Their plan proceeded faster than Ludric and the others estimated after Rock and Marissa joined them. They managed to take back half of Torihigen's captured area in less than half a month.
The king thanked them and rewarded them as much as he could afford. He understood that they have another mission and reassured them that their soldiers could handle the rest. The plans formulated by Rye, Ash, and Ludric were foolproof as long as they did it right.
Nandia officially joined the team. With this, there were eleven of them.
It was quite a big team to be honest, but an extra hand means extra fighting power. Moreover, seven of them were heroes.
Before they left, Rye didn't forget to remind the king about the chapel. He didn't want it to get abandoned again once he left. At least, he should assign someone to clean it every week.
"Which chapel are you talking about?" The king was confused.
Nandia and her sister also looked at Rye weirdly.
"The chapel at the side of this castle. The one that is hidden between the patch of woods. It was in a really bad state when I found it."
The first princess was about to say something when she halted. Her eyes blanked out for a split second and she blinked a few times.
"Thank you for your reminder, Sir Rye. We will make sure it is well taken care of."
"We have completely forgotten since we usually pray directly at the temple." The king added.
On their way out, Rye visited the chapel once more to burn the view into his memory. It was the place he first met Octavian after all. Not to mention, the place where he also got married though he didn't realize it at that time.
He might be the only person alive to not realize he was getting married at his wedding.
He informed of his leave to Octavian although he knew Octavian must've known. But Octavian said that he liked to hear his prayer, so he was determined to pray more.
Ludric and the others needed to find new armours, so they would need to take a detour. He prayed for a smooth and safe journey. Hopefully, they wouldn't encounter many obstacles that would delay their time more.
Once he was a distance away from the wooden patch, the sunflower path silently disappeared. The 2 wooden patches fused into one like how they initially were.
Knowing of their departure, the people of Torihigen sent them out with gratitude, wishing their victory against the demons. After they were far enough from the town, Ludric discussed about where to go to find their new armour.
Desmund, Rock, and Ash suggested going to the dwarven country which was on the west. Rye, Aerindel, and Freanor took the chance to suggest the elven kingdom since elven magic tools were the most effective towards demons. As a magician, Rosetta agreed with Rye. Lilith preferred the dwarven country, but he agreed with Rosetta. Marissa backed her boss up. Nandia didn't have any opinion in the matter and followed whatever Ludric's decision would be.
"Although elven light magic is indeed potent, I don't recall that elves make armour. Our current priority right now is armours instead of weapons, so I vote for dwarven country." Ludric decisively said.
With that, the vote was 6 to 5 with the majority choosing the dwarven country.
The next problem was about their ride.
Ash, Rock, and Marissa could fly on their own so they didn't have any trouble. There were 8 of them left so there shouldn't be a problem in making the pair.
But Nandia insisted to ride with Ludric with the excuse that it was her first time riding a Raptor and was afraid to fall. Rye didn't mind riding with Desmund, but this time it was Ludric who became stubborn that Rye would ride with him. Lilith wanted to ride with Rosetta and Rosetta also didn't want to ride with Nandia in regard to her attitude. Nandia passive-aggressively refused to ride with Desmund.
Rye, "…"
How old are you? 5?
Unfortunately, his body size made him the only male there that could ride with another male. If not, Desmund would definitely not mind riding with Ludric and Freanor wouldn't mind riding with Nandia. He then could ride with Aerindel.
He inwardly sighed.
What is this nonsense quarrel?
He was about to ask Desmund to pair up with him when a big white bird swooped down from the sky. It landed in front of them and elegantly flapped its wing to smooth its landing and balance itself. It has wide white wings, a long slender neck, and a small head. Its beak was the colour of gold along with its fine 5 feather tails at its back.
None of them knew what species it was. They have never seen a bird as big as a Raptor unless they were demonic beasts.
The bird looked at Rye in anticipation, but the other only looked at it in wonder. Seeing that Rye didn't understand its intention it approached him. The Raptors consciously moved aside to make way for it.
Rye was confused when it lowered its body in front of him.
"It wants you to ride it, my dear friend." Ash said.
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Rye looked at Ash doubtfully, "Why?"
"Maybe it was charmed by you from the sky and wants to be of service seeing your distress."
Rye, "…"
Speak properly, please.
He moved his hand and carefully tried to touch it. It didn't mind the contact at all and moved its neck to feel his palm more. It stared at him with its big, sparkling eyes.
"…"
If Ash was right, this pairing problem could be solved.
He was a bit reluctant to dirty its clean feathers, so he folded his legs to prevent the soles of his boots touched its body.
Once he has positioned himself safely, the bird promptly flew. Startled, Rye grabbed its feather. It was softer than he thought that his hands almost slipped.
Ash, Rock, and Marissa tailed it with their Air Board. Aerindel and Lilith followed behind them since their pair was fixed. Ludric took the chance to escape Nandia's pestering, leaving Desmund the only one who could pair with Nandia.
They have already secured a safe route to leave Torihigen, so their travel went smoothly for a couple of days. The dwarven country only consisted of one single city as big as two capital cities fused into one. The rest of the territory was used to build manufacturing factories which were connected to the capital.
They were preparing the camp when Ash, Rock, and Marissa returned.
"No anomaly to be found."
"Thanks as always, Ash." Rye nodded.
"I require your help," Ash said, "Might you teach me how to read magic circles?"
Rye was slightly surprised, "Sure, but for what?"
"Our battle with the archdemon made me realize how lacking I am compared to your brother and his teammates. I cannot wield magic, but I am confident in my intelligence. I wish to cover my strength with knowledge. It also frustrates me how I cannot read the information blatantly presented in front of me. If I can read those information in a magic circle, I can act accordingly before it is released."
"I don't mind teaching you, but there are 77 alphabets, 13 numerical symbols, and 30 rules of strokes. The language used in magic circles is an ancient language. It took me 3 years to be fluent in the language and 5 years to instantly read a magic circle. You can definitely learn it faster than me, but I can't guarantee that you can use it in battle soon."
"I accept the challenge!" Ash declared confidently. He turned to Rock and Marissa who were setting up the portable kitchen they brought, "Both of you will also learn with me."
"Huh!?" Rock and Marissa wanted to protest, but they couldn't refute Ash's previous words.
They continued their work gloomily.
Rye, "…"
He should make 2 different study plans.
After dinner, they decided on their night shift schedule. Since there were eleven of them, each pair only needed to watch for an hour. Rye requested to do the last shift alone.
It was said that the best time to pray was during sunrise.
When it was his turn, Aerindel woke him up and he exited their tent. He got ready to pray by facing the east when he was stunned by the view in front of him.
Not far from their camp, a path of sunflowers emerged from where it was previously empty which led to a familiar building at the end of it.
It was the chapel. The chapel that was previously in the castle at Hala.
The bird approached him and settled down next to the fire camp.
'Leave it to me.' It said with its eyes.
Rye thanked it and eagerly went to the chapel.