"The capital is under attack!"
The capital's under attack? Elara's eyes widened as her brain finally processed the news.
Nanna!
~
"The Royal Capital is under attack!?" The Crimson Lions' Captain asked, disbelieving.
"Stone Creation Magic: Stone Model of the World." Everyone's attention turned to a Golden Dawn member who had his grimoire opened.
Suddenly, a very detailed and realistic model of the capital emerged from the ground, making the new recruits and Klaus stare at it in awe.
"It's... a three-dimensional model of the Noble Realm?" Klaus muttered in astonishment.
"W-wow!" Asta marveled.
"..." Yuno, being the quiet bean he is, just stared at it with wide eyes.
"Even the voices of the people at the scene and their magic levels..." Klaus continued to inspect the impressive spell. "Is he pacing the whole area with the mana and simultaneously making it visible?"
"This is much more advanced than my Magic Flower Guidepost!" Mimosa commented, awestruck.
Meanwhile, Elara stayed quiet as she scanned the whole area, her eyes zooming in on her family's manor. Fortunately, the manor seemed unharmed so far, although the trail of destruction seemed to be heading towards it.
Oh no... I have to get there no matter what. Elara thought determinedly.
"A force with this much magic appears in five places simultaneously, without us noticing..." Alecdora stated, inspecting the model.
"A formidable spatial magic user must have made them materialize in an instant." The Crimson Lions' Captain said.
"How should we assign the members we currently have?" The vermillion haired Captain said, thoughtfully.
"First, we need to guard the area around the castle." Alecdora said.
"Wait, what the heck are we waiting for!?" Asta suddenly interjected. "I get it! There are people out there who need our help! I'm gonna go!"
With that, the ash blonde went running out of the room.
"Where do you plan to go? We don't even know the full situation yet, and you can't sense magic at all!" Klaus shouted after him.
"I'm going to where it's noisiest!" Asta replied.
"Wha— D-do you think you're an animal or something!?" Klaus asked incredulously.
Seeing Asta's free spirit and determination, Leopold laughed and exclaimed, "Interesting! Let's see what you've got! Wait for me, Asta, my rival!"
"Guys really are dumb, aren't they, sis?" Sol commented from the side.
"Yes, they are. And call me 'Captain'." The Bule Rose Captain replied.
As much as Elara just wanted to run out like what Asta and Leopold did, she knew she had to stay and listen to her superiors. Klaus was right after all, they don't know the full situation yet and running into battle blindfolded isn't actually the smartest thing to do.
"Leo's still very much a child. I'll have to thoroughly retrain him later." The vermillion-haired captain said.
"I'm sure you'd rather not take orders from me, but listen well, Magic Knights! I'll go after Leo and that Black Bulls boy, and after I've joined them, we'll head to the north district. Both of you, Black Bulls, come with me." He ordered, hopping onto a lion made out of fire.
Elara looked down, thoughtfully at that. The north district is quite a bit away from her house. If she were to go with them, there'll be no way for her to monitor her grandmother and everyone else's safety.
"Silver Eagles, I ask that you head to the central district, where the magic is strongest. Blue Roses, head to the east district!"
Elara's eyes widened. That's it! The Lunate Manor is nearest to the East district, plus the Blue Rose Knights only had two members in their group. She'll have to ask the Crimson Lions' Captain if she could possibly go with the Blue Roses instead.
"Golden Dawn, split into two teams and head to the west and northwest districts!"
Elara looked towards the Crimson Lions' Captain and shivered a little.
He looks quite intimidating.
She shook her head and had to force herslef to walk over in his direction.
"Excuse me, sir?" Elara asked hesitantly, her hands sweating in nerves.
She was well aware that most of the people in the room hadn't forgotten about the information that they were fed with about her only a few minutes ago and she was anxious and scared that it might change the way they look at her. Whether they'll still consider her as worthy of even protecting the Capital, but since the Crimson Lions' Captain ordered her to go to the north district with him, that must've meant they trusted her a little bit, right?
The vermillion haired Captain turned to her, eyebrows raising, questioningly.
"If it's not too much to ask. Would it be okay if I could join the Blue Rose Knights to the east district? It would be a lot more even, considering there's only two of them." Elara's eyes widened after realizing what she was saying. "I mean, I'm not saying that they'll need my help or anything! They're probably really strong and can handle themselves. What I'm trying to say is, we could cover more area in that district if I were to join them." She rambled on frantically, trying to justify her request.
