Chapter 140: Internal Resolution

"Contract!"

Fiona whispered softly, touching the golden sphere of light. A dazzling flash of brilliance swept by, and it seemed as if nothing had happened. She stood there, unchanged.

The group beside her frowned. Logically, the young girl seemed quite sincere and did not appear to be deceiving them, but—

Whoosh!

Suddenly, light shimmered around Fiona, and a transparent dome appeared, encasing her entirely.

"Holy Light Shield?!"

Fiona exclaimed, a look of joyful surprise erupting in her eyes. Just a moment ago, when nothing had appeared and she felt the questioning gazes of the beautiful heroines, she had been on the verge of tears. Yet, even though no physical item had emerged, a faint sensation told her that she hadn't summoned nothing at all. Acting on instinct, she had invoked this sphere of light—a sphere capable of housing her completely.

"Eh?"

She took a few tentative steps forward, discovering that the sphere seemed to have grown onto her; no matter where she went, it followed. It was effectively like activating an aura.

"Ooh!"

Discovering this, Fiona jumped for joy, turning a somersault. "That’s amazing!" She cheered, then summoned her Wings of Light and zipped up into the sky, her body still enveloped by the holy sphere, looking like a glowing bubble.

"Wow! That’s so cool!" Celi exclaimed, tilting her head in thought before running straight into the grocery store.

A moment later, Fiona descended and looked at the beautiful heroines with a touch of pride. "Anyway, that’s how it is. Believe it or not! Even if you’ve seen it with your own eyes, you could still say I had it prepared beforehand and it’s just a magic trick, but it doesn't matter to me!"

Cough.

After saying this, she suddenly thought of Luo Yong and felt inexplicably guilty, wondering if he would be angry if these spheres didn't sell... Little did she know, Luo Yong had asked her to bring these spheres specifically for his own team members. He had even intentionally set a sky-high price that ordinary people couldn't afford, but they could.

For instance, Celi was already rummaging through a storage chest she kept in the grocery store where she stored items of little importance.

"Is there a staff discount?" Aliyah leaned in close, whispering, "Don't insiders usually get a deal?"

"This..." Fiona thought about it seriously, then shook her head. "The captain didn't say. Since there were no specific instructions, I don't dare to make things up."

"Fine, we understand." Aliyah sighed. Although fifty gemstones meant nothing to her, she still felt a pang of heartache.

"Well, goodbye then!" Fiona put away the two items, waved at the group, and trotted out of the camp.

"Wait, where’s the captain?" Standing outside the camp, Fiona looked around and spotted a figure slowly receding into the distance at the edge of her vision.

"Captain! Wait for me!" She shouted, hastily summoning her Wings of Light to give chase.

...

"Me first, me first, me first!"

Inside the grocery store, the group of heroines immediately took the bag of light spheres off the shelf, planning to keep them for themselves. Aliyah shoved Celi, who was holding a pile of gemstones, aside and reached for the bag.

"Give me one!" Celi stood on a small stool, dumped the gemstones from her arms onto the counter with a clatter, then ran to pick up the ones that had been knocked to the floor, placing them back on the counter as well. Looking up at Aliyah, she pleaded, "Sister Aliyah, I paid money! Give me one! One of those belongs to me!"

"Hmph! Not giving it to you! You little silly!" Aliyah deliberately held the bag higher.

"Bad sister! Give it to me..." Celi blinked, on the verge of tears again.

"Aliyah, stop teasing her!" Wendy, who had just walked in after seeing Fiona off, witnessed the scene and felt a headache coming on. Luo Yong was gone, and the affairs of the Youth Mercenary Corps were temporarily shelved for later, but she couldn't just kick out the little girl who was already part of the team. Coaxing her every day to keep her happy and help her move past the grief of losing Luo Yong was already exhausting enough...

"Ugh... fine." Aliyah sighed, locking eyes with Celi. Even as she looked over and reached for the bag, she still intentionally kept it out of reach.

"Hmph!" Celi grew angry, turned her back on her, and hid in the corner to wipe away her tears.

"Good heavens!" Seeing this, Wendy let out a long sigh.

A moment later, the group emerged from a portal near the Stonehenge.

"Eh? Wendy, didn't you just go back? Why are you heading into the secret realm again?" the Holy Light Mage asked.

