Inside Rita's home Estelle couldn't sit still, unlike the others. "If you continue like this, you might wear into the wood," Deesh continued to try and read through Rita's research and resource material. "If you are this concerned about your knight, then why don't you for Halure now?"

"It's just… I've got to say a proper goodbye to Rita…"

Deesh snorted, "Goodbye or not, this Flynn will not likely sit ideal for long. But if your priority is this Rita girl, then calm yourself."

Despite Deesh's monstrous appearance, Karol as started to like her. He was still wary of her deepstalkers as one of them seemed interested in getting into his bag, "What are you guys gonna do after this?"

Yuri knew what he wanted as he toyed with a green box Aile gave him, "I guess I'll go pay a visit to the guy behind all this core stealing. It sounds like Dedecchi ended up going to the same place, too."

Karol seemed excited, "In that case, we should make a beeline for Nor Harbor."

"Didn't he say Torim Harbor?"

Shadow nodded, "That he did. He almost peed himself doing so."

Karol nodded, "Oh right, you don't know."

Yuri glanced to Karol, "Don't know what?"

Karol proudly explained, "Nor and Torim are both ports of a city that extends across two different continents. On the Ilyccian side, where we are now, is the port of Capua Nor. People call it Nor Harbor. Capua Torim is the port on the other side, on the Tolbyccian continent. It's usually just called Torim Harbor. So first we'll go to Nor Harbor. We'll have to pass by Ehmead Hill on the way, but it's not that far west from here."

Estelle couldn't go to help just yet, "I'll be going back to Halure. I still need to follow Flynn."

"As will I," Deesh still with her nose in a book, "I wish to make sure the tree is healthy before doing anything else."

Shadow shrugged, "It'd be best for me to stick with the lizard over there. We are travel buddies after all."

"…Hmm, I don't know," Yuri was debating with himself for a moment, "Maybe I'll head back to Halure, too."

"Huh? Why?" Karol seemed a bit upset, though more so shocked, "How can you just say that? The thief's gonna get away!"

"There's no reason to panic," Yuri was the calmest one there next to Deesh, "According to our friend in the ruins, it sounds like his client's based there. Besides, if we're going west, that will take us close to Halure."

Deesh quickly added, "Though it won't be their main base of operation. Whoever is behind this is using that base as a staging area for gathered materials. Only a fool would allow the hired extras to know your true base of operation. And being in a port city, it would allow easy transportation."

"Aww man, but I…"

"You gotta be somewhere?" Yuri continuing his teasing with Karol, "A sick girlfriend with an incurable disease or something? You could ask that Aile girl to go with you."

Karol whispered to himself, "Man, if only she really was a frail girl like that…"

Rita walked in to see Yuri and Karol lying down with Deesh just casually reading and examining one of her books and Shadow toying with a blastia model, "I know I asked you to wait for me, but you sure made yourselves at home, didn't you?" Rita was glaring at Shadow, snatching the blastia out of her hands, "And don't touch Victoria." She turned to Yuri, "…So? Am I cleared of all suspicion now?"

"Yeah…" Yuri turned away toward the hole Rita had blasted earlier, "My bad."

"Well you aren't a thief that much is clear," Deesh closed the book and put it back exactly where it was on the shelf.

Rita barely glanced to the two of them again, "Is that all I get for being dragged around? Well, that's fine. That's what I expected anyway. And it worked out pretty well for me, too."

Estelle rushed in front of Rita and bowed, "I-I'm sorry for suspecting—"

"Whatever." Rita walked around her and toward one of her chalkboards covered in notes and magic circles, "I already knew that I can't expect anything from people. The only thing I really trust is the blastia."

Estelle bowed again, "All…all right… I'm really sorry. But I'm so happy to have met you, Rita. I'm afraid we have to go now. I'll thank you properly later."

