Two weeks later, by one of the main-roads which connected the Revean Empire's heartland to its vassal Kingdom of Gunthry, a group of five adventurer's stood waiting under the shade of a tree, while engaging in a heated debate. A woman in a white robe, a healer perhaps, spoke loudly to a man in armor, equipped with shield and sword.
"Give it a rest, Ray, why can't you just let it go? We haven't even met them yet and you are this upset..." she said, but the man just huffed.
"How could I accept this injustice? We are the Bright Sun! One of only three A-rank parties in all of Gunthry! Why should we follow the orders of two C-ranks from the Capital City? MAKE IT MAKE SENSE!" The man identified as Ray said, clearly agitated. Another party member, a woman with a bow and quiver, shrugged her shoulders and added her own five coppers to the conversation:
"That's how it is. Guild-Master said so, they are in charge. Nothing we can do to change it. Besides, isn't the C-rank this "Lyre" or "Lyra" or whatever the name was? You know, the one who stopped the invasion single-handedly?"
"You seriously believe that, Kelly? You're more naive than I thought." said a man clad in dark clothing, with a mask covering his face. A theif-type, possibly. The final person to speak up was a rather timid looking man in a red robe, holding a staff, who said:
"My father said all that was just made up by the royals, to set Lyra up for marriage with one of the Princes. There is no way a single person could do something like that..."
"Exactly!" said Ray, giving the man in the red robes a firm pat on the back. He continued:
"Daniel knows what's up, he is the son of a viscount after all! Essentially, Rowenna, we're just going to be accompanying two frauds, do all the heavy lifting, while they take the credit just so that the Prince can get some elf pus..." thankfully, he stopped himself in time. Talking about royalty like that was a crime punishable by death, after all.
The two women in the party, the Priestess Rowenna and the Archer Kelly, they just shook their heads. They didn't like the situation either, but there was no way they were going to lower themselves to petty insults and slander. It was beneath them.
Just then, the caravan came into view. A total of 10 wagons, loaded to the brim with crates and chest, and one large stagecoach in the middle of the caravan, drawn by 4 horses rather than two. Sitting on top of the stagecoach were two stunningly beautiful women. One was a human with long red hair tied into a loose pony-tail, wearing heeled boots, tight beige leather pants, a brown belt, and then a red crop-top. The other was a radiant elven woman, with long flowing light blue hair, striking facial features, and a body that seemed as if sculptured by the Gods themselves. She wore knee-high boots, a short shorts, a belt with some pouches with a dagger attached to it, and a simple crop-top with a shoulder-guard.
As the caravan got closer and closer, the three men of the party just shut up entirely, eyes drawn to the women atop the stagecoach.
"Is that...?" Daniel began.
"Must be..." said the thief, who was named Fred.
"I take back what I said.. I'm happy to cooperate." said Ray, immediately back-tracking.
Kelly and Rowenna however looked less than pleased with this new development, and shared a knowing look between themselves. These two fraud-bitches were going down...
-"Hellooo~ You must be the Bright Sun party? Pleased to meet you!" the elven woman atop the stagecoach called out when they were within earshot, waving at the 5-man party by the tree. Ray, Fred and Daniel just sighed with pleasure in unison.
"She even sounds as angelic as she looks..." said Daniel.
"I think my heart just got stolen..." said Fred the Thief.
"Honestly, now that I think about it, this mission is pretty good..." said Ray.
"Who does this bitch think she is?" Rowenna whispered, glaring in the direction of the caravan.
"Look at the way she is dressed, it's clear her only thing goingfor her is her body, which is why she is flaunting it so desperately..." remarked Kelly.
The Caravan then came to a stop, and the Bright Sun party loaded up their bags and equipment onto a nearby wagon, riding just behind the Stagecoach. The woman with red hair looked over her shoulder, eyeing the party, looking rather skeptical. She then leaned in and whispered something to the elven beauty, which made her laugh, and the three men felt their hearts flutter. Then, the elf lady looked over their way, and spoke:
-"We got room for 1 more up here. Would one of you like to sit with us?"
Immediately the men scrambled, crawling over one another, but in the end Fred was the lucky victor who got to the stagecoach first. He sat down beside the elven woman, sitting on her left side, while the red-hair woman sat to the right. Both Ray and Daniel cursed silently, but knew they'd have plenty more opportunities to get to know these two beauties, and especially the elven woman. Rowenna, fed-up already by the looks from her party members, bonked the pair of them atop the head with her staff.
"OW! What was that for!?" Ray complained, looking up at Rowenna as the caravan started moving again.
"How can you be so shameless! Where is your integrity? Weren't you complaining loudly just minutes ago, and now you are acting like this?" Rowenna said, reprimanding their party-leader.
"Yeah, and you're acting as if you've never even seen a pretty woman before!" Kelly added, jumping in, hitting both of them atop the head herself as well, for good measure.
