CHAPTER 103: THE LOST PACKAGE: PART I

Elesch and Adam asked what had happened yesterday, since they remembered getting close to the checkpoint, but then blacking out afterwards, then waking up again to Nova making some sort of a silent promise to himself, as if he was in a life-or-death situation, just not for him.

Nova was showering, thinking of all the things the Ghaldon had told him. Elesch knocked on the door since he was taking too long to shower, and realized she had put her toothbrush in his bathroom. He got out of the shower, groomed himself, then got out to Elesch, slapping him lightly on the head. Nova was confused as Elesch grabbed her toothbrush, then went into the shower in her room.

Nova grabbed his guild ID, frowning like a little kid, as if his big sister had hit him, though the roles had changed for them. After another thirty minutes of brushing, showering, grooming, and everything that girls do, Elesch finally came out.

She wore her white, slightly baggy, cargo pants with a crop top, as if she was going to the gym, while Nova wore his normal attire, his leather jacket, with his black T-shirt and pants, with his interesting choices of boots.

He grabbed all the kittens, some of them running away, as if trying to escape from jail, but after five minutes of playing catch, he tugged all of them into the litter box and carried it with Elesch, locking the door.

He had visited Freya last night to see if she knew anything more about the Ghaldon, but even she didn’t know. Then he spent some time helping her with her pregnancy, gaining his Divinity of Destruction, to help her terraform galaxies and whatnot.

Then, they cuddled, which turned into very intimate kissing, which switched into nudity, which, of course, turned into sex, all night long on Earth.

Nova and Elesch got to the guild, entering the elevator to go to the twentieth floor to see Marcus sitting alone in his office, as Adam wasn’t there. Then the elevator chimmed again, going down, suspecting that Adam may have been late and was arriving briefly.

They went in, as Nova petted the kittens through the little hole in the litter box to calm them, as they weren’t able to see Nova clearly, or Elesch. Nova rested the litter box on his lap, then opened it for the kittens to roam around, but they all decided to settle on his lap, Luna and Sol wanting to get towards Elesch, who grabbed them and petted them, as they rested on their laps.

After some trivial conversation, which took thirty minutes, Adam decided to pop up. He had never been so late before, so everyone was curious and worried about him. Though he looked normal physically, when they inspected him, they asked him questions, but everything was normal; he had just forgotten to wake up, since he slept a little later than usual.

"Wait, Adam, how are you attending your college or high school?" Marcus said, realizing that Nova and Elesch just didn’t care, but Adam, before joining them, probably studied.

"I am supposed to be in high school right now, but I am skipping it," Adam spoke normally, as if this were a very recurring thing. "My parents don’t seem to care too much, since they are proud of me for being an Adventurer for the guild, and my siblings don’t care either. And since I can now earn money from the guild, I don’t need to work or go to school."

"Anyway," Marcus started, discussing the content for their assignment for today. "You will be given an E-rank mission; you only need two more until you reach D-rank status, and the content of this mission is: Retrieve the missing package, which got lost in the jungle, ten miles from here. It’s suspected that bandits started to track the courier, so he abandoned his station and decided to go out and flirt with some of the girls here in Boston."

The trio left Marcus’s office without hesitation, Noba adjusting the straps of the litter box so the kittens wouldn’t bounce too much. Elesch stretched her shoulders, cracking her neck, as though she were heading to the gym rather than into her E-rank mission.

Adam simply tightened his gloves, deciding to use martial arts, rather than his claws, to fight off the bandits.

The three stepped outside the guild, and the city air moistened their skin, with chattering happening in every single corner. But in the next second, they ran, jogging for them, sending shockwaves of their acceleration behind them.

They jogged at just below the speed of sound, and it wasn’t even an effort; to them, it was nothing more than a light jog. Nova kept one hand steady on the litter box, shielding the kittens from the sharp wind, while Elesch decided to take the lead, again.

In just a minute, they were in the jungle that Marcus had talked about. "Alright, eyes open," Elesch said, crouching and scanning the foliage. She saw that a patch of bent grass and a trail of muddy prints were leading deeper into the jungle.

"Courier’s tracks," Nova said, noting this sound in his mind. Beside the footprints were heavier, rougher, scattered imprints which were supposed to be unpredictable patterns, deeper in the soil. "And the bandits. Four of them, maybe five, it seems."

Adam crouched, brushing his finger over a broken twig, becoming a specialist. "It seems fresh, maybe an hour ago."

Elesch smirked, flipping a strand of hair behind her ear. "Guess we’re not the only ones jogging today."

Nova set the litter box down, letting the kittens peek out, their wide eyes reflecting the filtered sunlight. He gave them a gentle pat. He debated where it was safe for them to come with him or stay where they were, where no one could find the kittens.

Eventually, he decided they were going to tag along, so they meowed in agreement, their cute little whiskers moving as they meowed, their soft angelic voice calming the trio.