The beautiful morning sun showered its warm rays on the party, who were still flying on their griffins. It seemed they had spent the entire night riding, as most of them had slightly drooped eyes, especially Crystal, who took the lead of the flight. Without her effort, it would be easy for them to get lost.
Meanwhile, at the tail of the griffin formation, a young man was deep asleep on his griffin, unlike the others. He had dark hair, with completely normal features. Were he not on top of a griffin, he would be completely out of note.
That was, of course, Spes. And somehow, he was one of the few who were asleep in the party. Of course, the other one was obviously Vota, snoring loudly in front, his golden hair flickering along with his heavy breaths.
A deep sigh echoed far behind the two of them. It was Decus, eyes all red and baggy. He almost looked as exhausted as the party leader ahead.
With one hand raised, protecting his tired eyes from the glaring sun, he slowly flew towards Spes's griffin and, carefully, he slightly nudged the sleeping young man.
"Huh?" Spes weakly grunted, confused as to what was happening.
Decus didn't say anything but waited patiently for the young man to regain his senses. He only came back to earth as the warm morning light fell upon his eyes, immediately removing the absent-minded gaze he had.
"Hey, you. You're finally awake," Decus spoke, seeing the young man slowly aware of his surroundings.
"W-what happened?" Spes was well awake, but the sudden change in environment kept him confused. The last he remembered, the sky was completely dark. Now it shone beautifully, without any trace of what he last saw.
"You fell asleep... somehow."
"The two of you," Decus added, as Vota's snores intensified in front of them.
"Is it a bad thing?" Spes asked while scratching his head, not knowing whether he did wrong again.
"No, if you were tied to your griffin. Which is not your case... so I had to exert extra focus last night so that you two idiots wouldn't fall to your deaths." Decus sighed as he massaged his temples.
"I'm so, so sorry! I didn't even realize I fell asleep!" Spes immediately clasped his hands and bowed deeply at the older friend in front of him. He apologized sincerely, as the exhaustion on Decus did not go unnoticed.
"It's nothing, really," Decus said, as he reached out to pat Spes's shoulder, accepting his apology.
"Just... maybe tell me if you're feeling sleepy next time and I'll give you a good wake-up." He added with a weak smile, clearly not ready to go through another round of babysitting.
Spes nodded as he noted mentally not to fall asleep without being tied down to his griffin.
"What about him?" Spes asked curiously, Vota's snores interrupting his train of thought.
"I'll deal with him later..." Decus sighed, clearly not wanting to wake the sleeping dragon.
"Oh, by the way, before you fell asleep last night, I heard you muttering to yourself. Everything okay?"
"I-It's nothing..." Spes turned his head away, recalling what happened the previous night.
"Well, you're making it look like it's not just nothing."
"..." Spes stayed silent, still keeping his gaze away from Decus.
"Hey, we're both commoners here. If something's troubling you, I'd be glad to help, really."
"..."
Decus wryly smiled when greeted by silence. He could only sigh, seeing that there wasn't much he could do on the matter.
"Take care, kid." Decus gave one last piece of advice before heading towards the snoring Vota in front.
"You're pitiful."
Spes slightly frowned upon hearing that all-too-familiar voice in his head. It was a voice just like his, but slightly distorted, mocking him inside.
Ignoring the voice, he looked ahead, seeing Decus nervously approaching Vota's large griffin. The fat young man's knights would fly slightly away from him, fearing the brewing storm to come — a storm that came in the form of Vota's ever-so-loud snores. Something they did not dare interrupt.
And the brave, handsome Decus resolved himself to face that raging storm.
"Vota!" he called out.
Not a single reaction.
"Vota!" he shouted again, this time louder.
Spes's mood would slightly brighten as he spectated Vota's uncaring snores. All of Decus's shouts really did not affect his sleep in any way. Facing an unclimbable wall, he had to resort to other methods.
Sighing deeply, Decus raised his hand, revealing a golden ring on his finger.
"The Shapeshifting Ring!" Spes whispered upon laying eyes on the ring. He also instinctively touched the silver circlet on his head, recalling the day the team geared up. He had received the Necronomicon along with the Crest of Safeguard from an eccentric appraiser called Grandmaster Viseo. And the Shapeshifting Ring was what Decus had received from him.
The same ring would slightly flutter before emitting bright golden rays, surprisingly transforming into a long golden staff. Spes would hold his breath, wondering what Decus would do with the staff. Were he to mishandle the situation, he feared that Vota would fall off his griffin to his death.
Slowly and carefully, Decus approached Vota's large griffin and, when he was a certain distance away, he signaled his griffin to stop. From where he was, he extended the golden staff, pointing it a few inches away from Vota's fat face. Decus gulped down his spit before lightly thrusting the staff, hitting Vota's fat cheeks multiple times.
The multiple pokes would prove useful, as Vota groaned loudly, his eyelids slowly opening, revealing his lazy, annoyed blue eyes.
"What the hell are you guys doing? You're just letting him invade my personal space like this!!!? What am I paying you for!?"
Seeing the blame not directed towards him, Decus quickly flew away from the area, going back to the back of the line where he would finally rest his poor soul.
As for Vota's men, they received a long session of berating on how to do their jobs.