Millie and Lux soared in the sky, with one slime perched on the Half-Elf's head, and another on his right shoulder.
Fei Fei was Cai's Beast Companion, and shared a strong connection with the Boar.
This was the excuse that Lux had given Millie to give the green-haired Dwarf some hope that they would be able to pinpoint the Princess whereabouts using Fei Fei as a detector.
However, for the time being, he asked Millie to take him to the Port City of Watford, which was also the main city of the Earldom of Draycott.
This city didn't have any teleportation gates, but it was a hub of activity because many merchant ships frequented this port in order to sell, trade, and buy some products that they would sell in other places.
The journey took nearly five hours. When Lux and Millie arrived, it was around two in the afternoon.
During their trip, Lux was keeping in close contact with Commander Thoram and Guildmaster Keelan, so he knew about the progress being made on their side.
Keelan, and the reinforcements that he had called for, had already arrived in the adjacent territory of the Earldom of Draycott. All they needed to do was travel towards the sea-port town and meet up with Lux, which would take a minimum of two more hours.
The other thing that concerned the Half-Elf was the Order of the Griffon. He had no way of contacting them, so he didn't know whether they were already on their way, or were still waiting for each other before they headed to the meeting area.
Millie had an artifact that allowed her to talk with her Master. However, due to its limited range, he couldn't determine if the Rankers that would serve as their backup would be enough to deal with the Rankers of Twilight Rain.
'I hope that they're already on their way,' Lux thought. 'Right now, the kidnappers aren't moving, and Cai and Keane assured me that the Princess is safe, but, that can change at any given time. There is also the issue with the Monster of Ruin… I simply don't have much time left before the mission ends."
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Mission Time: 15: 48: 36
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Lux sighed internally. If he had one more day, he wouldn't feel this anxious.
Since they were fighting with Rankers, he had no choice but to wait for their side's Rankers to arrive.
'According to Scarlet, the force that Twilight Rain dispatched in this mission was made up of Six Rankers and 10 Initiates, including her,' Lux mused. 'Unless we are able to have the same number of Rankers and Initiates on our side, we didn't stand a chance in rescuing her. Good thing, Scarlet is there to give me some inside information. If she hadn't given me a heads up, we might have been taken completely by surprise.'
Since she was a Slayer Candidate, the Guildmaster of Twilight Rain thought that it was a good idea to let her join this important mission, so that she could gain some experience.
Scarlet was an Assassin, and didn't have much experience in moving as part of a group.
Because of this, the Guildmaster decided to let her be part of an Elite Unit, so she would develop some sense of teamwork with her other guild members, when carrying out important missions for the Dark Guild.
Each member of the Royal Family carried an artifact that would inform the King that they were in danger. Only the members of the Royal Family knew of this, and even Nevreal, who had faithfully served the kingdom, had no idea that such artifacts existed.
This was why, before Nevreal had received the news from Lux that the Princess had been kidnapped, the King had already informed the members of the Order of the Griffon to mobilize.
Unfortunately, Twilight Rain expected the Princess to be carrying some sort of tracking artifact on their person.
One of the Rankers that was brought on this operation had a special appraisal ability that allowed him to detect the use of such items. Because of this, the pendant that hung on Princess Anastasia's neck had been taken by them, and tied on the talon of a random bird in the forest.
The members of Twilight Rain believed that this would send their pursuers on a wild goose chase, allowing them to escape to the Port City of Watford and take the boat that their Organization had prepared beforehand.
"What's taking them so long?" Millie muttered as she paced back and forth inside the Guildmaster's Office in the Adventurer's Guild. "Aren't they here yet?"
Lux could only smile wryly because Millie had asked this question ten times already. He understood that she wanted to rescue Princess Anastasia right away. But, the two of them were not strong enough to save anyone without help.
"Calm down, the reinforcements from the Adventurer's Guild are already on the way," Lux replied. "Also, Fei Fei is able to detect when Cai is near. Since she is not reacting, it means that the members of Twilight Rain have not yet arrived here in the city."
In truth, Lux had seen that the members of Twilight Rain had started to move on his map. However, it would still take them two to three hours at most to arrive at their location, while traveling on mounts.
Keelan had managed to get in touch with two Rankers, as well as twenty Initiates during the five hours that Lux, and Millie were flying in the sky.
Sadly, the other Rankers that had a connection with the Adventurer's Guild were all out on missions, so Keelan wasn't able to call them back.
'We're still four Rankers short,' Lux glanced at the green-haired Dwarf who was pacing back and forth inside the room.
Millie had already activated her artifact, so the moment her Master came within range, she would be able to talk to her right away. Seeing that the artifact wasn't making any sound, it only meant that one of the members of Rankers of the Order of the Griffon was still not within their range.
Suddenly, the movement of Cai's, and Keane's markers on the map increased their speed, catching the Half-Elf by surprise.
'What happened, Cai?' Lux asked the Boar through their Guild Chat. 'Your traveling speed is faster than it was a minute ago.'
It didn't take long before Cai replied to Lux, and its reply made the Half-Elf's face turn grim.
'My Daddy, it's crazy!' the Boar almost shouted its reply. 'This guy came and he is riding on this big colorful bird that can carry a lot of people. We are currently riding on its back, and it flies pretty fast!'
Lux almost cursed internally because he could see on the map that it would now take the members of Twilight Rain less than half an hour to arrive in the Port City of Watford.
Their reinforcements from the Adventurer's Guild were still an hour away from their location, and the Half-Elf estimated that by the time they got here, the Princess, and his friends, might be loaded on a ship, and taken to a place they wouldn't be able to reach in a short period of time.
