NoGift

ARGENT put the flying car on auto-pilot mode then turned to the other three people. Aurum was sitting on the passenger's seat, fiddling with her sPhone. Black and Clay were sitting on the back seat. Black was playing with the game console she especially made for him while Clay looked as white as a paper. She's not sure if it's because he has motion sickness or because of the news he got about his sister.

"The carriage we're after is directly below us," she started.

Clay's face finally regained some color after he heard that. He's been feeling nauseous since he got inside this blasted contraption. The only thing preventing him from vomitting was the thought of his sister. The fear he felt when he heard of the news about his sister was still fresh inside his mind.

[Three hours earlier...]

"H-how...?" Clay muttered in disbelief. "There's no way Flora will be chosen."

The two of them talked about this long ago. Since they knew that the people thrown out of the village were those that always caused trouble and didn't adhere to the Temple's teachings, they made it their mission to do just that. And they succeeded. At the very least, he did.

"She was supposed to be expelled along with us. But when the new Bishop visited last week, he took a liking to Flora. And he added her to the list of people that will be sent to the capital," one of the three said.

"She was pretty upset about it. Can't say that I blame her though," another one said.

"She went ballistic when she heard that she's being sent to the capital. She needed to be put in isolation just so she wouldn't hurt herself or others. In fact, she needed to be tied up so they could put her in the carriage," the last one added.

Clay's head was in a mess. He couldn't even digest the things he heard.

"You know, if you just keep on standing there in a daze, your sister will arrive at the capital before you could even do anything."

Argent's indifferent voice woke Clay from his reverie. It's like a bucket of cold water was pour down onto his head. "You're right. You're absolutely right." He needed to do something, not be shocked here senseless. He crouched down and touched the ground, a mud doll appeared. He stood up and looked at the three. "Follow this mud doll. It will lead you to the others. They will explain to you everything. Remember, follow this mud doll, don't deviate from the path, and don't follow the map the Temple gave you."

The three looked absolutely confused. But they still nodded and followed the mud doll that started walking.

Clay turned to Argent. "We need to ambush that carriage before it enters the capital. Please, if you help me with this, I'll do anything."

Argent stared at Clay. She weighed the pros and cons of helping him. And then she remembered, she was the one who first asked him if the two of them could cooperate. Denying his request for help now would only make her look like a hypocrite. Which she wasn't, obviously. She sighed. "Don't forget what you just said." She turned around. "Follow me."

She walked back towards the clearing where she landed the flying shuttle. Aurum walked beside her, as well as Black. Clay immediately followed them.

When they reached the clearing, Argent took a capsule from her space ring and threw it. She took the remote and pressed the button. In a second, a car appeared.

"What the--!" Clay exclaimed, clearly surprised at seeing this weird contraption.

Argent walked towards the car and opened the driver's seat. She went inside and looked at the three. "Get in."

The three went inside and Argent pressed the stealth button before driving the car up.

[Present time...]

"I'll jump down and save my sister," Clay said.

Argent looked at Clay as if she's looking at an idiot. "You looked like you're going to puke your guts out and you're still confident you can save your sister? Nevermind, I'll do it."

Aurum glanced at her sharply. "Brother, why? Just let him deal with his own problems. You're already kind enough to bring him here."

Argent also had the same opinion. But what else could she do? She already promised that she would help Clay. She might not be a truly good person, but she never went back on her words. She just never thought that things would be more troublesome than she expected. If she knew beforehand that the situation would turn this way, she probably would not ask to cooperate with Clay.

If she could, she would ride this flying car straight to the capital and be done with it. But Argent couldn't. She studied the terrain of Shandra before travelling here. The land areas in Shandra were either covered by forests or villages. Of course, there was the capital. That clearing was the only place she could land any flying vehicles and get off from it without being noticed by anyone.

Yes, they could probably travel during the night and go to the capital. No one would probably see them getting off an invisible flying vehicle. But there was still a chance that somebody would. People appearing out of nowhere would definitely be a big news. And since she's the only one in this world who could possibly develop that kind of technology, sooner or later that news would be linked to Silver Corporation. Something she doesn't want to happen. That's why they travelled here to Shandra in a low-key manner. Because whatever they have to do here, it should not be linked to her company. At least not yet.

The Temple of Gaia has every reach around the world. A big religious organization like that should never be underestimated. Fighting them toe to toe right now would only be disadvantageous to Silver Corporation. So Argent couldn't take any chance.

But maybe they could land here right now. The reason why she didn't take the chance to land anywhere aside from that clearing was because she thought that the forests were all closely attached to the villages. At least that was what the map she found showed. But looking at it now, there were still a few kilometers before the next village. That map was probably outdated. Something she never thought about.

But now, knowing how much control the Temple has over this country, it was possible that the map they released to the world was actually not so accurate. And because she couldn't possibly get a satellite image of the country and it being isolated from almost everyone, the only source of information she had was that map. Clearly, there were times when she could still be stupid.

"Don't worry, I'll handle this properly," Argent said to her sister. "Can you check if there's anyone near the area, aside from the people in the carriage?"

Aurum closed her eyes, after a few seconds she opened it. "No one."

Argent hovered the car just on top of a number of trees. Before she opened the door, Clay stopped her.

"Please..."

"I'll save her," Argent said, cutting whatever else he wanted to say.

Then she jumped off.