The Marshmen ascended from the lava pit and came up to the surface.
Alisa began charging towards them.
“Wait, please. Somehow, it appears that their target is not us.”
It was just as Lutz had said; the fish-men were not approaching them. They were after the man from earlier — they caught him and then restrained him as he struggled, bringing him back into the lava pit area.
The man’s pitiful screams flooded Alisa’s ears for what seemed like eternity. However, there was no way for her to chase them all the way into the lava pit.
“ He might be just a refugee…”
Alisa and her comrades reluctantly went down to the lava pit area.
“I’m going to try using the key that guy left behind earlier,” said Alisa.
Alisa’s intuition was correct. The door opened easily with the Dungeon Key.
Beyond the door, deep inside the room stood a tall, slender man wearing a hood.
“Who are you?”
“I understand. Together, let us go save the Algol Star System from the hands of evil,” said Lutz to Alisa.
“You must be Lutz, right…? My name is Alisa, and this is Tyrone and Myau. We have crossed over the desert in order to find you.”
“I’m in the middle of my training right now. I do not have time to be meeting with random strangers.”
“No time to meet us? What are you on about, man. This cave has already been infiltrated by an enemy that wants to kill you!”
“Wait, Tyrone,” said Alisa. “Lutz, I’ve brought with me a letter from the Governor of Motavia. Would you mind reading it?”
Lutz took the letter from Alisa and looked it over.
“I see… it’s about La Shiec. So, he’s formed an alliance with a dark religious cult called ‘Chaos’? This is far more serious than I had imagined.”
Lutz looked into Alisa’s eyes and saw her sincerity. He nodded his head. He then removed his hood, revealing his long, flowing blue hair. He had an effeminate face that looked as beautiful as Alisa’s.
“I understand. Together, let us go save the Algol Star System from the hands of evil,” said Lutz. “To do that, first we will need to go to the Gothic Woods on the planet Palma…”
“Gothic Woods?”
“If we go there, we can meet with Dr. Luveno. He’s a little bit strange, though.”
“This is bad. It appears this gas is poisonous,” Lutz said, pulling out the Gas Cleaner obtained earlier.
“What kind of machine is that?”
“It’s a type of air purifier. It looks small, but it has a 10 meter range. It’s able to nullify things like noxious gasses and bacteria. Please try to stay close to me as we continue through.”
The battle only lasted an instant. Of the six shadows flying through the air, three of them came crashing down to the ground.
Tyrone, Lutz, and Myau defeated each of the three Kryons.
“You could have at least left one for me,” sulked Alisa.
“It’s good for the main character to take a break once in awhile. —Those bat guys are actually pretty loaded —Oh, hey, this one’s still breathing.”
“Hehehe, there’s a lava pit up ahead. You’re all going to die there — gahhh!”
“What an idiot, letting the enemy know about upcoming danger,” said Alisa, sheathing her sword after delivering the final blow. (+1 CP, +1 MP, +200 MESETA.)
“Well, if it’s that dangerous up ahead, there might be something for us there,” said Lutz.
“Wait, please. Somehow it appears that he means us no harm,” Lutz said, stopping Tyrone.
“How can you tell?”
“It’s what one might call telepathy.” And so Lutz began to talk to the Centaur earnestly. (-1 MP). By doing so, they learned a few things.
Yes, the Centaur was an imperial guard. However, he became unsatisfied with La Shiec’s ways, voiced his complaints and wound up being thrown in jail.
He was captured when he went to the village of Abion to buy Polymeteral.
“Polymeteral?”
“It’s a medicine that’s said to dissolve any kind of substance other than Laconia.”
Alisa tried to invite the Centaur to go with her and her comrades, but he shook his head. He explained that he no longer had a place where he belonged.
“You don’t have enough, huh… Well, that can’t be helped, then. Here’s an idea. In the valley to the south of this village, there’s a “Dragon’s Nest”. It’s said that a precious jewel is kept there. If you trade me the jewel, that’ll be enough to cover the 200 meseta.”
—And so, Alisa and party soon arrived at the valley.
“Hey, isn’t that the ‘Dragon’s Nest’ right there? Where those tree branches come together….? Wow, look at that huge jewel!”
“Before that, it seems like it will be necessary to slay the dragon first.”
Lutz pointed towards the shadowy background behind the trees. The ferocious face of a Green Dragon could be seen.
The group continued on, avoiding the rocky terrain.
“Something’s following us already,” muttered Tyrone.
“You noticed them too? There are three of them,” replied Lutz.
Three shadows whirled down from the sky and surrounded the group. A variation of the Werebat species, with fur the color of burnt umber — they were Kryons!
“Hmph, I could tell they were there, too!” Alisa said, unsheathing her sword.