The Crimson Lions' Captain stared into her eyes, searching for something. He knew that there was more to the reason of why she wanted to be in that district specifically. But as he looked closer, he could see the spark of determination of wanting to protect something in her eyes, and he was not one to deny such thing from a junior knight.
The vermillion haired Captain gave a subtle nod, "If that is what you wish to do then very well, you may join the Blue Roses to the east district."
Elara visibly relaxed and gave the Captain a grateful smile, "Thank you, Captain!"
She received a nod of acknowledgement from the Captain before she turned to Noelle, who looked absolutely nervous about being given the task of protecting people in the Royal Capital. The fact that she was being talked down upon by her siblings just a few minutes ago didn't help her case either. She placed a hand on her friend's shoulder which caught her attention.
Noelle turned her head as she felt a hand grip her shoulder softly and was greeted with one of Elara's warm smiles. "Don't worry, Noe, you can do it. Don't listen to what your siblings tell you, I'm pretty sure I know more about you than they do at this point and I know that you're a very strong person. I know it's not actually that reassuring hearing this from someone like me, but I believe in you."
Noelle frowned after hearing Elara say that. Her thoughts immediately going back to when her sister started degrading Elara and she felt absolutely horrible. Yes, she was absolutely shocked about the new information she acquired about Elara, but she knew that her friend wouldn't do anything like that on purpose. She liked to think she knew Elara well enough by now to know that she's nothing but the bestest friend she could ever ask for.
So in reply, she smiled back at the lavender haired girl and said, "Thanks, Lara. That's actually very reassuring coming from you. You should probably follow your own advice and ignore what my siblings told you. I'm very sorry for that. They don't have the right to tell you such things when they barely even know you!"
Noelle would probably never know this but just hearing that from her really meant more to Elara than she could ever imagine. She was glad that at least Noelle and Asta wouldn't look at her any differently.
She smiled and gave Noelle a short hug which flustered the youngest Silva greatly. "Thanks, Noe. I'll see you later so you better get out of this unscathed or I'm going to be beating some bodies to pulp."
Despite her whole face flaring up, Noelle managed to laugh and nod back at the lavender haired girl.
With that Noelle climbed on the Crimson Lions' Captain's fire lion while Elara walked towards the two Blue Rose Knights, who were on a giant earth golem.
"Pardon me, Captain Charlotte." Fortunately for Elara, she recognized the Blue Rose Knights Captain as her parents once told her about the Roselei family before their passing. Otherwise she'd be put into the awkward situation in which she'd have to call for the Captain with 'Pardon me, Captain of the Blue Rose Knights'.
I really need to learn the names of my higher ups.
The Captain of the Blue Rose Knights, Charlotte Roselei, looked down from where she was standing on the earth golem to see the Black Bulls girl that she had taken an interest in because of the aforementioned curse.
Out of curiosity she asked, "Yes?"
The Blue Rose Knight with her also looked down at the Black Bull curiously.
"If it's not too much to ask, I'd like to join you to the east district. I have already asked permission from Captain..—Fuegoleon." Elara prayed that they didn't noticed the hesitation and pause before she said the Crimson Lions' Captain's name. She honestly only knew the name because she overheard Mimosa talking about her complicated family tree earlier, but she was also only half listening then so she didn't know if she said it right.
I seriously need to stop being so ignorant when it comes to people's names.
Much like what Captain Fuegoleon did, Captain Charlotte stared Elara down which made he fidget as she suddenly felt so small in the presence of such a respectable woman.
With her interest already piqued by the girl, she wanted to know more about her so Captain Charlotte nodded her head and allowed the Black Bull to join their group.
Elara sighed in relief before a hand was suddenly forced upon her face. Elara's eyes widened in surprise before they trailed up to meet the owner of the hand.
"Hi, I'm Sol! You seem like a cool person plus you're a woman so I approve! Here, let me help you up!" The Blue Rose Knight with Captain Charlotte said so bluntly and carefree that Elara was absolutely dumbfounded.
Despite already knowing about her past, the two women seemed so nice to her that Elara was a bit sceptical.
It's either they're just trying to be polite or they just really don't care. But they seem so genuine...
