Chapter 121 - Foreigners

"What's in that location? And what other things do we need to know before going on this trip first?" Venedette inquired while writing stuff on the clear board in front of them.

"So here's what I've got so far," Fily started, offering to be the first one to present her findings, "There's this frozen falls near the capital region that everyone knows about, right?"

Everyone nodded including Von and Lei who used to not participate every single time before.

"Well, guess what? The first mutated salamanders after the meteorite's touchdown happened to live in the rain forest near those areas before it went frozen by climate change!"

"Which means, we may be able to find clues in this area," Venedette said and drew a red mark on the area that Fily was pointing to earlier near the capital.

"And not only that! I was able to get in contact with one of the independent tribes living there and they confirmed the existence of Salamanders in those areas with their own information on what those Salamanders eat back in the day!" Fily exclaimed enthusiastically which made Gem's eyes sparkle in anticipation of their upcoming trip.

"That's a great move Fily, we'll go there and look for the Salamander's food and hopefully fill Gem's crystal enough to unlock the remaining storages, next."

"I think I may be able to make use of our trouble in that place too," Petunia said while moving closer to the map on the clear board. "I believe this is also the place where they found the second main ingredient for flight potions along with the energy slimes from the Salamanders, which I think is also the reason why they chose to build the capital near it in the first place." Petunia said and ended her turn briefly..

"I'm still trying to complete my mission till the end of this month and I'm afraid that's all that I've got at this point." Gem said timidly before ending her turn with Fily and the others comforting her.

"It's okay, we'll get there soon, Gem."

"How about you, I thought you're not joining this trip?" Petunia heartlessly questioned Von's presence in the meeting.

"I thought it was a trip, but now that I'm hearing your plans, this actually looks more like a mission than just a simple trip."

"Which means?"

"Which means it's cool and I think I also want to come with," Von said, defending himself while shrugging a little bit.

"Okay, here's the plan." It was Venedette's turn to speak now.

"Since we're not allowed to touch down in the capital, we're going to have to travel straight through this frozen lake until the waterfall while avoiding as many eyes as we can since we're probably the only team who has a floating island as an HQ, I want you guys to avoid exposing your identity to strangers as much and come back to the HQ as frequently as you can after our pit stops."

"And since this is supposed to be a trip, we're actually going to stop in at least two to three attraction spots to have fun and enjoy ourselves with, are you okay with that, guys?"

"Okay! Sounds fun!" Gem raised her hand while encouraging everyone else to agree with her.

"I'm cool with that," Fily said.

"O-Okay," Petunia thought while thinking about her fear of being exposed as that one witch who accidentally turned herself into a cat permanently for refusing to be a prize in the previous Dekadalaw tournament.

"I see no problem with that," said Lei, which Von agreed on with a slight nod.

"But never keep your guards down, children. We're most likely to encounter a lot of teams representing their own district in the Dekadalaw tournament that might challenge us for a fight. Don't wander around on your own and just follow my lead, okay?"

"Okay!" Gem exclaimed after hearing the possibilities for a fight to break out, "This will be fun," she thought and fantasized about kicking people's faces and winning fights.

"Do we really have to fight with them even before the tournament actually starts? And besides, we're still inside the border which means it might be illegal." Von while still having second thoughts on joining this so-called trip.

"We can only fight them if they initiate a fight with us first, but let's keep it friendly as possible as we can, is that understood, kids?"

"Yup!"

"Yes,"

"Got it,"

Leviathan responded in unison but with different words.

"Do we get to ride Levi-yacht now or do we wait until tomorrow morning?" Gem asked while watching their new headquarters outside the window impatiently.

"We're going to ride it now after this meeting, Gem," Venedette said while stifling her laughter for finding Gem's impatience cute.

"If that so then I should find my crystal yoyo and bring it back here immediately!" Gem said and stormed out of the library without hearing Venedette nor the other's words.

"Okay, since Gem went ahead to grab her things, I think we can conclude our meeting here and see each other again in one hour. Make sure to bring everything you need right now because we won't be going back here until Monday or Tuesday if we experience some of the delays in our mission hunting."

"Shall I get my boy from the bunker?" Von asked Lei which Lei agreed to accompany him with in grabbing it while Fily just sat on the sofa quietly.

"Everything I need is right here already," she said while pointing at her brain, which Venedette immediately acknowledged.

"How about you, Petunia?" Venedette asked after seeing Petunia unsettled near the window.

"I'm worried about Sir Trevor. Can I bring him with us?" Petunia bargained.

"As your assistant?"

"Uhuh,"

"Hmmm,"

"I don't think we should do that." Fily disagreed immediately.

"The border within Urbia's frozen waters is very prone to pirates and underwater monsters from the outside which makes it a hot spot for crossing the border illegally. Who knows if Sir Trevor's friends got in contact with him and are planning to send us to our deaths? We can't risk bringing him with us."

"But isn't Gem also a foreigner from outside the borders?" Petunia said with suspicion. "What if she's also a part of them and she's just trying to fool us with that innocent face of hers?"