After Akira is finished shopping and changed his clothes, he visited the Royal Palace to see Mina. The guards recognize him and let him in. Akira went inside the palace but the Throne Room is packed with people. The people must be asking for an audience with the Queen. Mina looks really regal. Her ears were not concealed by the crown

"Your Majesty, thank you for your time in your busy schedule to see us"

"As you were"

"The Empire of Srividya would like to forge a trade agreement with the Kingdom of Newlight. Our Emperor sends this as a gift and a request. We hoped you consider forging a trade alliance with Srividya"

The envoys of Srividya wore peculiar clothing. The male envoy only was barechested and he wore a fabric of patterned brown fabric, but he wore a cylindrical shaped hat, adorned with gold and jewel. His neck is decorated with the biggest gold necklace ever seen. He wears an armband made out of gold. The woman Wears the same patterned brown fabric, but it covers her chest area to her knees, only revealing her shoulders, arms, and ankles. Her hat seems to be too complex to describe. A headdress made out of burgundy decorated in gold shaped like a leaf. Other than that, it is pretty much indescribable.

"Thank you for the gifts. For trade agreements, I will trust the matter to our Finance Minister, my brother Garland"

The envoys look really confused. The Queen trusted a matter of trade to a teenager. The male envoy looks annoyed by this decision. In his eyes, The Queen takes this matter as a joke.

"Your Majesty, wouldn't you want to check them yourself?"

"My brother is much more capable. He is the most capable person in terms of finance besides the Legendary Merchant Shin"

It doesn't appease the male envoy. When Garland opens the gift chest, an arcana glass breaks, filling the courtroom with smoke. The male envoy pulls something from his hip. He unsheathes his dagger. The dagger is wavy and the handle is made out of mahogany. The blade emits a sinister aura. Mina is caught off guard and she is disoriented. The male envoy charges at her, but Akira cast a barrier on the envoys. He casts wind magic to disperse the smoke. He captured the envoys and boxed them inside the barrier. He approached the barrier, to the envoys.

"What the-let us go, sudra!"

"Silence! What do you think you're doing?"

Akira's face turns from content of seeing his wife, to become angry. The thing about Akira, when he is in bloodlust mode, he's smiling as wide as he can, almost like a madman. As the envoy sees Akira's face. The sheer anger on Akira's face is enough to make her scream in fear. Mina regains her composure to see Akira in his red button shirt with the sleeve rolled to his elbow and black suit pants. She hugs Akira from the back.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. I'm okay"

The male envoy still struggling to break the barrier.

"Let me go sudra!"

"Maybe I'll send you back to your king in a coffin. Carve a message on your body"

"Who are you to interrupt our audience?"

"You step into MY country without knowing who rules it?"

As Akira emphasizes that this is his country, the envoy's face turned white. As Garland is standing up, he told Akira everything. Srividya envoys were greeted by Garland, but they shove him aside. Once they knew that Garland is the Finance Minister, they are anxious that their mission would be unsuccessful. They tried to butter Garland up, but they never had the chance to meet him. To ensure that the trade agreement was successful, they have been harassing the locals. Setting up lies, bribing, and intimidating people for things to go their way.

"Akira, wait. We don't need to kill them. We can send them home. They'll bring our message"

"Are you okay with it?"

"I'm unharmed"

"I'll send them directly to the docks"

Akira looks directly at the envoys.

"Both of you are lucky my wife is merciful. Tell your king if any of you ever step your foot on Newlight again, I will take it as a declaration of war. I won't waste my soldier or guard's time. I will destroy you myself"

The envoys are terrified. Not only do his words resonate with power, they see that Akira's eyes are smoking. Akira teleports them back to the docks.

"Thank you, honey"

Akira checked on her to see if she is bleeding. Mina assures him that he is okay. The lovestruck couple was interrupted by Garland.

