A ways outside of town, a closed eyed Burchard continues to cling to the Filolial tightly until he feels it finally start to slow to a stop. Noticing this, he slowly opens his eyes, and when he looks around, he's a bit surprised to see how far they had gotten from castle town. Realizing that they were safe, he couldn't help but sigh in relief while saying to himself, "thank god we were able to get out of there."

He hops off of the filolial then while looking back at it, he could only smile while petting its back and saying, "thanks for getting us out of there, we couldn't have done it without you."

With a grin, the filolial responds in a muffled tone, "krah!"

Though he wanted to continue to enjoy the warmth and feeling of its feathers under his hand, he get's interrupted by a strangely innocent sounding voice asking, "Oh Burchard?"

Having forgotten that Kizuna was there, he continues to pet the filolial while asking, "what is it?"

With a strangely innocent smile, she asks, "could you do me a favour?"

Surprised by this he finally looks over at her while asking, "what is it?"

She looks back at him with a strangely innocent smile until it turns to a look of rage and while flailing around, she shouts, "tell this thing to put me down!!!"

Finally noticing that she was still being held up in the air by the filolial, he thought about asking it to put her down, but with what had just happened still fresh in his memory, he couldn't help but look at her with annoyance while asking, "and what if I don't?"

Shocked to hear this, the anger she was feeling damn near exploded with smoke coming out of her ears, then while pulling out her fishing rod, she swings it about in a desperate attempt to smack him while continuing to flail around like an unruly toddler and snaps, "why you little! If you don't tell this thing to put me down right now, I'm gonna…."

Unimpressed by this, and standing just out of reach of her fishing rod, he casually crosses his arms then looks at her like an angry parent while cutting her off by asking in an overly cold tone, "or what? You gonna beat me with that scary holy weapon of yours? The holy weapon that can't actually do anything to me?"

Seeming to have forgotten what she had told him, the look of anger she was sporting quickly turned to one of shock while saying in a horrified tone, "I-I told you about that?"

All he did was simply nod his head which was enough to change her shock to sorrow, and with her head dropping in defeat, she starts to sway lifelessly in the soft breeze while responding, "why did I have to tell you that?"

With his arms still crossed and while looking back at her with little to no sympathy, he responds, "I mean people do say the craziest things when their about to be killed."

With her head still lowered, he wasn't able to see her expression, but he knew that it was nothing good and that she was probably having a hard time processing this new information. He decides it was best to give her some time but as the minutes passed by with her silently swaying in the wind, he starts to feel bad. Since he didn't want to just let her off the hook, he decides to say, "tell you what, I'll tell this thing to let you down but you're going to be honest with me, okay?"

She remains silent, though he could tell that she was debating what to do until she seems to come to a decision which causes her to sigh disheartedly then with her head still lowered, she replies, "fine."

Getting the answer he wanted, he uncrosses his arms then looks at the filolial while asking, "put her down, and gently please."

Seeming to understand him, the filolial complies and gently lowers its head until her feet touch the ground, but for some strange reason, she doesn't attempt to stand and instead, simply let's the filolial lower her onto her knees.

Now on her knees and looking defeated with her head still hanging low, she takes a deep breath in as if to prepare herself then tells him, "You need to understand something. I didn't know who you were when we first met and since I was stuck with you, you could have easily taken advantage of me if you knew my weapon couldn't harm you. So, I needed to keep up the act and keep you at an arms length at all times. When I learnt that this wasn't my world, I had to double down."

To be completely honest, he was surprised to hear this, but this reminds him of something which causes him to think, "come to think of it, when we first met, she looked like she was gonna tackle me with joy until she actually saw who I was…. And is that why she's been a bit of an ass to me since then?"

Deciding it was best to come back to that last thought later, he could only look at her with sympathy now, and while rubbing the back of his neck, he says, "to be completely honest, I can understand that, and if the roles were reversed, I'd probably do the same thing."

With that, they both fall silent since Burchard wasn't sure what else to say but before he could figure it out, she tells him, "But that's not the case anymore."

A bit caught off to hear this, all he could do was look at her with confusion while she slowly looks up at him and with a soft smile, she continues, "when we were about to be killed, you could have simply run away and left me to my fate, but instead, you didn't think twice about protecting me, and was even willing to sacrifice yourself to let me escape. You showed me the characteristics of someone I can trust."

Again, he was caught off guard by this, though this time it had more to do with the beautiful smile she was looking at him with. Becoming a bit red and wanting to hide his embarrassment, he looks away while responding, "oh…. Well I'm glad you trust me."

