To be fair, from a Terran’s point of view, such a massive continent should’ve also had a massive desert in the middle of it. It was just how it was because moisture tended to dry out nearer the shores.

However, in Xeno, for some reason, except for the patch of desert on one part, the rest was verdant land. This was mostly due to aether.

Now, the theory was, since aether was dwindling a bit, certain parts of the land were simply returning to how they should be

However, between forest and desert, who’d be willing to live in the latter?

Sadly, there were not many clues about this. She had vaguely mentioned it to the Grandmasters before, but they had not noticed anything amiss. As for Princess Naia, it seemed that she had noticed it too, but she had no idea why it was happening either.

While they were pondering, the couple continued to hear more about this situation. "A while back, we noticed that the desert had been expanding. It might be doing so slowly before, but over the past few years, the changes have become a bit more noticeable.

"Hmn, it’s true. We can tell because we have set a lot of landmarks through the years. Certain trees, certain rock formations, et cetera."

"Just thinking about the undead becoming a common monster irks me!"

The undead had an advantage in the desert. Their limbs seemed to move better in the desert than hard land. They were also unfeeling, unaffected by the heat and the sandstorms, even if they were hit straight to the skin.

If one were caught up with them in the desert, if their level wasn’t much higher, one would definitely get attacked and injured.

The two continued with some small talk before leaving. They hadn’t even gone a few more streets when they heard a commotion nearby.

Under the principle of not-missing-a-thing, the two rushed over to see what was going on.

One would think this was official business—had Althea’s eyes not been bright in gossip.

Until they saw the situation, that is.

One, people were getting beaten up unilaterally. Another, there were several children around, being held back by other adults from approaching.

PAK!

"So, are you paying or not?"

Pak!

"You get what protection fee means, right?" they said. "It means you pay to get protected!"

Slap!

As for who to protect from, it didn’t matter if it was them directly.

Althea narrowed her eyes. This was nothing unusual. However, the bullies were in uniform.

"Are they guards or mercenary teams?"

It was not unusual for mercenary teams to create uniforms as well.

In Alterra, people got inspired by the guard uniforms and a few mercenary teams actually implemented their own. They had plenty of fashion-related businesses now, so these uniforms looked quite good.

"They are guards," a passerby said, eyebrows furrowed. He then turned his head to look at the two of them. "New here?"

They nodded, before turning their attention back to the abuse happening in front of them.

Althea looked at Garan. "It’s time to see the Leaders for ourselves," she said, calm and unhurried.

At this point, they already had a preliminary impression of the town. The last thing they had to do before the mission was to see the person in the highest position.

They already had biases after seeing what they were seeing, among other things, but they had to see who was leading the place to make actual judgment.

After all, it could be cases wherein the Lords were just a bit incompetent, but not evil. Case in point, there Matthew, who had prioritized family ties over the ’greater good’. Another was Kimmy, who was just not made for a leadership role.

What was the best way to get to them? Capture their interest.

Usually, they’d use an Alterran product or technology to lure people in. However, since they were traveling indefinitely, they were unwilling to sacrifice precious consumables.

So they had to use the alternatives: Themselves.

At this, they looked at the bullying guards. Suddenly, metal chains out of nowhere appeared, wrapping around the men. At the same time, the earth they were stepping on created bumps, imbalancing them immediately.

"WHO!!"

The boss, seeing that everyone in his team was imbalanced, knew that they were attacked. And whenever they tried to get up, the soil underneath them would change. It would either crack, rise, or shift, causing several to fall.

Althea and Garan stepped forward, looking at them indifferently, even as they managed to jump away to find solid ground.

"What do you want!?"

They did not attack immediately. These were elementalists, after all, and they were unsure whether they could take them.

"The territory’s so-called protection fee is already paid upon entry," she said. "Are you embezzling?"

"What? No—"

"I heard good things about the Lord here," she said. "Does the Lord know what you’re doing?"

"O-Of course!"

"I’m disappointed in him."

"..." Did we ask for your opinion?

Althea waved her hand at them, as if not wanting to hear what they would say next.

"Go."

"Who are you to order us around?"

"Yeah!"

"Bitch!"

The men were naturally irked by her bossy tone and lunged over to attack, regardless of whether they got tied or not.

Before they could rush over, the metallic chains around them tightened, and they suddenly found themselves pushed to the nearest wall.

"AHHH!"

The men finally felt their anxiety overcome their annoyance, and they looked at the two in trepidation.

The metallic chains disappeared, but none moved.

They watched the two approach in an imposing, yet lackadaisical, manner.

"You think us elementalists are here to play around? What if I become your superior tomorrow?"

"..."

Indeed. Elementalists were quite rare, and each one of them arrogant. If anyone weaker than they were irked them, it was likely that person’s fate would not be good.

If this woman really gets hired under the Lord, then their lives would become even worse!

Althea sneered at them. "Still not going?"

The guards looked very conflicted, looking at each other what to do. It wasn’t until small earth spikes appeared underneath them that they all shot up, cursed, and went away.

Garan looked at his wife with fondness. "Was I very cool?"

"Hmn," he nodded very honestly, making her giggle.

She looked at the citizens who were all gaping at them with various expressions on their faces. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"First time seeing friendly elementalists?" she asked. Unexpectedly, every one of them nodded.

She chuckled. "Well, nice to meet you."