“So, they will run out of power to keep the barrier up?”
“Hmn, should have a limited supply.” Mia had filled Trevor in on the device that was outside, similar to the other Gaia cult devices she had seen before, notably the one in the camp that was attacked by Cy “more damage it takes, the more they have to switch out the supply.”
Trevor listened to her, watching the adventurers pound the barrier with powerful magic one after the other “if we keep attacking it, then it will fall… just a matter of time then.” He surmised “and our companions on the outside are doing the same?”
Mia nodded “better to hit it constantly” she pointed to the group at the gate “should drain it faster.”
“Hmm…” he slightly nodded, affirming something to himself “will let the guild know of that possibility, it will be hard to do that with so many people in the lobby but…” he shook his head “wish you kept me in the loop, this would be much easier if I knew what was going on from their end.”
“Sorry.” Mia grabbed ahold of Ria “one at a time, needed her.”
“Right, well, let’s see if we can get out of here out to the city.” He dusted himself off before addressing the rest of the group “everyone, sit tight…?” he then noticed everyone had already dismissed themselves, going off and doing their own thing, Dria had left with her group the moment she realized time travel was involved, and it didn’t affect her. “…what a day” he heaved a heavy sigh, then ran off.
[Saved to slot 2]
“How long do you think it will take?” Ria asked.
“Don’t know, depending on how much they have…” she faced the front entrance, watching them slam the barrier with a variety of spells “…” her view then fell onto the crowd, where she knew Roxie was somewhere inside. ‘How did you end up like that…?’ she asked herself, she was a far cry from how she was when they first met, just what could someone go through in a month to do that…
“Pfft-!”
Mia turned around quickly, seeing Ria had turned away and was covering her mouth “…what?”
She jolted “n-nothing! Nothing at-Pffft-!” she turned around while she spoke, but the moment she laid eyes on Mia she covered her mouth and spun around again, shaking.
“???” perplexed, Mia checked her body, seeing nothing obviously amiss, she even checked her hair “Ria? What?”
“Nothing!” she shouted through her giggles, trying to wave Mia away “J-just give me a min-pft-minute!”
Mia, with puffed up cheeks, pushed her way in front of Ria “Ria, what is so funny?!” she whined, she had not seen her sister like this before.
“N-nothing!” Ria stood up straight, avoiding her sister’s gaze by staring at the ceiling, an act that caused her to lose her composure as she started laughing.
“R-Ria!” Mia shouted, her face beat red. They were attracting a few questioning gazes.
Ria continued to laugh, some how managing to compose herself “S-sorry…it’s just…Pfft-“ the moment her view fell onto Mia, she almost started laughing again, but taking a deep breath and hitting her chest she composed herself “sorry, when you were uh, pft, floating and flailing arounh -ha- sorry, I was concerned but then it was just…really funny.” She looked away “remembering that was uh, sorry.”
“…” her eyes widened, her face already as red as it could get from earlier “Y-you…” her face twisted, embarrassment overwhelming her as she turned around “jerk!” and dashed off into the crowd, slowing down time to gain extra distance and to weave through the crowd with ease.
Once in the crowd, she thought she could hear Ria yell, but she didn’t care, mad at her sibling “…jerk” she started to glance around, her gaze landing on the gate “they are still hitting it one at a time…” she mumbled, “Trevor might be having a hard time…” they would get out eventually, and the adventures on the other side might be a good sign if they were here instead of fighting the boat.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Now, she wanted to find Roxie and find out what was going on with her. If she knew she was in that bad of a shape she’d seek her out sooner… maybe… she only knew her for a day but Roxie did save her life.
Like always, part of her questioned what was the point in helping her if she was just going to go back in time but oddly enough, she found that part of her was getting quieter ever since she met up with her sister… the state of Hiiro also flashed in her mind, a more direct result of what that line of thinking causes, further pushing that small voice back.
She ducked between the crowd, wondering where Roxie could be. She had to have seen her floating around and came to find her. That little mouse was smaller than she was, however, so finding her would be di-oh there she iiiIIIIIISS!!!???