With that in mind, Elara hesitantly took Sol's hand and she was pulled up to stand on top of the earth golem.
"It's nice to meet you, I'm Elara. Thank you for having me!" Despite her confusion, Elara decided to be polite and smiled, bowing a bit to show her gratitude.
"Don't worry about it! We're glad to have you join us, right Sis?" Sol said cheerily, while patting Elara's back as if they were the best of friends.
Captain Charlotte nodded and replied with a "Yes, and call me Captain, Sol."
"Alright, Sis!"
Elara sweatdropped at the interaction and didn't know whether to be relieved or unnerved that the Blue Roses were very friendly and welcoming.
"If we fail to protect the royal capital, we'll bring shame upon the Magic Knights! Do not let the enemy escape, no matter what!" Captain Fuegoleon announced to which was responded with a determined "Right!" from the rest.
With that the Knights all scattered and went their own ways towards their designated areas, unknowingly leaving behind a munching Charmy.
As they went out, Elara immediately noticed that the whole capital was in chaos and there was smoke everywhere courtesy of the fires going on around.
"What happened?" Sol asked as she looked around.
"Who are those people? They looked to be the cause of all this." Elara stated as she spotted a mob of people terrorizing the citizens.
"There's a lot of them. What could be their motive?" Captain Charlotte said as she took a closer inspection of the chaos going on.
Sol and Captain Charlotte were alarmed when they suddenly heard Elara let out a gasp.
"What is it?" Asked the Blue Rose Captain.
Because of her sharp eyes, Elara was able to get a closer look at the mob of people that were terrorizing the citizens only to be completely stupefied by what she saw.
"Those are not people." Was the only thing she said as they finally reached the east district.
Elara and Captain Charlotte jumped off the earth golem and let Sol punch some of those 'things' away with her golem as she landed.
The citizens, who were momentarily safe because Sol's golem punched most of those 'things' away, stopped running and turned back to look in awe at the Magic Knights that came to save them.
"Sol senpai, look out!" Elara yelled as she saw that the few that Sol knocked down had gotten back up again.
"Eehhhh?!" Sol jumped off of her golem and ran to stand by Elara and Captain Charlotte. "What are these things? They're gross!"
"Indeed. I feel nauseous just looking at them." Captain Charlotte said before turning to the citizens. "Everyone please find a place to hide, we'll take care of these things from here." She ordered while the citizens obeyed and ran off.
After making sure that the citizens were safe and out of the area, Captain Charlotte turned back around and yelled, "Stay away from me!" when she noticed that the 'things' were getting closer.
Captain Charlotte summoned her briar sword/whip and started to whip away the 'things', sending them flying off. Sol commanded her golem to crush some of them and Elara used her light bow and arrows to shoot the 'things' down. She knew that these weren't people so she was okay with piercing them in vital places.
So this is Lunar Magic... Captain Charlotte thought as she observed Elara and her magic. She also didn't fail to notice the girl's impeccable marksman abilities.
Her attention was immediately reverted back to the 'things' though as they noticed that they just got back up again.
"They won't stay down!" Sol said in frustration.
"Then..." Sol and Elara turned to look at Captain Charlotte as she spoke. "We'll just have to crush them until they can't get back up!"
Elara and Sol spared a glance at each other and nodded, their eyes glinting in determination. "Right!"
With that Captain Charlotte used her briers to pierce and knock away the 'things'. "Filthy creatures, stay away from me."
"Quit grossing my Sis out!" Sol yelled and started rampaging with her earth golem. "Earth Creation Magic: Raging Mother Goddess!"
"Call me 'Captain'." Captain Charlotte said as she whipped away a few other 'things'.
"I will not let you harm any more innocent people! Lunar Creation Magic: Divine Punishment!" Elara yelled as she raised her hand and sent a barrage of light arrows towards the 'things'.
"I will not allow anyone to touch me. Briar Creation Magic: Corpse-Hunting Briar Trees!" Soon some of the 'things' were surrounded or pierced with briar vines, thorns, and roses.
The three women fought against the 'things' and after a while managed to get most of them to stay down. Although, it seemed the battle had only started as more started coming their way.
"Just how many of them are there!?" Sol asked, annoyed as she sent her earth golem smash some of the 'things' to the ground.
