Voyage Of The Villainess

Three hours ago...

The island still remained misty, but the sounds of the continuous ringing of the bell in the Village of Or indicated that there was a big commotion happening.

"Argh..." Iris massaged her aching legs. Then she did some stretchings. "We're finally here. I thought that this is the end for this Granny!" She said with a dramatic tone in her voice. She continued to massage her feet even more.

Dorris reverted her gaze from Iris, 'Shameless, she's a woman, and to expose her skin like that...'

"I couldn't believe how are you still this complacent, in our situation, Lady Iris," Elred said, compared to Dorris flustered expression, he was composed as ever.

"State your name!" 

They finally reached the entance of their target village. But there was one problem. Several cloaked people pointing spears at them circled them.

"Ayo, ayo, don't be too so moody gentlemen." Iris started to speak. "We are just humble travellers who wander on this island seeking treasures. I found a letter left by my great grandfather who was the son of my great-great-grand aunt on my mother's side. There was a hidden treasure of golds that could only be found on this island," Iris said as she walked towards one of the spears, she held it then slightly swayed it away.

'Treasure?' Dorris and Elred exchanged glances confused at the words, Iris was spouting.

As for Rein, since there was no one guarding the ship, he stayed there as well as the unconcious Maru.

The cloaked people exchange glances at each other.

"Remember this scene kids, this is how the power of money works," Iris whispered to Elred and Dorris before she strode with confidence towards the cloaked person in front who was holding the spear, then she put her arms in his shoulder.

"Have you heard of any treasure, Sir?"

"I'm a woman." The cloaked person said with a scowl.

"Oh, my apologies for not recognizing Ma'am." Iris clapped both her hands. "Ma'am since all of you seems astounding people, perhaps I could share with all of you the details of this treasure."

"What nonsense are you spouting around? Go get this people!" 

"Ma'am, please calm down." Iris tapped the cloaked woman's shoulders. "In fact, we already found the location of the treasure and we even got these gold coins." Iris brought out her pouch of gold then showed it to the cloaked person. 

The other cloaked people also look at the pouch with greed. A sly grin formed on Iris' lips. 'Aye aye, whether they are demon cult or whatsoever, no one could really easily escape the power of money.'

"I' will give this to you folks. We just wanted to have a nice place to sleep, and if you want, we could tell you as well the location of the cave where we found these treasures."

More greed filled the cloaked people's hearts at Iris' words.

Both Elred and Dorris couldn't completely grasp the situation but Iris seemed to handle everything.

"Is there any place we could stay in this village?" Iris shook the pouch she was holding to create jingling sounds.

'Be tempted. This is the sound of money coming only to your dreams hahaha.' Iris shook the pouch even more.

Each of the cloaked people exchanged glances as they looked at the gold pouch Iris was holding.

"What do you say, kind people?" Iris said with a wide grin on her face.

---⚓⚓⚓---

A few moments later...

"Hahaha! I got nine!" 

"Tsk. I lost again."

"I will have your golds then."

"I will not lose again this time. Let's have another round." 

Iris grip the bars of the cells as she glared at the cloaked people who were gambling her golds to each other. "Remember this kids, don't use the power of money to thieves. Tsk." Iris clicked her tongue. "You jerks! I hope all of you become impotent!"

*Boogsh!*

*Clang!*

Iris kicked the bars of the jails in anger. The cloaked people who were outside and counting her golds simply snickered back at her.

"Aish! Bastards! That's my life savings! If I get out here, you're all dead meat!"

Both Elred and Dorris just sighed at each other. While Iris just kept kicking the bars of the jail. She looked like a complete madwoman.

After a few more minutes of screaming...

"Whoo!" Iris released a deep breath and sat down in front of Elred and Dorris like some thug. Dorris and Elred just look at Iris waiting for her words.

"Rhyme is not here." She said in a soft voice that only them could hear. "And even that captain of ours."

Both Elred and Dorris look at Iris now with a serious face.

