Garden Of The Abyss

[One Month Later. Artheria Road, Tilburr region, Mastorn.]

Riding inside of a basic, almost shoddy carriage, he fixed his boots, adjusting the laces before sitting up. Seated across from him were the white-haired, stoic man–Tristan–and the tan-skinned, muscular woman–Brahmi.

Directly beside him, he looked over at Iris, who was fiddling with her magic staff on her leap as the wheels of the carriage pulled forward during the hours of the early morning.

Kazuya and Noah were riding in a separate carriage, on a different road, so as to not attract too many eyes to them.

They had been riding, going from carriage to carriage, stopping at small towns on the way, for well over a week by this point, though they had an initial boost in travel with the use of a titan ray.

"Halfway there, right?" He asked, looking outside of the window.

Beyond the window veiled by the violet curtain he parted with his glove, he could see three, colossal mountains huddled together in the near distance, crowned by magnificent, sky-surpassing trees that resembled Grandfather trees.

Brahmi answered, "Yeah. The sage said something about those triplet mountains marking the halfway point to the capital, or something, right?"

"Don't ask me," Tristan replied.

Sirius returned the day before we left. He tried to act like his normal, lackadaisical self, but I could tell something was off. I caught him up with everything since he wasn't included in the mission due to him being "Public Enemy #1" for Mastorn.

As the vice-founder alongside Iris, he was given the responsibility to look over Gladiolus while we're gone, but I think Akshay is going to really be the one pulling his weight there, he thought.

"Are you alright, Ren?"

The question came from Iris, who sat shoulder-to-shoulder with him, placing her pale, lithe hand on top of his own.

He gave the blue-haired significant other of his a reassuring smile as he nodded, "Yeah. Just wondering if Sirius and Akshay will be able to hold everything together while we're gone."

"You're really bugging that much about your guild?" Brahmi asked him, budding into their conversation.

"Yeah, that's normal, isn't it?" He raised an inquisitive eyebrow to the woman, folding his arms across his chest.

Brahmi laughed a bit, "I guess, maybe, if you're a punk."

"A punk?" He said with a wry smile.

Iris waved her hand a bit with a small laugh, "Brahmi…"

It was normal for the brash woman to be just that–brash. She told it to him like it was while the wheels of the carriage being pulled over the dirt road contested her volume.

"You've been with the Outlanders for a while now, right?"

"Right," he nodded.

"Then you should know firsthand that people don't need a leader to stay together–they need a bond! Or…something like that! You get what I'm saying right?" Brahmi nudged him with her elbow, leaning forward.

"You'd be hard-pressed to find anybody who gets what you're saying," Tristan commented under his breath, keeping his eyes closed as he tried to nap for the umpteenth time.

Hearing his small comment, Brahmi casually elbowed the pale, darkly-dressed Outlander in the side as he jumped a bit, but continued attempting his nap.

"Er, I think so…?" He rubbed his head, glancing to the side at Iris.

"Damn, kid, it's not that difficult!" Brahmi told him, tapping her foot against the floor of the carriage, causing it to shake unnecessarily, "If your guildmates have any respect for you, or each other, and maybe some common goals, then they'll be fine!"

"Is that so?" He laughed a bit.

Looking between Iris and Tristan, he didn't know just how reputable the words from the outgoing, hot-headed woman were.

She's right, though. I should just trust in Gladiolus, he thought.

"Let's go over this again…We're a group of four adventurers from the Journey Foundation, right?" He asked.

"Yeah," Iris nodded, reaching beneath the mantle of her outfit to retrieve a ruby-shaded insignia that was distinctly different from the one she usually wore, instead housing a design of spiraling scales, "They went through a lot of work to get us these Journey Foundation insignias."

He pulled out an insignia of the same color, "Yeah. I guess the Journey Foundation and the Hollow Foundation really do have similar adventurer establishments."

Brahmi lounged on the seat, taking up most of the space, much to the quiet annoyance of the man attempting to rest beside her, "What was our fake group supposed to be called again? "Great Smashers", or somethin' like that?"

"..."Grand Busters"--that's our group name," he corrected her with a slight pink to his cheeks.

The cheesy, over-the-top name was completely of his own creation.

"Is all of this "pretend" crap really necessary? Mastorn doesn't have our faces. The only one they maybe have is Ren, but he looks completely different now–like, completely different," Brahmi rubbed her head, "What's the point?"

Iris answered her question, adjusting the way her skirt sat on her legs, "It's impossible to infiltrate Mastorn–there's no changing that. There are no openings to get into the capital, not unless you go through the front gates directly. We wouldn't be allowed in as just random travelers, but as distinguished adventurers of the Journey Foundation, that will be easy."

"I see, I see," Brahmi nodded, "Makes sense."

"Beatrice explained all of this already during the meeting, dumbass," Tristan muttered.

Another elbow came from Brahmi to Tristan for his snarky comment made under his breath, continuing the conversation as if nothing happened.

"It's that, and we wouldn't even be permitted to be in the same section of the city where Gaol is located without being adventurers of at least ruby-rank," he added.

"..."The Heavenly Keep", right?" Brahmi spoke seriously now.

Such words caused even Tristan's sleepless eyes to open once more.

"That's the information Beatrice was waiting to get from the Princess, huh?" Brahmi asked.

"I only heard about it recently–the alliance between the Outlanders and Princess Getrude's knight squadron…" Iris commented.

"It's a hard pill to swallow, ain't it? Working together with a Mastornian–royalty, at that," Brahmi said with a slight cheekiness to her tone.

"I trust Mother's judgment…From what I've heard, Princess Getrude is nothing like her father–despite her royal upbringing, she puts her duty as a knight first. I think…she knows her father is bad for Mastorn, and she wants to help," Iris responded.