"Since we are all here shall we begin discussing the upcoming trip?" Sydra asked, looking around the table. Seeing everyone nod, Sydra pulled out the map and placed it on the table. He had chosen a table that was off in the corner to keep their conversation away from prying ears and eyes.
"So this is a map of the Emerald Sea Forest... It's a bit larger than I first thought it would be." Robert said, peering at the detailed map laid out on the table. The map piece in front of them was one of five, and even though it was made a long time ago it was still in pristine condition.
"Indeed, I believe this part of the map makes up half of the continent that we live on. If any of the kingdoms found out that we had this map they would do anything to get it from our hands." Sydra said to warn the others of what they could be facing if knowledge of the map got out. Everyone took what he said seriously and nodded.
"How will we be going about this?" Erich asked, noticing the ten points on the map that represented ruins.
"This is the ruin we have already uncovered, and it was the smallest out of all of them," Sydra said, pointing at a point on the map. "Although Emerald Pine Valley is not on this map due to not having been built yet, it is around here." He said pointing at a blank spot on the map. "We will be following this route to reach the other nine ruins. Based on calculations it should take us around a year to reach every temple and do the bare minimum search inside." Sydra said dragging his finger over each of the points on the map.
"Why will we only be able to do the bare minimum search?" Cidre asked with a frown.
"Well, most of our time will be consumed by walking from place to place through the forest, and I calculated that we would have a week at most in each ruin, to search them. With only four people that won't be enough time. After all, Robert had more than half his guild searching the smallest ruins, and they hadn't even managed to uncover half of it." Sydra explained.
"What if I said we didn't half to walk and instead could drive there?" Robert asked, trying to hide his excitement.
"What do you mean?" Erich asked turning to look at Robert.
"Hold on a second the food is here." Sydra interrupted, as he put his map away. The waiter had come back and was expertly carrying four plates of food with him.
"Here we go, who ordered the Explosive Carton Milt?" The waiter asked, gesturing towards a plate that had a well-seasoned fish on top of it. It looked delicious, and the smell was amazing.
"That was me," Robert said taking the plate from the waiter.
"And the Plume de Gray with a side of Closmo?" The waiter asked, placing down a plate that had an expertly cooked bird with a gray drizzle over it.
"That would be me," Cidre answered, before looking hungrily at his food.
"Ah, so these two items must be for the two of you." The waiter said, placing down two more plates in front of Sydra and Erich. Peeking at the food Sydra was surprised to see a burger and fries in front of him.
'That doesn't look too bad...' Sydra thought, picking up his burger and taking a bite out of it.
"Oh, gods" Sydra moaned, as his mouth was overwhelmed in a state of ecstasy. That one bite of the burger had surpassed all expectations Sydra ever had, sending him into a world of bliss. It felt like a thousand little fairies were dancing with his taste buds, and as the food went down his throat his body became warm and fuzzy.
"Geez, you look like it's your first time eating this," Erich commented, glancing at Sydra gazing out into the world like he was on cloud nine.
"Ahem, as I was saying earlier, we won't have to walk through the forest," Robert said, calling Sydra back to his senses. "Echo said she can upgrade the Fluttershi with Void Obsidian and some runes to make it capable of traveling through the trees. Something about dimensions overlaying one another, stuff I didn't really understand." Robert explained.
"Oh? That is impressive, and by traveling through the foliage instead of cutting it down we will leave less of a trail to follow. How long will it take her to finish up?" Sydra asked, excited about the prospect of more time searching each ruin.
"It should only take her two more days, so we should use that time to finish getting ready," Robert responded, as he finished up his food and sat back.
"That's good, by the way, I stopped by the tailors today and got us all some sleepwear and sleeping bags. Pop-pop even gave us each a backpack, so we're all set there." Sydra said as he savored each bite of his food. ' Who cares about the aftermath, this stuff is amazing.' He quietly thought.
"Oh, you were able to pick that stuff up already. I was going to let you know after we finished eating." Cidre said, as he also finished his meal up, before ordering a drink.
"You know, I have never seen you not wearing that leather armor and your cloak. You do have other clothes don't you?" Erich asked, noticing that Sydra was still wearing his leather armor while the rest of them were in more comfortable clothes.
"Haha, actually no, all I have is what you see. I should probably buy some new clothes." Sydra said, looking down at the leather armor he was wearing. "By the way, I forgot that we should probably buy some food for the journey as well. We will need a lot of food as we don't know if what we find in the forest will be edible. I say we need about four months of food for the four of us." he said while taking another bite of his food. He was the only one not done yet, and the others had their plates picked up and taken care of. Since it would be a while until he was done, Sydra pulled the map back out and began searching for something.
"What are you looking for?" Erich asked, also looking at the map.
"I'm trying to find a place between the fourth and fifth set of ruins we will be traveling through. Before I came to this town, I was living around here." Sydra said pointing at the space between the fourth and fifth ruins. "Outside of the Emerald Sea Forest, and around this area lies a town called Oak Grove Peak, and I was thinking we could pick up more food at that place," he said, looking back up at the others.
"Yeah, I have heard of the place before, I actually have a trade map that goes around the forest, and if we compare the two maps to each other I'm sure we can figure out where it is," Robert said, looking closely at the map.
"Great, we can do that when all the supplies are gathered and the Fluttershi is finished," Sydra said, finishing up the rest of his food. Putting the map away and standing up, Sydra called the waiter over to collect his plate. "I plan on going on a small quest tomorrow before we head out, do any of you want to join me?" he asked, looking around at the group.
"I can't, I have to set up orders for while I am gone, and I plan on spending the rest of my free time with my wife," Robert answered, as he stood up as well.
"I'll go with you, I need some field experience with the new mace, anyway," Erich said, stretching his arms back behind his head.
"Sorry, I have to help Pop-pop out a bit more before we head out, we want to create a lot more backpacks. I'll also pick up the provisions we need, so stop by after your done with your quest. That way we can put them in the Arbor Sanctum." Cidre said, finishing up a drink he had ordered.
"I was curious about that, Robert and Cidre told me you are a mythical rank tree with a floating island that also works as an inter-spatial storage. So, how come you are only a D-rank adventure?" Erich asked, not knowing much about nature spirits.
"I was curious about that too," Cidre said, looking questioningly at Sydra.
"Hmm, if I recall this information right it is supposed to be like this. There are seven mythical rank trees in the world, but they don't start at that rank. Instead, they begin as a king rank tree and have to grow to that level. Before reaching the mythical rank, all seven trees have to be tested by the heavens and are struck by a natural disaster. The natural disaster that struck my tree was a lightning storm, as it ascended to the clouds. If it had failed the tree would have fallen back to the earth and another tree would have taken its place. Since it had succeeded my consciousness was born and became a nature spirit. Although the tree and I share a deep bond, and our lives are connected to one, we are still separate entities. This means I have to work my way up from the bottom, but the tree will help me along the way." Sydra explained to the group.
"That makes sense, here I was worried that one day we would wake up to see you had turned into a tree," Erich said, laughing at the thought. As Sydra was about to say something else, he felt a deep stirring in his gut.
'Not already, it hasn't even been an hour yet.' Sydra thought in panic. "Yup, anyway I will see you guys later, I have to go now," he said as he activated his lightning and rushed out of the building.
"Did he just ditch the bill onto us?" Cidre asked, surprised at how quickly Sydra had ran off.
"Yup, seems he is already feeling the effects of the food. Don't worry about it, I'll get the bill," Robert said pulling out some gold and putting it on the table. "See you guys later," he said before the three parted ways.