"Ahem. I'm okay too"

"Oh, sorry"

"Nee-san. For what happened here, I will talk to Mr. Kamilo to tighten security from now on"

"No need. I am strong enough to take care of myself"

"Garland's right, Mina. I can't continue my mission knowing you won't be safe. If they come back declaring war, I won't be able to make sure you're safe"

"You do know that my wedding ring is enchanted right? You enchant them yourself. Besides, I have my Strider-class Skills and I've evolved, thanks to you. I'm going to be okay. What are you doing here today?"

"I missed you already"

"You've been only gone for a few days. It's not even a week yet"

"I missed my wife. That's normal for a husband to do"

Mina giggles and kisses Akira.

"Nee-san. The throne room, remember?"

"Whoops. Hehe. How long will you be staying?"

"I will be going in a minute. I just wanted to see you. We have a new friend. He's a reincarnate like me"

"Another reincarnate?"

"Yes. And He's a soldier. I asked him to be our military trainer and leader. And I adopted a dog, too"

"A dog?"

"A demon dog"

"Is he dangerous?"

"He's not dangerous. Not to me, At least"

"Yeah, well. It better not be dangerous to everyone before you bring it home"

"Yes, ma'am. While I'm here, is there anything I could help?"

"No need. I got things covered"

"If there's anything, call me alright? I have to get back to the RV. The boys are hungry"

"Alright. Be safe, will you?"

"I got it"

Akira steps outside of the castle and teleports as lightning strikes him. He teleported back to the bus, where the people are drinking and chatting. He enters the bus.

"Hey. The weather's fine. Let's eat outside"

The boys step outside but Akira stops Marcus and Erik.

"Hold on a minute. I brought you a change of clothes. Might want to change first"

Akira takes out the clothing that was purchased earlier from the Mall. Erik's looking eager to wear the clothes but Marcus seems puzzled.

"It's just clothing. But I can't let you eat in armor. Loosen up a bit. Go on. Change your clothes"

Erik and Marcus change their clothes, while Akira and Shin are setting up the bbq table. He puts a circular table with a barrel in the middle of it. Akira assembles the grill and Shin helps cast ground magic as a chair. Ivanov barks excitedly. Akira kneels down to Ivanov.

"Hey, boy Do you want your meat to be cooked, or raw?"

Ivanov barks.

"Raw? Will you be okay?"

Ivanov barks again.

"How much do you want to eat?"

Ivanov tilts his head, giving no clear answer.

"How about I give you one box of a cow, you can grab as many as you can, but don't overeat, alright?"

Ivanov barks affirmatively. Erik and Marcus went out of the bus with their new clothes.

"Looks great, you two"

"Thanks. Feels like I'm back in the Marines"

"This clothing is peculiar. Is this from your country?"

"Yes. Now let's go eat. I'm starving"

Akira takes out 3 boxes of meat. He puts the charcoal into the grill and Shin lights it up with his fire magic. The fire starts as a big fire, but once the charcoal turned white, he put out his fire magic.

"Here, boy"

Ivanov runs to Akira. Akira hands him a box of meat for him alone. Ivanov excitedly grabs one of the meat and huffs a fire into the meat, cooking the meat by himself.

"That's what you're after"

The boys sit down. He grills the first cut of the meat. A thinly sliced sirloin. Akira grills the first cut of meat simultaneously.

"Shin, help me out here"

Shin uses the tongs Akira purchased earlier. He flips the meat until each side is cooked.

"Wait. Did you bring it?"

"Whatever you are talking about, I might have it"

Akira takes out every item he bought from the supermarket. Condiments, Salt and Pepper, Soy Sauce, Beer, and everything that is used for BBQ.

"Which one are you talking about?"

"Those. Soy Sauce, salt, and pepper. Pour them into each of their miniplate"

Akira pours the Soy sauce, but the salt and pepper out into the shaker. Akira chills the beer crates with his ice magic. While flipping the meat, Shin seems looking for something on his pocket.

"Fuck, where is it?"

"What?"

