"Yo, what's wrong, Grim?" Ed saw me shouting in front of his yard, "Something happened?"

"Ed!" I ran to him in a hurry, "It's bad! Really, really bad! The Book...!"

"Book?" He tilted his head.

Damn, I never told him about the Book of Fortune before! For now, I need to tell him what he can understand—If we hurry, the old man might still be hiding nearby somewhere!

"Nelly's in danger!" I blurted out the worry with the most priority behind it.

"Nelly is? Dude, it's way too late into the afternoon for you to be having nightmares." He chuckled, "Geez, you been getting enough sleep lately?"

"I'm serious!" I yelled, "Some old guy took her, he told me just now before disappearing!"

"Schizophrenia is Meil's thing, don't go scaring me now, Grim." He got a bit serious.

"Call me crazy however many times you want, but I need your help." I groaned, "Just help me look around the vicinity of the houses. If you see an old man, capture him."

"Playing hide and seek with an old man is not something I expected to be doing in my adult life..." He begrudgingly obliged.

Thus, we set off to run around all three of our houses' exteriors and yards. We were in a pretty flat plains area, but that didn't mean he had nowhere to hide. Checking all the nearby trees, bushes and underhangs, we eventually came up with nothing from the search. At this point, Ed was extremely doubtful of my claims.

"I'm gonna ask you again—Did you get enough sleep recently?" He sighed, "Honestly, I don't know why I wasted my time with this in the first place. Nelly's with Meil and that brat in Simpleton, and if this old man came to you in Cardina, then he couldn't have done jack to her."

"You think I don't know that!?"

"Besides, what kind of an egotistical idiot would go to the house of the girl he kidnapped, much less flaunt the fact to her father? Your story makes no sense." He kept complaining.

Dammit, you've seen crazier shit in life, dumbass! You've personally met Four Gods, you've participated in one of the scariest wars to date, so why don't you wanna believe your best friend!? Tch, he's always been like this—Unless he sees it with his own Eyes, he won't believe it at all.

"...Then check your mailbox." I pointed to it.

"Huh?" He followed my finger's direction.

"He tossed a letter in both your and my mailbox, so if you want proof, there it is." I turned around to pick mine up, "We're dealing with something really bad right now, so call Issei as well."

Finally, he started to realize I wasn't telling lies. His face contorted into a fearful grimace as he ultimately nodded and ran to his house. It was at this moment where we saw Anna and Cecily walk out of our houses to ask what was going on. They must've seen us running around the place in search of the old man and wondered if something had gone wrong.

"Dammit..." I greeted the brightly decorated letter in my mailbox with a frown, "He really did put it here."

I checked behind me to see Ed's reaction, and he looked to be terrified. Of course the letter was in his mailbox, since I personally saw the old man toss it in there, but I couldn't be sure if he really put one in mine. Of course, this means I'm invited to whatever disgusting event he planned as well. This has to be some kind of sick and twisted joke...

"Ed, what's going on?" Anna could be seen walking up to him.

"Call everyone from the house to the Grimhearts. Now." He instructed, "I'll go do the same for Issei's house."

"Should I get Adam involved as well?!" I hollered.

"Maybe!" He shouted back, "Let's first see what these letters are about first! We can't be wasting time running to the Gryses!"

"Yep!"

Finally, he got serious. Before long, everyone had been called over to our house and stood in the living room. The previously spacious abode was now rather cramped, and no matter how secretly happy that made me to be this blessed with so many loved ones, I still couldn't feel fully at peace until this issue was resolved. Maybe we should've done this at Issei's house, after all...

"Lune, what's going on?" Othelia asked, "Why did Ed call us here?"

"Don't tell me you messed something up again?" The geezer Sigmund rolled his Eyes.

"...Ed." I signaled for him to place his letter on the table in the middle as I did the same for mine.

"Right. I'll explain what I know for now, so if I get anything wrong, Grim can fill in the rest." He cleared his throat, "From what I've gathered, Nelly's in trouble, and the perpetrator gave both of us these letters."

Hearing this, everyone was visibly shaken, especially Cecily. Cene was a tad confused, but he was obviously still too young to know how dire the situation was. As we all stared at the two colorful letters, Othelia was the first one to make a move as she reached to open them.

"Then what are you waiting for?" She sort of told us off, "Open it and see what it says!"

"Hold it, it might not be safe to open." Eleanor explained, "Maybe it's a trap?"

"So to combat dying in front of their yards, they waited so all of us could die together in this room?" Othelia clapped back, "Please, that girl is in trouble and you're all losing your sense of reason."

What she said made complete sense. In truth, I wanted to get everyone here so we could all be caught up at the same time and maybe even brainstorm a solution, but it's true that Ed and I should've opened them up immediately. In these situations, every second counts.

"Here, the persons the letters are addressed to ought to be the ones to read them." She handed them to us, "Come on, clock's ticking."

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***

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"Ahem." I cleared my throat to read it first, "Dear Lune Grimheart, pleasure to write you. My name is Olya."

"What a name." Issei commented.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"Shh!" Cecily shushed him, "Dear, continue."

"Yeah." I nodded, "Obviously, I wrote this letter before I handed it off at your doorstep, so this may not be the first time you're hearing from me. If we have met already during my drop off, then I must apologize in advance for any scares I may have given you. A thousand year old decrepit piece a' shiet like me probably wasn't the prettiest mug to be seen standing in front of your yard."

