After stepping in a pair of wooden stair, Sile moved aside a white veil that was covering the entrance of the door of the carriage and went inside. The interior of the carriage was neatly arranged, and there were two rows of chairs facing each other. There were a total of five figures inside the carriage, the one whom caught the most of Sile’s attention was a bald and old man with huge eyebrows and a hunchback. He was wearing a purple robe and holding a cedar cane in his hands. He was sitting in the right row and next to him was a woman which appeared to be in her thirties and her factions resembled a little those of the bald man, there was obviously some sort of familiar connection between them.

In the left side, the other three persons were two men and a woman whom had ordinary appearances but were wearing luxurious clothes. There was an air of arrogance in each one of their gazes that was difficult to hide.

Upon seeing Sile, the woman in which was next to the old man signaled her to sit in the only seat available, which was the one next to her. Sile nodded and sat down unceremoniously.

“Greetings traveler, this old one heard you requested to see us, may I know how can I help you?” The old man in purple robes took the lead to speak while seeing that Sile was already comfortable.

“I’m Sile, an emissary from the Holy Empire of Ivalice, I came to this lands in order to do a scouting mission, however in my journey I found that there were serious problems in this lands, I’m the one who wish to know how I can help all of you.” Sile said in the most humble of the tones with her head lowered and her fist in her heart

“Scouting mission? You came here for a scouting mission?! What kind of joke is that?!” The woman which was seated in front of Sile angrily reprimanded, “We have sent innumerable messengers asking for help but none of them ever returned with good news! Even your little empire must know that something fishy was happening in this lands, yet you were turtled up and didn’t help us, and now they only send a puny soldier?”

Sile’s mouth gently twitched, but before she was able to reply, another one immediately continued the verbal assault, “Did you think that you can just come now to help us for a pair of day, and then bask in the glory of having helped the last tribes of the Northern Plains to escape the calamity? Go away!”

“We have already set for a destination and we are working with our hands to save ourselves by our own means, we don’t need the help of the empire!” The other man spoke.

The three elders in front of Sile continued the verbal assault without letting her say half a word. The old man in purple robes just smiled with an enigmatic expression, while the woman in her thirties next to him tried to calm the other party but to no avail.

Sile’s mind was reeling. Although she was an orphan, at Lengsat’s side she didn’t suffer any hardship. You could say that she was somewhat spoiled, not to the point where she would look down at someone else, but no one ever dared to look down at her. Since child she walked on the path of the righteous, and everybody would look at her with sparkling eyes. To be verbally abused by some unknown people she didn’t even knew, this was her first time, and she was reaching her limit.

She bit her bottom lip with her pearly white teeth countless times but those three elders just never stopped talking trash. She tried to calm her mind but even the breathing and the heartbeat of each of those elders resonated in her mind as if they were the sound of thunderclaps in midst of a fierce storm, and their voices were like the roaring of ten thousand demons.

“PIPE DOWN!” Yelled Sile suddenly, “For the love of god, shut your mouths!” The three elders were surprised by the explosive reactions of Sile, they tried to get angry and yell back at her, but this time Sile wouldn’t let them go easily, “I came here from far away and I had no idea that the situation was so dire. I don’t care if you resent me, or the empire, or the Mother Nature, or any God for afflicting you with such burden, but I came here to offer my help, and in the name of the power that King Eulenor IV granted me, the help that the Holy Empire of Ivalice!”

If you don’t want my help, then I’ll be on my way right now, however, if you need a helping hand, I swear an oath as a servant of the God of Balance Elidris that I will put my life on the line in order to solve your ordeal!”

An awkward silence suddenly enveloped the carriage. The faces of the three elders were unsightly, they wanted to retort but any of them could find the right words. Before any of them could speak, it was the purple robed old man who broke the silence with some claps, “My, my, such dignity and such character at a young age, you are definitely worthy of being the Lady of White whom I have heard that just recently turned to be the master of the Order of Exalted Paladins.” The purple robed old man said with a wide smile plastered on his face, “Forgive my manners just now, my name is Fagul, I’m the current leader of this caravan, and as you may know, we are just a small group that are trying to get out of this god’s forsaken land.”

The purple robed old man named Fagul started to make brief introductions of her niece and the other three elder of the caravan. Although they wore disgruntled expressions, they didn’t interrupt Fagul while he was speaking.

Fagul started narrating the event which lead them to start migrating desperately, and why they had no choice but to do it until now.

“It started two years ago, mysterious people started appearing in different tribes disguised as merchants. No one suspected anything about them then, and even if something like that happens once again I wouldn’t suspect anything at all.”

“One year later this merchants occupied important spots in all of the small and medium sized tribes, and even in the larger tribes and clans. Unknowingly, they started to influence the daily life of everyone, it was as if everybody was under the effect of some sort of spell.”