"This is all your fault."

Looking up from his warm mug of tea, which they salvaged from the empty hut, Jesse sent the princess an unimpressed look. Everyone else ignored her, as they are used to the spoiled girl's antics by now. No one ever came as they spent the whole day making the wooden shed somewhat livable. The holes in the shed were filled with brand new oak planks, and the door was freshly carved from birch on the crafting table.

The five of them was sitting around a small campfire, sharing what little food they've managed to catch. The traps they'd set around the place caught three rabbits, and Jesse found some potatoes, thankfully not poisonous. Gabriel prepared the rabbit, while Petra washed the vegetables, getting them ready for roasting. Lukas boiled the water to make some tea, as Jesse laid out the sleeping area. Gabriel brought an extra sleeping bag, so the princess wouldn't be sleeping on the dirt floor tonight.

Satisfied with their meal, Team Gabriel silently went back to doing their own things. Gabriel sharpened his sword, while Petra fixed and polished her armors. Lukas tried to make small talks with the princess and records everything in his journal, saying that it would be a wonderful adventure to write about in a futile attempt to lighten the mood. Jesse sat around and label all the potions that they stole from Isaac, while also sorting out his inventories. They all tried to avoid the enormous elephant kn the room, but found it was impossible. Lukas finally broke the dam and whispered softly.

"What do you think happened to Ellegaard's group?"

Petra shrugged, "Probably put on an execution order, or maybe killed on sight." She tried to act nonchalant about it, but those who are close to her can tell by the stiffness of her shoulder, or the slight waver in her voice that there was nothing to joke about in this situation.

Sadly, Lukas wasn't one of them.

"How could you say that?! They are our comrades!" He angrily stood up, towering over Petra, face twisted in anger.

Gabriel slowly looked up at him, giving him such a long, calculated gaze that made the blond male starts to squirmed. "Kid, everyone here is worried about them. But it doesn't change the fact that we have a mission to complete. If you have the energy to lounge around and getting angry like that, try think of someway we can get the Zircon gem, go back home and get reinforcements to here. Even if it is too late by then. They would like that."

Lukas gritted his teeth, but grudgingly turned back to his journal. Jane narrowed her eyes at Gabriel, and muttered, "So your ultimate goal is the Zircon, huh?"

"Yes. Do you know where we can acquire some?" Petra's gaze slid over to the young princess questioningly.

Jane simply smirked, "What about an exchange of informations?"

"Acceptable." Jesse nodded.

The girl sipped her tea, and turned to Jesse, "You tell me first, why do you need the Zircon?"

"Long story short? A friend of ours was stupid enough to move a pillar to his own home. There was a gem in the middle that hypothetically stopped most of the extreme natural disasters happening in my world. The gem had gone missing, and we need some Zircon to forge a new one. If not then the continuing disasters will ruin our home."

Jane hummed for a while, and nodded. "Okay, to put it simply, there are no raw Zircon left in this world."

You could have knocked the Order over with a feather at that statement. Even Gabriel had stopped fixing the joints of his armors, unable to stop the cold dread pooling at his stomach.

Lukas was the one who break the suffocating silence first, "Then we came here for naught?!"

"Not exactly. I said 'raw Zircon', not the Zircon themselves. Well, unless what you need is raw Zircon, that is." Jane explained, much to the relief of Petra.

The auburn haired girl told Jane that they aren't too sure about that, but Jane continued on with her story anyway.

"The thing is, we have mined all the Zircon years ago. So there are probably no ores left for you guys to take. However," She glanced to the left, clearly showing some discomfort. "One of the previous kings, my great grandfather to be precise, had used the remaining Zircon to forge three weapons: the shield, the sword, and the armor. They are extremely durable. In fact, Leon the I had won many battles, expanding Zirconia to the great size it is today. This kingdom is the greatest of the four in existence, with fearsome military force, even though they are nowhere near the level when Leon the I was alive."

Here, she dangled her necklace in front of everyone and said in a wistful tone, "This was his gift to his wife, Michelle. The necklace has passed down for generations, and only the next one in line for the throne can wore it. It is the key to getting the other weapons I have mentioned earlier. I know you can tell already, but Derek," she spat out the name as if it was poison, "somehow tricked my father into giving him the armor, I'm sure of it. The Zircon Armor was kept around the palace for the king, only giving it to the right hand man as a sign of trustworthiness. Leon the II hated war, so after the countries signed a peace treaty or a non-violence treaty, he had enchanted the sword by asking for an old witch's help, and sealed it on top of the Millennium Tree."

