Fairy Tail: The Adventures Of Rin Fernandes

XXX. The Henriettas

XXX. The Henriettas

RIN'S POV

Seagulls glide past the sparkling blue ocean, drifting along the sea breeze. The water looked absolutely glistening, almost delicious enough to drink if it wasn't salty. I had no qualms against drinking seawater, since it was water after all, but with the heightened sense of taste as a Dragon Slayer...I digress. The wind feels amazing! If I opened my mouth just slightly, I could probably get a small taste of the ocean...

"Ahhh." I gushed, feeling the cool breeze hit me once we walked towards the port of Hargeon Bay. It had been a day since we arrived at Hargeon due to a delayed train ride, and the moment we managed to get out of the train station, it was too late, and far too dangerous if we travelled to Alchemilla, the town whereby Elizabeth Henrietta's brother was residing. It was suspicious as it is travelling to Alchemilla in the dark of the night, and even worse when Heather was chasing after Eyalle and Paul. "I love the feeling of the ocean."

"You know we aren't here for the ocean right?" Carla points out, probably recalling the first train ride the Ventury had with me, and how they had watched, jaws gaping wide as I clambered on top of the train and sat cross-legged with a bright smile. For our more recent train ride to Hargeon, Paul and Eyalle had been quick to adapt, not even batting an eyelash when they saw me leap to the top of the train. "You've had plenty of breeze sitting atop trains all the time."

I turned to Carla, smiling awkwardly because she had a point there. I don't know when or long it'll take for my body to move on from being claustrophobic, if it'll ever happen. Sheer willpower simply wasn't enough for me to get over it. That rune...that one rune back then affected me more than I ever thought it would. I just hated the feeling of uneasiness whenever I'm in a cramped up space like the interior of a train. Besides, the feeling of the wind blowing against my face would bring me back the nostalgic feel of riding on Aquaria back then. Relieving those memories would make it feel like Aquaria wasn't just a good dream. She was, after all, one of the reasons why I couldn't just wish I could forget all my childhood memories.

"Come on, Rin-san." Wendy says softly as I notice Paul waving at us from an open-seat cart, Eyalle and Gray already settled down. "We should get to Alchemilla as soon as possible."

Nodding, I ran for the cart, settling between Gray and Wendy, who had Carla on her lap. We were Team Henrietta, as Paul liked to keep reminding us to Eyalle's unhappiness, the group assigned to find out who might potentially have Heather's backing by eliminating the various enemy organisations that threatened the Ventury back then based off their modus operandi. Eyalle was mostly upset on the fact that her own Elder, Ceinlys, had censored the real history she and her deceased brother Eircon should've been learning. Now, with not a single Elder left alive, the current generation of the Ventury had no idea who was backing the betrayers: Heather Lorres and Dante Hersteller.

Aside from the occasional bumps from the rough road, our journey was relatively silent. Eyalle and Paul studied the extensive list, which wasn't a list at all. It was a thick, gnarly looking book that might just sprout and become a tree if one simply planted it to the ground. Gray, Wendy, Carla and I were here to help, yet we had not once had a glimpse of the list. Three more pairs of real eyes and a pair of artificial eyes were better that two pairs of real eyes. I would've called them out on being so reclusive with the information, but I recalled how Eyalle had mentioned this was a book even she wasn't supposed to have access to, yet the situation called for her to have no choice but to use a forbidden book. I had to respect her privacy on that. We were, after all, just helping the Ventury, and remained non-members of their organisation.

Alchemilla reminded me of my childhood, looking like a cross between Bluebell Village and Mulvacea. It was a small, quaint town that seemed as if it had moved on from functioning as a village, yet they retained the infrastructure that could pass this town off as a rural, countryside village, which it seemed to be after all. The town was west of Hargeon, and couldn't be more different from the port city.