Rita glanced back to Estelle, "O-okay…"

With that, they left Rita alone in her hut, her research, and unanswered questions. Reaching the main square, Deesh glanced to Yuri who gave a knowing nod. The two of them stopped, turning back, "If you're seeing us off, we'll say goodbye here."

Rita nonchalantly walked closer carrying a small bag, "I'm going with you."

Karol was surprised yet again, "Y—you're doing what?"

Deesh looked to the bag, "Giving yourself the time necessary to gather supplies by making us wait. How inventive."

"Yeah."

Karol was expecting more, "Is that it? Just 'yeah'?"

Shadow pointed out, "Aren't you an important researcher here, won't they need your talents or brainpower?"

"…Hmm…" Rita seemed to be thinking to say something, but then her glance turned to Estelle and a particularly persistent knight came to mind, "I want to see Halure's barrier blastia for myself. It's no good to the people if it's broken, right?"

Karol proudly exclaimed, "Actually, the four of us fixed it together."

"Huh? What do you mean you 'fixed' it? You're just amateurs," Rita yelled at Karol for such comment.

"You know, we revived it. It was great! Estel—"

Deesh quickly stepped in front of Karol, cutting him off, "He means we focused our efforts on healing the tree. It was the tree that brought the barrier back."

Rita wasn't convinced, having studied the tree barrier personally, though she wasn't going to tip her hand too quickly. "Now I'm really worried. I'll have to go see if it's been done properly or not."

Yuri continued walking, "Suit yourself."

Estelle grabbed Rita's hands much to the mage's surprise, "W—what?"

"I've never had a real friend my own age before!"

Rita looked away, "I—I'm not so sure we're—"

Estelle started to shake her hands, "This is going to be so much fun!"

"Y—Yeah…" giving up on telling her for now.

When they reached the entrance Aile was keeping Strider entertained by throwing a stick while Repede was just laying down. Yuri tossed back her little device, "So what do you plan on doing?"

"Well since I don't really know my way around here, I figured I'd stick with you guys for a while. Maybe find my way back along the way. Plus, you might need some help dealing with that blastia core thief boss in Torim Harbor."

Estelle couldn't be any gladder to have more people joining them. Offering her hand to Aile, "We never properly introduced ourselves. My name is Estellise. But you can call me Estelle."

"Deesh, to keep things simple for your limited human tongue. The one you're playing with is Strider. The trio of deepstalkers. Try not to attack them by mistake."

"People just call me Shadow. Long story about that but I don't think it'd make much sense to anyone but you. Oh and for future reference, if you see my life in danger don't worry about me. ill be just fine."

"I'm Karol Capel. Ace member of the Hunting Blades."

"Yuri. And the one with the pipe not giving you any trouble is Repede."

Aile smiled, "Yuri, Estelle, Karol, Repede, Strider, Deesh, and Rita, I look forward to traveling with all of you for the time being."

Zagi could feel the new power flowing through him and while the new armor wasn't to his style, none of it slowed or weighed him down. Though the current downside was dealing with the voice in the box that no one else but the target could hear.

Now that you've mastered activating the Biometal form, the next thing is to try using my weaponry.

Zagi spun one of his daggers around, "Why bother when I have these?"

Because the one I'm hunting will use their weaponry to the fullest, and try to keep you at a distance. And they're too goody two-shoed to not join forces with this Yuri you want to kill. So if you want to get in close to use those kitchen knives then you need to learn how to use my weapons without accidently blowing yourself up. Oddly you seem to sync best with my original form so let's combine again and go over my weapons.

"Do I have to do that stupid call out every time?"

It's an activation key. Not exactly something I like either but it can be shorted to just the merger word. Now suit up so we can run weapon checks.

"Wow… This is…amazing!" Aile was awestruck by the city intertwining itself with the massive tree so harmoniously.

Rita, however, had her eyes set upon the tree for other reasons, "H-hey! The tree's already blooming?"

"I told you! We brought the tree back to life," Karol proudly proclaimed.