"Ah, we just... we feel we are still too weak. We haven't been in the mood to take on missions lately, so we thought we'd go into the secret realm to improve ourselves." Wendy managed a forced smile, her expression unnatural.

"Sigh!" The Holy Light Mage sighed deeply. "What happened is in the past; don't be too sad. Adjust yourselves soon; the living must carry on..."

"Yes... thank you for your teachings and care during this time," Wendy said.

"Don't mention it, we... we aren't outsiders," the Holy Light Mage said, her gaze sweeping over the Gale Squad, followed by another sigh.

"Are you going to keep guarding here?" Wendy gestured to the surrounding stone statues in their strange poses.

"Yes. After such a major incident, we must find the truth. Emma and I are taking turns guarding here to catch the culprit!" the Holy Light Mage declared. However, as she said this, the members of the Gale Squad all wore strange expressions. To them, these petrified individuals, whether or not they were from the Fearless Legion, were certainly no good!

"That must be exhausting," Wendy said.

"Alright, I won't hold you up. Hurry inside." The Holy Light Mage held Wendy's hand like a close sister and sent the group into the Stonehenge.

Forest Secret Realm.

Once Aliyah took the pouch containing the golden light spheres out of her storage space, the beautiful teammates all pounced on it. Even Celi was no exception, acting with surprising ferocity.

Boom!

Wendy controlled the giant tree formed from the secret realm key and stationed it in the temporary camp built within the realm. She then checked on the Death Dragonflies parked there. Everything was normal and safe. Only then did she turn to look at her teammates, who were tangled in a heap, and the fat guy, Gerr, who was standing nearby, looking awkwardly unsure of what to do.

"Alright! Stop messing around!" Wendy frowned, speaking with a hint of irritation.

"Ah! Wendy, save me!" Aliyah, crushed at the very bottom and struggling to breathe, cried out.

...

It took a while to get everyone to settle down. Since the sudden news of Luo Yong's death, it wasn't just Celi who cried often; everyone found it hard to accept, and their emotions had been volatile lately.

"I'll go first."

Facing the golden light spheres scattered on the ground, the heroines who had been grabbing them so enthusiastically fell silent. No one dared to step forward. Celi, however, clutched one sphere tightly, protecting it like a treasure.

"Contract!" Wendy touched one sphere, waited a moment, and a jade-inlaid gold bracelet appeared in her hand.

"It's just a bracelet. Is there anything special about it?" Aliyah asked.

Whoosh!

Wendy put on the bracelet and swung her sword lightly. A series of sword shadows appeared before her, concealing a burning force.

"It's an amplification item; it provides a certain enhancement to any casual slash."

"That's not bad!"

"Though, it feels a bit lacking, it's better than nothing..."

"Contract!" While the others were still discussing, the Barbarian Priest had already touched a sphere and completed the contract.

Whoosh!

A holy radiance lit up around her body, covering a radius of nearly ten yards, enveloping all her teammates.

"Blessing Aura?"

"This is also good! Constantly applying blessings to oneself and nearby teammates!"

"Next, watch me! Contract!" The Storm Mage shouted, and a violent magical fluctuation surged around her.

"Ah! Combat or surrender..." A roar erupted, a voice filled with anger and unwillingness, followed by a golden pillar of light as a tall figure emerged from the ground. Although he came from the summoning array, he looked as if he had crawled right out of the earth.

"This is..."

"A Heroic Spirit!?"

"An ancient Heroic Spirit of the close-combat class!"

"Ooh! That's amazing!"

"My turn, my turn! Contract!" The Wilderness Hunter also shouted, as if the louder one shouted during the contract, the better the item obtained.

Then—

Whoosh!

A streak of light darted out.

"A Light Elf?"

"Hey, your eyes are so sharp—how did you know it was an elf?"

"If it's not an elf, what is it?"

"Wait, let me look..."

"Wow!"

After a collective exclamation, the light returned to the Wilderness Hunter. It took the form of a deer with branched antlers on its head.

"Whoa, can I sit on that?" The Wilderness Hunter was unsure. The deer existed somewhere between void and substance, as if formed entirely of light elements; she didn't know if it could carry a rider. But after a moment's thought, she sat on it anyway.

"It really can be ridden—ah, ah, ah..."

As she spoke, the deer bolted, eventually turning into a streak of light, moving with indescribable speed. A moment later, the Wilderness Hunter flew back, having lured in a wave of monsters unique to the secret realm.