"My cigarette"

"I bought you one"

Akira takes out his item box and hand Shin a pack of cigarettes.

"Thanks"

"Do you have for me too?"

"Of course I do. Here"

Akira hands Erik a pack of cigarettes.

"What are those?"

Shin lights up his cigarette while cooking.

"This is a cigarette. It's a stick of tobacco to calm yourself down"

"May I try one?"

"Do you know how to smoke?"

"No, but I want to try some"

Akira hands him a cigarette. He put it in his mouth and lit it on fire.

"Okay. What you want to do, is to inhale through the cigarette, take it out, and inhale some of the air. Hold it in your throat, and exhale. Through your mouth or nose"

Marcus follows his instruction, but cough after the inhale. He gags a little.

"We have some virgin lungs over here. Hahaha"

"That's okay. It's your first time smoking, so you can adjust how to inhale. Those are menthol Cigarette, so it would be easy for a beginner's lung"

Marcus tries again. This time, he adjusts how he inhales and exhales. He learns how to smoke cigarettes fast.

"Ooh. You're right. This does make me calm a little bit"

"We're becoming a bad influence on the young man, aren't we?"

"He's fine. He's an adult. But be careful, Marcus. Don't smoke too much, or you'll risk damaging your lung. My healing can clean up your lung, but don't do it too much, okay?"

"Yes, sir"

"Alright. Stop talking. This meat is done. Go ahead and eat, boys. I'll cook the next meat"

The boys eat the meat. This meat is so delicious, Marcus, whose diet consists of lentils and bread is amazed by how delicious this meal is. They cook the next meat. They dip the cooked meat in Soy sauce. The salty soy sauce enhanced the meat flavor ten times. They eat, they chat and Akira opens a bottle of beer and hands the beer to them.

"Ah. Beer. What a blissful life we're having"

"Whoa. This alcohol is better than what they have in taverns. They are mostly tepid, but cold alcohol is definitely my new favorite"

Akira looks back to Ivanov, who is currently sleeping after a belly full of meat. One whole cow is too much for a dog his size to eat all of it. So he puts the box lid and put it back in the item box. After some time chatting, eating, and drinking, they are feeling full. It takes 2 whole cows to fill up 5 muscular man stomachs. That's 2.2 Tons of meat between the 5 of them. This amount of meat seems ungodly but after the whole thing that has happened today, they deserved them.

"Fwah. This is the most I have eaten. I don't think I'll ever get enough of meat"

"They are wagyu. enjoying them is an infinite pleasure"

"Master. I loved that beer. Do you think I could buy them in bulk?"

"Of course. When we get back, I'll buy you a truckload of beer"

"Thanks, Akira. I think I'll go to bed, now"

"Yeah, me too. Good night"

"Good night, you two"

Ken, Marcus, and Erik went to bed after their stomach is full. Akira and Shin stay behind while smoking a cigarette.

"I got what you asked me go get. What are they for?"

"For Erik"

"Erik? What for?"

"I talked to Ken, his dreams seem to be accurate. A dog named Ivanov, Erik joined us. Everything is as in his dream"

"Do you think they're prophetic?"

"I don't know, but it's accurate this far"

"How accurate?"

"Scary accurate. Oh, when you're gone, I collected these stones"

Shin hands him the stone. It is a crystal with dark purple color. The stone is filled with sinister energy filled with hate, fear, greed, and something much worse, but Akira cannot seem to understand the emotion.

"What is this?"

"I have no idea. All I know this is cursed. Maybe a soul crystal?"

"I don't want it"

"But it might be useful. Look. This soul crystal is really powerful. I checked with my worldly eyes. Better collect them, because this thing can kill you if you're pierced by it. You better keep them so no one can have them"

"But what can I do with this?"

"Maybe a weapon?"

"I'm not brave enough to create a weapon with this. We'll talk about this later. I'm feeling sleepy now. Will you be staying?"

"For the night. I have to go early in the morning. I still need to coordinate liberation in other cities"

As Shin walks toward the bus, an arrow whizzes through.