Jane hesitated for a bit before continuing, "As for the shield, my father keep it at our holiday island, not even Derek knew where its location is, because it is a giant moving mass of land." She smirked at Petra's small gasp. "Only the necklace can determine where it is. It acts as a safe house, for should we be in situations like this, we would have somewhere to hide." She finished bitterly.

"So what is your proposition?" Gabriel asked.

"Simple. You can help me gather the weapons, and I will let you take one of them back to your hometown afterward. It is made of Zircon, after all. And don't think about crossing the deal. As I said, only the person succeeding the throne can unlock the sword." Jane huffed a laugh.

Jesse raised an eyebrow, "What if someone inherit the throne while you are away? Namely one creepy guy in the blue armor?"

"It doesn't matter. They have to be accepted by the necklace first through a ceremony by the previous owner. As long as I'm still alive and kicking, Derek can't do anything even if the necklace accept him."

She slowly swirled her tea, which has gone cold after a while, "So, what is your answer?"

They looked at each other, and Jesse extended a hand.

"We accept."

They shook hands.


They set out for their first destination next morning. According to Jane, the Millennium Tree is the highest tree in existence, with a whooping height of ten miles up the sky. It is located on the far end of Silver city, in the Millennium Forest, about two weeks walk from their current location. Most of their trip went peacefully, only stopping when they need to disguise the princess. Jesse killed some squids in the nearby water, and turned the ink sacs to dyes. It smelled horrible, and Jane wouldn't let them applied it on her at first. But Petra reasoned that someone could recognize her and reported them, so the princess grudgingly complied. They also applied the black dye to everyone's hair, much to the team's displeasure. Team Gabriel's hair and armors are their most recognizable features, so it wouldn't do to get the soldiers on their tail because of that.

They somehow got rid of the horrid smell later on, and now Jane can be passed off as Jesse's younger sister, with their common emerald eyes. With some efforts, they tamed a few horses and build a small wooden caravan, since it would be easier to travel that way. It was enough to fit five sleeping rolls, a crafting table, a furnace, and two chests. They equipped a few of the wooden chests on the horse, and hide their armors or visible weapons in the chest within the wooden abode. It is for security's sake.

Lukas suggested that they should change their name too, just in case. So the caravan of wandering family is now consisted of Nathan, Alex, Han, Alison and Eve. Han, in this case Gabriel, is an uncle to the pair of emerald eyed siblings, Nathan and Eve, while taking care of two orphans, Alex and Alison, after a tsunami hit a village at the edge of Zirconia. They have been wandering around for a while, stopping at every town or so to trade animal furs for food and the like. Lukas, or Alex, had decided that is their cover story, and everyone had to give him credits for his amazing imagination.

During the trip, everyone acted as a family, a rehearsal just in case they messed something up later on. Better safe than sorry, after all. Gabriel, as the oldest, steer the horses and do the necessary paperworks with the guards or border patrols. Jesse and Jane will go hunting, with the former giving the latter tips about it to make her not look suspicious. After all, it is the duty of big brother to instruct their siblings on tasks like this, Jesse thought with some amusements.

Petra will set the camps, and cook whatever food the duo brought back, while Lukas will scout for any enemies nearby and get some water from a river, if there was one. They would sleep at nine, with Jane taking first watch, then Gabriel, to Jesse, Lukas, and Petra. Each watch lasts around two hours, and they are expected to move around eight in the morning, after finishing breakfast. Jane had been appalled at the prospect of taking watch, but Lukas countered that they better be safe than sorry. At least she took the first watch and get to sleep peacefully throughout the night.

Getting the necessary paperworks done is no trouble at all, as Jane had already known about the various laws, and brought her personal stamps with her. The guards immediately tensed up when they saw the princess' stamps on their paper. It was suspicious and a big risk to show the guards that a bunch of peasants having the signature of a ruthless princess, but Gabriel concluded that it is the fastest way to get into cities, even if it could tip Derek off.

After checking to see if it's real or not, they let them through to Straw village. True to its name, the village is pretty much made of straw. Straw houses are everywhere, even the farms is dedicated to growing straw. Jesse had never seen so many stacks of straw in his life.

