After Eden got up and from her nap, she asked Erza for a status report. The men were back to full stamina and ready to move. Everything was already packed in the cart. Eden then had her tent put away by recalling it into her arsenal. She then went to check in with Thunder and saw him running in the area with Sylvie who was trying to catch him. Eden paused at the sight, bewildered. Then Thunder made a noise of excitement and ran to Eden. Once Thunder made it to Eden he placed his face in her neck as she reached over to hug him. Then Eden caressed him as she looked at Sylvie for an explanation.
Sylvie looked embarrassed and she started to pat the dirt from her uniform. She was now wearing the tan military jacket and boots she met Eden in. Then she looked at Eden and said awkwardly, "I went to tend to Thunder and he decided it was play time rather than drink water from the spring not far from here." Eden looked at Thunder as he snorted as if he was laughing. Eden then smiled, "it looked like you both were enjoying yourselves from a distance." Sylvie looked away, "I was just ensuring your valiant steed was safe." Eden snorted a little and covered herself. She only said 'valiant steed' so Sylvie wouldn't keep trying to go with her. But it was still true regardless of the fact. Then Eden said, "Well, regardless whether you're a willing participant or not, Thank you. It's not often Thunder feels comfortable running around with new people. Usually Arthur or one of my other Generals take him for a small walk so he doesn't get restless. He's high maintenance." Thunder snorted and nudged Eden as if he was retorting. Sylvie laughed and Thunder gave her a look. Then Eden joined in the laughter.
They returned to the castle and Eden wanted to take a bath before addressing other things. She had planned to do more boss raids, but the fafnir took a lot out of her and her men. She wasn't looking forward to dealing with alliance matters but it had to be done. That was her commitment to them. The truth is that she would like to follow a person who had the same core beliefs and aggressive approach she had to leading. She just doesn't know how to hold back sometimes.
When she was done she went to her study and saw missed messages. Beginning with Expats urgent message to talk. She reached out and asked him, "Hello, sorry for the belated response. Is everything okay?" Expat replied, "Where were you?" Eden replied, "I sent mail to leadership. I was going to hunt on my own. I needed to check my stats and progress." Expat responded, "You do a lot of things on your own." Eden furrow her eyes, and thought to herself, "what the fuck is his problem?" Then she asked him, "Was there a reason you reached out to me with such urgency?" Expat asked, "Do you know Reaper?" Eden was confused and responded, "No. Is there a reason you're asking?" Expat didn't respond right away and then sent a screenshot of the picture where she was in with Erza and Odin. Expat wrote, "You still don't know him?" Eden replied, "That's Odin, not Reaper." Expat replied, "How can you say that you don't know Reaper when there's a screenshot of you both talking?" Eden instinctively defended herself and said, "That is Odin, it's what he said his name was when I asked him. Do you not see how messed up he left me? You saw for yourself that there was no report." Then Expat asked, "what are you talking to him for?" Eden got upset because she felt she was being put on trial as if she just committed the ultimate sin. She responded, "He beat me up, I have my shield activated, and he asked me questions about me. That's all that we talked about. Nothing else." Expat asked, "You didn't tell him about anyone else?" Eden asked, "Why would I tell him about anyone else? That's treason to our server and dishonest. I also don't have reports by anyone other than my alliance Excalibur, Jericho and Dboots. Eden had a point, the rest of the alliances wouldn't share reports. There was a pause between both of them. Eden was already feeling worked up about being basically accused of selling out the server. Expat finally responded, "I just wanted to confirm, the picture makes it look different. Eden let out a breath and paused to think of her response, but couldn't think of anything to say that would appease him, so she wrote,
"Whatever it is, it's your desire to believe in me or not. I didn't do anything wrong. I had no idea that was the famous Reaper everyone was talking about. I asked for his name out of curiosity because he gave me a piece of information related to the nature of this game we are trapped in. You believe and see what you want, I haven't given you any reason to doubt me before, why would I start now. Anyway, before you ask what that information was, you should ask yourself if you are ready to learn the truth behind your villagers."
There was no reply for a while and then Expat responded, "I don't want to know. You kept this information for a reason and I'll respect it." Eden was actually hoping he would be open to listening because she didn't want to keep any secrets between them and she wanted to have someone to share the burden with. Corruption has been busy supporting the alliance in a different way and didn't have much time to sit and talk with her. Eden desperately craved conversation with someone. Then Expat asked, "have you decided to go to the mixer?" Eden asked, "what mixer?" Expat responded, "the invitation that was sent out to the leaders and their leadership circle to go to. It's being held at Elise of FOX to promote community." Eden checked her mail and saw her invitation. "Can we go together?" asked Expat. Eden forgot their agreement for a moment and then she replied, "We can arrive together if you'd like, I want to bring someone else for my plus one. Someone in my army?" Expat asked, "Is it Arthur? You're a bit too attached to him for a NPC." Eden rolled her eyes even though Expat couldn't see her. She then replied, "No, someone else." Eden knew that Erza couldn't be close to her because of the instinct of the other guides to stay away, they might start asking questions she doesn't have answers to. Expat replied, "Okay, in that case I will also take an additional guard with me." Eden smiled that he agreed.
The evening of the mixer Eden had purchased two gowns, one for her and the other for Sylvie. She told her she was going as her guard, but that she had to dress up. Sylvie had been given two additional outfits from Eden before, one for training and another to be in the castle. Eden felt more comfortable to see her soldiers and villagers in at least three different outfits. Since the mage tower was connected to the main castle, she wanted them to wander around without being subjected to looks. The word mages made villagers whisper. Merlin was let out to roam freely as well. He had taken the warning Eden gave him and didn't talk to Arthur regarding the past, but it was obvious they felt familiar around each other.
Eden was ready to go, her long black hair was half way up from her left to right. There was a pin holding it and her hair cascaded in long wavy hair. She adorned her head with a tiara and wore matching earrings. Her dress was deep royal blue with white lace and pearl beads on the lining of her chest area. The cut was high and didn't show cleavage at a glance, due to some folded fabric covering it. You would have to lean in and be obvious to look for bosom. Sylvie was waiting at the entrance of the main castle in a navy blue double breast military dress that stopped right at her ankles. It was flowy and if she needed to high kick someone, there was a slit to the side that was open enough to give her space and to still cover her. Sylvie had her hair up on a bun covered in curls. There were locs of curls hanging on each side to frame her face.
Eden had Erza use her invisibility item to travel. After seeing the picture she wanted to be extra careful no one saw her leave through her gates if they were spying from outside. Erza had the ability to stay in the air the entire day or night if she needed to while watching over Eden. Sylvie was instructed to stay with Eden at all times if there was a room filled with guides where Erza would have to stay at a distance or stay out of.