Early in the morning, as if she hasn't slept at all, Calista brewed her favorite tea, with her mind filled with thoughts. Trying to predict how this day will unfold, for they will head out for the city of Houlte.
She made her way to the veranda and tried to clear her mind.
'Per existing information, the trip should be 64% safe. There's still a chance to be attacked, be it other players or wild creatures. But that will only mean they're close to discovering this hideout.' Calista thought to herself and took a sip of her tea.
Calista sensed something from her left side. She looked at her side, but nothing was there, so she elevated her sight, and saw Minyoung sitting at the balustrade of the balcony.
Minyoung stood up, and jumped from the balcony. It was only on the second floor so it wasn't really that high, especially for a wolf.
"Did you notice it?" Calista asked the question, before she could forget ever asking.
"Notice what?" she casually sat on one of the chairs and rested her feet up on another chair.
"His necklace. It's his first day, and his first item is..."
"Ah, I did." Minyoung said this, and showed her right ear. There was an earring, similar to what Kaito has as a necklace.
"When did you-- " Calista was a little surprised, she was expecting to be informed of this as soon as Minyoung received it.
"We came here a little earlier than him... Honestly, that was just an hour interval, but it took a year in here. It was easy for me to notice, since it's on my ear."
On a closer look, it was a part of the Queen's piece.
"What does this even..."
"That's a nice looking brooch." Minyoung stood up and went inside after saying this.
"Brooch?" Calista looked at herself and she saw a brooch on her left chest. An incomplete piece too.
"Rook..."
*BOOM*
Calista wasn't able to cover her ears for the unexpected explosion. It's too early for Minyoung to test her inventions, and we're to leave for Houlte, she has no reason to do them now.
She walked calmy to where the sound came from, nonetheless.
"Minmin, what is--"
She saw Kaito catching his breath, with his clothes full of dust.
"He wasn't waking up, that's the nearest to an alarm clock that I could grab." Minyoung then went outside again.
Calista couldn't pay that much attention, it's like everything is a mess that even her mind couldn't process them at once. But for now, she tended to Kaito but there was not much she could do. He was not injured, but he needed a wash, and a change of clothes.
She sighed and left the building with Kaito.
"Let's just get to Houlte immediately."
***
"AHHHH! I FEEL SO DIRTY! It's so fucking uncomfortable!" Kaito kept on trying to clean himself by rubbing off the dust and shaking his whole body like a full grown wolf.
"Can you stop that? The dust is getting on me!" Minyoung decided to go up and get through the forest by jumping on the branches of the trees.
"The dust wouldn't be there if you didn't throw a bomb at me! For fucks sake there are other decent ways of waking someone up."
"I already tried those 'decent ways', so is it my fault they weren't working on your sleepyass head?"
While the two bickered, Calista was deep in thought, on top of a dream cloud.
"Calista, how far do we still need to walk? I mean, I'm the only one walking here but--" Kaito asked as he jumps and keeps on trying to grab a part of the dream cloud, but everything just disappears into the air.
Calista did not respond.
"I smell pests." Minyoung stopped on her tracks and sat on one of the trees' branches. Even Calista's cloud stopped moving.
"Pests?-- WOAH!" An arrow almost hit Kaito's side. Then came a shower of the same arrows. But it only bounced on a cloud shield that Calista provided to protect Kaito, as he is still unable to fight.
"What are you doing, Cali? That could've been a great training start. He wouldn't be able to live by himself if you keep protecting him." Minyoung said as she sets herself completely comfortable on top of the branch, not planning to help nor engage in battle.
"What do you mean "great training start" ?! it's definitely not a great start but also not a great way to die!" Kaito's wolf ears, fangs and claws uncontrollably appeared one after another.
"Oh, is that so..." Calista responded to Minyoung and had also relaxed on her floating cloud.
"Calista, you can't agree with this..."
"All I can say is, focus, and feel your wolf instincts. Rely on them."
"This can't be happening right now..." Kaito sounded hopeless but he had no other choice but to wait while on his fighting stance. Because they're obviously not going to end it with an arrow shower that didn't hit a soul.
"Hmph, small fries. Are they reducing man force or are they still underestimating us?"
"The 36% risk of my calculations still prevailed after all."
Kaito prepared himself as he heard footsteps. While the other two just stayed still, having no plans on interfering.
Five men with simply made weapons went running towards the unarmed Kaito. Having his senses enhanced and survival instincts activated, Kaito managed to dodge their simultaneous attack, and slashed them with his claws, one by one, on the chest, the neck, and the back.
Kaito still doesn't have control over his strength, so the wounds he inflicted were deep.
"Wait, don't kill them." Calista stopped Kaito as he was about to slash one of them again.
"I wasn't planning to, I'll just wound their legs so they won't run."
"That was horrible, you just kept throwing your claws everywhere, your fighting stances were a mess." Minyoung was slightly laughing as he mocked him.
"Whatever. I'm in no place to say this, but weren't they too weak?" Kaito sat down to relax his senses, his wolf appearance had all disappeared.
"It's because they are. We don't know for sure either, but they keep sending weak forces like this, it's almost insulting." Minyoung went down from the branch and kicked one of them.
"It doesn't seem like they'll talk Minmin." Calista said after examining the troop.
"Then let's go, we still have other things to do."
"We're just gonna leave them like this?" Kaito asked, but followed them anyway.
"No way. Leave not a trace, but a mark. That's what we do." Minyoung walked away and bounced a small bomb in her hand, before throwing it behind her, where the fallen enemies are.
"They don't get to ambush us, and return with their lives intact." Calista said with a cold voice.
"I repeat, we still don't know what happens to them when they die. But killing became a choice when we entered this world, because death was always a consequence of whatever we do. It's either we die, or they perish." Minyoung said this and walked like nothing happened.
"Could it be that the system caught wind of what you guys are doing?" Kaito asked while walking backwards, looking at the explosion.
"Do you mean to say, that the game is trying to kill us?" Calista is still on top of her cloud, refusing to walk.
"Yeah. I mean, it's possible right? You seem to be in a war with the creators."
"Then why would it send weak enemies like that?" Minyoung asked him.
"Because they can't control the strong ones? I think they have stronger minds so the game couldn't really make them move according to how they want them to." Kaito answered and started walking properly.
"That actually makes sense." Cali looked up to the sky, beginning to drown in thought.
"Can you look into it Cali? It's also possible that they're using those players just to keep track of us, not to actually annihilate us."
"I'll try, although I don't know how much I can get."
They continued venturing into the forest, until they are greeted by the main road, and a tunnel.
"Finally, this tunnel." Minyoung sighed and went inside the tunnel. It was made of metal, and pitch dark inside.
"This is Houlte?"
"No, it's the entrance to Houlte. There are no source of light inside. Watch your step." Calista went down from her cloud and entered the tunnel as well.
"Can't we just light one then..."
"No can do, Sherlock. This is like a security procedure. The tunnel will assess if you can enter Houlte peacefully, or if it will throw you into another unknown place." Minyoung's voice echoed in the tunnel.
"I can only imagine what happened to those who tried to light up the tunnel." Calista, for some weird reason, giggled.
"So I'm just gonna blindly walk forward then..."
After a couple of minutes in the dark, Kaito saw a light at the end of the tunnel.
"At last..."
"Wow, you actually passed security." Calista just smiled at Minyoung's remark.
"Welcome to Houlte, Kaito."
***