Extalia offered no assistance to Edolas, reasoning that such trivial matters were unworthy of the Queen deploying her Divine Power.
Whether it was capturing Fallen Heaven or Dragon Slayer Mages, or clearing obstacles to the Anima Plan, these could be handled by the Edolas Kingdom itself.
However, it couldn't yet be concluded that the two Transcenders were Fallen Heaven, as the Queen had already modified the Transcenders' task to lure the Dragon Slayer Mages to the Royal Capital.
Helping the Aslanters seize the Flying Ship might well be part of the combat strategy, so if those two Transcenders could be caught, they must be handed over to Extalia.
For such obvious inaction, merely talking without offering any help, the King of Edolas, Faust, did not show any anger.
He merely exchanged a meaningful glance with the chief of staff and then ordered the troops to urgently transport a Magic Crystal of considerable size to the Royal Capital, personally escorted by the First Magic Combat Team Captain, Panther Lily.
Meanwhile, Rhode and the others finally piloted the Flying Ship to the vicinity of Extalia.
To avoid attracting attention, Rhode and Lisana deliberately charted a safe route to bypass cities normally guarded by troops.
Due to this, they took a roundabout path, arriving almost at nightfall.
But this was precisely what Rhode wanted; approaching at night was more discreet, and the magic he intended to cast must be done at night.
Lisana had already turned off the acceleration device, with the Flying Ship gently propelled forward by the paddles below.
Lisana roughly recounted the paddle mechanism as explained by 'Natsu', but to Rhode, all he registered were two words—magic.
Anyway, it didn't matter.
The key point was that the Flying Ship was no longer jetting, eliminating the huge noise, allowing them to quietly search for a suitable landing site.
After drifting for a while, Hapi and Carla flew back.
Hapi said, "Head to the left; there's a large clearing over there, seemingly farmland."
Carla added, "There's not much nearby, just a small cabin by the farmland."
"That's the spot." Rhode decided swiftly, "Hapi, you guide Lisana."
"Aye!"
"Wendy and Lucy, stay on deck to keep watch and protect everyone. Carla, you take me to that cabin."
"Okay!" Lucy and Carla nodded together.
Wendy asked, "What about Natsu?"
Rhode replied helplessly, "Let him lie here; even when landing, he needs a while to act, and what I'm about to do he can't help with."
Natsu struggled, "I... I want to help... oof~"
Rhode tapped his head lightly, "Just rest; I might need to borrow your Magic Power later."
Everyone took their positions, with Carla bringing Rhode towards the Floating Island in front, just as Hapi described, it was quite spacious.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be below a steep slope, roughly could be called a mountain hollow, presumably a remote part of the Cat Kingdom.
"Look over there." Carla indicated Rhode to look ahead.
At dusk, Rhode saw a Floating Island at about the same height as here on the horizon, with a mountain glowing orange-red...
To be precise, bathed in sunlight, because it's an enormous Magic Crystal, larger in size than the Floating Island below it.
Only the distance was too far to see details or know how many troops were stationed there.
How could Rhode be clueless about what it was?
"Everyone in Magnolia... Mira is also there, right..."
"Yes." Carla softly agreed, then added, "They might also be here."
Everyone turned into Magic Crystal; nobody knew who was part of which.
No matter, as long as they're all rescued.
The current tasks must be done properly.
"Here we are." Rhode fixated on the cabin below, "I'll count on you later."
"Alright." Carla placed Rhode at a windowless spot behind the house.
Approaching closer, it became evident this wasn't an ordinary house but a two-story building—just shorter, with the second floor not even taller than the first.
Given the circumstances, it's likely meant for cats like Carla and Hapi to live in; the size is just right.
The smoke from the chimney had just cleared inside; the occupants were probably having dinner, and Rhode could hear voices within.
"Hey! Eat up! Tomorrow's field needs finishing!"
"Thank you for your hard work."
"Hey! Don't know what those people are up to; it's been a mess since yesterday!"
"Well, that's not something we can worry about."
"Hey! Stop sighing..."
Judging by the voices, one person sounded startled with peculiar speech habits, likely a middle-aged man, and the other had a gentle tone, likely a woman.
They seemed like a couple; to avoid trouble, Rhode had no choice but to intrude.
He summoned six Ghosts, floating above the cabin, ready to strike if needed.
He also summoned four Golems with remembered names, having them pretend to be rocks, ambushed in four directions.
Then Rhode gestured to Carla.
Carla flew forward, landing at the door and gently knocked.
"Who might that be at this hour?" answered a gentle female voice, "Coming~"
"Wait a moment." A man's voice followed, sounding somewhat cautious.
