As comfortable as the mount seats were, I couldn't let myself rest again. I took the opportunity to capture my surroundings, watching as we transitioned from the eerie Moon Desert terrain to the pristine acres of emerald green, embellished in fields of flowers and vibrant vegetation.
"Alright, this is as far as we go," I heard Snapper say as he turned off the mount's engine.
"Huh? Are we there yet?" Amber responded, half dazed from just waking naturally.
"We're in the Garmen region now, we just gotta make it to the Contra on foot."
"Ugh." Amber stretched her arms in the air and yawned.
"Hehe, did ya sleep well?" Snapper asked with a devious look on his face.
"Yeah, surprisingly…" She then grew suspicious of Snapper's sudden concern. "Why the hell do you care?"
He responded without meeting her eyes as if he didn't want to expose his expression.
"Well, you just looked so comfortable… it almost made me wanna lean on Wolf too."
"HUH!?" Amber's face immediately broke into floridity, but I couldn't tell if it was because she was angry or embarrassed. "I-I was totally not leaning on him… was I!?"
"You were practically cuddling the poor guy," Snapper laughed, as he deftly hopped off the mount.
"I swear I'm gonna burn you alive if you keep talking!"
"You can try me anytime, fox, but I'll always be one step ahead."
A few seconds later, the mount began to shimmer before dissolving into complete transparency.
"What the–agh!" Amber crashed into the ground with a concerning thud.
Luckily, I managed to get off before the mount disappeared.
"Amber, are you okay?" I asked.
"I'm fine, no thanks to this stupid jerk," she complained while looking at Snapper. "How about a warning next time, huh!?"
"I was just testing you," he justified, "aren't you foxes supposed to have good reflexes?"
"I JUST WOKE UP, FOR CRYING OUT—!" Before she could finish her sentence, I stuck my hand out in front of her.
"Oh... thanks, Wolf." She grasped it, and I managed to pull her up with less strength than I thought I would need.
"Strange…"
"What?" She looked at me in confusion.
"You're surprisingly light, Amber."
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!!?"
"Hahahahahahahaha! I love this guy!" Snapper, who burst into laughter, began wiping small tears from his face.
Amber already didn't seem too happy after her fall, but now her mood had managed to worsen, and it appeared to be my fault.
"Wait, Amber, what did I do?" I asked, unable to understand why she reacted that way.
"Ugh… boys are so stupid!" She turned away from me, then pouted as she marched forward, treading so heavily against the grass that her boot print was perfectly visible.
"Hey, do you even know where you're going?"
She simply responded to Snapper by raising her middle finger while her back was still turned to us.
Snapper and I shared a look of concern before we began to follow her across the long fields of grass that trailed over the hills and deep into a large forest.
After a tiresome hour of walking, the sun had only slightly risen to the point where our shadows seemed to endlessly stretch over the quiet meadows. Fortunately, the lack of cloud coverage made it easy to see far out in this region.
During our journey, we chose to avoid moving through the forest as Snapper warned us about potential bandit groups that would often lurk around, waiting to ambush oblivious newcomers.
If they were anything as intimidating as Vince's gang, then I certainly didn't want any part of it. I don't want to imagine what would have happened if Snapper didn't decide to turn against them in the end.
So instead we began to move around the edge, keeping our distance from the trees.
...
"Gulp, gulp, gulp… ahh, and there goes the last of it," said Snapper after taking the final swig of water from his satchel.
"Are you kidding me!? The amount you just drank was worth at least ten sips!" Amber vented.
"Doesn't matter, dumbass–my water, my rules. You're lucky I was kind enough to let a dirty fox like you even have a sip."
"Dirty!? I'm Dirty!? Just look at you–still wearing a damn coat after being in this weather for so long... Just admit it–you feel hot as hell under that thing, don't you?"
"What the hell are you blabbering about? You havin' a stroke or something?"
"Tuh, you clearly have no idea what a stroke is. Maybe I should demonstrate it for you—?"
"Hey, guys?" I interrupted, finally noticing something in the distance. "Is that where East Contra is?"
