The room of councilmen and women continued to murmur amongst themselves after the Machina delegate had left, but once Riyala spoke in a calm voice, everyone quieted down and turned to her attentively.
"We have heard the orders from the council, and it is mandated that we follow them. I want everyone to begin gathering the funds necessary for payment."
One of the council members, who was a member of the wyvernrider tribe, spoke up calmly.
"Priestess, what of the humans? Are we really going to shoulder the burden of their debt as well? Does it not seem... excessive?"
"And what is so excessive about it? When we were in need, did the humans not come to our aid?"
Riyala pinned the woman with a deep stare, and this forced the woman to look away like a child being berated by their parent! But someone else spoke up from the side with a deep voice. This time it was a man who was part of the mining tribe located east of the Flaming Forest, and he spoke with a small frown.
"Actually, would it not be more reasonable to say that the person who saved us was the Kingslayer, Jason Marc, and his army? I understand that he is of Earth, but I do not think that the other humans from Earth would have extended their hand to us if not for him. I would lay down my life if it meant I could help Jason Marc with anything he required of us, but I do not see why we should put our neck on the line for the rest of Earth."
There were some murmurs of agreement from the rest of the council when they heard what the man said, and in a way, Riyala could understand what the man was saying. These people have never been to Earth, and so they have never met the family that Jason has there, and they have never seen the love that Jason had for that world. But Riyala was not like them, and she knew without a doubt that by protecting Earth, she was doing a great service to Jason. Riyala took in a small breath, and she spoke calmly.
"We are a race of people who value loyalty above all else, and we would never turn our back on those who have helped us in our time of need. Jason Marc belongs to Earth. He has family there. Allies, and people that he would never wish harm to come to. And if spending such a large sum of money is going to protect those people and ensure the safety of Jason’s family, then we will not think twice about making that decision. Five billion gold coins are nothing compared to what Jason had done for us. And besides, it is not as though we are simply shouldering the burden with no chance of replenishing our treasury. I have come to an agreement with the leader of the interdimensional organisation of Earth, and I am certain that the gold will be paid back to us in time. Now, I want you all to go and gather what we need and prepare for the transportation. Is that understood?"
The council members all stood and bowed in agreement once they heard the seriousness in Riyala’s words! Even though some of them still had some doubts or arguments, there was nothing that they could say or do after hearing such a straightforward order from their priestess! Riyala’s word was final, and that was the end of the discussion! Riyala nodded after she saw that there were no more arguments, and she finally stood regally before leaving the throne room to return to the Flaming Forest.
....
[With Jason and Gina]
[Two Days After Escaping from the Beast of the Apocalypse]
Jason and Gina’s travels became a lot more cautious after they left the world of Hanir and escaped from the Beast of the Apocalypse. Jason and Gina had landed in a world known as Grinar immediately after leaving Hanir, and since Jason knew that staying in that world was still dangerous, he quickly made sure they continued moving, and they travelled through more than five dimensional tears before they finally reached a world called Treva’an that was outside the Beast’s territory and they could finally rest. Jason was freaking exhausted after all that fighting, and for the first time in a long time, he felt like his stamina had dropped to nothing! Jason had always known that it would take something very intense to make him tired, but the fight he had against the Beast showed him just how quickly you could lose energy while trying to keep up with a creature that was stronger than you!
The world of Treva’an was a well-developed Rank II world that had large towns and cities all around it. The world was filled with humanoid creatures that had green skin and long arms and legs, but they weren’t very strong since they hadn’t even been introduced to mana yet. Jason and Gina appeared inside of a large building in one of the cities, and they managed to terrify a woman and her three children who were living there. Gina managed to calm the woman down, and she spoke in the Treva’an language to explain that they needed a place to rest for a few hours before they continued on their journey. The Treva’an woman was still very terrified, but she seemed to understand after she saw Jason’s tired expression and the worry on Gina’s face, and it was in that house that Jason finally managed to get some good sleep for the first time in nearly four days.
Throughout the time he slept, Gina sat and watched over Jason like she was afraid he would vanish, and the look of worry on her face only grew as she remembered how useless she had been in the previous battle. Gina knew that Jason would always say that she helped him out by opening the Dimensional Tear, but Gina hated the fact that she couldn’t be there when Jason needed her. She could only run away to try and secure their escape route, and she knew that if anything had gone wrong, then she might’ve never seen Jason again. Gina brought her hand up and stared at it with a deep frown as she thought back to the feeling of overwhelming power that she experienced when she faced that Beast. That mana wasn’t something that Gina could even begin to imagine. It was so powerful that she nearly passed out just from being near it. But at the same time, Gina felt her mind going back to what she had done. There was no way Gina could forget how she managed to divert the Beast’s wind using her own magic. And the weirdest part of it was that she didn’t even remember using any mana to divert the wind! It was almost like she became one with the wind itself. It just came to her.
’So this is what Farlow spoke about before. Is this really what it means to be a sage?’
Gina hadn’t had any time to speak to Jason about what happened since they were on the run, but Jason had mentioned something about her ability being related to the [Sage] skill, and Gina couldn’t help but wonder what had triggered it in the first place. Gina had been so confused and desperate for any way to get away from that Beast that she had done something that she couldn’t really describe, so now she was finding it difficult to put the feeling that came over her back then into words.