After a day, Ace and the others finally made it to Trisphode.
"The port is surprisingly huge" said Ace.
"Tell me about it. It's about 6 kilometers wide" said Hansel.
"Where did you know all that?"
"I read it in a book"
"Come on guys, there's no time to lose. We need to find the inn quickly" said Ezra excitedly.
Ace and Hansel: I guess she is the excited one here...
"You should all help me too" said Max as he carries all of their baggage.
***
They head over to the town near the port to ask where the place they are looking for that was on the letter that was given to them.
"Excuse me. Can you tell us where this is" Ezra asked.
"That is the 3rd city, if you take the road on the left, you might reach it on about 4 hours" said the person.
"I see. Thank you for your help"
"Don't mention it. Just don't let Dark empress get to you"
"What?" Ace asked.
"I'm just kidding, carry on" says the person as he left.
***
What the person said back there made Ace curious.
"Hey, Ace. Are you alright?" Max asked.
"I-I'm fine. I was just thinking of something" Ace replied.
"You've been spacing out for 10 minutes since we began on taking the left road" said Hansel.
"Maybe he's worried about the others not coming on this vacation" said Ezra.
"That might be it" Hansel.
"Y-Yeah" said Ace.
All of the sudden, they heard someone screaming.
"What was that?!" Said Ezra.
"It's coming from...." said Hansel.
"..from above!" Max.
They all looked up and someone did fall from above and landed on Ace's face.
"Are you alright?!" Ezra asked.
"I-I'm okay" the girl says as she stands up.
"What were you doing up there?" Ezra.
"I was picking this from the tall tree" she said as she showed Ezra a gold apple.
"Fascinating.."
"It is"
Meanwhile, Max and Hansel were waking Ace up who was knocked out.
***
They continued on walking towards their destination.
"So your name is Kuro and you're from the 3rd city?" Ezra asked.
"Yes" Kuro replied.
"That's a very unusual name" said Hansel.
"It is, because it's from a foreign language. By the way, sorry mister Ace for using you as a cushion" said Kuro.
"I-It's okay" said Ace.
"Anyway, what's that apple for?" Said Ezra.
"I'm a collector, you see. I collect very rare things from the forest. I thought the dark empress would finally get the life out of me." Kuro replied.
Ace was again bothered by what she said, as well as the others.
"Can I ask you something?" Said Ace.
"What is it?" She replied.
"Who and what is this dark empress you speak of" said Ace.
Ezra and the others were also wondering the same thing.
"The dark empress? She is the grim reaper, so they say. And the myth goes on that she is still in the country" said Kuro.
Ace: Is she the one that I need to find?
To be continued..