Rita wasn't going to just accept that as an answer, hitting Karol on the head. Then some of the villagers noticed them and quickly surrounded Estelle and showering her with gratitude and petals, "The miracle maker is back!"

"Thanks for restoring Halure's tree!"

"Oh, um, well…" Estelle was obviously not used to such adoration.

Rita's mind was all abuzz with theories now as she quickly ran to the base of the tree and Deesh went after her to protect the tree with Strider and the stalkers close behind. The mayor came to see the commotion, "Oh, you've returned! Just as the knight said."

The crowd dispersed rather quickly after thanking Estelle once more, though with the mayor's comment she quickly ran to him, "Umm…do you mean Flynn?"

"He was quite surprised that the barrier had been fixed," Yuri had a smug look on his face, imagining said look the mayor spoke of. "Unfortunately, you just missed him."

Estelle wasn't going to give up, "Umm…would you happen to know which way he went?"

"No…I'm sorry, I don't know… however, he did entrust me with a letter." The mayor handed the letter to Estelle and left back to his home, not wanting to pry into their affairs.

Estelle opened the letter and found a shocking surprise inside. "Wha? A-a wanted poster? Wh—why?" Karol turned to Yuri in shock.

"Well, that never bodes well," Aile was waiting for an explanation for the crude drawing of Yuri's mug shot. "But it does look like a three-year-old made this."

Shadow was holding back her laughter, "Maybe they didn't want to wait for the official artist rendition and drew it themselves."

Yuri wasn't all that surprised. "Probably Tweddle A or Tweddle B's handiwork. I guess I made a little too much mischief…"

Karol immediately shouted, "W—what kind of mischief gets you into this?!"

Aile was trying to read the poster, "They have to be listed on this…" though the scribbles were in a language she couldn't read.

"Oh, come on…" Yuri seemed disappointed, "Only 5,000 gald?"

Karol still doesn't understand, "That's way too high for just breaking out of jail! You must have done something else!"

Shadow glanced over to Estelle, "Well, her ladyship could go for a pretty penny if ransomed. Maybe they're just throwing everything they can against Yuri to cover up their own ineptitude."

Estelle flipped the wanted poster around and found it, "I'm going to Nor Harbor. Catch up with me. Also, beware of assassins…"

"Catch up with me, huh? Easy for him to say." Yuri still seemed impressed, "And he already knows… well, then."

Aile's antenna twitched slightly, "Assassins? I feel like I'm being left out of the loop of something."

Shadow shrugged, "We saw them here but haven't met yet. Well, I haven't. Yuri seems to be the only one who has."

Yuri wouldn't say much, as usual, "Mistaken identity and wrong place wrong time."

"Estelle?" Aile noticed the rather chirpy girl seemed to suddenly go silent, "Estelle, are you all right?"

Estelle was unresponsive as she whispered to herself with the wanted poster still clutched in her hands, "I—it's my fault…"

Yuri walked away, "Repede, take care of things while I'm gone." Repede got up and moved to Karol's side.

Karol wanted to follow, but Repede stopped him, "Where are you going, Yuri?"

"To where Rita is. With Estelle like that… She'll need some time alone."

With Yuri off, Karol seemed uncertain what to do. "Yuri…somehow, I suddenly feel uneasy about this…"

"What a strange predicament we find ourselves in." It was Aile. She smiled to Karol, "Two strangers with possible dark pasts we don't know about. I can understand how devastating that feeling could be if one of them was starting to be your idol. But I think these two are good people." And before Karol could ask her, "Call it woman's intuition."

Just as Aile was about to continue another woman's voice cried out to them, "Oh, you're that person from before…"

The villager's daughter rushed over to Karol, "Thanks for restoring Halure's tree!"

"Ah, no, I…"

"Here," the girl had many petals gently clutched between her fingers. "I just picked up a whole bunch of luluria petals!"

