Inverse System

"Hm? And what is it you want us to do?" Raxo raised an eyebrow.

"He'll explain it to you. Core also called Voron here, so he'll be visiting in the meanwhile. He should be on his way to the gulf as we speak," Rein explained.

"Father is coming? It must be something of great importance," Saphrilla deduced.

"It is, and sorry I won't be able to be there. Just promise me that you won't get too angry at your dad," Rein apologized while patting Saphrilla's head.

"Hmph, I can make no promises," she coldly remarked. "However, I will do my best," she added with a smile on her face, Rein smiling back at her as he took his hand off of her head.

"Alright, we should get going now. Let's go you 2," Rein stood up and began walking towards the door.

"Aw, but I wanted to see gramps before we left!" Emria grumbled, not having seen Voron since they left the house a month and a half ago.

"Sorry, but we really do need to leave as soon as possible," Rein apologized. "We only have today to pull this excursion off. It's unfortunate, but we're just gonna miss Voron," Rein stated as Chloe followed him to the door.

"Okay… Fine. Bye Saphy! Bye Raxo! I'll see you guys soon!" Emria enthusiastically waived as she, Rein, and Chloe exited the door, Rein and Chloe also waiving with her.

"Have a safe trip," Saphrilla wished them, the door closing as they heard her say that.

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They descended the stairs of the dorm building, passing by their friends on the way down from the top floor, greeting them all as they left their rooms for the morning.

"You tell them what I told you, Rein?" He heard Core ask as they passed by the boy's floor.

"Yeah, and your guys are escorting Voron here, right?" Rein replied, Core putting a thumbs up to his question, which he faintly saw as he descended.

"Yep! The old man should be here in about an hour."

"Hey, Rein? Why aren't we getting anyone else to join us? I was hoping that funny guy Quint would join, or that grumpy guy Clyde," Emria posed.

"Only 3 people can accompany someone on an escort request at one time," Rein explained.

"Oh, so the 4th one is gonna be Xenia then, right?" Emria asked excitedly.

"Nah, not this time," Rein said as they reached the ground floor and exited the dorm building. "We've got someone else for this request."

The 3 made their way to the quest room and entered inside, seeing a spiky-haired blonde prince sitting at one of the waiting tables.

"Oh! We have sparky spiky fire man!" Emria pointed, to which Sho irked, an angered expression being hidden in his face.

"I'll have you know that I'm a prince…" He said while his eyebrow twitched out of irritation. "You can either refer to me as 'Prince Sho', or just 'Sho'," he kindly corrected, to which Emria laughed.

"Well alright, sparky— Oh, I mean, Sho."

"Thanks for coming. What made you change your mind from last time?" Rein posed.

"It turns out the Econican Intelligence Division is busy at the moment, so there was no use trying to get through to them," Sho revealed. "And I would be damned if I miss out on getting that idiot to owe me," he laughed.

"Really, thank you for helping us Sho. On behalf of my brother, and on my own behalf, we're in your debt," Chloe bowed down, which flustered Sho, frantically motioning to her to put her head up.

"Please don't bow to me, princess. I don't deserve any of this goodwill."

"Haha, sure you do," Rein put a hand on his shoulder and walked him to the receptionist counter.

He motioned for Emria to join them.

"Hello, what can I help you guys with today?" The receptionist asked with a smile on her face.

"Um!" Emria sounded, drawing the receptionist's attention to her. "My name is Emria Xilris, and I would like to put in an escort request to uh… Alwaaq. And I would like these 3 to come with me if that's okay!"

"Certainly! I will just need the request fee and we'll be all set!" The receptionist said, which made Emria's heart drop as she turned to Rein.

"I don't have any money Rein!" She whispered, making him chuckle.

"I'll be the one paying, Ms. Receptionist," Rein intervened, making a confused look grow on the receptionist's face.

"Huh? Okay..? But you do know that this will be your reward, right? There's no point if you're the one who pays," the receptionist warns.

"I'm aware. Please go through with the payment regardless," Rein confirmed, the receptionist reluctantly submitting the request and giving the group their designated route.

[-150 000 rol]

[1 705 000 rol remaining]

"Okay then! You're all set! You are now permitted to travel to Alwaaq and escort miss Emria Xilris. Your reward will be 50 000 rol each and 50 points. Good luck, and be safe!"

The receptionist then went on to ask them if they wanted a tiger drawn carriage, to which they declined, opting to run there to arrive faster. Once again, they exited through the eastern tunnel of the Hasbin gulf, emerging at a point south of Stogue.

Rein picked Emria up into his arms and began running towards Alwaaq, following the roads there as to stay on route. Since he was wearing the defense artifact, he got Emria to activate her Spring while she held on to him to make up for the lost defense. Also, since he wore the speed artifact, it allowed Chloe and Sho to be able to keep up with him, Sho using the fire to propel him, and Chloe using a mixture of wind and lightning.

After running through Sahdahwar, then running through the rocky terrain north-east of the city, they arrived at the intersection where Rein stopped the carriage last time, stopping there again as he gazed out to the city in the corner.

"Why are we stopping here?" Sho asked as he breathed heavily out of exhaustion. "Are you taking a breather?" Sho posed while he himself was taking a breather.

"No…" Rein squinted his eyes, yet blankly stared into the horizon.

"Do you feel something again?" Chloe walked to his side, Rein looking at her for a brief moment, then looking back.

"Yeah. Some incredibly strong individuals are guarding this place. And they weren't there the last time," Rein exclaimed.

"Then… Were they recently stationed from yesterday night to this morning?" Chloe queried.

"It seems like it. The queen must've heard about our actions yesterday and bolstered the defense around the city," Rein theorized, Chloe beginning to tremble in anger and confusion once again.

"Why… What's father doing at a time like this…" She clenched her fist, Emria reaching over to her shoulder from Rein's arms.

"It's okay Chloe. We're gonna save him. Rein promises, right?" Emria looked back at Rein, who scoffed, closing his eyes in confidence.

"Damn straight. Now let's continue," Rein remarked as they resumed their run to the city.

"We should stop about a kilometer before we reach the city so we don't alert them. Though, if the queen is already aware of our plans, they will probably be expecting us anyways," Sho devised, Rein nodding as they continued running at supersonic speeds.

"You're right. We need to fool the guards to enter the city. Just leave that part to me though," Rein assured, having a plan in mind.

They eventually stopped once the small city was in sight, halting their advances once they made it to a large boulder just west of the town. Rein set Emria down as they hid behind it, Chloe and Sho leaning against it to catch their breath. Rein was not tired at all, unphased by the large distance they just ran, despite having the anklet of speed worn.

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"Alright, here's the plan. I'm going to disguise our faces with an illusion and we're going to enter from the front," Rein illustrated, Sho asking him a question as he continued his heavy breathing.

"Why… Though… Couldn't we just… Sneak through the back..?" He asked, pausing between every word to respire.

"That would be exponentially harder. Our first problem is that we have Emria with us, so it'll be much more difficult to sneak her through than usual," Rien listed. "Our second problem is that we're unfamiliar with the area, and one mistake in scouting the area could be fatal," he continued. "The third and final issue would be that those strong individuals I spoke of are most likely surveying any blind spots, so it would be impossible to get past them unnoticed," he finished explaining, Sho nodding his head at his words.

"I see… So despite being the main entry point, the front gate is most likely the least guarded… That is pretty ironic," Sho laughed.

"Yeah, we should invade from where they least expect us. Now, let's begin…"