After speaking with Tsubasa, the two of them headed over to where Maria was. She was standing infront of the building, firing her bow at a roughly carved bull's eye on the wall, and the copper tips bounced off the stone. Her body trembled as she stood, but her arrows were accurate, even though she was a bit more than twenty meters away. From the corner of their eyes, Xavier and Mickey spotted two guards watching her from an alley.
"Maria." Mickey greeted, and she put down her bow, and turned around with a smile. She took a step towards them, but she almost fell to the ground the next second, but Mickey caught her, as he cleared the distance between them in a second.
"Well, it seems like someone has been investing in their agility." Maria said with a chuckle and Mickey looked at her worriedly.
"I thought you would have been healed up more by now." Mickey said, and Maria sighed
"I thought so too, but it isn't despite my vitality being at eleven. My HP only went up by like 3 points. It's frustrating, and I feel bad about what you guys have to do to protect me." Maria said with a depressed look on her face.
"You know, it's not as bad as you think." Mickey said with confident smile, but Maria squinted her eyes at him.
"Your skin is red, you're covered in claw marks and I heard the explosions from here. Plus I heard the shouts and gunshots, don't you dare tell me things aren't as bad as I think." She said angrily and Mickey sighed
"Look, let's head inside and talk some more. I don't like our audience." Xavier said, and both Mickey and Maria looked into the alleyway and realized that the guards were still there. She had realized that they were there a bit after she started using her bow, but she pretended not to notice them. The three of them headed into the building and Xavier sighed in relief as he greedily gulped down some water.
"Seriously dude!!" Mickey said angrily as that was the last of the water.
"So Maria, what happened this morning? You know, the guys who were trying to kill you." Xavier asked, trying to distract Mickey and it worked, as he turned towards Maria with a questioning gaze.
"How do you guys know about that?" She asked confused
"Tsubasa told us, where were Rose and the others when this happened?! They were supposed to keep you safe damn it." Mickey said and Maria sighed
"The guards came and rounded up all the prisoners to go out into the forest. I'm guessing those two slipped past, and came to pay me a visit." Maria explained
"Do you know who they were? Have you seen them around before?" Mickey asked, his tone icy. Neither Xavier nor Maria had any doubt in their mind that if he found them, he would kill them.
"No, I haven't seen them around before, but they looked relatively clean and uninjured." Maria said, and Mickey nodded his head, making a mental note to ask Tsubasa about it tomorrow. Xavier sighed as he realized that Maria also wanted revenge and although he couldn't blame her, he was surprised how much she changed in a few days, from a crybaby afraid of monsters to vengeful convict and powerful fighter.
'I guess this place would change anyone, considering what we have to do to survive everyday.' Xavier thought, and laid on the ground, munching on a fruit he took out of one of the bags.
"So what did you guys do today?" Maria asked curiously, and Mickey animatedly told her everything that happened today, from how Xavier threatened the guard to their conversation with Tsubasa. He still blamed Xavier for how they got chased by monsters and he also ranted about how Xavier was a crazy bastard for fighting a monster barehanded, making Maria laugh. Xavier for his part, fell into a light slumber as they talked, and soon morning turned into late afternoon, and finally Rosie and the rest of the sisterhood arrived.
"Mickey, and Xavier. When did you guys get here?" Rosie asked
"A few hours ago." Mickey answered, while Xavier continued to sleep.
"I heard something about three guys bringing 'big red devils that shoot fireballs' to the Sanctuary. I'm guessing that was the you two, but who was the third?" Ava asked, as they entered the building and sat down, exhausted. Their clothes was covered in fresh green blood, evidence that the nine of them were hunting goblins.
"Tsubasa, we ran into him while being chased by monsters." Mickey answered
"I see, and him, what's with the bright new threads?" She asked, seeing Xavier's new clothes
"He bought them using the Orb, speaking of which. I should probably get some new pants." Mickey said, looking down at his own pants, which could barely be called pants as most of it was reduced to ashes. The members of the Sisterhood looked at him strangely, and a question was on their tongue that they dared not ask.
"But, where are you getting the points?" Bart asked nervously, and the others looked at him like he was an idiot, even though they wanted to know as well. Looking at Xavier's clothes, none of them had ever seen it in the Orbs item list before, which could only mean they didn't have enough coins to buy it. And some of them have had as many as three hundred. And they were sure these two didn't have time to kill people, as no one went West except them and no bodies have been found inside the Sanctuary ever since the Warden's declaration. So where were they getting their points?
"By using monster stones of course." Xavier confessed as he opened his eyes and everyone looked at him.
"B-but how, the guards are always guarding the Orb?" Bella asked nervously, hopeful that they have found some other way.
"It turns out, the guards are pretty sloppy. It's almost like the guards are just for show as no one expects us to have extra monster stones. I mean, most of these prisoners probably don't, since the monsters are so dangerous. We could help you out if you want, and still have those monster stones from yesterday." Xavier offered and they immediately became excited. Mickey threw a questioning look towards Xavier, and he simply nodded his head.