Later, Shokei and her party have returned to where the troll was waiting under the bridge. The Troll was still there as he hears footsteps coming to him.

  "Hmm?" The Troll looks up. "...you returned."

  "Sorry for the long wait." Shokei tells him. "We had trouble getting to that pond, but we made it back."

  "I see." The Troll said with a nod. "That evil gnome gave you problems I take."

  "He did." Shokei said. "But it got away after we deal with him."

  "I guess you show bravery in chasing that fiend away." The Troll said.

  "For now..." Shokei said. "Just for now."

  "I see." The Troll said. "And I noticed that you brought back some of the water from the pond."

  The Troll can see that Mizuki has the special liquid contained inside her bottle. Mizuki goes up to the Troll and hands him the bottle. The Troll takes the bottle and then he drinks the water that is contained inside. The party looks to see that the troll is drinking the special water. Once the Troll consumed the water entirely, the party can see that the Troll is changing its entire body with a soft glow. The Troll shrinks down into a human figure. The de transformation has been complete, and the man looks at himself to see that he is back to his regur self once again.

  "I'm...I'm me again..." The man said. "Finally...I am no longer under that curse of being a monster."

  "I guess the pond water did do its work." Shokei said, seeing the result of the water being consumed.

  "Yes." The main said happily. "Now that I am back to normal, I can return to Egesul and no one will know that I was the Troll the whole time."

  "That's great." Shokei said to him. "I'm sure that no one will ever know what happened to the monster."

  "Right." The Man nodded. "We should leave here right away."

  The party leaves the Long Forest, and they are all heading back to Egesul.

  From walking out of the forest, Shokei and her party returned back to Egesul. As soon as they made it back, Shokei can see that civilization is normal. Then, the party turns to see the man.

  "I finally made it back home." The Man tells the party. "I have not been home since those past few weeks. I like to thank all of you for helping me return back to my human state. I'm sure that my wife and child will be happy to see me again."

  "Yes. I'm sure they miss you very much." Shokei said, extending out her hand.

  Shokei and the Man shake hands.

  "It'll be funny to see that no one would know that you were the Troll the whole time." Shokei said.

  "Hee hee, you can say that again." The Man said, breaking the handshake. "Well...this is farewell. I better get going now."

  "All right!" Shokei said to him. "Goodbye."

  "Same to you and your friends!" The man said, waving back as he departs.

  The party waves bye as soon as the man turns a corner.

  "All right." Shokei said to her party. "Now that we handled the situation, let's tell the mayor the good news."

  The party heads for the mayor's office. Kerru is in his office as he looks out at the window. The mayor hears his door open, and he takes note to see Shokei and her party are entering in his office.

  "Oh! You returned." Kerru said.

  "Yes, we have." Shokei said.

  "Did you all get rid of that hideous Troll?" Kerru asked them. "You didn't bother with the supplies that I suggested for you to use on that fiendish foul creature."

  "We took care of it." Shokei tells him, without him knowing that the Troll turned out to be a human in disguise. "We all managed to take care of that Troll with no problems."

  "Wow! Seriously?" Kerru asked.

  "We did." Shokei nodded.

  "You seem honest." Keru said. "It seems that it might have taken you all a long while at that Long Forest."

  "It was." Shokei said to him. "It was a long trip to find that Troll, but we were able to hunt it down."

  "I see." Kerru said. "Well, I must say that you did the town a favor by defeating that monstrous troll that was causing a scare for the people in Egesul. For your efforts and bravery, I must offer you all a reward."

  Shokei and her party looks at each other for a minute. Then, Shokei looks back at the Mayor.

  "That's all right." Shokei said to him, shaking her head. "But aside from the task that we did for you, there's no need for the reward. We have a ship to catch."

  "Huh? B-but you don't want a reward from me?" Kerru asked with concern.

  "Nah." Rei tells him, shaking her head. "We're good. We don't really need a reward for all of this."

  "Aww..." Kerru said, disappointed with his head down.

  "It's ok." Shokei said to him. "We only did it to save the lives of this town and not to be rewarded for efforts."

  "Hmm..." Kerru thinks for a minute and said. "Then, if you want, I thought I give you something that I would not be needing anymore."

  "What would that be?" Shokei asked him.

  "Before I give it to you, will you promise that you would keep it?" Kerru asked her.

  "Sure..." Shokei said to him, not giving it a second thought.

  The Mayor goes for his drawer, and he takes out a bck book. Shokei receives the book, and she looks to see that the book is sealed with a lock.

  "A book with a lock?" Shokei asked.

  "Hmm, looks like a diary book to me." Rei said, seeing the book in her hand.

  "It may look like it as you think it is." Kerru tells her. "Unfortunately, it really isn't."

  Shokei looks at the book carefully and she takes note that there was something written on the book that is blended with the bck cover. Shokei reads the message:

  ...use it only when the gates are about to be open...

