Deku and Ochaco left bright and early the next morning and began making their way South down the peninsula, towards the Dark Lands and the Mountains. Regressing over it felt different from coming the first time: it felt boring in some ways, but also familiar to be back on the road--if there had been a road. And having a regular map instead of a magic one was a little less reassuring.
Deku still had his magic map. He couldn't bear to throw it away, as it was sort of the last thing he had to remember the 8th by, since he couldn't summon the sword. But it was supposed to take him to the holder, so now, all he could see on it was himself. It was useless.
Ochaco intended to use her concealment magic to keep monsters from being able to sense them. But the SOL's magic aura was so strong, it was doubtful that would work. Still, there were far less monsters in this area than farther south in the Dark Lands, so they might squeeze by till they could get to the mountain. They could only hope their friend was still there. He'd saved their lives when they passed by before.
Deku wondered what had become of the rest of his party. Some had left in anger, some had just left because the others did. All were disappointed. He'd thought about it every day and felt miserably guilty. But what could he do? There was no way to contact them and explain.
"Are we there yet?" Denki whined.
"No," Kyoka said tersely, "And we weren't there the other dozen times you asked either. Which you could see with your own eyes, if you'd look ahead."
Denki lifted his hat off his eyes and leaned on Tibult. "Yeah, but you've got that special hearing ability, so you'll know if we're there before I will," he said coaxingly.
Kyoka huffed. "Well, I don't hear anything. If you and that llama would walk faster, maybe we'd get there sooner."
"Hey, Tibult is tired," Denki said defensively, "and she misses Princess Momo and Prince Shoto, because they were nice to her, and they didn't call her a llama, when she's an alpaca!"
"And they moved their feet!" Kyoka shot back.
"They had a horse!" Denki retorted.
"You know what? Just shut up for the next hour," Kyoka grumbled.
"All right, I will," Denki pulled out his lute and began playing passive aggressive song chords on it.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Kyoka ignored him. She'd been acting extra tense ever since her best friend and royal majesty Princess Momo had split from them to go East and help the Prince Shoto with his kingdom problems. That had been two days, 5 hours, and ten minutes ago, by Denki's count, and Kyoka hadn't said one nice thing to him since. He couldn't blame her for being a little nervous, but why'd she have to take it out on him? He was nice enough to offer to help her get back home going through the other villages she was abhorrent of. With his helpful alpaca who could pull a cart of supplies! And his list of songs he wasn't even charging for.... There was just no justice in this world for bards.
