"U-urgh…"
Yuri slurred as she woke up, her body perfectly healthy despite remembering how badly she was wounded right before she passed out.
As she blinked several times, ensuring her blurry vision returned to normal, she noticed the ten people that stood around her.
"Miss Yuri! You're awake!"
"He said you'd be fine, but I'm happy to see you well."
"Miss Yuri!"
Yuri's blurry vision soon returned to normal, so she was able to see the concerned expressions of the caravan members.
'They're all safe. I'm also perfectly fine. Sir Ralyks must have helped…'
That was the only rational conclusion she could get to.
"Mhmm…" She slowly rose from the ground and looked around her.
They were all within a considerably large golden dome; big enough for them to move freely inside.
'Sir Ralyks must have erected this.' Her thoughts naturally trailed.
She could also see the merchandise safely placed in a corner within the barrier around them, and beyond it, she could see the charred surfaces of earth.
"What happened here…?" Yuri found herself whispering.
"Sir Ralyks happened!"
"He killed all of them in the blink of an eye and burned their corpses."
"Yes. I don't think I've ever seen a man so powerful and brutal."
As more people vividly described what happened to Yuri, she couldn't help but remember how foolish she had been to think he was soft in the past.
Back then, he had refused to kill anyone, so he considered him too merciful.
But now… upon hearing just how he went about business, Yuri was more than impressed.
She was amazed!
"So, where is Sir Ralyks now?" She asked, looking around her once again, but not seeing him anywhere.
"He said he'd be back soon; that he's off to check a Warehouse, per his agreement with Lord Blanc."
"I… see…"
Yuri knew the Warehouse Ralyks went to. It was the place that they kept the Enchanted Items they were going to sell to the Elves.
'I trust Sir Ralyks, so I'll leave everything in his hands.'
Yuri heaved a sigh and looked at her comrades with a gentle smile.
"I'm glad you are all fine."
In response, they all burst with the same sentiment; some hugging her with intense emotion.
'It seemed I worried everyone…' Her smile broadened a bit more.
There was no way she would ever be so careless again. For the sake of her family, she had to control her emotions and make the right choices.
She couldn't afford to lose any more people.
"By the way, Miss Yuri… there's something you should know."
As one of the couriers said this, the tone within the dome changed.
Everyone stared at her with worried expressions on their faces, and the anxiety was stifling.
"What is it? What's going on?" She had to ask, overwhelmed by both curiosity and a creeping sense of fear.
"The Mercenary Gang has sided with the enemy side, Miss Yuri."
"W-what?!" Her voice was loud, but that was understandable.
A major portion of the plan relied on getting the aid of the Mercenary Gang.
"That's right. Sir Ralyks interrogated Ogun before he died and extracted the information."
"It seems we can no longer rely on them."
This was serious news to Yuri, but she honestly had no energy to properly react to what she was hearing.
She was too downcast by the news
That wasn't even all.
"We don't have the money to afford them anyway, so I guess we wouldn't have been able to rely on them one way or the other."
This trade was supposed to help the KariBlanc Group with some of their finances—the first of many trades to help them generate enough funds for the conflict to come.
But, with the way things were now, they weren't going to get in the green anytime soon.
"Damnit. Looks like it's back to the drawing board." She gritted her teeth in frustration.
She could only pray that Lord Rebal Blanc and Lord Asher had a backup plan.
'Right now, we're in a very dangerous position.'
The only reason they were afloat was Ralyks and his support. If he was not an ally, things would have been much worse.
'I don't even want to imagine how they would be if he was our enemy.
These thoughts were enough to assure Yuri that things weren't that bad.
They were currently operating within the best case scenario.
'We just need some luck.'
As she stared above, her gaze fixed on the night sky above, she smiled sadly.
'Please return safely, Sir Ralyks.'
**********
'So this is the place…'
It barely took Rey thirty minutes to arrive at his designation despite it being cities away from his previous position.
Sure, they had been traveling Eastward, but not so far East.
On his way, he had seen so many settlements—including developing towns and small villages—but his speed made all of them appear like blurs.
Rey didn't know how many miles he had traversed, but with his [Grand Flight], coupled with a few Buffs, he was sure he had covered a lot of grounds.
'I memorized the map well, and since Rebal was detailed with his description, it wasn't too hard to find…'
Right now , he was floating right above what appeared to be considerably large mountains.
'But I know that they aren't mountains.'
This entire place was a warehouse, connected through several underground paths which led from one mountain to another.
'The KariBlanc sure is resourceful.' Rey could see about ten Mountains clustered together, so he knew he was in the right place.
'Just how massive is this warehouse for all of them to be filled with Enchanted Items for the Elves?'
There was only one way to find out, and Rey was about to begin his descent.
'I haven't forgotten about our deal, Rebal. However, since this is a remote area and there seems to be a lot of flaws in your plan… I think I'll help you out just a little.'
Rey smiled as his eyes flickered with dark purple.
'I might need to be a bit extreme in my measures.'