"These things seem to be made out of magic but I don't think they're alive. The only probable conclusion I could come up with is that this is caused by someone's magic. So unless we can defeat the source, they'll just keep coming." Captain Charlotted explained as she pierced more 'things' with her vines and thorns.
Elara exhaled a heavy breath to calm herself down because she was getting more aggravated by the second. These things didn't seem to want to stay down and now Captain Charlotte is telling her that more will come if they don't find and beat the source.
After that extremely short break that she needed, she went back to fighting the 'things' with the Blue Rose Knights' Captian and Sol.
As her spell continuously kept throwing light arrows at their enemies, Elara decided to take drastic measures so this would end quickly. With the spell still activated, she was able to conjure a sword-like light arrow in between her fingers and zoomed forward.
In the speed of light, Elara sliced and pierced the 'things' as she passed them, bringing them down one after another. Sol and Captain Charlotte were a bit startled as they witnessed Elara disappear and suddenly they were seeing a trail of light speeding from one 'thing' to another, leaving them dead on the ground.
Though, being the professionals they were, quickly recovered from the shock as they reminded themselves that their hands were also full with fighting these 'things'.
As Elara speedily killed one 'thing' after another, she didn't notice that she was straying far from the Blue Roses and nearing her childhood home instead. Not until she finally heard it...
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" A female voice shouted, instantly grabbing Elara's attention.
After piercing another 'thing' right through the stomach, Elara immediately turned to where the voice came from and paled when she saw that it was coming from her house.
In a flash, she disappeared and reappeared inside the manor's gates and saw one of the maids being cornered up against a wall.
Elara deactivated the sword-like light arrow she was holding and with a flick of her hand, the 'things' surrounding the maid were all pierced through the chest and fell.
The maid looked up and was elated to see her young mistress, "Young lady Elara! Oh, thank goodness you're safe! Thank you for saving me, young lady!" She said as Elara approached her.
Elara gave the maid one of her warm smiles and helped her up, "There's no need for thanks, I'm just glad you aren't hurt."
Despite her saying this, the maid still went on and thanked her repeatedly once she was helped up.
"No really, it's fine." Elara sweatdropped before looking around to find that the front lawn was free from those things. "Would you mind doing me a favor?" She asked the maid after some time of deliberation.
"Not at all, young lady." The maid replied.
Elara smiled before saying, "Gather as much of the workers as possible and bring them to the emergency room. There are probably more of these things around the house but if you all stay inside and lock all the windows and doors, you'll be safe."
The maid nodded with a determined look on her face, "Yes, ma'am!"
Just before the maid can run off, Elara called her back.
"What's your name?" Elara asked.
"Sierra Abernathy, ma'am!" The maid replied with a small smile.
Elara smiled back and nodded, "Thank you for your help, Sierra. I'll get a good word in to nanna for you." She said.
The maid's face brightened at that, "Really?! Oh thank you, young lady! I promise I won't let you down!"
And with one last bow to her, the maid ran off even more determined to finish the task she was given.
Elara didn't know how the 'things' managed to get past the gates but she needed to find out or more will come and probably harm more people inside the manor.
Elara concentrated her mana on her feet and jumped, allowing her to jump high enough to reach the roof of the manor. She landed gracefully on one knee and stood up, looking over the whole area of their land.
Before she could spot the reason as to how the 'things' could get in though, her eyes caught sight of two mages fighting off the 'things' in the middle of the garden. They seemed to be surrounded and struggling.
Elara immediately hopped off the roof and landed—rather ungracefully yet successful nonetheless—and immediately went to help the two mages.
At first she thought that the mages could've just been the gardeners, but as she grew closer, she saw that it wasn't the gardeners. Elara once again paled as she now had a clear view as to who was struggling to fight off the 'things'.
"Nanna! Benjy!"
The sword-like light arrow made its appearance once more and disappeared with Elara in a blink of an eye. Soon a trail of fallen 'things' were made as light pierced through them. And before Benjy and Reighan even had the time to process what was happening, Elara appeared right before their eyes in a second.
"Are you guys all right? Are you hurt?" Was the first thing that came out of her mouth as she reappeared.
Benjy and Reighan perked up at the sight of the young Lunate and immediately pulled her in for a hug—well, Reighan did, Benjy just kind of stood to the side with a huge grin, glad to see his young mistress again. Although it would've been better if it weren't under these circumstances.
