The message ended for nearly 10 minutes but Era continued to remain unresponsive. The others maintained their distance, not close enough to suffocate her but not far enough that it would make it look like they were isolating her.
After a period of silence, she finally spoke, "I want to be angry at him. If he didn't do what he did, then the town would still exist and maybe my family would still be alive. But then again, if my father complied with the family, would they even let us off? They might even destroy the town to make sure no one can tell about the treasure,"
After she finished talking, she leaned towards Ryker, wordlessly asking for his support. Ryker kept her in his arms, comforting her as she trembled. Thankfully, she recovered quickly, the support from Ryker helping her greatly.
"What are you planning to do with the treasure then?" The girls looked at him, disappointed by how insensitive he was. He gave them a wry smile.
"While I would like to hold it for now, I think it's better to check the treasure, specifically the location of the inheritance. The only person with the right to decide is Era, as it was found by her father and he clearly wanted his children to have it. So, what is your decision?"
Era seemed to think it through before saying, "Let's check it out. If it's close, we could try to get some of the treasure there. If it's far, we could always go there after our time in the capital," she decided, pulling an old and worn out map.
While the paper of the map seemed like it would crumble with a mere breeze, the image on it remained vibrant, emitting a golden glow, allowing them to see a clear image of the inheritance's supposed location.
Ryker took out a piece of paper, intending to copy it when the image disappeared and turned into golden light, before heading towards the paper he was holding. Surprised by the turn of events, he couldn't do anything as the golden light hit the paper.
To his pleasant surprise, the image began to form itself on the piece of paper, somehow clearer than before.
"Wow, the ability of an Earth Source realm expert is incredible," Miriam let out not knowing that she was in the presence of someone who had been in the Earth Source realm and even the World Source realm, the highest possible level that could be achieved in Rohuka.
"Wait, I think I've seen this before," Miriam exclaimed before taking out a map of the barony and putting it near the paper. After comparing the two she let out a triumphant "Haha!"
"I was right, if nothing changed, then the map shows us the inheritance is located near the capital, about 3 days journey from the capital," she said, pointing to a spot northwest of the capital.
They looked at the map, nodding as the place that she pointed out looked similar to the map's picture.
"So, we going to the capital, and when the time is right, we should take the chance to check out the inheritance," Ina concluded, the others nodding in agreement.
Only Era remained silent, the others looking at her in worry, "You don't have to go if you don't want to," Miriam said, Era shaking her head at the idea.
"I want to go. I need to see if the inheritance is worth it," she explained. Seeing how resolute she was, the others accepted it, knowing they couldn't deter her now.
"One more thing," Ryker suddenly said, looking at Era with a serious face.
"We knew about the Tol Family interference, the reason behind your old home destruction. The bandit that less the attack likely belonged or at least had some connection with that family. Do you want to take your revenge on them or not? If you do, you going to have to face a family with an expert at the Genesis Core realm in their rank," he told her, watching how she paled at the thought of facing such an expert.
Genesis Core is the realm after Genesis Foundation, with one advantage over any experts below the realm, the ability to fly. Genesis Core experts could fly, giving them a great advantage over the experts below the level.
"I want to have my revenge, but I don't want to drag all of you into this feud- ouch!" she cried out once more, Ryker hitting her on the head.
"Honestly, there is no way we going to let you face them all alone. Besides, they had hurt you so they have a feud with me too. I'm going to settle this grudge of yours, starting by destroying the bandits that destroyed your hometown. After that we going to ruin the Tol Family, in any way possible," he told her.
Era teared up at the declaration, jumping on him as she hugged him. "Thank you, thank you so much," she cried out, Ryker returned the hug as he looked at the other girls. One by one they joined in hugging Era, including Mashia. This in turn led to the children, who were playing somewhere else to flock at them, trying to join the hug pile.
Era continued to cry, but this time in joy. She might have lost her family but she regained a new one. She hoped that her father and brothers could be here. If not, she hopes they see her from wherever they are.
-x-
"Alright, while I'm serious about taking those two out we need to know how strong they are. From what we know, the Tol Family is too strong for us to handle for now. So we should focus on the bandits. The only thing we knew is that they have one peak Genesis Condensing expert.
However, they might have more experts by now if it's true the Tol Family is still supporting them," Ryker said.
"Yeah, that's no longer true," Mashia replied, Ryker looked at her expectantly.
"I had a delightful talk with our prisoners. They said they now have two experts in the Genesis Foundation realm, both at the first and second stages respectively. They also have 15 people at the Genesis Condensing realm, though the current strongest after the two leaders at the 8th Stage," she told them.
"I see," he said, plans forming as he thought about possible ways to end the bandits.
"One more thing, apparently, the one leader at the 1st Stage Genesis Foundation realm, they joined a year ago. They said he was the one reason they could destroy the town so easily,"