"Marianne and Alistair, you've drunk the water?" Yurian asked.
"Yes, and I've seen it as well!" Marianne gushed, breaking out of the storytelling character she was pretending to be. "It was so clear and beautiful and I could feel the essence of life coming off it. I would drink it again if I could! Of course, that's impossible."
Alistair shrugged and gestured to the floundering girl. "Whatever she said."
"But, what does this river have to do with these jewels?" Sylvester hung the jewel off his hand, watching the rays of light bounce off its infracted angles as it swung like a pendulum's stone through the air.
"These jewels are called [Lotus Soul] and are infused with the water from the River of True Tears," Alistair took Sylvester's jewel and showed it to them. "They are filled with spiritual powers that can help mask our auras from Persephone. She will not sense us if we have this on us at all times. The court magicians made them after numerous attempts."
"No wonder I felt that the aura was so familiar," Marianne was surprised.
"Yes, it is pretty familiar," Yurian mumbled.
"What did you say, Yurian?" Sylvester frowned. "Why would it feel familiar to you?"
"Haha, you heard that?" Yurian scratched his head dumbly. "Maybe it is just my Omkaran powers calling out to me, but the spiritual power inside this jewel just feels familiar. It's probably just me!"
"Anyways," Alistair said, "The mission will take a period of at least 6 months. We will travel within Auglarus for 4 months before reaching Clomodor covertly to try and locate Persephone or her tracks. The point is to narrow down the general direction of the Demon Spirit, so that the King can collaborate with Clomodor to track her down better, but we do not want the Clomodorians to know how little we know just yet. I hope that you guys will agree to this, since we all have…shared experiences, and I would trust you guys with my life."
Sylvester sighed. Yurian suddenly quipped, "Actually, Sylvester has just received an invitation to his brother's birthday party in Clomodor. It's in 6 months' time."
"Yurian!" Sylvester protested in annoyance. "I never said I was going."
"6 months? That's perfect," Alistair smiled. "We can reach Clomodor and maybe even complete our mission before you head off to your brother's birthday party."
"Nonsense, how could we locate it so fast? You haven't seen them in years right, Sylvester?" Marianne supportively cheered. "Besides, if anyone bullies you, we will be there to punch them up into meat paste! It's time for you to shine."
Sylvester looked up at the canteen's ceiling and groaned under their expectant gazes.
"Come on, Sylvie!"
"It will fun!"
"Don't call me Sylvie! Sigh…Fine. I'm in."
"Yay! Haha, we are finally going to go out on a long mission together!"
"And to kick Persephone's ass!"
The quartet cheered and hugged each other playfully before realising that they were looked at weirdly by the other diners in the canteen. Alistair quickly disabled the [Surround] jewel and the four made their way off to their rooms.