"You know this gives up some chilly vibes... literally" Amarico was shivering as she was rubbing herself as she was already called when they were halfway to the bridge.
"Tell me... about.. it" Kate said as she was getting cold but then Mizu gave his jacket to Kate as the former smiled and patted her head.
"There we go, feeling better?" Mizu looked at her as she nodded they then continued walking.
"There it is, the gate is wide open because its permanently opened for visitors in lower erisia when they are doing their adventures... I do hope we see people here because we could probably gain some information from them" Ada then went inside as the surrounding was peaceful.
The grass was flowing with the wind, drips of water from a nearby waterfall was ringing around the place as the birds around them were now audible rather than back then when they were at the cave and finally the whiff of smell from the surrounding flowers were pleasant.
"Has someone been taking care of this place...?" Amarico asked as they suddenly heard humming.
"You just had to jinx it didn't you?" Mizu looked at Amarico with a deadpan face as Amarico suddenly sweat.
As the group gets closer the humming gets more audible as it was soothing
"Hmm..? Ah, Ada why are you here all of a sudden?" A mature woman's voice surrounded the area as the woman placed down her watering can on the ground as she approached the group.
The woman was wearing a mask as the drawings on the mask looked like it was someone smiling with their eyes closed.
"Sero? Why are you here?" Ada was quite confused
"Wait.. Sero!? Why are you doing here I thought you were guarding the Duchess!" Amarico immediately became confused
"Apologies but she said herself that I should go here and stay here until someone arrives like you people... She gave me a note before she... Started acting weird.."
Sero then pulled out a paper from her pocket as she handed it over to Ada. Ada of course grabbed it and opened it slowly
『If you are reading this, then that means Sero has arrived safely at the castle. I made her go there because things have been getting out of hand... This is a note to please help me. I am at my mansion at upper erisia and I keep hearing the voices telling me the deep is calling me... I don't know how long I can take it anymore I feel like my mind is gonna go crazy... Send anyone. Please..』
"M'Lady told me not to check what the contents of the note was but I think it was dire... Please, Lady of Etrea... Save her for I don't know what has happened with her"
Ada nodded as she gave it to Mizu as the latter pocketed it
"We will help you after we deal with the bandit situation first. We must get our friend her oath" Ada then looked at the entrance of the castle
"Is the writings still there Sero?"
"Yes M'Lady" Sero then bowed as she guided them towards the castle's entrance.
"This is where the scribbles of the oath are your majesty.." Sero pointed at some writings on the wall, it mostly looked like random words but that is for the average person, Kate however sees more than what meets the eyes."Can I start reading it...?" Kate looked at the group"Of course, go on ahead" Mizu then guided her to the writings as he then puts her hand on the worbs, Kate felt the immense aura from it"O-Okay, I think I can handle this now" Kate then started to slowly move her hands around the writings as she slowly felt that the aura was dissipating and slowly going through her blindfold and then her eyes.Kate used her other hand to tighten her blindfold as she was almost finished with trying to claim her oath."I vow to not let the horrors of the world pierce my tightly fastened blindfold. Everything is simply as we choose to perceive it" Kate chanted slowly as then an eye appeared infront of her blindfold. She looked at the group as she had her mouth agape."I-I can see y
"So, what's the plan?" Mizu looked down the bridge as he saw a bunch of bandits. Dozens or probably fifty of them in total."I suppose we can go and get them one by one, seems like their just regular old bandits" Amarico looked below them as well, she saw the same group of bandits but more of them came from the entrance.They were holding adventurers, all of them had bags on their head. The captives were mostly female. They were walking towards the campfire as they were made to kneel down on both knees and just stay there.A suspicious figure was behind some of the bandits as they were wearing a black hoodie with a black robe covering their entire body."Those sick bastards...""We don't need to act rash Amarico, we still need to come up with a plan" Ada then immediately looked at the suspicious figure as he pointed at them"Judging by some of his artifacts on his hands, his attunement is Mindweaver""Wait, Mindweaver? The attunement that's hard to master?" Amarico looked at Ada as sh
"Alright, seems like theres an opening there..." Ada pointed out a huge door that leads to the insides of the camp, most likely a place where the bandits resupply."There's probably some of them inside there so, weapon's up... We can't take any chances... If we alert all of them then the plan might be a bust" Ada then slowly looked at the other side of the door as she saw two bandits standing in front of a weapon cache.Ada signaled Amarico to kill the other bandit and meanwhile she signaled to Mizu that he should stay here for now to guard. Mizu simply nodded as he then went and unsheathes his sword. The two ladies slowly creeped up behind the bandits as they went to their necks as one sliced, the other cracked. No noise were made when they killed both of them. Ada did a psst sound to alert Mizu he can go inside now.Mizu went in as he saw Amarico hiding the two bodies inside a barrel as she looked at the group "What's next?" Amarico asked as she rubs her fist gauntlets on a piece
