The next day, Shokei and her party are leaving Itaea and they are traveling back to Egesul.

  "I can't wait to go to Euna." Marie said happily. "I never been there before, so this should be an interesting pce to visit."

  "We're heading there all right." Shokei said. "Just remember that we have to find the next gem while we're at it."

  "Huh?" Rei stops in her tracks and looks ahead of what's coming her way.

  "What's wrong Rei?" Shokei asked.

  "LOOK OUT!!" Someone shouted.

  Just then, the party can see that there appears to be a wild troll that is running up the alley. The troll runs furiously as it tries to escape from the public.

  "What the?!" Shokei said with her eyes widened.

  "Everyone! Move out of the way!!" A citizen warns locals.

  The big troll was charging up towards everyone as people warn other locals to move out of the way. The troll rushes towards Shokei and her party and everyone quickly moves away in time. Shokei, unfortunately, was knocked over by the running troll as she falls to the ground.

  "Shokei!" Rei calls out to her.

  Shokei gets back up and her party looks to see the troll leaving Egesul. The troll seems to have something in its hand, and it carries a small, mud-encrusted doll made of straw that wears a little pair of pants.

  The guards that patrol the town of Egesul ran up to the gates right after the troll fled the area. The mayor runs up to where the guards had their weapons out in case the troll makes a return.

  "Dammit!!" Kerru said with an angry look. "That vile beast got away!"

  "What happened here?" Shokei asked him. "What's going on?"

  "Shokei!" Kerru said, seeing her and her party present. "You won't believe this, but that troll was making a nuisance around my town. That foul creature was trying to cause harm on innocent lives on children."

  Suddenly, a child runs to the scene as he cried in tears.

  "My toy!!" The child cries hysterically. "I want my toy!!"

  The mother of the child comes over and holds the boy back. The child cries hard in tears as his mother confront him with care, hugging him.

  "I want my Criseet back!!" The child said through tears. "Gimme back MY CRISEET!!"

  "Oh dear..." Mizuki said sadly, showing feelings for the child.

  "Hmm?" The mother of the child looks to see Shokei and her party watching her and her child together.

  "If you like, I will get your son's toy doll back for you." Shokei tells her.

  "Really?" The mother asked her.

  "Of course." Shokei said to her, nodded.

  "Ohh. I appreciate that you bring my son's toy back in return." The mother said.

  "Then again, we will have to kill that Troll if we want to retrieve it back." Mizuki tells her. "Did it hurt anyone in this town?"

  The mother shakes her head, embracing her child tightly.

  "Even if we are leaving for the trip to Euna, we can't ignore this situation here." Shokei said and asked. "But for some reason, why did the troll run from the town and did not attack anyone?"

  "Maybe its scared to be seen." Marie replied.

  "Usually, monsters like the troll would attack innocent people." Beatrice said. "But for the troll here, it did not attack us at all."

  "Except that I was pushed down." Shokei pointed out.

  "Oh, right." Beatrice said.

  "Hey!" Kerru said, getting the party to his attention. "Do any of you want to defeat that troll?!"

  "Huh?" Shokei blinked and asked. "Why did you ask?"

  "I want to make a quick offer that will be yours entirely for free." Kerru tells her.

  "Uh...what offer would that be?" Shokei asked with a concerned look.

  "I want to offer you and your party tons of fmmable liquid and torches to kill that vicious Troll if you do the town a favor." Kerru said. "I know you helped the town retrieve back the stolen items from us, but this here is a very serious matter."

  "Wait! Why are you giving us such an offer with a number of useless supplies to get rid of one particur monster?" Rei asked him.

  "Awww, just use it! I swear that by doing so, that horrific fiend won't come back to cause harm for the citizens of Egesul." The mayor replied.

  "Hmmm, did any of your people got hurt or killed by that Troll?" Shokei asked him.

  "Surprising enough, that troll...did not hurt anyone for some reason..." Kerru replied.

  "Aside from that ridiculous offer, I'm curious to where the troll went off to. Do you know, perhaps?" Shokei asked.

  "That troll must've wandered off to a forest that is located south of here." The mayor said. "That troll has been dwelling in there if you are strong enough to kill it."

  "Then we should head over to that forest track that creature down." Shokei tells everyone. "Come on."

  The party did as they leave Egesul once again to head for the forest in the south.

  "Wait! Wait! What about the offer?! Don't you all want to kill that troll as quick as possible?!" Kerru calls out to the party.

  "That offer is just bogus." Tamiko said, ignoring the offer.

  "We can handle that troll without those materials." Beatrice said.

  "But...what if using them was that important?" Marie asked.

  "Forget it already." Rei tells Marie. "We're not accepting that offer, now keep moving."

