Realm Wars

Outside the barrier, Ryu never ceased his glares at the Owner while the latter was all smiles at him.

Ferris was counting and gauging the people on the Owner's side. The only problems were his two Rank-A bodyguards and the Owner himself. 

Ferris deducted that the male bodyguard was a great knight while the female was a mage based on their weapons. And the Owner. . .

Ferris's eyes dilated when the Owner looked at her. 

He was a. . . 

"Where are you going?" Ferris asked when Kai tiptoed away from them.

"Gah." Kai gulped, and he looked over his shoulder. His smile was skewed in an awkward angle. "J-just. .. going to pee?"

Ferris raised an eyebrow, but Lucian and the others faced the Owner and his group before she could say anything.

"We've agreed to pay her debt," Lucian said, "But on one condition."

The edge of the Owner's eyes twitched. "Though I think that you don't have any right to impose conditions, let's hear it nonetheless."

Lucian swept everyone with his eyes and said, "We want all people present here to swear a Seal of Promise." 

"Oh, and what would we promise?" the Owner asked.

Rosa stepped forward. "We want all of you to promise not to talk about us nor divulge any spec of information that you saw us in the Nightmare Sea, be it in any form of communication."

The Owner looked to the side, thinking. Then he smiled. "Though I don't care who you are or what you do, I will agree to it as long as she honors her debt now."

Lucian and the others looked at each other before they nodded.

"Alright."

The Owner's smile stretched as far as it could stretch, and his creepy eyes squinted. "Splendid!"

"That includes you too," Lucian barked at Kai when the latter was going to escape.

Kai scratched his head and weakly laughed. "R-right. T-then you won't kill me, right? Right?"

Lucian and the others ignored Kai, and the latter could only weep in silence. He should have stayed in the boat!

After some time, the Seal of Promise was made. It was time to ask for the debt.

"It's simple, really." the Owner unfolded his fan and covered the sly smile on his mouth. "I just wanted her to help us retrieve an item, and since she already has wonderful companions with her, this will make things a lot easier."

.. .

.. .

"What item?" Rosa asked.

Lucian and the others had a bad feeling about this.

The Owner folded his fan and beamed. "The Lost Jewel of Tethyt's."

.. .

.. .

Rosa beamed with sweat covered face. "Can we have a moment, please?"

The Owner beamed back. "Hohoho. Take your time."

Rosa pinched Cecily by the arm and dragged her to the side, with Lucian following behind them.

Rosa placed a barrier once more and snapped at Cecily, "What now?"

They already somehow expected it. The only treasure worth coming in Deadman's Rock was the Lost Jewel of Tethy's. But having heard it from the Owner's mouth was like being slapped by the hard cold truth.

"I have an idea." Lucian went out of the barrier and asked the Owner, "The lost Jewel of Tethys is a myth. What if we don't find it?"

"I presume that you're after it too?" the Owner asked instead.

It was too late to feign innocence, so Lucian nodded. "Yes, but for a client. We can afford not to give it to her in exchange for you to break the seal. What we're concerned about is the time. We only have one day to find this jewel."

The Owner pointed his fan at his chin. "Reasonable. No one knows if the jewel is true or not, and I can't have you search for it forever." 

The Owner slapped his fan against his palm. "How about this? If we find the jewel, then great. You give it to me, and I'll break the seal. But if you couldn't find it within the day, then. . ." 

The Owner sighed. "Regrettably, I guess I just have to ask for something else since we already made a Seal of Promise to honor the debt now in exchange for our sealed lips."

Lucian nodded and went back inside the barrier to relay his conversation to the others. Lucian just wanted to ensure that the Owner wouldn't hold them for long in Deadman's Rock. 

Their priority was their primary mission. If not for Cecily and the Seal of Promise, they wouldn't even care about the Owner.

----

Eventually, the group made their way into the Bloody Lagoon. The island was small, but when traversing its lands, it seemed so big.

"Are we lost?" Kai asked no one in particular. They were walking in the jungle with no specific destination nor route. They only rely on an unreliable map.

The light was beginning to dim, and Lucian was starting to worry.

No one answered. The atmosphere was tense since their group was surrender by the Owner's men.  The Owner and his two Rank-A bodyguards, Athen and Athena, all led the front while the remaining Rank-B mercs were at their back, watching their every move.

"How did I get myself into this mess?" Kai wept and placed his hand over his head.

"You're stuck with us now. One wrong move, and you're dead," Rosa threatened. 

Kai just stuck his tongue at Rosa when she faced the other way.

"I wish I just stayed in the darn boat," Kai continued to grumble.

Ryu ignored Kai. His focus was on the Owner, who was talking to his bodyguards like they didn't exist. Then the Owner looked over his shoulder and beamed at him.

"Grr. . ."

Ferris sighed. "You need to control your emotion, you dumbass," she said under her breathe. "How can you faced the world if you wore your emotions on your face?"

"Are we going the right way?" Cecily asked Lucian.

Lucian shook his head. "I don't know. This map said that it's just passed this swamp."

"Maybe we took the wrong way?" Cecily looked over the dense canopies. The light was disappearing fast. They have to move more quickly.

"Halt."

Everyone skidded to a stop at the voice of the two Rank-A guards.

In front of them were denser foliage and bushes. When Athen and Athena swiped the bushes away, it revealed a lagoon as green as the leaves. The air was cold and foggy, and the ripples created soothing sounds. It was very different from its name.

Everyone gasped since they hadn't expected that the lagoon was such a breathtaking place.

"Is this it?"