"Oi, stop! What's with you two! Weren't you the ones who said we should give the two C-ranks a chance!? Why are you suddenly upset!" Ray countered, and the two women did not have a response, though that never stopped them from continuing to argue however.
Up on the stagecoach, the red-haired woman looked over her shoulder, towards the other wagon, before shrugging her shoulders slightly. "Your companions sure are lively, Fred." she remarked, turning back to look at the road ahead.
"O-Oh y-yeah just... d-don't mind them..." Fred said, stuttering over his word, gulping audibly as he tugged at his collar. Was it hot in here or what? He glanced first at Reina, then at Lyra, unsure what to even say. Reina was certainly very pretty, beautiful even, but there was something different about the elven woman that just stood out. Something about her very presence that just seemed to tug and play with his very soul. The way her bright blue eyes gazed at him, how her hair fluttered in the wind, how her soft-looking lips moved when she spoke... she was speaking? He had been so lost in her presence, he had not even realized she was talking to him.
"S-sorry can you repeat that?" he said, hoping she'd forgive him.
-"Of course! I was just wondering if your party are local to this Kingdom?" Lyra said, smiling sweetly.
"Oh, yes! We're one of the highest ranked parties in this Kingdom. We have a lot of experience dealing with the monsters on the Great Plains." Fred said, happily bragging a bit about his party, hoping to seem confident.
The Great Plains.
It was the southern border of the Revean Empire. Past the Great Plains were the Forests in which the Beast-Kin made their homes. One of the main reasons the Beast-Tribes and the Revean Empire were not trading or warring as much, was due to the existence of the Great Plains. A very large and dry grassland, home to many strong monsters which were difficult to fully subjugate, which made trade through the Plains rather difficult. There was the Sea-route, but this time of year the storms made it unsafe for travel.
-"Oh, is that so? What kind of monsters can we expect to come across?" Lyra asked, leaning in closer to Fred which made him loose focus for a second.
"O-oh- right, well, there are the Lightning Rocs, massive violet colored birds who bring lightning storms whenever their flocks migrate across the fields." Fred said. Lyra glanced at Reina, who shook her head. Nothing compared to a dragon.
"Then there are the orc tribes. High-Orcs and Berserker-Orcs are very tricky to deal with..." Fred continued. Lyra again looked at Reina, who shook her head even more firmly. Definitely nothing compared to a dragon.
"Finally, the Tunnel Worms. Insects with thousands of legs who tunnel and bore through the ground. They have an acid which can melt almost anything, which is how they eat things. Death by one of those is one of the worst ways to go." Fred said, ending his little lesson, but making a final remark:
"N-not to worry though! We'll keep you both safe! I-I... will keep you safe..."
Reina sent the young human male a glare, but Lyra just laughed. The dragon found it insulting that this lowly human dare to say she needed protection, while Lyra just found it entertaining.
-"Oh my, that is very kind of you, Fred was it?" Lyra said with a smile.
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The rest of the trip through the Kingdom of Gunthry went off without much of a hitch. The caravan was large, each wagon having its own driver, and a few regular soldiers in addition to the hired adventurers. There were also something inside the stagecoach, but neither Lyra nor Reina ever got to look inside, and frankly they were not all that curious. Come nightfall, the caravan would stop, hitch their tents, and cook dinner over an open fire.
Lyra and Reina joined the Bright Sun party around their campfire, listening to wild and embellished stories from the men, but they always got the feeling that the Healer and Archer did not like them very much. They were always curt and short in their responses to questions, dismissive, and sometimes rude. The three men on the other hand were very friendly, and very happy to offer parts of their food, or offering lessons in monster-slaying. Neither of which Lyra or Reina needed, so they respectfully declined every time. Lyra and Reina naturally slept in their own tents, and stuck together like glue, so none of the men got any time alone with either woman, much to their disappointment.
After three nights, the caravan reached the end of the Gunthry kingdom, and the end of the Revean Empire. Before them, as far as the eyes could see, was a large grass-plain. The wind made the grass billow and bend like waves upon an ocean, and it was strangely beautiful, so Lyra could not help hide her amazement, letting out a short "Whoaa". Kelly, the archer, snickered dismissively.
"What's so amazing? It's just the plains. You're really our leader for this mission?" she remarked, as the caravan rolled out onto the grass, leaving the road behind.
"Watch your attitude!" Reina responded, baring her teeth towards Kelly which just put the woman off.
"What, it's not like her question is without merit..." Rowenna interjected. The last three days had been really annoying for both her and Kelly. The men in her party just kept showering Lyra and Reina with attention, they weren't even focusing on the job! It was always Lyra this or Lyra that, and why? Yes, she was incredibly beautiful, and she seemed so gentle and warm, which only made Rowenna even more certain the woman was a total fraud. How dare she claim to be some C-rank adventurer, or take on the credit for having stopped an enemy invasion!
"You two, calm down, seriously..." Ray said, trying to defuse the situation.
Lyra, however, was focused on something else. Namely, up ahead, there were hundreds of people riding straight for them on horseback...