I started pointing forward just after clambering up a short hill just ahead. The other two ended their dispute and followed right behind me.
"Alright! Nice work, Wolf!" Snapper let out an enthusiastic cry as he stood on top of the hill.
I turned to see Amber's reaction, but she just stared coldly at where I pointed without uttering a single word.
"That's it, isn't it?" I tried to confirm with her.
"Huh?" She appeared to have been deep in thought. "O-oh, yeah, that's it… That's the Eastern Contra…"
"WOOHOO!" Snapper cheered once more, this time leaping forward as he did so. "Last one there smells like Amber!"
He skated down the hill and began sprinting toward the city.
"HEY!" Amber frivolously yelled back. "Tch, unbelievable… The one time he finally gets my name right…"
She shook her head in disbelief before sliding down the hill in the same way Snapper did.
"You comin'?" She turned back to me.
"Yeah," I replied, also wanting to experience the thrill of sliding down a steep hill.
…
Once Amber and I finally arrived near the city entrance, I slowed my pace, examining the large circumference of stone the city was encased in, as well as the wide path treaded by horse carriages that moved in and out of the city through a large gate.
While nearing the entrance, I spotted one carriage in particular, which bore a luxurious design and features that dwarfed the rest. It was decorated in the same white and gold embroidery that armored two of the fine steeds that carried it.
I then noticed how the road led inside the large forest, which was difficult to see from where we stood.
Amber and I were posted a few meters from the southern entrance, unable to find Snapper, who I guessed was already inside the city.
"Did that idiot really leave us here?" Amber irritably questioned.
I thought about reassuring her, but I wasn't entirely sure about Snapper's intentions myself. After all, I didn't know him well enough to be certain that he wouldn't leave us behind.
"Hey, what are you two doing just standing around!?"
Huh?
We quickly turned toward that unknown voice's origin, and saw what looked to be an armored guard with a long spear, calling at us from a distance.
I noticed that he and another guard stood on either end of a smaller pedestrian entrance as if they permitted people to enter or leave.
The guard that called to us muttered something toward the other guard, but I couldn't quite make out what they were saying.
"Shit, he's coming."
Just as Amber whispered in slight panic, the guard began to approach us.
"What's going on, Amber, can't we just go inside?" I asked.
"We don't have valid licenses to gain entry. Just play it cool for now. I'll do all the talking–don't say a word."
I quietly nodded.
Once the guard was in close proximity, his body blocked the sun from view, and as I looked up at him, I marveled at his astounding height: a giant slightly larger than the one named Burg, who was with Vince back at the inn.
"Why didn't you guys respond when I called you?" He glared down at us like we were ants waiting to get squashed under his mighty heel.
"Please allow me to apologize, sir. We don't mean any harm, we were just a little troubled as we seem to have lost our dear friend." Amber, speaking like a pure and innocent girl, attempted to disarm him.
"Is your friend supposed to be out here somewhere? Where did you last see him?" the guard asked, lessening the deep husk within his voice.
"Umm… Well, we came outside the Contra to play for a bit, but we were supposed to go back into the city together afterwards, and we're not sure if he has already entered. Would you mind letting us through so we can check quickly?"
"Sure, that's not a problem."
"Ah, thank you so mu—"
"I'll have to see some ID."
As Amber attempted to walk past the guard, her body suddenly froze, a flash of worry in her expression.
"Umm… well… you see… about that…" Although I wasn't the one talking, sweat began to trickle down my own forehead as I watched Amber struggle. "This is totally embarrassing… The truth is, we actually went out to go dungeon hunting, and by the time we got back, we realized that we left our CCU's inside."
She managed to come up with a decent-sounding lie in time.
"Oh, so you guys must be Collectors then," he figured. "You shouldn't really go anywhere without your CCU."
"I'm sorry. We were just in a hurry since it's our first day as Collectors, so I guess it just slipped our minds somehow."
"Well, that does tend to happen..." He seemed to approach the situation with a little more empathy.
