Noelle turned off the car after an eight-hour drive.
It was your typical jeep but better in materials and manufacturing methods, making it more sustainable to weather or damage.
Depending on how the jeep was manufactured, some would have unique features like hovering mode.
Thinking of it, it wasn't typical at all.
Especially talking about how it was powered by magic rather than gasoline.
That said, its fuel consumption was extreme, even more so when the road conditions were harsh.
Since the world state was an after-apocalypse, all roads became much more challenging now. It could take a longer time to travel from one place to another.
A trip that typically lasted an hour might end up taking three hours. Or even longer, considering some of the highway routes were unusable.
"Is the magic stone depleted already?"
"Yes."
"It's only been 8 hours, though."
Noelle replaced the empty magic stone connected to the power with a new one.
Holding the empty magic stone, Noelle said:
"This one already had half of its power before we left."
"Hoh... I see. By the way..." Astor glanced at the storage on the back seat. "You're fat, huh?"
"Excuse me?!"
Realizing his mistake, Astor quickly clarified.
"N-no! I mean your economy! Your money is fat! In other words, you're rich!"
Noelle gave him a deadly stare as she turned on the vehicle.
"Watch what you said, young man. And be grateful you're the same age as my brother."
"Yes... ma'am."
Shrinking and whimpering like a dog, Astor kept his mouth sealed.
They drove in silence.
Everywhere around them was nothing but a testament to the chaotic time.
When the boredom finally hit Astor again, he wondered why Noelle wasn't taking the sea route to Apollis.
Compared to the land route, the sea route would be much faster.
Glancing at Noelle, who was focused on the road, Astor spoke up:
"Your jeep has an amphibious mode, right? So why don't you take the sea route? You also have a lot of fuel supply right here."
"Because the road is safer."
That's true. As long as Noelle didn't pass the Miasma Zone, the land route was safer than the sea route.
"But the sea is faster. Don't you want to meet with your brother and mend your relationship with him as soon as possible? And spending time together before you have to go again?"
"Go? Where? I mean, why do I need to go again? I already cut all my ties with your organization. Our cooperation is no longer valid."
Astor grinned inside as he watched Noelle getting flustered.
"Right, we forgot to tell you something important..."
Intentionally pausing his words, Astor noted Noelle's expression changed.
"So, there's this rule that states whoever killed the boss monster of the Dimensional Rift will be dragged into the gate a week before its appearance in the world," he smiled. "Congratulations, Noelle. You have received the honor to visit the gate early."
Noelle's grip on the steer tightened. The tendons on her neck were crystal clear. She looked like she was about to explode. Astor only needed a match to light the fuse and...
"Ah, speaking of killing boss monsters, your brother—"
The moment Astor mentioned her brother, Noelle's hand lunged at him. Unfortunately, she was too slow.
Before she could catch him, Astor already dissipated like a mist.
"Fvckers!"
With her anxiety increasing, Noelle transformed her jeep into hovering mode, and she swerved the steer, changing course towards the nearest water.
When she reached the water, Noelle kept accelerating her jeep until it flew onto the sea.
Before it dropped into the water, she transformed the vehicle into amphibious mode, gliding across the sea with a turbo once it touched the water.
"Wait for me, Noir."
The estimated arrival time was two weeks and three days to reach Apollis from Huantinco via land route.
But it had been reduced to only a week now that Noelle chose the sea route. If not for the turbo, it would be 12 days.
While she was on her way to Apollis, the situation in the major cities gradually worsened each day.
Especially when a rumor about the reappearance of Nightingale Gate spread, causing panic for many people. Not only civilians but some of the Resonants, too.
The Resonant League cunningly took advantage of this to gain people's trust and reverse the situation against the Indigo Society.
They defended themselves by saying that they didn't clear all the rifts because they knew this would happen but decided to keep it secret.
At first, that statement aroused people's anger.
But after a few days, they realized it was the Indigo Society's fault.
Thus, what began as people's hero had become people's enemy. They were officially known and referred to as a villain organization.
...
After Noelle arrived at the Apollis gate, she was stopped by the sentinel asking for her identification.
With an annoyed expression, Noelle gave them what they wanted.
Receiving her identifications, the sentinel began checking them.
Immediately, their eyes widened as they read the name written in the identifications and the Grandmaster-rank imprinted on the license.
In big cities like Haven Liberty, Oberios, or Orien, people could easily find and meet Grandmasters in their daily lives as their numbers were over a hundred. And seeing a Lord would be a rare sight.
However, in small cities like Apollis, or even smaller than it—Huantinco, seeing a Grandmaster was already a rare sight, let alone a Lord. There could be a festival if a Lord visited a small city like Apollis or Huantinco.
The sentinels allowed Noelle to enter the city after returning her identifications.
With haste, she headed towards teleportation stations. Also known as Warp Dock.
Although Apollis was a small city. It was at least bigger than Huantinco, and its facilities and infrastructures were city-like.
And unlike Huantinco, Apollis had two usable Warp Docks, whereas Huantinco had none—it was still under construction.
Arriving at the Warp Dock, Noelle used her identity as a Grandmaster to hasten the registration process.
After that, she could finally travel to Haven Liberty at the speed of light.
However, how shocked she was when she found out her brother was not home.
Panicked, she searched for him everywhere until she got information that her brother was attending the Virgo Academy.
Without wasting time, she contacted the headmaster. But when she heard Noir hadn't been attending classes for a week because of a sick call-in, which was a lie from Noir's side, Noelle crumbled and became desperate.
At that time, as if waiting for her to fall into despair, a light of hope shone in the darkness of her room.
That light, that hope, which came from her phone screen, was in the form of a text message from an unknown number.
"Your brother is currently in Jessnal."