  Soon, Shokei and her party have reached the forest. Everyone looks around while they are walking down on a long path. The forest has tall trees rising up in the skies as birds are passing by.

  "Woah...the trees in this forest are that high above." Mizuki said, viewing the forest in general.

  "They call this area the Long Forest." Shokei said to her. "I have heard from other travelers exploring this pce when I was young back then. Now, it's my first time being in here."

  "These trees sure have aged." Rei said, looking above. "I can't imagine myself climbing up on any of them. You cannot even see the branches up there."

  "Shokei...look..." Obsidian points out to her.

  "What is it?" Shokei asked.

  Shokei looks down to see that there are footsteps on the ground. The footsteps are pnted deeply in the soil.

  "Looks like the Troll have left footprints for us." Obsidian said.

  "Seems like it." Mizuki said, inspecting the footprint.

  "Then that means the troll is found somewhere around here." Shokei said. "We'll just have to follow these marks so that we can find out where it leads us."

  The party did as they trace the troll's footprints. They all walk along the path in the forest. Soon, they head up to a concrete bridge that is in front of them.

  "Huh?" Shokei looks up. "A bridge."

  "The monster could possibly be dwelling underneath the bridge." Marie said.

  "Who knows?" Shokei said. "I can't even tell if the troll is really living underneath this bridge. Usually, these creatures would hide there as a way to attack unexpected targets."

  "That's true." Rei said.

  "Maybe we should go across this bridge." Tamiko said. "We'll be ready to fight back in case it tries to attack us."

  Shokei looks at the bridge. The bridge appears to have a stream flowing below it.

  "Then we have no other choice but to go across." Shokei said. "We need to proceed with caution."

  "I'm on it." Tamiko said, having her crossbow in hand.

  The party did and they take caution on going across the bridge. Shokei looks at her surroundings to be sure that there was no sign of any sneaky surprise attack of any kind. Everyone keeps themselves close as they are walking across the bridge. With no trouble in sight, the party makes it across the bridge.

  "Heh! That was nothing." Rei said. "And to think that the bridge had that troll underneath there."

  "I was thinking the same thing too." Marie said.

  "Speaking of that, look..." Shokei points out for her party to see. "More footprints."

  "So, that means the Troll might have gone across this bridge." Mizuki said.

  "But...usually Trolls are kind of big." Marie said and asked. "How the heck did it walked across this bridge?"

  "That's a mystery we have to solve." Obsidian said.

  "Let's keep going." Shokei said. "If we follow these prints, we could be close to where we need to hunt that troll down."

  The party continues to follow more footprints. The time, the path into following the footprints was longer since that the troll went far into the forest. Shokei and her party can see the footprints appears on small hills to the small grasses. Then, the party continues further until they stop to see that the trail of the footprints ends. Shokei sees that there is another bridge ahead. This bridge appears to be longer than the first bridge, but this time, the bridge is made out of wood. The condition of the bridge looks as if its worn out and does not appear to be safe to get across.

  "Uhhh..." Marie said, feeling uncomfortable looking at the bridge. "I'm not so sure about going across this. Don't you think it would be too risky to walk on it?"

  "Why?" Rei asked her.

  "It doesn't look sturdy for us to go across it." Marie replied.

  "She's right." Sadako said. "Maybe its best we should find another bridge if we want to get to the other side."

  "But even if we do that, we'll lose track of the footprints." Rei said.

  "Seriously though, I don't think this is a good idea." Marie said. Her face shows that she refuses to walk the bridge.

  "Look, we would not know if that troll got across here." Rei said to her. "Besides, the bridge does not appear to be worn out completely. Just as long as we don't add pressure on this bridge, we should be fine to get across."

  "Hmph! If you really want to prove that we can all make it across, then I want to make myself the st to walk across without any of us clogging the bridge altogether." Marie said, not pleased with the decision.

  "Do we have a choice?" Rei asked. "I mean, this forest is huge with its streams and river flow."

  "We walked through and back there; we did not come across any other bridge that would be an alternative to go through this forest."

  Marie hears this and sighs.

  "Ok...Just don't look down, all right?" Rei tells her. "The bridge does not appear to be bad in shape. I promise you that."

  "I don't care!! If something were to happen to me, I swear that I would punch you in the gut!" Marie said with an attitude.

  "Oh noes." Shokei sighed and shakes her head. "I just hope that Marie will get over this if we get across..."

  "Remember my bridge situation when we were heading for that temple, Shokei?" Marie asked, reminding her.

  "Oh right..." Shokei said, looking down.

  "Aren't we going across this?" Rei asked her. "We really need to get going."

  "Right." Shokei said.

