“What’s the meaning of this? I never agreed to these terms. Go and give this back to the tournament management and then earn it properly” the guild master looked mad. It was understandable since he had put so much thought into this trap.

Maria refused to feel even an inch of guilt over his panic. It served him right for trying to trick them.

“We agreed to deliver this object to you. How we did it was ways subjective. Now stop being a pussy and had the information over to us” Nao’s threatening voice was back. Her irritation at not being able to chase the kid down showed in her actions.

Suna pretended to swoon at the show of force but her face also showed just how glad she was to have them on her side.

“Fine fine. Simon’s court is no more. Everyone there is already dead with the guild master being held captive. If you want more information then you’ll have to wait for it. My spy will need some time to collect it” the guild master lied through his teeth.

Maria could hear the lie in his voice. She signaled to Nao and got a confirmative sign back. The only one being affected by the news was Suna. The poor girl looked white in the face and her eyes looked like they would pop out of their socket anytime.

“Suna, let’s leave for a bit. I’m sure you need their time to gather yourself” Maria pushed at Suna’s shoulder lightly. That prompted Suna to finally start moving with a dejected air.

“You both go ahead. I need to talk with our dear guild master here” Nao called out as she held her ground. The guild master looked uncomfortable having Nao there but he could not tell her to leave. It would have gone against his character and made the other three suspects.

Maria thought for a sec to keep her tracker active but then decided against it. Neither she nor Suna needed to hear the next part. Moreso, Nao did not need them to hear the next part.

“They’re not dead. Tell me they’re not dead” Suna asked with a desperate voice. Her face neared Maria and her eyes had tears in them. Suna was far too easily influenced by things.

“They’re likely not dead. We will know for sure once Nao comes back” Maria could have told Suna all about it but it would be more trouble than worth it for her. She would let Nao handle it for her.

Nao only came back once the sun was right on top of them. The sunny day seemed like a contradiction to the damped mood of the trio.

“The Simon’s court managed to escape but they had no supplied. No one is sure where they went” Noa spoke as soon as she entered the room. Her face looked relieved and it caused Suna to look up as well.

Hope finally seemed to be returning to those eyes and Maria felt happy to see it. Finally, she would not have to deal with an emotional mess of a human.

“Good. They managed to escape. I was so worried that they would die” Suna cried out those words but they were happy tears. Her relief shines through her eyes.

“That was the good news. Now, there is bad news as well. We need to leave right at this moment. The guild master looked ready to kill once I left the room” Maria could not help but raise her eyebrow in disbelief.

Nao had left the guild master unharmed when she had extracted information? What caused her to make this out-of-character move?

“We have a few hours before our designated bus ride. How do we keep them off of our tracks for that long?” Suna asked as she joined the group back. Her reaction time was a little slow which made Maria think that she might have a fever due to all the worrying she had done.

“We’ll lead them on a wild goose chase. Everyone split up and keep them busy. Make them think you’re enjoying this town. Only ditch them in the last 10 minutes or in extreme conditions” Maria explained and got agreeing nodes.

Since they had no time to sit around and rest, they needed to conserve as much time as they could with minimum effort. Waking around for a bit would not exhaust them but it would allow them to gather intel. And Maria also had another intention behind her actions.

She needed to ‘borrow’ a few things to barter in her system store. Her financial situation did not allow for anything else and who knows when a difficult situation would arise for them. Maria had been lucky this time to have the holy lamp on hand but what about next time?

With that thought, Maria broke away from the group and entered an antique shop. She pretended to look at an old candle holder and admire it while her other hand picked up a small knife from the adjacent shelf.

“If you’re going to steal it, then you need to be faster with your hands. Even an amateur can tell what you were about to do” Maria felt the knife in her hand lash out at the voice but it never hit anything.

It was caught between two nibble fingers and twisted out of Maria’s hands with a twirl. Maria felt her wrist hurt as it was twisted in motion.

“You” Maria almost growled and attacked the figure but the teen dodged out of the way. He looked back at Maria with a happy expression.

“Be careful. Getting caught here would be a certain death sentence. Follow me” the kid commanded and Maria followed those instructions out of shock. The kid led them out through a backway and then they were out.

Alester looked cheeky as he let Maria’s hand go. Maria had not even realized that she had her hand in the teen’s hand and instantly felt assaulted. The touch had been cold and hard, nothing like a human hand.

“What are you doing here? Did you follow after me? For what purpose did you follow me?” Maria turned toward the kid but her hands missed the weapon necessary to threaten the kid.

Not that the kid seemed troubled by Maria. He seemed to be amused by the situation and the more he started, the worse Marai felt about keeping eye contact.

“Would you believe me if I said that I was just trying to help? We robbed the safehouse together and faced a life and death situation together so won’t that make us comrades in arms? Cut me some slack here” the kid asked and Maria instantly had a gross look on her face.