"Watch out!"

Shin cannot see the arrow since he's not using his Worldly Eyes. Akira pushes him aside. He doesn't have time to catch or cast a magic spell. Akira guarded Shin with his body. The arrow pierces Akira on his left lower hip. A little bit higher from hitting his hipbones.

"Akira!"

There's a piece of paper tied to the arrow. Akira unties the paper and read it.

Don't worry about the slave liberation. I learned from you and understand your method. You go with your friend and help free the Slaves in Romolo.

The Head

"That was dangerous! Why did you do that?!"

Another arrow whizzes towards Akira. Instead of hitting the ground between his feet, the arrow hits Akira in the shin.

Sorry about that. I'm not an archer, so my aim is not as good.

The Head

"Are you fucking serious?!"

Akira pulls out the arrows and cast healing on himself. He grabs Shin on the shoulder and walks with him inside. For the rest of the night, they took a bath and sleeps. When Akira wakes up, Akira doesn't feel like cooking breakfast. He feels so sluggish. He went straight to the bathroom. He sits on the toilet. Before he sits on the toilet, he saw his body bloated up.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Ken, Shin, Marcus, and Erik woke up and went to the source of the scream. They went to see what happens, but they all doesn't fit the door frame. Akira went out and see that they are stuck.

"Look at all our bodies!"

They all look at Akira's body which has been bloated up. They looked at each other, they are baffled at how they can be fat only after one night of eating.

"We're fat! How are we fat?!"

"We ate 2 whole cows by ourselves, That's how"

"Oh no! The body I have worked for for years"

Erik sobs down. After all his work out in the military, wasted after one night of eating.

"Akira might have an idea how to get back, right Akira?"

"I don't know if it will work, but let's step outside first"

Akira steps outside. Ivanov is still sleeping on the couch. Shin, Erik, Marcus, and Ken reassemble themselves and get out of the room one by one. The sun outside has not arrived on the horizon yet. Akira checks his phone, showing it's still 3 in the morning. Akira and the gang are outside of the bus.

"What's your plan, Akira?"

"I read once that fat can be burned with exercise"

"Exercise this time in the morning? Are you mad?"

"Hold on. Fat can be reserved energy. If we burn the fat, we'll be in a lot of energy. I'll be the one to test it out"

Akira places his hand on his stomach. His body glows dimly. As seconds pass, the glow burns brighter slowly. His body starts steaming from head to toe. His face, his eyes, and his mouth are steaming. He looks more like a steam devil than a human.

"I won't be using any enhancement magic, so watch closely"

Akira starts jogging, but the speed of his jog is really fast. In 5 seconds, he circles around the area around the bus. Minutes passed, and the steam are getting intense. The steam is denser. Akira starts sweating from every orifice of his skin. He changes up his jogging routing to a strength. He cast ground magic to get 2 boulders bigger than the bus itself and attach them with his celestaff. He lifted the stone as if it is a dumbbell. At first, there is some effort needed, but after 10 lifts, it started to get easier. After half an hour of lifting, his body fat returned to what it was before he started eating, and his muscles are getting bigger. He even builds more muscle than before. In the end, Akira is more muscular and leaner than before.

"That was the most amazing workout in my life"

"What did you do?"

"I worked my body into overdrive. To make my metabolism work faster, my muscle repair better and the fat rendered. The feeling when the fat is burned, you will be full of energy"

"I'll do it first"

Shin volunteers.

"Actually, I have a plan. Erik, would you do the honors of drilling these guys like in the military?"

"You want me to?"

"Yes. Between all of us, you and Marcus had the must battle experience, but Marcus doesn't have the effective modern training like the military"

Erik thinks about it for a moment. He wasn't the kind of guy to shout at a friend. Akira and Shin agree that Erik is the most childish at heart, the purest, and the happiest. Similar to a certain wrestling giant of the past.