'Don't tell, she is observing everything despite her crazy antics?' Elred thought, a bit amused inside his mind.

Iris stood up as she remembered their way here. They were thrust in the corner of the cell. Aside from the folks imprisoned in other cells, she didn't see any signs of Malaya nor Rhyme, or even Hyun Jae. She has this bad feeling inside her.

'If Oliver is one of the people behind this.'

Iris picked up a small pin hidden on her belt. She glanced outside where the cloaked people were busy dividing her treasure to themselves.

She uncuffed the chains bound on her hands then her feet as quietly as she can. Then next was Dorris.

"Dorris, teleport us to at some any dimly street corner we passed through when we entered here."

Dorris nodded her head.

Magic circle started to light beneath them. One of the cloaked people outside their jail glanced back at them. His eyes widened in fright!

"The prisoners!"

Iris turned towards them. She felt disheartened to part with her money. 'Well, I'll just reimburse that when I found that captain of ours.'

Iris looked at the cloaked people and waved her hands with a jolly smile. "Bye-bye ~"

And they vanished before the guards could even unlock their jail.

---⚓⚓⚓---

In the darkest corners in the Village of Or...

"Ah ~ freedom!" Iris raised her hands in the air. "There is nothing could rival as the sweetest thing called freedom!"

"Lady Iris, you're being too loud," Dorris whispered. She feared that someone might hear them. And that fear came right away when cloaked people happened to pass in their place.

"Who are..."

The cloaked people weren't able to finish their lines when Elred and Iris moved fast towards them.

*Boogsh!*

*Crash!*

"Arghhh!"

In a few seconds, all the five cloaked people were knocked down. Iris immediately got their cloaks.

"Here!"

She threw the cloaks towards Elred and Dorris. "Let's gather more information first, to find where Rhyme was and our..."

*Boom!*

A loud explosion resounded through the whole village of Or.

High in the skies above the trio, two people were thrown in the air.

Iris was shocked to see that vibrant long and familiar blue hair.

"Our captain!!!" 

"Dorris!" Iris gestured towards Dorris. And without saying anything, Dorris aimed both her hands towards Malaya.

---⚓⚓⚓---

Malaya who was thrown in the air along with the explosion, well, she was not alone, since Kayden was also flying with her. A genuine smile escaped to her lips. 'He managed to buy time.'

The wind was strong. It was like her face was slapped hard right now. 

She twisted her body in the air and tried her best to reach the unconscious and injured Kayden. 'This guy...' Malaya could see the wounds in his body. 'It seems I overestimated him to be injured like this too much. Well, if you think about it one SSS rank vs. three SSS rank enemies, I guess the result was obvious.'

Both of them were falling incredibly fast. "Don't worry, I got you this time around." Malaya forced herself even more to reach Kayden. She stretched both of her hands towards him until she could finally hold his shoulders. Then she pulled him even closer to her and locked him into her embrace. 'Thank you,' Malaya looked at Kayden. Both of their hair was flapping. "The first phase of my plan succeed because of you. So now...'

"Hey! Wake up!" Their faces were approximately close together. "The first plan succeeds but if we fall, we'll be dead!" Seeing that Kayden had no sign of waking up, Malaya jerked her head back. And in one quick motion, she bumped her forehead on Kayden's forehead.

Kayden groaned then he slowly opened his eyes. His vision was a bit blurry. But he could see someone in front of him.

Malaya glanced down at the same time. Her eyes widened in fright when she could almost see the ground. 'Oh, Crap! We're dead.'

She closed her eyes for the impact. Her hands unconsciously tightened around Kayden.

"How long are you going to take advantage of him, captain?" 

A familiar sarcastic voice that Malaya didn't hear for quite a while resounded. She could feel that her feet were touching the ground as well and it didn't hurt a bit.

Malaya immediately opened her eyes.. Only to see Iris, Dorris, and Elred looking at her with different expressions.