While still looking away, he couldn't see her expression, but he has a suspicion that she was smiling cheekily at him, especially when he hears her say, "hehe, I forgot that you couldn't handle me smiling at you."

Annoyed by her technically correct statement, he still didn't want to admit to it, so he looks back at her with annoyance while snapping, "well it's been a very emotional day so of course you smiling at me would make me feel embarrassed!"

Unconvinced by his excuse, she continues to smile at him mischievously while say, "sure, if that's what you wanna go with, that's fine by me."

She wanted to tease him some more, but a more pressing matter comes to mind with her looking around the mostly empty open fields around them while asking, "so what do we do now anyways?"

Thankful for the change in topic, Burchard quickly realizes that they can't just stand there all day, so he put a hand to his chin and thinks out loud, "well its safe to say that we can't go back to town, that high and mighty idiot will probably see to that."

After thinking some more, he pulls up his menu and after studying his on-screen map for a moment, he looks up and points down the road there on while saying, "if we follow this road, then we should reach a town, but it'll probably take a few days."

Hearing this causes Kizuna to sigh in disappointment while muttering, "really? That much walking?"

He could understand her dismay, but he could only respond, "that's the closest and most direct town. All the others would require massive detours since we can't go through castle town."

Though this made sense, it didn't do anything to help with the sorrow she felt but with a thought coming to mind, Burchard looks over at the blue filolial and starts to pet its head while saying, "if we take this filolial with us. We'd have to take turns riding her, but the trip should be easier."

Surprised to hear this, Kizuna looks back at the two of them with concern while asking, "are you sure about that? That guy already wants us dead, wouldn't stealing his property make things worse?"

Burchard looks back at her a bit surprised while replying, "did you forget? That guy already said he was going to kill it."

He turns his attention back to the filolial and starts petting it's head while continuing, "and since I don't want her to be turned into a rotisserie chicken, I want to take her with us."

Though she was still hesitant to agree, when she sees how happy he was while petting it, she couldn't help but smile warmly while saying, "fine."

With both Burchard and the filolial happy to hear this, he continues to scratch its head while she asks, "does it have a name?"

Realizing that he never thought about that, he pauses his petting and looks at it confused while asking, "you got a name?"

The Filolial intern looks back at him while responding with confusion, "krah?"

A bit surprised by the confusion it looks at him with, Burchard realizes something and looks over at Kizuna while saying, "I don't think it has one?"

Surprised to hear this, she asks, "really? How does it not have a name?"

When he looks back and sees the sadness in the Filolial's expression, he couldn't help but feel bad while scratching its head and replies, "with how badly that idiot was treating her, I'm not surprised that he wouldn't bother giving her a name."

Though they all felt saddened, an idea seems to come to mind since Kizuna brightens up while saying, "then why don't you give it a name!"

A bit surprised to hear this, Burchard looks over at her while she continues, "since this is the start of her new life, it's fitting that it starts with her getting a proper name!"

He continues to look at her surprised but understanding her reasoning, he looks back at the filolial and while petting it, he thinks out loud, "what would be a good name for you?"

With a thought coming to mind, he lightens up and while smiling, he asks it, "how about clue?"

The filolial looks back at him with intrigue and after thinking for a moment, it starts to smile while replying with an approving, "krah!!!"

Happy to hear this, Burchard continues to pet her while responding, "alright then."

He looks over at Kizuna while continuing, "well Kizuna say hello to the newest member of our party, Clue."

A bit surprised to hear this Kizuna couldn't help but look at them both with her head tilted to the side while asking herself in a confused tone, "clue? A blue animal named Clue?"

She puts a hand to her chin to think while continuing, "why does that seem familiar?"

Though she thought hard about it, she couldn't think of anything which causes her to simply shrug while saying, "eh, not that important anyways."

With a mischievous thought coming to mind, she starts to smile while walking over to Burchard while saying, "alright then! Let's get this show on the road!"

A bit surprised by her enthusiasm, he couldn't help but look at her with confusion while asking himself, "wasn't she just complaining about having to walk a few minutes ago?"

While thinking about this, she comes to a stop in front of him and while smiling innocently, she says, "one more thing."

Still confused about her change in attitude, he asks, "what is…."

Before he could fully ask his question, she quickly dashes past him then leaps into the air. Caught off guard by this sudden turn of events, all he could do was watch as she lands on Clues back while shouting, "I call first dibs on riding her!!!"