"I'll do it, but I will be using the exact method my drill sergeant used to do, and it will be pretty harsh. Will you guys be okay?"

Shin assures Erik that it will be okay. Erik nods. He looks at Ken and Marcus gives a thumbs up for the training. Erik smiles and he turned around and slaps his face. He turned back to them. His face turned serious, almost like angry.

"Attention!"

Shin and Ken are in the ready position. Marcus who is unaccustomed to modern discipline, follows suit.

"Listen up, you shit-eating, blood-sucking bugs. I am your drill sergeant, Sgt. Dorman. Now, what you are is a maggot not worth the shit under my boots. But under my training, I will tear you down and build you up into a war crime on two legs"

Akira approached the "soldiers" and placed his hand on their belly. He put his hand on Erik's belly too.

"Now get down and give me 250 push up"

Ken and Shin get down on the ground and start pushing up. Marcus, who doesn't know what a push-up is, stood there. Not knowing what to do.

"GET DOWN AND GIVE ME 250 PUSH-UPS, PRIVATE. OR IT WILL BE THE SORRIEST DAY OF YOUR LIFE!"

Marcus immediately gets down and started the push-ups. Erik looks at Marcus and crouches toward him.

"YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG! LOWER!"

Marcus's push-ups are getting lower.

"ONE"

Marcus gets down again.

"ONE!"

Marcus gets down again.

"ONE!"

"Sergeant, That's 4 already"

"DO NOT TALK BACK TO ME, MAGGOT! YOU'RE NOT DOING IT RIGHT. LOOK AT HOW I DO IT!"

Marcus gets down to push-ups.

"THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT!"

One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten Push-up demonstration from Erik, who goes by Drill Sergeant Dorman in this mode, in respect of his drill sergeant. He looks at Marcus doing proper push-ups. He looks over to Ken and Shin. Their body starts steaming. Akira uses the time of their exercise to build a hole in the ground, compact the ground and fill it up with water. Then he went inside the bus and make a jug of coffee. He pours them into 5 bottles of coffee and adds milk to the coffee. He grabs a bucket and filled it with water. He puts the bottles in the water-filled bucket. While he was at it, he took a short shower and after showering, he enchant an obsidian with powerful fire magic. He went out of the bus with the bucket and a tower around his hip. He drops the fire-filled obsidian toward the pool. After a short second, the pool starts steaming, but not bubbling. Akira went inside and relaxes. He cast an ice magic on the bucket.

"Ahhh... It's not as good as Hakone, but it'll do"

The gang looks at him relaxing. Erik redirects their attention toward the training.

"YOU WILL EARN YOUR BATH AFTER YOU COMPLETED MY TRAINING. NOW CONTINUE!"

Erik starts drilling them harder. After 250 push-ups are completed, he instructs them to sprint around the bus, and then lift the boulders. After another half an hour, they came back. This time, even Ken, the less muscular than the rest of them, looks really muscular. Marcus is even bigger, and not even his armor will fit anymore. Shin's body started to bulk up, but not as much. However, it is noticeable that he's faster than the rest of them. They came back with full-on steam on their bodies and exhausted breath.

"CONGRATULATION, GENTLEMEN. THIS TRAINING HAS ALREADY FINISHED. AT LEAST YOU'RE NOW A MAGGOT THAT'S WORTH THE SHIT UNDER MY BOOTS! DISMISSED"

Erik turns around and slaps his cheeks. Then turned around.

"Wow. What a rough training, huh?"

"Yeah. Thank you, Erik"

Marcus snarks a little bit from his tone. Fortunately, Erik doesn't sense sarcasm as well as the others.

"You're welcome!"

He smiles widely.

"Get in, fellas. The water's fine"

Akira invited the gang for a bath. But Shin instructs them to take a shower first. After everyone has taken a shower, they get in the makeshift hot spring.

"Ahhh. This is amazing after an amazing workout"

"I was right, wasn't I? You're full of energy after losing all that fat?"

