ones they’d found in Everflow City. Rin made a stop inside the small Guildhall in the center of town, and they did a fast walk-through of the market street which was only half the size of the one in the outpost town. Finding a few interesting items, but nothing more.

From the small town of Ralph, the party had another five full days of marching and camping off trail each night. The nights cool but not uncomfortably cold, made the tents and pile of sleeping bags cozy. A scant few D rank monsters showed up, and Belle was more than happy to take care of them, dispatching each with a single strike with her new blades.

Each time, she looked at the silver-blue blades in awe. Belle could barely feel the weapon in her hands yet it went through bone and chitin like water. Adrest felt the same way about his own new blade, when adjusting to it in a fight, Adrest had missed his target and sliced straight through a tree that would need 6 of him to encircle. He sent a huge tree nearly tumbling down on himself, it was only thanks to his superhuman reflexes that he was able to narrowly able to dodge out of the way.

On the evening of their sixth day into the trip, they came upon a large town painted in the golden light of late afternoon. Rin broke into the biggest smile he’d ever seen on the girl as she got closer to the gates.

As they were only a hundred feet away from the entrance, Rin grabbed their hands as she led them up, “Welcome to my hometown Raille! It was a little out of the way, but I haven’t gotten to see it since I left, and I really wanted to show you a bit more about me.”

Rin was blushing as she the last part, releasing them as they reaching the yawning guardsman. Getting in was of course a breeze with their IDs. The man did straighten up and looked shocked as he read the name and rank on Rin’s card however.

“You’re little Rin? The orphanage will be excited you’re back. You’re still the pride and joy of the town!”

Rin blushed at the man’s excitement, and stammered out a “Thank you.” As she collected the cards and quickly led the others away.

Adrest, having found a new target now that Alissa was away raised an eyebrow, “Little Rin? It suits you!”

Rin’s face grew redder and she jammed a finger into his side, quieting him for now. Belle giggled at the scene, she’d been seeing it more often and it felt a bit like home again.

Still though, Rin explained while pouting, “I was a small kid and caretakers sent me to go shopping a lot, they just gave me the nickname on their own.”

“Well little Rin, what do you have planned for your first stop? I’m sure you’ve been looking forward to this for a long time, right?”

Rin ignored the overgrown child and nodded vigorously, “We made it a half day earlier than I planned, so it’s too late to do much. Let’s find an Inn and get some dinner? If we have some time I can give you a small tour, then tomorrow I’ll really show you two around, if you wanted?”