"Ella dear! You're home!" Reighan exclaimed, happily, somehow forgetting the fact that they were still surrounded by lifeless 'things'.
Well, that was until one of them grabbed Elara by the shoulder, immediately earning a screech from the girl.
"Don't touch me!" Elara yelled as she pulled away from her grandmother's hug and pierced the foolish 'thing' that dared touch her.
"We'll have to postpone the reunion nan. We have to get you two to safety first." She said as she sent a bunch of light arrows towards the 'things'.
"I may be old, Ella dear, but that doesn't mean I can't take care of myself." Reighan said in a mock offended tone.
Elara giggled before sending a tiny smirk her grandmother's way, "I never said that you couldn't."
"I think it would be of greater advantage if I were to assist you both." Benjy said as he brought out his own grimoire.
"Knock yourself out, Benjy!" Elara replied cheerily, before turning to concentrate on kicking some 'things'' bums.
"Lunar Creation Magic: Divine Punishment!" Elara excalimed, sending more light arrows towards the 'things'.
"Sound Magic: Last Notes." Reighan chanted calmly, sending slow, calm, and colorful music notes towards the 'things'.
The notes might've looked harmless and peaceful on the outside but as they touched the 'things', they turned black and caused the 'things' to look even more like death and crumble to the ground.
"Mind Magic: Implode." With that, what's left of the 'things' that Elara and Reighan managed to miss, all collapsed to the ground.
Elara just gaped at Reighan and Benjy. She didn't know that her grandmother and personal butler slash bestfriend were this powerful. More importantly—
"Mind Magic!? Is this how you were able to find out where my secret stashes were!?" Elara asked Benjy, incredulously.
Benjy just gave Elara an innocent smile, "I don't know what you are blabbering about, young lady."
Oh, Elara damn well knew that he knew what she was blabbering about and just crossed her arms and looked away from him, sulking and muttering bitterly to herself.
"Oh and I'll be confiscating all the chocolate you just bought today as well."
Elara immediately adopted a scandalized look, "BENJY!"
~
After successfully figuring out how the 'things' managed to get in their property and fixing the problem, Elara brought Reighan and Benjy inside the emergency room where they found all the staff and workers waiting anxiously for this whole thing to be over (Yes, the room was that big).
As it turns out, the back of the garden only had medium sized hedges separating it and the forest behind the property so the 'things' only had to go around the manor and climb over those hedges to get in. Elara didn't even know how they weren't even robbed yet. She and Reighan decided it'd be best to make a gate after this whole thing blows over but in the meantime, Reighan made a Sound Barrier with her magic, though this is not the type of sound barrier that only blocks out sounds.
Anyways, as they entered the room, Elara immediately spotted Sierra, who was talking with another maid, and waved her over. "Sierra!"
Sierra turned at the call of her name and smiled once she caught sight her young mistress.
The others in the room heard too and turned their attention to their mistresses. Both Lunate women were immediately bombarded with worried and concerned workers after that.
"All right everyone, settle down. We're fine and we're glad that you're all safe too. Now, while we wait until this is all over, why don't we all wait in peace?" Reighan raised her voice so she could be heard.
That definitely shut them all up. "Yes, madame!"
Reighan smiled in gratitude before turning to her granddaughter, who was in a conversation with one of the maids.
"Nanna, this is Sierra, she was the one who helped gather all of the workers and got them here safely." Elara said, leading the said maid over towards her.
Sierra blushed before giving Reighan a small smile and bowed in greeting.
Reighan smiled back and thanked the girl for her service and help. "I can't really do much to repay you for your tremendous help in keeping my workers safe, but would a promotion do?"
That definitely made Sierra's day.
"I don't get it." Elara said to Benjy, who looked over at her curiously.
"What don't you get, young lady?"
"Well it looked like you really had it all under control fighting those 'things' so why'd you look like you were struggling before I came?" Elara asked curiously.
"That was because Benjy kept on stealing my glory and kills!" She heard her grandmother say from where she was standing with Sierra.
Elara turned to look at her grandmother incredulously, "Wha—"
"No, like I said before madame, I was only trying to protect you." Benjy retaliated.
"And like I said before Benjamin, I don't need protecting!"
Elara and Sierra sweatdropped as they watched the two bicker. At this, Elara found out why they seemed to be struggling earlier.
The two were too busy bickering than actually trying to defend themselves.
