You were fearing the worst.

You couldn't really imagine how it felt for Fuyu to have to leave everything behind and for Rei to just leave without warning her parents beforehand, but your mind was already going wild with scenarios for what could have happened to them, and you felt like the more time passed, the less sane you were getting.

Thankfully, you eventually arrived to the same village you were left in when you travelled with a caravan, so you took some time to search for another caravan, who would be headed in the general direction of the manor. When searching for one, you realized that there was a lot of caravans around the village, all going to different places. In the end, the three of you managed to find one quickly.

Lucky you, the owner of the caravan was searching for someone to protect it, since he was too old to do so by himself as he said, so when you told him you and Rei were questers, he jumped on the occasion to hire you, something that you accepted, not because he was paying you, not that you really needed any money anyway.

At least you wouldn't have to travel by foot for three weeks to get back home, and it seemed like Rei was glad about it too, seeing as she happily chatted with Fuyu while sitting on the back of the caravan, all the while you were sitting beside the owner of said caravan, in silence.

A silence that said owner decided to break by asking.

"Tell me, young man, you and your friends seemed really eager to find a caravan, earlier in the village, but why is that so ?"

"Well, I have a bad feeling about something, you see." You answer. "And since recently the world has got quite a liking to messing with us, we are quite afraid that this bad feeling might just be something far worse than we anticipate."

"I see..." Simply replied the old man, before saying, a little smile gradually appearing on his lips. "I would have helped you, if I were younger, but my time to shine was so long ago. If I were to try and help you today, I would only be a burden."

"Thank you for wanting to help us, but you shouldn't want to bother yourself for us, we can take care of ourselves after all."

"Oh, I won't say the contrary ! You are a fine party of youngsters, you know, and I don't doubt any instant that you're able to take care of yourselves ! It's just that sometimes, bad feelings can turn out to be far worse than you could have ever anticipated."

You didn't answer this, his words making you feel even more anxious. He was right, and you knew it, a bad feeling could mean anything, a false alert or a worldwide danger, even though you didn't think it would end up in a worldwide problem, because you weren't really able to do anything about what can happen in other lands at this point in time.

The travel continued smoothly after this conversation, and unlike when you were going to Nakemo, this time there wasn't anyone wanting to attack the caravan, resulting in the calmest week of travel you and the two girls ever had, with plenty of chatting between you, the girls and the caravan owner.

Eventually, the caravan entered a familiar forest, and soon enough, you recognized the road where you lost yourself, not that long ago, before stumbling upon Shirayuki, so you waited for the moment where the caravan would inevitably end up going on a different path than the one to your home, a moment that would come quite soon, as it arrived on a path that split in two, the left path going directly to the manor, and the right path getting deeper in the forest, getting out of it a little while after, and that is where you, Rei and Fuyu finally got off the caravan, getting paid ten silver coins by its owner even though you didn't have to fight at all.

After that, the rhythm of your walk back home was quick, and that was the least you could say, as the three of you were almost running back, but not quite running since it would drain your stamina far too quickly, also because Fuyu was a bit busy taking in the sights of the forest while you were walking.

Arriving to the manor and taking a first glance at it, nothing was wrong. Nothing broken, no blood, nothing... That helped relieve some of the anxiety you felt, until you came inside.

There were traces of fighting everywhere, may it be broken objects, claws, swords and other kinds of marks on the ground and the wall as well as traces of magic, it seemed that whoever came here had an intense fight with the girls, and by the looks of it, won, since the girls were nowhere in sight, and a single gold coin was on the kitchen's table, which miraculously survived the heated battle, on the face you could see was the head of a queen, prompting Rei to say.

"The queen of the Elder Land... How did she find us ?"

As she said this, anger was coursing through your veins. Not once you could have some fucking time to relax ! And this time it was even worse, since it looked like all of your friends were kidnapped, even the Ladies. With this in mind, you didn't have any choice but to say.

"No matter how she did so, we'll go see her now."