To The Mountains! 2

Moments have passed since Riko and Lyrica parted ways with one another as the girl is escorted towards the mayor's office while Riko meets up with his squad.

Magdalo revealed that the four heroes Riko thought of as nothing but rumors turned out to be real and are imprisoned in the prison chamber in the royal castle. And now, the Hari of Kruule wants to either capture Lyrica alive or be killed by the high commander probably because they are suspecting that she is also a hero.

"What?! They want to capture Lyrica?!"

"Or kill her on the spot," Roberto interjected.

"We... We can't..."

Riko could not complete his sentence, but everyone understood what he wanted to say. They can't let whatever the high commander is planning on Lyrica to happen.

"For now we've bought ourselves enough time until next morning."

Thanks to Magdalo, they were able to stop the high commander from sending Lyrica to the capital by destroying the carriages and releasing the horses to the wild.

"How did you do that? I thought we couldn't..."

"Because of the mysterious destruction of the town of Kabba, for some reason, the Hari decided to lift the Sumpa a little." Mouthed the veteran knight towards Riko. "Now, as long as we do things in a way as though it wasn't on purpose or something like that, the Sumpa will not trigger."

"I see. So, what do we do?"

"Commander Agario has a plan."

***

Come a few moments earlier in the present, the young knight starts making his way back to his residence, following the plan informed to him by Magdalo.

'The only way for Lyrica to be safe from the high commander is to have her leave the town and go someplace safe, but we can't just go and tell her she's in danger out of the kindness of our hearts.'

Said Riko to himself as he inches closer and closer to his house.

'If we can't do that, then we'll drive her away as her enemy.'

Before long, Riko reaches the front of the house. He walks over to the door before letting out a sigh of preparation.

He was about to extend one of his hands to the doorknob when suddenly, the door opens from the other side, revealing Lyrica in her school attire and the headphones in her head.

"Riko?"

"Lyrica?"

While looking at the girl, face-to-face, the young knight wondered, 'She's wearing that red thing on her head again... Is she going somewhere? Did she already caught wind of what's happening?'

While looking at the young knight before her, Lyrica wondered, 'Why's he here? Did he learn about Nela's condition? No way. Could it be the high commander sent him here to get me?'

The two who has suspicions towards one another asks each other:

"Where are you going?"

"Why are you here?"

The young girl and the young knight find themselves in a situation similar in the riverbank yesterday. Before the situation goes on like the last time, Riko went and urges Lyrica to speak first.

Knowing she doesn't have enough time for idle chatter, Lyrica tells the young knight she's planning to go to the mountains and get a honey bee for Nela.

"The mother bee's honey to be precise."

"Honey? Nela? What happened to Nela?"

"We don't have time." She told the young knight as she runs past him. "Keep up if you want to come along!"

Saying that, Riko reluctantly follows Lyrica while looking from behind as the house shrinks into the distance.

"Is it because she overworked herself?" Inquired the young knight. "Is it because Ina is gone?"

"You knew?"

"It hasn't been that long since our Ina..." Riko let out a troubled sigh before continuing to speak. "Ever since Ina disappeared, Nela's been trying to do all the things Ina used to do for everyone back then. It's all because she didn't want our siblings to go looking for our Ina anymore."

The young knight picks up the speed and is now running at the same pace as Lyrica.

"She didn't want to listen to me or lola Esmeralda. She just kept going and going. So I knew it was only a matter of time until she burns herself out."

Right then, Riko uses the moment to apologize to Lyrica for being burdened to help his young sister. However, the girl brushes off his sincere apology.

"It's all right." She told the young knight. "If the mother bee's honey can really heal almost anything by just a sip, then I'd also like some for my sprained ankle."

Riko looks down at Lyrica's feet. Only then he noticed how the girl's right foot is being moved rather carefully than the left one.

'Now that I think about it, she's a lot faster when she was confronting the Guardian Snake back then. If only she's in full health, she might've outrun me long ago.'

Riko's eyes narrowed as he ponders for a short while. Before long, he tells the young girl:

"Wither Bees are strong. If I were to compare them to an adventurer rank, they'd be Gold rank. Do you think we can enter the beehive and fight them by ourselves?"

"...I don't know," Lyrica replied after a short pause. "It's not like we're going to enter the beehive to fight them anyway. We'll just do a quick sweep and get back to Nela in a flash."

"Still, we need to expect that we're going to fight them."

"When that happens, just leave me behind and get the honey to Nela."

Riko did not say anything after hearing the girl say those words. He just looks at Lyrica—the girl who claimed not to be a hero is planning to put her life on the line for the others once again.

Now that he thinks about it, she did not save them from the Guardian Snake because she's a hero. It's because deep down, she's simply a kind-hearted person.

It's because she's a good person that the Hari wants her either dead or alive. It's also the reason why Riko and his squad cannot let the high commander meet her today.

"Come here!" Riko suddenly grabbed Lyrica's hand as they take a slightly different path.

"Wai... Where are you taking me? We're going the wrong way, you idiot."

Riko, Roberto, Marlo, Cardo, Magdalo, and Agario believe that one day, they'll break free from the Sumpa the Hari inflicted on them. And the one who will free them will be none other than Lyrica.

"Riko? Lyrica? Did you two come here running?"

"Commander Agario, we need your help!"