With Shino's disappearance their plan to save Ayame's village are in shambles
Since they are raiding the Ikegai Village with only four people along with Shino's spirit, Kuro, they decided to journey forth toward the Anglus City to discuss their plan
Along the journey silence was in the air, although not doubting that Shino died since Kuro is still with them, everyone is still worried
As the carriage shake from their travel Kuro notice something and said, "Ehh? Master just open the ˹Storage Box˼"
Everyone inside the carriage was surprised and approach Kuro closely shouting, "What?! What exactly did Shino do?!"
"Master just use a storage base skill, also too close" Kuro replied
"Eh? I though storage base skill is unique to each person" Murakami asked
"As master's spirit we share the same ˹Storage box˼ skill, so whatever is inside I also can access, and I can also sense if the ˹Storage box˼ skill is used" Kuro explain
Hiroko who are driving the carriage overheard what's going on inside and stop the carriage and asked, "Then doesn't that mean we can use this ˹Storage Box˼ skill as a gate?"
"No, the skill only applies on objects that are not bigger than the user and storing any living being is prohibited, if you do it, it will just die immediately as soon as you close the skill and turn into dust, also I can't open it if master is using it" Kuro replied
Ayame then suddenly said, "But you said Shino just open it right? Then maybe he put something inside, a letter or something"
Kuro used the skill ˹Storage box˼ and start to search for what his master put inside
After a long search and others starting to become impatient, Kuro pull out an envelope and said, "Sorry, master has a lot of things inside, but I think this is a new placed one since master never put all his research in an envelope"
Kuro also think and said to herself, "also this envelope has a different design than what master use when sending letter to princess Azalea"
Everyone went outside the carriage to open the letter and read it, clearing her throat Kuro started to read the content of the letter as the other sat in front of her
"Everyone,sorry if I left you behind but no matter what happen proceed to the quest we accepted, You people have grown well enough in the past few week we a trained, remember that you are chosen as heroes, the strongest among all, me being absent should not cause you trouble or unless you want this teacher of yours to came rushing and help you?. As of right now I am fine and finding my way back to you all as fast as possible, but by checking the surrounding I can safely say that I am in a far-away land, whether I arrive in time is all up to fate. Hiroko, Crocus, Murakami, remember everything I taught you and use it to succeed on this quest, think smarter than the enemy, the one who knows more is the winner, Ayame-sama, the necklace you have is Kuro's source of magic and it is connected to me, I leave Kuro in your care. Everyone, I trust that by the time I came back you are safe and sound, now I don't really know how to end this but please be safe, I'll keep this short because I want to get back in time"
With the end of the letter Hiroko stand-up and said in all seriousness, "Well then, it will be embarrassing if we keep mopping here, let's meet Shino's expectation"
Murakami also stand up and said, "I don't really know if Shino is encouraging us or what but I guess we should proceed"
Crocus snapped from sleeping and said, "o-oh, yeah! Let's go!"
Everyone started to board the carriage and Ayame are still worried, fiddling with the necklace Shino gave him
Hiroko notice her and reach toward her and said, "No need to worry, no matter where Shino is I'm sure he is fine, since he is the strongest among all of us"
Ayame then asked, "I am well aware about Shino's strength, but Shino set a huge expectation on us, can we really achieve it?"
Hiroko smiled at Ayame and replied, "Expectation of the other is just a burden to the person they are expecting, well that what Shino said to me once, It never said in the letter that Shino is expecting us to succeed, he just want us to stay alive until he came back, so let's go Ayame-sama"
Ayame clench on the necklace and move a step forward with confidence, agreeing to Hiroko, and their travel towards the Anglus City to rest and begin their rescue quest, has began
A week has past and they arrived at the gate of the Anglus city and stopped by the guards
Murakami gave a hood to Ayame and said, "Cover your horns with this"
Ayame obediently follows and put on the hood to cover her horns while the guard inspect them
"Oi kid, this is an inspection, if you have any slave you need to pay 20 silver per slave, also we are looking for criminals, they are Oni's from the Ikegai Clan, for conspiring with the demon they are sentence to be killed on the spot by the duke of this city" the guard said
"Tsk!" Hiroko utter and added, "Feel free to inspect but we have no slave"
The guard conversing with Hiroko gave a sign to check the carriage to the other guards
As one of the guard check the carriage he notice Murakami and Ayame who are covered in hood and said, "Well~ well~ you have some beautiful ladies here, why not lend them to us for a night and you won't need to pay the fee young man, ahaha"
"None of us are slave, all of us are adventurer so don't ever think to touch them" Hiroko replied
The guard just laugh at him and said, "Don't be so strict young man, is one of them your lover or something? ahaha"
Ayame caught the attention of the guard and he approach him saying, "ohoho~ why so shy young lady? Don't worry I won't hurt you, I'll even give you a good time if you come with me"
The guard remove the hood that covers Ayame's horn and was shocked, startled by her appearance the guard fell inside the carriage and shouted, "A-an Oni!"
Murakami point her staff towards the guard and chant, "O wind gather fort and blast my enemy, ˹Wind Blast˼"
A gush of air blasted the guard out the carriage and destroyed the roof of the carriage causing the guards outside to be alerted
One of the guard then shouted, "Enemy! There are enemies, close the gate, kill that demon along with her accomplices"
Hiroko draw his sword with it sheath still on and jump toward toward the guard, knocking them down with each swing
"Run to the forest!" Hiroko shouted
The guard up in the wall started to line up with bows and arrows ready to fire at them, and with a signal the rain of arrows came upon them
As they run towards the forest Crocus put up his shield and covered Murakami and Ayame in the rain of arrows, meanwhile Hiroko are deflecting them using his own sword
"The arrows are slow, I can see them and my body move accordingly, is this the result of my training?" Hiroko said to himself
"Wow~ nice moves there Hiroko" Crocus said
"Pay no attention to me, just run towards the forest before they fire another round!" Hiroko shouted
As they reach the massive spruce trees and disappear from the guard's sight they run deep in the forest
"Looks like they are not following us" Ayame said panting
"We are deep in the forest, and with the demon appearance here they are probably scared to follow us" Hiroko replied
Murakami who are also tired said, "We should rest here, wait, where Kuro is?"
"In the necklace, I told her to hide when we are being inspected" Ayame replied
Crocus used his shield to rest on and said, "I am glad we are safe now, but let's not drop our gua…"
Crocus saw a silver tiger behind Ayame and before they could react Kuro came out the necklace and punch the tiger, sending it flying and causing a tree to fall down
"Please don't let your guard down, we are in the enemy's territory, and also there are different beast lives here" Kuro said
Hiroko just smiled and said, "How about we plan our attack here instead? Anyone up for camping?"
"At this point we have no choice but to camp, but rest for a while, I'll gather some firewood and scout the surrounding while you all rest" Kuro replied
"Say Kuro, aren't you being too behave than usual?" Murakami asked
"Yeah, it's a bit weird you are this behave" Crocus added
"I didn't read it out loud but Master said in the letter to behave or I won't get any treat when he came back" Kuro said with a teary eye
Everyone sigh and think, "He trained her well huh?"
"Don't worry just behave as usual, we won't tell Shino, right everyone?" Hiroko said with a smile
With everyone agreeing Kuro personally thank everyone and clump her gauntlet together and shouted, "Yosh! Let's kill some baddies!"
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˹Wind Blast˼: Creates a gush of wind toward the target; Low mana consumption