"Where is Eugene?" Melina asked Ann as she washed the plates in the kitchen.
"I haven't seen him today. Aren't you usually around him?"
"I miss my baby Eugene" Ann whined and wiped the plates Melina passed to her with a dry cloth.
"He stayed back home with Bea to help rearrange the garden shed"
In a practiced way, Ann neatly arranged them on the rack as she talked with Melina.
"Haha... Is it because of yesterday? Dad told me you went wild"
Melina was a leopard beastmen with golden hair and black eyes. She was also the manager of the only breakfast house in the village.
Melina was the one and only beautiful daughter of the village chief, Gorden.
'But thanks to the goddess's grace she took after her mothers' genes and not her grumpy father'
Melina's beauty spread far and wide that both human and beastkin men from other villages would come by the breakfast house just to see her face.
And among those idiots was none other than the pride of the Nero mercenaries, Jade.
Except in Jade's case his feelings were reciprocated by Melina. But they have not confessed as of yet. Thus while Jade was busy behaving like a tsundere, Melina was being courted left and right by men from different villages.
The always mature Jade became a complete fool when it came to love.
After settling on the terms of the contract, Ann left Raeden and Jade to handle the rest of the details with Kalan, and followed after Melina when she came out of the shop to clean the table.
"Ugh... Is there anyone who doesn't know?"
"It's a small village everyone knows everything Ann. So don't beat yourself up" Melina smiled and consoled Ann.
In a world without smartphones and the internet, there were not a lot of things available to pass time in a fun way. But regardless of the countless universes that exist, the major source of entertainment was one and the same in all.
It was gossip.
Not that Ann was any better, but still not everyone is going to be pleased hearing about their drunken blackout in a bar at the end of a karaoke concert.
"Mel, seeing you smile is enough to make my worries fade away" Ann sat on top of the counter behind Melina and hooked her arms around her neck.
"You're bae is the one constantly picking on me"
Melina followed Ann's line of sight and looked out the window.
Raeden and Jade were having a serious conversation with Elijah and a stranger, with Noah and Oliver standing beside them.
And, when the twins saw Melina looking at them through the window, they waved their hands at her, attracting the attention of the person standing next to them.
When Jade saw the twins waving at someone, he unconsciously turned towards that direction only to find Melina awkwardly waving her hand with a smile through the open window.
As Jade's eyes trailed and locked with Melina's, he flinched in surprise and turned his face away in an instant.
'Cute' Melina chuckled.
"Don't accept him Mel!" Ann took Melina's hand and complained.
"Just let him roast for a while in solitude. No! Dump him! Dump his ass. Get justice for me"
"Here you go"
Melina stuffed a candy into Ann's mouth at lightning speed, to stop her from planning their breakup before she even got together with Jade.
Although Ann was surprised at first, her face quickly changed to bliss at the taste of the candy.
"Hmmm!"
Ann felt the sweet and sour candy melt away her anger.
"Yummy! What is this?"
"Here you go"
Melina placed a small pouch in Ann's hands. Inside it was the animal-shaped sour candy she had created during one of her many culinary experiments.
"It's sour candy. I knew you would like it. So I made a batch."
Ann did not favor sweets in general, aside from the few she occasionally swiped from her brother Clive. Because of that reason, Ann avoided eating any kind of sweet candy.
But since she had a liking for sour food, the sweet-sour candy that Melina had handmade was the perfect thing to snack on during a long journey.
"Waaah... this is why Mel. You are too good for him" Ann hugged Melina.
"How long will you be gone for this time?" Melina changed the subject.
"Hmm... It takes roughly more than a month to get to Parthellam and add to the return journey" Ann pondered.
"Two and a half months. Give or take"
"That long" Melina longingly looked out the window again.
"Don't worry Mel. I'll bring your Bae back in one piece" Ann tried to ease the gloomy mood.
Outside the breakfast house, Jade abruptly felt a chill down his spine.
"Still. I'll miss him" Melina's tail dropped down helplessly.
"Wow. So that's how sisterhood goes huh?" Ann said sarcastically, taking a page from her evil cousins' book.
"Here's another one" Melina stuffed another handful of candy inside Ann's mouth and smiled.
"Be vigilant and take care, Ann. Yourself and everyone. It's a long travel"
"Donbt wobby. Webb beb babb in nob timeb"
~Don't worry. We'll be back in no time.
Ann swiftly swallowed the candy and said to Melina confidently,
"Besides, what's the worst thing that could happen?"
The next day...
It was the day of departure to Orion and people were buzzing around arranging the carriages.
Since the preparation time was limited, the Nero mercenaries negotiated with Kalan to handle all the transport fees in addition to their pay.
The departure point was the tavern in the town and the destination was Parthellam.
The merchant party the Nero mercenaries were escorting was composed of five carriages carrying various types of goods and artifacts.
The center carriage contained the Orion relic, which was the main item being transported.
"Hmm... So it's a box"
"It is a relic with high compression magic that dates back to the founding of the Orion empire. It is speculated to suppress high amounts of mana no matter the velocity..."
"It's a box"
Ann cut in between Ezra's passionate explanation.
"No it's a... Yes. It's a box"
While Ann barely listened to Ezra's explanation regarding the relic she was paid to protect, a question popped into her head.
The Orion relic was a two-foot tall and three-foot-wide metal box. The reddish-brown metal had golden inscriptions throughout its body. It was made of an unknown combination of metallic alloy with silver and iron among its components. The confusing part of the relic was that it had no lid or hatch to open it.
The box was sealed on all sides without even the slightest space.
It was one big metallic box.
"Why not just warp it to Orion if it's so important? Not that I'm concerned since you're paying us for the transport" Ann said, closely inspecting the inscription on the box.
"Miss A...."
"Just call me Ann" Ann stood up and faced Ezra.
"Miss Ann. Warping is prohibited for relics because the amount of magic in it exceeds the limit set by the government for magical items"
"How does it work?"
"We don't know that"
"What does it do?"
"We don't know that too"
"Didn't you say it can suppress magic?"
"That is a mere speculation"
"Then why did you buy it"
"To find out how it works"
Ezra answered Ann's rapid-fire questions, standing in an upright position with his hands behind his back.
"Hmm..."
"..."
"Are you really sure you're not a knight?" Ann asked, suspicious of Ezra's tone of speech.
"Haha...." Erza turned away and awkwardly laughed at her words.
Just then a carriage stopped in front of them and a group of familiar people jumped out from the back.
It was the Tullus mercenaries.
'Why are they here?'
Ann frowned in confusion.
Then she remembered Raeden's briefing the previous night.
'Elijah contracted another group before coming to us' Raeden said and turned towards the triplet foxes,
'At least try to cooperate with them'
Reality dawned on Ann.
'Don't tell me...'
Considering the range to be covered, Raeden had informed that another group of mercenaries aside from the Nero mercenaries would be joining the journey to Parthellam.
'It was these guys!'