Karol took the offered petals. The mother waved, "Take care during your journey."

"Thank! Come by again!" the daughter waving as she walked backward to rejoin her mother.

Karol seemed to brighten by the simple and generous act. Whatever was plaguing his mind before was completely gone now. "Hey, let's go tell Estelle not to feel down!"

"I'm right behind you." But as they returned to Estelle, she was surrounded by several armed and armored men…

Rita had pulled up a display just like when she analyzed the golem as she punched away at the different keys trying to understand the sight before her. "What is this…? The barrier is perpetually stabilized…all the flowers have bloomed too… this is impossible…" Deesh continued to watch Rita carefully, looking up to the tree every so often as though listening to something.

"Looks like your studiousness can be a cause for concern, huh?"

Deesh didn't even bother to turn, "I was wondering what was keeping you."

Rita shut down the display, "What do you want?"

Yuri acted disinterested, "I was thinking that it's kind of weird that someone who'd closed herself off from everything but research would suddenly decide to come on a journey with us."

Rita quickly scoffed, "So what? You know that I'm not a thief, and now you want to get rid of me? All I want to do is research on blastia. It's only that this time, I get to work with a human. That's all. You want to object to what I'm doing!?"

Deesh hissed, "If it causes harm to the tree, I will. Beyond that you talk to the boy."

Yuri looked up at the tree now, "Estelle doesn't see you that way. And you said yourself, it's easy working with blastia because they never betray you."

"Yeah? So?"

"You and Estelle are human. You're not blastia."

"…Oh, I get it," Rita looking away from both of them to hide her flustered face, "You're worried for her. Worried I might hurt her."

"Estelle's honest. Good. Unlike the three of us." Yuri turned back to the path he came up, "I'm just saying… don't do anything reckless."

Rita whispered to herself, "I've finally found the clue I was looking for. I want to be all kinds of reckless…"

Before Rita could say anything more, screaming rang out, "Yuri!" Karol was running toward them.

"Karol? What's happening?"

Karol was trying to breathe, cursing his short legs, "B…bad news! Estelle! She was captured by some knights! Repede, Shadow and Aile are trying to stop them!"

Deesh could see the worry on Yuri's face, her nose only making the news worse, "They smell like the knights from the forest."

The lanky knight with the dali mustache was not amused, "I say, stand aside citizens. This is Imperial matters that does not concern you."

Aile and Shadow were keeping the knights away from Estelle, keeping her behind them. "And she said she doesn't want to go back just yet. So why don't you respect her wishes?" Repede was also ready for a fight, dagger in his mouth at the ready.

An earsplitting roar came from the west, causing the knights to turn. Shadow looked over her shoulder, "About time you guys got here! I was ready to bop the little guy into the ground."

A few knights turned their full attention to the man next Deesh, "I've finally found you, Yuri Lowell!"

Yuri wasn't at all scared, tapping the blunt side of his sword against his left shoulder, "I never thought you would go through all this trouble to hunt me down from the capital. It looks like you have a lot of free time on your hands, Lieutenant Leblanc."

The only knight with his helmet visor open draped in orange, drew his sword toward Yuri, "An old acquaintance you may be, but today I can overlook your transgressions no longer! You would dare go so far as to abduct Lady Estellise?" Leblanc raised his sword, "Capture that wanted man at once!"

Even as two of his men rushed at Yuri, Estelle tried to stop this before someone got hurt, "P…please wait! Yuri isn't a bad person. I asked him to go with me! I'll go back to the castle. Just leave me be for a little longer!"

The lengthy fellow clashed swords with Yuri as his shorter partner rushed in with a spear, "I say, prepare yourself, Yuri Lowell!"

"Jeez…" Yuri freed himself, pushing the knight back a bit to attack with a slash, "Azure Edge!" sending a wave of energy shot off, knocking both knights off their feet. Yuri looked down to the two fallen knights as they tried to pick themselves up, "You two haven't changed a bit, huh. However, I don't have time to play around with you two."

