When they arrived back in the room they were in before, the old man asked, "Your Majesty, so what are you going to do now?"
"I need you to call in as many mercenaries as you can, bounty hunters included! I'm going to create a team from these vagabonds!" replied Pectus, as he sat down.
"Sir, are you sure about this?"
"Just do what I tell you and stop questioning my authority!"
"As you say, Your Majesty", replied the old man, with a bow.
Reeve looked at the small pouch which had some coins. After counting them, he had only four hundred gold coins. However, he didn't know how much these were worth. Even after living in the Southern Earth tribe for so long, no one had bothered to explain how money actually worked. Currently, he was sitting in a moving carriage, and its destination was Sky City!
At the back of the carriage, there were two feminine figures, which were glaring daggers at each other. Reeve pretended not to care about this. He was more concerned about how he was going to look for the foundation stones. The funny deity had said he had one embedded in his body. How was he going to extract it? Then there was the king of what-was-this-country-called-again? Yes, the one who invaded another country as an excuse to look for the foundation stones!
If this guy was to find out he had the foundation stone, doesn't that mean his life would be full of struggles? Who knew what this nutjob was capable of? Well, he had a rough idea, but then even that was scary. As he concentrated on his thoughts, the noise coming from the back of the carriage started to increase bit by bit.
"Can you two please be civil? Some of us are trying to think here!" he yelled at the figures in the back. Cold snorts were his reply, causing him to shake his head.
A few minutes later, one of the figures came to the front, where he was sitting besides the driver. This figure turned into a red-haired girl, who was wearing a green attire, with leather pants. As she sat on the bench behind the driver, she asked, "So, how did you manage to do what you did back at the Southern Water tribe?"
"I still don't know your name! What do I call you?" asked Reeve.
"My name is Rizaneth, but most people call me Riza", she replied.
"I'm not most people, so I'll call you by your full name."
"Now you're dodging my question?"
"What do you want to know?" asked Reeve, with an indifferent expression.
"The burning carriages! Let's start with that! How did you make them burn with a loud sound?" asked Riza.
"Let's make another deal. We'll take turns asking each other questions. Once I answer your question, I'll ask one of my own. How is that?"
Riza appeared to hesitate, before she finally agreed. "Fine! So, answer my question!"
"Oh, that's simple. I just collected gas from a bog closer to the Southern Earth tribe. The gas is composed of methane, hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide. Methane is flammable, so, put it in a compressed container closer to something like oil used in lamps, and voila, a home-made bomb! It's just simple chemistry, really!" replied Reeve, his brain going into lecture mode.
Riza felt like she had been hit in the head with a very hard pillow! Her mind couldn't process what she had heard, so she felt like she had been played. However, only one word was vaguely familiar. "Chemistry? You mean alchemy?"
"Well, no. Before I explain that, you have a question of mine to answer. Who do you really work for?" asked Reeve. This question had been bugging him ever since the negotiations. He felt that even though she had been present during the negotiations, she didn't really work for the Southern Water tribe. In fact, her background was too mysterious. He wouldn't have cared if she hadn't decided to cling to him for some weird reason.
Riza appeared to be thinking about it, before responding, "I work for Lord Astram Saedis. He was the one who mediated the negotiations that day. He is the governor of the Southern Water tribe. I answered your question. Now, I'll ask another question."
"Technically you asked me about alchemy, and I replied, so I don't think that counts!"
"What? Is this a joke?"
"Another question. Should I answer?"
Riza snorted before saying, "Whatever! When will you begin to teach me your combat method? And where are we going?"
"Two questions! That means I get to ask you two questions as well!" said Reeve, with a smile.
"Just answer the questions!" yelled Riza.
Before Reeve could answer, another figure left the backside and came to the front where the two were sitting. The figure turned out to be Eskaria, who had heard the shouting and thought Reeve was in trouble. She thought she couldn't lose against the spy in a shouting contest, so she came to help.
"And what are you doing here?" asked Riza, glaring at Eskaria, who glared back.
Reeve sighed. This was going to be a very long journey. And it wasn't even because of the distance.
"Why can't I be here if you are?" replied Eskaria.
"Why don't you two just get along?" asked Reeve. To be honest, he was getting tired of their bickering.
"She used me! So I don't trust her!" replied Eskaria.
"Well, if you're stupid and gullible enough to be used, then why blame others?" asked Riza with a smile. "I don't care whether you trust me or not, after all, you're the one who followed us here!"
A spark flew between them, and Reeve could have sworn he actually saw it. Well, he has been seeing things for as long as he came to this world, so it was nothing he wasn't used to. First was the halo on Eskaria's head, which was still there as he looked at her. Then there were the lights floating around in the air.
While he was still thinking, a loud voice suddenly shouted, "HALT!!"