With her words finally clicking in his head, an angered Burchard storms over to her while shouting, "hang on!!! Why do I have to walk first!"

While getting comfy on Clues back, she looks back at him with a smug smile while responding, "what? You don't remember? You got to ride her here from castle town! It's only fair that it's my turn!"

A confused Clue is able to look back at her but then looks over at Burchard while he snaps back, "so? You got to be carried all the way out here!"

With the confusion she felt only growing, Clue looks back at a still smug looking Kizuna who responds, "so? Do you think I liked being held up like an unruly toddler?"

All Clue could do now was look back at Burchard as he scoffs at her then mumbles under his breath, "if you'd stop acting like one then you wouldn't be treated like one."

Seeming to hear just enough of what he had said, Kizuna glares back at him while snapping, "what did you just say?"

With a smug smile, he replies, if you wanna know so badly, why don't you get down and I'll tell you?"

Though she was tempted to, just before she got down, Kizuna realizes something then while looking back at him with a smug smile she says, "ha! You're gonna have to try a lot harder to fool me!"

All he could do was continue to smile smugly back at her while thinking, "even though that almost worked?"

Even though she knew he was probably mentally insulting her, she simply brushes it off then with a confident smile, she looks down the road while declaring, "well we aren't gonna get anywhere by arguing!"

She draws her fishing rod and points it down the road ahead while saying triumphantly, "now let's get this show on the road!!!!"

She was confident in her words and even though she remained stationary, she continued to hold her pose, but as time slowly started to pass with no sign of any movement, she continues to point forward but slowly looks down at clue while asking, "uh…. Why aren't you moving?"

All blue does is look back at her with mild annoyance while replying, "Krah."

With clues reply only adding to the confusion she felt, Kizuna could only continue to look back at clue with confusion until they both hear laughter. When they both simultaneously look over, Kizuna gets annoyed when she sees Burchard laughing hysterically. Feeling a bit embarrassed, and turning a bit red, she asks, "and what might I ask is so funny?"

Though he was able to stop laughing, he continued to smile at her while replying, "sorry, your reaction was just too funny."

With his response only adding to her embarrassment, and more importantly her annoyance towards him as she crosses her arms and looks away with a big humph while responding, "it wasn't that funny! And you aren't helping with my current predicament."

While still grinning, he walks up to and starts petting Clues head while asking, "you ready to go?"

With a smile, Blue responds happily, "Krah!!!"

Happy with the response, Burchard continues to pet her while saying, "alright then."

He stops petting her and looks forward at the road ahead. Though it was a long journey, he couldn't help but feel excitement about this new adventure while saying, "So far I've been locked up, broken out of prison, run for my life on more than one occasion and have had my life threatened more times in the past few days then I thought would happen in my whole life."

A bit surprised to hear this, both Kizuna and clue look over at him with intrigue while he

Says, "its safe to say that this is the first time since getting here that I'm looking forward to the road ahead."

He looks over and sees Kizuna and Clue looking back at him which only makes his smile grow while he continues, "and the fact that I'm not alone on this journey makes me even happier."

Hearing this causes Clue to smile back at him while Kizuna couldn't help but slyly grin at him while saying, "oh? So your finally admitting that you do like having me around?"

While still smiling, he looks directly at her while saying, "maybe…."

Surprised to hear this, she was going to ask what he meant but before she could, he looks away and at the road ahead while continuing, "or I was just talking about blue."

Caught of guard by this, a feeling of annoyance quickly builds within her then as she starts to glare at him, she says, "really? You just had to ruin the moment?"

With a satisfied smile, he looks ahead and starts walking while saying, "well we aren't gonna get anywhere by just standing here."

He starts walking while continuing, "let's go!"

Seeing him walk away causes Blue to let out an excited, "Krah!!!!" Then starts following along next to him. Meanwhile a confused Kizuna couldn't help but look over at him while asking, "wait, why'd she listen to you?"

With a smug look, he looks back at her while replying, "maybe its because she thinks your bossy?"

Annoyed by what he had to say, she glares back at him while snapping, "I'm not bossy!"

To her annoyance, he continues to grin at her then looks back at the road ahead while responding, "if you say so."

With his response only adding to her annoyance, she snaps at him, "hey! I'm not bossy!"

This time, Burchard simply continues to look at the road ahead and innocently whistles. Now fuming, she snaps at him, "hey! Don't ignore me!!!"