When they reached the shore.
Hero: "Here we are in Emeraldene!"
Sierra was looking around and didn't imagine to see these places herself.
Hero: "Come quick." He was holding her from her arm.
Sierra: "To where?"
Hero: "You will see."
When they arrived there.
Sierra: "A…boutique."
Hero: "Your clothes are suitable for fighting. However, people might find out your identity. We should be extra cautious."
Sierra: Looked at the boutique from the outside and entered.
After wearing so many clothes
Sierra: "Finally, I chose this." A dress and a long gloves until the sleeve. With brown tight and brown shoe. There is a pink ribbon on the shoe and the neck.
Hero: "Happy to know that you're not like the other noble women."
Sierra: "Why is that?"
They paid while talking and got out of the boutique. They are still talking while walking.
Hero: "I once had a punishment to carry the shopping boxes for a noble woman in the capital. She takes things like sand. She doesn't even look at the price." He was joking with laugh.
Sierra: "What a strange punishment…? Who might give such a punishment in the capital?"
Hero: "Hehe… you don't wanna know."
Hero: He talked in his mind "(It was Aniston.)"
Sierra: "I don't know… I don't buy that much…"
Hero: "Strange for a princess who will own the kingdom someday, doesn't have this much?"
Sierra: "Actually my mother gives us money if we wanted to buy something while sneaking outside the palace… but I couldn't buy that many or I will get caught."
Hero: "That is true. You will not find the true taste of joy if you get anything you want easily."
Sierra: "Exactly. She really raised us well."
Hero: He looked toward her and smiled "Now let's get moving."
Hero: "We can hide from the knights with our new clothes and capes."
Sierra: "Huh…" and she went near the boutique again "Borenos!"
Hero: "What!?"
Cat mode has covered her personality.
Borenos are a certain breed of cats in their world. But what she is looking at are merely normal cats.
Sierra: "Soo cuute!! You are soo cute!!" Holding them one by one and hugging them. I feel I have recharged all my energy."
Hero: "Sierra, we are in a hurry."
Sierra: "Just a little bit!" She was really happy.
Hero: "'Sigh'… Then wait here. I will buy supplies from the store nearby. Need anything?"
It seems she did not hear him, the cats' voices was loud.
Hero: 'sigh' "Wait here okay."
Sierra: "Okay"
Hero went to the store. She kept playing with the cats.
Sierra: "Bye bye cats. Hmmm what took Hero so long?"
Sierra suddenly heard a voice ahead. She put the hood back on her head and followed the voice. It was the men with the symbol of the leaf in their clothes.
Sierra: "It's them. They are selling something…to these children. Uhhhh" then someone grabbed her hand from behind and took her to the main street.
Hero: When he let her go "What do you think you're doing? I think I told you not to leave this place and wait for me here."
Sierra: Scared. "Hero, they are selling something to those children."
Hero: His face was mad but he tried to keep his calm to avoid any problem "Just avoid them! I don't want you to get hurt. Aniston will hunt me down if I didn't keep you safe. We already wasted enough time now. Let's go."
They started moving forward.
Sierra: "…I'm sorry…" With crying voice.
Hero seemed to be back to normal with his smile and cheerful face. "We should find inn. It will get dark soon and it will be impossible to find an inn then." When he looked behind to see her. "Huh!!"
Tears were covering her face. And her hands in her mouth.
Hero: "Whoa, you're not used to get scolded by people or get yelled at."
She nodded.
Hero: "Nobody ever scolded you beside your parents?"
She shook her head as 'no'.
Hero: He came toward her and wiped the tears with his hand and placed a hand on her head. "You are in my responsibility. I do not want anything to happen to you. I don't want to lose you too. You are precious to me."
Sierra: She was surprised to hear that from him and directly looked at him astonished.
He embraced her to calm her.
Sierra: "What was it…?"
Hero: "Hmm?"
Sierra: "What was…that thing they…were selling?"
Hero: "Haven't you noticed anything strange in the behavior of the children?" He is still embracing her.
Sierra: "The children back there. They were different. They were not healthy. Black spots around their eyes. They were weak."
Hero: "Anything else?"
Sierra: "What do you mean?"
Hero: "They were eager to buy it. It is called serene stones. People feel satisfied wearing it, touching it, or even smelling it. The color fade with time and they need to find another one. It makes people happy at first…But then… It becomes hard to live without it. The body becomes addicted to it."
Sierra: She was shocked to hear that. Her eyes were wide and scared a little.
Hero: "People with strong will can manage to get rid of its effect. But most of them die from over dose. Happy now?"
Sierra: With her eyes wide open "There…should be …a way…to cure them."
Hero: "There should be… tsk they must be healed or else…"
Sierra: "Then I can heal those—"
Hero: "Wait! You can't go back it's dangerous."
Sierra: "But… Hero! We have to do something."
Hero: "It is their base Sierra. If we went there to save them by ourselves, we will get ourselves killed. I promised Aniston to keep you safe. Besides, not all people know that you can use magic. Not everybody knows that it actually exists in the first place. So anyone may get advantage of it."
Sierra nodded.
