Starting Life From Zero: Far From Home

Chapter Forty-Three

Ferris crawled into the front of the cart, poking his head out past Otto and bumping the driver in the process as the Roswaal Manor appeared between the gap in the fence. The sun had risen higher into the sky, but there was a gathering mass of clouds over the forest. It looked like there might be rain. Still, enough light spilled down the front of the manor house that the lone wagon sitting in the circular drive. "Looks like someone made it here before us."

"Ow, you're making it a little hard to steer," Otto shouted.

Bucky leaned down to squint in the direction of the manor. "Let's hope they're friendlies." He said.

Peter shook his head. "Do you think, um, not-friendlies would park at the front door like that?"

"Only if they were trying to make it look like your standard social call," Wilhelm started. "We should prepare for anything. The Witch Cult does hide among the populace at times."

Peter stroked Emilia's silver hair, smoothing it down against her pointed ear. He hoped, somehow, that these few minutes in the wagon had been enough rest for her. There was a slight, subtle change in her expression and her lips parted. "Peter."

"I'm right here." Peter made sure to move his hands away from her face. He figured that it would be embarrassing if she spotted him touching her hair all lovingly. Maybe, yeah, odd time to worry about those kind of things. At the same time, he wanted to maintain whatever it was he had with Emilia. She'd become so integral to his life in Lugunica; already Emilia called him her best friend.

She opened her eyes slowly, blinking the sleep away. Kate clicked her tongue. "Looks like sleeping beauty is back with us."

"You-You're Kate. And Sergeant Barnes?" Emilia turned to face Peter, though her eyes flitted between all of the others in the wagon. "How did we get here?"

"Peter here, found you in the middle of the road after a fight," Wilhelm said.

Emilia glanced off to the side of the cart at the house. "Oh, Ram and May made it back!"

"You were all out of the manor?" Julius asked.

Emilia nodded. "We noticed that the carriages were sabotaged and the Ground Dragons meant to drive them had been stolen or let loose. Ram could also feel that there was something wrong around the manor, so we picked up the village children to shelter them here. We were going to have more of the village come later and-and shelter them."

Bucky grabbed hold of the side of the cart and turned to look off toward the tree line. "We took out a bunch of cultists and I think you single handedly killed twice as many. How many of them could there be left?"

Peter knew that Emilia's part of the this loop was just beginning to change, other than anything that he said to her before they left the city. But then, Ram might have gotten Rem's warning and that could have changed things too.

"I'm glad to see you're all okay," said Emilia. "Did the White Whale not appear or-"

"We killed the White Whale," Wilhelm announced.

Julius's expression read as if he could hardly believe the thing they had done. The entire thing was kind of unbelievable. From the first time Peter saw the White Whale, he felt it was the thing of legends; this world's Tarrasque or Kraken.

Emilia's purple eyes went wide, wider than Peter had seen them this far. "The White Whale is gone." Her voice was muted with surprise, but her expression displayed her enthusiasm. "Thank the Spirits, I knew you could do it." She kept her hands balled up at her sides, squeezing her fingers into her palms until she couldn't take it anymore and she dove into Peter's arms hugging him tight.