“I’m telling you man, this is some grade A bullshit, why don’t we just use the boats to leave? Or just the tunnels.” A black panther beastkin wearing a full set of blue armor was talking to his partner up against one of the lobby walls, sharing a drink while chatting about the current situation.
His partner, also a black panther, laughed at him “You think you can swim that tunnel? Dumbass, it’s solid all the way.”
“Heh, no it isn’t, I’ve seen sunlight before in the B-2 tunnel” the 1st spoke, mocking him while slamming his drink on top of a metal table “just a simple swim, we wrap around and BAM, hit those Gaia freaks and free everyone, we become heroes, get promoted, and next thing either you or me know. S-rank.”
“Mnnn”
The other hit the top of the table “you? S-rank? Please, you can barely fight any of the…excuse me? We are talking over here.” He noticed Mia, who was staring intensely the two of them.
“Ew, freak, the fuck you want?” the other, freaked out by her stare, tried to shoo her away.
Mia wordlessly glanced between the two, then slowly looked down at their *table*, it was Roxie, holding her shield above her head and looking down with her eyes closed while the two used her as a table, leaning their weight onto her. “…what are YOU two doing.”
Roxie flinched, peaking up, her eyes springing open in surprise “M-mi-eep!”
One slammed their fist on top of the shield “What? Got a problem?” he stood up, growling at the onlookers “we are trying to enjoy our drinks before we are free from this stupid hall, so scram.”
“Yeah, beat it!”
“…one chance.” Mia spoke softly “one chance to make this-“ she motioned at Roxie, who was at this point shaking and mouthing for Mia to go away “-remotely ok.”
The two looked genuinely confused, before one started laughing “Oh! You actually care for this?” he slammed his open palm atop the shield “what? You new?”
“No one cares about this experience stealing, team killing mouse.” He stood up, sitting atop the shield “I’ll have you know, we are B-ranks, so don’t try anything funny, kid.”
The other leaned up against his shoulder, further increasing the weight Roxie had to bare “If anything, we are doing her a service, having her as a luggage carrier who doesn’t drop dead every time the going gets tough is super nice.” He cackled.
“Yeah, don’t know what everyone is on about, just take the exp she steals out of her pay.” He joined in on the cackling.
Mia looked down at Roxie, who could no longer afford to pay attention as she carried the weight of the two of them as they cruely laughed on top of her. She glanced behind her, everyone who was paying attention turned away, noting most of the ones in this area were kids, too small to do anything themselves.
She faced them again, cracking her knuckles “blew it.”
“Haaah? You still have a pr-“ Ice flew into his face, colliding with his open mouth and pinning him to the wall “MHph?! MHPH?!”
“Oiy, you bi-“ like the last one, ice flew into his face and pinned him, his screams muffled as he tried in vain to remove the ice and free himself.
“…eh?” The weight suddenly lifted; Roxie slowly looked up in time to see Mia walk past her and pat her head.
“Sorry…” was all she could manage to say before walking up to the two flailing Panthers, stuck to the wall with her true ice. She reached up, sending more ice to pin all their appendages in place “…these are B-ranks?” she questioned, the ones she was with inside the haunt would not have been this easy to pin down.
“T-they are…uhm…E-ranks…” Roxie said, taking a few steps back.
“Oh, liars.” She reached up and grabbed ahold of their shoes “no wonder they were sitting here doing nothing.”
[Saved to slot 3]
She turned to Roxie, two sets of knives forming in the air around herself “might want to look away, going to put one of my titles to good use for once.” She said, referring to [Torturer].
Roxie, as if that was a command, instantly followed it, shivering profusely.
“…” Mia was quite mad, even through that damaged and battered armor Mia could tell, Roxie was thin, if what they were telling the truth they were probably barely paying her while dragging her into the dungeon, had she been with these two the whole time? The thought of that peaked her anger, how could these two be adventurers, how were they allowed to get away with this, especially when they were so brazen about it right here in this overcrowded lobby?
She was beyond pissed; this was unjustifiable. Her daggers flew up to their sides, pressing their points up against the exposed cracks in their armor that were for binding, the points pressing up against their fur. Their muffled screams head by everyone in their vicinity, but no one spoke up or protested.
With both set in the load…
Mia went to paying them back for their treatment of Roxie in full.