However…
"Still, I'm afraid I cannot let you guys through without your licenses, and I also can't allow you to loiter around either–it just seems too suspicious. I hope you can understand."
Wait… Is he actually telling us to get lost?
As I thought this, Amber had this look of defeat on her face like she had lost the will to continue her lies. But there was something else hidden within her expression… something deeper. It was like a feeling of abandonment that had been jolted awake by her failed efforts.
"Let's just get out of here, Wolf," she said, ready to leave. "We're sorry for all the trouble—"
"Hold it!" A voice suddenly cried from behind the small entrance–a voice that I'd never been so happy to recognize.
Snapper rushed toward us from the other side of the opened gate. Once Amber turned to see him, her eyes widened strangely with a look of shock like she had just seen someone return from the dead.
"Yo, Guard!" Snapper shouted as he soon arrived beside us.
The guard turned around, blinking a couple times.
"Oh, I remember you... You're the young Voltaire!"
"You got that right. And these guys are my friends, so quit harassing them, would ya?"
As Snapper spoke, I noticed that he was carrying two small devices that looked similar to the one on his belt.
"They left their CCU's at the station, and I went to retrieve them. They don't have ID's installed yet since they haven't fully completed the process, but they're with me."
"Hmm…" The giant guard merely raised an eyebrow before shifting his gaze between the three of us.
"If you don't believe me, I can go back and get the paperwork for the party and licensing process."
A sigh of defeat escaped the Guard as though he had finally caved.
"There's no need to tire yourself, Snapper, I've heard about you and all the work you've done for the Folcan and Garmen region. As a respected Voltaire, I will trust your words and grant your friends access to the city. But just this once, until the identification process is complete."
"Thanks, man," Snapper replied in appreciation. "How about you tell me your name and I'll put in a good word for you next time I bump into one of the red knights."
"My name is Guard… Guard Highman."
"Guard the guard, huh? I kinda like it."
While Snapper was repeatedly muttering "Guard the guard" like a cultish chant, Guard waved a signal to his short partner at the entrance before granting us permission to pass.
"What would you guys do without me, huh?"
"Thanks, Snapper, we owe you one," I smiled at him with gratitude.
"Yeah, you owe me way more than just one, kid, and it'll keep pilin' up too. Don't worry though, I'm keeping track of the exact amount so you guys can eventually pay me back one day. Especially you, Sera–"
Snapper was immediately stunned as he looked at Amber, whose expression was slightly tearful.
"Amber?" It was the first time I'd ever seen Snapper show genuine concern toward her.
"You're such an idiot," she quietly said as she walked past us, proceeding to the entrance. "Well, don't just stand there, hurry the hell up."
She turned to face us, brushing away her tears with a joyful smile—a real, heartfelt grin that seemed to surprise Snapper, as if he'd never imagined she could show such an expression.
"Hey, you're not ordering me around, are you?"
"You're ruining the moment, dumbass."
Nevertheless, Snapper followed behind her.
But just as I was about to do the same, I felt an abrupt shiver course through me, and I immediately turned my head toward the forest.
What was that? I thought. Is someone out there?
To the average person, it might look like nothing was there—just empty space between the trees. But my senses hadn't betrayed me yet.
It was only for a split second, but a dark and purely sinister presence had its eyes set on me, like it had discovered a target.
This feeling…
In an instant, I felt an undeniable pressure within my chest, as though something sharp had just pierced straight through my flesh.
Soon, that same pressure suddenly relieved itself, and when I checked my chest, there was no wound.
Am I going insane? I thought to myself once more.
Everything returned to normal as though I were in a momentary trance, but I couldn't shake away this horrible feeling that had clung to me, unwarranted.
"Yo, Wolf!" Snapper cried out to me, startling me back into reality. "Hurry up, wouldya!? Amber said she needs to use the bathroom and can't wait any longer!"
"W-WHAT!? WHEN THE HELL DID I SAY THAT!?"
I quickly gave the forest one last glance before turning away to regroup with the others.
"I'm coming!" I yelled back, hoping that the abundance of fear in my voice would go unnoticed.