Chapter 9
The road to Bao ruins
"And that's what happened kind of cool huh!" Silver smiled at the group as Verm and Mai looked at one another before sighing.
"I suppose, and the fact we have a prisoner is helpful as well," Verm said.
"Wait prisoner?" Tempo frowned, she already knew where the conversation was going, and she didn't like it.
"Verm's just joking...right?" Silver eyes narrowed as Verm only shook his head before shrugging.
"I'm afraid I'm not," Verm said.
"Just because she was kidnapped doesn't remove the fact she was one of our enemies," Mai added.
"Yeah plus let's not forget all the Soldiers who were killed on the Gallimimus, don't think we can just forgive that," Sara stated as Silver grumbled.
"But that only happened because Parce went against the Church's wishes, of course, they were going to send people after him, plus all of you killed some of the Church's soldiers as well,"
"In self-defense," Floyd added.
"That doesn't matter because no matter what you say I'm not going to let Tempo be a prisoner!" Silver said as bluntly as possible as Verm glared at her group.
"Hmm, you seem to think you have a choice here," Verm replied.
"...I see," Silver lowered her stance, "I guess you're planning on taking her by force."
"Only if it comes to that...this opportunity is far too valuable to slip by," Mai added.
Katto just laughed "I guess it doesn't matter, I was planning on doing this sooner or later, and it will make things a lot easier on my client in the long run,"
Zoki sighed before taking out her pistol, "the things I will do for you, Silver,"
"W-wait you were going to pick her over us!" Sara glared at Tempo who returned the glare as Silver scratched the back of her head
"Yeah, I mean I promised her I would take her back to Parce if he is with the Knights currently then we might as well take her back home. If I let you guys have her, then I would be a liar, which just makes me dirty,"
"Silver..." Tempo's bottom lip started to quiver as her ears drooped as Richard crossed his arms.
"Damn it; we're wasting time! We don't have time to fight them, just shut up and let's go,"
"Richard this isn't something you can skip over!" Mai replied.
"I said shut up, I know what I'm doing plus I just don't want to fight them, Parce is already with the knights anyway so Tempo is completely useless to her, and we need to hurry to Minfor,"
"...Very well," Verm replied, apparently not happy with the decision.
"Does that mean you're going to let us come with you?" Silver asked.
"No, we are just letting you go...for the time being," Verm answered.
"I think he's confused on who is letting who go," Katto replied as Mai took a step back.
"In any case, I recommend you keep your distance from us, at this point, we consider you as a neutral party that cannot be trusted," Mai said, as she, Richard and the others that were with them left the factory heading towards Minfor.
"Damn it, can't believe they said that to us!" Silver crossed her arms as Katto shrugged.
"Well, it is to be expected considering the type of company you are keeping," Katto glanced over at Tempo who looked away.
"In any case, what should we do know? We have confirmed that Parce is no longer Vratbert, it would be pointless to go there considering he is currently with the church. Tempo, do you have any idea where Parce could be at the moment?"
Tempo crossed her arms before snapping her fingers...or paw pads some would call them, "he would most likely be headed towards Bao ruins, that is if they are following his instructions again..."
"Great then we head to Bao ruins and hand you over to the Church Knights there, um where are the Bao ruins anyway?" Silver asked.
"It should be in the northern area of the desert; it is back in the direction where we just came, however, sorry for wasting everyone's time," Tempo frowned, expecting to be yelled at as Silver laughed.
"Don't worry about it; it's Katto's fault for showing us such a lame passageway anyway,"
"Oh, I apologize for trying to help. Well regardless I am still going with all of you since my client is most likely in Bao ruins too," Katto said rather casually, but the entire thing was odd considering he stated that his client was in Vratbert before they figured out Parce was being held there.
Both Silver and Zoki remained quite; both had a hunch on who his client was but didn't want to speak about it in front of Tempo.
"Very well I guess our next destination is Bao ruins," Zoki said as she started to walk out of the factory as the rest of the group followed.
"Man what a pain, if I were by myself I would be able to explain the distance in less than ten minutes," Katto sighed said, quickly catching up to Zoki.