Leblanc barked out to the others, "Don't hold back! Charge!"

Shadow fired a few shots at their feet, "Armor piercing rounds. Don't think that old school armor will save you if I go for the head or heart. Now back off!"

Deesh rolled her neck, "I'll try not to kill any of you, but no promises," cracking her knuckles and saying that with a toothy grin. She grabbed the first knight that lunged at her by his arms, throwing him over her shoulder as if he was nothing and disarming him to use the sword to block a knight's strike. Strider pinned the knight, chewing on his helmet as the deepstalkers attacked his greaves and gauntlet.

Rita blasted some knights using her fireballs, "She says she's not going back, so get lost!"

While the knights were predisposed, Aile quickly changed into the green armor and was about to disabled a few with her electricity. However, she spotted something else of greater concern and rushed into action. Karol was trying not to get involved as one of the knights moved toward him, "Don't come any closer…"

Aile had just saved the knight by slicing the bladed gauntlet off the stranger and kicked the knight away from Karol. The stranger's group was wearing a blue coat with an odd metal face cover that had red goggles and a covering that concealed his identity, and he wasn't alone. A small army of them was waiting on one of the roots above them as they jumped down to attack.

Shadow tried to gun them down in the air, but they blocked some of her shots with their blades. "Fus…Ro!" Deesh blasted a few of these intruders with just the power of her voice, giving her time throw the knight's sword away to draw her own blade. "You know what to do with assassins. No holding back." Strider then went for the neck of one of the downed assassins, quickly tearing out his throat. The deepstalkers kept together as a pack, spraying acid at one of the assassins as it ate away at his cloak and gauntlets.

Yuri rushed over to Karol, getting him to his feet, "Hey, let's get out of here!" Deesh finished off another assassin with her sword through his chest before hissing to Strider and the stalkers to pull back. The stalkers jumped into Deesh's satchel as she continued to fight off a new assassin who tried to stop the others.

Rita seemed ready to continue the fight, but with the call to retreat, she quickly surveyed the area, "But Estellise is still…!"

Aile had fallen back to Estelle's side, as Repede defended her. Estelle herself wasn't sure what to do. "Make up your mind, Estelle!" Yuri's voice seemed to pull her out of her vexing, "Are you going to return to the castle? Or…"

"Don't listen to him, Lady Estellise."

Before Leblanc could stop her, one of the assassins' crossed blades with him. "I'm sorry!" Estelle made her choice as she ran towards Yuri and the others.

"Lady Estellise!?"

Aile blasted another assassin with electricity, "Let's go!"

Yuri stayed for a moment to call back to Leblanc, "The first oath of the Imperial Knights, 'With this sword, I shall protect the people.' Isn't that right?"

As much as Leblanc wanted to protest, he knew his duties, "Indeed!" With a renewed vigor Leblanc pushed the assassin back, rallying the knights into action, "Come on boys, let's show them what the Imperial Knights are made of!" The knights charged at the assassins with gusto, determined to win.

Deesh and Strider stayed behind for a while to cover their escape, eliminating an assassin who managed to break away from the knights to pursue the group. Even after reuniting, Deesh seemed displeased, "Why did we retreat so soon? We could have finished off the assassins fairly easily and still beaten the knights without issue."

Shadow laughed, "Yeah, we didn't get the choice of running from a fight back in Ferelden."

Aile was quick to point out, "And you really think you could hold yourself back after delving into your bloodlust? Although running has only caused us to join Yuri's list of accomplices… and those knights…"

Yuri wasn't worried one bit, "The knights are stubborn, they'll live. So, Captain Karol, which way to Nor Harbor?"

"Oh, right…" Karol was trying to get his bearings, "We need to go west through Ehmead Hill."

Aile seemed to instantly know where west was without looking for any signs, "Then let's go. Westward to Ehmead Hill and Nor Harbor."