Moving Ahead

‘We ended up leaving the palace. We failed the mission, Though we already had an idea that it’d go down like that. Everyone was suspicious already as if- something felt incredibly wrong. Our theory was confirmed when that hooded figure entered and started speaking very pridefully. I don’t like how he smirked under the hood.’

Our crew looked disappointed. Allen and Kazuma were lost in thought walking back to the inn, Yuuji was mumbling to himself and Amilia was looking down in the dumps. Things certainly weren’t pleasant from our heroes’ point of view but for someone else this was a golden chance that they couldn’t miss.

“Our great shogun, You needn’t feel upset. We all make mistakes.” The strange hooded man finally took his hood off and revealed himself

He didn’t look young. In fact he looked like a 30-40 year old man. His hair was short dark grey. He had that smirk on his face all the time. Almost, as if he’s planning something.

“You’re right, Mizuki. I just can’t believe I nearly got fooled. You saved me again.” The queen said facepalming looking very distressed

“Shogun! You don’t need to praise me that much. It’s only natural for a lowly citizen like me to do his best for his beloved shogun!” The man waved around almost dancing while saying those words, Clearly it was grabbing the queen’s attention and convincing her

The queen nodded with a forced smile on her face.

Mizuki excused himself to tend to some other duties he had left. Once he left the room he put his hood back on. ‘Didn’t expect that idiot Allen to use his organization nickname. Doesn’t matter. I ruined their chances. We’ll proceed with our plan.’

As he was saying that he took out a small orb like the one Albert used to communicate.

“So it’s time huh.” A strange distorted voice came out of the orb before it shattered into thin air

Back to our crew, They definitely had seen better days. The air seemed gloomy as they walked all the way back to the inn. Not even the cheerful Allen could change the mood.

It wasn’t as if they weren’t expecting disappointment but they didn’t expect that much disappointment and to even be accused of faking the monster attack.

“Man.. That hooded guy is a pain in the ass.” Allen said as he sighed, “I don’t like how arrogant he seemed too.”

“Look who’s talking.” Kazuma looked at Allen with a grin on his face “Looks like we’ll just have to do our thing from the shadows.”

Yuuji couldn’t help but stay quiet throughout that conversation. He looked to be in deep thought trying to put the pieces together ‘She looked like she was about to agree but she hesitated last second.. That hooded guy looked like he was manipulating her in some way. Is it a magical item? Is there even one that could let you do that? Actually thinking back, didn’t Gojo tell me to not try and talk to the queen? He must have known something.’

“Yuuji, Are you ok?” Amilia called out to Yuuji ,who was looking down while thinking, looking concerned herself. “You don’t need to worry too much about it, we’ll figure it out.”

As soon as Amilia said that, Yuuji noticed how gloomy he seemed.

“Ah.. I’m ok. I think I figured out something” Yuuji said as he lifted his head up

Kazuma and Allen were still talking about their plan to protect the key in the shadows when Yuuji interrupted their conversation suddenly

“I think I know what’s going on.” Yuuji looked determined and it certainly made the room a little lighter “Let me explain”

Yuuji went over all the details -except for Gojo’s advice- with a clear explanation. Mentioning the idea of the queen being controlled or manipulated and how hesitant she seemed.

Everyone seemed to agree with most of his ideas with Kazuma dismissing the magical item thought. Allen also seemed to not be interested in the idea of a magical item as he has never seen one in the organization armory.

The more Yuuji explained, the more the room began to lighten up and think much more straight.

“If that hooded guy is from the organization he sure is a really good spy huh.” Allen said, putting a hand to his chin. “Let’s just hope he’s not one of the harbingers or it might be trouble for us”

Everyone nodded in agreement with Allen. Facing a harbinger currently would be a difficult task since even Allen doesn’t know who they’re coming up against.

“Alright everyone make sure to rest for today. Tomorrow we’ll work out a plan!” Yuuji stood up quickly taking the lead this time,

When they were done with all the theorizing and brainstorming it was already evening. With how tired they looked it wasn’t strange for them to prioritize rest over the plan. Afterall, A healthy mind comes from a healthy body.

Yuuji couldn’t contact Gojo this week as he used up all his credits for that week already. Everyone slept soundly with no problems.

Next morning came and they all immediately gathered to start working out a plan. Just as they were planning, a loud thud could be heard from outside.

Rushing to the guild, They saw a massive crowd with a lot of yelling. Panic was running through everyone’s blood at that point.

Somehow they managed to squeeze in. Allen rushed over to the counter to ask about the crowd

“Sir Chaos, We’re truly sorry but there’s a massive dragon heading here again as per a report from a lumberjack who was chopping wood in the jungle.”

Upon hearing those words Allen’s eyes widened with everyone else behind running outside immediately. Of course Kazuma grabbed Allen by the collar to wake him up from the shock.

“So we’re facing her..”