"Well... for worrying about our mage being in trouble, the city is really rather quiet and peaceful as ever, isn't it?" Yuri said, looking around.
The group had made it to the entrance of the city of Aspio, and contrary to what they thought would be a city in panic when Rita in trouble, it was calm and peaceful. All the researchers in their robes were having their faces all shoved in books and paid no attention to what was around them. Some of the group could have sworn seeing some of them walk right into buildings.
"So... the city of scholars is more like the city of bookworms..." Tai said, folding his arms and thinking pathetically at what he saw.
"Tai! They're very intelligent and wise researchers; that's not nice to say of them," Estelle scolded him.
"Hey, if you're so wrapped up into a book, that you literally will smash into the side of a building and not pay attention of where you're going, you're a bookworm," Tai tilted his head away with his eyes closed.
"I'm agreeing with Tai on that one, Estelle; I definitely know you and Rita don't be careful when you go into 'bookworm mode'," Yuri said, smirking at the princess pouting at him.
"Well, whatever the case, we need to be going to find Rita, just in case that man is coming her by any chance," Flynn said, as the group started to approach the area.
"HEY! HOLD IT!"
Everybody turned to see Akihiro panting with a grumpy face as he walked over to them. His snorting in breaths made him look rather ridiculous. He soon caught his breath and approached them.
"What's the big idea just ditching me back there? Geesume, you're just as rude as that guy before..." he groaned.
"Oh, my goodness! Please forgive our rudeness!" Estelle immediately bowed to him and apologized, "We didn't mean to forget you like that. We just were worried about a friend of ours being in trouble."
"Huh? Who's this friend?" Akihiro's face suddenly went surprised and worried.
"She's a mage who resides here in Aspio," Flynn explained to him, "That man that pushed you earlier this morning maybe trying to harm her."
"What!? Man, this just proves that guy is a jerkbag!" he yelled in frustration, "Well, let's go make sure she's going to be okay!"
"Right, let's get to her shack here. Luckily, I still have the official passport papers needed to get in," Yuri said, pulling them out of his pocket.
Walking up to the city entrance, the group was stopped by the guards and asked for their passport. Yuri handed it to them and after reading it for the knowledge that it was real, they let all go up into the city. Walking up the steps and into the city, soon there were inside the dark and glowing city as the scholars gave them different looks of seeing different clothed people inside of the city. As they got to the middle, they made a right down a ramp and towards a small shack sort of building that was near ice and chains. Approaching the door, Flynn stepped up to it.
"Hello? Rita, are you there?" he asked, kindly knocking on the door.
It was silent as the group watched from behind. As several seconds passed, he tried again but there was no answer. He turned back to the group and walked back to them.
"Well, she doesn't seem to be home," Flynn said, a bit disappointed.
"Oh, come on, you didn't even try hard enough," Yuri said, walking to the door, and turning the door knob to open it up, "See?"
"Yuri! Please don't just go barging into her house!" Estelle ordered in a polite yet scolding manner.
"What? The door was open, and besides, Rita knows us and would let us in, anyways," Yuri said, shrugging as he began to walk inside.
"Yeah, but Rita also is the the type who doesn't take a likin' to anyone just bustin' into her house, like ya did several months ago, Yuri," Raven said, warning him as Tai and Akihiro had question marks come over their heads, "She might cast a spell on ya for not learnin' a lesson."
"Oh, come on, Rita's not that impatient and hot-tempered... is she?" Yuri said confidently, but soon doubted himself.
"I don't know, Yuri; you traveled with her; surely you would know by now," Flynn teased with a smirk.
With a bit of a grumpy face, the man turned away from the giggling commandant and all eventually ended up going in. Rita's shack was exactly how they all last visited it. Books thrown everywhere and notes and sketches for ideas were scribble on chalkboards, papers, and even the walls and floor. And to the smiles of everyone who knew her, there was Rita coming down the staircase that led to the upper half which was her bedroom in a bit.
"Rita!" Estelle exclaimed happily.
"Hey, Rita; long time no see," Yuri said, smiling at her.
But alas, as all would knew her, the mage was not even paying attention and chanting to herself her calculations and research.
"So, if I took into concept the balance of what happened with the aer from that project, and possibly add a magic spell to that, I could..."
"And, she's not even paying attention," Yuri sighed as he shook his head.