  "About that book..." The mayor tells her. "I really don't know what is written inside. You may try to open it if you want to. Even with the lock on it, this book is full of mystery. I cannot tell what is written inside unless you're able to find a way around it."

  Shokei sees the book in her hands. She can see that there is a key attached to the book and she used it to open the lock. From what the mayor said, he was right. The key did turn into the slot, but the book mysteriously won't open with force.

  "That's strange..." Shokei said.

  "Very strange indeed." Kerru said to her. "Anyways, that is what I can give for you as a reward."

  "I guess." Shokei said, taking the book with her.

  "I must let you all go and leave my office." The mayor said to the party. "Run along now."

  The party did as they left the office.

  Leaving the Mayor's office, Shokei and her party are heading to the ship docks to see if their ship has arrived. While on the way there, Shokei takes a look back at the strange bck book again.

  "Why would the mayor give us a reward like that?" Rei asked Shokei.

  "I feel like I want to ask the same question myself." Shokei said. "Perhaps there is something more about this book that we are uncertain."

  "Like what?" Rei asked.

  "There's a reading that is written on the cover of the book." Shokei said to her. "I'm not so sure when it meant that this book should be used 'when the gates are about to open...'"

  "Seems odd enough." Rei said.

  "You...you don't think this book might be a curse, do you?" Shokei asked her.

  "Nah, just don't." Rei said, shaking her head. "Maybe it's one of those items that would put you under a curse and then..."

  "Hey! Don't say that!" Marie interrupted Rei.

  "Oh, come on! What?" Rei argued at her.

  "Think about that man that was disguised as a..."

  "Marie! You want the whole town to hear what really happened?!" Rei shouted at her.

  "Ahh...oops." Marie said, feeling shamed and put her head down. "Sorry..."

  "Look, let's not argue at each other." Shokei tells them. "Right now, we're heading to the cabin to see if the owner is there."

  The party goes over to see the owner of the ship docks. There, the owner is standing outside of the office as he appears to be avaible.

  "Hi!" Shokei gets the owner her attention and asked. "Did our ship to Euna has arrived?"

  "Of course." The owner nodded, smoking a pipe. "That ship over there has returned from Euna."

  The party turns to see a yellow ship that is waiting for them.

  "Hmm, looks different." Saeko said.

  "I would suggest that all of you should board on the ship as it will depart shortly." The owner tells them.

  "There's our chance. Let's board on that vessel." Shokei tells everyone.

  The party boards on the ship. Once the ship made their st inspections and then the ship finally makes its departure leaving Egesul and sails for Euna.

  Somewhere in the Dark Dreams Gaxy, a damsel in distress is still imprisoned in one of the dark cells. Inside lies Princess Antoinette, who appears to be sleeping at this time. Antoinette is resting peacefully without disturbance. Then, her eyes open, awake as she has her head resting on the cell's bench. Antoinette looks around to see that the cell that she is in. A very quiet atmosphere makes the cell have any noise but herself.

  "It's so quiet in here." Antoinette said to herself. "I don't know what else to do around here. I've been away from home for so long now...I still don't have any idea what those strange foul beings are pnning to do to me..."

  Thinking about this, Antoinette has something else on her mind.

  "Shokei..." she continued. "If only you can save me...if only you did not forget about me...I just don't want to stay here anymore. I'm too lonely in here...and afraid that you may have forgotten about me. Oh Shokei, I miss you so much...if only you were here to free me from this terrible pce."

  "Aha! The Princess awakes!"

  Antoinette raises her eyes as she hears someone's voice calling out to her. She looks up to see that there was a Necromutant standing at her cell. She looks to see that it was Hauntmystic that is visiting her.

  "You..." Antoinette said, getting up from her bench to see the Necromutant. "W-wha...what do you want from me?"

  "Nothing..." Hauntmystic replied. "Nothing at all. I just came by to see how you are holding up inside our prison."

  "I'm tired of being stuck in here." Antoinette said to her. "Although you have been feeding me some bare boned meal for each visit, I sure hope that Shokei and her friends will come to rescue me. I know that she will come for me and... and..."

  Antoinette paused. She thought about what she wanted to say and then her reflections are tracing back to meeting Shokei again. Her feelings got the best of her, and her emotions show that she was about to shed a tear.

  "...S-Shokei...I.. I..." Antoinette gets down on her knees and cried. "I missed you..."

  Hauntmystic smirked as she watches Antoinette cried in tears. She is amused to see her captive worried.

  "You don't have to feel so worried about your 'heroine' young one." Hauntmystic tells her. "I'm sure that you will meet Shokei very soon."

  Seeing Antoinette crying, Hauntmystic smiled, and she leaves behind the cell, ignoring her emotions. Antoinette stopped crying as she looks at the direction to where the Necromutant is heading, watching her leave the cell dungeon. Hauntmystic smiled evilly as she has an idea in her head. For Shokei going for the next gem, the enemy knows that her nemesis is coming for Antoinette's rescue very soon.

  Might as well come up with a pn to trap that Emissary...heh, heh, heh, heh...