"This place have witnessed the first time we fought with Eureka.""This is also the place where we found out about her secret, of where she was before coming here," despite their looks she still continued.
"This is also where we would meet up every time we have our free time."
"And this is the place where we had our last gathering," she smiled sadly.
They then get what she was saying, why she suddenly enumerated those things. This place have witnessed so many things regarding their group. Their beginning and now their final gathering.
No, it"s not the final but instead a farewell.
An inevitable event that people would always face. Farewells will forever be surrounding us, no matter how important the person is to you, surely one day you will have to go your separate ways.
"Let"s not forget this then and teach it to our children and grandchildren. The bond that we have created. We"ll teach them, it"s not about the time that people spend together but about understanding each other, from their flaws to their capabilities."
They each look at each other, their eyes reflect both sadness and happiness. At the same time acceptance of their circ.u.mstances.
"Somehow I am jealous of our parents. They were born on the same kingdom and could stay together," Karen couldn"t help but say as she look at the other 8.
"*laughs* Aren"t they not together for so long already? But still look, they never changed, whenever they have the chance, they would hang out together," Mamoru reminded her.
That"s right, their parents had always been together as well. But now, they could only see each other every once in a while. But the bond remained and they are still as close as when they were young.
"Geez let"s stop being this melodramatic shall we? When the time comes we can still meet up, wouldn"t we have our own breaks? Remember that"s one of the lessons we learned from her, from time to time it is not bad for us to enjoy," Nana added as she looked at them.
Hideyos.h.i.+ and Theo looked at each other and nodded before leaving, the others were confused for when they called the other two just asked them to wait. It took them half an hour before returning. Carrying eleven bottles.
Looking closely at what they are carrying the others once again looked at each other then smiled while shaking their heads.
After giving each of them a bottle, Theo raised his, "To when we once again would meet, completely."
"Completely," the others followed as they too raised their bottles.
After dawning almost half of it.
"Now I know why she loves this whenever she"s down. It really relaxes you a lot and soothes you as well," Nana smiled as she look at the remaining content of her bottle.
The others nodded in agreement while the others smiled happily, each of them looked at the content of their bottle. The same drink Eureka have been drinking whenever she"s troubled which was then taken in by Raven.
With a smile on their lips, each of them welcomed the next day with a more positive out look.
*****
Carriages lined up at the main gate of Aurora Kingdom, these carriages were big enough and was custom made to carry at least twenty people. There are about four hundred of these carriages. So most could no longer be seen from the main gate.
Knowing full well that soon the other two kingdoms would be leaving, people were tasked to create as many of these carriages as possible. And so for the past two months there were people tasked to do just this.
These were also designed, so that three could be pulled by two horses. They were connected and their wheels were made to spin much easier than the old designs. But of course people would still help the horses by pus.h.i.+ng from behind as the horses pull whenever they start going on again.
Since when they came they already have horses with them, Aurora Kingdom didn"t need to produce more than a hundred horses. Of course there are those who still wouldn"t fit in all of these, so they would be walking by the side.
With all these taken into consideration, their estimated time of arrival would be in at least four months. The food prepared could only be taken for at least two months. These are all Aurora Kingdom could prepare. And so they need to be frugal as much as possible.
Once in the middle of the journey they then can start hunting, because of Reset, even all the forests and the rivers restored. So their would be abundance of food by then.
As if complimenting the start of their journey, the sky was clear with only a few clouds floating above. The sun rose and was s.h.i.+nning brightly at all of them.
"So I guess it"s time for us to go?" Ichiro started as he look at everyone.
"We"ll be waiting for your wonderful news, regarding the west," s.h.i.+gure added as he shook Akihiro"s hand.
"Surely he can do it," Akihiro said as he smiled at his two new friends.
Behind him was a grumpy looking Kaoru, he looked like he was bullied by the three of them. And he wanted to cry.
Akira who was beside him could only smile as she shakes her head, she knows full well what he hated the most: Responsibilities.
She placed her hand on his shoulder, Kaoru looked at her as if wanting to cry.
"She"s a demon. I tell you, she"s a demon. No not just her, but he, he"s even more of a demon," he said as his eyes became teary eyed. He looks so aggrieved that Akira didn"t know whether she"s going to laugh or cry.
(Flashback)
Just as the festivities last night ended, the three kings called for Kaoru to their table. Though wondering he approached them.
"Three kings orders, sign here," Akihiro said as he pushed the pen to Kaoru and showed him the parchment he had just signed a while ago.
After reading the contents he instantly protested, "No, no, no, no, never. I"ll never sign that."
"Three kings order, Kaoru. Are you going to go against that?" Akihiro said.
"Y- You can throw me out. But I"ll never take that kind of position," Kaoru even waved his hand hinting how much he didn"t want to take up such duty.
"*sigh* I guess when she returns she would be completely disappointed. Did you know?" Akihiro said as he looked at Ichiro and s.h.i.+gure.
"Eureka once told me, that Kaoru was a great ruler. He is a good leader as well. He knows how to look after the people under him."
Akihiro exaggeratedly sighed and shook his head as if what Kaoru did was truly a saddening thing for him. Kaoru who was incessantly shaking his head and hand slowed his movement upon hearing her name.
"That would truly not just disappoint her, but she would surely be saddened. She had confidence on him yet in the end he declined it so strongly. *sigh* How sad indeed."
Akihiro kept sighing and looking sad while Ichiro and s.h.i.+gure were stopping themselves from bursting into a laughter. They knew fully well how much Kaoru loves Eureka. He was her father when no one knew who she was and then she actually became his blood related niece. So his love for her were of the same with how much Akihiro and Haruka loves her.
Using her to make him submit, truly Akihiro knew how to use his cards very well.
"Very well, I will just explain to her why there was a different king of Hesperian once she returns. *sigh* But I really can"t say that her beloved uncle have flatly rejected her request now can I? *sigh*" he said as he pull away the parchment.
"You- you- you- I hate you," Kaoru blurted out as he took the pen and signed his name on the parchment.
He then run away after doing so, shouting "I hate you" over and over again.
Akihiro smiled demonically at Ichiro and s.h.i.+gure, "Easy as counting."
"You"re a demon. You pushed your own brother into such a very difficult position. You do know that they might be willing to accept a different king from another kingdom but that didn"t mean they would instantly accept who we send," Ichiro shakes his head with a laughter as he explained.
"You even used your daughter. I must say you really are a demon," s.h.i.+ogure added.
After rolling the parchment, he looked at them with a smile, "What I used might have been extreme but what I also said was true. Eureka did say that Kaoru would be a good leader. The way he had handled the academy was proof enough of his capability."
He looked at the way Kaoru run to, "Even when the time we went to Archic Kingdom, when I left everything to him. He did the job splendidly, I didn"t need to change anything when I returned and I was able to continue just like that. I didn"t encounter any problem during the time he filled in for me."
(End of Flashback)