~
After reassuring Reighan, Benjy, and everybody else that she would be okay and that she was a Magic Knight with a duty to protect the Kingdom now, she left Lunate Manor and found her way back to the two Blue Roses that were just finishing up the last of the 'things' in the area.
"Elara! There you are! Where'd you go?" Sol asked as soon as she caught sight of the lavender haired girl.
"I'm sorry for going on my own without your consent Captain Charlotte, but there was a house full of workers that was under siege of these 'things'. I deeply apologize for my reckless behavior!" Elara said and bowed apologetically, leaving out the part where it was actually her house that was under attack.
"It's fine, Elara. I expect that the workers are safe now?" Captain Charlotte asked.
"Yes ma'am!" Elara exclaimed, straightening up.
"Good." Captain Charlotte nodded before looking around.
"Good job, Elara! Hey you're a really strong woman, how come you didn't join us?" Sol praised as she slung an arm around Elara.
Charlotte, who also wanted to know, strained her ears so she could hear while also keeping her guard up just in case more 'things' came. She didn't remember anything about a girl who uses Lunar Magic in the entrance exam, and a strong one at that. Because if that were the case, then she surely would've raised her hand for her.
Elara blushed at the compliment before replying shyly, "Well, I didn't actually enter in the Magic Knights Entrance Exam. Captain Yami just sort of met me in Castle Town and deemed me to be interesting and decided that I should join the Magic Knights in his squad."
"Aww, that's a bummer! We would've loved it if another strong woman like you joined our squad." Sol said.
A bummer indeed. Charlotte thought.
"Great job, Blue Rose Knights!" A man suddenly shouted, which caught the attention of the three woman.
The people seemed to think that it was safe to go outside now as there now a lot of citizens crowding a few meters away from them.
"Lady Charlotte is so elegant." A woman said.
"Lady Charlotte is so lovely." And another one.
"Sol is so cool." And another one.
"Hey, is that a Black Bull robe?"
"Isn't that that barbaric squad that causes more trouble than actually being helpful?"
"Did she help Lady Charlotte and Sol?"
"Hmm...maybe not all of them are bad after all!"
"Miss Black Bull! You were so awesome!"
To say Elara was shocked was an understatement. She wasn't really expecting any compliments considering her squad's and her own reputation. But after hearing all these people thanking her for help, she suddenly felt so overwhelmed of warmth that her whole face was showing it.
Sol noticed and immediately started laughing, "You look like a tomato Elara-san!"
"E-ehhh?!" Elara's eyes widened as she cupped the sides of her face to feel if she was heating up and sure enough, she was. She let out a small incoherent squeak, before covering her face in embarrassment which only caused Sol to laugh even harder.
"Sol, mind your manners." Captain Charlotte said, shaking her head at her squad member's antics.
"Right, Sis!" Sol replied, straightening up and successfully stopping herself from laughing any further.
"Call me 'Captain'." Captain Charlotte said.
"Right, Sis!"
Just as Elara removed her hands from her face, she gasped as she caught sight of something dark that was rapidly spreading on the ground beneath Captain Charlotte.
"Watch out!" She excalimed as she jumped and disappeared, reappearing a few meters away from where the dark mass has spread.
She might've escaped but it was too late for Sol and Captain Charlotte as their feet were already engulfed by the dark mass and before she knew it they were sinking into it.
"Captain Charlotte! Sol!" Elara disappeared from her spot and was about to pull either one of them out of there, but it was too late.
Just as she reappeared to where Captain Charlotte was one standing, the Blue Rose Captain was already gone and so was the dark mass. Elara landed on her feet and looked around to see that Sol was nowhere to be seen too.
"Where'd they go?!" Elara frantically asked, turning in her spot to try and spot the two Blue Roses. She was especially worried because of the fact that she couldn't even sense their mana signatures anymore. And it didn't seem like it was only Captain Charlotte and Sol who suddnely disappeared.
The citizens were starting to panic as well, concerned as they just witnessed their saviors getting engulfed in a dark mass before completely disappearing.
"What do we have here? Someone managed to escape the Spacial Magic?" A male voice suddenly echoed through which immediately caught the citizens' and Elara's attention.
Elara looked up to see a figure standing on the rooftop of the nearest house.
"Oooh! And it just happened to be the very person to which I was so anxious to meet too! Lady Luck must be on my side today."