  Despite any sign of second thoughts, Shokei and her party takes their time into going across the wooden bridge. The bridge tilts as it shakes a little by the winds that are blowing by. The party carefully goes across the bridge without any hesitation. Marie, on the other hand, is nervous. Making the decision on being the st to walk across, she walks carefully and cautiously on the bridge.

  As Shokei and her party are making progress into going across the unsteady wooden bridge, someone appears behind them as it watches the party going across. The Necromutant, Fozoworu, can see that the party is about to reach to the other side of the forest.

  So...they are walking across this bridge...This would be the best time to heat up things in this matter...

  Fozoworu generates fire from his hand. Then, he quietly sets the ropes on fire as he lights the ends. Once he did that, the Necromutant disappears.

  Halfway through the bridge, Shokei and her party are getting close by to the other side of the forest. While they kept going, Marie, whose catching up, can feel the bridge losing its grip and can tell that its about to break apart.

  "Wait a minute..." Marie said, sensing that something is not right. She turns and sees that the ropes are on fire. She gasped. "OH NO!! The ropes are on fire!!"

  "W-what?!" Rei said and turned to see that the fire is already lit on the bridge.

  "Quick! Get to the other side!!" Obsidian said out loud.

  As the fire sweeps through the bridge, Shokei and the rest of her party can feel the bridge losing its grip and bance while they rush to make it across the other side of the forest. Everyone makes it across, but Marie is far behind.

  "Come on Marie!! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!!" Rei shouted out to her.

  "I'M COMING!!" Marie yells out to her.

  The rope of the bridge is burnt out and the weight of the bridge is about to colpse. Marie did what she can catch up in order to get to safety. Her efforts failed as it was too te.

  "Ahhhhhhhh!!!" Marie screamed as she finds herself falling.

  "MARIE!!"

  "NNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

  The party became shocked to see Marie falling down to the stream and she dives right into the water. There, the party can see that Marie is being pulled away by the flowing river.

  "MARIE!!" Shokei screams out to her. "MARIE!!!'

  "SHOKEI!!" Marie shouts back to her, yelling out to her as loud as she could. "SAVE ME!! SAVE ME!!!"

  "HANG IN THERE!!" Rei shouted back at her.

  "We have to save her before she loses her life!" Saeko said, feeling very worried of the danger.

  "If there is anything that would prevent her from drowning or anything to stop her from going down the stream, then there could be a chance to save her from there." Shokei said.

  "Then I should go down there to rescue her." Rei said.

  "No!" Beatrice said, preventing her from doing that. "That would be too much of a risk! Why the hell would you do that?!"

  "It's just..." Rei wanted to say something.

  "I know." Beatrice said. "I...just don't want to lose you either."

  Rei was about to dive down, but she can see Marie going down the river.

  "We need to make pace and hurry..." Mizuki was about to say something until she saw something else. "What? More footprints?!"

  "Seriously?" Shokei looks down at the footprints.

  "How the hell did that troll get across from here?" Rei asked, puzzled, and surprised to see the footprints on the ground.

  "There's no way that the troll could have made its way across an unsteady bridge." Saeko said.

  "That's impossible." Beatrice said. "Definitely impossible."

  "Not only that, how does that beast do it?" Obsidian asked.

  "Look. We'll just have to move on to finding that troll. As long as we do that, I hope to the Almighty that Marie finds her way out of the stream as best as possible." Shokei tells her party.

  The party, having no other choice, continues onward to where the Troll have gone off to. Rei looks back on the bridge as it was completely gone.

  "Marie..." Rei said. She turns to keep up with her party.

  Marie is still trapped in the current as she panicked in fear. She struggles to stay alive as she tries to keep afloat and not go underwater.

  "I can't swim! I can't swim!!" Marie panicked hysterically. "I...I don't want to die!!"

  Marie puts her hands up as she tries to prevent herself from going in the water. All of a sudden, a hand comes out of nowhere as it grabbed on one of her arms. Marie felt the grip as she is pulled out of the flowing stream.

  What the?!

  Marie felt the grip of the hand that pulled her out of the stream as she is rescued. She finally catches her breath with coughs in between. She let out a sigh of relief as she is gd to be out of a dangerous situation. As soon as she takes her time to recover from the water, she opens her eyes to see who saved her.

  "Thank you...whoever you are...huh?"

  Marie looks ahead and then she instantly got scared.

  "Ahhhhhh!!!"

  Marie screamed as she sees that it was the Troll that saved her from the stream. The Troll looks big and then the monster takes Marie away, lifting her up and escorting her under its arm. Marie tries to break away, but the Troll locks her in pce, preventing her from escaping.

  Oh no! I'm being kidnapped by this hideous Troll! Marie thought. Wh-where is it taking me?!

  Marie did not fight out from the monster's grip, and she is being taken away into the forest.