Lost!!

Rey and Ed were standing behind the inn, where the carriages, horses and pets of the guests were kept. It was a large fenced area with numerous sheds to provide cover from the adverse weather.

"Dude where is the carriage you were speaking of?"

"It should be somewhere around here. I told the coachman that we'll depart in two days, so it has to be here."

*slap*

Rey facepalmed himself, "Dude it has been three days since then, guess we'll have to walk back home."

"Why walk when we can just buy a horse. I still have my money left."

"On that note, we still have the horse that I took from you, what about that?"

"Th.. that.. "

"Let's go, I left it here only." Rey dragged Ed arriv around the whole area but he found something other than his horse— disappointment.

"How could it be, I left it here so who could th take it away from here?" Rey looked at Ed who was quite this whole time. "You know something, right?"

"Well... I may have instructed the driver to take the horse with us when we left, but who knew he'd leave us alone."

Rey looked at Ed with anger and disappointment.

"B.. but don't worry, we can still buy a horse."

Rey didn't say anything but instead started walking towards the stables to buy a horse.

"80 gold for the cheapest." the owner said while pointing at a list on the wall.

"Give us your best horse."

"Hoho! That'd be 500 gold young master."

"Give me a minute"

Ed checked his inventory to bring out the necessary gold but he couldn't find more that 45 gold coins. He frantically checked again and again but the coins didn't increase. Even Rey started to get worried as he poked Ed bringing him back to reality.

"Rey, I can't seem to find my gold." Ed whispered to him, so as to not embarrass himself in front of the owner.

"WHAT?"

"What happened young master, everything alright?"

"I am sorry for the inconvenience sir, but I just received a call from my butler saying that a carriage is on its way, so we'll have to leave. Thank you for your hospitality sir"

Rey dragged Ed and got out of the store as quickly as possible. He went as far as he could from the store.

"Ed what's up with you today? You have been acting kinda.... idiotic today. And where is your money?"

"I don't know, I have been feeling a little under the weather since yesterday night. I think I spent on the Dolex watch I bought."

"*sigh* We'll travel by foot. Go get your luggage ready, we'll leave in half an hour."

"But packing takes time.... "

"Just put it in your inventory and sort it out when you reach home."

"O.... ok" this was one of the few instances where Rey dominated Ed, as generally the opposite was true.

Half an hour later, both of them were standing at the town's entrance, carrying a traveling bag just for the aesthetics.

"It'll take is 7-8 hours, so we should head out right now."

The two of them left the town and started on their way back home. They walked, sometimes ran and rested, enjoying the beauty of the nature and the funs of travelling. Rey also started singing along the way to keep the mood cheerful and pass the time.

"Two single boys

walking down the road,

Who knows what will happen?"

At first Ed was hesitant to join Rey in his stupid song but after his continuous singing, he also decided to chime in.

"I will pick a berry

pick a random stone,

Who knows what will happen down the road?"

What a lame song this is?

Unbeknownst to them, they were being followed by five people in secret, wearing black hoods with red patterns which looked like a scythe held by a skeleton also wearing a black hood.

"Are you sure elder? They are your grandson and his friend." the guy who seemed to be the leader and in the front asked looking at the screen floating in front of him.

"Yes I am, we have to make sure that those two are strong enough for our cause. I want you to go attack them with your full power and I also want you to assess their strength. If you deem them worthy, then spare them otherwise I don't care what you do."

"Got it elder!" the leader ended the call and kept trailing the two boys.

'What a crazy old man? Attempting to assassinate his own grandson just to test his strength.'

"Two of you spread out and look for any other party, that old geezer is not to be underestimated. This could also be a plan to target us."

Two guys at the back responded to their leader's call and went in opposite directions to scout any other hostile party.

Meanwhile Ed and Rey went off the marked path, into the forest.

'What are these two thinking? Do they have a death wish it something?' the leader was surprised at the boys' action as these areas were the hiding grounds of many bandits, thieves and such. On top of that, with this being an open area, the monsters could be pretty high level for them. Though the town guards killed any monster that could threaten the town, the rest were left undisturbed.

"Ed are you sure? We have only come across carcasses and oh... and there is one more." Rey hurried off to a nearby tree and plucked a berry like fruit from it. "As I was saying, we have only seen dead monsters and some- who knows what use it has- grass."

"I know I know but trust me, this I the way. I gave visited that cave like.... one time, so of course I'll know."

Rey looked at him doubtfully but having no other option, he decided to follow him.

[You know there are pretty high level monsters here.]

'How do you know that?'

[Well I was trying to see what more can I do as your superiorly talented system and while you were chit-chatting with your friend earlier, I found something.]

'So, what did you find?'

[Nope! Not that easily, first say 'Please enlighten this ignorant being with your knowledge, O great existence!', then maybe I'll think.]

'Then forget about it, I bet it's just you being able to change the system window style. Not worth it.'

Rey quickened his pace as if trying to leave Sophie behind.

This dumb guy! (๑ᵕ⌓ᵕ̤)

[You can't do that. You were supposed to comply with my demand and get on your knees and then beg.]

