[i]I knew she wouldn’t believe me,[/i] Crow’s heart sank when Penelope responded to his story with silence. [i]Why should she? It sounds like something out of a fairy tale.[/i] He let go of her hands as she took a moment to process everything he had said. Part of him wished he had lied about how he had found out there were still people after them, but he couldn’t bring himself to do that to her. Even if she chose not to believe his wild story, at least she could make that decision for herself.

[i]Maybe that’s why Aeklora chose to speak to me,[/i] he mused. Among the three of them, he knew he was the most partial to believing in legends and superstitions. After all, such things were heavily ingrained in the people of the outer villages from the folklore passed down from their ancestors. Perhaps the goddess had revealed herself to him because she knew that he was the only one who would believe the experience had actually happened, whereas the knights would probably brush it off as a hallucination or a dream. [i]I know what I saw,[/i] he thought determinedly. [i]Even if they think I’m not telling the truth, I know it was real.[/i]

After a while, Penelope finally spoke up again, drawing him from his thoughts. “I don’t know what we may run into,” he said, meeting her gaze when she said there might be more mercenaries after them. “But we need to be careful.”

[color=fff79a][b]“But who would even be that concerned with keeping the staff from getting to Brerra?”[/b][/color] Penelope went on. [color=fff79a][b]“Maybe the nobles from before? They couldn’t stop us themselves, so they could have hired someone to do it for them.”[/b][/color]

“Maybe,” Crow nodded. “They didn’t seem like the types to give up easily.” He glanced back at William, who was beginning to stir, and leaned in to press one last kiss to her lips before the older knight woke up. “We should warn him too somehow,” he said softly, tilting his head towards the knight in indication. “He won’t listen to me, but he might hear you out if you tell him about the mercenary that attacked us before.”