"Huh... What?" The drunkard groggily opened his eyes as they then looked at the group "What the!" Mizu immediately puts the sword in between his teeth as Ada looked at the bandit"How many are you here" Ada then pointed her dagger infront of his stomach as the drunkard's eyes started to produce tears"S-Sehventeh Toh" The drunkard slowly said as the sword was still in between his teeth as he looked at the sword and gulped a little"There's your answer queen" Amarico immediately knocked out the bandit as she tied him up. She then puts the other 2 bodies inside the barrel as she then looked at the both of them"We're fighting an entire army, what's the plan?" Mizu then looked outside the window, he saw the bandits drinking beer but the hooded figure standing still, the hostages however are still kneeled down as they were shivering"Seem's like we have a bigger problem now, the Mindweaver guy probably went on full alert because the bandits became drunk.." Ada then immediately casted a s
Mizu immediately went down as he saw 3 bandits with their backs turned to the exit"Hey what was that!?" One of the bandits shouted"I don't know, go check! Their shouting intruders or something!" A girl bandit shouted to the other one"Sorry, can't let you do that!" Mizu immediately cut all three's necks as he looked at the remaining bandits who saw him"Well atleast I got 3 down" Mizu immediately parried an incoming attackAmarico and Ada we're killing the drunk bandits first as the others were still trying to grab their weapon"Remember, the Mindweaver is dangerous!" Ada immediately stabbed a guy 10 times in one second as she moved to the other drunk person"I get it I get it! Focus on the bandits first!" Amarico immediately parried an attack from a resupplied banditMizu then used his newly acquired skill called Fire Blade on 2 bandits as they started to burn to death."Shit, everyone he's a Flameweaver! Don't stay close!" One bandit shouted as he immediately tried to strike Mizu
There were almost done however there was still a bunch of bandits protecting the hooded figure as they made a circle around themThe Mindweaver started to chant as Amarico immediately started to rush toward them"You shouldn't cast even if you're surrounded idiot!""AMARICO WAIT!" A huge wave of purple gas engulfed all the bandits and Amarico but it didn't reach Ada or Mizu.The ones who were affected by it started to have a red aura gather around them as if their being controlled."Shit, Mizu! Regroup!" After Ada's mouth said the last word she immediately got punched on the gut from Amarico, knocking her back to a wall as Ada coughed blood"That hurts... Mizu! Handle the bandits and the Mindweaver! I'll handle Ada!" Ada immediately blocked another punch from Amarico as a loud clang was heard. Mizu gripped his sword with two of his hands as he looked at the bandits and mindweaver"So you like targetting weak minded people huh.." Mizu gritted his teeth, slowly breathing, calming himsel
After getting hit by the purple fog he and falling to the floor. Mizu was suddenly dropped inside a city, the sky was black as there were corals everywhere. The buildings and the surroundings were covered in coral.He saw Ada and Amarico along with Kate being surrounded by Megalodaunts, about to be eaten "MIZU HELP US" Kate shouted as she screamed for his help.He tried to move.But he was at the same place. He looked downwards as he saw both of his legs chopped offHe tried to reach out for them but he couldnt as both of his arms were chained by an unknown chain.He tried to shout or scream but his mouth was sealed shut by stitches. He couldn't do anything but then a light shone infront of him as someone appeared"Umi Mizu, do not fret... This is an illusion... Simply a mere concept made by your own mind..."A Goddess appeared infront of him."I Navae shall guide you, do not be lost to this illusion... This is merely something that makes you not be able to move... You are beloved b
Mizu slowly opened his eyes as the sunrays from the sun setting hits his eyes. He slowly sat up as he looked at the horizon, the sound of the sea was mostly what he can hear but there was conversations too.Mizu felt someone close to him as he saw Kate napping near him. Mizu smiled, he pats her head. Kate slowly woke up as he looked at him"AMARICO! ADAAAAA HE'S AWAKE!" Kate immediately went towards the duo as they were talking to what seems to be the guards from Etrea but they had guns instead of Katanas.Ada and Amarico looked behind them as Ada made the guards carry out the remaining corpse from the camp as she and Amarico along with Kate went towards him as Amarico immediately hit his head and hugged him"I'M SO GLAD YOU WOKE UP! I WAS WORRIED!" Amarico cried out loud "IF YOU WERE WORRIED YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE HIT MY HEAD!" Mizu retaliated Ada sat down on the chair as Kate sat on Ada's lap kind of like a child being carried by their mother."How are you doing Mizu?" Ada then looked