"You are, but Erik's or Sgt. Dorman's gruesome training, we're tired"

"Eh? I'm still full of energy. Maybe your body is not used to it yet"

"Marcus is a soldier, and he's tired"

"My guess is there's a muscle he rarely uses"

"Yes. I haven't had any training like that before. Usually, we train with a sword swing. But my fatigue is erased by this hot bath. This is amazing"

"I agree. I wish the military would install this kind of hot bath in our base. Training would be more effective"

"How are we getting so fat anyway?"

"We ate a lot of cows yesterday. 2.2 tons of meat. We were enjoying it too much and we lost track of our stomach"

"What kind of meat are you buying?"

"Wagyu A5"

"No wonder it's so delicious"

"That was a wagyu?"

"What's a wagyu?"

The gang looks at Marcus. They look at him understandably.

"In our hometown, Wagyu A5 is the best kind of meat. It is made with cows that have been spoiled like a kid. That means the cows eat high-grade food, given no stress. Just how you treat your nobles or any higher ups"

"It cost almost 2 platinum coins for one whole cow"

"Wha-2 pla-huh?"

"Baffled, huh? That's how good they are?"

"I have been eating expensive meats without knowing?"

"Ah. Don't worry about it. We can make that amount in a day"

Akira and the rest are enjoying the hot bath. Once they have finished, Akira shares the coffee milk he had been making earlier.

"That was delicious. You Japanese are really amazing. I kinda wished that this kind of thing is happening also in the States"

"Thanks. What do you say we get back to Romolo?"

"I'm down"

"Marcus? Remember, you're still a paladin. We need to go separate way near the gate"

"I understand"

"Right. Let's get on the bus. We still have some nights left. Go ahead and sleep"

The gang went inside the bus and Akira drives the bus toward the gate of Romolo. Once he's far enough not to be seen bu the guards. He stopped, turned off the engine, and woke the others.

"Guys. We're here. Marcus, Erik. You go on ahead. We'll lag behind"

"Will you guys be okay?"

I'm more worried about you than myself. Go get changed. Erik here's a phone. Keep us in contact"

"Got it. Be careful, you three"

"You guys too"

Erik and Marcus get changed and went out of the bus. Akira, Ken, and Shin get off the bus after Marcus and Erik went out. Akira puts the bus into his item box. They stealthily sneak into their inn room by climbing the building and running across the roof. They went in undetected. In their inn suite, Talos is waiting for them.

"Welcome back, Boss"

"Hi, Talos. How's it going?"

"We have located the slaves in this city. But we might need more time to liberate them"

Shin steps up.

"Do you need some help?"

"Any help is appreciated, boss"

"Great. Shin, what's the game plan?"

"I know that the slave ankle collar is a hindrance. So we'll get them off at one place, then teleport them away"

"Okay. What should we do?"

"Act natural"

"That's it?"

"Yeah. Let me and Talos take care of liberation"

"Thanks"

Talos and Shin went out the window and start working at the slave liberation. Days passed into a week. One night, Shin and Talos are back from their mission.

"We're ready. I've informed Erik and Marcus"

"Hana. We're ready. Are things going well on your end?"

"We're ready"

"Alright. Meet us at the plaza fountain. Talos, go with Shin. Ken, go get Marcus and Erik and keep an eye on the fountain and make sure no one is around. I'll go get Hana and cast an illusion around the plaza. We got 15 minutes windows. It's 11:49. If you're not by the fountain at that time, we will proceed with the plan and leave you. You need to make your own way back to New Miami. Understand?"

They all nod.

"Great. Here's a headset. Good luck, gentlemen"

Akira gives the rest of them a headset. They are on a call from their own phone. Talos and Shin went out of the window. Akira and Ken went out the front door. They went down via Elevator and went their separate way when they are on the plaza fountain. Akira cast an area of illusion magic. Basically making a one-way mirror. After Akira finished the magic, he cast illusion magic on himself and went to Hana. He slips into the Warrior's Respite basement to free the slaves. He is in the basement of the establishment, but the steel door is locked. He squeezes the lock and rips it off the door. He opens the door and the slave behind the door looks terrified until Hana steps up.