"...Silver why did you pick me?" Tempo asked.
"What do you mean?" Silver asked.
"You know what I mean...you could have given me to them and continued traveling like usual, but instead, you complicated things, why do something like that," Tempo asked.
"I only complicated things because they wanted to...life is a lot more straightforward than people make it out to be, plus if the roles were reversed you would have done the same for me!" Silver smiled.
"No, I wouldn't have." Tempo replied bluntly before realizing just how rude it was, "I-I'm sorry I didn't mean to hurt your feelings,"
"You really shouldn't say those kinds of things," Silver sighed.
"I guess you're right..."
"Hey...Tempo, Parce told me you were his guardian before Sara...what happened?" Silver asked the moment she did Tempo's face twisted as if she was in pain.
"I don't want to talk about it," Tempo's eyes started to water as her ears hung low as Silver quickly coughed and scratched the back of her head.
"If it's too hard to talk about then I'm sorry I brought it up, let's hurry we don't want to be left behind do we?" Silver smiled.
"I guess not," Tempo replied.
The group traveled through the vast shifting sands once again, this time, Tempo digging holes as they walked. It was such a strange sight as Silver tilted her head as Tempo hopped from place to place digging quickly.
Even if Tempo was a Beastkin, Silver never really thought of her as the type to do something so animal like. It was most likely out of sheer boredom than anything.
"Hey!" Silver called out to Tempo who quickly jumped out of the sand, "if you keep doing that you're going to get even more sand in your fur..."
Silver smiled as Tempo froze for a moment before she started pulling her ears.
"Ah, you're right! I can't be dirty if I'm going to be meeting with Parce again..."
Zoki sighed as her eyes looked towards the sky, it seemed that the sun was slowly setting. At the pace, they were going and based on the instructions that Tempo gave them they would barely just make it to the ruins as night fell.
"We will most likely be making camp at the foot of the ruins..."
Katto merely sighed as he shoved his hands into his pockets, his gaze then slowly shifted to Tempo who looked back. She quickly covered her face as Katto only laughed for a moment, "don't worry, I'm not going to ask you out again... I wanted you to ask you about Parce,"
Tempo ears twitched, "um what do you want to know about him?"
"What kind of person do you think he is?" It seemed like an entirely random question as Tempo tapped her lip before giving a bright smile.
"He is unbelievable, he is sweet and kind and always thinks about everyone else when he's making deciding something. Even when he goes against the majority, I know he is only doing it because he believes it is right,"
Katto remained silent once again before sighing, "if you have that image of him, keep it close to you and don't forget it..."
"Huh?" Tempo tilted her head; Katto wasn't making any sense as Zoki eyes narrowed. It seemed she knew where Katto was getting at as Silver bit her bottom lip.
"Katto, your client wants someone dead, don't they..." Silver made an offhand mention as Katto waved his hand before chuckling.
"Yeah, but I haven't decided if I am going to go through with it yet, that is why I'm meeting with him in the Bao ruins after all..."
Tempo frowned, it seemed the three were keeping secrets from her, but she kept quite. She wasn't going to pry into something that had nothing to do with her or Parce as she quickly ran ahead trying her best not to think too hard about.
Silver and Zoki slowly crept beside Katto who was walking at a brisk pace as Zoki said what was on her mind. "Your client...it's Parce isn't?"
Katto sighed before winking at the demon girl, "It is best that I don't answer that right now..."
For some odd reason, Tempo's body flinched as she quickly started walking faster towards, as if she was able to hear what Katto had just said as Silver sighed.
"Man, this is getting so complicated. I don't know much about Parce, but he doesn't seem like the type to hire a hitman..."
Katto remained silent, "you can ask him once we get to the ruins..." with that Katto stopped talking entirely, almost gaining a stoic disposition. He already knew he said far too much about the given situation.
Now Silver was genuinely interested in what was going on, all those looks that Verm and Parce were giving one another may have been hiding something a bit more insidious. She glanced over at Zoki than at Tempo; she was wondering how everything tied together.
"Next time we see Richard group, we will be asking the questions..."
