Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

"I see. Well, I knew she was definitely crazy but it seems I underestimated it. Anyway, thanks for the heads-up. Now, onto what I really wanted to ask. What are your plans after this? Are you going hunting, looking for treasures, or just exploring? Or are you just here to eat out food? Haha!" Aaron asked.

"Eating your food, obviously!" Maria immediately answered then started giggling.

Everyone just stared at her for a second and then unanimously agreed to just ignore her as nothing useful ever comes out of her mouth.

"Ahem… We were just wandering around collecting those Light Crystals for now, but we didn't really have a goal in mind. It's probably not too surprising, but Maria here has a Light Affinity so we were just going towards anything that radiated the Light element. From the looks of it, none of you seem to have the Light Affinity, so if you don't mind we'd like to join you for a bit. Ah! But don't think we are just going to horde all the treasures. We will only be searching for anything that can help Maria. Everything else can go to you and if there is any treasure that isn't related to light, we can see if we can work something out. What do you think?" Celaine asked politely.

She knew that Maria would probably love to spend time with other people and even she, herself, was missing normal human interactions. Fighting and training all day is great and all, but she also enjoys the occasional conversation between comrades or friends. Mira is all work, no play… literally.

Maria nodded her head listening to Celaine's words.

"I agree with her! Plus, this isn't a bad thing for you guys as well. We are quite strong. If we get into trouble, Celaine and I will help deal with it. Just think of us as bodyguards and the Light Crystals as payment! Hehe~" Maria said with her head held high. Now that she's not in front of Mira, she can finally show off a bit.

"Arrogant! Do you really think you two are so much stronger tha-!" Flint began spewing nonsense, but…

*Swish*

Both Celaine and Maria moved before they could even react and were already holding 4 of them hostage.

Flint had a sword pressed against his neck, Vivian had a Light Sword pressed against the back of her neck, Valery had a saber to her throat, and a wind blade streaked across Ike's face leaving a small cut on his face.

Gulp…

Five audible gulps were heard and silence followed afterward. The 'hostages' finally understood what just happened and their eyes went wide and jaws dropped.

The most surprising was Maria since she seemed so childish and playful. They knew she had some ability, but they didn't think she'd be so decisive. They expected that kind of attitude from someone like Mira and the feeling Celaine gave off was similar to that, but not Maria.

Aaron, who also couldn't react in time, was the first to come out of his reverie and realized why these two seemed so carefree around them. It's because the five of them could never pose a threat to them even if they ganged up on them. At least four of them would die instantly and the fifth would be finished off just as quickly if he/she wasn't already dead in the initial attack.

He understood that Celaine asking for permission was just her being polite.

"Hehe~ Don't be so nervous~ We look forward to working with you from now on!" Maria returned to her spot while smiling and giggling, but this only sent shivers down their spine.

Seeing how she acted so innocently only made things worse. At this moment, they felt like they'd rather be against someone like Mira, who although was crazy, at least seemed like a straightforward person.

"Sigh… Do whatever you want, it's not like we can stop you. I only ask that you allow us to collect some of the Light Crystals as well. I mean, they're everywhere. Surely you don't need every single one of them, right?" Aaron could only sigh in defeat and reluctantly accept. It wasn't a bad thing to have such skilled people with them.

"True, we don't need to collect every single Light Crystal, but we're unsure exactly how many we should collect. Hmmm… Alright, how about this. We'll take 75% of the Light Crystals and any Light element-related treasures and after we've collected enough of them you guys can take everything." Celaine offered which made the five of them sigh in relief. At least these two were decent people and didn't take everything just because they're stronger than them.

"Although I'd love to ask for more, I suppose this is probably the best offer we'll get. Welcome to the group." Aaron sighed again and stuck his hand out for a handshake.

Celaine reached out and shook his hand, thus concluding their negotiations.

Maria and Celaine were satisfied with this since these people didn't seem unreasonable, they proved that they weren't to be fucked with, and now they get to temporarily join a group that DOESN'T contain Mira.

Meanwhile, the other 4 in the group, excluding Aaron, were still reeling in from the shock of almost dying. Their shock and fear were still evident on their faces even after Celaine and Aaron finished talking.

"Hey, idiots! How long are you going to sit there like that?! Wake up!" Aaron yelled at his teammates who still haven't said anything.

"Huh?! Aaron? Wha-What's going on?" Flint was the first one to speak up and the others followed shortly after.

Aaron explained to them that Maria and Celaine will be joining them for a little bit and mentioned the terms as well.

Naturally, the 4 of them didn't voice any opposition. It also seemed like there was a bit of relief mixed in their expressions as well. Either because they get to live another day or because of the dangers of this world and having strong teammates will increase their survivability.

"W-W-We'll be in your care, Maria, Celaine!" Valery, the blue-haired meek woman, bowed and said nervously. She seemed to be the happiest about having two strong teammates.

Maria nodded and gave her a big thumbs up, telling her not to worry.

"When do you guys want to set out? Maria and I can leave whenever you are ready." Celaine mentioned.

"Hmmm… Why don't we get some rest and leave the next day? We had just spent a rather long journey prior to this and were about to eat and sleep before you two showed up." Aaron suggested, noticing how drained his teammates seemed to be.

Maria and Celaine's eyes beamed hearing such foreign words.

'Rest? Sleep?! My god!!! When was the last time we had such luxury?! How lucky these people are to have such a leader who cares about them!' The two screamed internally while briefly recalling the past… who knows how long.

Maria had flashbacks of her having to sleep while pretending to cultivate. She had to sleep sitting up while also subconsciously controlling her breathing and muscles in order to fool Mira! What bullshit!

Celaine's in the same boat as well, except she hasn't come up with such a genius idea and therefore is forced to train with barely any rest. Sometimes going weeks and possibly months before getting any semblance of rest.

"Yes. Yes!! Rest… Rest… Ahahaha!! Yes, we'll rest with you!" Maria and Celaine were practically drooling while saying that.

Everyone just looked at them like they were crazy.

'What happened to them?' Was the only question in their minds.