They watched Rita walk to the chalkboard and then continue on, "No, wait, that could throw the balance of that off and make that unstable. The aer could make harmful effects. Okay, then maybe I could measure the specific..."
"Um... is she deaf?" Tai asked, tilting his head.
"Well, in a way, yes," Raven said, grinning at the boy.
"Rita has this... perk to her on where she gets so focused on her research, she doesn't even pay attention to what's around her," Estelle said, looking down a bit.
"In other words, you could wave a weapon in her face, and yet even then, she still wouldn't notice you," Yuri said, watching her come right near them.
Rita literally walked right past them, went to the bookshelf, and grabbed a few books. Then, she walked right past them again and to her desk, getting a few papers and tools to stack onto her pile in her arms.
"Whoa... she didn't even notice us then," Akihiro said, wide-eyed.
"Incredible; what sheer focus," Flynn said, impressed.
Estelle giggled, "Hehe, that's our Rita."
They watched her start to make her way to the stairs when she said, "Okay, so what I need is to calculate the quantum per square inch of the possible radius and - !"
Suddenly, the mage stopped and in a flash, threw all the books and stuff in her arms behind her head as she turned around with the most shocked and happy face. She ran to Estelle and hugged her tightly, causing the princess to smile and leaving the men to choose what to watch; the astounding behavior of Rita being happy and hugging Estelle, or watching her books and things fall to the ground with large thuds and clattering.
"E-Estelle! What are you doing here?" She laughed happily.
Suddenly, realizing who else happened to be with her, Rita's face suddenly reddened as she cleared her throat and let go. She folded her arms and closed her eyes.
"U-Uh, I mean, this is such a surprise. I wasn't expecting you all to be here; a heads-up would've been a lot better, but it's still good to see you," she said more collectively.
"Just good, huh? If throwing your stuff over your head to rush to hug Estelle is good, I'd hate to see what you'd do if you were ecstatic," Yuri said, grinning at her.
"Ah...! Shut up, you!" Rita ordered him as she glared at him (despite her really happy to see all of them, even Raven), "Who asked you to speak at all?!"
"Ahh, still the rambunctious one, I see," Raven smirked, and rubbed his chin a bit.
Rita looked at him, and made a disgusted face as she groaned, "And why'd you bring the old man into my house? He's going to contaminate the place!"
"Hey!" Raven pretended to be offended, but the group smirked or either chuckled, yet Tai kept a close eye on the teasing to make sure it didn't go too far.
"Wait a minute, how'd you all even get into my house, anyways?" the mage asked baffled.
Suddenly, all fingers pointed towards Yuri. Soon, an unimpressed and incredulous face came from the girl to him as she stared at him for several seconds.
"Why am I not surprised? Yuri, can you not keep barging into my house without my permission? This is what; the second, third, maybe fourth time?" she degraded him.
"Hey, come on, you weren't answering when Flynn was knocking on your door," Yuri tried to offer an excuse.
"And you're still too dense to even apologize..." Rita sighed as she shook her head and went over to pick her stuff up, "Well, I suppose you have learned something in a way; at least, you're not barging into my room and waving a sword in my face, claiming I'm a blastia thief."
Once Yuri grumbled in a cranky sort of way, a chuckle coming from the old man, princess, and Akihiro. Rita perked her head up and suddenly realized there were two people in the house she didn't know. Once she finished picking her stuff up and putting on the desk, she walked over to them.
"Who are the two guys?" she asked, standing in front of them, folding her arms.
"Hiya! My name's Akihiro! Nice to meet you, Rita!" the teenage warrior grinned and introduced himself.
The mage glared at him, a bit uninterested once he talked, and nodded, "Nice to meet you."
Feeling a bit unappreciated, Akihiro folded his arms with a grumpy look, but soon Estelle cheered him back up by standing next to him and giving him a look to not let Rita get to him. As the mage looked over at Tai, she suddenly found herself interested with him as the guy's left arm caught her eye.
"And... you are?" she asked, looking at him.
"Oh, Rita, this is Tai," Estelle introduced with a smile.
"Yo," was all that came out of him as he kept his arms in his pockets.
Rita raised an eyebrow at the black and green glove of his. Taking a bit too long to study it with her gaze, the teen felt a bit suspicious and moved a bit to bring her eyes back up to his face.
"Something wrong?" he asked.
