"What do you want to ask me?" Ryan replied, narrowing his eyes at the trio.
'They can't do anything to me here, and if they betray me so brazenly, then surely their punishment will be deadly,' Ryan thought. 'I'm not taking any chances. For all I know, the human empire could have planned that entire trip to get these people into my group.'
"It's about Yoko," Shade said, scratching his head.
"What about Yoko?" Ryan asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, you see-" Shade began but was cut off by his sister.
"Yoko is dangerous, Ryan," Veronica said, interrupting Shade. "She can't be trusted. No Evil Dragon can be trusted."
"I'll take that under advisement," Ryan said, vanishing.
Hannah looked at the siblings and pursed her lips before asking, "How are you going to test if he's a First One?"
Shade shook his head. "There is no foolproof way. We can only test it via his bloodline."
"But doesn't he have to awaken it?" Hannah asked.
"He already did," Veronica said, looking at Shade. "You saw it, too, right?"
Shade nodded grimly, "He has bonded with Yoko."
"If he is a First One, may the heavens have mercy on the Multiverse."
===
Returning to Emily, Lizzy, and Izzy's POV…
Standing outside the campus store, the three looked at each other in bewilderment.
"What do you think that old hag meant?" Izzy said, glaring back at the clerk inside the campus store.
"I don't know," Lizzy said, shaking her head.
Emily frowned and thought for a second before slowly saying, "I think I have an idea."
Seeing the sisters turn to her, Emily said, "My mother taught me a technique that she used to get information when nothing else worked."
"I can't believe you! You dirtbag scum swine!" Emily yelled at the top of her lungs.
The clerk inside the store glared at Emily, but the green-haired beauty didn't pay her any heed and kept shouting. "Rude to your customers! Refusing service for no reason!"
"You should be ashamed of yourself-." Emily continued until a palm covered her mouth and dragged her inside the store.
After the clerk hauled Emily inside and was about to shut the door, Izzy and Lizzy slipped in.
"What do you think you're doing barking up a storm?" the clerk asked, gripping Emily's arm.
Emily shrugged off the clerk's arm and said, "I'm not the one who refused to tell us where Wakana Village is."
The clerk clenched her teeth and looked around. Not seeing anyone watching them, she walked away and said, "Follow me."
Entering a staff-only break room, the store clerk suddenly turned around and looked at Emily with a vicious glare. "Where did you hear that name, girl?"
Caught off guard by the sudden change in demeanor again, Emily tripped but was caught on one side by Lizzy and the other by Izzy. "Don't worry. We've got you," Lizzy said, nodding.
Straightening herself out, Emily looked at the clerk with newfound confidence and said, "What's it to you?"
The clerk's eyebrow twitched as she looked over at the girl, half her height, half her weight, and probably four times as tiny in the chest department.
But as she was about to make a move, she felt a bloodthirsty pressure radiate off of Izzy that told her if the clerk dared to make a move, she'd be doing so for the last time.
Even though physical strength was lovely, it didn't match against a cultivator, and seeing as the clerk wasn't one, she could only grit her teeth and mutter, "Never mind."
Puffing her chest and turning away from the girls, the clerk said, "Wakana Village is more a myth than anything."
Turning back towards them, she continued, "It's supposedly a secret village where the re-"
"Ms. Garish!" A shill cry interrupted the store clerks' talk from outside the break room, and a lanky woman burst into the room a second later.
"What is it, Jacklyn?" Ms. Garish asked, seeing an opportunity to escape.
"Is it okay to say it here?" Jacklyn asked, looking at the unfamiliar trio.
Waving her hand dismissively, Ms. Garish said, "Yes, hurry up."
'Not like it's anything important,' Ms. Garish thought.
Nodding, Jacklyn said, "The guards reported a transfer of two women to a location at the outer edges of the empire just now."
"So what?" Ms. Garish asked, slightly agitated.
"They were talking about Wakana Village. They reported it to me immediately since you told me you wanted to keep an eye out for any information on that. I had to pay them top dollar, but I think it was worth it," Jacklyn said proudly.
The smile that had been forming on Ms. Garish's face froze and she slowly turned to the trio of women, but they were already gone.
Sighing Ms. Garish turned to Jacklyn and put her hand on Jacklyn's shoulder, slightly squeezing. "Sometimes you just don't know when to shut up, do you?"
Teary-eyed, the poor Jacklyn only had one thought, 'But you said to tell them.'
===
Grace's POV…
Ino and Grace walked along a gravel path in the remote town of Ushmed. The teleporter had taken them to a roundabout town just a few miles away from her village.
The problem was that neither Ino nor Grace had the magic stone required to enter the village since she had given hers to Ryan.
Ino said she had lost hers, 'How unfortunate,' Grace thought.
After stumbling around the town for a few hours, they finally caught a break when Grace saw one of her village members. "Cassius!" Grace called out, running over to him.
Cassius was a friend who'd always helped her gather herbs and medicinal plants back home. He also used to carry food back to their house. "Grace!" Cassius cried out happily upon seeing his childhood friend again.
"You're alive!" he exclaimed, grabbing her hand and giving it a big shake.
Grace smiled weakly, happy to see an old face but unsure why he looked so shocked. "What?"
"I've been worried sick about you," he replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Then looking into Grace's eyes, he added, "You look exhausted."
"I am," Grace admitted with a shrug. "But I'm alright."
Cassius frowned, shaking his head and putting a finger against Grace's cheek, "No. I can tell that something happened! What is it?"
Biting her lip, Grace looked back at Ino before answering, "It's nothing important."
Cassius seemed confused by her answer, saying, "Well..." then pointing at Ino, standing beside them, continued, "Are you...uh…her servant? Or something?"
Grace sighed heavily. Her voice was weak, and she said, "She saved my life. I was bringing her back to Wakana, but I gave my key to a... friend, so I don't have any way to get back into the village."
Cassius paused for a moment before narrowing his eyes at Ino. "You said your name was what, friend?"
Seeing Cassius's demeanor, Grace lightly punched him in the arm, saying, "This is my savior, don't look at her like that!" Then, she turned toward Ino and apologized.
Ino replied kindly with an expressionless face and bowed slightly. "My apologies," She replied simply.
Cassius nodded but still seemed hesitant.
"So, are you going to help us?" Grace said, giving her best flirtatious batting of the eyes.
Cassius gulped before sighing. "Fine, Grace, you can come with me."
Giving him a tight squeeze, Grace said, "Thank you, Cassius!"
The source of this c𝓸ntent is fr(e)𝒆webnovel