"So it was the old man, after all..." Cecily shivered.

"You've met with him before?" Anna asked worriedly.

"No, I just saw him about an hour ago, staring at me next to the mailbox." She explained, "That's when I sent Lune to chase him off."

"There's more, still." I quieted everyone down to continue reading out loud, "Ahem! I will be brief and explain the situation—You guys have been invited to attend a once in a lifetime event in none other than Schnell's Archipelago!"

"This is just getting more and more bizarre..." Eleanor worried.

"How so?" Issei asked, "What's so special about that place, anyways?"

"It's the fact that it's restricted to the public." Ed explained, "No one can enter the Archipelago unless they are related to its founder, Grandmaster Adventurer Schnell Douglas."

"Actually, there's another way." I explained, "If someone related to Schnell invites you personally."

"So what, we're dealing with a Schnell?" Issei raised an Eyebrow, "Isn't that kind of a big deal? I remember hearing about that guy's exploits, he's kind of like the Vast world's hero of legend."

"Exactly, but regardless of whether or not this bastard is related to Schnell, it makes no sense why he's targeting us." Cecily said, "More importantly, he still hasn't mentioned Nelly in the letter yet. Are you sure he was talking about her, dear?"

"Certain, he was definitely talking about our daughter." I furrowed my brows as I kept reading, "Sadly, the rules go that only those that show this letter are permitted to set foot on the islands, with the addition of a specified +1. In other words, only you, Edward Saint and two others are allowed to attend, so be sure to choose wisely."

"Why would we ever follow his rules?" Cecily grunted.

"I think we'll have to." I sighed, "It's said that there is an entire civilization on those islands, and if we want even the slightest chance of getting Nelly back in one piece, we just might have to abide by their rules for now."

"But sending just four of you out would be a death sentence!" Camilla worried.

"Could we possibly contact Meil or someone to come with?" Ed asked.

"I assume he's already on his way there, regardless of if he's been invited or not." I said, "Still, it'd be difficult to bring along any more than four people anyways, so we might as well pick the drafts now."

"I'm coming with." Cecily said without flinching.

"Right, a mother ought to do anything in her power to protect her child." Issei nodded, "Don't worry, we'll take care of Cene while you're gone."

"...Huh?" Everyone looked at him, "You said that like you're not coming along?"

"The hell? Of course I'm not, it's dangerous!" He protested, "Plus I have to be away from my beautiful fiancées, that's a fate worse than death!"

"Aww, Issei~!" Eleanor hugged him.

"Don't condone his cowardice." Othelia ripped her off of him before handing Issei a decisive slap on the face, "And you, your friend is asking for your help, yet you wanna sit on your ass over here? I don't remember ever falling for a bitch."

Oof, harsh, but effective. He fake-sobbed a bit as he rubbed the sore spot on his cheek and sighed.

"I was just joking, geez. Obviously I was gonna help..." He said unenthusiastically.

"So that's the lineup, then?" Eleanor asked.

"Actually..." Anna raised her hand sheepishly.

"You wanna come with?" Ed looked a bit confused, "Anna, this isn't a vacation. It's dangerous."

"Yeah, I know. That's why I wanted to ask if someone could go in your stead." She said, "I don't think you should go on this trip."

"What are you saying? Nelly's in trouble!" He just slightly raised his voice, more so in panicked disbelief than in anger.

I can certainly understand where Anna's coming from, though. As a spouse, you wouldn't want your significant other to go along on a dangerous mission all gung ho and ready to die. Of course, I'm grateful for Ed's willingness to help us, but maybe she's right. I feel safe having Cecily accompany me because I know she's definitely capable of surviving anything the world throws at her, but Ed doesn't have that sense of self-preservation.

"But wait, unlike the rest of us, Ed and Lune aren't swappable, are they?" Issei remarked, "Since they're not +1s, but rather invited guests, is it even possible to have them relinquish the invites to someone else?"

"That's also a valid point." Othelia shrugged, "It's too risky of a play to make. If they decline you at the shore of the island, it'll just be Lune and Cecily versus them."

"I'm going on this mission." Ed made it clear, "Anna, trust me, I'll return home safe and sound."

"But when?" She asked, "Will it take days? Weeks? Months? How can I be sure it won't be too late by then?"

"No one can know how long this will take." I shook my head, "Due to the urgency of the matter, we can't even take our time to prepare and call for aid. Right, I'm prepared to spend years on those islands if it means saving Nelly, but if any of you guys don't find that appealing, you're free to not go."

"You kidding?" Cecily smirked, "You said my daughter's on that island, I can't not go."

"Honestly, this is a real pain..." Issei rubbed his nape, "But if it wasn't for you, I would've been long dead in my homeworld, Lune, so I guess I can't decline either."

"Ed?" I asked him.

"This is selfish on my part, and it's especially unfair to Annie." He glanced at her, "But if Nelly doesn't get saved, I'll forever blame myself. I'll make it up to you, honey, so promise not to get too hung up on this decision."

"Dammit, Ed..." She looked down.

"I'm going." Ed looked me in the Eyes, "And I'm not coming back without Nelly."