Shortly before they walked into the flatlands, Mizuki had asked Chiyo if she could accept every quest from the quest board that wasn't an emergency quest, Chiyo agreed and let her accept them, reluctantly.
BANG! A horde of slimes suddenly got annihilated by flames within the flatlands. "Phew… So, what are we doing again, Mizuki?" Yoshiro asked curiously.
"...You didn't remember what Chiyo said? She told us about the existence of Sacred Items, and there should be one in these flatlands…"
"...Hey, does anyone else notice that it doesn't feel like this area was called "The Flatlands of Slimes" a day ago…?" Noburo pointed out.
They glanced at Noburo while thinking. "No…? But, that does seem odd…" Mizuki glanced around, there were only rocks and grass around the flatlands. There didn't seem to be anywhere a "Sacred Item" could be.
Sli-Mai walked around trying to spot anything suspicious. "Mizuki, I don't think there's anything here-" She suddenly felt the ground collapse beneath her, causing her to let out a startled yelp.
"O-Ow… I don't remember there being holes in the flatlands before…" Sli-Mai glanced above her, realizing that she had fallen somewhat far down. She noticed that there was an entrance to a cavern next to her. "Mizuki! Come down here!" Sli-Mai shouted.
Upon using a levitation spell to go down, They also noticed the cavern. "Did you know there were caverns here, Sli-Mai? Mizuki asked curiously.
"No… I had no idea there was anything except slimes around here…" They began walking into the cavern, before they noticed a creature, seemingly distorting the space around it. "Mizuki, wait." Sli-Mai gave them a signal to stop moving.
The creature seemed to have red fur… "I-I don't know what that is, maybe we shouldn't get too close…" Sli-Mai suggested, she saw Mizuki walk up toward the creature.
"M-Mizuki, what are you doing?!" Sli-Mai shouted before catching herself.
It looked at Mizuki momentarily before letting out a loud screeching sound. Mizuki stood there, not intimidated whatsoever before glancing back at the others. "...I think it just tried to intimidate me-" The creature's tail swung at Mizuki, throwing her straight into the wall.
"O-Ow… Stupid distorting creature I've never seen before… Wait…" Mizuki glanced at the creature, it looked like a fox, with two tails instead of one.
"...Huh. You never see that every day, do you?" Mizuki pointed her staff at the fox and cast "Lightning Vortex". The fox got barraged by lightning in a swirling pattern.
Noburo ran at the fox and swung his sword at it, the cut burst into flames upon forming. Toshiko shot an arrow at the fox that tore a hole through it, using a skill called "Windy Pierce"
The fox suddenly disappeared, as if it was never there at all. "W-What the hell? Do monsters usually disappear when they die?"
Toshiko glanced at Mizuki. "No… They usually just die normally, unless you obliterate their body…"
Mizuki slowly turned her head to face Toshiko. "...The fact that you even know that is concerning." She let out a small laugh before noticing a light.
It was coming from a hole in the ground, inside the hole was what resembled a glass vial. Inside was slime that seemed to have the colors of a rainbow.
"...Well, we found the sacred item at least-" As soon as Mizuki picked up the vial, they were immediately teleported above ground. Their eyes widened as they witnessed the flatlands transform. Trees started to grow from the ground, their leaves were rainbow. Flowers started to bloom across the whole flatlands.
Just as it began, it stopped as it finished transforming the flatlands. "H-Huh? Is that how these Sacred Items work…?" Mizuki glanced at the vial in her hand.
"...Do you think anyone noticed back at Hirano?" Noburo glanced at Toshiko.
"I think it would be hard not to notice this…" She let out a nervous giggle.
Meanwhile, in Hirano. Chiyo rummaged through various papers, lost in thought. "...It's so boring when Mizuki isn't here-" A bunch of adventurers suddenly bursted into the guild. "Hey, what happened to the flatlands? There's a bunch of rainbows and flowers there now!" One of them said, Chiyo's eyes widened with confusion.
Mizuki looked around. "Huh… It looks much more lively around here."
"Mizuki… Where exactly are we gonna go next anyway?" Yoshiro asked curiously.
"W-Well… We could just walk in a straight line! And… Find whatever is waiting for us there?" She suggested. Yoshiro facepalmed.
"Fine… But that's a stupid idea…"
Sli-Mai laughed, they began walking into Mysterious Shrooms while looking for the Sacred Item. Upon grabbing a mushroom that was completely black, the area transformed, there were now lanterns around the forest.
2 days later…
Sli-Mai let out a sigh of exhaustion. "M-Mizuki, we've been walking for two days straight… Where are we even heading-" She paused as she saw a kingdom in the distance.
Mizuki's eyes widened. "Whoa… I didn't know there was a kingdom in this direction." They were standing in front of the kingdom, known as Summer Palace.
"...I've heard of this kingdom before… They called it Summer Palace, because it is pretty hot there for some reason." Toshiko explained."
They had entered the kingdom of Summer Palace. Every house seemed to have a scroll with its name on it, as well as torches that could be seen everywhere.
Meanwhile, in the palace within the center of the kingdom…
"Saturn…! You skipped practice again didn't you?!"
Saturn nervously laughed. "Y-You know me… If I see something interesting, I-" The man suddenly punched Saturn.
"You are the keeper of Excalibur, as well as royalty! Stop wandering off and focus on practice!" He yelled.
Saturn looked down. "Y-Yes, father…" As soon as his father walked off, he held back tears as he walked outside.
He pulled out his sword and glanced at it. "...Excalibur… If only I didn't have this stupid sword…!" He sighed. "No matter, I will continue my duty. As the son of Laken…" Saturn began training.