Hero: He is trying to cheer her up. "Now let us focus on our real mission. Get the medicine to my town and then search for your sister." He smiled looking at her.
Sierra: "O…okay."
Hero remembered that few minutes ago, he asked about Maximal but he is not has been seen here at all. And he doesn't even have an estate or mansion in Emeraldene. Then looked at Sierra. He remembered that one of the knights in the past had serene stone in his neck. That knight got injured and Sierra healed him secretly without anyone's notice. Hero and one of the moon knights saw her. The knight she healed was addicted to the serene stone. After the healing, his body was healed from the effect, and the serene stone turned to powder.
Hero: "(I want to tell her to use her magic on these children, but as I can see, the leaf organization are everywhere in emeraldene. I promised to keep her safe and return her back home to her palace after getting back her sister and make sure I protect her too since the danger is not only on Jewel but on Sierra too. That's why I took her with me from the palace. Aniston will reach here later and will take care of some of this since Crystalina had no hand on this continent. But at least there would be something to do.)"
Aniston in Saih harbor.
Knocked the table of the inn so hard that he almost broke the table.
Aniston: "Sierra!!! What was she thinking??!!!"
Landis: "Calm down commander… Let's focus on the real mission. Hero will keep her safe with him at the moment."
Aniston: "Tsk! Hero. He will pay!"
Landis: "Hero is an honest guy. Cool your head a little bit commander."
Aniston: "I'm trying…!!!!!!!!!! What's happening here…..? (this is not like her. Why is she fleeing from me….?)"
Kent entered "I brought him."
He was the shipowner from before. The one Sierra pushed in the sea.
Shipowner: "What's going on here?!!!!"
Aniston gave him the glare of a lion.
The shipowner, if he had a tail, it would be puffed like a cat by now. "What did I do?!!"
Aniston: "...."
Few minutes later
Aniston's shadow from the wall showing that he is still grabbing the shipowner and punching him very hard that the shipowner fell on the ground.
The shipowner was beaten hard by Aniston, the commander of the knights.
The shipowner: "What did I doooo?!!!"
Landis: "We are the knights here. And this is the commander of the knights. The one you pushed down earlier was non other than our princess. The crown princess of Crystalina. Princess Sierra."
For the shipowner, This whole conversation made his head dizzy from the fear. "I-i-i-i…. I'm sorry…. I…. didn't mean to…."
Aniston: "IS this how you usually treat women?!"
Shipowner: "Errrr!"
Aniston: "Burn his ship." And left the place.
Shipowner: "NOOO!!!"
Outside.
Kent: "Are you sure you want us to burn his ship?"
Aniston: "Of course not."
Aniston wanted to scare him just to give him a lesson. He never intends to hurt anyone. Unless he learns the lesson.
In Emeraldene
Sierra and Hero entered an inn
Hero: "One room with two beds."
Innkeeper: "Sure, come with me I will show you the room." She guided them to the room.
Sierra: "It is very clean!"
Hero: "Yeah, compared to the ship."
Innkeeper: "Hehe… Have a nice stay you two."
Hero: Stretching "Now, I will sleep in peace. The knights will be here tomorrow for sure. Try to get rest as much as you can."
Sierra: "I will make sure I do that."
Hero: "Well, I was wondering. You really say that a lot."
Sierra: "Huh?"
Hero: "I mean, 'it is my fault'. You say it too much"
Sierra is taking off the buttons in her chest.
Hero: "Hey what are you--- What the----??!"
She revealed the jewel with a golden crest in her chest. The crest is like a butterfly.
Hero: "What is this??!"
Sierra: "This is what they are aiming for. Jewel does not have one."
Hero: "But I heard the kidnapper say 'you're next' and he was aiming to you."
Sierra: "Gasp… Do you mean they wanted both of us..?! But I did not hear that."
Hero: "I don't mean to scare you. Don't worry, I promised to keep you safe. It is safe here. If you stay in the palace, Kidnappers will come for you for sure. And I mean what I said. Just don't panic and act the calm way you were."
Sierra: She seemed to be calmed "Thank you Hero, I will not be a burden. I promise too."
Hero: "Sleep now…I don't want you to collapse tomorrow."
Sierra: She smiled "I will make sure nothing like that happens tomorrow but I can't promise."
Hero: "Heh… Good night."
Sierra: "Good night." ^ ^
...............….
Jewel the twin sister of Sierra
Jewel is in the mansion placed in the basement with a metal door so she cannot manage to escape.
She is trying to smash the door with her hands and Albert is behind the door.
Albert: "Geez… She's a monster not a girl. Thanks to this door we won't be worrying about breaking the doors again."
White masked guy: "…How many door did she break until now?"
Albert: "Maybe six…I lost count already."
Jewel stopped punching the door.
White masked guy: "…"
Albert: "Say, Ho—" But someone interrupted by entering the room.
Maximal: He is the one who entered "How is everything?"
Albert: "Everything is going smoothly. We managed to keep the bird in the cage."
Maximal: "Excellent…You." referring to the white masked guy. "I want you to guard this door no matter what happens. Albert, I need you at the moment. Come with me."
Albert: "Yes sir."
Jewel was eavesdropping with worried eyes.