"Everything ok?"

"Yes, just one of Sophie's tantrums."

"Then there's nothing to worry about."

[Don't say that about big sis ⋌༼ •̀ ⌂ •́ ༽⋋]

'What are you getting all riled up for?'

The two of them ignored their respective system's mumbling and continued on the path led by Ed.

As there was no trail in this part of the forest to follow and only Ed's memory to guide them, they kept turning left and right, losing track of time.

'Where are they heading to, that keep venturing further away from Rosewood? The elder did tell me that they were geniuses but could they have sensed a master like me?'

The leader instructed his members to be extra careful so as to not get caught off guard.

The two boys kept on moving further and further and more were even farther than Birchwood Town, when they found a well hidden cave, which Ed was supposedly trying to find.

"See there it is. Told you, it was close by."

"........" Rey gave him a judgmental look as even the leader of the group spat out water which he wasn't even drinking.

'If these continued for some more time, they would have reached the Sigillaria Ruins, which would have been troublesome for us. Thankfully they stopped.'

"Let's rest for now and then we can continue back home."

"Dude you serious? It is already starting to get dark. It took us longer to get here than it would have if we just went back home. We'll have to camp here tonight, remember what the guard told us, 'Do not travel at night, with your level it is not much different from a death wish.'

And we don't even know where we are?"

"Well...." Ed sensed that being there even a second more could be detrimental so he left on the pretext of gathering food which as he said, he willingly volunteered without any obligation.

"Can anyone tell me where the hell we are?"

[We are currently near the Sigillaria Ruins]

"Sigillaria Ruins?"

[Yep!]

"F**K! Where did this guy take us to? Weren't we supposed to just rest in a cave nearby and not reach the northern most part of the continent. Wasn't he supposed to be the calm and composed one? He is doing everything that I would have done. What the hell is happening?"

Rey vented out as they were about a day's worth is travel away from Rosewood, that too if they travelled at full speed.

Rey was waiting in the cave which was not very big, about 30 feet deep and 10 feet in height. He had his stuff kept on one side of the fire which he lit to light up the dark cave. It had been quite some time since Ed went out, but in his anger and frustration, he didn't go out to look for him.

After some time when his thoughts cleared, he recalled what Sophie told him about earlier, followed by the fact that she warned them about areas with high leveled monsters.

"Soph, what were you trying to tell me before?"

[Nothing important, nothing to concern yourself with.]

Soph was...

[I told you to call me Sophie]

*sigh* Sophie was trying to be sarcastic.

Rey inwardly sighed, he knew that Sophie's mind wouldn't change unless he begged her but he didn't want to bow to her. So taking her tsundere personality into account, he tried to sweet talk his way through.

"Come on Soph! You know how much I like you, would you want something so trivial bother you?"

[Hmph! No matter what you s..say, I wouldn't change my mind.]

Sophie tried to put up a strong face but I reality, she was flustered by Rey's remark and moments away from telling him everything.

"*sigh* What can I do then? Guess my love was not enough for you?"

[L...L... love? Don't say s.. something like that.]

'BINGO! Now some final touches before she spill the beans.'

"Why shouldn't I? Why should I hide how I feel? But if you want me to then I'll not speak of them anymore."

[I...I didn't mean that I hate it.]

"But it sure looks like that to me as you wouldn't even tell me what you found earlier."

'Now just reveal everything.'

And with that Rey took advantage of the feelings of a young girl to satisfy his desires and get what he wanted.

'That doesn't sound right.'

Shut up! And as he expected, Sophie told him everything.

He was amazed by what she told him as it was nothing less than a small cheat. According to what she found, he could now get more details about a subject compared to other users. Though it didn't reveal everything, it was more than enough to get an upper have in most cases.

"Hmm! This is definitely helpful but the info is not a lot to work with. Sure you can locate areas with strong monsters but I'll still have to go and see what type of monster it is."

[Now that you put it that way, it does sound pretty useless.]

"Let's leave it at that, it is already more than enough and I see Ed returning."

"Leader are we not going to attack them? This is the perfect time to catch them off guard."

"How much time has it been since you joined the group?"

"Eh..... " the person asking the question was confused.

"Tell me, how long have you been with us?"

"Umm..... 6 months"

"That's why. Listen rookie, there is an unspoken rule in the organization, no matter how good a opportunity it is do not fight near the Sigillaria Ruins at night."

The rookie with even more questions went back to his group members.

"Listen everybody. We all will take turns to guard and keep an eye on those two at night but I still want you guys to be on guard for any danger. Wouldn't want you weaklings to die from a falling branch.

Dismissed!"

The leader disappeared from his spot to look for any other unwanted presence.

"Don't mind it rookie, that's his way of showing love." an almost dead looking man put his hands around the rookie's neck.

"I.. I see"

Shortly the group dispersed to prepare for their nightly rest.

Meanwhile Ed and Rey were having their dinner.

"Didn't you find any meat?"

"Nope. Not a single monster in sight."

"That is weird."

After having dinner, they went to sleep with the group keeping an eye on them.