Then there seemed to be a whisper of something, which Rhode did not hear clearly.
The door opened soon, and Carla saw a blue cat wearing a headscarf, dressed like a middle-aged woman.
Beside her was a white cat, with a square face, a beard around his mouth, holding a broom in his paw, watching outside warily.
For him, someone knocking at the door so late wasn't necessarily good news.
Carla was considered a pretty and cute among Transcenders; the blue cat looked at her and felt a goodwill immediately, hastily asking the white cat to lower what he was holding, "It's a little girl, honey, don't scare her."
The white cat really did drop his guard, though still looking rather fierce:
"At this hour, what's a little girl doing out here? Why come to my home?"
"Honey, you're too harsh." The blue cat reproached her husband, came out and held Carla's hand, gently asked, "Little miss, are you lost?"
Seems like the goodhearted kind of people.
"I'm sorry." Carla apologized, withdrew her hand, spread her wings and flew back.
"What?" The blue cat hadn't realized what was happening, two ghosts lunged down from the roof, one squeezed her body with its hands, the other muffled her mouth.
"Hey! Who are you people?" The white cat snatched the broom and rushed out, intending to hit those ghosts.
However, two more ghosts leaped down, capturing him in the same manner.
"Woo woo woo! Woo!"
The white cat's face was full of rage, struggling fiercely but to no avail, the blue cat's face was full of terror, also unable to break free.
It seemed like the intel from Gemini was accurate, ordinary Transcenders other than being able to speak, fly, having strength stronger than cats, don't really possess any formidable abilities.
"Sorry, we don't wish to harm you, but for our own and our companions' safety, we have no choice but to do this."
Rhode summoned a Shadow Wolf, let it sniff to confirm there weren't any third-person scents in the room, then came to tie the two cats and gagged them.
From the direction of the field, the Flying Ship descended slowly, Rhode directed the ghosts to watch in various directions, taking the two cats to meet up with his companions.
Carla walked alongside, apologizing to the two fellows, soothing their emotions.
She detested the one who assigned her the task, and these two were clearly unrelated ordinary people; having dared to face her heart, she wouldn't vent anger on innocent people.
The companions had disembarked from the Flying Ship, Hapi placed Natsu aside to rest, then flew over himself.
Lucy and Wendy quickly came running.
The two captives seemed taken aback seeing them, then appeared somewhat agitated, though besides Hapi who studied them momentarily, the others kept talking amongst themselves.
"Carla, Brother Rhode, went smoothly?"
Carla responded, "Very smoothly."
Lucy hurriedly asked, "What do we do next?"
"Will still rely on you, you and Natsu have witnessed Moon's Drop ritual on Demon Island, right? You said Lira from Lyra Constellation knew the spell of Moon's Drop."
Rhode was quite thankful now for having done the job of President's Advisor, and furthermore for earningestly asking companions for some crucial task reports.
Also thankful to Lucy for retelling their secret execution of the S-Class Task so thoroughly afterwards.
"Ah! You want Lira to help us set up the Moon's Drop Magic Array!" Lucy understood suddenly, "Using Moon's Drop to lift the magic that turns our companions into Magic Crystals!"
"Why are you suddenly having an epiphany?" Rhode squinted at her, "Didn't I tell you all the plan before?"
Rhode had considered unexpected encounters, exploding once then getting taken by enemies, while companions escape as a contingency.
At such times, of course, they would need to figure ways to rescue, so they must be told what to do thoroughly.
However, Lucy seemed to have not listened attentively.
"Don't end up like Natsu." Rhode sighed, how does he recall Lucy being reliable usually?
"Ah-ha, ah hahaha…" Lucy laughed awkwardly, "Should I summon Lira now?"
"No, the moon is still some time away; better summon Gemini first." Rhode pointed at their captives, "Need to get more intel off them, at least find out where this is, or if anyone would come to interfere."
"Okay." Lucy found the Gemini Constellation's key, "Open the gate of Gemini Constellation! Gemini!"
"Billibilli~"
Lucy said, "Gemini, Minnie, sorry to trouble you again … but please be quick, I still need to save magic power for summoning Lira."
"No problem~" Gemini and Minnie each touched the blue cat and the white cat, then immediately transformed into the white cat's likeness.
Thinking of her Star Spirit being unreliable sometimes, Lucy reminded, "Please state the most important thing first!"
"Alright." Gemini acted promptly, stating the most critical news, "They are Hapi's father and mother."
"Oh." Everyone nodded.
A few seconds later.
"What???!!!"