"You got a very interesting glove there," Rita said, then shrugging it off, as she turned back to the guys of the group.
Unknown to anyone, Akihiro felt a bit upset and jealous that the mage paid more attention to him as he looked at him. Not noticing, Tai didn't sense the teen's eyes studying him as he paid attention to the conversation started.
"So, why are you all here anyways? A simple visit is unlikely if it's you," she asked.
"Yes, that is true," Flynn said, catching her attention, "Rita, as the commandant of the imperial knights and as a friend, I've come to ask for your help. There's a group of thieves going around and stealing blastia and cores."
Automatically tuning in, Rita looked at him and said, "What? Who are they?"
"According to the information I've been given, they are past guild members and knights," Flynn said, looking at his companions, "but recently, it became much more."
"Yeah, it appears these so called thieves can create monsters, and we had to fight one yesterday," Yuri added.
"Yesterday? So that was what that roaring was," Rita said, implying she heard it, "If these people made monsters, they might be using some really high-grade technology. Something only mages could use."
"So, these guys also could have some smart people in their ranks, eh?" Raven said, seriously.
"And on top of that, we have a possible guy who's associated with them that is trying to get rid of the ones who defeated the Adephagos, and according to Akihiro, he was heading to Aspio," Yuri explained.
"What? You came for my protection? Do you not think I can't handle myself?" the mage grumbled, a bit upset on how they thought she wasn't strong enough.
"Rita, the monster we fought was resistant to all magic types," Estelle said, causing Rita to blink in understanding.
Yuri then pointed to Tai and added, "Not to mention it was so strong, that it kicked Tai across the plains and messed him up."
Akihiro flinched at the thought of that kind of pain, "Wh-whoa, really? That's gotta hurt!"
Giving sort of a ticked off glare at him, the teen scoffed and said, "Gee, thanks, Yuri."
"What?" Yuri said, shrugging in all honesty.
"Yuri, ya still got a long way to go before ya realize that ya can word different words better," Raven said, criticizing the man.
"Getting back to the matter on hand, if that guy is really associated with the blastia thieves and trying to get rid of us, he may make a monster that you can't really take on alone with magic," Flynn explained, "So, not only can you travel with us again, but we could really use your assistance."
"I'm in," Rita nodded to his satisfaction, "If these guys are stealing blastia and cores, I'm definitely stopping them. I don't care if they don't work any longer; they won't go misusing them at all! Now, lemme get some stuff and then we can go."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Soon, the group was walking towards the entrance to head out of Aspio. As the went down the curved stairs, Yuri turned his attention to Flynn.
"So, now that Rita is a part of the group, what's the great commandant planning to do now?" he asked the knight.
"Well, it's off to Capua Nor to recruit some other knights to help fight against the thieves," Flynn answered.
"So, then, we gotta go through Ehmead Hill to get to the port city?" Raven wanted to confirm if he was right.
"Not trying to weird anybody out, but how far is this hill and city?" everyone looked to Tai to see him ask.
There was a bit of group silence as they looked at him with awkwardness, excluding the old man and Estelle. Rita folded her arms and looked at him with a disbelieving face.
"You don't know you way around this place, do you?" she said, meaning to be degrading.
However, she was surprised with the neutral yet truthful answer and shrug of, "Not really."
"Oh, come on, you act like you've never been outside Halure," Yuri said nonchalantly, a sentence in a form that he said to Estelle on the beginning of his amazing adventures.
"Yeah, you can say that," Tai agreed, causing Yuri to blink in shock and Repede to tilt his head in even more curiosity.
"Well, well, it took you long enough," a male voice came from the front of the group.
They all looked to see a man waiting near the city entrance, leaning up against the wall. He wore a black cloak and was a big muscular, burly man who had long black hair in a ponytail with a tiny streak of hair in front of his face. He was standing over two guards laying down out cold.
"Hey! You're the jerkbag from this morning!" Akihiro yelled angrily.
"And you're also fitting the description of who attacked my messenger," Flynn said, glaring seriously at the man.
"It seems we got a match here," Yuri said, bringing his hand near his sword that was sheathed.
"And you've taken forever to get out here. But I should thank you all," he smirked as he looked at them, "You made finding yourselves easier."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Rita finally makes her debut! And she soon will be joining the group again! And the unknown man makes his appearance and will unveil who he is in the next chapter. What will happen next? Keep going!