Not an hour past their arrival at the castle, Raven made everyone gather their belongings and get into a few carriages. Their first stop was Reina's shop from where they had to pick up the blacksmith. Thankfully she was ready to leave and get the fresh air of the ocean bed into her lungs. It only took no more than half an hour for her to ready herself and get in.
In the anti, the sight of the Raven crested carriages spread news about the hero's departure like wildfire.
Milo–the king was the first man of notice to hear the news, then ca turn for the others like Tanya and her sister, as well as Moxy, Dune, Darius and his fiance. Even Erika learned much later that it was ti to move on since she had to be picked up from the church after the party was done picking up Aria.
Their belongings had already been packed by the others, and since they adventured light, there wasn't much to carry anyway.
"Sorry but, you two will be staying behind…" As the party approached the city gates, Raven dropped shocking news on Alia and Ophelia. Neither of them was being taken on this adventure, and of course, they had a lot to say about the matter.
"But why?!" Alia yelped, chasing after Raven as he got off the carriage a few feet away from the gates.
The gathering of people present there to send them off was far too thick for them to safely run a carriage in between.
"No way you've brought to this unknown city only to leave behind!" Complained Ophelia, rushing after Raven as well.
The others kept their distance from the upset centaurians, they trusted Raven to make the right decision and trying to get in between the explanation to calm the two was only going to ss things up more.
"We need soone to look after our territory, otherwise the dukes and duchess will try to usurp it from our hands," glancing to his side, Raven turned his attention to Tan who'd been following him closely for a while. "You and Tan will rule our region in my and my party's place, it's nothing you're not already used to as monarchs so don't worry too much."
"Why not leave Maria behind then?! She's a true monarch unlike us!" Alia protested, still following Raven closely.
"Y-yeahhh…" Shifting her gaze from Alia to Raven again, Ophelia grabbed Raven by the shoulder and forced him to stop. "I never truly ruled anything, and I doubt I can now."
"I can help!" Tan declared, glancing up at Ophelia with a smile.
For a mont, Ophelia wished to retort, but after quickly judging Tan's effectiveness at handling problems, she couldn't even co up with an excuse to be unable to handle whatever problems may arise next.
"You should've told us before we packed everything…" Sighting out in frustration, the centaurian queen stared at Raven until he smiled and she found herself smiling back.
"As for Maria," with the others walking forward, Raven turned his gaze to the ex-queen. "I would prefer that she stays away from bureaucracy, it could tempt her back to her bad habits."
Flinching at the ntion of her past behavior, Maria looked away with a bright blush of embarrassnt lined across her cheeks. An awkward silence took over the group for a few seconds, but it was quickly broken when another carriage ca rushing in their direction.
Carrying the crest of the royal family only a handful of people could've been the passengers, but with Tia waving angrily through the open window while Robin was trying to pull her back in, there was no need to make a guess.
"How dare you try to leave without telling !" She scread through the window, her bratty nature reflecting perfectly.
But she wasn't the only one looking for Raven's attention as the mont she'd arrived, Raven was rather gently assaulted by an energetic hug from the side.
"Geez! At least you were heading out!" Tanya complained while squeezing Raven tight.
A bit surprised by her gentle assault, Raven turned his head towards her and was t with an even bigger surprise. Darius and Aelin as well as Moxy and her father, were also standing behind Tanya and looked quite pissed at having to make their way toward them through the crowd. Furthering his surprise was a rusty suitcase in Dune's hand with the hem of a dress caught between the clips.
Looking over to Moxy while Tanya continued to hug Raven, the mage noticed a burning flare in the demi-fox's gaze, screaming to him that she wasn't gonna take no for an answer. She wanted to tag along and nothing would convince her otherwise.
"Are you gonna hog him to yourself, you hag?" Yet another familiar voice called out to Raven, but before he could turn around to look, he felt the familiar touch of Aura's lips pressing against his left cheek.
And as if there wasn't enough chaos already, l pulled Raven away from the two only for Tia to snatch him to the other end of the street. Watching it all happen, Adith and Liliyana scoffed at the sight as for Aria, Erika and the other monster girls, they didn't mind sharing their man for a last kiss or a hug by other won.
"Ohhh Raven, you've been such a bastard…" Breathed Darius with a light chuckle watching as his friend was being what he was, a darn playboy surrounded by won. Aelin stood beside him, smiling as well.
"I guess we need to wait our turn to bid him byes huh?" Chuckling as well, she locked her arms with Darius and leaned her head onto his shoulder. She loved being in the open with him, especially since she no longer had to hide her true appearance from everyone else.
"Yeahhh," Darius replied, thankful to Raven for his request to the king that has allowed the two to be together out in the open without anything to worry about.
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