They parked their caravan next to one of the shops, and immediately went to do their assigned roles. Han, as the old uncle, will stay to delicately carve various combs out of animal bones that was washed thoroughly to prevent smells, and attract customers that wishes to buy any. Nathan and Eve will go to one of the shop and trade rabbits furs, cows furs and sheep wool for rice, local vegetables and to some extend, money. It's not like they really need the food, per se. They'd pack enough rations prior to this adventure to last another two weeks alone. Luckily the guards at the palace never prod at anything in there.

Alex and Alison will go around the village to gather intelligences, and was surprised at the sheer animosity directed toward the princess. True to Otto's word, she was a tyrant, living in the palace without a care to the outside world. She can and will execute anyone she deems fit, and ignore other people's sufferings. According to the pair of elders, they had lost their son to the evil princess only because he'd suggest that her dress didn't matched her hair that day!

Jane didn't deny any of this at their meeting later in the night. But she said that she let Derek have most control over internal matters in the country, because she can't do it herself. Her father died when she was twelve, and she doesn't have a leader's qualities to rule the country.

Lukas planned to stay in Straw village for another day, to gather more materials and money, as the walk to the next town is further, so they would have to be prepared. The next day, only Lukas and Petra was out to do some social stuffs and tried to get the villagers to remember them, while Jane and Jesse stayed with Gabriel to finish grinding red, yellow flowers and purple lilacs to make dye. The warrior himself dyed the wool, making sure that the stocks is right for next town's sales.

The blond architect came back with a barrow of fresh water, a bag of flour, a large bottle of milk and a sack of potatoes, saying that an old lady gave it to them after he offered to fix the roof of her house. Petra concluded that the village doesn't have the geographic advantage like the others by not having that much rain for crops. That was why there were only around two hundreds people, as the others have abandoned the town to go and search for a more prosperous place to live.

They set out early next morning, with Gabriel steering the horse as usual while carving bones at the same time. Jesse and Petra were working on the ink sacs to make more dyes to sell at their next destination. Jane was working on embroidery using the dyed sheep's wool. Apparently she had taken on weaving, knitting and the likes while in the palace, to kill some time according to the princess. Admittedly, handmade wool isn't as easy to weave as the silk she was so used to in her palace. Lukas was mapping their journey, calculating distances and planning on extending their wooden caravan a little bit out behind. Maybe a balcony with a few fences, just for when they needed some fresh air. The architect had made some changes to the roof, as now they can access it to watch out for scouts using a pair of binoculars. Surprisingly, it was on sale in Straw village, and Lukas had bought it for the price of six gold coins.

And thanks to that, the blond-now-black is able to warn them just in time for the attack.

"Everyone! A mob consists of zombies and skeletons is coming at 9'o clock!"

Now, normally, the aforementioned mob would have been burned in the daylight, but they are currently passing through a jungle biome, where tall trees blocked sunlights away, extending the mobs' life a little longer. A zombie hissed, as a barrage of arrows lodged themselves at the wooden wall of the caravan.

Gabriel immediately moved to defend the horse, because he knew that they would run away if startled. Petra quickly equipped her armors and charged into the battlefield with her sword, followed shortly by Lukas. Jane hid away in the caravan, as Jesse climbed up to the roof, where he had the high ground advantage. Using Isaac's bow, he shot the zombies, but one of the skeletons got his left arm. Even though he had the high ground advantage, standing on the roof like that pretty much made him the prime target for those boney skeletons

The battle was over before he knew it, and Lukas was currently taking the arrow out, while Jane applied some healing potion on the wound.

"We need better protection." Lukas promptly declared. "I'll think of something."

They quickly returned to work after that, with Jesse doing less strenuous things because of his injured arm. Around midday, they stopped for lunch. Petra roasted a few fish left in the chests from the town for everyone, with salt and lemon as flavoring. Gabriel brought up a point:

"You know, there are cocoa beans in the jungle. Should we gather them?"

Jesse nibbled on his fish, and said, "Sure, why not? I doubt many people actually ventured into the jungle to get cocoa beans anyway." He paused. "Unless they've got their own farm."

"Even so, our cocoa beans are fresh from the jungle, that is some advantage right there." Petra said

After a while of discussion, Gabriel and Petra went to gather the cocoa beans, the former going because he complained about being stuck behind all the time was too boring. Jane, Jesse and Lukas stayed behind to gather the arrows and bones from the skeletons. They made a lot of bone meals from it, and incorporated it to the dye, creating a lighter shade and double the variety of dyes in their arsenal.

It was a start, as they need something to do on their way to Silver City. And it is a good cover to fly under the radar.