246 Forced March

Filled with self-confidence in her newfound strength, Mindy returned 'home' and went to see George.

But he wasn't in his office. "George, where are you?"

"I'm busy right now, Mindy. I'll come find you later, okay?" George said.

Something in his voice sounded suspiciously evasive. Mindy frowned.

Did he really think he could keep secrets from her that easily? Tightening her lip, she closed her eyes and spread her senses. A flicker of flame drifted out from under one eyelid.

There! At the airport, third dock.

Mindy dashed up and burst onto the scene with a triumphant, "Surprise!!"

There was George, with a bunch of people in weird robes. George's face was red at first, but then he saw her arrive and then his face turned pale.

"So this must be the girl." A dry, cold chuckle sounded from a very wrinkled old man in a very polished white robe. "Misty, wasn't it?"

"Mindy, your excellency." One of his people supplied.

"Yes. Mindy." The dry old man smiled a death's head smile.

Between the creepy smile and the horror on George's face, Mindy suddenly started to have a bad feeling about barging in.

"Now that she's here, the problem is solved. She will lead us to the Source of Magic."

***

His name was Exel, known as Exel the Excellent. Throughout his long and illustrious life, he had put in great efforts to live up to his name and nickname and through his efforts, found much success. He was a Cardinal of the Church of Light, the very one overseeing Club Sacred Sigil, among other things.

With his trademark effort, he had put together an expedition faster than any other branch of the Church of Light, faster than any other interested organization in Ecclesia, faster than even his brother and the Temple Knights. Having two of the Frontier students in Club Sacred Sigil was a big help; by the time the other clubs managed to learn the name 'Kara-Goth', Exel already knew that the Source of Magic was far, far to the south. Before the other organizations could even put together a list of what an expedition might need, Exel had already applied for an edict from the Church Council that would grant him authority over every other Church expedition that followed by virtue of being the first high ranking officer on site. Before they could decide on whether to send a military expedition or a commercial one, Exel already had a hundred men boarding an airship.

That very airship was the one docked at the Kara-Goth airport right now. It was a military-grade Galleon comparable in size to the Sky Fortress guarding this place, but it was far, far better armed. Also, since their crew had left in such a hurry, it had been required of six trailing Frigates to carry supplies and equipment, including basic living necessities. Roughly half the Galleon's crew had left in such a hurry, they didn't even have time to pack a change of underwear…

But thankfully, Exel had a large budget, which he had wisely enlarged for himself. Those smaller ships had easily managed to procure the necessary goods from towns and cities along the way as they passed by. All daily necessities were well-supplied, and in the case of soap, due to a bad miscommunication, over-supplied.

"By the way, you wouldn't happen to be in the market for excess soap, do you?" Exel asked Mindy.

"Soap?" Mindy looked at him blankly. "Well, I guess I could use some…"

His aide cleared his throat. "Your excellency…"

Exel coughed. "Yes! Well, hygiene products aside, we are here for the Source of Magic. You will take us there. We leave immediately."

"What? No! And you can't make me!" Mindy said, looking proud.

Exel's eyes narrowed. "Do you have any concern for this settlement?"

Mindy blinked. "I guess. Why?"

"Because if you don't cooperate, we'll raze it to the ground." Exel told her, flat out.

Mindy glared. "I won't let you!"

George stepped in. "Mindy…"

"No, George! I won't let them! Don't worry! I'm strong! You have no idea how strong!" Mindy cut in.

"But…"

"Stronger than Song Chen! Stronger than Markus! I think I'm even stronger than Remian!"

George shook his head. "Everybody and his uncle is stronger than Remian."

"True. But that's not the point! The point is, they can't force me to do what I don't want to do. Nobody can!" Mindy proclaimed. "And they can't bribe me either! Not for all the sweets and candy in Ashdale!"

Exel turned to his men sternly. "Who offered the little girl sweets and candy?!"

"We didn't do it!" his aide protested volubly. "It wasn't us!"

"Too bad." Exel grunted. "I was going to promote whoever did."

His crew were aghast.

"Anyway. Let's go." Exel said, gesturing.

"I'll stop you!" Mindy growled, eyes narrowed. She put her hand on her sword hilt.

Someone grabbed it. Mindy turned to see a helmeted figure in full Temple Knight armor with golden insignia on the shoulders. She drew her sword anyway, determined to fight it out…

And failed. She couldn't draw her sword. She couldn't even budge her hand an inch. She turned to look at the armored figure grasping her hand. "What…?"

"Mindy…" George grimaced. "Meet Jared of Ecclesia… Doom's teacher."

Doom's teacher?!

Mindy gulped, still trying to free herself, but that man's grip was completely immovable. For all her strength, the likes of Doom and his teacher was clearly beyond her.

Overconfidence! Mindy suddenly regretted stepping into arrogance.

"You three, handle it." Doom's teacher shoved Mindy into the hands of three other Temple Knights.

Mindy saw her chance and leapt for it. She threw them off…

Except they didn't go flying. They didn't even stir. All three had a hand on her, and not even one so much as twitched.

"H-how…?" Mindy stared. How were these guys all so strong? Were all Temple Knights this powerful? That was impossible! In the past, Sir Ivan was nowhere near this tough!

Unless Jared did something to her… weakened her… or… or…

"So, I hear Doom is around." One of the helmeted knights chuckled. "It's been years since the four of us gathered in one place."

"Decades." Another of the three said. "But finally, the Sure-Die Quattro will reunite."

Mindy suddenly had a very strong suspicion. "George… are they…?"

"The three of them are fellow students of the same teacher as Doom. Apparently they were famous back in their time." George grimaced.

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"Fel, Fate, Doom and Damnaith. We never failed to live up to the name of the Sure-Die Quattro… until Doom left us some years back. Then we became the Sure-Die Trio." The third knight mentioned.

Mindy was starting to understand that for all her strength, there were, in fact, even stronger people in the big wide world.

"Let's go. We have wasted enough time here." Exel ordered.

"Where to?"

"To the south! The Source of Magic awaits!"