"Hana. Thank god. Let's get out of here"

"Is it okay to break the ankle brace here instead?"

"Sure. Everyone holds hand"

The slaves are understandably wary. The man they barely know is freeing them just like that. Akira looks at them. He put his right hand on his left chest and bowed.

"My name is Akira Takahashi. I am a king of the newly established Kingdom of Newlight. Formerly known as Corsair Princes' territory. If you have a family member there, please rest assured, you will be back to them"

"Hana. Is he being honest?"

"He is. I saw a painting of him and my brother before"

"Can I have your word that we will not be going back to slavery?"

"I promise"

Akira offers his hand to one of the teenage males who are brave enough to be free. Everyone follows suit. Everyone holds hands as Akira instructed. Akira closes his eyes and spread his magic to every slave. With his eyes close, he senses each of the slave's ankle bracers. Once he senses each and every ankle bracer, he uses his mana to destroy the magic core of the bracer. But it wasn't as easy as it looks. It took several tries to break the bracer of the slave. The bracer's magic core eventually shatters. The ankle bracer finally came off.

"I...I can't believe it. We're free!"

"Shh! We're not out of the woods yet. Let's get to the plaza fountain"

The former slaves make their way toward the plaza.

"Ken. How's it looking up there?"

"No one is here. Hurry"

"Shin, how is it going?"

"I'm heading to the last spot. We'll be there within 5 minutes"

"Understand. Ken, call Erik. Tell him we're ready"

"Copy"

Akira and the free slaves make their way to the plaza without anyone noticing. Once they are in the Plaza, they enter the illusion barrier.

"Are we okay to be in the open like this?"

"We are on the illusion barrier. No one will see us here. Don't worry"

"Right. What are we waiting for?"

"We're waiting for the rest of the slaves. Once we're all here, we'll use the dragonstone I gave Hana"

Akira waits for the rest of the slaves. Once they have arrived, Shin and Erik with Marcus nod to Akira.

"Everyone with ankle bracer. Hold hands with each other. I will try to break the ankle bracer"

They all hold hands with each other. Akira looks at Shin.

"Shin. I need your help"

"What is it?"

"Hold my hand"

Akira extends his hand to Shin. Shin holds it. They both close their eyes. Shin channels his magic towards Akira. Once they reach every slave's bracer core, Akira went and destroys the core, using the magic Shin provided him. After the bracer breaks, everyone starts crying. The first freedom in years.

"This is everything in this town?"

"Yes. Counted and double-checked"

"Good. Erik, Ken, Talos. Go with them. Please make sure they're safe"

"You sure?"

"I do"

Akira extends his hand to Erik. Erik, being the gentle giant he is, hugs Akira.

"Thank you, Akira. We'll be waiting for your return"

"Take care of them, will you?"

"First round on me when you get back"

"I'll hold you onto it"

Everyone holds hands. Hana breaks the dragonstone that was given. The magic inside the dragonstone envelops them with light. Once they are completely covered with light. They disappeared.

"Mission accomplished"

"Now what do we do?"

"Let's continue our travel. But first, I want to investigate something"

"Which is?"

"How does the demon know how to find us?"

He raises a good question.

"Back when I fought Shin, I sensed someone is watching. I even the magic connection"

"I remember something. Back in Friguld, there's a letter signed by 'El Rey del Mercia'. If I remember correctly, 'El Rey del Mercia' means the King of Mercia. What are the chances that the King of Mercia is in The League of Red Sky?"

Before they got the answer, the Anti-magic area was cast all over Romolo. The clanking of footsteps of iron is getting louder. Before they know it, they are surrounded.

"Does that answer your question?"

"We're still in the illusion area, right? They can't see us?"

The guards point their swords at them.

"Uh oh"